This is going to be something of a short day for me, as someone had the audacity to schedule not one, but two film events from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Conspiracy? Possibly--but not nearly the scandal Times critic Dave Kehr's blog is shaping up to be.

Or so says Movie City Indie's Ray Pride, whose relentless efforts on the nom de Kehr beat reveal a strong case for full-blown parody:

The earnest young satirist who compiles the cruelly sclerotic “davekehr.com” parody blog continues his/her dual project, mocking the style of the New York freelancer ("self"-described as a former writer "of fourth string reviews" for the New York Times who "eventually backed away from fourth string reviewing, mainly because the movies—a flood of fifth-rate American independent films—were so appalling and the Times freelance review rates were so dispiritingly low"). ...

Kehr’s double argues that [Brokeback Mountain] is in no way a Western, before proceeding then in a tepid King Kong notice to misspell “Yosemite” (perhaps as a way to avoid seeming anti-Yosemitic). “[Peter] Jackson doesn’t even show these hurled bodies hitting the ground, allowing the viewer to assume that they bounce back to life like so many Yosimite [sic] Sam’s [sic] in a Warner Brothers cartoon.”

Bullshit or not, Kehr's blog has blossomed into a gilded salon for discriminating critics, filmmakers and filmgoers alike: The Sun's Nathan Lee weighs in on Brokeback Mountain ("Three cheers for middle-brow man-on-man masochistic romanticism, says I,"); The Sacramento Bee's Joe Baltake mourns the death of Wendi Jo Sperber; and, in what is probably Exhibit A in the "davekehr.com must be a joke" prosecution, Alexander Payne dropped in at Thanksgiving with a virtual postcard:

Dear Dave, I’m remembering being at Torino with you a year ago, and I lament not being able to attend this year. I’m glad for these reports, and I send you warm regards. Alexander Payne

So, um, yeah. From red-shirt Times critic to "anti-Yosemitic" chum of an Oscar-winner. Who says dreams do not come true in the blogosphere?

RELATED: NYT Film Writer's Blog Gets Close Read From Midwest (Nov. 8, 2005)