Evolution of the Vampire

BY ZEP

So with all the Twilight madness sweeping the nation, I thought I'd do a little history lesson to show just how we arrived at the current incarnation of vampire in film.

1921: Nosferatu

One of the earliest vampire films, this was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, the novel by Bram Stoker. Because Friedrich Murnau made this film illegaly, he changed certain details and names to try and avoid copyright infingement. ("Vampire" became "Nosferatu"). Count Orlok, this movie's version of Dracula, was known for his bony fingers, pale skin, and dark eyes. Contrary to most versions of vampires, he did not suck blood, but rather inflicted plagues and diseases among other things.


1931: Dracula

The official adaptation of Stoker's novel saw Bela Lugosi play the role of the fiendish vampire for the first time. Unlike Nosferatu, Lugosi played the character as a suave but dangerous man. This version of the character became the stereotype for all versions of vampires, with slicked hair, pale skin, fangs, and a cape.




1987: The Lost Boys

Throughout the years there were a slew of vampire films. There were remakes of Dracula (one of the more notable ones starring Christopher Lee), a remake of Nosferatu, comedic spinoffs, and even television series, with Dark Shadows being one of the longer-running ones. However, it wasn't until 1987, when Joel Schumacher (who hadn't yet ruined the Batman series) directed The Lost Boys. Kiefer Sutherland completely reinvented the look of the vampire in the role of David, with punk-rock clothing and a platinum blond crew-cut. The film also inspired a "transformative" look, with the vampires normally resembling humans before changing into monsters with extended fangs and red eyes.

1997: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This show gave vampires a whole new area of exposure. Based on the movie of the same name, Buffy was a long-running TV show that focused on Buffy Summers, a young girl chosen to combat vampires, demons and otherwordly creatures. While Buffy's adventures didn't always have her fighting vampires, she was involved with them in some way or another. The show even had her romantically involved or pseudo-involved with a vampire, the first being Angel, the second being Spike. Buffy ran for a total of seven seasons and was wildly popular, especially since the 90's was considered more of a "romantic age" for vampires.

1998: Blade

Based on the comic books character of the same name, The Blade trilogy brought the action and violence back into the vampire genre. Played by Wesley Snipes, Blade, a vampire hunter, was one hell of a badass and brought down vampires in various bloody ways. Oh, and the vampires had a little bit of action too.

2007: 30 days of Night

Following the trend of Blade, 30 Days of Night was also based on a graphic novel, and saw an even bloodier take on vamps. Giving them sharklike teeth, black eyes, and one hell of a lust for blood.

2008: Twilight

Here we are! Based on Stephanie Meyer's wildly (and i mean WILDLY) popular novel, Twilight follows the story of Bella, a girl who moves to a new town and meets the mysterious Edward Cullen. Soon, Bella discovers the pretty obvious truth about Edward....he's actually Robert Pattison! Whoops, I meant, he's actually a vampire!!!! The two soon fall in love, leading to an epic romance and to three sequels that will soon be in the works. The book seems to have brought a resurgence to the "romantic" vampire era that was seen in the 90's.


There you have it! Though there have been many other films in between, those are the major ones. Now I'm off to go drink some blood...I mean...water....

Canadian Un-Enthusiasm

I don't understand Canada sometimes. I'm pretty proud to be Canadian, we've got some good things going for us, but there are some things about this great north country that annoy me. Why don't we give a shit about sports?

I have somehow got myself caught up in this year's March Madness tournament more than I have been in any other year. I picked my bracket, extremely poorly might I add, but I am still excited about the intensity and heart that goes into this game. 

In Canada we just don't care. I've never in my life been to a sports event at my university and I bet if I ever do I'll be one of few sprinkled in the bleachers. Canada could never have a tournament like this because we just don't care for some reason. Of course if you hate on the Toronto Raptors, or god forbid the Maple Leafs, Senators or Canadiens you could endure bodily harm. 

I have no answer to this age old question, I just wish that the same enthusiasm for high school or college sports in the United States could be shared amongst this country. 

I'm always up for an excuse to drink.

Gotta catch 'em all

BY ZEP

"Congratulations, Ratatta was caught!"

These words raced across the screen of my brother's decrepit GameBoy Colour while (triumphant?) computerized music blared from the tiny speaker. I had recently been through my room, filtering out all the junk I didn't need, and found the gaming fix of my childhood: Pokemon (Blue version of course, Red is for suckers). I wasn't able to resist the nostalgia, so I started playing again. It's been two weeks since then.

I'm still playing.

For somewhat reason, I get a guilty pleasure from playing old games or listening to old music. The other day, I pulled out Enema of the State by Blink-182 and listened to it a good four times through. And, despite not having heard the album for a good three years, I remembered every lyrical whine by Tom Delonge.

I thought that after three years I would've grown out of their music, or at least grown out of Pokemon, but something keeps dragging me back. The weirdness wore off after a while, but the first feeling I got was that of uncertainty. Should I really be playing this? Aren't I a bit old (20) for this?

The answer is no, of course. For some reason, we are conditioned into "outgrowing" things that we may have a fondness for. About five months ago, I saw a guy on the bus, playing Pokemon. He looked about 30 at least, and not bothered in the slightest that he was playing Pokemon (I was of course, watching over his shoulder...cause I'm a creep like that). I kinda admired that, in the sense that, yeah, Pokemon is a kids game, but who cares? I'm gonna play it anyway!

Maybe the reason we try to "outgrow" things is because we're afraid other people will ridicule us if we don't. "Why are you playing Pokemon? That game is, like, for five-year-olds." It makes us feel small, childish, and we want to avoid the inherent embarassment. But in reality, there's really nothing to be embarassed about! It's a video game! Playing Pokemon is no more childish than playing Mario Bros., or Call of Duty, or TETRIS...and Tetris is awesome.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and catch a Pikachu.

15 Floors Up

As I sit here with the screen door open I can smell the day wafting through.

The birds are chirping, I can hear the hum of the cars and it feels as if I'm not sitting in the middle of this bustling city. There's an allusion that all is calm as the breeze floats in and the sun pours through. Reality will hit me as soon as my feet hit the streets. There will people rushing, always rushing, I include my self in this. Today my excuse will be not to waste a minute of the gorgeous day. 

I begin to write the rest of this on my balcony, the sun is radiating down and I sit atop the world looking around. The world is alive, it feels alive today.

I don't want today to be ruined by anything, I'm going to walk out there with my moccasins, my sunglasses and breathe in every second of this day.

I will leave you with my happy day song.

Enjoy!

Erin McCarley - Pony 

Note: No other entry will be quite like this. This is a rare opportunity of optimism!

Money Troubles

BY: ZEP

Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today.

But if you ask for a rise, its no surprise that they're giving none away.

--Pink Floyd

I have no paper in my pockets, nor in my bank account for that matter, and now I can't pick my courses. We live in a world that thrives on riches, and since I can't afford shit, I've resorted to petty theft.

Current Theft/Scamming list:

Toronto Star - almost every morning from the stupidly vacant kiosk in Dundas Station

Go Transit - On the train I hardly ever pay, though this has changed of late after they checked me, and I've become a paranoid little fucker.

TTC - Whenever the collector leaves the booth, I don't pay...even when the collector is there sometimes, I don't pay.

Tim Hortons Roll-up Coffee Cups - again, just waiting for people to take them. I won a free donut last time.

According to the humorous parents of a friend, I "have a disease."

It's not like I plan to let this get worse.

It's not like I'm going to rob a bank to pay off my almost $7,000 of debt.

Nope, instead I'll be working long, strenuous, blistering hot 12 hour days poking holes in people's lawns.

And sealing their driveways.

At least the pay is good.

FML. I need another coffee cup.

A Union Station Conversation

BY ZEP

6:16 p.m.

I stood in the giant hallway acting as a tunnel between Union Station and the Air Canada Centre. The last GO train had departed 5 minutes ago, and I was now stuck waiting another 45 minutes for the next one. I paced across the concrete impatiently, trying to find something to occupy my time. Just as I was about to begin cursing GO transit for their inconsistent train times, a conversation caught my attention.

"I can't believe these people," I heard a woman say. "This is ridiculous!"

I turned to see two women who were conversing in fairly loud tones. 'Perfect,' Ithought to myself, "maybe there are others who are just as frustrated at GO as I am.' I slunk closer, near enough to hear their conversation audibly.

"Put 'em all on a boat," said the second woman. "Just ship 'em all outta here.

"Well, that's a bit extreme, I thought. I understand your frustration, lady, but there's no reason to ship the poor guys out of the country! It soon became apparent, however, that they weren't talking about GO at all, but of that Tamil protest that occurred in Toronto.

"Ridiculous! I'm trying to get from point A to point B, and here they are crowding the goddamn sidewalks with their signs and their flags and all of that nonsense," said the first woman." I get that they want to protest, but take it to your own country!"

"No, I agree," said the second woman. "It's not our problem, I don't want to deal with that on my way to --"

"It's nuts!" interrupted the first woman. "They come out here, crowd all the streets and subways up, and they don't even speak english, so you can't tell them to move!"

"Yeah! There's no communication at all"

"Exactly, and here I am trying to get through the turnstile, and a woman comes behind me with her stroller, she doesn't use any of the sense she was given and she gets in with me, and she speaks some language no one here understands, so i get stuck in there with her!"

"And they brought all their kids with 'em too! How stupid is that? The kids were born here and they're holding signs saying 'Stop killing my country'. What the hell is that? That's not their country! They were born here!"

The second lady breathes a sigh after saying this, and gives the GO information sign a glance. Their train has apparently arrived, and they begin shouldering their purses and buttoning their coats. The first lady, however, is not done speaking her mind.

"Well, it wasn't like this when I was growing up. Now everyone comes here and dumps all of their problems on me. I hate to say this, but Canada has made me a racist."

VickyCristina Musings

BY ZEP

It's like being a kid in the world's biggest goddamn candy store...you can never just have one kind. You'll eventually get tired of the gummy worms and move on to the licorice. Sure you can have a favorite, and chew on it for months, but you'll always want to try something new,to embrace something you haven't had before.

Yet, as we grow older, we reject this ideal in coupling.

Sure, everyone wants to experiment, meet new people, try new things, but the ultimate goal is "finding the right person."

One person.

A singular individual that we feel we have to spend our life with. It's this complex psychological thing that tells us that there's someone out there who is going to make you happy for the rest of your life.

What is it?

We all have our bullshit reasons. Security. Comfort. The "Right" Feeling.

Is it possible to be truly happy with just the one? We have these impulses in one ear, and then we have society chirping in the other, telling us what we should do, must do.

One thing's for sure, when I was the kid in that candy store, I made sure I grabbed one of everything.