Ebert going strong

The JoBlo.com collective has profound respect for iconic uber-critic Roger Ebert so we were extremely pleased to hear that he’s still essentially metaphorically shouting a defiant f*ck you to the salivary gland cancer that has plagued him since 2003. The extensive surgeries and radiation treatments have obviously taken a toll on his body, as the picture to the right shows, but he’s clearly still in good spirits, is willing to fight it with everything he’s got and, most importantly, can still whip out the articulate, acutely witty and sometimes downright hilarious prose that have made him an icon in the business. He plans on attending the ninth installment of his Overlooked Film Festival, which kick starts Wednesday night at the University of Illinois at Urbana, but given his relatively fragile state, his doctors have advised against attending. You know what he told them? That’s right, “f*ck you!” (metaphorically speaking, of course).