Welcome to Rubber Dali. In lieu of a possibly long, perhaps interesting, and hopefully humor-laden manifesto --- which would mean another several days before I actually posted anything --- I will simply say that I hope you have fun reading my blogs, which will cover, in no particular order or preference:

*films and videos
* music, both live and recorded
*television shows
*professional wrestling (If I can coax one reader into watching a really good Japanese wrestling or lucha libre [from Mexico] tape for the first time, I've done my job in this department.)
*magazines ("Fortean Times," "Phantom of the Movies' Videoscope," "Asian Cult Cinema," or "Giant Robot," anyone?)
*books (I'm currently reading "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami, and will be doing so for a while longer --- great stuff so far!)
*any other pop culture musings that strike me.

I used to write film reviews for a local (Eugene, Oregon) newspaper, and articles for "Filmfax" magazine, and even published my own poetry quarterly, wrestling newsletter, and pop culture magazines, but I've been out of the habit and am using this forum to get back into practice. By the way, most of the reviews I will post here will probably be written in an informal, close-to-stream-of-consciousness tone (For some of the best film reviews ever written in that vein, I highly recommend Barry Gifford's excellent film noir study, "The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Other Unforgettable Movies."). Other postings may simply be quick recommendations.

Here is the shortest film review I've ever written: Go see (tonight, if possible) "A Mighty Wind," Christopher Guest and company's latest mockumentary, this one about old folkies (and some younger ones) reuniting for a big tribute concert. You will laugh. You will probably also think, "It's not as funny as 'This is Spinal Tap,' 'Waiting for Guffman,' or 'Best in Show';" I would agree, but it's still the funniest new movie I've seen in a very long time, and I played the soundtrack for several days after seeing the movie (do NOT listen to the soundtrack until after you have seen the film), which means that many of the songs are funny enough to stand up to repeated listenings.

Over the next few days, you can expect some reviews about tonight's episode of "Smackdown!" and the Cramps concert tomorrow night in Portland.

I'm glad that I rarely listen to the radio (except for my nightly classical fix), because for the past three days I've had Kylie Minogue in heavy rotation, and people have been telling me that her stuff has been played to death on the airwaves. Being something of a pop culture elitist (yes, there is a difference between "elitist" and "snob") has its advantages.

If you haven't heard or watched Kylie's performance of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" from the Brit Awards, download the video or MP3 ASAP! This version interweaves her song with New Order's "Blue Monday." YES!