Apologies to the non-Potter fans out there, but the next two weeks are likely to be pretty Potter heavy here at Geek Force Five. We continue today’s obsessing about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with video from HBO’s First Look at the film (1 and 2). Thanks Mugglenet for pointing the way, and to Snitch Seeker for capturing the video.

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In which ECC geeks out about the difficulties that must be facing the folks adapting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the screen.

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During their recent stint touring as the opening band for The B-52s, The 88 decided to record themselves a new song almost entirely through an iPhone app. And the sock actually kinda rocks.

The app is called FourTrack, and the finished song, “Love is the Thing,” is available now via iTunes. The video I’ve embedded above shows the band recording the song, and you can also read about their process here on their Website.

This is just one more reason why I love this phone. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting there, and you really can do amazing things with it.

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In which ECC freaks out about the rain, talks about Harry Potter, and welcomes his sometimes guest host back to the show.

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A new TV spot for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince offers the first glimpse I’ve seen of the exterior of Weasleys’s Wizard Wheezes. You have to wait until the end to catch it, and the credits are obscuring the view, but it looks pretty darned awesome nevertheless.

Seriously, this movie can’t get here soon enough. And if this new snippet isn’t enough for you—it’s barely enough for me—there’s also this clip of the full scene leading up to Harry and Dumbledore’s trials in the cave, which is available exclusively through iTunes.

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According to DarkUFO, ABC has confirmed that the sixth season of Lost will be one hour longer than the fifth. The season will apparently still be comprised of sixteen episodes, however. This means, according to Dark, that both the premiere and the finale will be two hours long.

Regarding this news, Sam McPherson at The Lostpedia Blog (where we found this story) asks an interesting question that I’d like to throw out to all the Losties out there: “What would you like to see answered in this extra hour?”

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In which ECC geeks out about how he might make something more than an audiobook with the money he’s raising through Kickstarter.

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My grandfather (my mother’s father) was an antique car enthusiast, and though the cars he had in his garage when I was younger were far newer than the Model T, watching this video reminded me of him, and put a smile on my face. In it, Ed Hebb, a volunteer at the Henry Ford Estate, shows us how to prepare a Model T for a drive, then takes it for a spin.

What I love, in particular, is the moment where Ed describes what the third pedal in the Model T does. In that moment, as he describes how quickly a person could go from forward to reverse, thanks to this pedal, he talks about how no modern car could do the same. And it was in that moment that I was reminded fiercely of a memory I have of my grandfather. It’s from the August afternoon that my mother and I drove to see him in her then brand-new 1994 Dodge Intrepid. Grandpa looked under the hood and was flabbergasted by what he saw, by how complicated modern car manufacturers had made things. And I imagine that’s the kind of reaction that Ed here might have, too. It’s a reaction that I played up in the book that I’m raising money to finish right now.

Do you have any antique car memories of your own? Ever ride in a rumble seat? 

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Too Much Free Time has posted a series of drawings by the Italian artist Donald Soffritti that depict the heroes and villains of the Marvel and DC universes as they might appear when they reach retirement age. Among his subjects are characters both popular and obscure, including both Wolverine and the Vulture. Check it out and let me know what your favorite is.

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John Romita, Sr., one of the most important Amazing Spider-Man artists of all time, is returning to draw a variant cover for #600. Newsarama has the full version, and it’s definitely a sweet piece. A commenter over there was trying to poop on it, saying “this cover looks str8 out of the 1970’s,” obviously not understanding that that’s the fucking point, but I ain’t letting that get me down. Romita, Sr. still has it, in my opinion. What about you?

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