Ebert's Back, Baby!

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 12, 2006 1:27PM

Roger Ebert posted his first review today since he began recovery four months ago after undergoing surgery for salivary cancer. And we couldn’t be happier. Maybe that makes us “boosterish,” but we are.

True to the honesty that’s been a hallmark of his reviews for the past 40 years, Ebert posted a lengthy description of his recent illness and rehabilitation. He notes that he doesn’t remember much more than “fragmentary episodes” from July and August due to the heavy sedation he was under to deal with bleeding. In September, he began physical rehab to heal his atrophied muscles and began visiting with colleagues who caught him up on the world at large.

Ebert says his mental state is the same as it ever was, and he marked his return to the film beat with a review of The Queen. And none too soon; the Sun-Times experienced a noticeable drop in traffic to its site due to his illness. He won’t be pack posting full-time until next year but will be posting some reviews of recent films. He also quotes Joni Mitchell (and 80s hair rockers Cinderella) in saying “you don't know what you've got till it's gone.”

We’ll be putting the wraps on our Get Well Roger photo project next week so now’s your last chance to upload a picture of you giving the thumbs-up to Roger to our Flickr group. You’ll have to sign in to view all the pictures. We’re at 97 right now, and it’d be great to bump that number past 100. When we do, we’ll print out the pictures and mail them to the man himself.