Hot Fuzz indeed!

So finally got a babysitter Saturday night, so it was off to see the latest flick from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright: Hot Fuzz!

For the uninitiated, the film revolves around top London cop, Police Constable Nicholas Angel, who finds himself reassigned to the sleepy West Country village of Sandford. With garden fetes and neighbourhood watch meetings replacing the action of the city, Angel struggles to adapt to his situation and finds himself partnered with Danny Butterman, an oafish but well meaning young Constable. Just as all seems lost, a series of grisly accidents motivates Angel into action. Convinced of foul play, Angel realises that Sandford may not be as idyllic as it seems.

Now, as anyone who knows me knows, Pegg/Wright can do no wrong in my eyes, I thought the two series of Spaced gave us possibly the finest British Sit Com ever. And Shaun of the Dead was one of the best British Comedy movies I have ever seen (and it had zombies, and I do like my zombies - hell I'm still playing Dead Rising), so I was looking forward to this immensely.

So did it disappoint?
No, not really. Whilst I don't think it was quite the laugh riot that "Shaun" was, Hot Fuzz was very funny as a homage to all of the buddy cop movies I've ever watched. If I had any sort of criticism it would be that the film takes slightly too long to get going and could have been about twenty minutes shorter. Saying that the shoot out village square and finale in the model village (complete with the moody shot in the rain (well, in this case, a sprinkler)) couldn't have been any more perfect.

Some genuine laugh out loud moments and still miles ahead of any other British Comedy in the cinema, Hot Fizz was well worth the wait..

Best. Trailer. Ever.

I know it's been on the beeb for about a week now, but still - this is class:



"Is he kicking in a nonce?"
Genius.

Genius

Now I thought 2 litres of Coke and Mentos mints was fun, but these guys have taken it to new levels of genius..

(May take a while to stream - patience)

Happy Days

There are very few "good telly nights" these days.
Indeed there are very few good television programmes these days.

With the advent of digital, multi-channel broadcasting beaming a multitude of programming options, with staggered start times and on-demand movies, not to mention the proliferation of Sky+ and other similar recording devices allowing the viewer to pick and choose what they watch and when, it seems that the schedulers struggle to put a quality consecutive run of shows on a single evening.  All too often the television schedules are filled with Police Car Chase shows and Z-list celebrities either dieting, eating bugs or commenting on the 1980's or the top 100 films, or top 100 comedy moments, etc, etc..

The bar has indeed been lowered and the barrel has indeed been scraped.

However Thursday evenings are starting to really shine. 
Admittedly you still have to span two channels to fill ninety minutes, but at least Thursday now offer a good solid hour and a half of comedy. 

"Extras" season 2 (on BBC2) has really raised the bar this year. 
Not that I didn't enjoy last year's series, I just think that this year Ricky Gervais has moved onto a whole new level of comedy genius.  What's really made it stand out this year though is how he's got his guest stars to act: Ronnie Corbett snorting lines of Coke at the Bafta's, Chris Martin looking to get starving children to hold up copies of Coldplay's greatest hits for promotional purposes and -the series highlight- David Bowie taking on board Andy's pain at having creative control of his sitcom wrestled away from him, and turning it into the most derogative song I've ever heard.  

Marvellous. 

It really is laugh out loud stuff (whilst simultaneously hiding behind your hands whenever Maggie opens her mouth).  This is then followed by the "Mitchell and Webb Look" which, despite having highs and lows, hits the comedy target more often than it misses.  Now we know.  And any show that brings us the genius that is "Numberwang" must get a special place in the Sky+ planner.  And finally, you flip over to ITV2 for "Entourage" which is HBO comedy at its best (well, second best, you'll never beat "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in my humble opinion).  I know, me watching something other than Champions League footy on ITV, who'd have thought it. However, despite usually being the most banal channel on the EPG, ITV has actually bought a good show with "Entourage", a damning yet highly amusing insight into the cult of celebrity in Hollywood.  Yes I know it's the repeat of Sunday's show.. but if I watched the Sunday show then I'd not have my 90 minutes of quality comedy, now would I?

Mind you, before I get to morose about the state of television, at least I have the first episode of Season 3 of Lost to watch this weekend - rejoice!!

Steve Gerrard

Steve Gerrard, Gerrard
Can pass the ball forty yards
He's big and he's fucking hard
Steve Gerrard, Gerrard


Prepare to say: "Have it". Lots.

Worst Job I ever had

Pete and Dud as Monkeys?

Genius

Invasion of the Giant Jaffa Cakes

I was forwarded a link to a website called PimpMySnack today and I have to say it's fucking genius. Giant Jaffa Cakes, Wagon Wheels as big as your head and -and this is my pesonal favourite and something that long time readers* will remember I campaigned to Cadbury for- a Giant Chocolate Créme Egg!!!

Anyway, some of these projects are inspired - or just heart attacks waiting to happen..

You decide


++ UPDATE ++
* - for the non-long time readers, here is the original blog entry from April 2004

"An Easter related tale
You know how things are when you're working in an office, lots of inane chatter and banter is abound as you work and a couple of weeks ago we got onto the topic of Cadbury's Creme Eggs. After spending a couple of minutes just reflecting on just how damn bloody yummy they are, we wondered why, at this time of year, they never make a big.. easter egg sized.. Cadbury's Creme Egg.. (Rather than a hollow egg with two free creme eggs, just a single, hollow-egg-sized egg, filled with the creme)? We all agreed we'd buy one (you'd be mad not to!).

So, I put my journalistic head on, scooted off to the Cadbury's Creme Egg web site and posed thhe following question:

"We were discussing Easter Eggs in the office, and we wondered if Cadbury would ever consider doing a big Cadbury's Creme Egg. The Egg would be the size of a standard Easter Egg, but rather than being hollow and having creme eggs packaged with it , it would be just one big Cadbury's Creme Egg. Everyone here was of the opinion that this would be fantastic! So any chance of this ever happening, please?"

Now all of these sites have feedback sections, but who actually believes that the mails even get looked at, let alone replied to. So, imagine my surprise when I got home later that day and received a mail from Cadburys themselves! It read:

"Thanks for your e-mail. The standard 'Creme Egg' has been the most popular confectionery product of its type for many years. We make 1,400,000 every 24 hours and is the top selling confectionery product between Christmas and Easter. Manufacturing a 'large' Creme Egg would be very difficult and the retail selling price would probably make it impossible to market successfully. I am sorry to have to disappoint you on this occasion but once again thank you for your interest in writing to us. "

Key phrase there: "on this occasion". This means I reckon the people at the Cadbury's Creme Egg are, at the want of a better phrase, "cracking".. and that if enough of us mail in demanding a large creme egg, we'll get it. Who can resist? So if you want a big Creme Egg, mail Cadburys by clicking here and let's let them know what the consumer wants!"