Talk About Tuesday 302

In Which I Blather Some More

It's the Second week (first full week) of the New Year, and guess what I'm doing today? I'm drinking coffee, planning the week in Blogging, getting ready to head outside even though it's gonna feel like about 30℉ (-1℃) and be off-and-on cloudy. But I'm not too concerned with the low temps and the lack of sun - I've lived here my whole life, and after surviving ice storms and nor'easters for 30+ years, I'm kinda used to the weather.

Not used to having owls screaming for mates or something outside my window at 3AM...

Seriously, I don't know what kind of owl it was, but it was rhythmically hooting for an hour straight. How inconsiderate!

On the blogging side of things, here are my plans for the next seven days:

• Tomorrow I wanna talk about Wrestle Kingdom and the bittersweet New Year's Dash.
• Thursday I'm gonna draw some stuff!
• Friday I'll talk about a movie, I promise.
• Saturday might be that Idle Pins game, but I can't make any promises on that one...
• Sunday might be some noodles, but if I get the chance, I might bake something, so stay tuned!
• Monday will be the completed headband and the start of something new... or old. Alright.
• Next week, I'll be back here, blathering about coffee, weather, wildlife, and whatever else is going on.

I'm so sleepy, though...

I might have to take a nap today. That sounds nice :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday 302: New Year, New Projects!

In Which I Discuss Present and Future Projects!

First things first: I'm making something!

5 rows in

10 rows in

15 rows in

20 rows in

25 rows in

I'm 1/3 of the way done with it, but it's going quite well. I'm liking how the same yarn I used on the hat I was making at the end of 2019 looks on this project, too!

But this won't be a long-term project, and I have plans.

Here's some stuff I want to make this year:

• One 1920s cloche hat
• a sweater or cardigan
• a vest
• a blanket
• socks
• slippers
• a really complex stuffed animal or amigurumi
• a skirt or shorts
• lace
• 100 snowflakes.

You read that last one correctly. I want to make and starch 100 snowflakes by next December.

I can do it, too. I know I can.

Stay tuned for more fiber mayhem, if that's your jam!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Survival Sunday 301: New Year New Food

In Which I discuss the coming year

With a new year of the blog upon us, it's time to hammer down some of the things I'd like to make! I have some ideas, but mostly, I would like to be able to actually show you guys how to make a whole meal from appetizers to deserts. I'd do it in one week segments so that you can practice instead of trying to make everything at once :)

Here's a list of things I'd like to try making this year (in addition to a full spread):

• Sorbet in the freezer
• some kind of frosted and decorated cake
• pie
• baked pasta of some kind
• Sourdough bread
• an Asian Pickle (or maybe even kimchi!)
• homemade ramen from scratch (complete with onsen eggs and chasiu)
• Mexican food
• Something from that Cooking Tree channel on YouTube
• Something that looks gross from my 1980s cookbook.

So what do you guys think? What else should I try this year? Do you have any cooking goals?

I'd love to hear from you.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Filmic Friday 251: Can't Stop Here This Is Santa Country

In Which I Put Off Fear And Loathing for one more week, lol

It's going to be Christmas in FOUR DAYS

Oh crap.

I am soooooo not ready.

I never am.

Since I'm an unprepared potato, I thought I'd let you in on a little secret: I kinda don't like sentimental Christmas movies. Like... at all.

But I'm also not fond of comedies (I have a soft spot for Ernest Saves Christmas, but that's because I'm a 90s kid).

So what the heck kinda Christmas movies does a nerdy birdy like me like to watch?

Stupid ones, mostly, it turns out. Stupid movies, action movies, and the occasional detective romp.

My top five Christmas movies are:

• Die Hard
• Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
• How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
• A Charlie Brown Christmas

That's... a weird top five, right? I mean, no The Santa Clause, no National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (and probably never that one thanks to the other Chevy Chase movie I watched this year... ), no A Christmas Story or Polar Express or Elf...

I mean, not even Rudolph or Frosty, and they were my childhood favorites. Seriously, I'm pretty sure I wore out the VHS tapes for both of them...

Why these five?

They all mean something to me.

Die Hard and KKBB were movies I saw for the first time with the love of my life, and that sticks with ya. It doesn't hurt matters any that they're just solid, wonderful, fun movies on their own, either.

Grinch was ubiquitous in my youth, but I was madly in love with Karloff's voice and cadence. I was also very disappointed to find out that my singing voice would never reach the deep, buttery tones of Thurl Ravenscroft...

And yeah, that's the name of the dude who sang the song.

And yeah, that's possibly the most badass name on Earth...

Emmet Otter was another childhood treasure, but it became a quest of sorts for me, where I was constantly hunting down the tv cut we'd all seen as kids where Ma mumbles about the fox falling off the dock. I was searching for it for my mother's sake, since she'd expressed a wish for it, and I'm frankly terrible at gift-giving. Suddenly, in college, I became friends with my Film And Editing Friendo, who was at long last able to conclude my search. It's a friendship that's still strong today, and I'll always be grateful for the one year where I actually got someone what they wanted.

And I know I said that I wasn't a saccharine Christmas movie person, but there's something about Charlie Brown, man. Maybe it's because we grew up surrounded by Snoopy (my parents are both fans). Maybe it's because between Charlie and Mr Rogers, that was the only real exposure to jazz music I was able to get without anyone complaining. Maybe it's just that sometimes, you want a bunch of kids singing "loo loo loo" around a crummy little tree that someone tried so hard to get for them. All I know is that it doesn't feel like Christmas to me until I hear the music from this cartoon.

Btw, my next five faves are:

• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Rankin/Bass)
• Frosty the Snowman
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Fleischer/Jam Handy)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol
• White Christmas

If you think that's weird, that's 100% okay. I'd probably find your top ten fav Christmas flix to be a bit weird too.

This does make me wonder what kinds of holiday films there are for the other... dozen or so non-Christian holidays there are during this season...

Maybe next year...

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Survival Sunday 244: Kitchen Staples

In Which I Discuss What To Keep In Your Kitchen

I've talked a lot about various basic things you can do with kitchen staples, but it's been quite a while since I've talked about what a kitchen staple is.

Kitchen Staples are basic foodstuffs and ingredients that it's wise to keep in your kitchen. Your three most important kitchen staples if you're going to cook from scratch are, of course, going to be:

• All-Purpose Flour
• Sugar
• Salt

You can cook with just those three. You can't cook much, and this is also assuming you have easy access to water in your kitchen, which you pretty much cannot cook without (I can't think of any recipes where you never need a working kitchen sink), but you can cook something (Asian dumpling dough, for instance is literally just flour and water with maybe some salt).

So what are the most important things to have in your pantry, cupboards, and fridge? Let's find out!

Let's Start with our basic dry ingredients.

We'll assume you want to be able to enjoy baked goods here, as well as stovetop. With that assumption you'll want:

• All-Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Cornmeal
• Oats (rolled and/or steel-cut)
• Salt
• Starch (corn and/or potato)
• Sugar, Light Brown
• Sugar, Plain
• Yeast, Instant
• Yeast, Active Dry

Pretty simple, right? These dry ingredients will help you make a lot of recipes. You'll need to add things, though, to give it more flavor.

Your basic spice cabinet looks like this:

• Allspice
• Basil
• Bay Leaves
• Chili Powder
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Curry Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Onion Powder
• Oregano
• Paprika
• Parsley
• Pepper, Black
• Pepper, Cayenne
• Pepper, Red Flake
• Rosemary
• Thyme

With these spices, you've got quite the leg up on a lot of recipes, and you can, of course, expand it as needed!

Now, you've got all of these dry ingredients. What do you add to them? My suggestions for non-refrigerated additives are:

• Corn Syrup (I know, but it's useful)
• Honey
• Oils
• Canola/Cooking
• Olive
• Sesame
• Maple Syrup
• Soy Sauce
• Vinegar
• Balsamic
• Cider
• White
• Worcestershire Sauce

And if you're looking for fridge Staples, here you are:

• Butter
• Eggs
• Milk

Yeah. That's pretty much it. If you have regular milk and vinegar, you can make "sour milk", which is a good substitute for buttermilk, and it's best to pick cream up when you need it and not before.

Finally, we have the "Other" section of Staples - things that are useful to bulk up your pantry and keep you noshing in case of emergencies:

• Beans
• Canned Goods
• Fruits (I like to avoid "in syrup", since that's too much sugar)
• Meats/Fish (yes, that includes tuna and SPAM)
• Veggies (green beans and corn are the most popular here)
• Soup (tomato and chicken noodle are our go-to)
• Sauce (tomato sauce, mostly)
• Onions
• Pasta
• Potatoes
• Rice

Seriously, if you have dried beans, rice, and pasta, plus some random canned goods, some butter, some olive oil, and some spices, you have meals. The canned meats are, of course, optional if you're vegetarian/vegan, and they're very high in sodium, so don't add salt to anything you're making with them, but these  will help you cook a ton. Don't refrigerate your potatoes or onions, because they'll get shriveled and gross.

I think that'll about do it for my basics today, so I'll leave you with this last note:

You don't have to buy everything at once. If you have the opportunity to get pre-packaged meals and/or mixes as you're building your pantry, then do it. Trust me when I say that by haunting sales, you'll end up with all of the canned and dry goods you'll ever need - especially if you live in a city, where I'd imagine it's a lot easier to find stuff for cheaper!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Filmic Friday 241: A Big List of Spoopy Movies!

In Which I List Some Flix

So you're getting started on your epic Halloween Spoopy Movie playlist for that Halloween Party you've been harping on since August 20th.

And your Aunt Mabel promised she'd show up with her adorable home-made witch costume and those killer Pumpkin Bars she makes that you're obsessed with.

Aunt Mabel cannot do the Big Spoops (Slasher films, gore, intense trauma or otherwise anxious movies).

What do?

She's not, like, a six year old or something. She's got some resistance, but she's not down for the hardcore stuff.

You love Aunt Mabel.

You love those pumpkin bars.

So what can you play when someone is a little delicate but not a vanilla cream puff?

Here's some movies that even this relative weenie in the Blanket Fort can watch with joy! Some even have some real spoops in them!

A BIG LIST OF SPOOPY MOVIES YOU CAN SHOW YOUR AUNTIE (OR ME)

• Kiddie
• Hocus Pocus
• Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Halloween Tree
• Episodes of Goosebumps
• Episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark
• It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
• Monster House
• Casper
• Escape From Witch Mountain (+ sequels)
• Adult, but not the End of the World
• Universal Monsters
• Dracula (+ sequels)
• The Wolf Man (+ sequels)
• The Invisible Man
• The Creature From The Black Lagoon (+ sequels)
• The Mummy (+ sequels)
• Frankenstein (+ sequels)
• Hammer Horror Flix
• Captain Kronos
• Dracula (+ sequels)
• The Devil Rides Out
• House 2: The Second Storey
• Monster Squad (1987)
• Episodes of Svengoolie
• Episodes of Elvira
• Episodes of Monstervision
• Some MST3K
• Shakma
• Birdemic
• Psycho
• Bedlam
• Episodes of The Twilight Zone (OG)
• The Happening
• The Shuttered Room
• Strays
• Proceed With Caution
• Ghostwatch
• Evil Dead (+ sequels)
• Shaun of the Dead
• Zombieland
• Leviathan
• Deep Star Six
• Uninvited (Not to be confused with "THE Uninvited", which is a ghost story/psychological thriller and not a killer cat movie)

I have watched every single one of these movies or shows from start to finish at least once with only two exceptions: Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. I never finished SotD. I got 2/3 of the way through it and then (spoilers) someone got ripped apart in the fakest, most bloodless way possible, and I had to tap out. I don't know why that was what did it. I just couldn't take it anymore and had to stop. I probably could finish the movie from that point if we literally skipped that guy's death scene, to be honest, but I just never have. I've seen the ending, though.

Since I couldn't finish the silliness that was Shaun of the Dead, I have been unable to watch Zombieland as well. I have seen the trailers and the opening five to ten minutes, but I just... I don't do zombies, guys. I cannot do it. It's a weird squick of mine and I just can't seem to get past it. Pretty much anyone else on earth should be fine with both, though.

Also, confession time, I've got a bunch of absolute garbage mixed in with otherwise good movies on here. There is no universe in which M Night Shayamalan's The Happening is even close to being as good as Bedlam. It's just not even close. It's much closer to Strays and Birdemic. Bedlam, meanwhile, is a fantastic movie from 1946 with Boris Karloff and is a fictionalized story of the actual Bedlam asylum (kind of). It's really good, and you should watch it.

I want to write a bit about each of these films at some point - even the ones I've already blogged about - and that might be next week's Filmic Friday, to be honest :)

That's all from me for today, everyone.

Hope you enjoyed the List Of Films Your Cinnamon Roll Friends and Relatives Can Probably Watch!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Filmic Friday 236: Naptime Movie Critiques

I'll be perfectly honest, guys, I didn't really feel like blogging today. There's nothing wrong. I'm not unwell, I'm not canceling the blog or anything, I just... I don't feel up to blogging. I haven't had good sleep for a couple days now, and while I did get a full 8-9 hours in last night... it's not cutting it. I am on Big Mug #3 of excessive caffeine intake and... nothing. Not even a jitter.

Today's weather may be contributing to my lack of film critique/overview. It's a day of clouds and chilly breezes - a day I'd normally be over the moon about, but today, I'm just too darn tired.

So what am I planning to do on this cloudy, 64℉ (~18℃) day?

Probably napping, but while I am, I like to have some noise. YouTubers are great for this, especially long-form YouTube videos/channels.

While there are some YouTubers whose voices are... not conducive to restful sleep (PeanutButter Gamer, for instance, though he's still fun), I sleep like a very tired dead person, so that's not really a barrier for me.

Instead, I just choose people who I'd be happy to find chatting on my Roku or laptop. People I enjoy watching regardless of my waking state.

Here's some of these people:

Red Letter Media - specifically their Best of the Worst series. These Great Lakes geniuses have nailed down the forum-discussion of bad cinema to a science. Funny and irreverent, these folks make me happy to be surrounded by horror films I'll never watch and Sci-Fi flix I regret viewing (Cybernator, I'm looking at you...)

AVGN - Yes, he's best known for taking you back to the past to play games that suck... but James Rolfe also has his Rental Reviews and Monster Madness videos, which I love. It's sometimes easy to forget that he's also an aspiring filmmaker, but I would 100% watch one of his movies. Through my fingers. Because I'm a wuss.

Movie Nights - Once Obscurus Lupa Presents, this YouTuber is fantastic at finding the exact kind of 80s and 90s schlock I love. I'm not into hyper-obscure art films or crazy Italian horror movies, so seeing someone else with an intense love of Quantum Leap and other ridiculous touchstones of my childhood is fantastic. The fact that she's hilarious and has crossed over with Red Letter Media a time or three doesn't hurt either.

Cyborcat - Dena Natali is a gem of the internet. Sharing my love of Red Dwarf and survival horror, she also has her Film Den series, which covers everything from bad video game adaptations to beloved classics of horror.

PushingUpRoses - as the name may suggest, Roses' channel is primarily about things related to death, like Murder, She Wrote, or various games about spunky detective girls solving murders, or the awesome Grim Fandango. She also covers various childhood favorites of mine, like Hey Dude or Goosebumps. Definitely give her a look-see!

AgonyWolf Media - I first became aware of these fine people during the Dark Times, when Mystery Science Theater 3000 was unavailable and everyone was looking for their next riffing fix. They did some spectacular riffs, back in the day, and while I regret to inform you that they have been asked to cease doing so, if you can somehow find their older work, it's well worth it. These days, I follow them primarily for their other channel, Robot Co-Op, where they play and riff video games, and that's also cool. They're also working on their own horror series, Gray-Colored Glasses, but it escapes me where that's located.

BrutalMoose - the nomadic Brutalmoose has traveled across the country several times since I started watching, making videos everywhere he goes. Much of what he covers are video games, but he also does food reviews and, most importantly to today's blog, video/tv reviews. His chill presentation style and snappy editing are top-notch, but he's no one-trick pony. On top of the rest of the reviews, he has a somewhat randomly-updated series that I've fallen in love with, and honestly, it's one of the coolest things I've seen on YouTube: Televoid. Televoid defies explanation, but it is glorious and it is entertaining. I have actually had a hard time sleeping after some episodes, since it can be eerie, but it's worth the watch every time.


I'll be honest, I was gonna make this a Top 10 style list, but...

I'm really tired, guys.

I think I need to go take a nap.

I'll throw on some videos. Playlist or two. Then I'll rest until I don't feel like I need sleep anymore.

At least it feels like fallllllllllllllllll!

Go Enjoy Something
FC

PS: I'm still planning to do reviews of the last few movies I've seen (including Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, and Superman, and I'm pretty sure a few others). I was just too pooped today :P