Roger Ebert, famed film critic and cool uncle to the Internet, passed away in April, but his influence is still being felt. Just this past Sunday, The A.V. Club's Ignatiy Vishnevetsky joined a couple of Chicago newspapermen for a panel discussion about Ebert's contributions to film criticism, and Ebert's website is still going strong over six months after his death. Now, a group called the Public Art League has commissioned a life-size statue of Mr. Ebert to be installed outside the Virginia Theater in Champaign, IL, long the site of Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival (a.k.a. Ebertfest).
The statue will depict Mr. Ebert sitting on a theater chair and giving his famous thumbs-up gesture. It must be said that the scale model, in the wrong light, might make Ebert look like a melting white monster, but if you'd like to donate you can do so here.