Hanorah Words

So, I gave a lot of thought as to how I'd  have my vampires be if I had the choice. I mean, I read about them on TVTropes. I looked at the old legends I haven't seen in a long time. I thought about what vampires meant to me . I'm very much against a lot of the modern vampiric practices, but at the same time, I understand where they come from and why. In short, I kind of took what I liked and threw out what I found idiotic, pedantic, useless or stupid. Also, I drew up a bit on what I knew about the Dracula from Bram Stoker's books as well as the person Bram Stoker actually got his ideas on Dracula from, Elizabeth Bathory. I did all of that... and I think I really like what I came up with. I wrote it all down because I needed to keep it straight. Also, typing helps me think things through. When I think about trying to explain things to someone else, I usually do a better job of the explaining. So... here it goes! Vampires In my world, what defines a vampire? ...

I have a problem. I can't seem to finish anything I start. Look at Hold the Tainted Tacos . Seriously. Go check it out. See how it ends... abruptly? I couldn't figure out how to go about the next bit... so I stopped. And I just stayed stopped. Now I'm doing it again and I'm aware of it too. I don't want to finish all the Magical Realism stuff I promised myself I was going to read and watch and immerse myself in. I really... don't. Part of it is that there's so many books to read and blah, blah, blah... I'll never get through it all. Whine, whine whine... Groan. Moan. Groan. Moan. I'm so terrible I watched Twilight  for Universe's sakes! I have two books to finish in four days and I'd rather watch Twilight . Because.... well, I suck mostly. Also, choosing to do something and sticking to it is hard.  My brain is always coming up with writing ideas. I usually judge the strength of a writing idea if I choose to come back to it la...

I was on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses   and saw Maven of the Eventide's video on Queen of the Damned  and...well... Lestat and The Vampire Chronicles in general. It got me thinking about vampires again. Well, also I've been doing something else extremely naughty. In fact, I'm somewhat afraid to admit it... I watched the Twilight  movies.  We will  seduce you! With sparkles! And solemn looks! I can hear you groaning and laughing hysterically in my head depending on how well you know me and how you feel about those... abominations. It started after I watched a Nostalgia Critic video on whether or not Twilight  was really as bad as I thought it was. I admit. I read the first book, tried to read the second book, but wasn't interested. I didn't even really read them. I listened to them on CD . Someone had to read the books to me so that I could stomach them. And they still weren't interesting to me!!! In fact, I thought it was the end of v...

Also a book from Oprah Winfrey's Book Club! ... Well, Shit ... When I first started looking up Magical Realism as a genre that wasn't just listed on TVTropes... Like the wikipedia page , Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his book One Hundred Years of Solitude  were mentioned a lot . In fact, it seems to me that it's the book that defined the genre in some respects. In fact, I'm sure I'm not the first to notice that most of the first Magical Realism authors were Latin American. I'm sure if I really looked there are probably whole essays about why or what led to Latin American authors creating a new genre essentially by telling stories their way.  However, I'm not going to look because I'm not interested in the reasons behind why the genre exists or its true origins. I just want to learn the rules and the best way to learn is by example. Want to know about Magical Realism? Read the genre! If you still don't get it, then  look at the culture that start...

Looks like an action movie, doesn't it? The next movie on the list is Run Lo la Run or  Lola rennt  in it's original language (German). It's a 1998 movie about a girl named Lola who's boyfriend has somehow managed to lose 100,000 German marks (roughly 51,000 Euro) that he's supposed to give to his crime boss.  She has twenty minutes to find the money and get to her boyfriend before the boss gets... violent. Lola decides to visit her father at the bank and hit him up for the money before going to her boyfriend who is on the verge of robbing a supermarket. The movie takes a turn for the weird when, at the end of her run, she does it again... and again, getting it completely right the third time, obviously. The most entertaining part of the movie is that you get the see the future of certain side characters due to Lola's actions and they change every time.  It made me giggle. Of course, the funniest part about seeing this film is that I've never watc...

When I saw Adaptation.  on the list of movies that were considered "Magical Realism", I have to admit that I knew nothing  about the film.  Then I found out that Nicolas Cage was in it.  I'm not sure how other people feel about Nicolas Cage, but ever since I saw Wicker Man , I just need to see his face and my mind only thinks of one thing: I would feel terrible if I'd seen him in a film where his acting really impressed me, but I haven't. He runs around with he weird face and big eyes reminding me of Droopy Dog and I kind of want to punch him in the face.  I feel terrible about it because I don't know  him, but there it is. But then something happened. I saw the screenwriter. Charlie Kaufman. There's another actor I usually hate. I see he has a role in a movie and usually I just... shut down most of the time. I can actually count on my fingers the number of movies I've seen him in where I didn't want to rip my eyes out so I ...

Guilty pleasures! Everybody has a few! So, when this appeared on a Top 100 and Top 10 Magical Realism movie list, I was stunned. Really. My mouth hit the floor and I couldn't really think of why  this movie was considered Magical Realism. I own  this movie.   I used to watch it all the time. Whenever I hear El Tango de Roxanne (which is on my IPod) I end up blasting it. I know that the plot is rather... old... and cliche. I know that there's no surprises and sometimes the cinematography gives me a headache. Actually, if you want a review that expresses all my feelings about this movie (in song, no less), just go over to the Nostalgia Critic MUSICAL Review: Moulin Rouge .  You'll be more entertained that way. They have prettier voices than mine could ever be and the girls look a lot  better in corsets. The question I want to address is this: Is Moulin Rouge!  a good example of a Magical Realism Movie? Well, let's remember the criteria: Does this ...

They aren't kidding! Like Water For Chocolate  is unique amongst the movies I've seen so far for several reason. For one, it's almost entirely Spanish with subtitles taking place in Mexico during the revolution. Secondly, it's based on a book that is considered one of the quintessential Magical Realism books out there written by Laura Esquivel who mimicked the style of Isabel Allende while drawing on her own family history. The other movies weren't really made  as Magical Realism works, but were films that people have categorized as Magical Realism since they were released.  With that in mind, I watched this movie setting it mentally as the standard for Magical Realism films by which the others will be judged past and present. I will also warn those of you who may be sensitive to such things that this film is highly... erotic. There is full frontal female nudity on several occasions and at least on case of full frontal male nudity as well as several actors an...