Reshuffling the Deck

Lots of changes lately in the Land o' Blogs, which have required my adjustments to the links to the left. First, Glenn Kenny, longtime film critic for Premiere magazine, recently announced he has unceremoniously gotten the boot. I've generally liked Kenny -- unlike, say, David Edelstein (whose "tribute" to the recently deceased Anthony Minghella is one of the most disgraceful things I've ever read), he understands the medium -- and his axing does neither the pathetic Premiere nor the increasingly endangered world of print criticism any favors, but for now he has set up shop with a new blog. Two more recently linked are The Reeler (for movies) and It Happened Last Night (for television).

I also want to single out Jason Bellamy's consistently terrific pieces over at The Cooler, especially a recent post on the much-debated Chigurh-in-the-motel-room scene in No Country for Old Men that almost convinces me. Last but not least, the venerable Roger Ebert has at last started a blog of his own. I was an avid watcher of his and Gene Siskel's show for nearly twenty years before finally getting acquainted with Roger semi-personally on his CompuServe forum in the late-90s. There were a few too many nuts in the mix for me to stay there long, but Ebert was always good to me, even published a couple of my snarky missives in his "Answer Man" column, and treated everyone with his unique blend of congeniality, accessibility and stick-in-the-shiv wit when necessary. Movies, and movie buffs, are lucky to have him.