I’ve never been so beardly.

Sorry once again for the irregular updates, I’ve been terribly bad on this.

– My thanksgiving was really, really good. I always look forward to this holiday, because I can play catchup with my many cousins, in-laws, etc that I might not see too much of in the rest of the year. Not to mention, without exception, all the ladies in my family can really cook some amazing food.

My plate had:

Turkey – made by me, actually. It’s Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey. Still the best recipe I’ve ever tried for it.

Honey baked ham – Yum. You know, before I ate the above turkey, I was always more of a ham guy when it came to thanksgiving grub. Now that I do the super nice turkey, that’s changed, but a good honey baked ham is hard to beat.

Potato salad – My aunt’s recipe for this is one of my favorite foods on the planet. Just the right balance of relish, mustard, potatoes, and eggs. Other people have tried to replicate it with the EXACT SAME recipe, but nope. My aunt is the only one who can make it just so.

Dressing – If you’re not southern, you probably aren’t too familiar with this. But it’s basically a fine mix of breading and turkey bits. Almost like cornbread, when my family makes it. There’s always a huge debate between this and….

Stuffing – We basically always make this too, since my dad is from the North, and insists on it. The name is a bit of a misnomer, though, because it’s never actually stuffed into a turkey… not the way it’s made here, anyway. We just use some of the drained liquids from the cooked turkey for the stuffing, and it comes out beautifully.

My southern side of the family swears by dressing, and my dad swears by stuffing. Me? I just eat em both.

Sweet potato cassarole – Mashed sweet potatoes, with a hard crust of pecans and brown sugar. Terrible for you? Yes. Packed with calories? Yes. Utterly divine? Heck yes!

 

And that’s just the main course. Dessert was the legendary strawberry cake, and white/dark chocolate brownies. Dear god, was I bloated afterwards.

So I sat down to watch some football with my cousins, which was hilarious. By the end of the Houston/Detroit game, I was rooting for the tie, since neither team looked like they deserved to win. My family gets rabid about their football, to the max. They jump up, yell, argue rules, and scream at the refs like they could actually be heard. That was riotous fun.

But… there was a downside this year. Usually after all the dust has settled, everyone chills and plays board games together, and gets silly until like 10 or 11 o clock, when everyone goes home to rest, and prepare for Black Friday the next morning.

This year, obviously, a lot of people didn’t need to wait until the next morning. Sales started at midnight. Or even 8 pm that very day. So rather than spend all that awesome time around each other, the rabid deal hounds were already moving on to shopping.

There’s a bit of irony there, I feel. Battle the hordes of shoppers to buy gifts for your loved ones… rather than sit and spend time with them right then and there. I don’t mind black friday. Really, I don’t.

But I really, REALLY wish it would, you know, actually stay on Friday.

I’ve been going to the movies a lot lately. And I have no problem with this whatsoever. I love going to all kinds, and appreciate everything from the artsy, to the mindless, to the gory, to the kiddie.

Honestly, I’d probably go every week if I could get away with it. Wouldn’t even matter if there was something really good or not.

In the past 3 weeks or so, I went to go see:

Wreck it Ralph: ****

Skyfall: *****

Licoln: *****

Rise of the Guardians: ***

 

Wreck It Ralph, I really adored. But of course I did. It was practically made for a guy of my age, with my spectrum of knowledge of games both old and new. Its only issue was that it really didn’t dig into enough different game types to whet my whistle for it. Sequel, please!

Skyfall was a landmark Bond film. It deconstructed the "Bond formula", and really humanized the character. Which is good in small doses, but this is not a film to make a blueprint out of. Really, it’s one to enjoy as a transition film. Still, this is one that will be remembered for all the right reasons. Javier Bardem was brilliant. I wish he’d do more movies.

Lincoln, while not for anyone without a considerable attention span, was amazing. Daniel Day Lewis is a godlike actor, with amazing attention to detail. But the rest of the cast nailed it too, and the script was excellent. Every word sounded dated, but new, and every time Lincoln started telling one of his classic anecdotes, it felt just so… right. If he truly was anything like what this movie painted him as, he was truly one in a billion. Dear god, could we use another man like him right now.

Rise of the Guardians, I felt a little let down by. When it’s billed with such things as "From the makers of How to Train Your Dragon, and executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro", I came in expecting a contender for one of the best movies of the year, not…. something so rushed. The concept was really cool, the animation was beautiful, and the characters were all charming. But it all felt so… butchered. The plot was way too fast, and the editing was done by someone with ADD. It was still good, and I’ll never look at Santa Claus the same way again, but it could have been SO much better.

 

And of course, in December, I’m definitely going to see The Hobbit, and Django Unchained.

I could get to like cruising to the movies at least twice a month.

A buddy of mine participated in Movember this year. It’s basically a charity drive to raise money to research prostate cancer, and mental health for men. All you do… is grow a moustache, and get people to sponsor said moustache.

While I didn’t raise money, I did show solidarity for my friend by also growing a moustache this month… and also a beard. I learned that if I don’t shave, I can grow a full beard in about 2 weeks. And you know? It’s kind of nice. It defines my chin, and keeps my face warm. It itches a bit, though.

I don’t think it’ll be a permanent look, but I’m definitely enjoying it for the time being.

I’ve also had an embarassment of riches on the reading front. First, my favorite fantasy author going right now, Joe Abercrombie, released Red Country. It’s not his best work, but that’s only because his debut trilogy was just gangbusters.

And now, I get to read Cold Days by Jim Butcher. Jim’s work inspires me so much, and in a lot of ways, I aspire to write a lot in his style.

 

If you like fantasy, check out either one. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Anyhow, speaking of which, it’s time to get back to reading.