Journal

By Month
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2002
- November 2001
- October 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- June 2001
- May 2001
By Category
- accessibility
- architecture
- art
- barKode
- browsers
- business
- code
- Conferences
- CSS
- data visualization
- events
- fun
- IA
- inspiration
- interface design
- JavaScript
- magazines
- marketing/PR
- microformats
- mobile development
- music
- net politics
- new york
- podcast
- print design
- programming
- random
- rants
- SEO
- software
- speaking
- standards
- theMechanism
- travel
- tv
- typography
- Version control
- web design
- web development
- web mapping
- wordpress

Thoughts, ruminations, observations, and inspiration from theMechanism.

Spaced: the Rival Frontier

July 22, 2008 | Posted by Dave Fletcher | 1 Comment

In the atomic aftermath of Amercian television shows like “Friends” and other wannabe roommate pap, came a glorious comedy from the U.K. from 1999-2001, called Spaced. Overloaded with more clever and hidden pop-culture references than 100 episodes of The Family Guy, this show – that only filmed 2 seasons – is a classic rivaled by very few modern comedies. Starring and written by Simon Pegg, as a comic book artist (who wants to be a graphic designer someday – see, you knew there had to be a design reference in here somewhere!) and Jessica Stevenson as a perpetually unemployed writer, the show features an unzipped bunch of characters all living at or in the vicinity of 23 Meteor Street outside of London.

Just like the toys and gadgets that litter our desks at the office, Spaced will gleefully litter your creative brain with clever and unhinged plots, quirky direction (by Edgar Wright), twisted acting, and an occasional zombie thrown in for good measure.

Margaret, now residing at the London office, turned the American creative bunker on to the show long before it was available in the states, and I couldn’t be more happy that I’ll not only be able to pick up a copy of the DVD later today (with a wry nod to the poster art of Star Wars on its cover), but I’ll also get to have a copy signed at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square by Simon, Jessica and Edgar – all who were in the East Village a few hours ago (that’s Sharon with Simon before the screening) – treating us all to three episodes on the big screen, and some interesting insight afterward.

Dave Fletcher is a self-admitted Spaced junkie and Founder / Creative Director at theMechanism, a multi-disciplinary design agency with offices in New York, London and Durban, South Africa.