What I Look For In A Story

Intro/Overview

My brain sometimes likes to blog in the middle of the night. I wrote this thing and I wanted to share it. It's not what I usually do, but I figured I'd share it anyway. Please don't be turned off by the blocks of text.

SPOILER WARNING

There might be spoilers for The Twilight Saga, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel, His Dark Materials, Shrek Forever After, The Hunger Games, Torchwood, Doctor Who, Dragonriders of Pern, and Dollhouse. I say might because I'm not sure exactly what I wrote or if it contains anything that might be considered a spoiler. Just be aware that I talk about a lot of stuff.

What I Look For In A Story

I know I do an awful lot of reviews on this blog. I'm forever saying that I'm really into characters, but I've never really gone into why that is. So I want to talk about the stuff I look for when I'm getting to a story. This applies to books, movies, fanfiction, and TV shows, not specifically to the printed word.

The first thing I look for in my stories are relatable characters. If I don't find a character to latch onto, I don't get engaged. That character doesn't even necessarily have to be the main character or my favorite character. Nine times out of then, the character we as the audience meet first isn't the reason I ultimately stick with a show or keep reading a book. For example: The Twilight Saga. I don't read any of The Twilight Saga books or watch the movies for Bella or Edward or Jacob. I read and watch The Twilight Saga to see what happens with Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett. All of whom get little screen time/book time. My TV show example: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel. I started watching Angel because the first episode I saw featured Faith Lehane. I went to watch Buffy because I wanted to know Faith's backstory. I kept watching both shows because of Willow, Wesley, Fred, and Faith. I relate to and like these characters more than I like Buffy or Angel.

The second thing I look for is story. You can have great characters, but if your story is crap, you've lost me. I'm not just talking about the play-by-play here, either. To me, a story needs to gather up the characters and desposit them believably into a world that makes sense for them. The world around the characters needs to feel real to me and feel real to them. What the characters do to reach the endgame or come to the conclusions they do needs to make sense with how they and the world around them is established. The storyline should carry the characters through a journey that makes sense. There's a reason I had a gigantic problem with the His Dark Materials series. The world-building was largely great in the first book, but then fell apart in the later ones.

Fanfiction and movies often fall into problems with story. Fanfiction authors manage to disregard certain story elements more often than not. Looking back at my Minority Within Minority story, I was gigantically guilty of this myself. My characters did things that didn't make sense and didn't do things that made sense for how I'd created them. As for movies, the lack of or inconsistency in story can drop me a lot faster than almost anything else. Take Shrek Forever After for instance. I personally felt like this movie didn't need to exist. I get where the writers were trying to go with it, but the storyline was just ridiculous. I loved the first three movies and I loved the characters, but the story of Shrek Forever After didn't work for me in the least bit.

The third thing I look for is whether the story is a sequel or a spin-off or not. Oftentimes, I'll read or watch something because it's related to something else. If the first book in the series catches me, I'll read the second one. I'm actually going to cite a book series that failed to catch me here: The Hunger Games. I read The Hunger Games and have no desire to read either Catching Fire or Mockingjay. I was far more invested in the story once I saw the movie and I'll probably see the next ones. As for spin-offs, I'll definitely check out the spin-offs if I'm love the first thing. The same works in reverse. I watched Angel and Torchwood before I saw Buffy and Doctor Who, for example. I'm also more likely to check out a book or movie or whatever if it's set in the same world as the thing I'm interested in. For example, books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes and books set on Pern by Anne or Tood McCaffrey. I understand and like the worlds created by the authors and I really enjoy the stories of the people inhabiting them.

I also want to add that I have a lot of patience with slow-burning payoffs so long as they make sense. Dollhouse springs to mind here. A lot of people had problems with Dollhouse for various reasons. I've heard part of that had to do with how slow the slow-burn was. Dollhouse often came off like there was no concrete storyline because it was slowly building the mythology and characters up to their final forms, as it were. We got a glimpse of the characters' final forms during the last and unaired episode of Season 1. People who didn't necessarily enjoy the normal Dollhouse episodes really enjoyed that one episode and wanted more. When they didn't get it immediately in Season 2, they were extremely disappointed. Personally, I loved the individual stories and the slow buildup to what eventually happened. That kind of buildup was necessary to completely get invested in the characters based off the show's concept. If you didn't care about the characters under their "doll" selves, you didn't care about what ultimately happened to them. At least, that's how I see it. Slow-burns in stories give more time to flesh out the characters and the world around them. I like that.

But anyway, I'm digressing. These are all the things I look for in stories... which is a lame way to end what was essentially an essay, but I've always been really bad at endings, if you hadn't noticed... if you had no idea, well... welcome to the blog?

Love ya, Jessie.

Floatation Device

I had a very productive day today, I'm so proud of myself. ^_^ I did three fanfiction covers, wrote three articles, folded all the guest towels and put them away, and completely fried my brain. Never fear! I do have a little something not-boring for you today. It's a review of the newly finished section of Adrift In a Room of Mirrors by Princess Alexandria! Which will come right after I post some pictures for you...

Fanfiction Covers

HTML Tables

So there's those... I did the first two yesterday and the other three today. Photo manipulation is a lot more complicated than I remember... You can find these fanfictions, and my others, by clicking the "My Fanfiction" button up in the navigation bar.

Adrift - Floatation Device by Princess Alexandria

Okay so... this story was/is originally from Princess Alexandria's Adrift In a Room of Mirrors. It's set in an alternate Twilight Saga universe and stars Alexandria's OC Christy Taylor. Also taking starring roles in this fanfiction are Bella Swan and Tanya Denali of Stephanie Meyer's The Twilight Saga. If I were you, I'd take a look at Alexandria's other fanfiction, particulary Not Myself, before reading this fanfic. It'll give you a good idea of her characters and how she tends to write. Ya know, assuming you haven't already, since I've recommended that before.

Anyway... I have to start out by saying that I'm not a giant fan of Twilight fanfiction to begin with. Firstly, because the characters just seem too bland to do anything with or don't have enough personality to really create fanfiction out of. Secondly, no one seems to be doing anything really interesting with them. Thirdly, most Twilight fanfiction is horrible. Fourthly, Stephanie did a pretty good job wrapping things up at the end of Breaking Dawn; at least, I think so. That said, I quite liked this particular Twilight fanfic. Part of it has to do with Christy and how attached to her I am and part of it has to do with how Alexandria handled the other characters.

The story starts at some point during New Moon after Bella was left by the Cullens. Christy shows up due to the events in the prologue and takes Bella under her wing. She essentially trains Bella to be a vampire while helping her grow a spine. Along the way, Christy manages to create her own little Vampire/Shapeshifter coven and then merge it with the Denali Coven. Of course, there is some romance and some tasteful and well deserved Edward bashing. Thought I wouldn't call is bashing exactly... it fits with the way Alexandria has written this story and, as I said, is very well deserved. Toward the end, I thought the story dragged a bit... but considering how things were going at that point, I think the dragging was justified.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Floatation Device. I think that anyone who enjoys Christy and, on some level, the side characters of The Twilight Saga will enjoy it too. If you're a fan mostly of the main cast of The Twilight Saga, I'm not sure you'll like this, but you should at least give it a try. Luckily, the story is finished now so you don't have to wait for weeks between updates.

Housekeeping

The links to both Floatation Device and Princess Alexandria's fanfiction.net page comprise the heading of that section. There are also a few links scattered through the first paragraph of that section to relevant pages.

Love ya, Jessie.

Vampires, Hexenbiest, and Ponies

I'm going to start out with a big fat SPOILER WARNING for anyone who has not seen last week's Grimm or My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. And also, if you haven't seen Breaking Dawn Part 2, go away. There will be SPOILERS! Also, there is a small instance of profanity. If you'd like, though, you can just skip down to the Housekeeping section to find out what I'm doing these next couple of days.

Grimm - "Season of the Hexenbiest" - Review

I think I forgot how much I liked Adalind running around messing with people. She's a giant slimy bitch, but she's fun to have around. I liked that we got a lot of Monroe this episode, he made me laugh. He also has a semi-permanent room for Nick, which is cool. And speaking of, the whole Nick/Juliette/Renard thing has really heated up and I'm glad we got to see more of Juliette having issues because of it. Her picking at the Wessen thing is nice, I hope she gets to be let in on the big secret soon.

Altogether, I really enjoyed this episode. I want more!

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - "Too Many Pinkie Pies" - Review

I was left with the overwhelming urge to slap Twilight Sparkle, and everyone else for that manner, a few times. It was SO OBVIOUS that the sad Pinkie was the real Pinkie! Twilight even tells Spike "They all say they're the real Pinkie." Only, the real Pinkie didn't so... that's gotta be the real one, duh? I wasn't really enamored with this episode, but it was kinda fun initially.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Review

This was my first time seeing a Twilight movie in a room full of fans and that definitely had an impact on my enjoyment of this movie. Overall, the acting was much improved from the beginning and it was further underscored by my little sister and I having watched New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn Part 1 the night before. I really, really enjoyed this movie.

I love, love, loved the vision Alice shared with Aro. I'd known it was coming, but I got sucked into it anyway. One of the guys sitting behind my sisters and I was like "I was getting into it!" after the vision ended. The action during that scene was awesome and thoroughly satisfying. I think my favorite bit was Alice dragging Jane to Sam to get her comeuppance.

Of the new characters introduced, I enjoyed Benjamin and Garrett the most, just like I did in the books. Benjamin was just a blast of fresh air into an almost entirely uptight cast of newcomers. Favorite bit with Benjamin: his first appearance. That was just epically awesome. Garrett totally made my day in the few scenes he got to be in. He was funny and entirely genuine. My favorite part with him was around the campfire as he commended Liam on an awesome revolution. I laughed.

I really liked that we didn't stay home with Bella and Edward like we did in the books. Traveling with the others and even getting a glimpse at what the Volturi were doing made the story feel just that much more epic. Favorite part of traveling: Emmett and Rosalie picking up Garrett. Garrett telling his prey to shut up had me loving him instantly.

There were a couple of things that bug me about the movie versus the book, though. First off, Bella twigged about the Merchant of Venice book immediately in the book, but here it seemed to take forever. Second, there wasn't enough interaction between Bella and Renesmee. Kristen Stewart seemed kind of fake in a couple of the scenes she had with Renesmee simply because the interaction wasn't there. I was especially sad Renesmee wasn't in the scene where Kate, Garrett, Emmett, and Edward were teaching Bella to shield properly. The entire reason Bella got her shield extended in the books was because Renesmee was in "danger" from Kate. Another niggle: Seth didn't break any bones. When he leapt between Bella and Jacob, her was supposed to have gotten his shoulder broken. But no, he just shook it off like being thrown really hard into a tree was nothing. What?

Anyway, I do believe Breaking Dawn Part 2 is my favorite in the series. I will definitely be watching it a few times after it's on DVD.

Housekeeping

Uhmm... yeah... I was gonna watch Arrow last night but my computer decided it didn't like Flash Player for no reason. I should be getting both Arrow and The Vampire Diaries watched in the next couple of days. Meantime, I'm going to be painting my nephew's chifferobe and working on redoing/doing some fanfiction covers for my stuff on fanfiction.net. I've already redone the one for Heat Wave, if you wanna go have a look...

Love ya, Jessie.

Fandom

Hello again. So sorry I haven't posted in over a month... comes from being distracted by other things. However, I had this little thing niggling at me at 1 AM, so I wrote it down and here it is:

So, I've had a few people scoff at me for liking certain things -- one of which was My Little Pony. Instead of just walking away from what was sure to turn into an online confrontation, I asked them if they'd ever seen an episode of the afforementioned My Little Pony. A couple of them answered in the negative. I've only ever had one person say they'd seen it and didn't get it.

     My next question was "Why not?" Okay, actually, I sent them something that essentially said "don't knock it till you've tried it." But I did eventually get around to discussing why they either hadn't seen it or why they're come to decide not to even try it.

     The answer, to my surprise, had to do with the fandom. Us Bronies are apparently too crazy or something. The reason this surprised me was my own experience with fandom. The Brony community is generally not made up of crazed individuals. In fact, a prevailing mantra we have is to love and tolerate.

I'm not saying there aren't those of us who aren't a bit crazed, but those are the minority.

     This then led to other discussions with other people about other things. One person I talked to had never read any of the Harry Potter books nor seen any of the movies. When I asked why this was, they cited fandom as the reason. Nothing specific about their personal tastes, just that fandom puts them off the entire thing. Not reading the books because they don't want to be associated with the fandom.

     As a memeber of multiple fandoms (including but not specifically limited to, My Little Pony, Harry Potter, Twilight, and Doctor Who) this citing of fandom as a reason not to get into things has me confused. I find pretty much all of the fandoms I'm in have such nice people as members. We're not like some exclusive club or anything. We're just people who like something and want to share and discuss it. There's a place for everyone. And yes, that includes the crazy contingent.

     But really, is that small minority what puts people off? Is the fanbase a valid reason not to give something a try? I don't get it. It's not like liking something means you have to actively participate in fandom. I generally don't.

     Okay, yes, I have written fanfiction in the past. I do draw ponies for people and post them to DeviantArt. But for the most part, my fan-participation badges only include listening to podcasts, listening to music, looking at art, and reading fanfiction. I'm a fairly passive fan. I don't even do all of those things for every fandom. Heck, some of my fandoms don't even have any of those.

     Personally, I don't feel like fandoms are represented in a good light by outsiders. Take the Bronies, for example. Boys, grown men, and grown women liking pastel colored ponies aimed at little girls. They're weird. There's something wrong with them. Right? Wrong. Bronies are just people who like this brilliantly animated, brilliantly written cartoon. We make wonderful art. We write some of the best music I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. Hell, we even contribute to charity. What is so wrong with that?

     The real answer is this: NOTHING.

     Society has these things they call "norms." "Norms" basically take people and shove them into ill-fitting boxes. If you don't fit in your box, you're automatically an outcast. But people don't fit into "norm" boxes and never have. If you think you do, you're wrong. We're all different and we all want to be accepted for who we are and what we like. That's where fandoms come in. We take a group of people who like something and we turn that group into a community. Everyone has a place. We share, we make friends, we have fun! That's what fandom is all about.

     So maybe you're afraid to get into something because of fandom. I encourage you not to be. There's a place for you, even if you choose not to participate. Try it anyway. Who knows, you might find something you like.

Breaking Dawn Review

I went and saw Breaking Dawn today... this morning, actually. It's been over 12 hours since that time and... well... my brain's a bit scattered. Long story short, I loved it. All the important bits were there, although there could possibly have been a bit more explanation of Quil and Claire... Also, there will be spoilers and the review will jump around to the bits I can remember when I remember them. Sorry about that...

I thought the flash-forward of Renesmee through Jacob's Imprinting was... interesting. I wasn't expecting it... wasn't really expecting that big of a show-down between Jacob's pack and Sam's pack. Edward's lack of reaction to Jacob's Imprinting was also... odd. Although, I guess the news did kind of save all their lives so... that's something.

I miss all the stuff between Jacob and Rosalie. And I just realized this... although I know there's a difference between book universe and movie universe, the lack of teasing and whatnot is still a bit, I dunno, odd. The amount of time spent with Jake was okay, but not really what I was expecting. I guess Bella's POV was more important in movie reality.

I also miss the bonding with Seth. Don't get me wrong, there was some of that there, but there's really no relationship between Bella and Seth. This bothers me a bit because Seth was really painted as the sweet little puppy because of his interaction with Bella and not his pouting at Jake and Leah. Which brings me to another point: I'm really glad some of the stuff between Leah and Jacob stayed in. Which then brings tomind a question I had during the movie: Why are they running around in human form all the time? I mean, I guess there's budget to consider, but it was odd seeing Jake's pack do all that perimeter running in human form rather than as wolves.

I guess I'm really talking mostly about the end of the movie... probably because it was the part I was really interested in seeing. However, I did enjoy the wedding and the reception. Seeing the Denali clan was cool. My first thought about Carmen was that she was hot... and that's where my brain stopped. Also, the gold contacts clash a little with Tanya, Kate, and Irina's faces or coloring... I don't know. They seemed odd and out of place.

Renee was so awesome! I wasn't expecting to see her nearly as much as we got to. I love her and Charlie's reactions to the graduation cap artwork. "That's so creative!" vs "Or weird." that had me in stitches. Also, Charlie being used as a bit of comic relief... especially during the speech section... that was hilarious. He must have been drunk. Jessica must have been, too. That was an annoying dash of character I didn't need. She seemed so much more mature during the graduation in Eclipse... and then she goes back to shallow, really? What the hell?

A couple of final notes and then I'm done, I promise. Esme: Elizabeth Reaser finally got to play Mom for a bit. Yay! She looked so hurt when Leah refused the sandwich... Rosalie: there was something different about the way they did Nikki Reed's makeup or something because she looked a lot more creepy than she did in the last films. Jasper: Made me laugh several times with some of the things he said or the way he was standing. Alice: I LOVED that dress she wore for the wedding. And her direction of set-up... I giggled hysterically at it.

Well, that's it from me today. Love ya, Jessie.

It's a Vampire Thing

Okay so... I did not even get started on the Hellfire section of 500 Miles today... which you can go ahead and blame on The Vampire Diaries, and my little sister... who's the middle child in our family. She was watching TVD on Netflix yesterday morning and I decided to go ahead and get caught up with the stuff on there instead of watching Stargate: SG-1 or Buffy (which I watch with my other little sister, the youngest). Which then brings me to the topic of this blog post: Vampires.

I love Vampires. I've been in love with vampires since I was in highschool... probably even a bit before. My first real vampire book was Midnight Predator by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. After that, I devoured the rest of Amy's books and moved on to Anne Rice. I read Anne Rice's vamp books in a really odd order: first Queen of the Damned, then The Vampire Lestat, and then Interview With the Vampire... which I never did finish. Next on the list, I think, was this manga series called Vampire Game. And then I got into Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. And then there was Twilight, which I read before Twilight got really popular, before Eclipse came out. After that followed Angel, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Kim Harrison's stuff, Tanya Huff's stuff, and Karen Chance... among others, of course... *cough* The Vampire Diaries. *cough* I've seen the Underworld movies, the Blade movies, the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer movie, and a bunch of others that were honestly horrible. So there's my street-cred for what I'm about to talk about next: Types of Vampires.

Now, a lot of people have gigantic problems with Twilight vampires and the fact that they sparkle. This is not going to be a rant about how vampires should not sparkle. It's not going to be a rant about how awesome Twilight vampires are. It's not going to be anything having to do with bashing of any kind (except perhaps those who are stupid). If you were/are expecting any of these things, I'm going to ask that you leave. Now-ish. This is just me outlining a few similarities and differences between different types of vampires.

Nyeusigrube Vampires
     These vamps are written by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. They were my first official vampires. They do not a)dust, b)die by sunlight, c)usually act like teenagers. These vampires make the most sense to me. They are also only one type of vampire within the universe of Nyeusigrube. there are two types, actually. And I lied, one type does to two of those three things I said they didn't. Those are Solar Vampires and they don't show up in Amy's books, because she finds them uninteresting. The Lunar Vampires show up in most of Amy's books. The first of which, by the way, pretty much starts out stating what bits of mythology are bunk within this universe. Bursting Into Flames In The Sunlight? Nope. Lacking a Reflection? Some of them... depends on how powerful they are. Killed By Staking? The main character of In The Forests Of The Night states:

"If someone hammered a stake through my heart I suppose I would die, but I do not play with humans, stakes, or mallets."

And that whole religious item thing? Bunk. Garlic? Well, their sense of smell is very, very good and garlic has a strong odor so... they don't techincally care.

     Are we seeing why Nyeusigrube vampires make sense now? They truly are the next rung up on the food chain. And they're powerful enough to take over a human mind. Hence, more awesome than your average, run of the mill vampire.

Anne Rice's Vampires

     So... the only way to tell if you've got yourself a vamp, at least at night, is to look at their fingernails? Really? Their fingernails look like glass? Seriously? So do mine with a good clear coat of nail polish. Their skin looks funny under flourescents? So does mine, and I'm human. They're compelled to sleep all day? Gee, that just sounds like a recipie for trouble... what if you can't get anywhere safe? You just collapse randomly? Really? That's crap. Sucks to be you.

     So... other than personality, the Anne Rice vamps don't have much going for them. The books themselves have tons of padding... but I kinda like them. But can someone tell me why Louis is still around? I mean really... he's so close to human it hurts. He might as well be dead. And he whines. All. The. Time. Someone stake him, please.

Buffyverse Vampires

     How to tell you have a vampire: Do they dress like they're not from this time period? Check. Do their faces go all "grr" (to quote Cordelia) when they're about to feed? Check. Do they back away from Crosses? Check. Do they go "poof" when you stake them? Check. Do they start to sizzle and then burn in sunlight? Check. And finally, do they have kick-ass fighting skills right out of the grave? Check. Oh good, you've got a Buffyverse vamp. Oh, and then there's that soulless thing... but how do you check for that?

     Well... not really that much extra to say about these guys. I love Spike, and Angel kind of grows on you. He did better in his own show. Not so much with the mooning over Buffy. Angelus was more fun, but there you are. Harmony... what to say about Harmony? She's delightfully weird and awesome at the same time. And then Drusilla! Oh God, Drusilla. She's the awesome kind of insane that's actually insane. I lied about that "not really that much extra" thing, by the way...

Twilight Saga Vampires

     This is the part where people are proably running away or scoffing. Good, I don't like those people anyway. I do, however, love the Twilight vamps. Not necessarily Edward Cullen, but it's really his family I like. Stephenie is really good at writing secondary characters, I'll give her that. Also, the books are a pretty quick read, which I like.

     How to tell you've got a vampire: Are they super pale? Check. Are their eyes changing color every time you see them? Are those eyes gold or scarlet or black or somewhere inbetween? Check. Do they sparkle in sunlight? Check. Is their skin cold and rock-solid? Check. Looks like you've got a vamp. Good for you. Don't go all fan-girl, it's annoying. Some of them will eat you. Did I mention the Volturi?

     The sparkling dilemma is the main thing that has people laughing at Twilight vamps. This annoys me. Stephenie Meyer has explained why it is that Twilight vamps sparkle somewhere on her website, I can't be bothered to look it up right now. Basically, Twilight vamps sparkle because their cells have crystalized in the venom that now replaces all the fluid in their bodies. The cells reflect/refract/whatever sunlight. Sunlight specifically. No idea why flourescents don't do it, but sunlight is special. It's why other vamps burst into flame. Personally, I like my vamps properly indestructable... or mostly indestructable anyway.

Vampire Kids

     On the whole half-human, half-vampire kid thing... Renesmee is a stupid name. Should have had that as the middle name and Carly as the first name. Also, it's been done before. They're called dhampir (no, I don't know how to spell that). It's from folklore. LOOK IT UP. Stephenie isn't the only author to have done vamps having kids before, either. Laurell K. Hamilton had it happen. Kim Harrison has some weird sort of born/living vampire that becomes a true vampire when it dies... Karen Chance has a whole series based around a dhampir. You're having a heart-attack about it? Look that the "actual science" of it.

     Specifically about Renesmee: Stephenie has stated that Edward's body apparently had some left over semen that got venom-ized or whatever. That's what impregnated Bella Cullen (she was married at that point). Not about Renesmee: Laurell K. Hamilton had this sort-of happen pretty much the same way. Said vamp had left-over semen in his body and was young enough that it hadn't died yet... or something. Anyway, he impregnated his wife. Tada, another technical dhampir.

     Oh, and don't go making small children into vampires. Claudia from Interview With the Vampire and Nikolas from Guilty Pleasures both give me the shivers. And then there are those other two from the Anita Blake novels... I can't remember their names. But their children. And creepy. The Volturi from The Twilight Saga outlawed them for a reason. And now I gotta wonder why so many child vamps are girls... hmm...

And I'm done ranting. I'm not leaving links this time, because I don't feel like looking them up tonight. But seriously, look up some of this stuff, if you're interested. It's all awesome so far as I'm concerned... except Interview With The Vampire, that's annoying and pants. I also just realized I didn't mention Dracula... I don't like Dracula. But you should read it. It's a good grounding in what vamps were originally supposed to be like...

Love ya, Jessie.

Werewolves Abound

Today... I pretty much wanted to die. I say this because my head feels like it's going to explode. And most of the pressure is on the bridge of my nose -- exactly where my glasses sit. Yay. But anyway... werewolves.

I watched An American Werewolf In London with my mom today. It was... interesting. Here are my initial reactions:

• The preppy dead couple were creepy. Not because they were covered in blood, but because they were so... happy about their deadness. It was weird.
• I'm totally more of a vampire person.
• The end was funny. Let's show the body of the dead guy and then cut to black with a peppy song. Much better than some ending where the nurse can't get over what happened.
• Was there an actual point to the murderous mutant commandoes from David's dream?

So yeah... I was kinda bored watching the movie and I'm glad I'm sick because I wouldn't have sat through this classic if I had been able to hold my head up sufficiently.

Because this movie had a fairly well realized werewolf for the time, I thought I'd list some of my favorites:

• The Twilight Saga - They're not actual werewolves, but they're awesome in their wolfishness.
• Van Helsing - You know, the one with Hugh Jackman. These wolves are properly furry, even if they're rubbish on four legs.
• An American Werewolf In London - Probably won't watch this again, but at least the wolf didn't look like a naked mole rat.

And my least favorites:

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Remus Lupin's transformed state looks like a long-limbed naked mole rat. It's apparently quite easy to tell a werewolf from a real wolf in that universe.
• Underworld - Again with the naked mole-rat syndrome. I understand they wanted something they could have a person run around in. However, the wolves they've got running around the apartment complex do NOT match what they've later got - clearly a man in a rubber suit that looks like a black naked mole rat.
• Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - They look like people in Gorilla suits for the most part. I think there's one of them who's actually wolf-like in the face, but the rest of them are absolute pants.

Love ya, Jessie.

PS: There's a new avatar in my Gaiaonline Journal. It's in Companion Avis 4.