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New Spinal Tap film available free online

Stars of Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" are back, but Marty DiBergi's latest "documentary" on the band is available only on the Web.

Candace Lombardi
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.
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Candace Lombardi

This is why I love the Internet.

Director Rob Reiner has created a 15-minute sequel to his mockumentary classic This Is Spinal Tap, a portrait of rock's most famous semifictional heavy metal band. While Reiner's short film was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, it won't be released in theaters any time soon.

It is available, however, online.

The short is in part a promotion for Live Earth, environmental charity concerts scheduled for July 7 at locations across the globe. Proceeds from the concerts will help fund a worldwide environmental program led by Al Gore. The original "members" of the band--guitarist Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest), singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer)--are scheduled to play the London venue.

MSN, one of the sponsors of Live Earth, is hosting the Spinal Tap short on its site.

The kicker is that bassist Smalls is now in rehab for--what else?--Internet addiction.