I Finally Did It...

I'm obsessed with the work of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg.

I can't help myself.

I'm working on a zombie story, and as a result I've been gobbling up zombie movies left and right... mostly the ones I've already seen several times. And mostly the work of George A. Romero.

But when I think of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), DAY OF THE DEAD (1985) and LAND OF THE DEAD (2005) I keep getting drawn back to SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004).

Despite the fact that SHAUN is so AMAZINGLY FUNNY, it really fits right in with the other DEAD movies! (I would place it after DAWN and before DAY.) Wright and Pegg just SO NAILED Romero's world that the comedy IN NO WAY detracts from the "reality" of the scenario unfolding.

I'm gonna try to make this as short as possible, so I will try to cut out as many details as possible... Wish me luck:

So watching SHAUN again makes me want to watch the episodes of SPACED I have on my iPod again. And many of my most, MOST favorite episodes didn't make it onto my iPod, sadly. :(

And also, watching what came before SHAUN, as well as watching SHAUN itself, makes me want to see what came AFTER SHAUN... namely, HOT FUZZ.

And I found a wonderful opportunity, so I WATCHED HOT FUZZ!!! TWICE!!! AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!

One reviewer simply said that HOT FUZZ did for Cop Action films what SHAUN did for horror. But the truth is that Pegg and Wright are so brilliant that it's not NEARLY that simple!!! These cats HAVE SEEN MOVIES and they KNOW the medium they are working in! They play all the stereotypes and cliches of the Cop film/Action film like some sublimely subtle wind instrument! (Why I pick a wind instrument, specifically, is because any hack can blow in a tube, but it takes a maestro to make that mutha SING.)

Now, I have to note here that I'm not trying to sell YOU on HOT FUZZ. This isn't a movie review or anything like that. My baby (being an actual Brit, and living in the country where the flick was released first) saw the movie well before I did and was -- if memory serves -- less impressed that she was with SHAUN. (She hasn't seen SPACED yet, poor sweetheart.) So I'm not speaking to anyone else's opinion of FUZZ. I'm merely describing my own reaction to the flick.

So FUZZ and SHAUN get me all obsessed over the work of Wright and Pegg, and I re-watch the featurette on the Director's Cut of LAND OF THE DEAD, wherein they play zombies in the flick and meet Romero (and if you look closely at the cover of either of the dvd versions of LAND you'll notice that their zombie characters are featured prominently, right along with Da Man himself, "Big Daddy") and it all eventually leads me to a few hours ago when I ask my friend Pete -- who owns a region-free dvd player (AND the "Ultimate Collection" of SPACED on dvd) how much a region-free player costs...

Not much, he says. You can get them for fairly cheap. But, he informs me, you can't get them from your local electronics' store. He recommends Amazon.com.

I've just gotten my Income Tax return check... So...

I broke down and ordered one... Along with a copy of SPACED: THE DIFINITIVE COLLECTORS' EDITION.

I mean, I could have put that money towards a bill, or simply saved it as a financial safety net... But I NEED to own that series, don't you see?!! I need the audio commentary -- these 2 geniuses talking about what they do and why they do it and HOW they do it!!! I need the extras! I need ALL the episodes, in pristine digital format!!!

Plus, you know... You never know when a region-free dvd player might come in handy. Let's say Matt Lucas' and David Williams' next endeavor doesn't make it across the Atlantic. A region-free dvd player will allow me to enjoy whatever they get up to next either way!!!

Besides, when I finish this script and Tommy and Brian and I turn it into a feature film, it will be so good that we'll be rolling in the dough! And you know what they'll say? They're BOTH say, "Ray Jay, I am SO GLAD that you bought that dvd player and the entire SPACED series that time! It made us millionaires! THANK YOU!"

They'll say that! They will!


You wait and see.

And they'll also say "I've never said this out loud before now, though I've always thought it, but you are such a handsome, sexy man! I wish I had half the sex appeal you possess! Verily!" They'll be so moved by my masculinity that they will use the word "verily"!

And then Gnomey -- who will be living with me as my wife at that time -- will say "You really ARE a sexy, sexy man, Ray Jay! Take me NOW!" and then we'll disappear into the nearest bedroom, broom closet or dark corner and conceive Baby Number Eight.

You just wait.

I'm not a foolish man.

The Ends justifies the Means.

You'll see.