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 Guess who I saw tonight? The marquee to the left is a little hint...still not sure? I saw Roger Ebert! In association with Concordia College, Mr. Ebert appeared at the Fargo Theatre to talk about movies, the Oscars, and do some Q&A with the audience. I can hear the groans -- "Man, Derek is so cool, what's he doing at a Roger Ebert performance? Isn't that guy, like, lame or something?" Pardon my french, but no: he's 'cool.' Actually, Roger was probably one of the best speakers I've seen in a while, even counting some motivational speakers my employer likes to bring in from time to time. He was very quick-witted, he mixed a lot of humor in with his analysis of this year's Oscar nominees, both leading up to and during the Oscars, from Michael Moore to Spirited Away. At no point did I look at my watch during his speech; I nearly wish I had a tape recorder with, to take notes, but I'm no reporter here. You'll have to go find Ebert yourself if you wanna hear what he has to say. I highly recommend it. Before the show I watched for familiar faces in the crowd, and I found several: Kristin RudRud, a handful of Fargo Forum and local TV dignitaries, Troy Parkinson, and Marty Jonason to point out a few. After the show, I talked to Marty about voice acting training (who doesn't want to do voiceovers sometime in their lives?) and I had to go shake the hand of Tom Pantera, elusive writer/editor for the Fargo Forum. But, before I could leave, I slipped into the autograph line, and got Roger Ebert's signature on the freebie magazine being handed out. See, Ebert isn't just a guy who talks about movies -- he once helped a literary magazine get off the ground, a little publication called "Ascent." Here's how Concordia College got involved: After some problems early in the life of Ascent, it finally found a home with Concordia College's english department. Unfortunately, because it wasn't really his book he signed, Ebert wasn't willing to do a dedication to me in his autograph. My mom, however, not only bought one of Ebert's books and had him dedicate it, she also got him to put "To Kathy" inside her freebie book. She's slick, that mother of mine.
Kewl!
What a hieroglyphic like
autograph he has.
--kara,  4/5/2003 16:37:28
COOL!! I wanted to go to
that, but alas stupid adult
responsibilities meant no
going to stuff I wanted to.
OH and I also wanted to say
HI! from a fellow Fargo area
diarist. (Well okay West
Fargo, but hey). --Holly, 4/23/2003 21:44:35
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