In his weekly "Answer Man" column, Mr. Thumb takes on a reader's inquiry about the glowing, cerulean bell clacker that has everybody talking. "I don't know what Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was smoking when he wrote of Manhattan 'flashing a few yards of giant blue wiener,' " Ebert said. "My own opinion? Manhattan has ceased to exist as flesh and blood, and has reconstituted himself as quantum energy. He controls every detail of his appearance and manifests himself as a blue giant. How many men could resist the opportunity to do a little tweaking?" [Sun-Times]