More info about the D&D book

I'm kind of surprised it got attention in Newsweek, but Rock On!

Vampire Movie Rant - Part 1

I’ve been putting this on off because it doesn’t have a starting place. It’s going to be a true rant as I don’t know what’s it’s going to encompass, where it’s going to go, or how it will end.

I have been a fantasy fan forever. I have always lamented that it had not been a genre that the movie industry took seriously. The only movies we had were either BAD (Conan, Dungeons & Dragons) or really poorly received because they were just too weird (Legend, Labyrinth). Then Harry Potter came along and the world took fantasy seriously, both as a writing genre, and finally as a movie genre. We were given stunningly beautiful and basically book-accurate movies. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was more popular than anyone would expect coming from a previously cheesy genre.

No such savior has yet arrived for the poor neglected vampire genre. I have also been a vampire fan forever. I get it from my mother. She used to chase me around the house as a child saying “I vant to bite your neck and drink your blood.” Weird but true. It ensured that I grew up with no fear of the critters and always wanting to see them in movies, and usually wanting them to win.

But what have I been faced with all my life? CHEESY VAMPIRE MOVIES! Crap like Love at First Bite, Once Bitten, My Best Friend Is a Vampire, all stupid not even trying to be horror movies. Treating vampires like they’re a running gag instead of a MONSTER. Then we have movies like The Hunger, which every Goth on the planet will tell you to see because it’s “the best vampire movie ever”. Uh-huh. It sucked. It’s only redeeming quality was it had David Bowie in it, and HE DIED!!! Which made me wondered why I bothered watching the rest of the movie. Then we have flicks like Fright Night which at least are trying to be horror, but as we are in the eighties, we are smack in the middle of slasher flicks and Hollywood wouldn’t know subtle horror if it hit them in the face. So that leaves us with The Lost Boys. This is the best vampire movie we have. This is the best vampire movie we have? A Corey Haim/Feldman eighties movie with a vampire gang that looks like it stepped out of a bad heavy metal video is the best we have to offer? Yep, ‘fraid so.

In the early nineties, it looked like we might be saved. Francis Ford Coppola decided to do Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Since he was the one doing it, we knew it was going to have a budget, differing it vastly from its predecessors. He also signed up some REALLY good actors, Gary Oldman (sorry Leila, I really like him) and Anthony Hopkins. There was hope. But then he turned it into a love story. This was NOT Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We also were forced to watch Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves try to speak with British accents. And for no particular reason, he turned Lucy into a whore. Well, it was pretty. Maybe we can just watch it on mute.

Two years later, there was again hope in the form of the movie version of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. I was already cynical. I didn’t particularly like the book (I’m not being fair here, actually I CAN’T STAND her vampire books – but that’s a different rant). Again it had a budget and big name actors were signed up for the parts. Big named actors for their big names, not because they had anything in common with the book’s characters, in looks or personality. Well, it had a really cool scene in which the vamps turned into ash in the sunlight…and blew away.

And then we had years of crap again, Vampire in Brooklyn, Bordello of Blood, From Dusk Till Dawn. And then Blade comes along. It’s based on a comic book, they didn’t have to think about it, it’ll be good! And I truly believed it would be. The most amazing early scene in a vampire movie – the rave in the meat packing plant, really cool, and really horrific. And then down I come, with Blade’s one-dimensional character (or Wesley Snipe’s one dimensional acting) and the most moronic villain ever – “I’ll turn the whole world into vampires”. Yeah, what will you eat, genius? And if Blade had all the strengths of vampires why did the rest of them fight like second grade school girls?

Blade began the tradition of seeing all new vamp movies with my mom, and ripping them to shreds afterwards.

<> Must stop, more to come.

One of the most Catholic countries in the world

Thinks gay marriage rights are a good idea:

Ireland should give greater rights to homosexual couples

*blinks*

And so it continues

The battle over evolution being taught in schools.

What's next? Are we going to re-explain dinosaurs?

1) What the HELL happened to separation of Church and State? It shouldn't EVEN be a question about teaching religious 'theories' in public schools. If you want your kids to learn religious doctrine, either take them to church or send them to a private school. Catholic schools are still pretty popular.

2) Good Christians don't try to PROVE what's written in the Bible. That's why they have FAITH (raised Catholic, you didn't question, you just kept your faith). All these societies that try to find scientific basis for what's written in the Bible are ridiculous. Did they miss the whole definition of what Faith is suppose to be? They shouldn't need to prove what they believe, they should just believe. If their faith is that shakey, they need to reexamine their choice of religion.

Metal Chicks Anoymous

Hello, my name is Chrissy and I was a Heavy Metal Chick.

It's true, in high school I wore stretch jeans with zippers down the sides, a black suede jacket (with fringe, no less), black pointy toed leather boots, and listened to Metallica and Danzig. Why am I bringing this up now? Because over the weekend I watched possibly the funniest thing I had ever seen: VH-1's 40 Least Metal Moments. (I'd put a link here, but there's nothing useful on the website to link to, sorry). I too was appalled to find that Mariah Carey covered a Def Leopard song (Bringin' on the Heartbreak), Sheryl Crow covered Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses, and blasphemy of blasphemy, Celine Dion covered AC/DC's Shook Me All Night Long. What were they thinking? Why did anyone let them? Ick. I'm not even going to get into Pat Boone's "metal album".

I know that this music is no longer a part of my life, but I still can mourn it's complete misuse. "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" still conjurs up memories of bad junior high school dances, but listening to Mariah's soft and uninspired rendition of it makes me want to bang my head - into a wall, just to make the noise stop.

So, why, you might ask, was I doning ripped blue jeans and denim jackets instead of black lipstick and white face? There were no goths to speak of in my town or those surrounding it. I didn't know they existed. Despite growing up on The Cure and Siouxsie & The Banshees, I never associated them with a "culture". When metal "died" I was on my way to college and had already replaced Appetite for Destruction with Pretty Hate Machine. New friends gently introduced me to bands like Sisters of Mercy and gave name to songs and bands (Peter Murphy, Chameleons) that I had been listening too, but never knew who they were, thanks to recorded tapes that I stole from my sister. These same friends brought me to my first Goth club when I was just turning 19. Up until then, my roomate had been bringing me to Boston dance clubs and I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to go to these things. At the Goth club guys didn't try to (rudely, and literaly) pull you away from your friends as a pick up tactic. As a matter of fact, people just left you alone. I appreciated this. And dear God, the guys were beautiful. The long hair and pretty faces that I had been fooled into believing were to be found within the Heavy Metal scene, thanks to all those damn lead singers, were all actually in this new scene in all their angsty glory, complete with beautifully done eyeliner and clothes that made most girls sigh with jealousy (this was before Marylin Manson came along and ruined the fashion sense). Yep, it was all the pretty boys that completed my fall in to the world of Goth. So sue me.

So yes, I was a Heavy Metal Chick. But ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I didn't know any better. I didn't know that there was a more fitting place for me. I do not regret the time I spent tryng to tease my hair (which I quickly gave up on) or singing along to When the Levy Breaks. Even though I have left it behind, I know in my heart that Celine singing Shook Me All Night Long, is just wrong and a blot on our culture.

I still hear Zepplin's Tangerine in my head when I see a copy of Tangerine by Bloor. Though they have NOTHING to do with each other, it's a sign that somewhere in there is a girl who's still bangin' her head.

Health Insurance - The Lack There Of

I would rather pay way less taxes and pay out a few hundred per month on private insurance and at least know what I am paying for instead of the way things are now [with national health insurance].

This rant's been a long time coming, and it was finally pushed into being by this quote by a Canadian responding to the reactions to the election that so many Americans want to leave their country, possibly moving to Canada (akward sentence, sorry).
I'm going to paint a picture for everyone, and it's one I'm sure many Americans are familiar with.
I have been living without health insurance for 3 years now. The first year was because I was unemployed. I could not find a job when I first moved back to Boston. Jeremy was employed, but his company did not cover domestic partners, which meant that because we were not married, I was shit out of luck. The second year Jeremy was unemployed and I quickly did what I could to find a job, which meant going back into retail, something I swore I would never do again (I don't think I need to explain to anyone why I tried to keep this promise to myself). Unfortuneatly, because of how little retail pays I could not afford to have the measily $30 dollars a month taken out of my paycheck for health care coverage. To put it in perspective for everyone, I took home about $1100 a month. Our rent was $900. That leaves $200 a month for electricity, gas, phone, T pass, and food for TWO people and 2 cats. [My manager at the time actually gave me a talk that winter about my being "sullen" and perhaps I did not have the right "attitude" for that job. He never asked me what could be making me so "sullen". I think it might have been lack of food. I lost 10 pounds that year.]
So, I couldn't have gone to a doctor if I had wanted to. Not only is it difficult to find a primary care physician who will accept patients without insurance, but when you are using change jars to buy your groceries, $75 for an office visit is too much of a luxery. If something really goes wrong, you are forced to visit the emergency room of your local hospital. I had to do this at one point. $500 to have a nurse tell me to go home a put a hot compress on it (blocked tear duct). God forbid if I saw an actual doctor, or had to have tests run, or had to be prescribed meds (recently found out, the hard way, that a 10 day run of antibiotics is $110). The bill with tests and IV's can easily run around $5000.
For all his faults, I am thankful that manager wasn't like my manager at Borders who INSISTED upon doctor's notes for sick days. Can you imagine having to spend $500 dollars to get a doctor's note for 1 sick day, when you make less than $70 in one day?
So, I say to folks who have national health care, but are dissatisfied with it: Something is better than Nothing. If you need to go to the doctor you shouldn't have to decide what utility bill you will have to let slide or how many meals you are going to have to miss in order to pay for the visit. Little things like eczema, an infected cut (turning to blood poisoning, despite precautions), and BIRTH CONTROL become huge when you have no health insurance. And if you are fortunate enough to want to plan a family, pregnancy and brth and all that goes with it become a laughable non-option without health insurance. Not to mention having children and not having health insurance is to truly too frightening to even contemplate.
I still don't have health insurance. My hypoglecimia seems to be getting exponetially worse despite my eating better and exercising. Jeremy and I have not yet decided what to do.

Comfort Reading

I haven't written anything this week because if I had started to comment on the election, it would have become more than a rant, and I feared for Jeremy's keyboard.
Instead, in order to deal with my disenchantment, I am falling back on some comfort reading. This means that I have just stopped reading the 2 books I had started in order to re-read a favorite series. It's not that I don't like what I'm reading, they're just not holding me right now. Luna by Julie Anne Peters was turing out to be rather interesting. It's the story of a junior high school girl whose older brother is on his way to becoming a transexual, and she's the only one who knows. I had also started The Eyre Affair, which was shaping up to beone of those books where all you can think is 'What the heck was going on in that author's head'. I like those kind of books/authors. Nina Kiriki Hoffman is one of these authors. She's a hoot.
As it turns out, I'm reading my favorite comfort read. Which given what it is, could be considered a little disturbing. It's The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. Why is this series the series I curl up with like a safety blanket when I feel bad? Is it because it's really original fantasy with a neat system of magic. Is it because I think the characters are fantastic? Maybe, sort of. Is it because the bad people not only get defeated but they get their comeuppance in a rip them apart and eat them fashion? Yeah, yeah it is.

Titian cleaned her knife with a scrap from the black coat while the other Harpies hacked up the meat and tossed the pieces to the pack of Hounds waiting in a half circle around the body.
The body twitched and still feebly stuggled, but the bastard could no longer scream for help and the muted sounds he made filled her with satisfaction. A demon couldn't feel pain the way the living did, but pain was a cumulative thing, and he hadn't been dead long enough for his nerves to forget the sensation.
...
Titian picked up her ax. The Harpies moved aside for their Queen.
The limbs were gone. The torso was empty. The eyes still held a glimmer of intelligence, a glimmer of Self. Not much, but enough.
With three precise strokes, Titian split Greer's skull. Using the blade, she opened one of the splits until it was wide enough for her fingers. Then she tore the bone away.
She looked into Greer's eyes. Still enough there.
Whistling for the pack leader, she walked away, smiling, while the Hound began feasting on the brain.

For those who have the courage and stomach to read this series, know that it is amazing.

Daemon Sadi is my hero.

I'm sorry if anyone has been disturbed by this.