Cirque du Freak.... no spoilers

Yep, there I was front line and center, because I just don't learn.... What the heck am I doing on a Saturday watching a PG-13 vampire movie? We all know how it all ended the first time around (Throw in some sparkle and screams of delight here- duh) Anyhooo, thanks to John C. Reilly, who scared the hoards of screaming fangirls with his solid acting and not so charming good looks.

First and foremost, I might have the dubious reputation of watching every single vampire movie ever made, but don't have yet the honor and the time to read all books, so no. I am not a fan of the books. I don't think the movie will turn me into one. I went for a good ol' time with a nice popcorn flick and got exactly what I wanted.

Plot wise it is simple to follow. Typical teen movie about finding your place. There were two boys who were friends, one was obsessed with vampires, the other one with spiders... once they met a vampire that had a spider for a pet and things started unfolding.

It was not the theme. but the peculiar setting of it all I found fascinating and fun. The whole morbid Cirque served as a heck of a place to start a journey of Discovery. I am not a freak, is Darren's (Chris Massoglia), marching anthem. And yet, the more he time he spends with the deformed and the odd and in cases the truly supernatural, the more alienated and sad they make him look. The crew at Cirque has come to terms with their place and function, having overcome their "emotional" adolescence. I thought the freaks wonderful, and my only regret is that I wanted more of them , ( yes I wanted to know what made the Little Biter Tick.)

Of course there will be no Vampire Assistant without the vampire who needs the assisting, which brings me to John C. Reilly. He might not be tall, dark and handsome, but he will sell it and 5 minutes into his lines, you will buy it. (Hurray for average folk creatures of the night) Single handedly the man takes apart the myth without hacking it to pieces. Crepsley, the Ring Master maintains the integrity of the vampire, while making intelligent choices.

• First and foremost, they do drink blood. The consumption of blood is at the core of the vampire. Not only it is a base of sustenance, but it is the one thing that marks the moral path of the character. In Cirque's case, you can either splatter or sip it, but it's there. Crepsley's little number about the less violent approach will save you an eternity of pitchforks and fire, albeit funny, is quite logical.
• Yes, we all know vampires are lonely, predatorial creatures stalking the night, but so are most of the Big Cats. And yeeeeeeeeeeees, we must all strive to hold on to our humanity... errrr the same way we did when we were alive, because there are enough man made horrors out there to make you think twice about it. One thing that I loved about this movie is the idea that the vampire itself is an extension of the human being they once where... if you were shy and withdrawn, why the heck would you turn all of a sudden in a volatile diva? There are enough bloodthirsty humans to make horrid, "vampazines," as there are average good hearted joes to make sensible vampires. Which brings me to the main point of this movie...

Be it vampire, accidental executive assistant, president of the United States, or Catholic nun... is not who you are, but what you are in this point in time, you can always embrace it, or find a way to learn from it and walk away.... did you hear that?, moping vampires of the Emo Teen Saga? your current condition, no matter how permanent might seem, will never cripple your spirit, unless you allow it too. This is a better message than love is pain and I'm an idiot, but since it was not delivered by the likes of RPatz, this will be the lesser vampire movie...

Did I mention Willem Dafoe is here, and that I'm still trying to figure out what the heck did he do? The moustache gave me nightmares though....

The quote:

Crepsley: Looking amused "Ohhhhhhhhhhh Bloooooooood"

Darren: Looking Scared ( bares his neck)

Crepsley: Mocking... "from your jugular, can't take blood from an artery, I'll just kill you that way"- and all conventional vampire stuff goes down the drain, Rilley's style....

Touch of Dead and other matters

October is here, more than half way already. I didn't really notice due to minivac agenda... however, along with my thoughts, October is here again.

October is the month of convergence. No matter how much I try to avoid it, there's a happy little pagan that rejoices in me, there is also a bit of Judaism that squeezes in to bring spice to my Christian faith.

October is Sukkot and Tabernacles and being a stranger in a strange land and hoping to cross paths with people bound to change our lives. It is also a time of everlasting dusk and orange, black, crimson old and Irish. It also marks the Anniversary of my leaving New York and my promise to comeback in better shape than when I left. Nine years and counting, something tells me 2010 will bring me back to it in October to take in that particular smell, a mix of edge of winter, spark and mass transportation. It's hard to describe, and sounds nothing romantic, but it's there and belongs solely to the heart of New York. As of late, I just want it.

Anyhooo, I've been doing some light reading to deal with my True Blood separation anxiety, which lead me to pick up A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris. It's a short story collection taking place in the Sookieverse, sorta in between book whereabouts of Ms. Stackhouse. It is a fun read, like all things Harris, but as I read, I couldn't help but wonder how much has the HBO adaptation influenced her writing style, if only at an unconscious level.

Best example is perhaps DRACULA NIGHT in which Ms. Harris took the bold step ( and made my fangirl heart beat 3 times faster than usual) to give a shout out to Louis through no other than Pam.

By far, that was my favorite story, kinda a wacky retelling of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, courtesy of the staff of Fangtasia and an Eric Northman shivering with antici... pation!

The fact that this particular incarnation of Pam is fiercely loyal, yet as not adoring of her maker as in the books and that Eric is a little bit somber and broodier than usual made it even funnier. This woman needs to have a talk with Anne Rice and send me straight to vampire heaven... LOL.

I did miss, and it will sound weird coming out of my mouth, the weres. I find Harris' take on high-end shifters fascinating and was looking for sorta of a Smoky Mountain Christmas at Hotshot instead of the Christmas bit GIFT WRAP, which in my opinion was the weakest of the shorts.

I'm done with my reading, and it's still October, although no one has told the State of Florida yet, 'cause it's hot and muggy and bright and I still need to wait a half hour for nightfall...

Minivacs... random thoughts

Yes, it happened. I finally got some days off with cash to spare. The agonizing countdown to my I'll sleep when I'm dead weekend is done and it was worth it. Here are the shimmering

highlights:

• The safe arrival of Mariah Cotto is an event all in itself. She is my BFF and to have her around guarantees a wonderful time through and through. My sisters are a triumph, the ones that life game me as well as the one God made me cross paths with. As soon as we made sure there was no post traumatic flight syndrome, it was on with the agenda....


• Howl-O-Scream 2009 brought along the presence of the divine Ms. Michelle who was happy to bring her crazy peep antics and whom I just noticed, managed to dodge pics of herself... hmmmphhhfff. Although the idea of House of Vayne and vampire fashion smashion was brilliant, I found the Scarezones were not effective, in fact the werewolf scarezone which appears in the promos was nowhere to be found.... I guess the scariest thing of all is the recession we are still trying to conquer. We had fun though, laughing more than we should have. Suggestion to the organizers, for next time around...The idea of a vampire Clubhouse with a $10.00 cover fee and drinks bought on the side was not too appealing. In the words of Mariah, for an extra cover fee with no fringe benefits, they better turn us!!!! And besides, since one of the vampires in Taste of Blood dared say "You are Mahhhhnnn, now", I just didn't want to be disappointed at a Fangtasia ensemble in the Marrakesh Theater... which brings me to
• TRUE BLOOD Marathon... yes, getting anyone hooked on True Blood, even if they are secretly team Sam is worth it!!!! One thing of notice that sent a shiver... at an unconscious level I have more in common with vampire BEEEEELL than I had noticed before, like I've been channeling red bangs... note to self... self, change the style as soon as you can. LOL
• The only thing worthy of separating us from an unfinished TRUE BLOOD Marathon was of course U2 360. I can dedicate word after word to the funny parts that will bring about a quasi-panic attack and vertigo for the sheer height of our assigned seats... ( not only I started a U2 savings account as of yesterday, but I swore not to procrastinate when it comes to buying tickets). To the wild goose chase that was running around the four glorious corners of the Raymond James Stadium looking for the frigging car (yes, little aliens, you have won the battle of wits, you and your dizzy spell ray). The thing is all that could go wrong was nothing compared to the religious experience and all that the Gospel of Bono entails. And before someone says it is all one of my infamous hyperboles... it is religious as in the Latin RELIGARE... to reconnect with something thought to be hopelessly lost. I left that concert with a sense of community (you could actually count the countries about by listening to people around you, in fact as we ran through the concourse I captured a mental pic of a father and son wearing the same concert shirt ans said to my self, coolest way to bridge the generational gap EVER, and more than once I felt it was cool to live in the USA and believe me, as things are, sometimes people just need to remind me). Of course in every religious experience one waits for that moment of revelation and for me it was Sunday Bloody Sunday. I've always loved this song, in fact I fell in love with U2 because of it. Back in the 90's when the peace talks began and the cease fire looked feasible, I thought, well, the song is Rock n' Roll history now. Unfortunately, ever since at least one country has taken the turn to adopt that tune as their own and human nature turned the question " How long must we sing this song?" into a rhetorical one. It just broke me down and schooled me in so many ways that of course I cried, like I unashamedly cry in the presence of genius and in the presence of God. There you have it without a bit of heresy. Note: if you haven't seen Paul Greengrass' documentary style film about what started it all... rent it. Now. Going back to my mini vac train of thought there are religious experiences and then there are just plain nut, you have to be there 'cause I just don't feel like recounting...
• Yes, we went to a theatrical presentation of the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, and there is a reason why there is no photographic evidence. I'll leave you with this http://www.cheaplittlepunks.org/index.php If you think your mind is dirty and you have extracted every single double entendre out of Tim Curry and Co. you are fucking wrong.... wrong, wrong, wrong I tell you!!!!!! The phrase "elbow sex" will haunt me for ever.
• Big Cat Rescue was a little Tampa Treasure that I wouldn't have discovered if it wasn't for Ms. Lightshadow's obsession with the feline, and I'm grateful for it. Besides the beautiful wild things, I learned that J-lo and Beyonce are in fact monsters of legend. Well, I shouldn't say I learned, just corroborated.
• The Dali Museum allowed us to drag the Great Ken Ken along, who was not feeling as artsy as she was feeling silly, but unfortunately, that is one of those places you need to visit to grasp, Larger than life and sublime and of course, surreal. Sorry Lysania, you just can't eat your way out of this one... and it is worth the price, even if there are no fritters involved. LOL
• Opa! Tarpon Springs came courtesy of Dad, just because I didn't want the little aliens to get me lost in a place where the streets are hard to pronounce. I was a little ticked off because we got there late, after we had already eaten Greek food , when most of the shops were closed, after the last boat tour had departed and specially when the handsome, olive skinned Greek guys had gone to do whatever Greek guys do on Sunday night and left their grandpas behind :(... LOL

In all, it was fun fun fun, thanks to all who lend a hand and Ms. Lightshadow, I haven't been able to sleep thinking I owe you the easiest thing there was to get.... a SONIC shake!!!!