Vampires Suck (pun intended)

I'm not a huge fan of vampires. This is mostly because I think they are overused. I was thinking about them today because I've been trying to listen to Twilight as I drive in the car, trying to figure out why my wife (and just about every other woman or girl I know) is so crazy about these books and movies. To be honest, I still don't get it. I don't mean to knock the author or anything, I just don't get the appeal of the book. Nor do I totally agree with her take on vampires (they sparkle in the sunlight? Really?). I suppose the books are well written, they appeal to their target audience, and the books do make more sense than the movies (at least the first book does so far), but movies spoiling good books is a different topic. I'm talking about vampires. I think I understand why vampires, especially Stephanie Meyers' vampires (sparkly vampires, Stephanie? Really?), appeal to women more than say werewolves. Vampires are rather sensual blood suckers, they are almost always portrayed as being good-looking (except for Nosferatu). Basically vampires are generally seen as really good looking people who give you a mean hicky. This is the vampire that appeals to women; the bad boy seductor. There is another type of vampire, though, the scary one, the ugly throat ripping kind. You see these in the scarier vampire stories, such as Stephen King's classic Salem's Lot. These vampires are evil, they exist to feed. I suppose Stephanie Meyer sought to break away from the mold, show that vampires don't have to be evil. She's not alone in this, other authors have protrayed sympathetic vampires, such as Anne Rice's Louis de Pointe du Lac from Interview with a vampire, or Kate Beckinsale's character Selene in the Underworld movies, but Meyers was able to elevate them to the level of teen heart throbes. So I was thinking,is she right, if vampires existed in a real world would they have to be evil or would they be able to choose to be good or bad? I mean we all have that agency right? But I think vampires would be pretty much evil. Sorry Bella. Think about it, vampires have to exist by drinking the blood of living creatures, be it human or animal. Okay, we kill animals to survive off of too, so I guess you couldn't call a vampire who chooses to subsist off of animals evil, but most would not do that. For some reason human blood goes down better than animal blood. I think if vampires existed in a real world they would see humans as less than they are, as prey, but they would also resent us because we can move around in the light and they cannot (sorry Stephanie, I prefer the version of vampires who burn up in the sun to those who sparkle). They can only hunt at night, so that would give people somewhat of an adavantage, as long as they had a way of protecting themselves at night. They would be similar to the creatures in the Will Smith movie I am Legend. But I don't totally like that version either, the cross between vampire and zombie (another monster that is overused). I prefer a vampire who is seductively beautiful, at least on the outside, but is a monster lurking just beneath the surface. Vampires choose to be vampires, after all. Okay, sure they do not usually choose to become vampires, they are turned by other vampires, but they choose to remain vampires, they could die if they wanted to (yes, even the undead have ways of ending their existence). All they'd have to do is sit outside and watch the sunrise. Most would be evil though. I'm not really trying to prove a point with this, Twilight just got me thinking about the subject is all. If a book makes you think it must be doing something right, though, right? So I guess the books aren't a total loss. I still don't understand why women like them so much, though. And I am still not a fan of vampires.

Movie Review: Faces in the Crowd

I watch a lot of movies, so I have decided to start writing movie reviews. I just finished watching Faces in the Crowd on Netflix. First of all you should know that the movie is rated R, although it probably could have been PG-13, mostly for language and some violence, although there is one sex scene but you don't see any actual naked bits, just her stomach and his chest. Anyway, I only gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars, mostly because I knew who the killer was as soon as I saw him. The director, Julien Magnat, tried to throw in a couple of twists to throw you off track, but eventhose were pretty transparent. The movie is about a woman named Anna Merchant (played by Milla Jovovich) who witneses a murder by a serial killer and then hits her head and develops Prosopagnosia (that's a neat word) or "Face Blindness." Basically she cannot remember a person's face from one moment to the next. If you leave her sight for a moment or so when she sees you again you look like someone else. This was my favorite part of the movie because it was clever the way the director had to switch actors to show the condition. I still can't remember what her boyfriend looked like originally. The acting in the movie is not bad, Milla Jovovich does a good job of looking freaked out and distressed, and I did not even recognize Julian McMahon as the detective trying to find the serial killer. Of course this might have been because he was wearing a goatee and the only other thing I know him from is as Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four movies, but I never thought of him as Doom ina different movie, so that is a good thing. There were no great dramatic moments in the movie though, nothing to make it stand out as anything more than mediocre, so unless you are bored and have already seen every other serial killer movie, you can skip this one. If you are loking for a good serial killer movie check out Se7en with Brad Pitt, or the classic Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins, or Zodiak with Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal, or one of my favorites, January Man with Kevin Kline. All of those are R rated as well, so if you don't watch R rated movies don't rent any of these, watch them edited on TV. So, that's my first movie review. I'll write more later.