Norman and Vampires

[exsequar]

I had a Norman day yesterday a couple weeks ago (there was a power outage while I was writing this, so my internet went down, and I saved it as a document... didn't remember til now).

Watched Gossip, which I realized I really had seen all the way through a while ago, but alas I was not madly in love with Norm then, and this movie isn't one to really cause me to fall for him. I mean, he's cutely artistic and shy and I loved every second of him, but I realize that I'm biased ^_^ Overall, not a terrible movie - I like the lead female character a lot (holy shit, we just lost power! Like, completely O.O Fuck.) and James Marsden is pretty charismatic, but the ending has so many holes that can be poked in it that it loses most of its credibility.

I also watched most of Blade II - well, sort of. I was on my computer and only looked up when Norman was on screen. I missed the first half hour, so I'm guessing I missed the introduction of his character and other important stuff. It was such a bad movie, oh my god. When Scud died, I immediately turned it off. No point in watching anymore, right? Lol. At least I didn't waste a Netflix rental on it. I happened to catch it on TV. Oh Norm, my love. For all he talks about only choosing roles that speak to him, how the hell did he end up in that movie? Silly, dear boy.

In other movie watching news, around the same time I watched Interview with the Vampire, and I'm rewatching parts of it right now. First of all, I far prefer Brad Pitt to Tom cruise, in general and also specifically in this movie. I think he's prettier, for one thing, and also a more soulful and unique actor. He really is quite talented. For a long time my impression was that he was just the resident Hollywood hottie, with little to no real talent, but I have been pleasantly surprised, first with Fight club and now this. Second of all, this is the most homoerotic movie EVER. Lestat calls claudia "our" (his and Louis's) daughter - basically saying they're a couple. Later, Armand's interactions with Louis are barely veiled as come ons. It's all very exciting, hee. Thirdly, Kirsten Dunst was quite the little actress! She portrays her character's complex journey with surprising ability - from a scared little girl, to a naive little vampiress, to a tortured woman trapped in an eternally prepubescent body. Her relationship with Louis is fascinating, how she calls him "beloved" and even kisses him once, despite their visual age disparity. Yeah, I really liked this movie a lot. :) I meant to make some icons, because there are exactly zero decent ones out there (unless I missed a random post in some icon makers journal, which is likely, but no good ones posted on the icon comm for the Anne Rice universe) but now I just don't have the time, and besides, I really wouldn't use them. So, no vampire icons, I sorry.

Comments

[crystal-lily.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's exactly what I thought about both Gossip and blade II (both I watched soley for the sake of Norman). Gossip is a nice movie, but Norman is simply adrorable there, and Blade is just so damn awful! When they showed Skud was a bad guy, I was like 'great, go ahead and kill off the only reason why I even watched this idiotic movie...'.

And OMG IwtV is one of my favorite movies ever. Have you read the books? Well, if you thought the movie was homoerotic, the books are just SO MUCH MORE. :D

(Plus there are a few random Vampire icons I made in my icon jounrnal... you can look throught the memories if you're interested.)

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Your icon is BEAUTIFUL. At that moment I'm like bouncing in my seat, "Kiss already! Kiss already!" *grins* I think I might just have to read the book then :D Which I was planning on anyway, but happened to get to the movie first.

I didn't realize we shared so many interests! That's awesome :D

[crystal-lily.livejournal.com]

That's how it usually is with me - first I see the movies and only then I start reading the books. :D I only started reading HP after watching the third movie, and I only started on The Vampire Chronicles after the seeing IwtV for the 1000th time. :D But wow, I think it's my favorite book series ever! I've read all ten books twice (except for the last one.. I couldn't even finish it, it's so much different from the rest and I hated the way it was written. Like it doesn't even belong there...). You have to read them, really. :D

And dude, you have good taste. :D Lol.

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Movie -> book is a strange way to go about it if you think about it (it's usually the reverse for me - for example, HP, Hitchhikers, LotR... I loved all those books before the movies appeared) so it'll be interesting to see how that colors my perceptions of the book.

I went to look at your icons and they were lovely as usual :) I wanted to ask you... you have a very, very distinctive coloring style. I mean, I can look at an icon and almost always tell it's yours because of the almost gritty texture, while it's still vivid. I absolutely love it. I was wondering if you still achieve it with something similar to this: http://crystal-lily.livejournal.com/6564.html because that's a pretty old tutorial. Quite helpful in its own right, but I am shamelessly asking for tips :)

[crystal-lily.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know it strange... And the books are always *way* better than the movies, but it's just the way it happens with me sometimes (except for Hitchhiker's Guide... I read the books long before the movie and the movie wasn't even half as good).

Well, my current style is completely random, I keep changing it every other day, but I *used* to have a very distinctive style which I loved so much but eventually had to stop using because it was getting old. :D And yeah, that tutorial pretty much sums it up. All you have to do beside it is add some white streaks for the lighting and use some texture brushes on it. You can also play around with the opacity (if you want the icon a bit darker, you can uppen the opacity for the color burn layer) or play with the colors a bit. But yeah, that's the exact way in which I used to make icons for months. :D

[crystal-lily.livejournal.com]

OOoh and btw the books *really* make you love Lestat. :D He comes off as the bad guy in the movie and the first book, but reading the rest made him one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. :D

[(Anonymous)]

Alas, I have not watched Blade and Gossip, but you've got me with IWAV. The Slash first attracteed me to it, I'm guilty to say :P On the other hand, I thought Cruise was better in it, but I'm all sympathetic for the tortured soul of the movie. He was so obviously in love with Louis that it hurt.

Dunst was incredible. I love the bit where they find the women in her bedroom and she's not even a little bit remorseful, svae for herself.

ICONS. You must make icons! Like, now!

(BTW this is one of those "answer the past months entries via comments" days :P Lucky, lucky you *glomps*)

[the5thmarauder.livejournal.com]

*snigger* That was me :P What a way to start, eh?

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I would call Louis the tortured soul of the movie. Lestat was too... obnoxious sometimes, for my taste. I don't dislike him, just prefer Louis's quiet pain.

I love that part too! Her anger is so powerful and genuine. Whenever she's angry are the best parts - when she's getting gentle and sentimental, sometimes it's a little stilted, but she's so young it's amazing what she does.

[humdrumtown.livejournal.com]

Anne Rice fans sometimes hate it when I say it, but I LOVE the movie Interview with the Vampire. Although I agree with your impression of Brad Pitt, I do think Tom Cruise did great as Lestat. He was foppish, blond, and not afraid to seem homosexual....which is why I hate him so much now. He sues the first person to call him gay nowadays and he's a nutjob as well, lol. I did prefer him to Stuart Townsend from Queen of the Damned (which I hated, as a fan of the books). Townsend looks NOTHING like Lestat. :-(. He wasn't nearly flamboyant enough either.

Kirsten Dunst was quite possibly the most in character and brilliant of the cast, which is astounding considering her age. I loved the movies she was in when she was younger (IwtV, Strike!, Little Women).

I've still not seen Blade II. I did watch the first one (because I'm a sad little comic fan, lol) and while I didn't love it, I did like Deacon Frost. I'm such a fangirl for Stephen Dorf. :-P

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

I think my opinion of Lestat may have been colored by who Tom cruise is now, definitely. He's such a jackass, I just couldn't get fully into the character, which sucks -_- Queen of the Damned I actually saw a while ago, and I didn't even realize it was from Anne Rice's books, so I judged it independently - overall I thought it was a bit corny, but I liked the young girl a lot, and Lestat was *hot*. But I agree that if the IwtV Lestat is more in character, that the QotD Lestat was completely off.

I think that Kirsten really does give the most inspired performance. It's amazing!

I do not recommend Blade II, at all :P The only mildly redeeming factor is Norman, but even he won't make me watch any part of it ever again.

[humdrumtown.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can completely see how his current jackassery can affect your viewing of the movie :-(. I tried watching Minority Report and it....just didn't go well. :-P

Stuart Townsend was HOT in QotD, but...yeah I could get passed that fact that Marius DIDN'T make Lestat, and where the hell was the love between Armand and Daniel (chapter four of the book QotD, lol - I'm such a nutjob)???

Eww, okie dokie, I won't be watching Blade II anytime soon.