TiVo Nation

Song Lyric of the Day:

The Smiths / “Panic”

10:06PM.

Today did not go nearly fast enough. Two nights in a row now I’ve been horribly congested, so I haven’t slept well. Hopefully I’ll fare better tonight. I decided not to cook dinner tonight and picked up Ruby Tuesday on the way home. I figured since Rich had work-related stuff to take care of tonight and I’d be dining alone, why not?



Last night, while Rich slaved away on a freelance website project (you go, baby!), I made my first appearance at our friend Steve’s Tuesday Movie Night. He showed off his new TiVo, given to him by his lovely Alicia for Christmas. After seeing Brent enjoy his TiVo, hearing how Vanessa enjoys her TiVo, and now seeing Steve’s TiVo, it’s official–I WANT ONE, DAMMIT. Ah, if only I had extra cash right now. This week’s Target sales ad lists The TiVo Box for $199.99 with a $100 rebate. At least I got to watch my episode of Interpol Investigates over at Steve’s. It was pretty cool that he could just go right to my scenes (they showed me 3 times!)–much better than fast-forwarding a videotape. Someday soon, I too will have a TiVo. Oh, yes. Me wanty.



After seeing Steve’s TiVo queue of mostly forensic shows (all of which I watch) and discussing the Oscar nominations, we debated over which movie to watch. Steve has a DVD collection that rivals a small video rental store, so we picked from what he had. Steve’s choice was “Black Christmas,” Malachi’s choice was “Shaun of the Dead,” and Kendall’s choice was “Payback.” I was okay with either “Black Christmas” or “Shaun of the Dead,” the former being one I want to see and the latter being one of my favorite recent movies. After rolling dice to determine which movie would win, “Shaun of the Dead” was loaded into the DVD player.

For those of you who haven’t seen this movie, it’s a fun, offbeat British horror comedy with a romantic subplot thrown in for good measure. Written by Edgar Wright (who also directed) and Simon Pegg (the star), “Shaun of the Dead” pays homage to just about every zombie movie you can think of, from “Night of the Living Dead” to “Dawn of the Dead” to “28 Days Later.” Shaun (Pegg) is an aimless 29-year old working at an appliance store. His girlfriend Liz has just broken up with him. His best friend and roommate, Ed (Nick Frost), is causing problems with his other roommate due to his lack of motivation to find a job. And then people start turning into zombies. The movie makes its point about how we all tend to stumble through life, going from home to work to the store to home again without missing a beat. What makes us stand up and take notice of our surroundings? In Shaun’s case, it’s the threat of the end of civilization. Does Liz take him back? Does Ed find direction in his life? Does Shaun step up to the plate and save the day? Don’t worry, I won’t tell you how it ends. But if you’re looking for a fun, funny movie with a few good scares, this is the one for you.