Back To The 80's

Hello, loves!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was great, I cooked as per usual....which is one of my favorite things to do. I'm finally at an age where cooking Thanksgiving dinner is programmed into my brain, and it's mostly autopilot. I even make my own cranberry sauce, which is really freakin' good........I remember as a kid, every year we'd have that can shaped red jelly mass on the table. Always one single spoonful was missing from it when we cleaned up. I'm still not sure to this day who was actually eating it.

But when I started cooking my own dinners, I vowed......
No Jelly Masses on My Table! Not that I made a speech or signs or anything.....and guess what, nobody noticed. Then a couple of years ago I found a recipe for cranberry sauce made with rosemary and white wine.....it was easy AND it was some killa cranberry sauce......now it's become part of my T-Day repertoire.

I spent Thursday night recovering from cooking all day, and I spent tonight recovering from Black Friday shopping. So tomorrow has to be all about finishing my LAST project for this semester, one which I have an absolutely FANTASTIC job of avoiding. It's also being graded by a professor who seems to have no rhyme or reason to her grading patterns............who gives a bare bones of instructions written in a language only SHE can decipher......and then expects us to somehow provide details and nuances that were never asked for..........and whose favorite phrase is:
"I have a head injury, you know'.
Nope- not even kidding on that last one. Even a little.

So I firmly believe that my getting a good grade on this project really depends on her mood at the time, blood levels of her medications, alignment of the stars, etc. Which kind of takes the pressure off, when you think about it. At any rate, I just want it done and over and then be able to focus on studying for my boards.

So I decided to soak my feet and take in a movie. For no real reason, I picked 'Critters' from 1986. I remember seeing this at the theater and I don't really remember anything else about it. So it was kind of like watching a whole new movie.

Critters is a movie that was probably inspired by the success of Gremlins, although the 'critters' didn't have half the money, technology, and creativity that Gizmo and his evil offspring had put into them. They're apparently some kind of convicted felons on their way to an intergalactic prison when they break out and take off for other parts of the galaxy. Bounty hunters are released to go after them, and the critters end up landing outside a farmhouse that Dee Wallace and her family live in.


The most enjoyable part of the movie to me is when the intergalactic bounty hunters go around town, busting into churches and bars, looking for the Critters, and pretty much making a huge mess in the process. One of the bounty hunters likes to pick a new face every time they come across a new set of humans, and keeps morphing to look like different people in the town.

Whoever decided the 'critters' would move by curling into a ball and rolling was a freakin' genius. Talk about $$$ saved by not having to have the creatures ambulate very much. Whenever they needed them to move on the set, all they had to do was lob them across the set. Whoo-hoo. They're basically balls of hair with red eyes and lots of teeth. And oh yeah, they throw poisonous quills. Conveniently, they don't have to move for that either.

We also have a 'cute' part set to funky 80's music where the Critters tear up the son's bedroom to a funky 80's soundtrack. They tear up pillows, knock everything off tables, and eat the fish out of the tank. Those crazy Critters! In one scene, a Critter faces down a stuffed E.T. doll and ends up tearing the head off it when it won't talk.
Oh, the IRONY!

Eventually the bounty hunters end up accidentally getting to the place where the Critters actually ARE, thanks to the spunky little kid who decides to make a run for it and bike into town to get help for his family. One of the Critters hides in the toliet! Funny!

It sounds like I'm making fun of this movie - because I am- but it wasn't a bad movie to watch while my feet soaked. If you're a fan of fun 80's horror, this movie is for you. I don't think I ever saw any of the sequels, so if anyone did, let me know how they are. I might consider checking them out if I get a good recommendation - or a really bad one!

Love,
Mother Firefly