As regular visitors know by now, recently I've been allluding to Punkenstein, our inadvertent pumpkin patch growing out of the compost in the back veggie garden, so I wanted to give an update to my original post, which explained its appearance and location. At this point (exactly one month later), it extends much further than this shot really shows ... it has advanced several feet further and is clambering over the top of the old jungle gym skeleton we inherited in the middle of the veggie garden. That part is definitely going to have to be cut back, because it's starting to shade the tomatoes, and we don't really think it's a good idea to have pumpkins dangling from the top of the rungs! We also need to go out and do some bloom clipping to make sure the ones that do set on get bigger ... we're hoping we can get enough larger pumpkins to use for Halloween, so we better hop to that! If you think some of the leaves look a bit battered, they are ... from that sudden storm that erupted Monday night, bringing us that round of hail...
If you look in the top left of this shot, you can also see our ever expanding Horseradish. I suppose we should dig some roots again this year and make some more, but talk about a painful experience, lol! If you're a fan of Horseradish, just plant some and wait 2-3 years before you dig the roots and prepare it ....
Now I'm going to put on my sci-fi-geek-Brit Humour hat (I don't wear it that often, honestly) to give a big shout out to the BBC for finally releasing their series Spaced on DVD in the US. If you've never seen this --all too brief-- series starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Jessica Stevenson (of Shaun of the Dead fame), you may be in for a real treat. Spaced only lasted two seasons from 1999-2000, but it has achieved a pretty respectable cult following since then ... we first saw it about 4 years ago on BBC America, who was annoyingly erratic about when they aired it, and not necessarily in sequential order, quite a frustrating introduction to this brilliant series. We fell in love with these lovable slacker late 20-something Brits and their sometimes surreal, always comical adventures which most often paid homage to (or downright parodied!) classic sci-fi movies, as well as other films. To say it's quirky is an understatement, because at moments it is truly disorienting and downright bizarre, but always with a gentle "spacey" sense of humor that should disarm most viewers with an open point of view.
When I discovered Shaun of the Dead, (the best zomedy of all, even though Fido comes close), we knew that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were headed for bigger things, which culminated most recently with their quite different --yet hilarious-- Hot Fuzz. I read a while back that Simon Pegg was cast as Scotty in the new version of Star Trek that has probably finished production by now ... so it looks like Simon has met at least the near big-time in his career. In one sense, Simon Pegg has already become quite the star in Britain after the success of Shaun and Hot Fuzz, and he even had a guest starring role in 2005 playing "The Editor" in an episode of season 1 of the new Dr. Who.
I'm glad to see Simon making a bigger mark in film and TV, but I fear that the wonderful work he did with his core compatriots Nick Frost and Jessica Stevenson (now Hynes) in Spaced and Shaun may suffer a bit, but with any luck, I'll be wrong about that! Still, the remarkably natural (improvisational at times) characters they played in Spaced are what really endeared these people to me ... Tim, Daisy and Mike, along with the other oddball denizens of their apartment building created a series that managed to be edgy, innovative and just downright hilarious thanks to the brilliant writing from Pegg and Stevenson, coupled with the spot-on direction from Edgar Wright (who also directed the subsequent films mentioned here).
I bet you'll never guess I got the newly released box set on Tuesday ... so we're working our way through from the very beginning with no more commercials, no more bleeped out words, no more blocking out the end sequences for promos ... Ah, the way this series was meant to be seen! And it's been even more enjoyable than seeing the scattered episodes that BBC American occasionally deigns to toss our way. After all, there are only 14 episodes, and then, alas, the series ended. If you're a Spaced fan or a novice, the set offers plenty of extras that we're looking forward to exploring, once we see the whole series again. Tonight we watched Episodes 4 and 5 and totally enjoying revisiting these old friends! (And we're also noticing some small things that were obviously snipped for the American audience, so that's a nice treat too....) If you've seen Simon and Co. in the films I referenced and liked them, you truly owe it to yourself to check out Spaced if for no other reason, then to see where this great group of actors started out. (I'm sure Netflix has this now if you don't want to plunk down for the set.)
Oh, and a note to Gail: It doesn't look like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is available for purchase as a single disc right now, only in the boxed Almodovar set I mentioned recently. I did search Netflix though, and it's available for rental if you want to go that way. And a disclosure, I've never used Netflix, and have no vested interest in this comment, lol.
