If you're wondering about the title, I went with Kirsten to her movie class tonight. We watched "Yojimbo" directed by Akira Kurasawa and ever since I've been talking like I'm in a samurai movie. Try saying "I ate too much cake!" like a samurai... it's fun. Trust me.
I've been trying to get a hold of the lady from Windsor Hills to no avail. I'll probably have to call them tomorrow. Which is annoying... don't know why she just couldn't respond to an email. Oh well.
Other than the movie I really haven't done anything all day. All I did at work was sit around and read. Mostly I read a book called "Warbirds," which is a very outdated book that talks about people in the Air Force. It's actually pretty good, with very fun and interesting characters. I think my favorite part was when the unit's doctor tried learning how to be the backseater in a F-4 and in a bombing run while training in England missed by miles. The air traffic controller told him he hit France, which, while a nice idea, was not the object.
Boring, I know... but it's one of the more entertaining parts of my work day.
In my free time I've been cruising through Dracula. I was surprised to learn that when it came out, it wasn't considered more than just a cheesy thriller when it was released, albeit a surprisingly popular one. Reading it has revived my desire to write some vampire fiction, but not water it down like most vampires are in pop fiction. What I mean is that they're much more human, and tend to make friends with humans, or don't have all the stregths and weaknesses of the traditional vampire.
The pop culture vampire is usually unaffected by Garlic or crucifixes, can go out in daylight, at least under certain conditions, and pretty much has very few weaknesses to speak of. On the other side of the coin, they never lost much, except the ability to become wolves or bats, and sometimes they don't have mastery over animals. I blame this on the superman complex: pop culture wants all it's heroes, and many of it's bad guys to be basically BAMFs with few to no weaknesses.
A vampire that can't be killed, isn't affected by any random weakness, and as a result, can kick anyone's ass isn't very interesting or even overly frightening. On the otherhand, a vampire that has to overcome all sorts of random weaknesses, can't enter locked doors or windows, but still manages to do whatever the hell he wants is a scary dude, and a much more interesting character.
Anyway, enough on my opinions on vampires and the pitfalls of pop culture. Not that I have much else to talk about...
Stanley Cup playoffs start tomorrow. Hooray! Go CAPS!
All the best,
-TES
Just use people you already know as basis for your characters, like Hemingway did. Huge head start in your writing. The sooner you write your book, the sooner you can stop worrying about making money. Better do it now while you're still in school than wait till you have to do it in between working your "real job."
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