Lightfoot and Ebert

So for awhile there this afternoon, Gordon Lightfoot was dead. Fortunately, he got better.

For the record, he was never dead, however the rumour managed to get going pretty hot and heavy on Twitter this afternoon. I like Twitter more than I thought I would, but lord knows it's entirely too easy for false information to spread like wildlife through the service. The Globe and Mail has a story about it here, and are taking quite the bit of glee at pointing out the newspapers who ran the rumour he was dead without, you know, actually confirming with someone who might know.

I think the best comment I heard on the whole thing was some media outlet saying that it was a malicious Twitter prank and someone responding, "is that code word for really sloppy reporting?" And really, it was pretty sloppy reporting. Hopefully some people learned a lesson today.

Still, I'm glad that Gordon isn't dead and is taking it with a good sense of humour. Oh, you can also go here where this guy is trying to trace where the rumour came from. Apparently that rumour pissed off a few people and they want a pint of blood for it. Not that I will feel sorry if they find out who did it. They're a dick, whoever they are.

Oh, and while this is only tangently related, please go and read Chris Jones touching and wonderful piece on Roger Ebert in this month's Esquire. Like many people I was shocked by just how much his physical appearance has changed in the last couple of years. I knew he'd lost his voice and that he lost his jaw, but still...

It's a great piece of profile writing about a man who means quite a bit to me. My love of Roger Ebert's writing is well known to anyone who has been a longtime reader of this blog. I was thinking today, when considering how best to put together this blog post, that Ebert was one of the first people I'd ever seen who loved his job. When I first saw Siskel and Ebert arguing over movie, I was fascinated by it. But it occurs to me that they were some of the first people I can ever think of that it was so obvious how much they loved their jobs. And they had cool jobs...they got to go to movies and write about how much they loved or hated them.

I still think it's one of the best jobs in the world.

Anyway, I was concerned by one part of Jones' piece, where he hinted that Ebert might not be long for the world. Fortunately, Ebert said that's not the case on his blog. I'm glad to hear that. A world where I can't go to Roger's website on a Friday morning and read his take on the latest movies will be a much sadder place for me.

Oh, and in the interest of fair disclosure, I was thinking about doing this piece the other day, but held off for some reason. So naturally John Gushue wrote something about it this morning. I should have known...John is a master at finding things happening online, not to mention all those great quotes. Still, I promise, I did have the idea for it a day or so ago. John just beat me to the punch. As usual.

Last Five
1. Don't let's start - They Might Be Giants
2. Fire door (live) - Ani DiFranco
3. Please just take these photos from my hands - Snow Patrol
4. Make you feel my love - Bob Dylan*
5. Mother's little helper - Rolling Stones