Justin Long--a defense of sorts

I just heard that Justin Long, he of recent (in)fame(y) has been fired from the "Get a Mac" commercials. (You might say he has to "force quit." HA! Mac humor!)

Anyway . . .

I know some people didn't like Mr. Long, but I've always enjoyed his humor and his sort of understated geeky elegance--if there is such a thing? Maybe his quality should be called "approachable hipsterness" or "everyday dweebishness"?

ANYWAY . . .

I feel sorry for Justin. I liked him on "Ed," when he played earnest/anxious/neurotic Warren Cheswick. But you don't have to worry much about Justin. He, apparently, has an answer for Apple and the widespread accusations of his smarmy acting style. And, also, he may be in line to be the next John McClane!

You read that right.

I would love to see Justin try to outsmarm Alan Rickman.

I would LOVE to see Justin and

The Spidey 3 Trailer EVENT

I think it was simulcast over several networks at once last night and hit the web at the same time.

You can watch it here.

I don't take back my concerns in the previous months that this movie is taking on too many characters, too many stories, but the trailer does look good.

Impressions:

--Everyone is talking very in very subdued voices--even Mary Jane and Peter. They seem pretty depressed, which is either a function of the darker story line or the actor's being tired of their roles.

--THC's character is (apparently?) the same guy that killed Uncle Ben in movie 1. What? Can anyone say retcon? It's a different actor!!

--Spidey never missed a chance to pose in front of a humongous flag, does he?

--Topher Grace isn't seen much in the trailer. Is he supposed to be Eddie Brock?

--Where does the black ooze symbiote (I'm assuming they are following the comic book Venom storyline) come from? Did John Jamieson bring it back from space? He's nowhere to be seen in the trailer either. Is he still recovering from the wedding day jilting.

--Peter Jackson and Elijah Wood should sue Sam Raimi and Tobey for stealing that whole "falling backwards grabbing at the ring thing." Though I suppose Peter Parker might be a LotR fan . . .

An Open Letter to the Creators of LOST

Dear Carlton and Damon:

Everyone loved your first season. Hey, you single-handedly saved a network and inspired other networks to created mindless clones of your show that weren't very good. You created a phenomenon, spawned countless arguments, chat room discussions, web searches for Geronimo Jackson, even made people try to read classic literature. You've gotten people to talk about electromagnetism, cloning, and polar bear mating patterns (sometimes at the same time!). You've spawned hundreds of websites, launched dozens of podcasts, and inspired a whole summer of internet cross promotion.

I've totally defended you for the past season and a third. I hung in there during the slow down of season two (hey, everyone can have a sophomore slump). I supported the button, the strange heiroglyphs, the debate over whether the button was important or not, whether the countdown was real or a psychological experiment. I was excited about the black-light map, the first looks at Smokey the Lostzilla Monster. I didn't HATE Ana-Lucia and I was genuinely shocked with the actions of Michael (though I got reeeallly tired of his yelling for Walt).

I really enjoyed season two's finale--the hatch implosion, the violet light, the sound, the kidnapping, the Jack doppelganger in Portugal or wherever he was.

I even patiently explained to everyone that the split schedule for season three was a good thing. Six episodes in a row and then a break (it's during the holidays when people don't watch as much TV anyway). And then . . . nonstop LOST all the way to the end. I'm okay with that (even if I'm NOT okay with Taye Digg's show).

But, seriously guys? Have you been reading the internets? Have you been searching with the Google? Are you aware that people are giving up on you guys and giving up on your show? Are you so isolated with your yes men, show runners, and coffee delivery that you aren't aware that Heroes is eating your lunch? That is it the new darling, the new LOST season 1? That Tim Kring (who I have heard is a friend . . . whatever) is pointedly saying that HIS show gives ANSWERS and doesn't make the fans WAIT. Are you gonna take that?

More importantly, am I going to look like a deluded jerk for supporting you when this is all over? You said that this first six episode pod to begin season three would be great, would be exciting, would carry us over until February.

But, so far, I'm not sure. What have we learned? Why do we still have NO inkling how the people in the Hatch escaped from it's implosion with no (permanent) damage? Why are you foisting Nikki and Paolo on us when there is absolutely no indication why they are important at all? Is the eye-patch guy in one of the other hatches even REMOTELY important?

What you have shown us this season is the departure of Eko . . . but no understanding for why. Sure, it seems that Locke might have gotten some of his momentum back, but what's he going to do with it? And hey, thanks for all of the deep insight into Jack, Kate, and Sawyer and whatever the hell is happening over on Other Alcatraz. It's been great fun to see Kate and Sawyer bust up rocks while Jack sits around and does absolutely nothing but yell at people. (Heck, he used to do that back at Lostaway camp, but at least there Hurley got to say "Dude, calm down." every once in a while.)

So, what I'm saying is . . . get on with it. If you are going to start showing sixteen nonstop episodes starting in February, they had damn well better be worth it.

Proposition Sawyer to join the Others Team.
Bring Michael and Walt back from their wanderings in the boat.
Explain why Desmond can predict the future.
Give Charlie more to do that be a enormous asshole.
Make Hurley the bastard child of Alvar Hanso.

Whatever. But do it fast . . . because if you haven't heard, all people want to do now is

Save the Cheerleader; Save the World!

Our excursion to Springfield, Ohio

As promised a few posts back, I gonna describe the exciting time that Lynda and I had in Springfield, Ohio last Friday and Saturday. (That's right--for fun we chose to spend the night in nearby, picturesque Springfield, Ohio. Hey, don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

The reason for visiting Springfield was to go see the Frank Lloyd Wright Westcott House, a Prairie Style home that he built for an auto-maker living in Springfield at the turn of the century. This is the only Prairie Style home in Ohio and was opened to the public in October 2005 after many years of restoration. I heard about the house from Jack Thunder and Cordelia a few months back and at the time, I said that I would go with them sometime to experience the glory.

But then . . . my parents came to visit and they kindly offered to babysit overnight so Lynda and I could have some go out on a date. Lynda agreed to see the Westcott, since Springfield is pretty close--only thirty minutes west.

While investigating the Westcott House website, I noticed that there was a offer for a tour package that included tickets for the tour, a special gift and book from the gift store, and a night's stay in the Marriott hotel in downtown Springfield, which also included dinner and breakfast at the fancy bistro restaurant in the hotel.

We'd never been to Springfield, and so we didn't really know much about what was there or the quality of the restaurant. But we were extremely pleased with the food. It was great and the amount of money we spent on the room and the food we ate were more than covered by the price of the tour package.

But Springfield itself was nice also. The weather wasn't as nice as we wanted, but the hotel downtown was in a nicely renovated area, which seemed to me to be a former train station area.

These are buildings across the street from our third floor room. It could be a church (frankly I'm not sure) but it might also be part of an old, renovated train station complex. There was a railroad line that ran through the area right next to the hotel. The hotel lobby offered complementary ear plugs to drown out any train noise, but it didn't bother me.

The next day, we visited the house.

On the way back home, we drove past this nice old power plant. I took a picture of it because during the tour, our guide mentioned that Springfield was one of first towns to get electricity. Now I don't know if that is true or not, but it made me appreciate this old building.

These posts don't really do justice to the whole experience of the visit. But it does give me a handy reason to use this opportunity to launch my latest web site addition to the Why Won't You Grow?! family.

Why Won't You Visit?! is a thematic site, intended to list many of the sites, sounds, and things to do in the area. It is not complete yet, but I'll be periodically adding to it to provide a resource for those who dare venture up here to visit the family . . . if coming to visit me isn't reason enough, that is.

So, come for Burb, stay for the Frank Lloyd Wright, enjoy the wide variety of stuff. You'll be glad you did. I promise.

The Good News? No Aliens!!

I posted a rambling review of tonight's episode of LOST, "The Cost of Living," over on WWYG?! Omnimedia. I put it there to avoid anyone reading spoilers they might want to avoid . . . and to fulfill my tri-monthly use of the Omnimedia location.

If you don't want to read my ramblings on LOST, might I suggest you try "Doc" Jensen's brand of DHARMA kool-aid? It seems that he's been drinking a LOT of it.