Stop this Merry-go-round, I want to get off!
Life has been way to crazy lately. In all the parts of my life. Usually there is one part of my life that doesn’t totally suck, but not recently. Day job has been crazy, so crazy that I have found a new job and turned in my notice at the old job. Lots of family issues and illnesses. And I stare at the computer screen and just can’t seem to get anything out.
So sometimes I just want to scream that I want off this ride. You know there are so many ways that life is a merry-go-round. It is full of ups and downs and even though you feel like you are going somewhere, you are really just going around in circles.
But I don’t want to be that kid that they stop the ride to let them get off. I want to be able to look back at everything and say “I did that.” I just need to knuckle down and power through the writer’s block and the new job anxiety, and the family issues.
But even while I am writing that I am thinking about the reasons that I can’t do…
The reality is that I am taking my father to Ohio to visit my brother and sisters, and neices and nephews, a two great nephews. Which for him means kids, grandkids, and two great-grandsons. The reality of the situation is that this will probably be his last trip up to visit. He got some pretty bad news about his health this week. So my husband and I will be making the 12 hour drive and spending a week with family.
When I come back from my “vacation,” I have one last shift at the old job before starting the new job. It is a promotion, but since it is with a smaller company there is no pay raise to go along with it. But it has better hours for me and I can get the experience that I need with a smaller hospital.
And the writing, I am going to try while I am gone to write, but if I don’t I am not going to beat myself up. The time spent with family will be more than worth it. I just have to be ready to get going when I get home.
My Favorite Vampire Movie
My favorite vampire movie is without a doubt Bram Stoker’s Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola. I wrote a paper about this movie for my freshman comp class in college. I have read the book and watched the movie. This might be the only time I will say that I much prefer the movie. The book is great. It is a classic tale of horror. The movie is one of the most profound love stories I have ever seen.
Don’t believe me. Watch this.
Prince Dracula left his bride that he loved to battle the invading Turks. Believing that he had died in battle, Elisabeta commits suicide rather than live without him. He returns from battle to find her dead and the priest that should have offered comfort only tells him that her soul is damned. Dracula would rather damn himself by renouncing God than spend an eternity without the woman that he loves.
That would be a great love story. Tragic, but profound. But that isn’t the end. Fast forward though time. Prince Dracula discovers that his bride has been reincarnated in Mina, the fiancee of Jonathan Harker. Mina is willing to be become one of the undead to be reunited with her love. But in the end, he isn’t willing to sacrifice her soul for his happiness. He couldn’t damn her along with him.
In true Hollywood style there is a moment at the very end that makes you think that maybe things have worked up for the best, and that there is a happy ending for for both couples.
Okay, this is the last of my favorite vampire movies. Anyone who comments on the movie posts by midnight Sunday will be entered into a drawing for my book Innocence that will be available from Cobblestone Press in a matter of hours now.
I think I might go throw up now. Way too nervous to sleep tonight.
Thursday Thirteen June 5, 2008
I love vampires. I always have. Blame my mother. My given name is a character from Dark Shadows, a paranormal soap opera from the late sixties-early seventies. No, the demon possession plot line from Days of Our Lives or the Tainted Love vampire story line from the General Hospital spin off, Port Charles are not new things. They were being done back in the day.
Vampires are some of the earliest memories that I have. Is it any wonder I jumped at the chance to write a vampire story for Cobblestone Press. Innocence will be released tomorrow. Tomorrow I actually get to call myself a published author.
So today’s Thursday Thirteen is 13 vampires I remember. Some of them are good, some of them bad, some of them just are what they are.
1. Ben Cross as Barnabus Collins.
Barnabus is the vampire that helped saddle me with my birth name which is only used when I am in trouble. Ben played Barnabus in the remake of Dark Shadows that aired one season in the 90’s. My mother always said I named you after a character on a show I used to watch, she was a good witch. I eagerly awaited the appearance of Angelique. She was evil. She was the reason Barnabus became a vampire. Appearently my defination of good and my mother’s differ somewhat.
2. Wesley Snipes as Blade.
What more do I have to say. I rewatch these movies all the time. I love each and every one of them.
3. David Boraneaz as Angel.
A vampire with a soul. And a soul that looks as good as his does. The vamps can probably hear my heart pounding away right now.
4. Gary Oldman as Dracula.
This movie holds a very special place in my heart. There will be a whole post about it later.
5. Gerard Butler as Dracula
Ok, I threw in an extra because Jeri Ryan just looks so hot in that picture. This movie had an interesting ending. As a person who loves the backstory about how vampires got started this is a favorite.
6. Jim Carrey as Mark Kendall in Once Bitten
This is one of the funniest vampire movies I have ever seen. I know he doesn’t stay a vampire at the end, but Jim Carrey as a vampire, you have to laugh.
7. Kate Beckinsale as Selene.
Kate Beckinsale was a kickass vampire. I loved both this movie and the sequel.
8. George Hamilton as Dracula.
Another funny adaptation of the Dracula tale. The story is ridiculous. Dracula comes to New York because the Romanian Government has taken his castle to house a training facility for Nadia Comaneci. Too funny.
Actually the funniest part about this movie is a story about my family. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon in the 80’s. It was on TV, and we were all sitting around watching the movie. My little brother was about 10. He was laying on the couch and had his feet in my older sister’s lap. At one of the moments where George was getting ready to bite someone. My sister leaned down and bite my brother. He screamed like a little girl, and the rest of us were laughing so hard that we missed the next 15 minutes of the movies. Yes, we are all twisted. It comes naturally to us.
9. Max Schreck as Count Orlok in the 1922 silent movie Nosferatu.
This movie is the quintasential vampire movie. There were others before it, and many have followed, but it is the best.
10. James Marsters as Spike.
Ahh, Spike. He was soo good at being bad. And even when he was good, he was so bad.
11. Eddie Murphy as Maximilian in Vampire in Brooklyn.
Anouther outrageously good time.
12. Thomas Ian Griffith as Valek in John Carpenter’s Vampires
Another movie that gives an interesting origin of vampires. An exocism gone wrong.
13. Kiefer Sutherland as David in Lost Boys.
I loved this movies tag line.
Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire.
So, who is your favorite vampire. This is by no means an all inclusive list. I have more favorites, but I had to limit them to thirteen.
