RIP Roger Ebert

I'm delaying my weekly Indie Gem column until tomorrow. Because frankly, there's only one thing I want to talk about today: Roger Ebert's passing.

It's odd how a person that you've never met's death could affect you so much. But that just goes to show you how many lives this man touched.

Roger Ebert has been part of my cinematic life for a long time. When I was young, I would always sternly tell my father that "Siskel and Ebert didn't like that movie." I can very clearly remember commercials that would state "Siskel and Ebert give this two thumbs up." I would search for films when Ebert gave them glowing reviews. I would get a good laugh out of his bad reviews. I even emailed a review he did of a stupid little horror film called Chaos to my friend when he suggested we watch it with the title "Hell no."

Now, I never want to be a professional writer. I just love sharing my thoughts on film, but if Ebert taught me anything about writing, it was how to be passionate. Sometimes I feel like I can't put my thoughts into words coherently, but I just tell myself to be honest. As long as I believe in what I'm writing, I feel I've done it justice. With Ebert's brilliantly written reviews, you could always see he was passionate.

So Thank you, Roger Ebert, for being such an influence on me and so many others. I like to think you're discussing movies right now with Gene Siskel. My thoughts and prayers go out to the rest of his family during this difficult time.

And in true movie blogger fashion - if the Academy leaves your name out of their In Memoriam video (because believe me, you deserve to be in there) I'll pitch a little viral bitch fit.