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watching-pictures-move · 4 months ago

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Movie Review | Queen of the Damned (Rymer, 2002)

I put this on because it was about to leave Tubi and I was craving some garbage early 2000s vibes out of some misplaced sense of nostalgia. As far as nu metal cinema goes, this has a lot of nu metal music (including everyone's favourite track "Down With the Sickness", you know, the one that starts "Wakakaka! Ugh Ugh!") but little nu metal energy. Some of the problem can be attributed to the weird pacing. Aaliyah's tragic death during production is probably partially to blame, as there isn’t much Queen of the Damned in Queen of the Damned (although I understand principal photography had been completed). And maybe I was zoning out more than usual, but all the stuff about Lena Olin and her law abiding vampires is introduced way too late in the movie, and the climax feels thrown in with very little buildup.

I will say that the movie has its charms. I got a good chuckle out of the bit where Stuart Townsend sits beside two groupies and then crawls up to the ceiling and swoops down to bite them... when he could have just stayed seated and bit them as they were already right beside him. I guess scaring your victims makes their blood taste better. Jeez, I hope nobody quotes that out of context. Also, there’s a goofy motion blur effect during the action scenes, leading me to believe that vampires all gyrate spasmodically when in combat. But as Ebert points out in his review, “the filmmakers labor under the impression that Anne Rice's works must be treated respectfully”, so the movie mostly feels too staid to be all that fun.

Maybe the movie’s obvious failings are beside the point. On a certain level, this is meant to be appreciated as eye candy, for the audience to get an eyeful of all the hot gothy vampires (and hot non-vampiric goths) standing around giving each other smouldering looks and slithering line readings. And given all the choker necklaces, fishnet tops and tight pants, it probably delivers on that level. But I do think it has the fatal problem of having no chemistry between the two leads. Ebert once again nails the problem, this time more amusingly.

“The Lestat-Akasha romance suffers by being conducted in declarative mode, with Akasha addressing her lover with the intimacy Queen Victoria would have lavished on her footman. Lestat digs her, though, because when he drinks her blood, it makes him wild. Nothing good can come of this.”

Aaliyah would have been pretty inexperienced as an actress, and she does try to sink her teeth into the role, but the bigger problem is Stuart Townsend, best known for doing everybody a huge favour by getting fired from The Lord of the Rings. Listen, as a straight man I’m not going to be susceptible to his obvious charms, but imagine if he hadn’t been fired from that other gig and we got Viggo Mortensen in this role instead. Picture the menace and sexual potency Mortensen would have imbued into his smoulder. Townsend’s smoulder has no teeth. We deserve a better class of smoulder.

#film #movie review #queen of the damned #michael rymer

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manuscriptsdontburn6 · 2 years ago

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Here are some thoughts on Lestat’s band! Playlist/song recs at the end.

TL/DR: Lestat could’ve been an early ‘70s glam rock star, and most of the music associated with him has connections to that era.

Descriptions of the band from the books:

“I could hear their whining electric guitars, their frantic singing. It was as good as the radio and stereo songs I heard, and it was more melodic than most. There was a romance to it in spite of its pounding drums. The electric piano sounded like a harpsichord.”

The Vampire Lestat, page 5

“Then came the piercing, twanging fury of the electrical guitar. The drums boomed into a marching cadence, and the grinding locomotive sound of the synthesizer crested, then broke into a bubbling caldron of noise in time with the march. It was time to begin the chant in the minor key, its puerile lyrics leaping over the accompaniment…”

The Vampire Lestat, page 537

I remember reading that Anne saw an Iron Maiden concert as research for writing The Vampire Lestat. She also cited Bon Jovi and the Doors as inspiration. I think in one of the @thecoveninarticulate podcasts, someone even talked about how TVL has a keyboardist but no bass player, which was a reference to the Doors. Also, the description of the keyboard sounding like a harpsichord is reminiscent of the Doors’s sound, which includes a lot of electric organ. So we’re not working with less commercial ‘80s goth music (which I like to think Armand and Daniel were into). TVL probably wouldn’t reach the insane level of commercial success that they do as an ‘80s goth band, as goth was very much confined to subcultural status at this time. The same goes for heavier/more underground metal subgenres. Over-the-top ‘80s rock and classic ‘60s rock are what we’re working with, based on the books.

The Doors are an interesting reference for TVL, since they’re out of the ‘80s time period. They experimented with lyrical and sonic darkness, and Jim Morrison is noted for the boundaries he pushed as a performer. They’re aesthetically associated with the underbelly of ‘60s L. A. Think Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood. Thus, Lestat’s music is meant to cut deeper than his ‘80s hair metal contemporaries, whose music was mostly just good fun.

I personally think it might have been appropriate for Lestat to emerge in the early-mid ‘70s as a sort of dark glam rock star, instead of in the ‘80s during the hair metal/goth era. Lestat’s experimentation with persona is VERY similar to what David Bowie did with Ziggy Stardust. Additionally, the band and singer sharing a name seems like a call back to o. g. Alice Cooper (no clue if Anne intended that or not, but it’s what I immediately thought of). This connects back to the Doors as well; Jim Morrison’s performance style formed the rock star archetype of the tragic figure battling internal demons, which glam rock dramatizes. The sound that woke Lestat up from his vampire nap (abrasive yet melodic and of course hard-rocking) had been developing for a long time before 1984. Plus, ‘70s glam rock was all about pushing the envelope on male gender presentation and sexuality. Marc Bolan (of T. Rex) and David Bowie both came out as bisexual during this time period, and male rock stars dressed more and more androgynously. It’s all very Lestat-core. I really have trouble believing he would have slept through Bowie, Bolan, Iggy, and Alice.

Whatever else we might have to say about AMC’s adaptation, I did enjoy that they played T. Rex during the scene where young Daniel and Louis (plus Armand) meet in the bar. It was perfect for a queer scene set in the ‘70s.

The Queen of the Damned movie from 2002 makes The Vampire Lestat into a nu-metal band. I’ve only seen clips of that movie on Youtube, and I felt like I got a good enough idea of what it’s like…but I have looked at the soundtrack. Its songs were written by Jonathan Davis of Korn and sung by the who’s-who of nu-metal, and ‘90s-2000s alt rock generally. Davis’s dark, sludgy sound seems a bit far from what the books describe and what Lestat’s own tastes probably would have been. Also, it’s important to note that some artists on the soundtrack have turned out to be egregiously horrible people, even by the standards of the very fucked up rock music world. We don’t need to give them attention by incorporating them into our worldbuilding.

That being said, there are a few elements of the overall Lestat nu metal vibe that I think work. Nu metal was a more commercialized version of goth and metal that was recognized more widely, which corresponds with TVL’s level of success in the books. I can also get behind the mall-goth aesthetic for band and their fans. Vampire kitsch, combined with real vampirism. It’s textbook camp. Also, songs about Lestat’s life are going to inevitably have disturbing lyrical content. Nu-metal explores this kind of subject matter more explicitly than many other subgenres.

A lot of the nu metal bands on the soundtrack took inspiration from the early ‘70s, evident in their androgyny, blurring of the line between persona and reality, and campiness. So, even in that intensely 2000s movie, the ‘70s influence remains.

Speaking of 2000s alt rock, I was of course excited to see Gerard Way dressed as Bela Lugosi on MCR’s most recent tour. Lestat also dressed as a stereotypical vampire, cape and all, for his (singular) show. Glam rock is an influence for MCR as well—Gerard Way talks about Bowie in interviews, etc. It’s awesome. That got me thinking—Lestat would have totally written intense and dramatic MCR-esque love songs for Louis.

I think it’s also worth mentioning the final scene of the 1994 adaptation. Lestat jumps into Daniel’s convertible with a leather jacket over his ruffled shirt, which is a look a LOT of androgynous rock stars wore. It’s giving Jimmy Page in a major way. Lestat switches the radio station to play “Sympathy for the Devil,” covered by Guns and Roses. The Stones were precursors to glam rock in their way. Guns and Roses came later but took a lot from early ‘70s glam as well. It’s safe to infer that Lestat’s already going into his rock star era at this point in the movie. This gives us an idea of his music taste and general attitude at this point in the narrative. He’s interested in the dark and glamorous aesthetic of rock music, as well as how its contemplations of evil intertwine with his.

We don’t know what AMC is going to do with Lestat’s rock star era yet. I’m interested to see what route they take.

Here are a few songs that fit with how I imagine TVL, based on all these considerations. It’s a bit of a strange combination because Lestat has been associated with different styles of music, but they all connect with glam rock one way or another. I’d love y’all’s thoughts as well, ofc!

Songs:

More—Sisters of Mercy

Andrew Eldritch, goth icon who denies his own gothness, decided to try being a straight-up rock star with the album Vision Thing, leaving behind the melancholic sound of the Sisters’ earlier work. This song has violin on it—perfect for Lestat. The lyrics are also in character for him: “I don’t know why you gotta be so undemanding/one thing I know/I want MORE,” “I need all the love that I can’t get to.”

Riders on the Storm—the Doors

Imagine it done by an ‘80s band. It works.

Ziggy Stardust—David Bowie

This is Bowie telling the story of his character Ziggy, like how Lestat talks about himself in his songs. Plus it’s very Lestat to describe yourself as having a “god-given ass.” Am I wrong? I’m not wrong.

Ballrooms of Mars—T. Rex

This is one of the best songs Marc Bolan ever wrote, in my opinion. Unlike most of his work, which is whimsical and nonsensical in the best way, the lyrics and descending chord progression create a more ominous and mournful atmosphere. The lyrics can easily be read as vampiric.

Runnin’ With the Devil—Van Halen

Tough Cookie would probably have an Eddie Van Halen-esque guitar tone, as TVL would want to sound very modern for their time period. Themes of, well, runnin’ with the devil. Confessing your own evilness to a rock audience.

Change in the House of Flies—Deftones

The one QOTD movie song I’m including. I think TVL’s songs would have a bit more dynamic variation than the Deftones, but the love/horror combo this song is about plays a big part in VC and in Lestat’s life. Plus, I can imagine it would be a good song to perform live, and, being glam-adjacent, that would be important for TVL.

Sympathy for the Devil—Guns and Roses

Good job, 1994 adaptation.

#manuscriptsdontburnoriginal #well that was. a lot more work #than i anticipated #the vampire lestat #anne rice #the vampire chronicles #glam rock #david bowie #lestat #gothgothgoth #is it ever too much for tumblr #i will need my own 50 year nap now #i hope this is coherent #manuscriptsdontburnanalyzesthings

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thenightling · 2 years ago

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Mayfair witches first episode review

I just got done watching the first episode of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches. I have to say it IS better than the Interview with the Vampire TV series in regard to faithfulness to the books.

I never really liked the characters in the Mayfair novels. I couldn’t attach myself to them the way I could Anne Rice’s vampires, especially with some of the things Rowan does in the later books, which I never could quite forgive- such as when she murdered her own Taltos child after the child had literally nursed her back to health. As far as I can tell The Mayfair witches TV series is a lot more faithful to the boks than the Interview with the vampire TV series. Try and also keep in mind I was fourteen-years-old the last time I read The Witching Hour, Lasher, or Taltos. And twenty-one when I read Blood Canticle (the novel where Lestat and Rowan finally meet and is, frankly, the worst book in The Vampire Chronicles). The biggest change, thus far, is the characters Aaron Lightner (of The Talamasca) and Michael Curry have been merged together. I actually don’t mind this change too much as the new character of Ciprien Grieve is interesting and compelling in his own way. I hope he survives as Rowan’s romantic interest like Michael Curry did in the novels, and doesn’t die the way Aaron Lightner died.

I know that merging Michael Michael Curry and Aaron Lightner together is a pretty big change for a lot of people but other than that it’s fairly recognizable to the original book, much more so than the Interview with the vampire series.

Considering my not-very-much attachment to the Mayfair Witch books I actually wouldn’t mind some big deviations with this one. In the books many of the characters were unlikable, incestuous, and just plain boring. So far the new amalgam character of Ciprien Grieve is the most interesting thing since he’s also the biggest deviation. The Talamasca, thus far, though so far mysterious, is being portrayed better than it was in the Queen of the damned movie (2002) where they accidentally used the motto of The Watchers from Highlander the series (”We observe and record but never interfere”). This new show seems to remember the roots of The Talamasca where they were inspired by the real organization of the SPR / ASPR (Society for Psychical Research).

It’s not bad so far. It hasn’t reached any of the plot points yet that I disliked like the books. So far we have Rowan’s power to kill with her mind awakening, and the backstory of her biological mother, Deirdre Mayfair, which is just as tragic as I remember it being in the book The Witching Hour.

The Mayfair Emerald has a new redesign. It’s not just a heavy rectangular emerald. It’s also in a setting made to look like a large key.

It’s scary to think of poor Diedre as being doped up with Thorazine all those years in what appears to be a chemically induced version of Locked-in Syndrome.

And so far Rowan is more sympathetic than her literary counterpart. I hope it stays that way. I always thought of the character as kind of cold and selfish and a bit narcissistic in the books. And I never quite got over how in Blood Canticle she didn’t so much as show remorse for the Taltos child she murdered but instead wanted a “live specimen” to study and dissect. Lestat’s attraction to her was completely “forced.” And by that I mean it felt inorganic. The attraction had no basis in established plot or character personalities. I strongly feel it was one of those things Anne Rice later regretted as she later quietly pretended it had never happened.

Anyway, yeah, I may keep watching, if for nothing else but I kind of like the new Talamasca agent. I wonder if he’ll turn up in the Interview with the vampire TV series when the story finally catches up to modern day.

#Anne Rice #Mayfair Witches #Interview with The Vampire

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infinite8revisions · 6 days ago

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Have you been watching AMC's adaptation of "Interview With the Vampire?" Have you read the book(s)? If not, you may not know that Anne's vampires are on the Asexual spectrum! You may have also noticed that in the adaptation...them vampires be F***ing! This is one part of the adaptation that I don't mind, but don't necessarily love. You may be thinking "I read the books and those vampires are NOT asexual, they have sex all the time!"

Are you sure about that? Are. You. Sure. About. That?

Like everything in this world, asexuality is a spectrum and there are different orientations that fall under it's umbrella. If you are interested, here is a short introduction on the subject. If you would like to see a list of orientations and micro-labels , you can find it HERE

Above: Lestat Rejecting the sexual advances of groupies before draining them. -Queen Of The Damned (2002)

I am Graysexual.

Sometimes referred to as “gray ace” people who are greysexual are primarily asexual. However, these members of the asexual community may enjoy sexual behavior under very specific circumstances, or they might experience sexual interest on rare occasions.

IMPORTANT: Please Read Below

“Asexuality is different from abstinence, where someone chooses to not have sexual contact regardless of their sexual urges. Someone with an asexual identity is not necessarily someone who has never engaged in sex...(asexuality) is also considered a type of sexual orientation. It is important to clarify that asexuality is not a medical or mental condition or diagnosis. It is a sexual orientation in the same way that homosexuality, bisexuality, and pansexuality are.” – Talkspace therapist Bisma Anwar, LMHC

During the airing of season one I made a post about this in an IWTV fan group, I got a loooot of feedback, so when you see references to people saying something, its from the comments of that post.

Now let's get into it!

When brining up this topic, many people cited intercourse or sexual contact in books to nullify the claim of Asexuality. Specifically in the book "Pandora" when Marius and Pandora have penetrative sex. It surprised me that quite a few people brought it up, because if you read it...it's making my point, not negating it.

"Fill me and hold me". (Said by Pandora) "This is stupid and superstitious" (Said by Marius) "it is symbolic and comforting"...our bodies were one, connected by this sterile organ which was no more to him now than his arm." Pandora: Chapter 22

It makes me realize that (some) people aren't aware that not having sexual desire doesn't mean you can not or do not have sex. I know we've all heard of people having sex when they don't feel like it. Just because you consent and willingly participate does not mean you are aroused or even want to.

Consider too that some asexual people have allosexual partners, they may engage in physical intimacies up to and including intercourse to satisfy their needs. On the flip side of that, others may not enjoy penetrative intercourse but enjoy other forms of physical intimacy that don't include genitalia. Again, it's a spectrum.

Furthermore, it seems many people don't know the difference between sex and romance. Sexual orientation and romantic orientation are two different things. Just because a person is asexual does not mean they're aromantic.

Romantic Orientation: also called affectional orientation, is the classification of person(s) which one experiences romantic attraction towards. -Google

"Romantic orientation is different and separate from sexual orientation...Romantic attraction can exist without the need for sexual attraction as a person can feel romantically attracted to someone without necessarily feeling sexually drawn to them." -Choosing Therapy

Here's a helpful visual from the University Of Warwick

This is another reason people brush off the claim. They will point to the romances between characters not realizing sexuality and romance are not the same thing.

Now, some of the tings I'm about to say have rubbed people the wrong way so uh...

I do not think that relationships are diminished, illegitimate, or otherwise untrue inherently because they are sexual.

However, regularly hearing variations of the following causes a lot of suspicion on my end:

"If you're not having sex then you're not dating, you're just friends."

"if they stop having sex with me (or if the sex isn't good) I'll just leave or cheat."

"If they're not getting it from you, they're getting it from somewhere."

"if you're not having sex with me, you don't love me"

So often movies, books, and TV build the foundation of relationships on sex and sexual attraction. In fact, this is common in real life as well. You see relationships fall apart constantly because of sex (or lack there of). It makes one question their authenticity. Did that person ever really love you to begin with if that's all it takes to for them to leave? The VC were a nice departure from that. I felt there was an extra layer of truth in the characters emotions knowing they weren't forged in lust, but something deeper and less superficial (usually...looking at you Marius). It also enhanced the physical displays of affection that did happen.

In the AMC series, the addition of vampiric sex kind of...cheapened the love between Lestat and Louis (for me). At times it made Lestat's actions seem sexually motivated, which isn't how he operates. Especially when he did the whole "Let's have an open relationship so I can screw who I want, but when you do it I'm going to get jealous and throw a hissy fit" thing. It reduced Lestat to a stereotypical asshole that thinks with his dick. Lestat is a lot of things, good and bad, but never "dickhead"! Get it? Thinks with his dick? Dickhead?...

On that note, It pissed me off something fierce when Claudia was raped. It broke some of the VC fantasy I had built for myself...That there was at least one thing you wouldn't have to worry about with a vampire. Yeh, they might hunt you down, rip out your throat, and kill you, but they would never go there. Plus it's LAZY WRITING. You can have a female character go out into the world and be traumatized without raping her. That's a topic that has been covered many times by many people so I won't go into it here.

Now, someone suggested to me that Claudia was not raped and that I was just making assumptions....so in the spirit of "checking oneself before wrecking oneself" here's confirmation on that.

Others also point out that in "Tale of the Body Thief" one of the first things Lestat does is have sex...He also eats! Lmao! My point is that the whole reason for switching bodies with a mortal was to do things he no longer enjoyed as a vampire. He was (presumably) allosexual as a mortal so it makes sense that he would want to enjoy sex again if given the opportunity.

Now, let's look at some more text.

After drinking Akasha's blood in QOTD Lestat looks himself over and notes the following-

"And the organ, the organ we don't need poised as if ready for what it would never again know how to do, or want to do, marble, a Priapus at a gate." Queen of the Damned: Chapter 5

Which means one of two things to me. Either strong vampires always have an erection 24/7 or it just happens after they feed because of the blood flowing through them. Either way it explains this quote from chapter 2 of The Vampire Armand.

"I put my hand between his legs. Oh, he was so wonderfully hard. That was not uncommon..." -The Vampire Armand: Chapter 2 (about Marius)

Speaking of "The Vampire Armand." I'm rather surprised that none of the quotes people use to refute my claim ever come from this book. This really is the one book with some of grey area. There's also some good conversation around power and sex/sexuality but I promise I'm going to stay on topic.

Here is the full context of the quote above:

"Why do you never . . . Why do you never feel anything! Why do you handle me as if I were a poppet? Why do you never … ?" For the first time ever I saw his face redden; I saw his eyes gloss and narrow and then widen with reddish tears. "Master, you frighten me," I whispered. "What is it you want me to feel, Amadeo?" he said. "You're like an angel, a statue," I said, only now I was chastened and trembling. "Master, you play with me and I'm the toy that feels all things." I drew nearer. I touched his shirt, sought to unlace it. "Let me-." He took my hand. He took my fingers and put them to his lips, and drew my fingers inside his mouth, caressing them with his tongue. His eyes moved so that he was looking up at me. Quite enough, said his eyes. I feel quite enough. "I'd give you anything," I said imploringly. I put my hand between his legs. Oh, he was wonderfully hard. That was not uncommon, but he must let me take him further; he must trust me. -The Vampire Armand: Chapter 2

Marius rejects his advance. However, I FULLY understand Amadeo here. From the moment Marius brought that boy home, he was touching him sexually. Kissing him in sensitive places, playing with his nips, giving him hand jobs....mixed signals much?

I do think a lot of that was power play. Not necessarily something sexual for Marius, but a way of showing his power and authority over over his new boy. He does suggest that it was to make Amadeo happy, and by extension, help restore his memory. Not the sexual contact itself, but that along with showering him in luxuries, blood kisses, and giving him a "good life".

And indeed all of life itself in far-away Russia had been so rigorous that he could not give himself over to the pleasure that awaited him now at every turn. -Blood and Gold: Chapter 19

In chapter 3 of The Vampire Armand, there is a sentence that strongly insinuates sex.

"When would you tolerate innocence? When we bed together, you call that innocence? I am a man..." (Amadeo to Marius)

Typically the word "bed" used as a verb in this context means "to have sex with". This statement would be slightly inconsistent with things said earlier and later in the series (and in this book), however, we are privy to the sexual intimacies that take place between these two and "sex" is a pretty loose word for it, but it's understandable why Amadeo would say this, it is sexual release for him, it is sex to him. Furthermore, later in this chapter Marius says,

"haven't you lain with me enough to know what I can and cannot enjoy?" The Vampire Armand: Chapter 3

I'm struggling to stay on topic while talking about this book because there's a lot of M/s, D/s context. It makes me want to go into how asexual people participate in BDSM, because that's a lot of what's going on here. I've been in this space myself actually and that might be what my next post is about...if I can focus enough to write it. Moving on.

Oddly enough, some people (2 to be exact) have suggested that there hasn't actually been any intercourse in the series and that I'm just assuming based on context. I had to go back and check for myself to make sure I wasn't crazy! It was, in fact, said several times. One example was above then we also have the following:

those comments were made before season 2 came out, but I'll add everybody's favorite anyway!

Lastly, some people stated that blood IS sex for vampires. A few people cited louis from IWTV, however the only thing I could find close to this, was the following:

"You want to know how it happened, how In became a vampire.” “Yes,” said the boy. “How did you change, exactly?” “I can’t tell you exactly,” said the vampire. “I can tell you about it, enclose it with words that will make the value of it to me evident to you. But I can’t tell you exactly, any more than I could tell you exactly what is the experience of sex if you have never had it.”

He is talking about what it is like to be a vampire here, not specifically drinking blood, also, you'll note that he does not compare it to sex, rather that, like sex, it's hard to explain the feeling to someone who has never experienced it.

Now, I do not think that saying that blood is like sex to a vampire is wrong. It is a valid interpretation and metaphor, especially when it relates to an allosexual person.

However, I feel (this is an opinion and my own interpretation.) a lot of thigs can have a strong dopamine release similar to an orgasm, but are not sex themselves. Some of those things can even be used in conjunction with sex to enhance the experience. I think of drinking blood similarly to drugs (Anne also said she used blood drinking as a metaphor for addiction). Drugs give you a high, you have a constant urge and need for it. You can use it as a means of intensifying and deepening a sexual or emotional connection to someone OR you can use it to strengthen yourself when commuting brutalities. You also run the risk of losing some or even all control when indulging. How many times have we see people kill a lover during or after a high. We see vampires accidentally drain someone to death because the ecstasy takes over. Not to mention the withdrawal can be physically and mentally taxing enough to kill you. So, I see blood drinking less as direct replacement for sex, and more like a drug, although its not a 1:1 comparison.

Above: Claudia Accidentally kills Charlie

In conclusion. I'm ace and that's one reason why I loved Anne's vampires so much. I was a little disappointed that they didn't stick with that in the adapted series but whatevs, it doesn't ruin the show for me!

#character comparison #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire #i8r shows #asexual #vampires #i8r comparisons

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eyesaremosaics · 2 years ago

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Favorite books?

Hmmm… that’s tough, I love a lot of books. I’m an old lady, I prefer classic literature, or historical fiction… horror fiction…. I guess if I had to narrow it down I would say:

--“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. Probably my all time favorite. I really resonated with the “savage” in this novel. Now more than ever…

--“Interview with the Vampire” by Anne Rice, actually pretty much all the vampire chronicles. The vampire Lestat, queen of the damned, blood and gold, the vampire Armand, pandora… tale of the body thief…

—“Frankenstein: the modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelley, I just think it’s a powerful piece of literature. Beautifully written.

—“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, the darkest love story of all time.

—“A Spy in the house of love” by Anais Nin, I love most of Anais’ work, her diaries… delta Venus…

—“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, i know it seems pretentious and cliché—but I love virtually everything he writes. Always wished my birthday was the 24th instead of the 23rd so I could share it with him and Jim Henson😭. “The beautiful and the damned” “flappers and philosophers”… “this side of paradise”… all good.

—“Save me the Waltz” by Zelda Fitzgerald. I always thought her life was very tragic, and since she inspired so much of Scott’s work—naturally I found her a source of fascination as well.

—“the turn of the screw” by Henry James

— “the stranger” by Albert Camus

—“the bell jar” by Sylvia Plath with always hold a special place in my teenage heart.

—“the catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger. I love most of his stuff as well, I really feel Holden Caulfield. He knows what’s up.

—“Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert

—“the Venus in Furs” by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

—“I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith (1948)

—“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

—“Dracula” by Bram Stoker (1897) classic! Read it so many times.

Harry Potter and lord of the rings I’ve read countless times.

-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860), I gotta admit… I love me some Charles Dickens. This one is particularly special.

—Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

I always loved treasure island, and the Swiss family Robinson when I was a kid.

Lord of the flies has always stuck with me.

—“Slaughterhouse 5” by Kurt Vonnegut

I liked the lovely bones… flowers in the attic… I enjoyed chuck palahniuk back in the day.

Oh! I love “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.

A clockwork orange…

I love Stephen King. Pet Semetary is my favorite though.

I love “tuck everlasting” and “bridge to teribithia”.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938) is an all time fav. Love the Alfred Hitchcock movie as well.

Silence of the lambs…American psycho…. Hell House by Richard Matheson (1971),

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2002), can I just say—Neil Gaiman must be the most prolific writer of modern times. I love so much of his stuff. I met him once in person, he’s a sweet man.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde—one of the best pieces of fiction ever written. I also love how cheeky Oscar Wilde was in general. Also a libra (my team!).

“The Yellow Wallpaper”, Short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Brilliant feminist piece of literature/social commentary on feminine “hysteria”.

“Go Ask Alice” by Beatrice Sparks.

“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Joanne Greenberg

“Girl interrupted” Susanna Kaysen

“Fear and loathing in Las Vegas”, Hunter S. Thompson. I love reading his stuff, he cracks me up.

Too many to name, but there ya go!

#asks #favorite books

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high-fructose-lesbianism · 5 years ago

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A Subjective Ranking of all 18 Books in the Vampire Chronicles Extended Universe

18. Blood Canticle (2003)

It took me the longest to read Blood Canticle of any of the books because I couldn’t read more than about 25 pages at a time before the urge to throw the book out the nearest window got too strong. The story is bad, the characters are the worst they’ve ever been and the writing style is full-on terrible. Blood Canticle is one of the worst books I’ve read full stop.

17. Taltos (1994)

I hated the Mayfair Witches trilogy. While Taltos was at least the shortest of the three, it was a terrible conclusion to the trilogy. The Taltos are one of Anne Rice’s worst ideas. Each of the books delves more into their mythology and it gets worst the more it’s explored.

16. Blackwood Farm (2002)

A major issue I have with Anne Rice is she insists on telling these extremely lengthy backstories of characters we’ve just met who I almost never give a shit about. That’s the entirety of Blackwood Farm. It’s the backstory of a character I just met and don’t care about whatsoever. Blackwood Farm evokes the classic Anne Rice style of bad where it switches between just being insane and being fucking boring at the drop of a hat. I skimmed most of the book because it was so boring. But then I’d tune in to some insanely weird shit about intersex vampires or ghost twins giving handjobs or whatever was happening and yeah, my attention would of course be held by such insanity. But invariably, the book would drift back into describing wildly uninteresting events with too much detail and I’d tune out again.

15. The Witching Hour (1990)

The Witching Hour has a three paragraph summary on Wikipedia. It is an accurate summation of the events of the book. So then why is this fucking book 968 pages? That’s my main grievance with The Witching Hour; it’s way too fucking long. It’s the least insane of the Mayfair Witches trilogy but also by far the least interesting.

14. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016)

These fucking bird aliens who inhabited Atlantis are just the Taltos 2.0. There’s a lot of insanity and also boring backstory in this one. I skimmed the backstory of the Atlantean bird aliens and don’t feel like I missed anything. What saves this book from ranking lower is I’m a slut for the main VC characters interacting and this one did have such a thing, plus some good Louis/Lestat moments which is my other big priority with the series. Simultaneous highlight and lowlight of this book is when that one dude looses a hand but it gains sentience, breast feeds off him or something and then becomes his perfect clone. Fucking insanity.

13. Lasher (1993)

Lasher is the best of the Mayfair trilogy because there are genuine moments of horror in this horror novel. On the downside, the Taltos are as always, insane. Also, another signature of Anne Rice’s is sexy and sexualized teenage characters which there is a lot of in this book in the form of 13 year old Mona Mayfair, her affair with Michael Curry and the many scenes where this is excused, justified or even somewhat celebrated. That disturbed me and not in the way I want a horror novel to disturb me.

12. Memnoch the Devil (1995)

In terms of writing style, Memnoch is a lot better than many of the books that will rank higher than it. But this is a subjective ranking and I didn’t give a shit about Anne Rice working through her weird, religious baggage in a series that I’m reading to hear about the exploits of sexy, bisexual vampires. The majority of this book is again, a long backstory from a character we just met and I don’t care about. In this case it’s literally Satan which is a good start but Anne Rice sure has a way of taking too long describing everything which leaves me extremely bored by the narrative.

11. Blood Paradise (2018)

Blood Paradise should be lower in this list. It’s objectively extremely poor. Blood Paradise is basically the inverse of Memnoch; I really liked the story but hated the writing style. This one only ranks so high because it is a story that focuses on the lead vampire characters who are my priority. And yeah, I liked the outline for the story. It’s character-based, no major new characters interrupt the narrative and no insane additions to canon are added. Too bad the writing style feels extremely half-assed. Where usually I’m critical of Anne Rice taking way too long to say anything and focusing on unimportant details, this one is the opposite. It feels extremely rushed. A lot of major, emotional scenes that occur between characters are only a few sentences or paragraphs long. But still, at least this one gave me story content that I could just expand upon in my head instead of insane additions to canon that I’d prefer to ignore.

10. Merrick (2000)

Merrick actually might have my favourite ending to any of the VC novels. I loved Lestat resurrecting Louis from his suicide attempt and then that descends into Lestat, Louis, David and Merrick living in what seems to be perfectly happy polyamory. I totally dug that. But of course, the majority of the book is a backstory of Merrick, a character I just met and don’t care about. Also, we get a bit of David backstory which I seem to remember being him mostly creeping on some young boy who was in expedition with him. Not ideal.

9. Vittorio, the Vampire (1999)

Vittorio is a fairly effective historical horror. Anne Rice did a lot of research and it shows. That’s not exactly my interest but she did well with it. There’s also some really horrific moment where Vittorio meets a clan of vampires in an old castle who do keep humans like cattle and eat babies and stuff. The major downsides is just that this is a character who we’ve never met before and never see again. Also the fact that Vittorio is 16 and is absolutely sexualized. I’ve really grown tired of Anne Rice’s constant belief that’s in almost all of her writing that teenagers are sexy and it’s totally fine to fuck them. It makes me uncomfortable to say the least.

8. Pandora (1998)

This one’s just pretty good. I’ve no major complaints but no specific bits of it I want to champion either. Again, a lot of historical research is done which is not interesting to me but well done. Also nice to have at least one book with a female vampire protagonist.

7. Prince Lestat (2014)

Prince Lestat is not objectively better than the last two books. I rank it this high mostly out of relief. For ages, Blood Canticle was the last book in The Vampire Chronicles. So, when Prince Lestat was released, it was impossible to see this as anything other than a huge upgrade. And of course, I liked that this book returned to focusing on the lead characters of Lestat, Louis, Marius, Daniel etc. It’s still a baffling idea to have Lestat be the vampire head of state or whatever though. But oh man, that Louis/Lestat moment near the end of the book made me feel a whole lotta feelings.

6. Blood and Gold (2001)

This one is another excuse for Anne Rice to do a lot of historical research. And you know what? Better she spends her energies doing that instead of creating weird, tall supernatural beings with specific quirks that are impossible to take seriously. I like the framing of this one because it’s sort of the inverse of usual. Thorne, a new character is introduced but instead of him telling Marius his story, it’s established character Marius who tells Thorne his story. And he does this the first day they met after Thorne’s awakened after several hundred years and they’ve taken a bath together. That’s just good story structure right there. The most memorable part of this story for me is keeping a vague tally of all the people Marius fell in love with throughout the course of the story. In one 100-page stretch, Marius falls in love five separate times. This grew tiresome but I also just thought it was funny.

5. The Vampire Armand (1998)

I’m the most morally against The Vampire Armand. It’s basically the peak of Anne Rice’s love of sexualizing teens. That’s sort of the whole book. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that around the time of its publication, Anne Rice got back into religion. I think she looked over what she wrote and was like yeah okay, maybe I do need Jesus. But I dunno, I remember really liking it. It was well-written and Armand is one of my favourite characters. I think Anne Rice did actually hit the right mixture of the story being sexy, horrific and rather tragic. Also, that bit at the end where Armand eats a drug dealer’s face and heart in front of some new, human friends is one of my favourite scenes.

4. The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)

There’s a lot of good and a lot of bad in Tale of the Body Thief. I love the body swap aspect and this one has some of the best interactions between characters. On the downside, there absolutely is a 2-page description of Lestat taking a piss, he absolutely commits a rape and him turning David into a vampire was #problematic. But even there, the Lestat and David scene is really well-written and works because Lestat is an absolute piece of shit. Tale of the Body Thief is for better and worse, Lestat at his most Lestat. Still didn’t need to hear about him taking a piss in that much detail, though.

3. Queen of the Damned (1988)

Akasha is the only good villain in any of the Vampire Chronicles books. Plus, Queen of the Damned brought all the characters we’d met in the previous two books together and I was absolutely all about that. At this point in the series, I actually did care about the majority of main characters and their interactions were absolutely spectacular. Only downside is again, we get a lengthy backstory of Akasha that I absolutely skimmed.

2. Interview with the Vampire (1976)

Yeah, it’s only number 2. Because while this book is better written and the start of this whole damn phenomenon, Louis is far from my favourite narrator. Dude’s too morose and shit. Still, the writing style is exquisite and it introduced great characters. As the series went on, Anne Rice clearly ran out of ideas but because this one is the first book, that’s not the case. There’s a lot of ideas here and they aren’t even fucking insane.

1. The Vampire Lestat (1985)

I’m really only into this series because of how much I love Lestat as a character. I read Interview and thought I was done with the series. Interview was fine but I didn’t think I cared about the sequels. However, six months later when I decided to read The Vampire Lestat, I knew within the first two pages that this was going to be a problem for me. This is exactly my brand of bullshit. It’s just Lestat being a sexy and shitty person who makes out with everyone and overreacts to everything. I love him. And in the third act when it’s revealed he’s been in love with Louis all along and then Louis shows up in the present day and they reunite???? Oh my god. 16 year-old me nearly exploded. The Vampire Lestat is really the sole reason The Vampire Chronicles happened to me as hard as it did. I love this book and its ridiculous narrator/protagonist.

#the vampire chronicles #vampire chronicles #vc #tvc #the mayfair witches #lives of the mayfair witches #anne rice #new tales of the vampire #generally homosexual

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the-marius-de-romanus · 5 years ago

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Conversation with Anne Rice on Blood and Gold

Q: Blood & Gold is your eighteenth novel about the vampires. Do you find it difficult to work within the narrative framework established by earlier stories?

A: Actually, it's a challenge, a real dare. The Vampire Chronicles vary radically in form. Some are tales told to others. Some are written memoirs. Some involve vampires talking directly to us. I feel there is enough flexibility for me to do just about anything that I want. In Queen of the Damned, for example, I worked with whole chapters in the third person, claiming that the Vampire Lestat received the material telepathically from his soul mates and passed it on to us in that form. But for the most part I stick with the heat and intimacy of the first person voice because I love it, along with its obvious drawbacks, and I feel most at home with the puzzles it presents. How do you make a first person narrator handsome and lovable, for instance. I feel I meet that dare all the time.

Q: Do you view your novels as stand alone entities? Will new readers enjoy Blood & Gold even if they are not familiar with your backlist?

A: Absolutely. Each Vampire Chronicle is a stand-alone book. There is enough information in it to make any first-time reader comfortable immediately, and perhaps a little curious about the other books. Blood & Gold is no exception. If anything, Blood & Gold is a bit easier for the first-time reader than, say, The Vampire Armand because Marius is two thousand years old and he begins his memoir in the year 200 AD and follows his own lonely and stark path through the centuries. His great loves, his great losses, his great revelations are all described in rich detail, right up to the point where he becomes the mentor to the Vampire Lestat, sharing the secrets of Those Who Must Be Kept with Lestat, and eventually suffering when Lestat reveals those secrets to the world. But for the new reader it ought to flow easily. The focus is really on Marius himself and his approach to history as well as his existence as a blood drinker and a myth maker.

Q: Marius, Lestat's beloved mentor, appears in your novels The Vampire Lestat, The Vampire Armand, and The Queen of the Damned. What inspired you to write his story?

A: I was reading through The Queen of the Damned and I felt a new contact with Marius and with the anger he suffered when Akasha, the Queen of the Vampires, rose from her four thousand year slumber and more or less contemptuously deserted him. I felt it was time to go deep into Marius and tell his tale from the beginning?omehow explain the type of love he had felt for Akasha which was really warmer than worship. I knew it would be difficult to live up to the high standard I had set for Marius' character in the Chronicles and I was exhilarated by it. Marius is the noble Roman, the ethical man of reason, the diplomat, and the undying optimist. I had to get into all that. I felt ready for it. Also, I think I felt challenged by the fact that Warner's was making The Queen of the Damned into a movie. I wanted to tell Marius' story before they delivered their version of Marius to motion picture audiences. No matter how detached I try to be from motion pictures of my work, they ultimately affect me.

Q: Marius lives through many periods and in many countries. Which era of Marius' life did you find most seductive? Which did you most enjoy researching?

A: The Italian Renaissance was my favorite period of Marius' life, a time during which Marius became a person in the mortal world, a rich Venetian gentleman who paints the walls of his palazzo for his own pleasure, an enigma to those around him. I did a ton of research on the period to make everything as nearly correct as I could. I also enjoyed researching ancient Rome, the Rome of 200 to 50 AD, during which time Marius saw Christianity become the legal religion of the Empire, and also the barbarian sack of the Eternal City itself, a disaster that sent Marius into a long slumber in the shrine of Those Who Must Be Kept from which he didn't want to wake again to reality. There again, I consult volumes. I had so many books around me when I wrote that sometimes I couldn't escape from my computer. I had to climb over piles of books. I was stumbling. One day I called my research assistant, Scott, on the phone and begged him to come upstairs and help me find a book that was somewhere at my feet but which I couldn't find without an archaeological dig. Of course it was all wonderful fun. I want my vampires to move through real history, not some airy realm of half-truths and mistakes and vague generalities. I want the facts, the smells, the colors, the names, and the dates. When Marius meets Botticelli in Florence, I used Botticelli's correct street address in so as far as history records it.

Q: In Blood & Gold, Marius paints and repaints murals, and his companion Daniel, the interviewer from Interview with the Vampire, creates acres of model cities. What is the role of art in the lives of vampires?

A: Vampires are hyper-sensitive to art. They see color and form with the heightened vision of the perpetually stoned. Art can seduce them as the model cities have seduced the boy, Daniel, who doesn't know yet how to handle his obsessions. Art can also save them because it offers a continuity that life itself may not offer to a human being. As time passes, brutally deteriorating everything meaningful to a soul, art endures, and grows ever richer and more evocative with the passage of time, so that it comes to seem prophetic in retrospect, or at least timeless in the finest sense of the word. Throughout the Vampire Chronicles, art has been key. But Marius laments that though he has lived fourteen hundred years, he cannot create art to rival that of Botticelli. He falls in love with the man and must separate himself from the man lest he hurt Botticelli and thereby affect Botticelli's destiny. Maharet, the ancient one, weaving her red hair into a thread and that thread into chains, is in a sort of thrall as well, much like that of Daniel with his model cities. Weaving comforts Maharet. Marius at various stages in his long life is comforted by nothing.

Q: How does humor work in your narratives?

A: Humor is spontaneous with me. It just happens and I don't try to repress it. I have a wild sense of humor and sometimes I have to avoid the satirical side of what I am writing. I have to not sacrifice the finer feeling to the humor of the moment. But in general I let my humor come out with certain characters more than other. Lestat, for example, has a profound sense of humor and a blasphemous sense of humor. Marius is more serious, and more tragic.

Q: Marius believes that anger is weakness. Do you believe this?

A: Yes, I believe that anger is weakness. Marius is one of those characters who for the most part expresses ideas which are mine. I couldn't have an in-depth relationship with Marius if he didn't express my ideas, and I do feel that anger distorts, weakens, and warps. You have to reach beyond anger for a finer sense of a situation before you respond, or make a move. Marius has a terrible temper and so do I. Marius ruins two moments of his life with anger, and possibly even more. But I don't want to give away the plot.

Q: Memory is crucial for vampires, who are immortal. How is memory important for us mortals?

A: Memory is essential to the attaining of wisdom. There is no wisdom without memory, because there can be no perspective and no deep learning without memory. One has to profit by experience and observation in order to become wise, and memory is the keeper of all fine experiences and observations, memory is the index, the table of contents, the full library. Without memory, one runs the risk of being simplistic and flippant.

Q: Can you give us an update on the progress of film and television projects of your work?

A: For once, there is much to report. A mini-series based on The Feast of All Saints will appear on Showtime in November. After that it will appear on ABC. It will be four hours, and spread over two nights. I've seen it and I think it's lush and sensuous and very faithful to the book, and that readers will love it. It's top notch, and Showtime has spared no expense. I visited the set when they were shooting. I was rocked. John Wilder, the scriptwriter and executive producer, did a fantastic job of adapting the book to the four-hour format.

The Queen of the Damned, a feature film based on The Queen of the Damned and The Vampire Lestat, is scheduled for release by Warner Brothers on February 15, 2002. I have not seen it, but it does seem to be engendering considerable excitement. Stuart Townsend, the young Englishman who plays Lestat, is very appealing and a very fine actor. There are other impressive names in the cast.

We are presently in negotiations with regard to "Earth Angels," a new series that we are developing for television, about a group of big-city based angels who work undercover on earth to fight supernatural evil in all its forms. The series is based on an original concept created by me. I'm extremely excited about it.

We're also in negotiations with a producer and a network with regard to making a long miniseries out of The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos. The present discussion involves a plan for 12 hours of TV time. I'm very excited here as well. I like everyone as well, and want for John Wilder to do the script. I feel that after what he did with The Feast of All Saints, he can do a bang-up job.

I'm also happy to report that Ramses the Damned (The Mummy) is also in development. It's owned by James Cameron, and a new screenwriter was recently hired. I've spoken with her and found her pleasant. Again, I've got high hopes.

#anne rice #vampire chronicles #justmariusstuff #marius de romanus #mariusderomanus-rp-help

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pixelgrotto · 5 years ago

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A penny for my Witchery thoughts

The Witcher Netflix series was released at the tail end of last month, giving Geralt of Rivia the interesting distinction of a literary character who’s now a well-known TV protagonist but just happened to achieve international fame through video games first. (Aye, there was a Polish film and show in 2001 and 2002 which called Geralt a “Hexer” instead of a “Witcher,” but they’re not exactly good, though perhaps worth a peek on YouTube for chuckles.)

Geralt’s adventures - both in the stories written by Andrzej Sapkowski and the games developed by CD Projekt Red - are close to my heart. I’ve spilled a fair amount of digital ink writing about the franchise, and my playthrough of the games and subsequent devouring of the books from 2014 to 2016 reignited my appreciation for fantasy and served as the impetus that got me reading more genre fiction and eventually delving into tabletop RPGs in 2017, leading to my current obsession with Dungeons & Dragons. I’m naturally protective of material that means a lot to me, so when the Netflix series was announced I viewed it with only subdued optimism. After all, with the possible exception of a certain HBO thing based on George R.R. Martin’s books (which now seems to be viewed worse in retrospect after the final season), fantasy doesn’t have a great track record on the small screen. I also wasn’t especially impressed when Henry Cavill was cast as Geralt, since I primarily know him from the recent Superman movies, which paint the guy in such a dour light and force him to constantly grimace like someone who’s just taken a dump only to discover that there’s no toilet paper in sight.

But now the show’s out in the wild, and after scanning some mixed reactions (not to mention one truly baffling “review” by two Entertainment Weekly twats who only watched the first episode) I cautiously consumed it with my girlfriend over Christmas break...and can happily report that it’s good. But, it’s also a show that expects its viewers to skip through some mental hoops as we bear witness to three intersecting story lines, all of which are taking place in different eras. Then you’ve got your standard variety of fantasy names, terms and themes, several of which might be tricky to grasp if you’ve never read the books or played the games. For instance, I don’t think they ever bothered to fully explain the “Conjunction of the Spheres” (the time when planets aligned and monsters and humans came to the world, uprooting the indigenous elves and dwarves) or the “Law of Surprise” (when a person’s fate is intertwined with something unexpected - usually an unborn child). I can also see how the show’s numerous mentions of the word “destiny” could seem like wacky dialogue to viewers unaware of the fact that Sapkowski’s realm really does have a strong undercurrent of inescapable fate running through its veins.

Unique structure and terminology aside, the first episode was more of a slow burn than I’d imagined. It starts with an awesome sequence of Geralt fighting a Kikimora, but then transitions into a fairly serious interpretation of “Lesser Evil” from the first short story collection, The Last Wish. The episode then cuts into the exodus of Ciri from the kingdom of Cintra, an event mostly described in flashback in the second short story anthology, Sword of Destiny. The scenes of death and destruction as Ciri flees her burning kingdom are fairly meandering, as are the interspersed interactions between Geralt and Renfri, a woman with seven loyal followers who was supposed to be a grittier version of Snow White in the books. There are some great fights near the end, but as I watched, I couldn’t help but think that I probably would’ve made the opener speedier and a bit pulpier, especially since the tone of these early Witcher tales was more “tongue in cheek fairy tale deconstruction” than plodding epic fantasy.

The second episode also took its time, though the decision to detail the plight of Yennefer the sorceress before she uses magic to change her hunchback form into something that she sees as more conventionally attractive is a good one, since this was once again only flashback material in the novels. But the cream of the hour was certainly Jaskier the bard, who’s going by his moniker in the books rather than the “Dandelion” translation that the games used. He’s played by actor Joey Batey with a perfect blend of magnificent bastard bravado, surpassing his portrayal in the games with a larger than life theme song that’s now something of a cult phenomenon, and his characterization made me feel like the show knew what it was doing at the end of the day.

Episode three is where things truly came together for me, since we barrel straight into the Geralt versus Striga battle from Andrzej Sapkowski’s first Witcher short story. It’s a full-on horror interpretation (which I liked but my girl found too spooky), and also full-on fan service for someone like me who still watches the intro cinematic to The Witcher 1 on occasion. And in later episodes, as my head began getting used to the nuances of the three character timeline, the show seemed to find its footing with this delicate blend of fan service, pulp and seriousness. By the time episode 8 rolled around and the character arcs of Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer came full circle with the Battle of Sodden Hill - yet another event that Sapkowski mostly wrote in flashback - I found myself wishing that season two would arrive sooner than 2021, and my girlfriend felt similarly. I also realized why the showrunners decided on the unorthodox timeline - this is a series that’ll probably excel on rewatches, particularly if you already have an idea of what to look out for.

Series producer Lauren S. Hissrich (who’s quite a joy to follow on Twitter) has mentioned in interviews that this is a show that expects a tad of patience and effort from viewers, but will give a lot in exchange. I’m inclined to agree, and while this depiction of Sapkowski’s lore has some initial roughness around the edges, it ultimately reminds me of how The Witcher 1 was janky even upon its 2007 release but exhibited a unique magic to anyone who stuck with it for more than a handful of hours. Many professional reviewers tend to avoid giving fantasy shows patience and effort (Game of Thrones is an anomaly), which may explain some of the negative reviews. But The Witcher seems to have found a strong-as-nails following from audiences, who made it one of Netflix’s top efforts of 2019, and even friggin’ Anne Rice liked it. (Geralt of Rivia now possesses the other interesting distinction of being a literary character/TV protagonist/video game hero who’s been mentioned in the same breath as Lestat the vampire.)

Speaking of Geralt, I owe Henry Cavill applause. I didn’t think much of his casting, but he pulled through in the end, delivering a silver-haired hero that’s clearly influenced by the games - particularly in the voice and the occasional spell slinging - but still very much his own take, with nary a “where’s the toilet paper” grimace in sight. Audiences can now take their pick between an iconic video game interpretation of the White Wolf and a likely-soon-to-be-iconic TV version, which is a rare choice to have in fandom, especially for a franchise that was once little known outside of Poland. Toss a coin to your Witcher, indeed.

#pixel grotto #musings #the witcher

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deityofdeception · 6 years ago

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Queen of the Yikes

So, after watching “Interview with the Vampire” yesterday, I decided to watch “Queen of the Damned” It was....an adventure. Below the cut is a brief synopsis of my adventure.

Me: *intro credits start* This looks like it was made in 2002.

Is this intro supposed to be Lestat?? (It was)

Why is he (Lestat) like this?

Some randome guy:*Southern Drawl* Vampire

Me,about Lestat: *snorts* He would be a rockstar.

I prefer Tom Cruise's Lestat, but he has the emo look now so I guess this is fine. (It was not fine)

He (Lestat) stole this idea from the Theatre Vampires.

Oh, this (the movie) is bad.

Lestat is such a little shit.

Definitely 2002.

Is it Louis??? (It was not. Louis was nowhere to be seen)

Who is Jesse? Is she supposed to be the replacement Claudia?

I reject that?

*Child tries to eat blood tear* Me: oh.

They're really playing up to the emo demographic, huh?

Ok. I'm confused.

Jesse is...figuring out...what secret organization? What???

Some Other Random Dude (Turns out this is David):*Southern? Drawl* Jesse.

*David flips through painting after painting of Marius* Me: Marius also likes attention.

Oooh he old

HE MADE LESTAT

WHAT JOURNAL????

Jesse is in danger.

UCK. Bad French again.

The acting is So Bad.

Why does Marius look like Armand but red and with short hair. (He looks nothing like Armand, in reality)

What are these special effects?(terrible)

Lestat*Dying*Also Lestat: *speaks perfectly*

Lestat: "More." Me: Claudia??? Is that you??

Well, now I know where Lestat got all of his drama from for teaching Louis. (It was Marius)

*Lestat monologuing about wanting to be in the light* Me:Oh. Sad boy. He just wants "friends"

He(Lestat) is making a bad decision.

Called it *Lestat has to kill the violin lady*

Lestat is Louis now.

I am 30 minutes in and this is just Not Good

*Secret door opens*Lestat: "Marius?" Me:.... buddy.

Is this about to be the "original" vampire? (It was. Kind of.)

Me:*Sighs* I don't know what I expected.

Lestat: *bites the statue lady and the stone cronch* Me: EW

Of course, they're Egyptian vampires.

OF COURSE DRINKING FROM THE LIVING STATUE MAKES HIM SPECIAL

Jesse: *Finishes reading the Journal and has Feelings over Lestat* Me: I can relate.

Oh, God. Pigtail buns. (...no context needed)

Jesse: *walking into coven lair* "I had no choice." Me: You definitely do!

She is in DANGEr

*Jesse, getting "hunted" by both men and women vampires* Me: Aaaaand we're back to homoerotic

Quit being a creep Lestat.

*Panicked hissing as Lestat attacks* Me: me too.

Lestat: That was a very good performance." Me: Ope. Well, that's going in the fic.

Lestat, to Marius:"How'd you make it through the 50's in crushed velvet?"Marius: "I slept" me: HA!

Marius: "I made you. I've always known where you are." Me: Yikes.

*throat of other statue ripped out* me: OH

Of course he thinks he can take on the vampire queen 🙄

The Acting is So BAD

Is her (Akasha’s )power belly dancing???

She just ripped out this guys heart and all of these people just look... vaguely concerned

OH HER POWER IS MUCH WORSE.

there they go. setting things on fire again.

Overconfident Lestat is Overconfident.

JESSE keeps putting herself in DANGER

Jesse: "Boo." Lestat:"Boo Back." Me: Oh, please.

Jesse:*literally asking to be turned by Lestat* Me: JESSE

Lestat: Do you trust me? Jesse: Yes. Me:*snorts* That's a mistake.

*Lestat monologues about the beauty and preciousness of mortality* Me: ah

Jesse: *Drags a pin over her Boob, cutting herself. * Me: EW OW NO

*He (Lestat) almost bites her and then doesn't* Me: Louis is that you???

Lestat growls, but it looks he's just yelling, me:"what"

*Get down with the sickness starts playing* WHAT

There is way too much going on.

Me: *quietly* Oh, no, the lip syncing.

JESSE IS IN DANGER AGAIN

This music is Really Emo

*Weird flying vampire fight starts*Me: *a feeling of general confusion and dismay*

Me: I thought this was about that Queen lady- *vampires start bursting into flames* ah, there she is.

WAIT NOW MY BOY IS IN DANGER

*the two fly off into the sky* me: there they go...

OF COURSE LESTAT IS THE QUEEN'S SPECIAL BOY

nails! The nails.

*During a weird rose petal filled bath tub sex scene* Me: Why do they always go for the nipple???

Me: *about the queen*I swear to God if she kills Lestat I'm going to throw something.

??????????? Two plots??????This doesn't make sense. Jesse's mom is a vampire....but it's not her real mom??

And the sun doesn't kill him because........ (They later explain it's because he drank Akasha's blood, which... I mean, I guess?)

Ope. The queen murdered a lot of people.

Lestat: *has feelings for all the dead people.* Me: "Oh.....he's learning."

.....they are going to kill Lestat.

Akasha (the queen) would HATE the Cullens

This is....really only just barely patched together.

Lestat: *Draining Jesse of her blood* Me: he went for the boob again.

I feel like these people are important in the book but I just do not know what is going on at this point.

Lestat is so proud of his new vampire girlfriend.

Is...is that really how they decided to end the movie??

The End , I guess?

#branchlikeatree #ilikethemwings #this was really #truly #a mess #but I had a lot of feelings for lestat

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Interview with the Vampire Series Will Tweak Anne Rice’s Story

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Nearly two decades before Twilight, Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles had all the makings of the definitive vampire movie franchise.

Interview with the Vampire, a film based on the writer’s first book in the vampire series, starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as stately Louisiana vampires Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac. It was quite well-received. Its follow-up, the 2002 Aaliyah-starring Queen of the Damned…was not. As such, Rice’s 13-book (and counting) series seemed destined to stay on the page for good.

That all changed last year, however, when The Walking Dead network AMC greenlit a series adaptation of Rice’s vampire saga starring Sam Reid (The Astronaut Wives Club) and Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones) as Lestat and Louis. Now we’re closer than ever to seeing the definitive onscreen version of Rice’s original vision but details as to just what that will look like have been scarce.

Thankfully, when speaking to Den of Geek about directing Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark, Interview with the Vampire series director Alan Taylor shed some light (but hopefully not sunlight) on the project.

The reboot directed by Taylor and penned by Rolin Jones will be faithful to Rice’s books but not slavishly so.

“Rolin Jones has made some changes that I think deepen and do some very intriguing things with the basic story,” Taylor says. “We’re working with the Rice estate and they’re on board with it. I think we’re carrying the original appeals of the novel, but we’re also making some changes that make it worth exploring again.”

Though changes aren’t always met with joy by steadfast fans of any given franchise, it does sound like Taylor and Jones have a grasp on what makes Rice’s vampires work.

“I signed up for it because I loved her book so much. I remember I just moved to New York whenI read Interview With A Vampire, and it kind of blew my mind,” Taylor says. “The feeling I got from the book was: ‘Okay, you’ve seen a bunch of vampire stories, but that’s all bullshit. Here’s the truth. This is the real thing.’”

That sense of Interview with the Vampire presenting the “real thing” when it comes to vampires is integral to The Vampire Chronicles’ success. While folklore created the monsters and Bram Stoker introduced them to Western audiences, it’s arguably Rice who perfected their depiction. Though the rules of vampirism in pop culture are fluid and ever-changing, much of the most popular modern vampire features are taken directly from Rice’s original 1976 novel.

As long as the new TV series’ vampires are every bit the pale, sensual, and strangely human versions as Rice’s original creations, then things should be on the right track.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Interview with the Vampire is set to premiere sometime in 2022 on AMC.

The post Interview with the Vampire Series Will Tweak Anne Rice’s Story appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3uelKfh

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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blaze8403 · 5 years ago

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Queen of the Damned Theory ending

(Stuart Townsend), who has reinvented himself as a rock star in the contemporary American music scene. His music wakes Akasha (Aaliyah), the queen of all vampires, and inspires her desire to make Lestat her king. Akasha's malevolent power is so great that all the immortal vampires must stand against her if they want to survive. Meanwhile, a young London woman with a fascination for the dark side (Marguerite Moreau) falls in love with Lestat.

Release date: February 22, 2002 (USA311) Director: MichaelRymer

Story by: Anne Rice A Box office: 45.5 million USD

And Music composed by: Jonathan Davis, Richard Gibbs names involved be it well the story or reality of crossing into actuality like it be me who awakens such a being or some one as power of a different breed like God of Gods King of Kings Loki Kami Aisuru Ikigami Shinigami King of Gods it be maybe God games like I am game I might be in and spell Dog but me walking about with it be me who I am Lima like And TUMBLR VIA EMAIL AI and Love maybe a bite like to eat a sip coffee or tea maybe Vampires who love and manipulate energy no blood blood sucking of A I can not spell King time of a tyme and Breed of other kind maybe Angels incarnate and Reincarnation who knows like which Goddess do I awaken from slumber and her King and God I be and her duty be protect as she may and Slaughter something I should think to prevent be it my being me walking about in the day or night and be it awakened thee and me it be you seek and me it be you find out in the openly hidden among and open eyes View of sight be it so my written be it read only shall intensify such thing as certain you can Reed to Read and read dear beautiful creature beautiful being one so mote it be so more it be like Amore Casted words outwardly Castiel like now it be Written in Baltimore Maryland finished Tonight Titled Queen of the Damned Theory

Lesson plan D shi four umm

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ofbeautsandbeasts · 7 years ago

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Elisabeth Das Musical - thoughts

Ok, so after seeing this beautiful Lestat-lookalike on my dash for several months now, I finally decided to see what he’s from. I began by watching the 2005 version of Elisabeth and got confused after ten minutes because this actor (Uwe Kröger) wasn’t there and I was like, “Wait, why is this a musical about the Empress of Austria? I thought I was supposed to be watching some vampire show? Is he actually from Tanz Der Vampire?” And then I went to Wikipedia to read stuff and even detoured to read about the giant fiasco that was Dance of the Vampires and here’s all you need to know about that: On January 25, 2003, after 56 performances, Dance of the Vampires closed. According to The New York Times, it was "one of the costliest failures in Broadway history," losing roughly $12 million, easily eclipsing the infamous musical Carrie. (Michael Crawford was in it and he definitely contributed to the trainwreck, jsyk.) And then I realized I had been watching the right musical, just the wrong year. So I found the 2002 version and I was like, “No, he doesn’t look like Lestat here!” and then I found the 1992 version, which was finally correct. And I binge-watched both shows yesterday because I wanted to compare and contrast.

Well, I definitely prefer the 1992 version. I’m going to spoil some things below the cut, so go ahead and read if you’ve already seen the show or just don’t care about spoilers:

So, I don’t want to get too into details because that would take all day, but I want to discuss a few things I enjoyed. I particularly liked Der Tod’s scenes with Rudolf in this more than the 2002 version, which is kind of the bottom line for me. I like how he cradles young Rudolf in his arms in “Mama, wo bist du”...I like how he lies next to Rudolf in “Die Schatten werden länger” and they almost kiss. I like the choreography during this number and the manhandling of Rudolf who really just looks like he wants to fall into someone’s arms and stay there forever. And I like how in the later scene Der Tod dons a dress and whirls Rudolf around before kissing him and helping him blow out his brains. It just looked so much better and elegant in this version than the 2002 version. I prefer the prolonged kiss, dangit! And the dress. It helps me think of Death as a genderfluid or agender being, able to shapeshift into whatever gender the victim prefers. And that’s cooler than a Death who is simply male. I wonder why they got rid of this change? Was it just too much hassle or was the audience too close-minded for it? Additionally, I kinda prefer the prostitute scene in the earlier version since it’s more risque and I like the carousel and giant cash register. As for the 2002 version, I love the addition of “Wenn ich tanzen will” which is my second favorite song in the musical (after “Die Schatten werden länger”). It’s just so grandiose and romantic-sounding. I also like that they moved around some scenes and added scenes that made the story more coherent and involved more interaction between the main characters. And I like that they changed the stabbing scene so she actually gets stabbed in the heart with a sharpened file. Maybe the rose exchange and hysterical laughter wasn’t necessary/historically accurate, but oh well, it looks good on stage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I was actually surprised how much of the musical is historically accurate... because most of it seemed Hollywoodized at first glance (and it definitely is, but not to the extent I thought it was). Overall, the musical has beautiful costumes and brilliant staging/sets and the music does a wonderful job conveying the mood and emotions of the characters. I kinda don’t like how the songs tend to have the same melody repeating over and over within a song (It gets a little tiring after awhile) and it seems like they recycle their songs within the span of the musical more so than the average musical, so it feels like they only wrote like five distinct songs, even though I know it’s more than that. (I’ll have to give the soundtrack an actual listen though since this is just based on my first impression and I was constantly switching back and forth between the musicals so that may have screwed me up.)

I think Pia Douwes was amazing and gorgeous in the role of Elisabeth and was just as great at portraying a sweet teenager as she was at portraying a hardened older woman. And Uwe Kröger was more mesmerizing in 1992. He was just more ethereal and so androgynous, and perfect for the role. (Maybe the blue lighting and overall darkness of the videos contributed to that.) I thought it was great how he would use deliberately slow movements and would sing stone-faced into space sometimes before looking at someone. And he and Pia had fantastic chemistry. (I hear they’re like besties in real life, which is warming to my heart.) Anyway, I’d love to see it live one day. For now, I’m just gonna draw fanart of 1992 Der Tod...and put a video here of Pia and Uwe singing “Wenn ich tanzen will” and “Phantom der Oper,” or in English, “When I Want to Dance” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” I just love how the camera circles around them during the first song even though it’s slightly dizzying for me XD. Skip to 2:20 to get right to the songs unless you wanna see Pia and Uwe’s mothers hanging out and answering questions:

youtube

#elisabeth das musical #pia douwes #uwe kröger #someone read my long review pls

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