Garfield's Thanksgiving

Of the three Garfield holiday specials, I have to assume that Garfield's Thanksgiving gets the least love. Despite being an ardent Garfield fan growing up, I'm not even sure I saw this special back when it originally aired. In the interest of full disclosure though, I did grow up in Canada and our relationship with the Thanksgiving holiday is much different than it is in the United States. Our Thanksgiving is in October and it only lasts two days max. Thanksgiving in America seems to last a week and a half. In Garfield's Thanksgiving, Jon is finally able to wear down Dr. Liz and convince her to go on a date with him. He invites her over for Thanksgiving dinner. And while I've never thought of Thanksgiving as a date holiday, it's not like these 24 minutes were going to fill themselves. Jon totally drops the ball when it comes to dinner prep, so it's Grandma to the rescue. Grandma, last seen in A Garfield Christmas, totally kills it in the kitchen and ends up being the highlight of the special. Everyone enjoys the meal, some jokes are made about going on a diet and the credits roll.

Rating: Grandma's Sweet Potatoes%

(Image from IMDB)

Blood Rage

I have to assume that Blood Rage doesn't have a particularly large fan base. Shot in 1983 but not released until 1987, it arrived a few years after the '80s slasher boom had cooled off. And this is definitely a movie that was made in the mold of a typical '80s slasher. I'd be curious to know how many people actually saw Blood Rage during its brief theatrical run or during its life on VHS. As of this review, Blood Rage has only 870 user ratings on IMDB, while movies like Sleepaway Camp, The Burning and My Bloody Valentine each have over 10,000. Still, it warms my heart that there are people and companies out there that continue to find, restore and re-release movies like Blood Rage. Even though I may never watch it again and I don't necessarily recommend that anyone else go out of their way to see it either.

Rating: Eating leftovers on the kitchen floor%

(Image from thewolfmancometh.com)

American Thanksgiving

American Thanksgiving is a way bigger deal than Canadian Thanksgiving, which is what I grew up with. You get a four day weekend here, there's football everywhere all of the sudden (except apparently in Detroit), and pumpkin flavored everything, the best of all seasonal flavors. The main allure of Thanksgiving is you get to eat a lot of food, which I guess isn't so different from any other day in America but on Thanksgiving you don't have to feel guilty about it. Which is to say I ate way too much tonight, which is to say I ate exactly the right amount.

RATING: 96%

Tofurkey

Even when I was experimenting with veganism (ok so it was a two year "experiment," but whatever) in college I never bought one of these things because I heard they were gross. However, last week my roommate and his vegetarian girlfriend bought one and I ended up trying it. How was it? Well, the meaty part was nasty but the stuffing part was okay so together they added up to...um...pretty gross? And the accompanying gravy was disgusting (I gave it one taste and threw out the rest). So yeah, gross. Vegetarians would be advised to skip the fake turkey and eat more mashed potatoes.

Rating: 25% (If I was starving I'd be happy to have it, but if I was a vegetarian I wouldn't bother.)