I sense that he's doing just fine, doing the character actor thing and picking up TV spots here and there. Plus, he got to write and direct a movie with David Morse, which is not too shabby even if the film didn't get much of a release.

Thanks. That is high praise for the undisputed king of Random Roles. I've got a John C. McGinley one coming up I'm pretty proud of as well.

It is.

Thanks, though I'd like to think that stuff like Ebert's blog will have a shelf-life beyond the internet. It's true that most internet stuff is fundamentally ephemeral but some stuff endures. Hopefully the stuff that matters.

Thanks. It was something I took very seriously.

Thank you so much.

There's an entire chapter about it in my book, which I am proud to say Ebert also provided an awesome blurb for.

Yeah, Ebert's love for his step-children and grandchildren was a major theme of the evening. Some of them spoke and it was very lovely.

Thanks. It's something I felt really passionately about. I was one of those blessed people whose work Roger Ebert took an interest in and publicly endorsed and I will always be grateful for that fact.

One of the audio commentaries for BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS ends with me imitating Russ Meyer's response to my question of what brought them together as, "Tits. Pure and simple. The man loves tits." That somehow does not seem like a rude thing to bring up.

Aw. Thanks. I tried to do justice to a really amazing experience.

Definitely. Who's the most famous critic now? A.O Scott maybe? He's a great writer but I'm not sure I would recognize him if I saw him.

There are many times when I feel like writing about movies is not a particularly noble profession. This memorial made me feel otherwise.

The entire memorial can be watched here: http://tinyurl.com/cjbhvqr I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

It seemed really fitting that the memorial was free and open to the public, since Ebert was such a staunch populist as a writer and a man.

That's great. He would have been proud, I think. He was nothing if not a passionate advocate. That was one of his many virtues.

Oh, incidentally there is no continuity between this film and all the others. Regina Hall and Anna Faris were the only holdovers and they are both long gone.

Yeah, that's a great album. Love that guy. 

He really is, isn't he? He's one of my favorite people in the world, and one of the best damn writers and film critics in existence.

He's even cuter and smaller in person. I literally ran into him at Sundance once and thought I could stick the little guy in my pocket.