First, "building small things" isn't what many of us do from day to day. I don't think many of us sit down and try to create bloated, overly complex systems, but oversimplification isn't helpful either. If you're wild-westing it or reinventing wheels for your next web project, I can't help but think you've only got serious pain in your (near) future.
I think there's an important difference between complex and complicated. I wonder if you asked Neil about his set if he'd describe it more as an organized toolset that's evolved over time or a sprawling mess of a ball-and-chain he's involuntarily tied to.
I'm no fan of the verbose, Java-like implementations (ZF and SF, I'm looking at you) you've highlighted, but there are more options out there.
Secondly, I take issue with the abrasive tenor a lot of these posts seem to take. All critique and no solutions, especially no code to show for great ideas. While a good F@$* that S@#% helps everyone see the problem, the lack of action or offering of concrete ideas for improvement leaves me with the feeling that it's just complaining.
I wish more of the leadership in this community was contributing in an open-source, here's-the-code sort of way. At least contributing as much as they critique.