I agree. I didn't think much of Twitter at first, but then found out it is a great way to connect with the entire world. I now have friends from many different coutries, including one from Iran who could tell me directly what was happening over there during the political slaughters. Twitter is a wonderful thing.

Your Tweeting has brought me much enjoyment and many new and interesting people to follow. Thank you, sir!

That is a remarkable essay on the power of Twitter. I am glad that Twitter provides you with a voice for conversations and other things. My husband and I rely on your reviews of movies, old or new, whether it's worth it to rent, get free at out library or watch on TV. You are our favorite critic. You and Siskel were the best team ever.

I hope that your health improves and you live a peaceful and pain-free life.

Sincerely,

Anita Fiessi

I follow you on Twitter, I like your tweets.

I'm not surprised you're enjoying Twitter so much, sir. You're not the first person to blast Twitter, only to become a convert. Nor will you be the last.

Thanks for this, I think you captured Twitter's essence.

I think that, like Haiku, you have to be receptive to Twitter and to tweet well, you have to be in the right place, mood, time.

I'm still figuring it out.

Regards,

Tengrain

I agree. I never thought I'd do Twitter either, but it has become the second thing I check in the morning (after e-mail) and my main source of news.

I don't think that's really George Lazenby though. At least not the 007 Lazenby.

What next? Visiting video game museums and articulating the merits of 3-D in film making?

OK, so my tweeting doesn't merit being followed by Roger Ebert. That's OK, because after 7000 tweets of my own I don't really say anything of value to anyone but myself. I still value Roger's tweets, though, because of his own, as he put it, "value". Through him I've discovered Natasha Badhwar's beautiful words and images, and his willingness to cut down the rants of the conservative right with the skill of a surgeon's scalpel more than makes up for any perceived rejection of my tweets. I make similar decisions about whom I follow as well.

I'm glad you enjoy Twitter, but I must say, tongue firmly in cheek, that look forward to your upcoming, similiar post on video games.

Having devoted most of my adult life to being left behind by modern technology, I have not involved myself with Twitter, beyond reading yours. Based on what I've read there, I believe I'll stay away.
Today's world is already too glib.
Worse yet, too many people have adopted glibness who simply aren't any good at it.
Worst of all, when you try to cram a thought into 160 characters, your chances of being misinterpreted skyrocket.
As dopey as my comments might be, imagine how much worse they'd be if I had to limit myself to one tiny bite (byte?).
Yours for clarity.

Have you looked at who's joining the Tweet craze?

Henry Kissinger
Ralph Nader (Campaign)
Pat Buchanan (Actually just his website)

Do you find it interesting seeing these elder statesmen tweeting? It is as interesting as Mark Twain appearing in that film I gave you the link to. Robert Taft interviewed on Tv ( I would love if someone could give a link to that). Have you ever wanted to know what your idols would have done with a technology that came after their death?

Imagine Vonnegut Tweeting. Nittzche making films that would counteract the vileness the Nazis stated he stood for.

What is the capability of someone to adapt to change? Could someone from the Middle Ages have responded well in time to the Printing Press? Or are we in a truly unique time in which the course of human progress has compressed?

I'll end with a bit of (bad) wordplay

What is this year worth compared to five centuries ago?

Powerful, Roger. It's not going to get me onto Twitter, but that's just because that's not for me. It's certainly a tremendous boon to you and a lot of other people.

Do you worry at all that--now that your communication is primarily through computers and the Internet--you have become partly cyborg?

I am only partly joking with this question. I believe that people in general are so constantly interfaced through their smartphones and other portals to mass media and mass communication that we are practically cyborgs already. Intel, the computer hardware company, believes people will be neurally connected to their computers by 2020.

Are you familiar with Ray Kurzweil's singularity theory?

I've gone off on a tangent.

So, basically, what you're saying is that you don't find me valuable enough to follow. Follow, heck; I'd jump for joy at a simple reply to something I say to you. Well, hasn't that always been the way with me and men.

You are so lucky to have someone to sit quietly with and share your thoughts. I fear I'll never have that...like that lady who accepted being single, I have the same fate.

Keep on being curious, you are an inspiration.

Cheers, Shirley

I mostly use twitter just to follow interesting people, not to post anything myself, unless it's a re-tweet of something interesting. But some of the more poetic tweets you posted here inspired me to do something creative (and probably way too ambitious), SO: I will start writing an entire short story one tweet per day (and NO MORE than one tweet per day). Hm. I wonder how the tortoise-like pace will shape the story, style and syntax.
The average character-to-word count is 6 characters per word. That's about 23 words in a tweet. The average length of a short story is 2500 to 5000 words, with my short stories tending to be at least 4000 or so, so I'll say I'm going for a longer 5000 word story here. 5000 divided by 23 words per tweet means a little over 200 tweets will be required to finish a basic short story. A rough 200 days from now means I will be done in around 6 or 7 months, so probably around the New Year. This is assuming I tweet every day and that my math is correct (neither one is my strong suit).

I don't tweet often. I read you and yours daily. My writing is done on my blog htt://www.texaschiefs.com Which I hope some day you will read and enjoy. I would be in heaven

Ironically, the same reasons you tweet are why I can't bring myself to twitter: it's far too overwhelming for me.

I'm a introverted person with very mild in-person social anxiety, and though I enjoy company and good conversation the strain of keeping the flow and rhythm continuous can become overwhelming. I need time to digest thoughts, to prepare what I want to say so to minimize possible misinterpretation; I'm not a particularly slow thinker, but I'm not particularly clever either – and damn it all, I always want to say something meaningful.

Twitter is a fantastic internet conversationalist. Of course you'll always have to nonstop retweeters, but as you've demonstrated there are profoundly smart and interesting tweeters can be. But for me – someone who only after many years only now feels comfortable engaging in long conversations with more than one person – twitter is too much of a engagement, a commitment even. I'm afraid that if I ever subscribe I'll become too mentally overwhelmed or feel even more disconnected and alone on the net; for now, I'll just stick to what I'm good at – writing and slow mental digestion.

Ebert: And that, my friend, is a very good place to be, although no one reading your comments would say you're not smart and interesting.

Roger - you are the Tweet Commander. The teacher. The standard setter.

I agree that Twitter can be a conversation. Weird as that is, since it's a one way 140 character thought. It is awesome when it becomes interactive and bi-directional.

I like the internet, but I don't want to become its love slave.

Golden, that thought. Golden.

It is addictive. No doubt. I'd write more here, but I need to go check Twitter...

I think Gemini + Twitter = Roger Ebert. :)

Tweeting is like being a color commentator for the path of ideas in the brain. It's fun going back trying to make sense of past stream-of-conscience tweets.

Actually, I wouldn't know if it's fun, because I keep getting distracted before I actually do it.

Right now, I would tweet that my gratitude and that I'm humbled by the mention above. I'd try to sound like my fellow bihari @natashabadhwar in doing so, but she's too good.

Omer M

Well,the problem with most of Twits are we become so easily commenting on just about anything,including those things that we don't really know. Those comments are so superficial. Usually people who twit like this defend themselves by saying "Twitter doesn't represent who you really are" or "Whatever happens in Twitterland stay in Twitterland" or something else like it. This is confusing. I used to be a Twit that I've described above, but I know that all those things I said are my real quick and stupid comments. I don't see the need of defending myself. I only see the need to change my twiting behaviour.

Now, I used my account, @labirinfilm , I discuss movies with my fellow Indonesian moviegoers. Anyway, good for you, Roger, now that you start to find calming activity to balance the hectic surfing. :)

You, sir, know how to make a girl blush. I'm so glad you see my bizarre bipolar neuroses as "A life led urgently." To say I am humbled and flattered beyond belief to be included in this article would be an understatement.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must retire to my fainting couch to take all this in. *wink*

I have read and enjoyed your movie reviews in my local paper for awhile now. I may not have always agreed, but I have always appreciated your candor and eloquence. So it was that a few days ago, I discovered Twitter and became a follower. Since that time, I have wondered how you felt about the ability to communicate in such a way. So, now I know. Thank you for the insight, and please, continue. I look forward to reading the next comment you care to share, whatever it be about.
Take care and clear skies.

Nice..Your gist & lesson: Now that you have tried Twitter its the the best thing since sliced bread. Hey I'm guilty of many such - Twitter included - and as I had tweeted a while back - looking forward to your recant on Video Games.

No time to post, Rodge! I've wound up answering every single tweeter on my list! Thank GOD it's only 140 spaces a tweet.. like this comment!

@tomdark9

Well, remember the six-word-story challenge and Hemingway's entry "For sale: Baby shoes. Never used." Apparently he later said it was the best thing he'd ever written.

Ebert: Naturally I just tweeted this.

Here's something to tweet:

Japanese proverb: art is the illusion of spontaneity.

Twitter is a way to connect with others scattered throughout the world. I wake in the morning and can read about overnight events elsewhere, watch people scattered across the globe celebrate the Black Hawks win without knowing each other - and also despair at unfolding events. Twitter helps us connect and learn from each other on a global scale and it is a joy to share and learn from people like you, and through you learn and share with others. It is a journey of discovery as to how amazing people across this planet are.

If I were a tweet(?), it'd be wisdom consuming:

Here might be one if I were a twitter...er:

If one aims for the highest knowledge, it will raise the knowledge of lesser things.

or

I'm only interested in knowledge that unites mankind.

I think I've done both of those, with the finding out of the rhythm of the universe or multiverse: the world. That's my life's work and I accomplished it without any books. It's a door open to all who wish to discover its meaning; it may be the key to everything; it may be the end for the need of the separate religions or maybe religion itself will not be needed or maybe it is the essence of religion; it's everything. Let's find out what everything is.

Roger, I enjoyed following you on twitter for quite some time and enjoyed, oh say... 95% of the uncannily bizarre internet treasures you shared. Thank you for my first introduction to Mr. Trololo!

But the other 5%? The reason I had to unfollow you was because clicking your links eventually and inevitably lead to naked boobies... and that's not good for this married man.

Ebert: Oops, I'll try to be more aware of that. Didn't I say NSFW?

Yes, I know what you mean when you say:

"I like the internet, but I don't want to become its love slave."

If the internet is sex, I'd like to be on top and in control. (hehe)

I'm so glad twitter is making up for the delivery of your one-liners. I'll definitely check out your recommended twits :)

Roger, do you prefer typing during a conversation or writing on the notepad? I'd prefer the latter. I think.

Sorry, perhaps, to rain on the parade, but, I can't think of anything less damaging to true human communication that this twittering business. If we wait long enough I suppose we'll see people walking around with Virtual Reality goggles that they use eye motions of to send glyphs to other users anywhere in the world. I send you a duck, you send me petunias! Oh, aren't we all so profound, or at least, profoundly plugged in. Frightening, an entire generation absorbed into a set of media (Fbook, Mspace, etc.) utterly incapable of transmitting profound ideas from one mind to another. Deconstruct your Recycling Bin and you may find Gottfried Leibniz hiding in there, all alone.

Dear Roger;

Emily Rooney's panel show "Beat the Press" on WGBH-TV was pretty hard on the "Old Grey Lady" tonight. The NYT frowns on the use of the word "tweet". The panel seemed to think it was the lone cry of a dinosaur.

But I must say I think you are doing harm to yourself by indulging in such an extensive use of Twitter. Whether it's high fructose corn syrup or holding a cell phone up to our brain we always seem to find that most things aren't as good for us as we first thought.

Here's hoping that in your case Twitter is more of a writer's "speed bag" than a plate of "fudge".

Rog, I am humbled by this mention and of your opinion that I make good political tweets. Thank you. How I see it is that I have always had an immense interest in anything globally relevant. In my line of work which involves a lot of travel, I meet a lot of interesting people and can't help but get involved in their ways of life.

Not trying to sound too high-falutin', but many people I meet are astonished by how much I know about their cultures, politics, sports and films. I can't help it. I love knowing as much as possible about the world. I'm glad that Twitter exists in allowing me to share that.

Ebert: Your tweets reveal curiosity and intelligence on a global scale.

People keep telling my to join Twitter; I guess I'm just holding back from totally digitally assimilating myself--for now, anyway.

I avoid twitter because I feel like I already have barely enough time in a day to do all the other things I want to do, and being constantly drawn to post or read little snippets of wisdom and non-wisdom sounds like a time draining activity if there ever was one.

But I wish you all the best in your twittering career, good sir.

So Roger vowed he would never Twit, and now finds himself addicted to Twitter. What next, video games?
All kidding aside, your mention of deliberately making time to read books points out the problem with Twitter, video games, and Internet usage in general: They aren't so bad in and of themselves, but the problem is the amount of time they take away from other, more worthwhile pursuits.
Now I need a beer.

Uninterrupted persistent fluid vision of thought seems to be characteristic of reading a book, for me at least. However, I find I always provide myself a piece of type paper as a bookmark so I can transcribe thoughts immediately from the pen. Thoughts, emotions, utterances, single words have the power to initiate whole processes of exploration that seem inimitable on the internet. There is no rule, however, stating that I can't return to that type paper and confess on Twitter the re-uptake of my mind during that previous submergence into book functionalism. There is just a greater likelihood of originality when the source material is a novel.

Showing up on ebertchicago's radar?--well, that's a process in itself.

I've never managed to get into Twitter. I do think, like you, that some of the posters are brilliant and that some of their Tweets are great and that you can lose A LOT of time surfing from one Twitter user to another and clicking on all their great links. However, I generally find the shortness format as terrible and constraining as you find it wonderful and liberating. It's hard or impossible to say some things- most things- in 140 or less characters. And, if it is possible to say it, it's hard or impossible to say it WELL.

So count me out when it comes to Twitter. Though thank you for Twittering a while back about my letter to you! I can't believe I made it to Roger Ebert's Twitter!

I recently joined Twitter about a month ago, and sadly have a following of...hmmm...four people, maybe? Really, it is quite pitiful. But I do enjoy the nature of Twitter. Trying to cram all of that writing energy into 140 characters makes me feel like the Genie in Aladdin, with all of this MASSIVE, AMAZING power, but forced to squish it into a teeny-tiny living space.

Thanks for this article--very interesting read.

I only follow 15 people, and only get 15 people in return, but I'm sort of fine with that, because I like reading everything and even 15 people can get to be a bit much.

I try to be interesting. That's almost the only criterion I follow. I'm not sure if I succeed on any level that would interest people outside of my life, though.

Some people attack Twitter for being shallow, but some people will attack anything for any reason if it's new and unfamiliar. I guess you can criticize it for not letting people go into depth, but that's not what it's for, and there are other avenues for that, and there's room for them all.

Apparently, though, in languages like Japanese where you can convey much more in fewer characters, the feel of Twitter is completely different, as you're not really constrained by brevity in the same sense. Are they gaining or losing something, relative to what we think of when we think of Twitter?

Thank you for pointing me to FavStar today in your tweets. Another useful tangential Twitter app.

I found 14 new people to follow there today. Coincidentally, all had cute-girl icons. Go figure...

Thank you for another wonderfully thoughtful entry to your journal. I have been fascinated by your embrace of these blog and twitter thingamabobs. I think the glimpse you provide here largely explains why.

I am a horrible Twit, double entendre notwithstanding. I'm not one of those people that bleeds onto the page. I cough up a lung. Each word puts up such a fight before it leaves through my fingertips. I resisted the Twitter phenomenon, I tell myself, because I fear its addictive qualities (and I do). But the truth is I find the exercise takes a degree of energy and fearlessness that I often cannot muster. I struggle with the cost-benefit disparity between the disproportionate amount of patience and will needed to tap out those measly 140 characters.

And yet I find myself wanting to experiment with Twitter anyway. Why? To a large extent, it's from following you and some of your favorite Twits that you've been kind enough to share. You've helped me to discover how in the right hands 140 characters can provide a powerful outlet for honing one's writing. I'm thankful for that. And I will continue to tinker in the hope that one day my words will find a more pleasant path to the page.

Thank you and may you keep up in conversation.

I admit, I have tried to twit, but I simply can't say something that reflects what I'm really thinking in 140 characters or less. My brain just doesn't work that way. When I first read "The Catcher in the Rye" there was a part near the beginning that really spoke to me; it's when Holden Caulfield talks about being in class and all the students yelling "Digression!" while he tries to do an oral report of some kind. Until then I had not totally identified with Holden. Yet, that's me in a nutshell.

Take today for example. I heard the class change bell at the school near my house and thought of how this same bell had rung, announcing phantom classes, all throughout the summer of 1983 because nobody had remembered to turn it off. Then I thought of how it had been a hot, dry summer and how the nearby river had dried up and how a man was supposed to have killed a girl and buried her body in the muddy banks somewhere. Which, at the time, got ten year old me wondering if the man could hear the bell all the way down to the river while he dug.

I'm sure I could chop this somewhat rambling thought down, streamline it, cut out all the fat, remove some of the useless detail, and make it fit the 140 character limit. Yet, it would always feel like a synopsis of what I was thinking.

However, I completely understand those who twitter. I am, after all, a guy who carries a digital voice recorder everywhere he goes and uses it to record an audio diary of random thoughts, ideas and memories. Twitter functions in much the same way, and I believe that the fleeting thoughts we have can tell us more about ourselves than a thousand pages of prose.

Ebert: No way you can tell that story in 140 characters. Or can you?

"Did her killer hear the bells of her school ringing as he buried her?"

I used to not think much of Twitter myself. I didn't understand why I should care about people sitting in their living room watching "The Simpsons." I still don't, but once I could connect it to my various websites and turn it into a mass media tool to share my articles I've fallen in love with it. On top of it being a good marketing tool I too found myself drawn into the world of tweets.

Now I tweet random thoughts I have. One about nerds got re-tweeted to an extent that surprised me a bit. Then when I got Tweet Deck it made the whole world of Twitter make much more sense. Not sure what program you use to tweet, but on the PC and Mac Tweet Deck makes the most sense to me. Many people have wondered why this simple website took the world by storm. I think your article helps put the craze into proper perspective.

I enjoy reading your twits because they are alternately incisive & witty and stimulating and startlingly prejudiced & ignorant and stimulating. For me, "stimulating" is the important part.

And of course, you articles? (see above)

Always priceless.

Did you see Steven Pinker in yesterday's NYT, on why the brain will not (necessarily) make you Twitter's love slave? It made _me_ feel a little better, anyway:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion/11Pinker.html?pagewanted=print

And thanks once again for including me in such good company!

As always, a wonderful and thought-provoking blog post. I've been a long-time reader of this blog, but I haven't felt compelled to comment until now, because what you said really helped me realize the full potential of Twitter, a site I had long thought of as rather useless. Another thing that helped me come to this realization, and definitely warrants mention: the protests and subsequent "Green Revolution" that erupted from the contested election in Iran that took place a year ago this week. In the communication crackdown that took place in the aftermath, Twitter was one of the few tools protesters could use to organize, alert their friends and the rest of the world what was going on, and send inspiring, beautiful messages that showcased (however clichéd it may be) the power of the human spirit and the desire for justice in the face of oppression.

If you look at my Twitter, I am definitely one of the bores you mentioned, but I have an excuse: I am still very new to the site, and because I tend to be long-winded I find it hard to compress any meaningful thoughts, or important things I want to say, in 140 characters or less. Perhaps, in spite of everything, Twitter is not the best place for that sort of thing, though I have no doubt most people commenting here would agree. I mostly use mine to talk to friends, to follow and retweet bloggers I find interesting, and to have in case of emergencies. This post has inspired me to take my Twitter from "boring" to at least "mildly interesting/informative/entertaining," but alas, I have more pressing matters in my life right now, so it will probably have to wait.

One last thought: may I suggest you follow @feministhulk? You can find more information about him in this very informative interview. You don't have to be a comic book aficionado to find his tweets entertaining. ;-)

I used to disdain Twitter; but then I imagined the great writers who would have thrived on the format:

Shakespeare, with all his characters' mesmerizing/snarky/self-important/wise asides. If "A little more than kin, and less than kind" isn't an ef-you-and-the-(kingdom-for-a-)horse-you-rode-in-on tweet, what is?

Mark Twain, always ready with something short and sharp: "You can't reach old age by another man's road. My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you." (on his 70th birthday)

Oscar Wilde: Take your pick.

And what fun it would be to get a couplet every once in a while from Cole Porter, letting us know you're a rose, you're Inferno's Dante, you're the nose on the great Durante.

And of course Groucho, who at the end of his tweeting day might inform us, "I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."

So the trick is not to bemoan tweeting, but the kind of Twits you run into.

Like you, I said I'd never be a Twit. Like you, I eventually joined Twitter. I blame SIFF. And for my continued presence on Twitter, I blame all the nice people who welcomed me onto the site. Tom was the first person to notice I had joined; Grace was the first person to send me a direct comment. And then when you have Wael tweeting everyone to check out my blog, and your occasional tweets of comments that I write here...:-)

Also, nice to see that you're doing for Twits what you did for bloggers with your "The Blogs of My Blog" post.

After I'm done writing about SIFF, I think I'm going to do something else for a while. Like rest.

First, let me say that I am honored to be one of the few people you have chosen to follow on twitter. Not because I value your name- as associated with your incredible accomplishments, but because I truly value and *feel* the joy you have for life and the appreciation you have for the little things that keep us present and fully alive.

In a day and age where we're constantly bombarded with images, ironically, seeking to hold our attention for longer than a few minutes, your energy on twitter seems to slow the pace long enough for us to truly appreciate the quality of your posts. I am an activist, humanitarian and social worker.... but you'd never be able to tell by my tweets. I use twitter for levity in the otherwise overwhelming and draining environment of my daily life. My tweets are humorous observations of daily life and many people have asked me why I do not use twitter as a platform to raise awareness. Though my answer may never fully satisfy some, it fulfills my need for self-care and balance.... and frankly, if I didn't keep it light-hearted on twitter, I wouldn't be holding on to my sanity in the real world. What I've also found, however, that what started out as an escape of sorts, has turned into a community of rich stories, intriguing personalities, and brilliant writers. And let me just say that we do not give intelligent humor enough credit; especially with twitter's 140 character limit. A friend once said that we often give great writers credit for having a sense of humor, but we rarely give comedians or funny individuals credit for being incredibly witty and brilliant thinkers. It's what I've come to appreciate on twitter and it's the reason I continue to "escape" into a land that's unapologetically human in it's candor and undeniably *real* in it's journey into our every day lives.

I look forward to the many connections yet to be made, the endless stories, links, discussions, and morning observations on sunlit porches across the world.

@JoyPlaza

Ebert: Another person I follow, who tweets as a sexpot in heat, has a personal life in which most waking hours are devoted in infinite patience to caring for her mentally dysfunctional relatives. You never know.

I wish I was interesting.

Wow, what an honour to wake up to this!

I have to admit, I follow a lot of the people you talk about for the reasons you name. Obviously, I discovered many of them through you. But I also feel like we grew into something of a community. We became curious about each other and started having conversations of our own. That's the beauty of the whole thing, isn't it?

Also, it's forced me to put a lot more effort into the blog. I have a lot more readers now, and while I don't blog as often as I'd like, I want them to feel good about having stopped by.

One wee specification, though: the husband unit and I aren't actually on a honeymoon; we're staying and waiting in Spain while Canada's immigration ministry gives his British ass permission to return to Canada with me, as a legitimate resident. We had a whole life there before all this, and we sincerely hope not too much will have change when we return to our beloved Montreal. Most people who do this have to live separately for their "immigration year." We're lucky enough to have worked out a way to still be together, and travel a bit to boot. Just the same, during this year of partial isolation, it's delightful to be part of this Twitter conversation, especially considering the beautiful minds involved.

Ebert: Forced to be newlyweds in Spain for a year! I suspect you will think back and agree Canada did you a huge favor.

The minute by minute musings of even Albert Einstein would not deserve an audience, let alone the disruption from what's true and important in the lives of others. Have fun feeling 'connected' in the vacuum that you've created.

If it's not worth reading 7 days from now, it's not worth sharing now.

Ebert: My point exactly. That's why my tweets are timeless.

I read this interesting article about how tweeting has changed the box office landscape in Entertainment Weekly. Word-of-mouth has now become word-of-tweet.

I'm thinking, when you have people who will listen and interesting people you can follow, tweeting can be a pleasure. That's not the case for someone like me. I created a twitter for my blog (@flickpmonster), and I have 12 followers. I'm following 100 people, a good portion of those interesting. However, I would not go on Twitter simply to listen to other people talk about things. Since basically I'm, as a friend of mine described it, "tweeting into a void," I think I can find better things to do. That's not to say that I don't occasionally find myself on the site (somewhat more at times), but I don't receive much encouragement, and it hasn't really done anything for my blog, so I don't think a full-fledged addiction really will ever sprout. Perhaps that's good, though, since I already have enough other addictions...

i respect what twitter provides, especially for someone who cannot speak. i tweeted for about a month but quit because it felt pretentious to imagine others waiting for my 140. however, to argue with myself, i've been blogging for about seven years. i suppose that's not very different. i use facebook often, which is like tweeting to a ssmall group of friends.

i already spend too much time on the internet, but i rationalize it by focusing on how much time i spend writing and not on youtube. i'm already neglecting the real world: too many weeds need to be pulled, can't remember the last time i vacuumed, haven't touched a tennis court in over a month, garage needs to be swept and organized, sent six queries for my novel and quit.

twitter will only add more to that list.

Man, if you got addicted to Twitter, better stay the hell away from Farmtown!

Oh, by the way...I just picked up your Yearbook for 2010. Thank-you so much for the immortality!

I haven't signed on to Twitter, but I do get your feeds. Three feeds for the Ebertverse - journal, twitter, and club.

By no means do I read all the tweets, but love that it has given you a way to jump in to the conversation spontaneously. If I see a blurb that catches the eye I'll check it out.

I find that I do not read as well with the laptop up and running and the television on. When I really want to concentrate must focus.

I'm happy you are finding balance. And, yes, twitter isn't IM, something I don't do either.

I went looking for I-am-ozma, but could not find that user, and worried that perhaps the account had been deleted.

But no - the correct user name is I_am_ozma - a very subtle difference which underscores why some people hate computers. (I, being a computer aficionado for 38 of my 50 years, simple nod my head and say "So that's what I did wrong.")

Ebert: Took me three tries to see it.

It's interesting, Roger. You say you like Twitter more than Facebook. But I never tweet, i find it totally useless for me since i have no following. Whereas, I love facebook and use it every day to reach out and communicate with people about ideas I have. I also get only a few replies, but that's better than the zero tally on Twitter. Smile. But for you and your huge following, i can see how Twitter works for you and often read your tweets to find good nuggets and links. But it's not for everyone. yes or no?

PS: and the NYTimes recently banned the use of the word "tweet" or "tweets" in articles now. Per the memo of Standards enforcer Philip b. Corbett. Sigh.

Am I boring?

Next thing we know, you'll be calling video games art! ;)

Brevity is the soul of wit, or so says the bard.

"There needs to be time for efficient data collection and time for inefficient contemplation, time to operate the machine and time to sit idly in the garden."

- Nicholas Carr (again)

Ted! Thanking Roger for the Trololo man? Hasn't he Awards and Prizes enough? Accolades? Love?

Nay, nay. My son had been digging around YouTube for Russian videos. He sent me a Russian cooking show where the chef was obviously very drunk, and also this... walking hairdo, humming and tra-la-la-ing. It took off like crazy. It was weeks before I realized that the Trololo Man was drunk too. That explains the whole thing.

Other vids proved that Trololo Man, Edvard Khil, was a prominent Russian folk singer, who'd popularized many Russian folk songs about being drunk.

Here is Edvard Khil's 35th take doing "Trololo" that night, still drunk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ78IlJs5JQ

Like sonnets, tweets drive Pithiness. The more logorrheic amongst us will be Pithed Off.

to jodi leigh,

i started my blog about six or seven years ago and nobody read it except my daughter and me. i knew nothing about it except that it seemed like a good writing exercise, which it is. since then, i marvel at the cluster map that shows a red dot from the worldwide locations of each reader, including a little place near chicago.

i learned that if you want people to read your thoughts, you've got to read theirs. browse blogs and tweeters, twitters, twits, whatever. don't glance. read. read with thought. then leave a comment with thought. i have many readers, but i don't have many comments, and that's okay. knowing that someone is reading my words in qatar, moldova, miami, and australia feels amazing. i don't know if it works the same way with twitter because i don't use it. perhaps you have to "follow" people, and then they'll follow back. not sure. what i am sure is that nobody will read or follow if you don't have something relevant to say.

i was on a guy's website about the misuse of language. i've been a literature teachers for 22 years, so i pasted a link to my blog entry about my language pet peeves. for the next two months, more than half of my traffic came from people who first read his post, saw my link in my comment, and then clicked over to my post.

i used blogger, a.k.a. blogspot for six years. two months ago, on the advice of the IT person at my school, i switched over to wordpress. since then my traffic has more than doubled, likely because wordpress has more "writers" and "readers" and fewer snarky rants. my daughter, who is on blogspot, writes wonderful poetry that makes me cringe because i don't want her to write with what seems such experience about love, anguish, and longing. she's either too in love with someone or has outstanding empathy, which a poet needs.

browse. read. think. leave a comment. they will return the favor, and you never know what it could lead to.

i think wordpress is more grown up. a guy from chicago said the layout is easier on the eyes, but i don't think he really knows anything about blogging.

Hello Roger.

I am an aspiring film critic, and this summer, a friend of mine hired me as his assistant to his search engine optimization business (whatever that is). He told me to just write about stuff that he needs for the growth of his business.

He required me to leave comments on a social site that should receive "Thumbs Up" (Haha) so that it would become popular and people would link to it.

Since my only requirement was to get the Thumbs Up, I wrote comments that were in par with the flow of the thread.

People "there" hates Twitter with a burning passion. And when I started doing this commenting thingy, I had zero idea what people were really doing at Twitter.

But after reading your post, I was greatly touched on how much it has helped you engage in new friendships and meaningful conversations. I am very very happy for you Roger.

And after reading the tweets from the people you follow, I am moved at the sight that there are tweets that are informative, touching, funny and relevant in many many ways. I once had a thought in my mind, with a huge thanks to the hate from what I was exposed before,that most tweets out there are useless. Oh, was wrong was I.

I think I may just give Twitter a try.

Ebert: If you had linked to his site I'd suspect you of...oh, never mind...you didn't.

Twitter for me has been an interesting experience. Your passion for ideas has led me to fascinating places and through your tweets I've met the wonderful Tom Dark and he has been a most interesting twitterer. I'm learning what I like and how I communicate in this new terrain. I'm also regretting my user name (sgrant317) and wishing I could pick a new more creative one.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but the New York Times just banned the word "tweet" when not used to describe the sound a bird makes.

CNN story is here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/06/11/new.york.times.tweet/index.html?hpt=T3

"I like the internet, but I don't want to become its love slave."

That's a great line, Roger! You should tweet that. :-)

It seems Harold Bloom is now on the precipice of using Twitter. If Mr. Bloom uses it, who's left. Mind you this is the man who said children might as well not read at all if they are only reading Harry Potter.

Wikipedia says: "Twitter collects personally identifiable information about its users and shares it with third parties. The service considers that information an asset, and reserves the right to sell it if the company changes hands."

Ebert: I don't think I've revealed much of anything to them. Famous last tweets.

It seems Harold Bloom is now on the precipice of using Twitter. If Mr. Bloom uses it, who's left. Mind you this is the man who said children might as well not read at all if they are only reading Harry Potter.

It's a great place for me to throw out thoughts that I don't think are worth a full blog post.

The way you use twitter is an example for everyone. You are not only one of my favorites to follow, but I do believe you are one of the best tweeters out there. You have taken on difficult topics and synthesized insightful comments to 140 characters. Your re-tweeting comments from followers is a game I enjoy not only for the content of the RTs but also for the thrill you've given the authors. Thank you Roger Ebert! I have gotten to know you in ways a blog would never have allowed and my cyber-life is better for it.

I gather by what you say in your article, and since you do not follow me, you are not a fan, as I am of you. :0

Ebert: It's not like you went out of your way to give us a hint of your name @twitter.

Glad you mentioned that you don't Tweet during movies. I didn't think you would, but it seems like you Tweet so often that it's possible.

At first I was annoyed that your entries filled up my Twitter feed. But now I've grown accustomed to it and enjoy your posts. My only thought is that maybe you retweet your friends a little too much.

Victory!

Editor Jim Emerson has repaired the glitch that was preventing new comments from being added to this entry: An unclosed HTML tag on @bleakey's Twitter. Not her fault. Not really mine, because @bleakey looked fine for a day or two before the code went missing

More like a dataabse hiccup...

Roger, you and you alone proved to me that Twitter can actually be a useful tool for sharing and communicating, and not just another dumb-it-down app. As a playwright, I'm always trying to cut, edit, and distill speech down to its essence, so why not try to share thoughts, philosophies, and even links & pictures with as much economy - and wit - as possible?

Thank you for showing us how it's done. If you're interested: @Casarino.

I've only just started - but thus far, Twitter seems like a wonderful, controlled way of expressing the nonsense that normally spews from my mouth. I view Twitter as my own version of a comedy "relief well".

I very much enjoy your Tweets. Best of luck and congratulations on your Webby!

@OKSettleDown

Okay, I'm sold on Twitter.
You know what did it? Your putting up that one tweet poem of Natasha Badhwar (natashabadhwar) on this column.
For years I had ridiculed Twitter and Twits.
What first made me look at Twitter differently was how in media-repressed Now your use of it. There really are no words to describe adequately the boon it is to hear that someone, without a voice, is engaging in more conversations than ever. As a Twit.
While there is too much chaff in it for the kernels you get, I'm in awe of the thing now, actually.
After health, the most important thing we have is a voice in whatever form, voice, music, art, writing, math, whatever.
Thanks, Mr. Ebert. Through you, an unexpected discovery.
Twitter is poetry.

I think I like Keith Charles Dovoric's comment the best. He uses a lot of fancy words, so maybe he could remind me what the word is for when you look down at others for doing something by doing that thing. Seriously - it's at the tip of my brain and it'll just drive me crazy all day. Sure, he's not tweeting (that we know of), but a blog comment's just a longer form of tweet, right?

I want to say hypocrisy, but I don't think that's what I'm thinking of.

Anyway, great article, Mr. Ebert! I had been badgered into setting up a Twitter account some time ago but had never really done anything with it. After reading this, I decided to pay more attention to Twitter and I'm understanding the draw much more. I'll forward my angry supervisor's emails about the dip in productivity to your attention.

For me, Twitter is a way to force myself to not be so long-winded, as well as get back into the habit of writing my thoughts down somewhere. I don't care about the number of followers I have or if anyone's even paying attention. It just makes me happy to get words out of my brain. I had a bout of cancer myself and the treatments for it have really changed the way my brain works. Words no longer come easily to me (is it "lack of self-awareness" I'm thinking of? No, doesn't sound right either) and getting back in the habit of typing them out is helping get the muscles in shape. And I owe it all to you! Thanks!

Yikes! One of the few times I didn't copy/paste comment to textedit as backup. You would think I learned that lesson by now. Been only a few years since Win 3.1 was released.

BackOnTopic:

When I first heard of twitter I thought it was glorified SMS or even something evolved from 1980s BBS (the message sub system). I am glad I was misinformed. Twitter is a conversation space that is better than IM, more useful than IRC and kicks a forums butt as a real-time message system. Great essay!

Before I forget; happy birthday. I know I am early but I am bad at remembering birthdays. Thank club newsletter for giving me a clue

Sincerely,

@fairuse

I don't use Twitter as a communication tool, but as a writing tool (@poetryduh). The 140 character limit serves as a challenge and a prompt. It forces me to say what I want to say with brevity and clarity. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out by not using it to talk to other people, but as a previous commenter so combatively pointed out, what makes me think I have anything worth saying to them? Should I feel compelled/entitled to communicate with accomplished people? It seems they desire that connection with their fans; why else would they be on Twitter? Does this make Twitter an equalizer or an egoizer? And does it even matter? I don't think so. I'm just in it for the words--my own and the words of the people I follow.

“Tweet, Tweet," chirp the Birds of Incoherence. Twitter and the rest of the social networks represent the last rites of a culture bent on relentless self-affirmation, which started with malevolent motivational gurus like Tim Leary and wormed its way through the late-70s and 80s with comic archetypes such as Stuart Smalley. A sort of walking manual for the Reality-TV gen, these networks trade spirit for spittle, thus napalming us all with garrulous gossip, unlimited non-sequiturs, and a Mount Everest of pointless intrigue and folk-psychology. People love it, extolling its Egrarian attributes as the final means by which to dismantle the barricades between doctor and patient, politician and voter, producer and consumer, celebrity and fanboy. To paraphrase the last sane person on record, Thoreau – when it was argued that the telegraph’s innovation made it possible for people in different states to communicate instantly – but what would they say? More importantly, who would be left to care or even listen? When all manner of information, either personal or public, becomes indistinguishable, who remains left to siphon through the detritus? I find it tragicomic that the tagline of this movement urges one and all to “Join the conversation,” while encouraging – by design or not – the fostering of alienation.

Moreover, I question the intellectual integrity of such anecdotal insouciance. Am I to understand that somehow, by way of these ubiquitous mechanisms, people have been rendered brighter, more worthy of expressing their opinions? That dullards are now spouting wisdom this side of Kierkegaard? How is this so? One need only be reminded of the absurd, posthumous platitudes bestowed on Michael Jackson courtesy of yet another Lockean brainiac, Liz Taylor. What we are left with, essentially, is a patchwork tabloid to which any Tom, Dick, and Harriet can happily contribute.

Forgive my Luddite-leanings, but I fail to see any of this as a positive. Anyway, let’s “join the conversation” as we talk ourselves silly all the way down to the festering, backed-up toilet once known as a reasonably lucid civilization.

I find the biggest drawback of Twitter to be the ease of use. Normally, for me that is, I try to present a high brow take on theater and life, yet I'm constantly derailed by the booze soaked voice the tweets needless quips about barroom heroes. Silver lining being that I've gathered more "followers" whilst indulging than when not.

@TheNizzz

Roger: I'm still a bit curious as to how you came upon the poetic Twitters. Did they send their tweets to you? Or do you comb through many tweets and look for the more poetic ones? Or did you know these folks already?

A

Ebert: Find one, and they'll have found others. Nobody I follow retweets junk. And I found some among my new followers via my little game "Tweeto."

Twitter is all about finding the right tweeters. Roger Ebert is the best tweeter to start with because he is prolific, informed, and entertaining. I like a mix of friends, humor, politics, and LGBT news. I follow about 175 tweeters, mostly in those categories. Some are famous, some are people I've never heard of but found through retweets or follow recommendations.

My own tweets are like prayers in that I send them out with a little faith that someone will read them, but I only rarely get confirmation that reading occurs, when I get retweeted or someone flags a tweet as a favorite.

I also swore off Twitter for months and months, but as soon as I joined, I got addicted immediately. I remember a few weeks ago, Roger posted a journal link to the Twitpic live feed, where every time you visit, there's something different, and I immediately included it in my daily website visits. Always interesting.

For me, it works like any other social networking site. I've met some great people, and every day I seem to find someone new and exciting to follow. Roger also introduced me to @LCJReviews, a 12 year old kid who reviews movies more honestly and succinctly than tons of other critics. I'm almost up to 1000 tweets and even though not all of mine are superb, I feel like it's a way for people to constantly keep in touch with my random thoughts of the day. Twitter is definitely the wave of the future.

Oh, and I'm @alifefilmodic.

A year ago, I asked my love to kill me if I ever became a Twit (as opposed to a twit, which I've been for ages). Sneering down my nose at it, I couldn't imagine why I'd stoop to the inanity.

Am currently on enforced rest trying to heal a shoulder - have rheumatoid arthritis and frequently injure myself due to consistently overestimating my abilities - and... Tweeting may become what saves my sanity. I am a writer who can't write, but Twitter? It's only 140 characters! I can do that without impeding the healing (too much, anyway)

Also, reading the good ones like yourself and trawling through your recommendations is much better than watching the dust accumulate.

It's funny that I also thought I would never use twitter after reading your previous post. However, in last month, I entered the world of the twitter after realizing that I did not have to buy any special equipment like BlackBerry for twittering.

Twittering was time-consuming for me due to intense fascination at first. And my brain was equipped with several clocks for international time(They're recently corrected with Summer time).

Now, after four weeks, I'm adjusted at certain degree. You and your twitter gangs have been useful for providing valuable information, clever humor, thoughtful observations, and other interesting twitters to me when I can afford some time. After the observation of several weeks, I discovered the pattern, and my main monitoring time is usually after my dinnertime when most of twitters I've been following go to their beds. I like a quiet space.

In my twitter profile, I tell people(except FFC members and people I met at Ebertfest) not to follow me. I'm usually a observer- but not a good twitter. I keep myself low and watch others. Nevertheless, sometimes there is urge to say something, so I have been hurling more than 400 tweets at the void now. There are many twits I regret to write, but, thank God, nothing disastrous has happened yet while I have swim around the sea of twitters.

P.S.
Congratulation on the Webby Award.

I tried Twitter but I could not get into it. I very much like to write; it is one of my favorite things to do. When I write, I like to write a lot. Twitter doesn't allow one to write that much because of the character limitation, and there is not much I can express on Twitter.

If I ate something that I disliked, I could say a lot about how it made me feel. Unfortunately, all I could probably write on Twitter was that it tasted bad.

Another problem with Twitter is that it is mostly for following celebrities. It is too much a part of our celebrity obsessed culture. I did enjoy your Tweets Roger, especially all the wonderful links you posted. You posted links to many interesting articles that I enjoyed reading and posted on Facebook.

Facebook has its problems, but I used it more often than Twitter because I could write more.

Yes, it's nice but I still miss 3-D people.

I am glad to be in the dark on Twitter. To "tweet" sounds painful enough, but to "retweet" sounds like a fate worse than death.

I think I'd rather get caught with cheap hookers.

Ebert: Twitter has those, too.

Roger Ebert wrote on June 16, 2010 1:02 PM:

"Victory!
Editor Jim Emerson has repaired the glitch that was preventing new comments from being added to this entry: An unclosed HTML tag on @bleakey's Twitter. Not her fault. Not really mine, because @bleakey looked fine for a day or two before the code went missing
More like a dataabse hiccup..."

Er, I think I may be a victim of 140 character overdose. I can see words placed carefully next to one another in the above comment. I'm also certain I recognize sentences, and maybe even a paragraph. But I cannot for the life of me figure out what any of it means.

Everything started out so well. I was so moved while reading this eloquent love letter of a Journal entry, I determined to spend more time on Twitter. And now look at me. I'm toast.

Sigh. Whatever will be will be, I guess. No matter the medium, Roger, I suspect I'll be reading.

Roger, thank you for this insightful post. I'm glad to have found you. Your depth and range of perception is hard to come by.

I believe Twitter is the most powerful networking tool that exists. I am continually learning from using it -- mostly how others use it, how others identify or "brand" themselves, different approaches to blogging ....I mean, everywhere I look there is something to learn.

I see Twitter a little like the human brain: endless potential, much of it untapped by the average person; highly intelligent, with real creative muscle if you can teach yourself how to work it.

Again, Roger, a pleasure -- and thank you for what you are doing.

Jesse

"Lean on something living; let shoulders carry mental oars. Depend on a body breathing, exhale as if a tree's lungs joined yours." Twitterworthy?

For many years my husband and I have referred to you as "Tweety Bird" when discussing movies - for example, "'Tweety Bird' hated it," or "'Tweety Bird' gave it four stars" - because we thought you looked like Tweety Bird. Little did we know...

Dear Roger,

I have known your name and your reviews for years, even though I don't live in the United States and have never seen any of your shows when they aired. Although I don't agree with you all the time, I respect your judgment. When I stumbled upon your blogs, I was intrigued in your train of thought, to get to know your interests. It wasn't until this spring that I came upon Twitter. I'm not a fan of social networks and Twitter was a concept that just didn't appeal to me at first. I still don't tweet a lot. But shortly after I joined Twitter someone pointed me toward your account and said, "Roger Ebert is on Twitter". I 'followed' you and was overwhelmed. Both the amount of posts you tweeted and the quality was simply astounding. From one day to another I had the feeling to get to know you better with every tweet. Being able to listen in on your thoughts, one gets a sensation of exclusivity, as if you were only tweeting for me, and when someone asked what I was reading, I said "Tweets from Roger", as if you were my friend – although we don't even know each other and I don't think you'd be very interested in knowing me at all.
Anyway, I started reading your tweets and entered what I call the Ebertverse (Ebert-universe). Your thoughts are sometimes provoking sometimes show a tender lenity that would do good in many people. Your way with words is what Mozart must have been like with notes. It is not merely fascinating but intoxicating. Getting a part of that, getting a glimpse of what goes on in your head is empowering sometimes. And it makes me feel so small at other times. That is what great writing should be like. To be able to squeeze that into 140 characters is a gift.
Mostly it is not just your tweets, but also your re-tweets that startle with topics completely unknown or overlooked. You post links to interesting news or articles and one gets to read what interests you. Most of the time, when I open a link of yours it leads to many other stories. As if you are a catalyst and taking a look through that looking glass starts off a whole other journey or takes it into another, unforeseen direction. I can only thank you for that and I wish you all the best and health above all.

However, since I discovered your tweets, I haven't read a single book.

Following you, to put it simply, is exhausting. It's as if you are always running far ahead and I'm struggling to keep up. I started some time ago to check my Twitter account when I commute to work in the mornings, in my breaks and when I head back home. On my day off I'm trying to read the articles that I bookmarked from your recommendations, the ones I haven't managed during the week. It is just too much.
You said it yourself, if a Tweet isn't worth reading in three months from now, it is not worth tweeting. That's why I scrapped my idea of asking for a "Roger Ebert Essentials"-channel on Twitter. It is important what you write. For me it's just too much to keep up with. I have so many books here that I wanted to read, not to mention the ones I already have on pre-order. The only way to do this is to "unfollow" you (I don't know if that verb even existed before Twitter?!). That doesn't mean your not interesting enough to read your thoughts, the contrary is true. And I wouldn't advise you to tweet less. I admire the energy you put into it although I can't imagine where you find the time (has your day more than 24 hours?!).
I will try to keep up with the blogs and the reviews and of course whatever you and Chaz have planned. But Twitter I have to quit. This way I can read something on paper again for a change.

Now I just have to make myself click that "Unfollow"-button ... hardest task of the day.

Best regards,
Jens Adrian

Ebert: Actually, I think you may be doing the right thing. Nobody, not even the whole of Twitter, should absorb that much of you time.

Tweet Your Inner Exponential.
Singularity University

Greetings from South Dakota! I have been a follower of yours ever since I signed up for tweeting. I made an excellent choice of who to follow. I like your thought provoking tweets. I enjoyed reading your blog on how you use a computer to speak and why you enjoy tweeting. I agree that tweeting provides a source of conversation. It is exciting to follow people for different interests and reasons. I am a newcomer at the world of screenplay writing and have a Masters in English with an emphasis on creative writing (plays) and Shakespeare. I took up screenwriting three summers ago. My screenplay Where Wildflowers Grow is actually an adaption from one of my one act plays. I am pitching it on the BOSI pitch video contest, now. It is a big step from writing in my house to pitching on the internet! Thank you for being a Twitter and letting me be one of your followers.

Ebert: If you had linked to his site I'd suspect you of...oh, never mind...you didn't.

Hahaha. Now that you mentioned it, my comment would become suspicious if I had left a link.

To my relief, I don't do that commenting stuff anymore, he assigned me to a different, more friendly task.

By the way, I now have a Twitter account! I'm technologically incompetent. Just discovered the wonders of "Open link in new tab" not more than 2 years ago. I know. And it took me six months just to get used to Facebook. Hopefully, it won't take me that long to get used to Twitter.

How much time did it took you to get used to Twitter?

Have an awesome day Mr. Ebert.

Ebert: "Open link in new tab?" You gotta be kidding!

Ebert: "Open link in new tab?" You gotta be kidding!

I would love to be kidding, but I'm not. The high school that I went to had no internet connection. I know, it is a school that is very sad (and poor). I just learned how to "open link..." when I went to college 2 years ago. Haha

Hey! Look at the date! It is June 18! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :) You have been recently become a huge part of my everyday life.

Your love for film and wisdom in life have influenced me so much. You see, it's been only two and a half months since we were blessed with internet connection in our home. I've discovered your writing about almost 2 years ago, and since then, things have changed for me.

Before we acquired I.C. in our home, I used to spend hours in Internet cafes reading your reviews. And now that I have I.C. within the comfort of my home, I went crazy. I read at least around 3-10 of your reviews a day and 1-2 of your blog posts a week. I actually have a Word Document titled "Roger Ebert Quotes" on standby every time I turn on the computer. Haha

Do you know that you have somehow contributed in my college funds? Because I love your work so much, I started doing a little writing on my own. You see, I'm being raised by a single mom and things have been difficult financially. I was supposed to stop college a year ago, but something funny happened. Because I talk about movies and your movie reviews and you yourself to my friends on a daily basis, someone suddenly offered a job to me as a part-time critic. My small salary has contributed enough for me to stay at college.

I know this comment has nothing to do with Twitter, but I had to greet you somewhere. Thank you, Mr. Ebert, for doing what you're doing. I am sure that you have influenced a lot more people in ways that they have never imagined. Cheers!

Happy Birthday, Roger!

Ebert: But remember, you did it. Anyone receptive to inspiration will find it somewhere.

Dear Roger,

Hi, this is the mother of three from New Delhi. We are far away from Delhi, I am typing from a borrowed internet connection. It is late in this hot, dusty, quiet village in East UP. We are in one of our homes. Summer holiday.

I came to Twitter to find a quiet private place where I could put back the pieces of a self that felt broken and bruised. To climb out of the dark hole in which I found myself.

I had turned away from the wonderful world around me, a world that I thrived in, succeeded in, and one that I was hooked to. Yet it was also a place that was superficial and hollow; where truth had been painted over in dark colors. Where it seemed forbidden to raise questions, make inquiries and seek change. (Among other things I had been working in news television for longer than necessary.)

I found that I could not be a mother to my children in this world. I did not know how to nurture myself and those I loved.

“Lie fallow. It is vast, empty, raw and sore. But it is fertile.”

Everything seemed alright and yet it did not. Beauty ruled our senses, yet it was not enough. I missed my friends, yet I needed something else more urgently.

“The only way to begin to hear my voice was to walk towards the silence. http://twitpic.com/1jn9jr ”

“The view from the surface was fine, it was even beautiful. Yet, for reasons unknown to herself, she took the plunge.”

Tweet by tweet, update by update, I began to create a world that I could live in, that I did live in. I wrote to console and entertain, to live in the moment, the moment that in itself was the meaning of my life. I wrote dreams and memories, I began to share and expand my world. I sent out, I received.

“Baby Nam sleeps in my lap, her cheek listening to my heart. Good night for now”

“Mamma, there are many different worlds out there, but the same one sky for all. Aliza returns from her travels.”

“The little girl was very attached to things. She realized that it seemed silly. She transferred her love and loyalty to imaginary people”

For a while I lived at home with myself and met the outside world via internet. I needed to build spaces where love, beauty, humor and inspiration would dominate. I needed to replenish and nourish. To shed my defenses and rip away the cloak of timidity. And bring to the fore everything that I know matters.

“Confidence is a paper plane. It soars, it crashes, I fold a new one.”

“I know anger, I know hate and sadness. I don't bring them here, they're useless on stage. Here I practice alchemy, I come to meet alchemists”

Eventually, my alchemy began to work. Eventually, I found other alchemists on Twitter.

Thank you, Roger, for your smartness and generosity, for your childlike wonder and joy in the world around us. Your confidence in your sixth sense is so inspiring, I’m afraid I’m going to end up doing some very foolish things soon as I resolve to follow my own sixth sense.

"6 year old's today what-to-do list http://twitpic.com/1iormg "

“Ask Baby Nam what Papa did when the monkeys sneaked in today, and she will raise her arm and throw imaginary shoes at you”

Love,
Natasha

Ebert: Natasha, you are my shining light on Twitter. You showed me what could be done. You make 140 characters into a universe. I am not surprised that you could have had a period of unhappiness and discontent. Anyone who evokes the joy in what you write could not do so without a deep sense of gratitude.

Readers: I know what you're thinking. It is:

http://twitter.com/natashabadhwar

Just to say http://tinyurl.com/kkoy63

I want to say something. And to decide to tweet it versus in here would only add to things that take up my time (which grows more precious by the hour). I just can't bring myself to tweet.

Sorry. However, you do make a fascinating case to do it.

I just want to say Happy Birthday Roger!

God bless,

John

Remember when lasers were invented and people were saying, 'well it's a great achievement - but we'll never find a use for it'. That's kinda what tweeter is, I suppose.

I was turned off by tweets at the beginning. If I checked out what 100 people had to say, I found that 99 of them were wasting my time. And so, I wrote the whole thing off as an exercise in vanity. Now-a-days, as usual, we have more people doing interesting and worth-while things with a new technology. Even if it's just a poetic sentence, or casual witticism! In fact, those are my favourite tweets.

Though I still don't follow anyone on a daily, or even weekly basis, I do like to keep track of my friends to see what they are up to, or what they are thinking. Since I know them well, I can recognize their moods through the briefest of sentences.

Hopping our way across the dry patches of a flooded parking lot I remind my coworker that in Latin, Jehovah begins with an 'I'.He LOL'd

Your article also reminds me of the time I was addicted to the internet. I would spend hours and hours online, and this was in the days of the dialup modem. I found it fascinating that you could connect with so many people and so many resources. The world was your oyster!

Surely the nine toenails I was able to expertly angle into the garbage make up for the one that you found on your pillow.

Eventually, you realize that for all your digging most of those treasures were just fools' gold. You suddenly realize, yes - I can connect to these people on the other side of the world, I can share and discuss. But it all becomes such a pale shadow of the 'real' world when you let it take over your life.

According to About.com, the hotel I booked in Vancouver is not on the 'gay friendly' list. I anticipate poor decorating schemes, ugly shoes.

There was a time when I would have 20 things in mind which I wanted to research, or read, or visit online. Some new fact to dig up, some new community to explore, some new game, or art, or musing. Now-a-days, I have to really struggle to find a new topic or avenue to seek out online. I've discovered my goto resources and I don't feel the need to add to them unless I delete an old one. Time is precious.

Just saw a Vietnamese guy wearing a T-shirt that said "Charlie Don't Surf!"

So the internet, and tweets, and blogs, are still part of my life. But they are all in the background. I'm happy to have that visual in my mind of you sitting in your comfy chair, reading a book by the light of a single lamp. That's the good stuff. The stuff that our internet connections can distract us from all to often.

Speaking of which, I see I'm late to meet a friend for a movie. Those were his tweets in the quotes above BTW. :)

Oh... alright! knoxzilla@twitter is my thingamajig name. I don't post often, but I try my best when I do.

===

"Did her killer hear the bells of her school ringing as he buried her?"

You know... that's pretty damn good. Those 140 characters seem a little less restrictive now. Thank you!

===

Olivia Colette: You can't get into Canada with your British husband and you live here? That doesn't sound right. The border people aren't supposed to stop him from visiting. I know because I'm going through the permanent visitor process with my American wife. I agree with Roger that there are worse places in the world to be trapped in than Spain, but if you want to come back send me a message on twitter or something and maybe we can figure something out.

Hello, Roger!

Just came by, ironically enough, because of your recommendation to read the Playboy piece by the Tea Party consultant.

When the TPers and their media flacks like Breitbart (who assiduously relays RNC talking points) say they're not Republicans -- well, then why does Tea Party Nation (the group funded by Koch and which hires Sarah Palin for speaking engagement) stipulate that only candidates who agree to uphold the Republican party platform are eligible for funding? (http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/02/08/the-tea-party-just-another-rnc-adjunct/)

Happy Birthday Roger!

Thanks for sharing your favorite twits with us. I have added them to my timeline for inspiration.

I have to tell you that I do not go to or rent a movie without first reading your review at mrqe.com. In the rare time you have not reviewed a movie I hear about, I find I have to read several other reviews to gather information.

Mr. Ebert, can I call you Roger?

I've been following your tweets for a month now, and they make my minute, hour, day. Thank you.

I'm currently reading Jeff VanderMeer's Booklife, which details the steps and processes a writer should take in order to get his/her writing read by the public. He focuses on novels, but applies the term "book" loosely to anything regarding text on a document. One element he targets as being a relatively beneficial PR tool is Twitter--since reading that I've begun to focus more on formatting my tweets into my public brand. Hopefully someday it will pay off. But VanderMeer has a good point: the character maximum provides you with the opportunity to make what you say directed and concise. Too often writers (myself included, shamefully) get too caught up in what they're writing to take a step back and consider the ear at the other end of the conversation. Chances are, they have no interest in hearing half of what you want to say. A tweet they can work with: if they want they can look deeper into your profile; if they don't they can wait for the "1 new tweet" bar to pop up and forget you forever.

Thank you for all you do. It's a joy reading your blog, and your tweets.

Remember when lasers were invented and people were saying, 'well it's a great http://www.great.com

Roger,

The academic ivory tower depletes far more often than it nourishes, I fear, so I turned to Twitter to write imaginatively/poetically (@wabisabiwhisper), as a social scientist (@TheSocialBrain), and to serve other trial lawyers (@JuryTalk). As a professor, I have never worked such long hours, scrambling to get my research and creative writing in, between teaching classes, doing community service, and attending myriad meetings. [These long hours overshadow the long hours I spent as a full-time public defender, announcing "ready for trial" on up to 7 trials a week.] Yet, it is important; I'm only in it for the love.

It is a tribute to your gift for connecting diverse people, through generous tweets and retweets, that I find myself, a woman, with a small circle of women who inspire me: @natashabadhwar, @nancyghandhi, @bluegrasspoet. Iridescent thoughts, poets-of-the-ordinary, all. Magic to me.

At the same time, I am fed by and inspired by each follower I have. I read each of their bios, check in on their twitter-streams, and am humbled by their comments.

*insert low bow of gratitude approximately here*

SunWolf

Ebert: I love the way your two Twitter handles allow you to provide two seemingly opposite approaches, both invaluable to me.

You just named some riches. Readers, for the poets among us, I recommend @wabisabiwhisper, @natashabadhwar, @nancygandhi, @bluegrasspoet, @morningporch

Too bad that Twitter will NEVER be a valid form of mass or inter-personal communication. NEVER.

New blog address; same blog.

Just thought I'd point out that, in the post above, it should be @nancygandhi, not @nancyghandhi. Might help some people find this wonderful tweeter. :-)

Oh, and if you see someone leaving comments as litdreamer, that's also me. Someone already took literarydreamer at Wordpress, just like they took it at Twitter.

Finally, I forgot to give people my Twitter address last time. My name on Twitter is @litdreamer

Twitter's nice in that it is like a metaphysical men's bathroom wall. It's full of nonsense but there are sparks of artistry and insight.

@bluegrasspoet is a friend of my father. He sometimes posts his work in the comments of her blog. So, Happy Father's Day to him, by way of degrees.

I am so surprised that I'm starting to love twitter. I had such a block in trying to write a blog (doesn't help that I'm not a "writer")-- but twitter has freed me in a small way. At first I would capture tweet ideas as they came to me, storing them in a doc file, before I approved of their tweet value. But it's the limited, random and temporal qualities of twitter that makes it magical and freeing.

I enjoy following you Roger, I appreciate your unique perspective, and the connections to interesting people that I would have otherwise never discovered.

Now do you understand the value of trying things before condemning them? Maybe if you try a video game you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Roger, I had the same reaction to Twitter when I first heard about it. And, like you, I've come to find it highly enjoyable and, surprise, very useful as well. There are good people on Twitter and they make me think—you are one of those people. Thanks for being there.

Until just over a year ago, I was one of those who dismissed Twitter. But then I found a use for it when fellow participants in 50 Songs in 90 Days got into it. I became hooked when I found there was an entire worldwide community there. (On the rare occasions when I do Follow Friday, I make sure to recommend @BuzzEdition, @Jason_Pollock, @ShellyKramer, @Alyssa_Milano, @kim, @teeco71, @heykim, and a few other obligatory follows, to which I'll have to add @ebertchicago.) I've been a big fan of yours since the early At the Movies days with Gene Siskel, so when I found out you were on Twitter, I had to follow at once.

I was surprised to discover that Twitter has actually changed my brain. I'm now very skilled at rapid scanning of tweets and have developed what non-Twits (like my Facebooker brother) would probably consider an uncanny ability to stalk the retweetable tweet. Maybe I retweet a bit too much (including some of @ebertchicago's tweets and retweets); but after reading this post, I'm trying to control my tendency more and tweet more original stuff. (I'd be the one who tweets "Linux fortune cookies", by the way.)

When I want to say something at length, I write in my blogs and use Twitterfeed ( http://twitterfeed.com ) to tweet the links.

Oh, and if Harold Bloom starts tweeting, I'll follow him too.

@dennis_jernberg

Ebert: I'm not holding my breath for Harold Bloom.

I'm glad you found a healthy creative outlet in Twitter. I am also rather dismissive of it, seeing it as a passing fad, but there are a handful of people such as yourself who make Twitter a worthy addition to this cluttered internet. Now if only we could rid ourselves of MySpace...

Now that you've vindicated Twitter, you should go check out 4Chan. Of course it's been called the asshole of the internet and it *is* a sinkhole for the extremes of human depravity, but I'm sure you could find enough seemingly thoughtful quotes to give it some good PR.

Hello Roger, how are you? This may not pertain to the post, but just wanted to get your thoughts on this article.

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/06/decline-and-fall-adult-movies

Ebert: All too true.

I just hope in the next James Bond movie; we wouldn't see him using the twitty;
the... the...the twitter, imagine James Bond texting or twittering Q or Moneypenny
saying: $p. I C U R L; Y,.......T. That would demolish any machismo the character has.

It's all about the hype, whatever is popular; that's the thing; even if it's lame, boring or
just stupid; and I know stupid, remember Kriss Kross; do you remember "Miss the Bus",
well I did miss the bus while wearing by pants backwards; just to piss somebody of,
this took place when I was living overseas.

For that matter I decided to make my first and last twitty right here, for every spring;
I start a new year and turn over a new leaf after taking care of any unfinished
business or loss ends and for that matter my twit is about my starstruck I've
encountered last weekend with a certain celebrity at a newsstand in Sherman Way
(the valley), picking up his regular newspaper; and took a gander; as if he knew me,
a fairy funny late night comedian with major cojones, I was so starstruck that I was
about to slap on the back of his neck and say something like: "what's up homies;
big fan huh!", until I saw his expensive yellow ride; reminded me of the color of my
locker, then told myself the guy doesn't know you so well; let it slide, he could sue
you for hazardment......sorry harassment, you should be patience; for that day when
he'll ask you to slap him on his fanny; while wearing a muzzle.

What a way for an Industry to welcome newcomers to their (clan) establishment;
now I know who has the upper hand over him in what to say and/or not say in public
television, it's better for one to be an insider; rather than an outsider (or is it the other
way around; go figure).

Now that I think about it; somewhat eight or nine years ago when I was given a "free"
e-mail from Yahoo!; I was naive enough to think "why would somebody give me
something for free"; I had to pay for my mailbox, so yes "texting" is a good thing
for private messages; but then I never e-mail anything personal without being aware
of the hackers and snoopers on the net; for every yes, on ....there's a no, off.

I don't think I'll ever get into doing this sort of thing. I do use Facebook and I try to keep the statement about me fresh as often as possible, but never more than once a day. But everyone has their own ways. I know a guy who can't stand cell phones and won't use one. No, it isn't me. And another lady who doesn't like emails. She thinks if you want to talk to her, call her, she's got a phone and a cell phone.

Wait a minute, Mr. Ebert! You were wrong about twitter? You said that 140 character posts could never contain great writing? And someone proved you wrong?

Not to start a conservation that is long over, but could that happen with video games? Never an art, huh?

I can say with certainty that your understanding of video games is minimal. The fun of it all is exploring a new universe, being able to live the way a child does, immersed in imaginary friends and fantastical universes. For some people, for me, they are not about high scores, nor about competition.

The way the industry labels itself is very unfortunate. Calling them games is unfair to them. At this point, they are virtual experiences, not to be confused with real ones, but still special in their own right. Maybe not art, according to your definition, but I'm not so sure.

Constructing these giant, completely imaginative universes with only a combination of a ones and zeros is pretty impressive, don't you agree?

No one can do this alone. The amount of work is mind boggling. It is the most collaborative form of entertainment of the planet, with code junkies, visual artists, and voice actors all working together. Maybe, video game designers are a little more modest. Maybe, the studio matters more than any one person, and that is why there are no great video game designers comparable to Shakespeare and Mozart.

Wow, I didn't mean to write so much. Just some thoughts to muse over, Mr. Ebert. My only suggestion to you is if you do ever sit down to play a game, use your imagination and do not judge too quickly.

I've never gotten a twitter myself; my Xanga's "Pulse" feature works fine. Maybe I will, though-it's amazing what people can do with 140 words.

For some reason, I find the tweets of famous dead people hilarious. @Julius_Caesar, @LCorneliusSulla, and @AlexanderIII are some of my favorites.

P.S.: I know this will probably upset you, but I figured you might want to know about it...

http://twitter.com/siskel

Je suis toujours pas certain que si je comprends bien la chose tweet ensemble, mais j'aime vraiment vos commentaires, j'encore abonné à la Sun-Times qui je pourrais en savoir plus ! Je voudrais vous me suivez donc nous pourrions parler ! Je suis ennuyeux pour vous, mais fidèle

Mr. Hunaty

I know who you're talking about;
but it's Sherman Oaks (Ventura & Van Nuys),
not Sherman Way; about five miles south,
and another thing; your missing words.

Cheers

Mr. Ebert,

I often have a conversation with you, though you don't know it. It's the many times I've enjoyed your reviews while watching a film. I guess it's time I start tweeting, and at least have the decency to let you in on the act. Thanks for inspiring me to take twitter more seriously!

I understand your initial qualms about Twitter, and also your appreciation of it after time. What a lot of people don't understand about language and the way we use it to convey emotion and thought, is that it is constantly changing. The way one spoke in 1850 is drastically different from today and the way one would speak in 1650 is also drastically different from the way one would speak in 1850. The times when people get angry about the change of language and the processing of information, is when the change happens in a faster manner, say the way we spoke in 1960 being different from the way we type in 2010. However, if these people accepted the shift (instead of shunning it) then they would grasp (as you did) the beauty that someone can convey in 140 characters, or perhaps less.

Ebert: Quite true, but having just finished books written by Dickens and De Quicey in the 19th century, I relish their language as well. Twitter isn't a full meal.

Hi Roger,

I just noticed today that I'm getting close to 1000 tweets. Wow. See what you started? It's addictive...

What will my 1000th tweet be? Pressure...

https://twitter.com/somniferously

Now if you can take the leap you took here with a video game or two you might ahve a whole new world there too.

p.s. also addictive

Gloria Stuart's 100th birthday. "Father,come quickly." Last line-THE INVISIBLE MAN(1933).

I bought my first computer in 1987. Within a year I had a modem. We take for granted the role of the computer as a communication device. From Usenet to Twitter, it is by far the most versatile and amazing tool we have at hand.

All of these wonderful places we can go to interact with one another make the world a better and bigger place. Fatuous prating about "anecdotal insouciance" won't diminish that.

I use Twitter as a news delivery service. I have my conversations elsewhere, on list-servers and the like. The fact that Twitter can be this simple thing for me, and at the same time such a complex and wonderful thing for you and many others, proves its worth beyond doubt.

One item I must correct: In the online world, Leo LaPorte created "TWiT" (This Week in Tech), before Twitter was launched. So Twitterers are not Twits :-).

Well, I've been messing around with Twitter--I think I got my background set up; I'm warming up with a few practice tweets (you might enjoy the interview with Conrad Brooks).

Little known fact

Lana Turner married seven men. One twice. Larry King married seven women. One twice.

Well you know how I feel about your tweeting... I often go to your twitter page for some news of the world. I spent an entire afternoon following the links in your tweets.

I like tweeting - especially when I'm in the bathroom at a club.

Thought you might find this interesting:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/06/roger_eberts_descent_into_twit.php

Unsurprisingly, the comments are mostly supportive.

A bit late to the party, but I took the plunge and joined Twitter yesterday. As usual, your blog proves invaluable- the perfect entry to find some worthwhile, interesting people to follow. I've already added some of the ones you recommended and I'm sure I'll be adding more as time allows.

I, too, once claimed I'd never join Twitter. The original advertised intent (answer the question, "What are you doing?") just seemed to lead to a mass of vapid responses with zero substance- at least, that's how it seemed to me. I see they've changed the question to "What's happening?" somewhere along the way, which I like much better, but I've also realized the vapid responses are inconsequential to me- I can safely ignore them, but there are certainly some diamonds in the rough just waiting to be found in the rubble, and those are the ones I want to find. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the hunt.

Wow! The only way to read this column is with a split screen so I can check all the twitterers while reading. I know this shows my horribly short attention span, but that's internet time.

I'm very embarrassed to say I don't understand it. I'm not a Luddite. There is a computer in almost every room of my house and I can't even tell you where the yellow pages are. I have the computer for that. I was on LJ when LJ was cool and I'm still there, though I think all of my friends are on Facebook. I finally joined Facebook about six months ago and I'm still there, though I think all of my friends are now on Twitter.

During the Iranian student uprising, I thought I finally understood Twitter, sort of. But, after, I would go there during a Sarah Palin mockfest or just to see what you or someone as famous as you was saying and I just didn't get it. I couldn't tell who was responding to who and didn't understand why I kept seeing the same tweets from multiple people (forwarding, perhaps?) and, and, and.....

I've continued to listen to current music so that my brain wouldn't calcify and I've stayed current on so many computer media and memes so that my brain wouldn't calcify but with Twitter, I think I may have found my Waterloo. I feel like a curmudgeon who doesn't want the Twits on my lawn, dammit!!

Roger, one of your comments, about having trouble getting the computer timing right to join in conversations, reminded me of a middle-grade novel my son and I are reading (Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper). It's about a girl with severe cerebral palsy and limited motor control, who can't communicate with others except by pointing to the insufficient words on her communications board. Other people don't know that she's highly intelligent and capable of learning just about anything. Eventually, she learns that there are computers that speak words keyed into them and can be used with minimal hand control, and then others have to adjust to the girl they never suspected had so many views and opinions. I think you'd find the book interesting - it's very well written.

http://www.amazon.com/Out-My-Mind-Sharon-Draper/dp/141697170X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280251756&sr=1-1

Thank for explaining how to use Twitter and to see the poetry in it. I treated Twitter as if I was on the go: dropping in, posting a note on the fridge, and then running out the door again. I vow to be more present in my tweets.

Google "Mr. Pastie" for the rest of the story.

I have had a Twitter account for some time now, but I am still racking my brain as to whether I have better things to do with my life than discover the Earth-shattering news that one of my followers has had a bad night and will be getting up late (eg)

I am sure some people find it fun and necessary - I've yet to make that connection :-(

One of the best ways to drive engagement and build word of mouth traffic about your brand is to run a contest via social media channels..In Social Media Marketing field even the small data or information makes lot of difference. This is a very good info to study..

Roger

I am trying to follow you on Twitter but there are so many Roger Eberts that obviously all but one of them are fake. How do I subscribe to the real Roger Ebert?

I have to hear exactly what Cathleen will change about this :D

http://emtinsurance.info

Hi Roger- I am a speech-language pathologist in Sarasota, Fl. I have been given a pt. that now- has no voice and saw a video of you. I have been asked to try to obtain the computer you use. Any information re: the specifics would be greatly appreciated. I must say this patient has now linked me to you and I have become inpsired and in awe of your healing process. It is not common to have patients be able to inform others of their affliction, consequences and results that work and those that don't. Feeling somewhat trapped by inability to communicate when possessing creative, humorous and philosophic retort not to mention basic needs and wants is understood by me. I want to try to obtain some assistance for this male patient that still has all of his cognitive functioniong intact. He fears the typing but I know it will open his world and connect him in a way that will give him awareness and hopefully comfort on some level. I know it is a McIntosh? but wondered about the model. I am not tech savvy but I am determined to assist with this patient's request. Thanks.

Ebert: It happens to be a MacBook Pro, but every Mac comes with the Alex voice and other voices built in. I am certain Windows computers include voices also. Many laptops have weak speakers and it helps to shop for a good exterior speaker.