The Smarmy Carny

Springfield, Vermont has been announced the Simpsons' home state in a vote organized by USA Today. It will host the official premiere for The Simpsons Movie on July 21.

The Simpsons' mystery home state has long been a running gag in the series. For instance, Marge once gave their address over the phone as "742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, Oh-hiya Maude, come on in!," leading the audience to falsely believe that Ohio was about to be named the home state.

According to some research posted on The Simpsons Archive, there are 71 Springfields in 36 states. Each of the following 14 Springfields submitted a video promoting their own Springfield as the home to The Simpsons:

• Springfield, Colorado
• Springfield, Florida
• Springfield, Illinois
• Springfield, Kentucky
• Springfield, Louisiana
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• Springfield, Michigan
• Springfield, Missouri
• Springfield, Nebraska
• Springfield, New Jersey
• Springfield, Ohio
• Springfield, Oregon
• Springfield, Tennessee
• Springfield, Vermont

See the promotional videos from each of these Springfields at USA Today. The other towns will be rewarded with screenings of The Simpsons Movie the night before the movie opens nationwide.

While I was waiting for Blades of Glory to start in the theatre, three of the trailers were for "third" sequel movies:

• Shrek the Third
• Spider-Man 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

Is the day of the lousy "second sequel" over? All three of these movies promise to be big hits this year.

Back in the day, even The Godfather couldn't put out a decent third movie. 2007 seems to have something different in store!

Tonight's episode of Lost (titled "?") is the episode that Darren Aronofsky was to have directed, except that he had to pull out a couple months ago.

You can read more about the initial announcement and subsequent reneging.

This information was proffered by Damon Lindleof and Carlton Cuse in the Official Lost Podcast, a somewhat entertaining and always informative show that airs the Monday before each new episode. If you haven't already, definitely head to the site and start listening, or search it in iTunes and subscribe to it there. For the anti-iTunes folks, here's the RSS feed for the podcast.

Here's the synopsis for tonight's episode, titled "?":

Mr. Eko seeks Locke's help in finding a secret location he believes holds the key to the island's mysteries; Jack and the other survivors grapple with the horrific situation in the hatch.

Enjoy! (But try not to think about what the episode would be like if Aronofsky directed!)

This week's picture is a fun little forum picture that has been passed around.

With membership numbers decreasing due to the bad publicity in the Star Wars movies, it seems that the Dark Side has a new marketing strategy. Now, it seems that they are attempting to foster a more positive image amongst preschool children.

An innocent marketing strategy, or preying on the youth of this country? You decide.

Back in November, I posted about Darren Aronofsky's deal to direct an episode of Lost. Unfortunately, Aronofsky had to back out of the agreement.

According to Aronofsky, the breaking off of the contract was amicable, as he is expecting a child with his wife, recent Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz.

Read more details over at EW's Popwatch.

According to EW, Aronofsky is also finishing up his long-awaited movie The Fountain as well as starting work on a new movie called Flicker.

Scotty Pelk, the film geek

Film Geek seems like a fun little independent film for recreational and serious film geeks alike. Watch the trailer on the Film Geek page or on Apple.com and decide for yourself.

The Oregonian suggests that Film Geek "just might be this year's 'Napoleon Dynamite,'" so don't miss out.

Film Geek is a hilarious new comedy about Scotty Pelk, a socially inept video store clerk with an encyclopedic knowledge of film. He runs a website, scottysfilmpage.com, which receives zero traffic. He annoys his customers. He annoys his co-workers. And when he is inevitably fired from his video store job, Scotty finds refuge in Niko, a downtown hipster who teaches him a thing or two about love and life. But Niko’s smarmy ex-boyfriend Brandon won’t go away quietly. As Scotty’s first love turns to obsession, his life begins to change in profound ways.

The trailer includes a hilarious scene with Scotty and a customer looking for a movie that might have "Heaven" in the title. Scotty immediately starts rattling off at least ten such movies of various genres. In fact, once he gets started, he ignores the customer and continues with his list, almost as if he has been challenged. Good times.

The film geek, Scotty Pelk, is played by Melik Malkasian, who played a tribal shaman in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. The female lead, Niko, is played by Tyler Gannon, who also appeared in Thumbsucker, another movie previously featured on Trailer Tuesday.

Film Geek was acquired by distributor First Run Features. As it is a small independent film, It ran in a couple theatres . . . one in Portland and one in New York City. Hopefully, we'll see it soon in theatres or on DVD.

I was ready to close the window when I saw "From the director of 'The Fast and the Furious,'" but I decided to stick with it anyways.

Turns out, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. In typical fashion, the trailer starts out with boring scenes of Jaime Foxx as a pilot for the Navy living it up and talking about women. Shortly thereafter, however, the movie turns into what seems like a non-sappy Top Gun for the early 21st century. It also partly feels like Hunt for Red October, with what seems to be a renegade pilot (or a renegade jet?).

Don't get me wrong — I'm not promising a movie of the quality of Hunt for Red October. In fact, I can guarantee you that this won't meet that standard. It's merely a comparison, so don't harangue me when your false expectations come to fruition.

This is the Stealth Comic-Con Sizzle Piece, which apparently is just another phrase for "really cool trailer." Considering the name, it has probably been tweaked for the geek base quite a bit. Maybe that's the only reason it appeals to me.