Roger Ebert has always been the most eloquent movie critic of our generation — of any generation for that matter, seeing that movies themselves have been around for so few generations in all — but, it seems, with the loss of his voice, Ebert has transcended his well-creviced niche, branching out into blogging about anything and everything, transforming himself into certainly the greatest artiste of the blogging form and rapidly becoming one of the greatest writers of our age, irregardless of medium.
As Chris Jones describes in a poetic, epic-long feature in Esquire, Ebert’s foray into the blogging world began without any ambition.
The original entries are short updates about his life and health and a few of his heart’s wishes…. They’re followed by a smattering of Welcomes to Cyberspace. But slowly the journal picks up steam, as Ebert’s strength and confidence and audience grow.
“You are the readers I have dreamed of,” he writes.
He is emboldened. He begins to write about more than movies; in fact, it sometimes seems as though he’d rather write about anything other than movies. The existence of an afterlife, the beauty of a full bookshelf, his liberalism and atheism and alcoholism, the health-care debate, Darwin, memories of departed friends and fights won and lost — more than five hundred thousand words of inner monologue have poured out of him, five hundred thousand words that probably wouldn’t exist had he kept his other voice. Now some of his entries have thousands of comments, each of which he vets personally and to which he will often respond. It has become his life’s work, building and maintaining this massive monument to written debate — argument is encouraged, so long as it’s civil — and he spends several hours each night reclined in his chair, tending to his online oasis by lamplight. Out there, his voice is still his voice — not a reasonable facsimile of it, but his.
“It is saving me,” he says through his speakers.”
The rest of the article is a little maudlin and tries a little to hard to be picturesque for my tastes, but it’s worth a read for the insight into Ebert’s life. If you want a lesson in witty, informal writing, read Ebert’s blogged response.
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