24 April 2007

Ebert on the Mend

Quote of the Day:
I have received a lot of advice that I should not attend the festival. I’m told that paparazzi will take unflattering pictures, people will be unkind, etc.

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

...We spend too much time hiding illness. There is an assumption that I must always look the same. I hope to look better than I look now. But I’m not going to miss my festival.

P.S. to gossip rags: I have some back pain, and to make it easier for me to sit through screenings, the festival has installed my very own La-Z-Boy chair.

Photos of me in the chair should be captioned “La-Z-Critic.”
-Film critic Roger Ebert, in a letter to his readers in today's Chicago Sun-Times, on why he plans to be in attendance at his 9th Annual Overlooked Film Festival in Urbana, Illinois this week.

Ebert has been out of commission since last summer when he was hospitalized with some unantcipated bleeding episodes following surgery to remove a portion his mandible.

Wishing him all the best from the left coast!