In which Jennnanigans recounts the story of how she unexpectedly received some awesome promotional material from The Shape of Water, owing to a recent viewing and review. The material was not requested and was a total surprise upon arrival. Jennnanigans was not paid or compensated for this blog entry in any way.
Good morning and happy Friday!
Last night while watching a video on bullet journaling, I heard a knock at my front door. Expecting a belated Xmas gift, I was surprised to find a long, rectangular package with a return address reading Fox Searchlight Pictures. I was further surprised to find the package was addressed to me, at this blog title.
Apologies for missing my second entry last week – my review of 2014 British horror movie The Forgotten will be posted NEXT Monday morning. I’ve been traveling for work lately and unfortunately between that and lots of other stuff (fighting practice, the gym, writer’s group, family stuff, friend stuff, life stuff) I haven’t had the mental energy to sit down and really dive into a movie. But more reviews are coming! Horror movie month is TOO IMPORTANT for me to fall down on the job!
In the meantime, please enjoy this delightful music video about Russian history*.
*It was a joke. I am kidding. Putin hasn’t destroyed the Earth with his fire dance moves… YET.
Food – Making a chicken under the broiler tonight! I am excite.
Hair – Last night I tried the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil conditioning hair masque. It smelled like cookie dough and made my hair amazingly shiny and curly, which is of course ruined by my sleeping on it. I have not mastered the art of “pineappling” and upon removing my scrunchie resemble some kind of slightly flattened tumbleweed. Ah well! I am almost done with the Coconut & Hibiscus products I got, and next I am going to try Dragonsblood & Coffee Cherry, which smells amazing (I’ve been peeping it at Ulta) and is supposed to give curly hair volume.
Books – I am reading Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, which I got for two dollars at the used book store. BEST EVER. I would say it’s helping me cope with the current state of politics, but really it’s helping me hold on to my fantasy that Obama and Biden are setting up a secret shadow government to save us all. It will be run from Biden’s garage, powered mostly by brewskis, and there will be 24-7 grilling in the backyard. When Michelle texts Barry that she’s coming by, there will be a scurry of activity in which bags of Doritos and nacho platters are hastily hidden from sight, and clouds of cigarette (and other!) smoke waved out.
In the meantime, please enjoy this photo of someone’s Grandfather and a goose wearing shoes.
GOOSESHOES!
One day, Nebraska inventor and local kindly person Gene Fleming noticed a goose awkwardly hobbling around his sister-in-law’s yard. Inspection revealed the goose had been born without feet, and it was doing its best to get around on stumps, but its skin was raw and would become infected without intervention. Touched, Mr. Fleming tried to help. After a few false starts, he settled on a pair of leather baby shoes stuffed with cotton slipped over the ends of the goose’s legs. The goose was delighted, and was soon running around the yard unassisted. He was an unusually good-natured goose, and didn’t seem to mind the attention or handling. Unable to stop tinkering, Mr. Fleming continued to improve the shoes.
Andy, as the goose came to be named, enjoyed a short brush with celebrity. He appeared on the Johnny Carson Show, and Nike began sending him free baby shoes. Mr. Fleming carried him around, his head nestled in the crook of his arm, his feet dangling like a child’s on a swing.
Unfortunately Andy’s story ends sadly, so I’ll just cut it off there. Here’s a link to the whole story if you want to depress yourself. I just focus on the good work of Mr. Fleming and all those people who were delighted by a goose in shoes.
Not much in the way of a long entry today, but here are some little bits!
John Wick 2 – I wasn’t going to say anything, but I am pregnant with this movie’s offspring. At least one week. But seriously, it was MAGNIFICENT and you should see it. The movies are intended to be a trilogy, so this one is a bit of a bridge, but it still is AWESOME. Loved it from start to finish.
Life Stuff – Going well! Cooking, writing, peopling, and in my downtime I’ve picked up playing Skyrim again. The memories! The memes! The hilarious moments! I had completely forgotten how unprepared for fighting giants I was!
Fewds – I did my taxes*, got my tax return, and got a new (but irregular) All-Clad 12-inch skillet from Cookware and More and a mandoline slicer. I already have used the skillet a few times and it is MAGIC!
Politics – *drinking sounds*
Please enjoy this thing, which I saw years ago and forgot it existed until I was reminded the other day. I love rediscovering old things! It’s like rummaging in your attic and finding old treasures! NOTE: this video is totally fake and was created in a studio with greenscreens. No cats were thrown out of planes in the making of this video. Their little back paws floating in the air like ^V^ make me laugh very hard, though.
“Whatever.” ~ Skydiving cats, probably.
*Being an unmarried, childless, landless peasant with no side hustle means my taxes are wonderfully simple. I do them on Turbotax every year!
It’s not just recipes, it’s cooking advice and entertaining too!
For only being in the office four days, this week was starting to feel a hell of a lot longer. Part of it is work stress, part of it was the usual ‘broke before payday’ blues, part of it was problems with my car, and part of it was the existential mind-melt that American political news has become. What is it the kids say about they can’t even? That. That is what I can’t right now.
And with all the peculiar astronomical phenomena last year and this, it’s tempting to ascribe the current social climate to some kind of temporary madness; mostly because temporary things END and we can get back to sweet, sweet sanity. But I digress.
Lately I’ve been cooking up a storm, mostly due to possibly one of the greatest Xmas gifts I’ve ever gotten:
