Roger Ebert: ill, but improving

Overlooked in the moment of Ken Lay's death, North Korea's rockets and the current unpleasantness in Gaza is the medical condition of Roger Ebert, who recently suffered a burst blood vessel while undergoing his latest operation for salivary cancer.

Ebert's wife reports he is in stable condition, which is reason for cheer.

At his moment, it is worth mentioning that Roger Ebert, his efforts spanning five decades, is quite simply the greatest daily-newspaper film critic of all time. Or, to put it another way, Ebert is the greatest film critic in all of history, non-Pauline Kael division.

Throughout my college years, one of the great pleasures of every Christmas was a new Ebert anthology under the tree; fifteen years later, my discovery of the internets led to three or four superbly crafted Ebert reviews every Friday morning (usually at six in the morning, as soon as I woke up); followed by, every Sunday, his "Great Movies" series alternating with his "Movie Answer Man" series, either one a treat, part of a Sunday feast along with Mike Lupica's "Shooting From the Lip," George Will's Sunday column on politics, and Phil Mushnick in the New York Post, playing the role of the Old Testament scold toward everything stupid, cheap or cruel in the world of sports.

Whatever qualms one might have had toward Ebert, whatever silent disagreements, are for another time. Tonight I pray he is back before long, pointing us toward the next Steven Soderbergh, pushing hard for a My Dinner With Andre, or teeing off on the latest Rob Schneider atrocity. Get well, Roger.