Richard Roeper Blog

With Matthew “Neville Longbottom” Lewis and Urban Prep Academies CEO Tim King at Thursday night’s benefit screening of “HPDHP2.”

Three years ago, Twitter was just a baby,  I opened an account and tried Tweeting from the Independent Spirit Awards and the Oscars. Not that I even knew what to call it back then.

Photos added after the fact. The Tweets are exactly as they were Tweeted three years ago.

Read from the bottom up…

More gold love for the Coen bros. Well deserved. 10:44 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

None of the four acting winners is an American. That’s probably a first… 10:41 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

I talked with Diablo and her brother at the Spirit Awards after party yesterday. It’s obvious family means the world to her… 10:29 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

That tattoo makes Amy Winehouse look like a wimp. 10:26 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Diablo! Score one for suburban Lemont. 10:25 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Class move by Stewart to bring Marketa back out so she could say her thank you’s. 9:59 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

“Falling Slowly” — awesome. 9:50 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Backstage, Marion C. says she wanted to marry Peter Sellers when she was a little girl. 9:42 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Raise your hand if you remember Marion Cotillard was in “Big Fish” and “A Good Year.” 9:41 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

I’ll be backstage shortly and I’ll keep you posted!! 7:12 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

The last stragglers are making their way into the theater. 7:12 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Katherine Heigl: 27 dresses, and 27 feet tall. 7:05 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

I have a $100 Oscar pool bet with Clooney. I’m favored. 7:04 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Gary Busey: scary. 7:03 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Heidi Klum: apparently not from here. 5:18 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Glamour!!! LOL 4:47 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

I have about 18 inches of real estate, behind a plastic hedge. 4:47 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Early arrivals include Lisa Rinna and her lips. And Lou Gossett Jr. 4:43 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

On the red carpet now. I can’t leave my perch for the next three hours. 4:42 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

I just gave an interview to Poland’s largest daily newspaer. Fortunately the reporter’s English was way better than my Polish. 2:28 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

They used giant vacuum machines to dry the red carpet. So we won’t have to retitle the show “There Will be Mud.” 2:16 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Speaking of performances: Hillary Clinton mocking Barack Obama makes her seem cynical, bitter and desperate. 1:39 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Gil Cates says the opening 90 seconds tonight will be earth-shattering. It’s always dangerous to make such promises. 1:38 PM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

They’re going to keep the tent up over the red carpet. A soggy Tilda Swinton just wouldn’t do. 9:36 AM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

We’re about eight hours away from the Oscars, and there’s a steady rain falling. 9:33 AM Feb 24th, 2008 from txt

Casey Affleck: definitely taller than Ellen Page. 10:58 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are sitting on a sofa next to a pillow with Bardem’s pic on it . 10:10 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

I’m now at the Miramax party. They have pillows emblazoned with images from their films. 10:09 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

Samantha Ronson is the DJ at the after-party at Shutters on the Beach. 6:46 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

‘Juno’ was the big winner at the Spirit Awards. Best pic and best actress for Ellen Page… 6:27 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

Cate Blanchett won the Spirit Award for supporting actress and dedicated it to the late Heath Ledger… 4:47 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

Parker Posey is wearing a white rain coat indoors and eating popcorn. Her life is an independent movie. 3:30 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

Had a nice chat with Diablo Cody, who wrote “Juno.” She’s a grad of Benet Academy in Lisle. 2:59 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

I’m at the Independent Spirit Awards. 2:56 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

ed carpet. 12:56 PM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

I’ll be on the red carpet with the Fox News Channel at 11:30 CST this morning. 11:11 AM Feb 23rd, 2008 from txt

It’s 50 degrees in LA. They’re talking about how “cold” it might be for the Oscars. From a Chicago perspective, that’s just hilarious. 8:19 PM Feb 22nd, 2008 from txt

My interview with Clooney airs on WLS-TV this Sunday at 4pm. 2:41 PM Feb 22nd, 2008 from txt

I like mine better 2:40 PM Feb 22nd, 2008 from txt

Now I see his Oscar picks in Time magazine. 2:40 PM Feb 22nd, 2008 from txt

Last week George Clooney asked me if “No Country” was going to win Best Picture. 2:40 PM Feb 22nd, 2008 from txt

Hello Oscar fans! Stay tuned for dispatches from Hollywood. 9:43 AM Feb 22nd, 2008 from txt

Is the yolk on us? Watching Lady Gaga’s performance of “Born This Way” at the Grammys last night, I was reminded of another blonde, gay-friendly, superstar of song/dance in her mid-20s: Madonna doing “Express Yourself” some 25 years ago.

There’s a little bit of “Vogue” in there as well.

And judging by the press I’m seeing today, I’m hardly the only one that’s noticed the similarities.

Gaga channels Madonna

Check it out

Two snowmobilers zoom west on Chicago Avenue past LaSalle Street, the drivers whooping it up as they easily navigate the snowy tundra that has the rest of the city in a state of near-paralysis.

That was at midnight, Feb. 2, 2011.

You can debate the advantages of city life vs. the pluses of the suburban world until the Cubs three-peat as World Champions — but when a snowpacalpyse hits the Midwest and you live within walking distance of work and your car’s parked inside and you don’t have to shovel or plow your way to freedom, then going out for a walk into the heart of the storm is an adventure and a social study.

(For everyone who had to wait seven hours to be rescued from their cars, for everyone whose drive home was longer than a flight from Chicago to Switzerland, for everyone who suffered major inconveniences or property damage, for everyone that doesn’t have power or heat — I’ve been there. I feel for you. Hang tough.)

The snowmobilers aren’t the only travelers in the neighborhood. Every few minutes, there’s a fire engine, a bus, a police vehicle. The lone cab I saw during my hike honked his horn at me hopefully, then continued fishtailing down LaSalle Street.

On Wells Street, about a half-dozen young guys are whooping it up and throwing snowballs at a window, calling for a buddy of theirs to wake up and come down. The apartment remains dark.

In a 24-hour currency exchange on LaSalle Street, a woman takes shelter. She seems to be asleep but then walks into the snow and starts yelling at the heavens, or perhaps at some unseen demon.

And then the bicyclist.

Yes, there is a man with a bicycle heading west on Chicago, following the earlier path of the snowmobilers. He tries to pedal, he gives up, he starts walking with his bike, he tries to ride it again, he gives up again.

He’s either a very determined thief or someone who pays absolutely no attention to the news.

The Chicago Way

Not every establishment in the neighborhood has surrended to the storm of the year/decade/century/millennium.

At Chicago and State, a couple walks their smallish dog, who looks like he could be swallowed by a drift at any minute.

Peer inside Clark Street Ale House — the sign outside says “STOP AND DRINK” — and you can see a handful of warm and cozy folks enjoying their drinks as if it’s just another Tuesday night.

Across the street, a quartet of pint-lifters spills out of Celtic Crossings. As one lights a cigarette, two others give each other hearty hugs and bid a good night before they head off in opposite directions.

It’s a little before 1 a.m. Though I’m bundled from head to toe like Roald Amundsen seeking the South Pole, I can feel the weather. It really isn’t fit for pedestrian or dog (or bicyclist). Or man with camera.

But if you’re one of the lucky ones who didn’t have to contend with losing your heat or leaving your car on Lake Shore Drive, if you’re not looking ahead at a day’s worth of work clearing your driveway, you can appreciate the ferocious beauty of Mother Nature at work.