Fucking 10 year reunion and QUICK NOTES: SHAUN OF THE DEAD.

Let me confess something: nearly ten years ago, in my senior year of high school, I was, sigh, the Senior Class President. It didn't mean much then (nor does it mean anything now), I was just a figurehead for the class, that sometimes awkwardly spoke in front of the school and spent half an hour a week on television reporting what sport teams had won and so on and so forth. It was a good time, and I thought when I tossed my pointy hat in to the air come graduation time, that my responsibilities were over.

I was wrong. Rumors that I was supposed to organize our ten year reunion had floated about when I was in office, but I was 18 and imagined these to be ramblings of over-eager high school kids.

I was wrong. In the last month I've received exactly three emails from said over-eager, now grown up high school kids, inquiring as to what I have planned for the, sigh, ten year reunion. In high school when my friends would joke about it, I'd tell them that I'd fake my death, or pick one of the over eager kids to take my place. Now, with emails piling up around my shoulders, demanding me to "pick a theme" and informing me that "places are filling up" and "2010 isn't that far away" I'm literally ready to pen my fake death letter.

Seriously, maybe I'm shirking responsibility (seemingly most people know about this Senior Class President runs-the-reunion responsibility), but c'mon, when I was 18 I was more excited about losing my virginity then thinking about the fact that I was signing up to orchestrate the ten year. All of sudden all of the social responsibility I'd so happily jettisoned in the years following high school is resting on my shoulders once again, and I'm nothing more than angered.

I'm already penning the letter, "Dear Shorewood High School, this is the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and I'm sorry to inform you that Noah Sanders disappeared in to a puddle of quicksand late last night. He will no longer be able to fulfill his role as 10 Year Reunion Coordinator. So sorry."

Sounds good right?

Alex and I watched Shaun of the Dead for the nth time while I was wiling away my days in Seattle. And I thought you might like to hear my opinions on it.

1. This is a great zombie film, and a great debut film all its on. Lets break the number one down in two a's and b's.

a. It's a great film because it's edited sharply, is immaculately written, and plays within the confines of geeky cinema, but isn't afraid to poke fun or venture outside of it to really gouge out some nice emotional performances. It's also paced in a sort of slow, wonderful way that coincides nicely with the speed that the zombies are moving at. As if the "arghing" trudge of the living dead is the same speed at which Shaun (Simon Pegg) is learning to emote and be a grown up man. I also love the way the film uses the idea of "zombie" to sort of peg culture down. We're all zombies in some way, and though it make take a cataclysmic world disaster to shake us out of it, we need to be shaken.

b. It's a great zombie film. This is classic zombie cinema. Slow moving creatures that love brains and die only with the removal of their brains trudging about eating stupid Brits - brilliant. Even more brilliant because of the way director Edgar Wright builds up to it. He uses these long shots of Shaun on his way to work that change just a bit each time. As the zombie attack grows in size, the streets become emptier, and our befuddled, aloof protagonist can't recognize until it's actually in his backyard clawing at his face. The way the zombie attack creeps in to the film, through half seen newscasts and disappearing citizens gets me every time.

2. The film could use a little trimming at the end, but I think this might be just be my fascination with the build-up in films like this. I love seeing the zombies slowly appear at the edges of the frame, just as I love seeing the superhero learn about his powers. Sure, it's great to see the climax and the finish and the hero finally overcoming his fears, but I'm a build-up man, and the final moments of this film seem a little long to me.

Great film though, can't wait to watch Hot Fuzz again, and can barely contain my excitement in seeing Scott Pilgrim Saves The World.

Drooling, you might say.

Thursday: The Devil and Daniel Johnston