You know it's a good party if Sterling Powell is there. The flamboyant fan-about-town and publisher of CitiLife Magazine was in full effect at last night's reception kicking off the Dali and Film exhibition at the Salvador Dali museum in St. Pete.

Decked out in a superbly tailored suit the color of the wine I was drinking  (I was tempted to toss it at him to prove how well it matched), Sterling worked the crowd with the kind of social skills I sometimes wish I had. I'm sure lots of other people wish the same for me, too.

Anyway, it was a fun night for Princess Di and me, our ears filled with oompah polka sounds (Haben sie geherd das Deutsche band?) and eyes overloaded by Dali's artwork on canvas and, appropriately enough, on walls where the master's influences upon Luis Bunuel and Alfred Hitchcock were projected. Didn't get a detailed tour with the Dali's decent docents but we'll be back for that.

I was knocked out by two Dali paintings borrowed for the exhibition: a relatively "normal" portrait of  Hollywood movie mogul Jack Warner commissioned after the studio legend heard Dali did Walt Disney, and a remarkable portrait of Laurence Olivier honoring his Richard III.

Of course, Times art critic Lennie Bennett can comment more insightfully on the subjects and she will, in a Latitudes piece next weekend. I'll feel smarter then for a return visit.

Lots of familiar faces and friends. I was stunned to learn this was Times Florida chronicler Jeff Klinkenberg's first trip to the Dali. Gotta get out of those swamps more often, pal. We pointed him to Dali's masterpiece The Persistence of Memory -- which is only about 10 inches square -- and he thought it was a copy. Jeff likes his art big.

The museum had a Dali impersonator strolling around but Princess Di and I agreed he looked more like Borat. Verrry niiiiice.

The Dali and Film exhibit will run through June 1 and the schedule includes several seminars by folks who know what they're talking about. Why they asked me to do one is anyone's guess.

But I shall, on March 12 at 7:30, a presentation I'm calling "Dalihoo," focused upon schlocky exploitation movies and the weird ballyhoo tricks that sold them, that were right up Dali's alley. I'm sure the Gasparilla Film Fest thing on March 1 with Blood Feast, Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman will provide some good material.