"Reminds me of old mad druids, running around chanting in the forest."

[janestarz]

Okay, t'is true, I've been getting more and more obsessed with vampires lately. I mean just because there's so many resources about them (books, books, and more books, a couple of featured movies, the table-top roleplaying game, and then ofcourse the internet), doesn't mean I shouldn't read about them, right?



So, I guess it all started with "Interview With The Vampire", which featured Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt (both with long hair), Antonio Banderas (oh roarrrr -->), and Christian Slater (just being his cheeky self). I suppose what really attracted me to vampires in the first place was what most people admire in them. Their power. Of mind and body. They can do the most illegal things, and get away with it; they laugh about murdering someone, and walk away without even a single drop of blood on their wonderful victorian outfits. Ofcourse my fetish with medieval, elizebethan, tudor, and renaissance clothing is heavily satisfied by these movies. And people wonder why I wear goth....

"There comes a time for every vampire when the idea of eternity becomes momentarily unbearable. Living and feeding in the shadows with only your own company to keep rots into a solitary, hollow existence. Immortality seems like a good idea until you realize you're going to spend it alone." Lestat in the first scene of Queen of the Damned

Malor got me thoroughly hooked on Vampire the Masquerade, by White Wolf. I've just finished reading the Clan Lasombra Trilogy. Truth be told, I found the books very amusing until suddenly, halfway through part three, the main character Lucita goes through a remarkable change. That's where I realised that the books were all about Lucita, and her unlife, not about the Sabbat, the events around that time or the eruption of mt.Etna.

Now I've started in Slave Ring, part one of the Theo Bell (Clan Brujah) trilogy. Page 34 reads:
" "I have been fully briefed regarding the night's events, thank you. I wanted to congratulate you on your enthusiasm" Paschek's voice was cold and mocking. "I understand from the local primogen that you left quite a mess for them to clean up. They were particularly impressed that you somehow managed to scatter an arc of brain tissue across a twenty-foot high ceiling, and to distribute another victim over four thousand square feet of floor space. That is quite an achievement, even given your predilections. You should be proud."
Theo didn't trust himself to answer."

The reason why I lay doubled over when reading this paragraph was that I could so hear Justicar Paschek in his cold, tranquil voice, with elegant accent of course, saying this. The dry humour of a vampire.
And then the last sentence, making this even more hilarious. I imagine Theo to be a bit of a Mr. Finn, who just splurts out whatever he thinks about people, and can be ruthlessly honest at times.

Marius, my fav Anne Rice vampire, has the same dry tone of voice in Queen of the Damned. Maybe it's time I should read the Rice vampire books too.

Comments

[nokey.livejournal.com]

I'll embrace you when I get home honey....

P.S. the "Theo" picture just displays an "Image hosted by Tripod" picture for me.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

I replaced it with a pic of Marius. Better?

[nokey.livejournal.com]

Much better.

(another)P.S. The ssh connection just got cut off again.

[coen.livejournal.com]

Vampires....make me want to ramble...

The first vampire book I ever read was Dracula by Bram Stoker.
And it's still a favourite of mine. I haven't seen one movie yet that does complete justice to that book.
Some parts of it are slow and moody. Nothing much happens, but the tension is incredible. Some parts are very subtle. And then some parts are full of action, and very explicit gory horror.
And all over the book drips with sexuality and power.
The bad thing about it is that the heroes are very boring goody two shoes characters. The interesting characters are Dracula himself, his vampires, and his followers. The villains.

People say that Dracula is based on Vlad the Impaler. And that Vlad Impaler was supposed to have been the first vampire ever. This is not true, or only partly true.
Vlad the Impaler was a cruel and evil dictator in medieval Transylvania. Or that is what history books tell us. He called himself Dracula, son of the Dragon, to honour his father, who called himself Dracul, the dragon. In the centuries after Dracula's dead, a lot of books were written about Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler as his enemies called him. These books were filled with horror stories about Dracula's cruelties. But there is not one known story about Dracula being a vampire.
Bram Stoker wrote the famous novel about his vampire in the 19th century, knowing almost nothing about the original Dracula. When he was in search for a name for his vampire, he found the name Dracula in a history book about Transylvania. Since Stoker's vampire lived in Transylvania, he used the name for his vampire. So the only connection between the historical Dracula and the vampire is that they have the same name, and both live in Transylvania.

< / end of ramble >

[kimmekepunk.livejournal.com]

Anne Rice is very good. Louis sucks at times and in the movie they unfortunately used Tom Cruise (with blond hair) for Lestat.

I recently read some vampire books by Christopher Golden, the first one is 'Of Saints and Shadows' and it explores a new vampire lore. Very good.

[sna.livejournal.com]

Being the one that lent you the books, well, I'm not complaining. And I was laughing my ass off too at that statement of Paschek.

Ahem, yes, I'm a bit of a Vamp-buff. *grin*

Malor

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

*coughs "freak!"*
*smiles innocently*