I just started watching
this season — sort of forced to by wife and 8-year-old daughter — but by and large I really am digging it. Russell especially — that guy seems like a star. And I don't know what I like better — Karen's performances, or Adam Shankman's hilarious reactions to them.

One highly-publicized mistake? There was the crack. Then there was the constant tax evasion. Then there was the testing positive for coke fifteen years after the crack.

I agree with the point about trying to do too much — and, as 2nd Base said, there are some places where time could have been trimmed. We don't need a minute-by-minute account of his last two days.

I always loved John Bellairs because he grew up around my hometown (Marshall, Michigan) — the house in The House with the Clock in its Walls is actually a real house in Marshall. It's called the Cronin House, and it's for sale:

I just finished Infamous, and totally agree with hatin. I am a huge fan of Sucker Punch from the Sly Cooper games (2 and 3 of that series are my favorite games of all time), but their storytelling here wasn't sharp. Also, the number of ridiculous side jobs. I'm rushing to save the city from destruction, and you want…

I've mentioned before that I think Manny is the breakout character on this show, but that may be due less to the kid who plays him and more to the fact that he's got Sophia Vergara and Ed O'Neill interacting with him. O'Neill's line about Manny "riding his burro" to school was the highlight of this (somewhat weak)…