zombies and bloody ice cream!

It all began at 7 AM with Bill and Toony making a zombie movie.

Of course, I didn't see any of that until 3 hours later.

That scene is near the end of "Toon In With Me", when they're screening their film to adoring fans and Bash Hashtag.

Just what was the premise for their masterpiece?

 

Well, it was something I think many of us could relate to: "Office Zombies".

That's right, the undead were taking care of all those red-tape jobs that slow us down from getting on with our lives!

Hahahaha!

Boy do I know that frustration, having spent 7 hours on the phone with UHC last week about the unwanted change to my Medicare Advantage plan.

Fortunately, my last call was directly to Medicare.

One call, one person (Alfredo Cruze), and the problem was resolved.

I'm so glad this continued government shutdown didn't keep that person from doing his job!

 

I had another zombie film - amazingly, set in an office, partly - after WNS.

This was Wednesday, after all, so a trip to Asbury Memorial set up for dinner.

So good to spend time with Sherry G and Lowell, getting to know these transplants from Thomasville, a town I've been through often!

Then, I finished my peach cobbler talking with Pam and Walt again! 

Chicken Marsala was the entree, though I let someone else have my mushrooms.

After all the news from my ex about life in the fungi, I just don't find them appealing.

How could I eat music-lovers like me?

(smile!)

Back at home again, I launched into the first movie of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, having specifically saved it for this zombie movie day...

bwah hah hah!!!

The Cornetto trilogy were three films written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, all directed by Wright and starring Pegg with a varying cast, but always having Nick Frost in a buddy role. 

Titled "Shaun Of The Dead", it came out in 2004.

The two men were in their early 30's then. 

Simon was a bit of a slacker, but not nearly so much as Nick was.

In fact, they are both such slackers that they don't even realize that the zombie apocalypse has arrived until it comes in their front door... which they'd left unlocked, despite numerous warnings from their flatmate.

Then it's up to them to save a handful of folks, including Nick's ex-girlfriend and his mom. 

Pretty funny stuff!

The next Cornetto film was "Hot Fuzz" in 2007.

This time, Simon is a gung-ho city cop sent to chill out in a small country town and Nick, the slacker son of the police chief, becomes his partner.

Nick has seen every buddy cop movie out there and sets about catching up Simon to how that vibe works, especially with "Bad Boys II".

I really loved that Pegg-Frost comedy!

I saw it yesterday evening.

The last film of the Cornetto trilogy was "The World's End", from 2013.

I'm certain I saw that one during the pandemic.

It was about a group of folks trying to make it to a bar with that moniker, all while the world was falling apart at the seams from an alien invasion.

So, what's different about that non-trilogy movie, "Paul"? 

"Paul" is the one that started my run on Pegg-Frost buddy flicks.

I watched it on Monday, as there was naught else on TV... and loved it!!!

I chose it because I thought I remembered the scifi spoof playing out in Pooler a couple of years ago, but I'd missed it.

Well, it came out in 2011, so it certainly wouldn't have been that recent.

However, it takes two geeks from England, in America for a nerd convention and then a road trip to hit scifi hotspots, like Area 51.

Their trip gets derailed when they come across an actual alien!

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wrote that screenplay, and had Greg Mottola direct.

Truly hilarious!!!

That's when I noticed Peacock currently has two movies of the "Blood and Ice Cream" trilogy in their line-up, so I've added these to the "My Stuff" bin there.

Oh, yes, I feel sure I'll be seeing them again!

It's football season and I'm quite disappointed how many nights that sport is taking up space on television.

Good to have viewing options! 

That said, I'm off to watch the World Series!

The Toronto Blue Jays are up against the Los Angeles Dodgers - so it's truly a WORLD series of baseball games, not just a United States series.

Go, Blue Jays!

jim isn't saying

It's a mystery!
Well, it may be a mystery, or it may be a comedy, or it may be a romance. It may even be a drama or animated or musical or historic -

Oh my dear God! Whatever are you going on about?

Tonight is Wednesday night, the night of the Psychotronics Film at the Bean! I even get to go!!! Yeah for Spring Break!!!

Oh, I see... one of the odd or lost or rare or forgotten or not-in-this-country films.

Yes! Yes, indeed! Jim isn't saying which one he has for us on this special occasion, but I'm sure it'll be a good one!

Hold up, there, girlie. What's special about March 19th?

Well, it's close enough to her birthday, which will be tomorrow, for Jim Reed to bring a little extra attention to her and her career. Especially as the Academy Awards haven't yet bestowed an Oscar upon her. There's still plenty of opportunity for them to rectify that oversight.

Who's birthday??? Who are you talking about???

Holly Hunter, of course! You know, she is only a little over two months older than me. Yep, that's right - I keep saying 1958 was a very good year!

(Smile.)

So, Jim is doing his part by not revealing the name of the film until actual showtime. A surprise birthday party, if you will! I'll let you know later which film was shown!
Bye!

i was in the right place

Tonight, I watched the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards, hosted by William Shatner and Karen Black.
No, that's not a typographical error.
1978.
The Psychotronic Film Society brought that in, copied to dvd from a scratchy VHS cassette, from some guy in England, for the lucky few at the Sentient Bean for the weekly Wednesday night offering.
I am so glad I was there, instead of fleeing from the cold after school to my nice warm house.
I have to thank my friend the librarian for that.
You see, her birthday will be tomorrow, but she has had birthday celebrations all week. I had attended the brunch on Monday, at The Original Pancake House, a favorite of hers. The good folks there had marked her table with a Hello Kitty birthday balloon - very nice! She decided Jim Reed, master film wrangler for the PFS of Savannah, should receive the balloon, as he is known for being a fan of the Japanese feline. As she knew she would not be attending the Wednesday screening, she had tasked me with taking the balloon to him.
But today was brutally cold. If I could have canceled class, I would have. I had almost left the balloon at home, as I was thinking I would not be going to the Bean, but I finally relented and put it into the trunk, "just in case I went downtown."
Good thing I did.
As luck would have it, Jim was in the parking lot at the same time I was, so I immediately transferred possession of the balloon to his hands.
Mission accomplished!
And I was already downtown, so I might as well stay, right?
Good thing I did!
Not only was I treated to William Shatner's amazing spoken-word performance of "Rocket Man" - performed with himself as three characters, but I saw him receive the applause he wanted, from an audience of science and fantasy nerds who totally "got" his performance. In the middle is the reflective older man, smoking a cigarette as he sits and ponders at the start of the song. Then enter the rightmost character, a younger man, looking toward the future as he stands. The guy on the left, though, is a goofy party guy who dances and emphasizes that he is the "rock it, man". Very cool!
Like I said, good thing I was there for that - right place at the rght time!
Being at the coffeehouse for this night's PFS offering was the right place at the right time, too. Sure the "Eat Your Grrens" soup was fabulous - tasty and colorful with its wide array of vegetables. Sure, I saw some friends there that I don't see very often (except on fb these days).
But I realized what a fortunate life I have had, being born when I was.
In 1977, when the films honored in this awards show were first screened, I was 19 years old.
19.
A very impressionable age, when the world is wide open, change is in the wind, and life is an adventure.
The films which hit the big screen in that enchanted year are, of course, some of my very favorites, curiosity-driven science and fantasy girl-fan that I was (and pretty much still am). I'm talking about "Star Wars", which I saw that summer, sitting in the front row at the cinema, at the end of its first week, with a guy who had already seen it seven times. The tale of good versus evil, with Han Solo falling somewhere in that gray area, caught my imagination and was imprinted on my psyche.
Then there was "Wizards", Ralph Bakshi's animated tale of fairy folk tyring to quell the evil propanganda machines driven by war. Good versus evil, fantasy style. Being an avid reader of all things Tolkien at the time, of course this film became an instant favorite, singing my song as it did.
While we're talking fantasy, 1977 also brought to life "Pete's Dragon", a film that blended live action with animation for a tale that appealed to the kid in me and the woman I was becoming. Sure, it was a Disney movie, but I loved those, and still do! Plus, it starred Helen Reddy, the woman whose song "I Am Woman" came out the same year I turned 14. Oh, yes, hear me RAWWRRRR!!! That song, and my strong mother, helped me become who I am. So, of course I saw the movie!
Then there was Richard Dreyfuss. Nerdy guy with great sense of humor - of course I had a crush on him. I had seen him a few years earlier in "American Graffiti", with Wolfman Jack and Ron Howard. Now, here he was again, in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", emphasizing that we are not alone. That type of science fiction is, to me, hopeful about what lies beyond Earth's atmosphere. Hopeful always works for me.
That ties right in with "Oh, God!" Featuring George Burns, a wizened little guy with a fabulous sense of humor, in the title role, what's not to like? Having John Denver, too, another singer who soundtracked my middle and high school years, was just icing on the cake.
And let's not forget about "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger"! I had already seen the first two films, so this end of the trilogy brought the fantasy tale to a fitting close. Growing up in a seaport, as I did in this lovely hostess city, I naturally followed the adventures of sea-faring men. Fantasy sailors are even better, starring in tales in which evil creatures are conquered and right restored!
So, thank you, Jim Reed, for reminding me tonight of the blessed youth I had, living in the right time, at the right time.
And thanks for the fabulous memories brought to mind tonight!