Via Nikki Finke comes word of The Projectionist, a new blog at NYMag.com by the print edition’s resident film critic, David Edelstein. Edelstein’s only been blogging for a couple of days, and already he’s dropped a bit of self-promotion, with this post inviting fans to join him for a special screening of Sideways tonight at a wine bar in Brooklyn. Edelstein will be introducing the film, and will apparently use the opportunity to air a grievance that has been collecting dust for nearly 3 years:

I especially want to talk about the movie because a certain powerful critic (I won’t name him, but two of his initials are “A” and “O”) wrote a cheap, sleazy, opportunistic, and altogether scurrilous column to the effect that the film was acclaimed as intensely as it was because critics tend to be, like Sideways’ protagonist, pudgy, elitist, misanthropic alcoholics with no lives and not the faintest hope of snaring a dishy blonde like Virginia Madsen. To which I say, “Yes, but …”

I’m no detective, but I’m fairly sure Edelstein is referring to this column, in which a NY Times writer fitting the coy description above cited Alexander Payne’s Oscar almost-was as “the most overrated film of [2004].” I, unfortunately, won’t be able to make it down to Brooklyn tonight to see if said mystery writer shows up to defend his three-year stale hyperbole, but if you make it down there, I’ll expect a full report. In any case: welcome to the blogosphere, David!