Roger That

Hooray for Roger Ebert. He's been through a lot, and now wants to live life despite some disfiguring medical problems. I was kind of surprised by this part of the story though:

Ebert will watch the ninth annual Overlooked Film Festival, which begins Wednesday night at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from the audience. "I will be wearing a gauze bandage around my neck, and my mouth will be seen to droop."

"I was told photos of me in this condition would attract the gossip papers," he wrote. "So what?"

Ebert wrote that friends were worried about unflattering photos of him being taken and unkind comments being written. He wrote that he doesn't care. "We spend too much time hiding illness."

I'm not sure I buy that "unkind comments" would have been written. At least I would hope not. I mean, who the hell would be cruel enough to do that (outside of right wing talk radio, of course, where nothing is too cruel)? On the contrary, I think his decision will be almost universally applauded. Good for him.