Roger’s Blog
Apr 30th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: News & CommentRoger Ebert has a blog. That’s all that needs to be said, really, but here’s a bit of his prose to whet your
appetite. It’s from a post on, of all things, Joe and the Volcano:
It’s the kind of film that offends the Movie Police, a shadowy group that lurks about proclaiming, “They can’t do that that in a movie–can they?” In this year’s Ebertfest, there are two particular candidates for the category; Sally Potter’s “Yes” and John Turturro’s “Romance and Cigarettes.’ Both break any number of rules I will not list here, and both are delightful while doing so. They are above all delightful in the way they assume what we have been taught (by the study of movie cliches) is impossible in the movies.
What I like about Ebert’s prose is what others sometimes complain about: its conversational style. When I write a sermon (I’m a preacher, y’know), I write to speak out loud, and aim to make it at least semi-conversational in tone (within the bounds of rhetorical convention, anyway). I appreciate that Mr. Ebert does this so effortlessly. Mind you, it’s not that his writing reads poorly on the page. Quite the opposite in fact: it flows easily from his pen to your head. It’s just that his writing spans the gap between the written word and conversation, combining an intellectual rigor with a never-dimmed enthusiasm for the cinematic art form we all love.
So welcome to blogging, Mr. Ebert; many happy returns.
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Indeed, he has the rare ability to write for all reading abilities. I look forward to the blog.
He sure does, Daniel. He’s on my newsreader already.
Rick-
I had the pleasure of interning for Mr. Ebert for a short time, and may I say…the man is every bit as nice as he seems.
So happy to hear about this blog!