Cranberries

I used up my last package of cranberries today. Some of it went into making relish to go with the last of my left over turkey from my family's Yule dinner. I deiced to put two thirds of them towards an experiment. I finely minced them in my food processor then put them in a jar with half a liter of vodka. I'm going to let it sit for a week or two and then decant into another bottle. No sugar because I want to see what the drink is like plain. Maybe it will be too strong and need diluting down with more vodka (funny, diluting with vodka). If it needs sugar I'll add a bit at a time until it is just right.

The next time I get to the store I'll see if there might be any fresh packages left, though I doubt there will be. I also think I'll get some ham and some bread because eventually I've a mind to make some Scotch Eggs. They'd make a nice lunch with some greens.

Until then I'm working on what I have here. Tonight I think some rice and some mung beans mashed with some milk or something.

Today I got registered for unemployment and to start searching for a new job. Offically unemployeed last Friday and all. I'll have to document where I'm applying now so that I can get the benifit, such as it is. I also got more cleaned up today. A third of the floor is scrubed and now I'm working on a sink full of dishes.

Bad Clouds on the Horizon

Okay I'm partially exaggerating for dramatic effect (plus I like being snarky), but the genre movies coming out this year don't look promising aside from a few like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Though really how is that different from any other year one might fairly ask. Not much, I just noticed several of the "coming soon" notices seeming really bad and genre all at once and so I felt inspired to write.

This week we get what will undoubtedly be another exercise in stupid horror movie creation with White Noise. Followed up next week by Elektra the spin off movie so silly that when I read about it in Dork Tower I thought it was a joke that John had made up. (Surely even Hollywood wouldn't be that stupid, no, wrong!) From the trailers I expect it to be Catwoman all over again, only with a Daredevil character instead of a Batman one. Alone in the Dark will probably be yet another weak video game adaptation from the director of House of the Dead rounding out January. (What ever happened to making lowbugets films that were fun?)

The next genre movie is in the third week of February by Constantine the big screen adaptation of the Hellblazer comics that casts Keanu Reeves the man who Hollywood either won't let act or has forgotten how to do so depending upon if you are a fan or not. Opening the same weekend is Son of the Mask which at this early date already looks like one of the worst movies of 2005.

Perhaps the year will improve, but March does not look like the month it will turn around. A Sound of Thunder is set to butcher a nice Ray Bradbury short story the same weekend the makers of Ice Age prove yet again that they can't replicate the wonderful work of Pixar with their new film Robots. Also set to stink in March is The Ring Two. Steamboy may or may not be bad. Early reports are that it is pretty animation, but lacks a plot.

Fortunately I don't just watch science fiction and fantasy films, so if I want to see something I'll have something worth going to. Or maybe I might learn to enjoy movies for what they are rather than wishing for something besides big special effects... unlikely. Next time I'll talk about what I'm excited about seeing. Also feel free to IM me to explain how I'm all wrong about this.