I wake up to NPR news so sometimes I hear stories through a semi-conscious haze. This morning I swear I heard that Roger Ebert had died, so I went online to make sure. He's alive (right??) but in my search I found Ebert's Answer Man column Archives on the Chicago Sun-Times site. Pretty interesting stuff about movies new and old.

I liked this letter, especially the Tom Clancy quote at the end (maybe he's not so bad after all):

Q: I've noticed an interesting trend over the last few years: You can sometimes tell who the "bad guys" are in a movie or TV show by what computer they use. For instance, on "24," all the bad guys used PCs while the good guys all used Macs. The same holds true for "Austin Powers," "Legally Blonde," etc. Why do you think Apple always gets the plumb roles? I'm of the opinion that Hollywood loves the underdog and has a close relationship with Apple computer, whereas PCs seem controlled by a megalomaniac in Seattle. Are there a lot more Mac zealots like me in Hollywood? Does Apple pour sponsorship money in big-budget studio movies?

Justin Toomey, Athens, Ohio


A: Since many Windows machines look alike, Apple is one of the few manufacturers that can gain by product placement, which accounts for some of the Macs. It's true that the movie industry and creative types in general prefer the Mac. The novelist Tom Clancy sends e-mails with this signature line: "Never ask a man what computer he uses. If it's a Mac, he'll tell you. If it's not, why embarrass him?"