Gee, I guess I’ve been kinda quiet. Huh. Well, Friday should be fun. I’m meeting Andy after work. Dinner at Las Pinatas, and then at 7 pm “Ocean’s Twelve” at the Village.

NOW before y’all start making annoying comments like, “Why the hell does Rob want to see such a mainstream film, and why on opening day?” and “Is he a podperson now?” I would like to remind everyone that Rob Worships At The Altar Of Soderbergh, and has since at least 1994, when I saw “King of the Hill” at the (now-defunct) Arts Theatre on Michigan Avenue and it made me cry.

Everyone seems to think that an unabashedly-popcorn movie like “Ocean’s Twelve” is nothing more than so much cookie cutter fluff rolling off the Hollywood assembly line. But, as Hitchcock showed us with films like “North by Northwest” and “Rear Window,” and Stanley Donen with “Charade,” and John Glen with “For Your Eyes Only,” it takes IMMENSE skill and INTELLIGENCE to make a really good popcorn movie. You need wit, true charm, and perfect timing to pull it off. And what happens when you don’t have ’em? You get movies like “The Big Bounce” and “Tomb Raider 2.”

Mr. Soderbergh put together my favorite comedy of all time (“Schizopolis”) and so tomorrow’s film should be superfun. There isn’t highbrow, lowbrow, midbrow. There is only good and bad.