Vampires!!!

In light of the pop culture boom of the dark creatures of the night, I figured I would give my input on the world of... Vampires!!!

My first real vampire experience (besides Count from Sesame Street and Count Chocula cereal) was the movie Interview with the Vampire. A classic-styled tale of a man named Louis, who tells his story of how he became a vampire while living in New Orleans and in Paris. I was drawn to the darkness of this film and it basically became a prequisite for my ideal image of how vampires are supposed to be: avoids daylight, full of sex appeal, and educated in the fine arts.


Then, I noticed some huge "phenomenon" about two years ago.



I had been used to going to the bookstores for Midnight book release parties, which I did for the last two Harry Potter books. But, one day at Barnes and Noble, I noticed there was one for this book series that were in black covers that featured some red item on the front. I come to find out that this was known as the Twilight Saga. A book series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire when she's in high school. I noticed it was aimed for teens. So I'm like, yeah whatever. I'll skip it.

Enter my sister Wendy.

She and her friends go see the first Twilight movie in theaters. Three weeks later, she's read all four books and seen the movie two more times. Weird... my sister doesn't read like I do. There must be something about these books. Then my cousin Katy is raving over them. Dang! Two blood related family members raving over the series.

I give in. I watch the first movie on DVD when my sister buys it. Okay. The vampires sparkle in daylight? Are you freaking kidding me??? Yea, that was my first impression. It didn't live up to my Interview with the Vampire standards. I just thought it was merely ok. But, being the girl that I am, I decided to give the books a shot (I mean, books are ALWAYS better than the movie counterpart... ALWAYS). So I spent summer 2009 reading the series back-to-back. Ok, I liked the books better.

I did some research on the author, Stephanie Meyer. I found out that she is Mormon. Ok, now I understand the books better. From my personal knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I can see how the author portrayed the myth of vampires. I do credit her for being a great writer, but the Twilight Series is not my cup of tea. Sorry.

Now, before I started reading the Twilight series, I was watching HBO one night. They were showing the making of this new series called True Blood. It took place in Bon Temps, Louisiana (hey! Louisiana is where Interview is based out of too) and featured real-time like situations where Vampires reveal themselves to humanity.

Okay, this has greatly sparked my interests.

I watch the series premiere.





Yep, I am HOOKED!

My Sunday nights were dedicated to the show. I fell in love with the realism of the show. Organizations were rallying against the vampires much like how there are groups rallying against the gays (The Fellowship of the Sun is sooo the vampire equivilant of the Westboro Baptist Church--- watch it, you'll see). The vampires didn't sparkle! They couldn't even go out in daylight without burning or killing themselves! They had a very organized government system and were trying to live normal lives as best as they could. And, oh.... the SEX SEX SEX. Totally about the hot kinky sex!



Between seasons one and two, I read all the published books that the series was based on. Saw some minor differences but I was extremely proud of Alan Ball and his team for doing some of the best accurate portrayals of book to film/tv out there! This is my idea of how vampires should be! Ok, I'm biased on that answer... I have missed out on some of the greater vampire films to compare, lol.

In conclusion: Interview with the Vampire- my beginning impression of the idealistic vampire. Twilight Saga- cutesy but I'm too old to enjoy it (yea, I said it... twentysomething is too old for Twilight). True Blood- epic, blissful, my ultimate vampire love!