"If you're suffering from Twilight Fatigue Syndrome (TFS), this gritty, unromantic tale will be a welcome break." I09

Sadly, I dont' think I'm gonna be able to go out and see it this weekend, but it's definetely on my list.  I think this has a bit of cult-movie potential as a contemporary vampire-themed allegory paralleling oil and corporate greed.  I'm intrigued, especially with Hawke and Dafoe standing behind it. It has all the elements of a '00 Vamp thriller: a virtuous emo vamp played by Ethan Hawke (after sunset, eh), a big-bad parable for the current global crisis, and battle-hungry vigilantes with crossbows. Who could resist?

http://blog.jinni.com/2009/11/vampire-vs-zombies-the-bloody-showdown/

The Jinni blog give Zombies 8 to 1...  lots of good stuff in there.  And I had to use this pic of Underworld vs. Planet Terror as a shoutout to a few of my personal faves.  :)

Take a look at some of my favorite non-fiction-supporting lit centered around vampires.

I think one of the most entertaining to have crossed my line of vision lately has to be the tongue-in-cheek (or fang-in-jugular, as the case may be) Diana Laurence's How to Catch and Keep a Vampire.  Ms. Laurence also writes a few series of 'tasteful romantic fiction' which frequently star vampires.  I love the 'girl power' attitude from page one--


Another interesting book, not so focused on the current trend, and a ligitimate entry of Lit-Crit would be Our Vampires, Ourselves by Nina Auerbach.  She focuses on the origins of the genre, the Byrons and Draculas, as well as the Lestats and Lost Boys.

"Ms. Auerbach implicitly rejects the Freudian and Jungian interpretations of these figures as either psychosexual metaphors or archetypes, preferring to see them in sociopolitical terms. But such interpretations need not be mutually exclusive. There is, after all, more in vampire metaphors than meets any one mind's eye."


Absolutely!  I'm gonna keep my eyes out for some more vampire related guide books. Stay tuned...

"Named after the friendly panther in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book," Bagheera Kiplingi would rather eat a meal of leaf tips than its fellow creatures. ... "This is the first report of a spider that feeds primarily and deliberately on plants," said the researchers." Source

There is an actual creepy-crawly which is demonstrating an amazing new behavior, mimicking the aw-inducing qualities given to our favorite blood-sucking leading men!  Just as spiders were always considered nothing more than fearsome creatures (still are in my mind...), now the paradigm has sifted to include an 'alternative lifestyle' so to speak...  Within the vampire community it's been considered morality/humanity (This is your Edward, Bill, Stefan, -type vampire) until this time, but I'd suggest that this finding may open the door to an evolutionary theory for choosing the more pacifistic lifestyle...

I also find it interesting that the spider is named after Kiplings' friendly panther, who also demonstrates the idea of blasting pre-conceived notions of fearsome creatures.

The search is on for immortal servers right here in my backyard! 

I love the idea of the objectified immortal vampire serving cocktails to mortals in some type of Chippendales scenario...

That said...where is this party, and how can I be invited? ;)