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"Bite Me"
Ah, remember the good old days, when the title phrase was an efficacious insult instead of the come-hither teen-speak Stephenie Meyer fans have come to associate with all things vampire. I'm probably not the only one who remembers that the whole teen infatuation with hunky vampires began more than 20 years ago with the film, "The Lost Boys." Back then there was less blood and more imagination, kind of like the movies of 60 years ago when the camera panned up to the stars after the final kiss close-up. You knew what came next; you didn't have to see it. Now there's so much Hollywood vampire blood that California is going to have ration corn syrup.
But my real issue is the whole vampire-equals-sex-god thing. I suppose it started in 1931 when Bela Lugosi forever made Dracula a romantic figure (if you like Hungarians with patent-leather hair). Personally, Lugosi's Dracula resembled my pediatrician. It's a wonder I didn't screech during inoculations. Or fall in love.
Aren't vampires supposed to be scary? Certainly that's what Bram Stoker intended. The literary Dracula had hair growing out of his palms and ears, foul breath, and red eyes. Hardly my idea of romantic figure. Most women don't tolerate back hair, let alone palm hair (though I suppose it would have its merits in winter). Yet out of the myriad Dracula films made over the decades, only two ever portrayed the Vampire in Chief as a frightening character. "Nosferatu," a silent film of the 1920s and probably the original "horror movie," and "Bram Stoker's Dracula," the '90s film with Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, and Gary Oldman. Not surprisingly, the latter version sported all the special makeup and effects modern cinematic techniques offered. Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dracula was indeed scary, but compensated by a bevy of sexy, semi-nude female vampires who had their way with Keanu Reeve's Jonathan Harker.
I'm too old to know the names of today's hot actors portraying vampires in movies and cable tv shows, but I'm sure everyone under 25 has committed their chiseled jawlines and bleached-white fangs to memory. I just hope life doesn't imitate art and spawn a vampire craze among teenagers. Maybe vampirism will replace oral sex as the new good-night kiss. The legal drinking age may need some serious re-evaluation.
www.cynthiapolansky.com
But my real issue is the whole vampire-equals-sex-god thing. I suppose it started in 1931 when Bela Lugosi forever made Dracula a romantic figure (if you like Hungarians with patent-leather hair). Personally, Lugosi's Dracula resembled my pediatrician. It's a wonder I didn't screech during inoculations. Or fall in love.
Aren't vampires supposed to be scary? Certainly that's what Bram Stoker intended. The literary Dracula had hair growing out of his palms and ears, foul breath, and red eyes. Hardly my idea of romantic figure. Most women don't tolerate back hair, let alone palm hair (though I suppose it would have its merits in winter). Yet out of the myriad Dracula films made over the decades, only two ever portrayed the Vampire in Chief as a frightening character. "Nosferatu," a silent film of the 1920s and probably the original "horror movie," and "Bram Stoker's Dracula," the '90s film with Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, and Gary Oldman. Not surprisingly, the latter version sported all the special makeup and effects modern cinematic techniques offered. Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dracula was indeed scary, but compensated by a bevy of sexy, semi-nude female vampires who had their way with Keanu Reeve's Jonathan Harker.
I'm too old to know the names of today's hot actors portraying vampires in movies and cable tv shows, but I'm sure everyone under 25 has committed their chiseled jawlines and bleached-white fangs to memory. I just hope life doesn't imitate art and spawn a vampire craze among teenagers. Maybe vampirism will replace oral sex as the new good-night kiss. The legal drinking age may need some serious re-evaluation.
www.cynthiapolansky.com
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Slides, Anyone?
I added a few slides of my books to my blogspot. I'm not sure yet if they should stay on or not.Do you have more trouble loading my blogspot with the slides up? Do you like them or are they too distracting?
A Christmas Tree Already
On the way home from work yesterday, I passed a house that already had a lighted and decorated Christmas tree up and showing by the window.Is it not too soon for that? In my mind, the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas Season starts. That's when it's fair game to put up a tree and decorations and start shopping. The way things are going this year, I'll be lucky if I get organized enough to decorate a few days before Christmas.
With our dog, Rascal, who lives up to her name, we'll probably go with a fiber optic small tree on top of an end table. One of these days I may pull put the larger tree from the box in the basement and set it up, but not until our doggy is a little more sedate. I don't feel like chasing her to get ornaments out of her mouth. I will be putting up knick knacks, lights inside and decorations on the walls, so it will still look Christmasy. No lights outside because for some reason we have no outlets outside.
While we're on the subject of Christmas trees and such, be sure to add holidays in your books. You can mention decorations and lights or Easter eggs and baskets, or even mattress sales in your descriptions to ground the reader as to the season.
Now, back to that tree I saw. What about you? When do you decorate for Christmas? What do you put up?
Winners and Losers at the CMAs and Life
I love country music and almost every country performer. While watching the CMAs, I enjoyed seeing the winners accept their awards. On the other hand, it was hard for me to see the losers do their best to appear gracious and for the most part succeeding.For every winner, there's a loser. In life and in books, it's the same way. How people react to their good and bad fortune shows what their characters are made of. You don't have to tell a reader who the good guy or bad guy is. Let their actions speak for themselves. The readers are smart enough to figure it out.
PS Can't finish this blog without saying - You Rock, Taylor Swift! You are one smart, talented teenager! Congrats on all your awards, especially, Entertainer of the Year!!!
CMA Awards Tonight and Twitter
One of my favorite shows is on tonight - the CMA Awards. If you're a country music fan, you're probably like me and will be glued to the TV 8pm EST, or in my case 7pm, in the flatlands of Illinois.Almost all my favorite performers will be there, except I hear that Rascal Flatts can't make it.
I'll be on Twitter during the show also. That's part of the fun of it - discussing and dissecting outfits, performers, songs and even commercials, kind of like I'm at a giant party with people who all go for the same thing and want to share.
What about you? What kind of music do you like? Do you tweet during a favorite show or event?
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Rascal is sleeping right now. When she gets up, you'll know about it.
When RASCAL wakes up, you'll hear from her and/or her Mom - that would be me, Morgan Mandel.
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