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For any regular reader of The FAT Website<\/strong>, one of my identifiable traits is that I blog a lot.\u00a0 With few breaks, I’ve been doing it for the better part of twelve years now.\u00a0 For even more people who know me in my day-to-day life offline, an even stronger identifiable trait is that I love film.\u00a0 Both my love of writing and the love of film can be strongly attributed to the film critic Roger Ebert.\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, I loved writing when I was a kid too.\u00a0 In primary school I wrote a hundred page fantasy story in creative writing class when the other kids were lucky to hit five pages.\u00a0 And I always enjoyed watching films ever since my parents took me to see A Fish Called Wanda <\/em>at a cinema in Auckland.\u00a0 The person who nurtured these interests though my adult years though, was undoubtedly Roger Ebert.<\/p>\n Ebert is a celebrated writer who has been reviewing films for over forty years.\u00a0 His work rate is extraordinary.\u00a0 I’m happy when I look at that little counter on the right hand side of the website that says The FAT Website<\/strong> has 1,458 blogs and 153 films reviews.\u00a0 Ebert has reviewed over 10,000 films in his lifetime and clocks in at about 250 reviews per year.\u00a0 Even when he battled saliva cancer which ultimately claimed his jaw, he was pushing 150 reviews per year.\u00a0 The man was a machine.<\/p>\n Despite all the accolades that Roger Ebert has received over the years, anyone who was ever a fan recognizes that his greatest talent was his ability to bring an appreciation for film to the widest possible audience through his flair for writing.\u00a0 If there was ever a stereotype for film critics that presented them as snobbish and aloof, Roger Ebert smashed that into pieces.\u00a0 His writing style was unashamedly populist.\u00a0 It was easy to read without ever condescending and he had an economy and talent with his words that communicated more than you would think possible about a film in only 500 words or so.\u00a0 You might not always agree with his reviews but he could always clearly articulate his opinion.<\/p>\n He gained some notoriety for his negative reviews but they were never cruel to the actors or directors first hand.\u00a0 If anything, he at least took the time to be creative with his most scathing material.\u00a0 One of my favourites is his write up for Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalow<\/a>.\u00a0 The review seems harsh but Rob Schneider did see the funny side to it.\u00a0 When Ebert was in hospital getting treated for cancer, Schneider sent him a bouquet of flowers<\/a>.<\/p>\n