User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
You begin.
It seems like it might be fun.
A little bit trashy, but fun.
Not so well written.
Disappointing.
Already, you know it won't be up to much.
You keep reading.
Why this way?
You read, wondering why.
It seems pointless.
You are bored, your mind wanders.
You keep reading.
You cannot stop.
It is dark.
So dark.
The atmosphere.
Dark. Macabre. Gothic. Haunting.
Erotic.
You are trapped.
Trapped in someone's twisted fantasy.
Kinky.
Until pain and suffering and anguish and loneliness are beautiful.
Alluring.
Seductive.
But you know that they are not, and no book will make it so.
You keep reading.
You are bored. You put the book down.
But you have to finish it.
You keep reading.
You read.
Waiting for gratification.
Waiting for something to happen.
Waiting.
You cannot look away.
You keep reading.
It is a beautiful day outside.
You keep reading.
So dark.
So sensual.
So strange.
The plot shifts.
A small climax.
You groan.
Sigh.
Still a hundred and fifty pages left.
You keep reading.
Repelled.
Attracted.
You shift positions.
You ache for more.
You keep reading.
...
Blam! Kazam! Ka-POW!
Climax!
Death! Destruction! Fire!
Alone.
Downwards spiral.
Depression.
Dark.
So dark.
Come on, suicide.There is no suicide.
Wandering.
Searching.
Existential angst.
Oh.
That was all.
What a stupid ending.
Rating: really liked it
If you would kindly look at my shelves, you might notice that I've read a good chunk of vampire novels written in the past two decades. It seemed strange to me, though, that I still hadn't read one of the more important ones.
Now, I don't think it's because this book is particularly brilliant or a masterpiece. Yet it does represent an important paradigm shift in the representation of vampires in modern literature. Whilst Vampires are still unaccountably evil in this novel, they are also relatable, capable of sparking our empathy and intimate to us on a level not really seen previously to this novel.
Published in 1976, it is the story of the world's most boring vampire, Louis. Okay, I take that back, ALMOST the world's most boring vampire...
Excellent, now that our obligatory Twilight reference is out of the way, we can get on with the review!We've come a long way from the original publication of Interview With a Vampire. Previous to this novel, a story about Vampires was generally a horror novel and nobody expected Vampires to turn out to be the good guys. Now they are almost guaranteed to be, at the most, misunderstood.
Like our current generation of teenagers...
As far as I can see in my research, this seems to be the place where Vampire Empathizing began or at least was made popular. I wanted to know if The Lost Boys, Blade, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Anita Blake, Vampire Diaries, Twilight et al owe their existence to Interview With A Vampire and if they've done it justice.
Well, I've been searching for a Vampire novel or movie that is as much of a pop culture icon, that displays tenets of Vampire Empathizing and which predates Interview With a Vampire but so far my search hasn't revealed much.
As for how this novels stands up to the wealth of vampire media that followed it? Well, in some aspects I think it is a vast improvement. The idea of Vampires being the dark seducer isn't new and using them to represent repressed sexuality has become stock standard.
However this book deals with those two themes in a very different way. The dark seducer, Lestat, and the repressed sexual being, Claudia, both destroy Louis in vastly different ways and it's a nice, depressing change from the usual state of affairs.
But still, on its own, it's not a fantastic book. It may have popularized Vampire Empathizing, but it's probably also responsible for a lot of terrible gothic poetry.
And in case you're wondering if the movie is better than the book? In this instance, yes. Though I can't say why...
I'm not sure what the movie has that the book doesn't...
Or what makes the movie more intriguing...
But it sure is SOMETHING!
Rating: really liked it
”People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil. I don’t know why. No, I do indeed know why. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.” It’s been ages I first saw the movie but I still remember how much I enjoyed it. How sorry I felt for Louis when he told his story and how much I loved Lestat for being the evil manipulator that he is. *lol* By now I even have
“Interview with the Vampire” on DVD and every once in a while I re-watch it and glory in the amazingness of this film! They did a great job with the film adaption, that’s for sure, but to be entirely honest Anne Rice did an even greater job writing the book. XD
”I’d like to meet the devil some night,” he said once with a malignant smile. “I’d chase him from here to the wilds of the Pacific. I am the devil.”I don’t know why it took me so many years to read this, especially because I already read “Queen of the Damned” and “The Vampire Armand” and loved them both, but sometimes it just takes a little longer until the inevitable happens and as it seems to read “Interview with the Vampire” was one of those special cases. ;-) So what can I say about this book that hasn’t been said already?
I loved Louis! He’ll always have a special place in my heart because he’s the embodiment of the fight of good against evil. No matter which vampire you encounter throughout the course of this book, they all lost their humanity, their compassion for their victims and their sense of justice.
”I saw you in the theatre, your suffering, your sympathy with that girl. I saw your sympathy for Denis when I offered him to you; you die when you kill, as if you feel that you deserve to die, and you stint on nothing. But why, with this passion and this sense of justice, do you wish to call yourself the child of Satan!”Louis? Nope, never! He’d been turned into a vampire decades and centuries ago, but he still managed to preserve his humanity and to some degree even his innocence. He has to drink blood in order to stay alive but he certainly doesn’t enjoy it. In fact he condemns himself for being too weak to go without it, he despises the weakness of his nature and he most definitely loathes the creature that lives within him. In short: I’m pretty certain he’s the worst vampire ever. *lol*
”He loves you. He loves you. He would have you, and he would not have me stand in the way.”And because of this he attacks Claudia and makes her a vampire in the end (Well, actually Lestat turns her but those are just semantics. ;-P) Maybe it was her innocence that drew him, maybe it was her young blood, her strong will to survive but whatever it was, it caused him to drink from a child and Lestat in his endless cruelty and cunning persuaded him to kill her only to take it from there and to make her a vampire instead.
”Monsters! To give me immortality in this hopeless guise, this helpless form!”Oh, how I felt with Claudia! Just imagine being imprisoned in a body that is so young and frail! I mean in the book she’s only five(!!!) when she’s turned and her mind grows but her body never changes. A 65 year old woman, living an eternal life in the body of a five year old!? How cruel, how horrible this existence must have been. Alone to feel sexual desire but never to act on it, to be trapped in a body that isn’t made for anything of it. Poor Claudia! >_< It’s no surprise she despised them both for it. Lestat she hated with a passion, but Louis? How could she hate him? She was torn because she loved him but also detested him for what he had done. For how he treated her: As a child even though she was already a grown up woman.
”For you see,” I said to her in that same calm voice, “what died tonight in this room was not that woman. It will take her many nights to die, perhaps years. What has died in this room tonight is the last vestige in me of what was human.”And so the story unfolds and the repercussions their actions entail eventually catch up on them. *sighs* By the end of the book I actually felt sorry for all of them. Not only Louis and Claudia but also Lestat and Armand. It made me sad to see what happened to them and I’m really sorry that Armand and Louis never got a chance to work out.
”I want you. I want you more than anything in the world.”They had such a great chemistry, but the price to be together was just too high. To destroy the one thing Louis loved the most sort of destroyed Louis as well. So basically everything Armand loved about him was snuffed out the moment he set things into motion. The irony isn’t lost on me. >_<
Conclusion:I really enjoyed reading
“Interview with the Vampire”! Sometimes it felt like watching the movie and at other times I appreciated the additional info that always seems to get lost in film adaptions, no matter how decent they are. *lol* Some things you can only glean when you read the book and for me this alone was enough reason to give it a try. XD
P.S: I think I’ll have another movie date with Louis, Lestat and Armand tonight. ;-P
_______________________
Did anyone say vampires are out?
Nope, they are definitely not, because this little gem existed way before “Twilight” was even a thought. ;-P
I wanted to read this ever since my young and innocent me watched
“Interview with the Vampire” on TV. (That rhyme wasn’t intended I swear. *lol*)
Well, anyway! I always loved the movie! A sexy and broody Brad Pitt, a wicked and cunning Tom Cruise, what’s not to love? XD Plus they are so beautiful that it hurts. <3
*coughs* Okay, back on track:
I saw this at the library,
I snatched it from the shelf,
I giggled gleefully (and rather maliciously)
and now I’m going to read it!
End of the story! Let’s hope it’s a good one! *fingers crossed* XD
Rating: really liked it
Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1), Anne RiceThis is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life.
Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life.
His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside.
Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child.
Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even "settle down" for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia's struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind.
Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are. Louis and Claudia travel Europe, eventually coming to Paris and the ragingly successful Theatre des Vampires--a theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires.
Here they meet the magnetic and ethereal Armand, who brings them into a whole society of vampires.
But Louis and Claudia find that finding others like themselves provides no easy answers and in fact presents dangers they scarcely imagined.
Originally begun as a short story, the book took off as Anne wrote it, spinning the tragic and triumphant life experiences of a soul.
As well as the struggles of its characters, Interview captures the political and social changes of two continents.
The novel also introduces Lestat, Anne's most enduring character, a heady mixture of attraction and revulsion.
The book, full of lush description, centers on the themes of immortality, change, loss, sexuality, and power.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سوم ماه سپتامبر سال2010میلادی
عنوان: مصاحبه با خونآشام؛ نویسنده: آن رایس؛ مترجم: مجید میربزرگی؛ تهران مدیران امروز، سال1387؛ در407ص؛ شابک978600907237؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م
عنوان: مصاحبه با خونآشام؛ نویسنده: آن رایس؛ مترجم: مجید میربزرگی؛ تهران آبانگان ایرانیان، سال1399؛ در407ص؛ شابک9786226392624؛
عنوان: مصاحبه با خون آشام؛ نویسنده آن رایس؛ مترجم صدف علینیا؛ تهران، متخصصان، سال1399؛ در465ص؛ شابک9786227433210؛
این داستان «لوئیس» است، به گفته ی خودش، سفر وی، از زندگی میرا، به زندگی جاودانه است؛ «لوئیس» بازگو میکند که چگونه وی، به دست «لستات» شیطان صفت، تبدیل به یک «خون آشام» میشود، و اینکه چگونه «لستات» او را، ناخواسته، خون آشام کرده است؛ داستان «لوئیس» در خیابانهای «نیواورلئان» جاری میشود، و داستان، لحظه های گرانمایه ای، در پنهان خویش دارد؛ «لوئیس» از کودک خردسال گمشده، با نام «کلودیا» سخن میگوید، که او دلش میخواست کودک صدمه نبیند، بلکه او را با آخرین نفسهای انسانی خویش، که هنوز در درونش بود، میخواست تسکین دهد
با اینحال، او «کلودیا» را، یک خون آشام میکند، شور و اشتیاق، و شعور زنانه ی کودکی کوچک، او را به دام میاندازد؛ «لوئیس» و «کلودیا»، یک اتحاد به ظاهر ناگسستنی را شکل میدهند؛ «لوئیس»، مبارزات «کلودیا»، برای درک خویشتن خویش، و نفرتیکه هر دو، نسبت به « لستات» دارند را، به یاد میآورد، و اینکه چگونه «لستات» آنها را، به نیمی از جهان میفرستد، تا دیگرانی را از نوع خود، جستجو کنند و بیابند؛ «لوئیس» و «کلودیا» ناامید اند، تا جایی را که به آن تعلق دارند، پیدا کنند، و دیگرانی را، که آنها را درک میکنند، و کسی را که میداند، آنها چیستند و چرا هستند، بیابند؛ «لوئیس» و «کلودیا» به اروپا سفر میکنند، و سرانجام به «پاریس» میآیند، در تئاتر خون آشامهای پیروز، بازیگران تئاتر خون آشامها، وانمود میکنند، که فانی و خون آشام هستند؛ در اینجا با «آرماند» دیدار میکنند، و او آنها را به جامعه ی خون آشامها میآورد، اما «لوئیس» و «کلودیا» دریافته اند، که پیدا کردن دیگرانی همانند خودشان، هیچ پاسخی ندارد؛
این داستان که نخست به عنوان یک داستان کوتاه آغاز شده بود، همزمان با نگارش آن، خاموش شد، و چرخش تجربه های غم انگیز، و پیروزمندانه ی زندگی، یک روح را، به عنوان یک کتاب رقم زد؛ کتاب سرشار از مضامین جاودانگی، تغییر، از دست دادن تمایلات جنسی، و قدرت را، در خود نهفته دارد؛
نقل از متن برگران سرکار خانم «صدف علی نیا»: (خون آشام در حالیکه پشتش به پنجره بود، داشت نگاهش میکرد؛ پسر دیگر نمیتوانست از حالت صورت او چیزی را تشخیص دهد و چیزی در رابطه با آن هیکل آرام و بیحرکت وجود داشت که حواس او را پرت کرد؛ دهانش را باز کرد تا چیزی بگوید، اما پشیمان شد و هنگامی که خون آشام به سمت میز حرکت کرد، و دستش را به سمت ریسمان بالای سرشان برد، آهی از سر آسودگی کشید؛ ناگهان اتاق در نوری زردرنگ و شدید غرق شد، و پسر همانطور که به خون آشام خیره شده بود، نتوانست جلوی نفس نفس زدنش را بگیرد
انگشتانش را روی میز به سمت عقب کشید تا لبهی آن را بگیرد؛ او زمزمه کرد: «یا خدا!» و بعد در حالیکه از شدت شوکه شدن قادر نبود حرف بزند، به خون آشام خیره شد؛ پوست خون آشام کاملاً سفید و صاف بود، طوری که انگار او را از استخوان سفید تراشیده باشند، و صورتش مثل مجسمه ی بیجان به نظر میآمد، به جز دو چشم سبز و درخشان، که همچون شعلههایی در یک جمجمه با حالتی حاکی از سرگرمی به پسر نگاه میکردند؛ اما بعد خون آشام لبخندی تقریباً مشتاقانه زد، و مادهی سفید و صاف صورتش، با حالتی بسیار منعطف اما با حداقل خطوط، همچون شخصیتهای کارتونی برای مصاحبه با خون آشام حرکت کرد
او به نرمی پرسید: «می بینی؟» پسر لرزید و دستش را بالا برد، طوری که انگار میخواست از خودش در برابر نوری قوی محافظت کند؛ چشمانش به آرامی روی کت سیاهی که با ظرافت دوخته شده بود، و دو بار فقط نگاهی سریع به آن انداخته بود، چینهای بلند شنل، کروات مشکی ابریشمی که روی گلو گره خورده بود، و بخش کوچکی از یقه ی سفید رنگ که به سفیدی پوست خون آشام بود، حرکت کرد؛ او به موهای پرپشت و سیاه خون آشام خیره شد، بخشهای مواجی که پشت لبه های گوش قرار داشتند، و بخشهای فرفری ای که قدشان تا لبه ی یقه ی سفیدش میرسید
خون آشام پرسید: «هنوزم میخوای مصاحبه کنی؟» دهان پسر قبل از اینکه صدایی از آن خارج شود، باز شده بود؛ او داشت سرش را به نشانه ی موافقت تکان میداد؛ سپس گفت: «بله.» خون آشام به آرامی مقابل او نشست و در حالیکه به سمت جلو خم میشد، با ملایمت و به آهستگی گفت: «نترس؛ فقط نوارو راه بنداز» و بعد روی میز لم داد؛ پسر در حالیکه قطرات عرق از اطراف صورتش جاری بود، عقب رفت؛ خون آشام دستش را روی شانه ی پسر گذاشت و گفت: «باور کن بهت صدمه نمیزنم؛ من این فرصت و میخوام؛ بیشتر از اونی که الان بفهمی، واسم مهمه؛ ازت میخوام شروع کنی.» بعد دستش را برداشت و با متانت نشست و منتظر ماند؛ یک لحظه زمان برد تا پسر پیشانی و لبهایش را با دستمال پاک کند، با لکنت بگوید که میکروفن داخل دستگاه است، دکمه را فشار دهد و بگوید که دستگاه روشن است)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 18/01/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 07/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Rating: really liked it
I have to say I liked the movie better. I mean eye candy!
I have wanted to read this series forever and since one of my groups is doing a challenge for a badge I thought now would be perfect. BUT, if they don't get better I'm not going to waste my time.
Too many books to waste time any more 😊
Happy Reading!
Mel ❤️
Rating: really liked it
I just saw that Anne died today. I am devastated. She was my favourite author for 20+ years. I conversed with her several times. There were periods in my life when her books were the only thing I had to live for. They kept me going. And it all started with Interview with the Vampire back in 1993.
By the time of her last novel Blood Communion in 2018, I had outgrown her writing style, which saddened me. I said I would never read any more books she published because I wanted to only remember the feeling of when I loved reading them.
Now she will not write another.
Dear Anne, thank you for all you gave to the world with your writing and your beautiful soul. Thank you for all you gave to me.
Rating: really liked it
Damn you straight to hell, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, for what you made me do. You made me read a goddamn vampire book. Not only that, you made me read a vampire book with a cover made entirely of shiny ostentatious material that shouted to everyone in the library as I checked this out, "Look everyone! Madeline is reading a book about vampires! SHINY SHINY SHINY LOOK AT ME! I CONTAIN SEXY BROODING VAMPIRES AND I AM SO EFFING SHINY."
(I cannot stress how shiny-gold this cover is. Like, the ancient Egyptians would look at this cover and say, "That's a bit much." It was awful.)
Okay, so the book itself isn't
bad, really - hence my rating of two stars, which Goodreads classifies as "it was ok." That's what the book is: just okay. Maybe I would have been more thrilled by the story if I hadn't seen the movie - even though there's stuff in the book that didn't make it into the movie, none of it is particularly thrilling. At least the movie made the wise decision to keep the blatant, in-your-face-but-unacknowledged homoeroticism (seriously, this book is, and I mean this in the most literal way possible, the gayest thing I've ever read) but changed the fact that a) Claudia is only five years old in the book and b) she and Louis do everything except actually have sex with each other. They're always kissing and caressing each other and Louis is calling her his lover and his paramour and it is
so fucking creepy.
But, lest we forget, vampire books are
supposed to be creepy. In these post-
Twilight days, it's easy to forget that there was once a time where vampires fucked and killed and were a general amoral all-around good time, and if one of them chose to be all broody and sad about being a vampire he was the weird one that no one else wanted to hang out with. God, I miss those days - to the point where I considered giving this an extra star, just because I was so grateful to read a story about vampires who do actual vampire stuff and it's sexy and scary instead of boring and schmoopy.
Also good was how in-depth Rice goes into the psychology of vampires, and I loved her explanation for why they haven't overrun the planet: most vampires are miserable, and end up killing themselves. Explains Armand, who I will continue to picture as Antonio Banderas and you can't stop me:
"How many vampires do you think have the stamina for immortality? They have the most dismal notions of immortality to begin with. For in becoming immortal they want all the forms of their life to be fixed as they are and incorruptible...When, in fact, all things change except the vampire himself; everything except the vampire is subject to constant corruption and distortion. Soon, with an inflexible mind, and often even with the most flexible mind, this immortality becomes a penitential sentence in a madhouse of figures and forms that are hopelessly unintelligible and without value. One evening a vampire rises and realizes what he has feared perhaps for decades, that he simply wants no more of life at any cost."
That part was pretty cool. But as for the rest, I'll just watch the movie, thanks. Or not, because if we're going to be honest I don't even like the movie that much. It's probably time to admit to myself that I have no interest in reading about/watching any vampires not created by Joss Whedon. Sorry, Ms. Rice, but if my vampires must be broody, I at least want them to be funny and charming too. (or Alexander Skarsgard, because god damn)
Rating: really liked it
I thoroughly enjoyed this from beginning to end. This was pure gothic-vampire horror but presented in a way the characters all had human emotions and interpersonal problems. I really liked the descriptive imagery used throughout the entire story: from dark 1700s Louisiana to shadowy Old Country Europe. The tone contained all the elements of a good vampire/horror story: dark and gothic. These were real vampires that killed people; whether to feed or the thrill of the hunt.
I liked the idea that Louis was literally giving an interview the entire time to a reporter only named 'the boy'. Louis was a well-crafted character who was deep and reflective. He clashed with Lestat, who was the narcissistic and ruthless vampire who killed mercilessly. Then there was the child Claudia who transformed into an adult. All three had interesting dynamic that reflected real human emotions: anger, contempt, etc. Eventually the story caught up to the present and a lot happened in between (I don't want to spoil it).
Overall I really liked this. The story was horror and gothic at its finest. I like the movie and think they are both good in their own way. I would recommend this to anyone who liked gothic horror or vampire fiction. Thanks!
Rating: really liked it
I really enjoyed this book. Read it a while ago. Thought the film was very good. Not sure whether it was as good as the book or not. It is very similar to The Picture Of Dorian Grey. In both books the main character had a wealth of knowledge and experience. They rub shoulders with the more, privileged people.
Is vampirism real? I once watched a documentary video; fake news? And in the
film a lab scientist had a series of clear tanks containing mice. Some pregnant mice, some new born mice and another containing an old mouse. The hairs on its chin were grey so I guess he was getting old. I think mice only live for about two years so this one was probably at least two summers old. Anyhow I digress, this gets nasty now. The video goes into a time lapse. The lab assistant was taking baby mice from the mother and feeding them to the old mouse. The video is filmed over a couple of weeks and condensed to a few minutes on the time lapse. Now, the old mouse is getting younger! Wtf! The old mouse, eating the pure clean flesh of new born mice, gets younger. His greying chin hair is now a lovely golden brown and he is flitting about his environment like a teenager. I don't know whether this video is real or fake. Was the mouse swapped with a younger one? Who knows? If it is fake it is quite...elaborate. So I ask again, is vampirism real?
If it is real then the Race of the Vampire would be far older than humanity. That means they would Predate humanity. So explains why Vampires predate, as in hunt, feed off, suck the blood of humans. So does Predate mean what is says, before? Or, hunt, stalk, eat? Or are the two meanings the same? Was the Tiger here before the deer? Was the wolf here before the sheep? As humans, with our intellect, we as a race don't really have a predator these days. We create things to protect us. So are we the top of the food chain? Do we, as in all nature, have a predator? For every right there is a left and every up there is a down. Are we the most intelligent beings on this planet? Are there many races? Do they hide in the shadows? What is folklore compared to mainstream? Why is Romania called Rome Mania? Legend of Dracuul. Vlad the Impaler. A madman! Was ancient Romania, Visigoths? Gothic? Named so because it became a Roman outpost? Rome occupied Egypt. Romany, curses and casting spells. The mystics of Egypt did too. I am forever playing Devils Advocate, too many questions and not enough answers.
Let's take the Alfa Romeo car manufacturer. I recently learned it is owned by the Vatican. Maybe. Who knows? We all know that the Vatican is a state within a state. Like the city of London, where all the oligarchy live. Or the District Of Colombia. So, the Vatican probably owns the Alfa Romeo car company, secretly it would appear.
The esoteric world communicate via logos. Sigils, symbols, icons etc. A picture spells a thousand words...only to those who can decipher them. Words are only for the masses. They are swords.
Now let's look at the Alfa Romeo badge. I am not going to copy and paste one in for fear of copy right strike. One will have to look for themselves however, I can describe it. Here goes:
A circle within a circle. The outer circle, enveloping around, spells the words Alfa Romeo. To the left of the inner circle is the Red Cross of St. George. To the right is a dragon. On the dragon's head is a Crown. A forked tongue protruding from the dragons mouth. How absurd.
Let's break this down.
A circle within a circle. A wheel within a wheel. Hidden. Esoteric. Occultic.
The outer circle contains the word "Alfa" top, supreme, dominance. Also the word Rome. It envelopes the inner circle. So Rome is top dog.
To left of the inner circle is the St. George Flag. A red cross. England. Did St. George not slay the dragon?
To the right of the flag is a Dragon.
On top of its head is a Crown. Royalty.
What appears to be a forked tongue protruding from its maw. If one turns the logo 180 degrees one can clearly see it is not a tongue at all...it is a human! So the Dragon has a Crown on its head and a human hanging out of its mouth. How absurd. It's only a company logo right?
So according to this badge. Rome is top dog and there would be no Royalty if not for Holy Roman Empire. The Royals are actually dragons. Lol! And they eat humans, really? David Icke must be cringing. Lol! It is so absurd, it is crazy.
What is true is that some time ago Prince Charles visited Romania and whilst walking around some Gothic temples with the Romanian leader he turned and said. With a chuckle, "You do realise ofcourse that I am a direct descendant of Vlad The Impaler". Or words to that effect. I remember watching it on a mainstream news channel. Is Prince Charles the Prince Of Wales? I think he is. Does the Welsh flag have a Red Dragon on it? I believe it does. Is Prince Charles a direct descendant of Vlad The Impaler? He thinks he is. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Interesting to know that Windsor is not the real name of the British Royals. Romania. Rome. Egypt. Britain. Celtic. Druids. Mysticism. The Vatican. Royal Bloodlines. The elites believe it.
Incidentally the Visigoths had a distinctive red shield and a Criss Sword. I read some where that the name Rothschild means Red Shield.
Coincidence? I hope I am not hung drawn and quartered. :-)
I used to watch Penny Dreadful on TV and really thought it was a great show. Penny Dreadfuls were small comic book magazines from the Victorian era. Basically like fantasy and folklore. In the TV show the main plot was vampirism. In the show the protagonists find an Alpha Vampire, an original. The creature has an autopsy. The skin is scaly and covered in hieroglyphs. Egyptian hieroglyphs. Its fangs are akin to a serpent. Hmm! I thought it was a very interesting concept. Dorian Grey also featured heavily in the show, as did Spring-Heeled Jack. The show was subsequently scrapped. I wonder why? I wonder a lot. When an alpha bites it infects. A made vampire in folklore is actually infected, not born a vampire, so when it rises from the dead it could almost be considered a Zombie. It is rumoured that archeologists have unearthed many plague pits across Europe and UK and in those mass graves the corpses were beheaded and had punctures to the chest area. I once read an article about this very subject. The piece outlined that indeed during the middle ages and before this was quite frequently practiced. Was it merely superstition? I certainty never learned this at school, it was not in the curriculum. I will research this subject more.🐯👍
Halloween, it is near
Fun, dressing up, people are queer
Celebrating and partying, reverie in darkness, entice
Hollywood, sins, orgies and sacrifice
Moloch, possession, and black eyes, such folly
Misery, pain, pleasure, and melancholy
Perversion, casting couch, a tug of the hair
Demons, persuasive, cold crispy air
Magicians, black mirrors, visions projected
Child actors, extortion, black mail, not protected
A cabal, a circle, a ring, a brotherhood
Preying on youth, in every neighbourhood
Monsters, bogey men, moonlight, and tears
Vampirism, blood thirst, thousands of years
Druidism, skull and bones, esoteric teaching
Technology, 5G, A net, A web, ever reaching
By Leo💓👍🐯
#leo'sesotericprose
#Adrenochrome
Rating: really liked it
Since I've watched the movie based on this book several years ago (starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt), I decided to end October by reading one of the most chilling vampire tales ever written (sorry, Bram!)
I enjoyed:
1. the extremely descriptive scenes throughout the story, a few of them giving me the shivers;
2. the writing style of using an interview-format; and,
3. the intrinsic character development of Lestat, Claudia, and most importantly, Louis. Although eyebrow-raising at times, I really got the sense of Louis's struggles with his sense of evil, his immortality, and essentially, his loss of humanity, showing me that he has a conscience!
What niggled at me:
1. at times, Louis's philosophical musings and conversations droned on and on, to the point where I needed toothpicks to keep my eyes open!
Overall, Louis's story that being a vampire isn't all that it's cracked up to be, was a deliciously creepy read, but, at this time, I don't think I will be reading any of the sequels of Anne Rice's
The Vampire Chronicles.
Rating: really liked it
I first read this book in High School and my sad gothic self immediately fell in love with its beautiful, damaged characters. For years this book haunted me. The rest of the Vampires books were pulpy fun but this book really had something. She captured something here and her almost baroque prose really carries the story.
Later in life, I came to realize that Interview is a kind of
Catcher In The Rye for goths. Louis is turned into a vampire and continues his search for the answers: who he is, why he is, what his place is. He wars with lovers, family and friends in his search to define his own life only to discover that nothing he does matters and that everyone is just as lost as he is, an ultimately there are no answers but the ones we make ourselves.
Rating: really liked it
I admit that I couldn't get through the rest of "The Vampire Chronicles", but this one stays a favourite.
Why do you like it so, oh, vampire crazy Vessey? Really, I do like vampires. Even though I'm not a "Twilight" fan. I even have my own set of teeth. A real goth girl inhabits my body and she hungers for dark adventures. I'm a sinister person, I know. :)
First, I really like Anne Rice's prose. It is so beautiful and enchanting. The whole story comes along with a good measure of dark sensuality, which I particularly like. What is more important to me, though, is that it presents, in a very captivating way, problems which have been haunting humanity since for ever. How many people in reality live tortured by guilt and loneliness and feel different than everybody else the way Louis does? Or how many people are tormented by the thought that their looks do not show their true self and that the others are unable to see past the surface? (Claudia). Or how many people are forced to live and suffer with someone they can never quite connect to, out of necessity, loneliness, because they love them despite all, or all three at once? I think many people can relate to the heroes (I should say anti-heroes, really) of this dark tale.
What is loneliness? What is the world? What is eternity? What does it mean to be immortal? What is the nature of existence? Is there God? What does it mean to be good? What does it mean to be evil? And which is the bigger evil - to be the actual committer of a crime or to allow it? What is life, what is death? It speaks not only of, and the value of, life and death of humans as individuals, but of the life and death of beliefs, values, possibilities.
It is told through the POV of one narrator, but it has a really big scope. Anne Rice shows an amazing skill in reflecting people's feelings and struggles. What is fiction if not a mirror to reality? Two opposite concepts which are not that opposite, after all. Every creation of art is a message born out of its creator's experience and inner world.
Read count: 4
Rating: really liked it
I thought it was slow, difficult to read. I finished it only by sheer determination, not out of pleasure.
Rating: really liked it
Oh God, I'm going to have to do this. Oh well, here I go. Hmm – he looks a bit fierce.
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned."
Silence… erm – now what am I supposed to say ? oh yes…
"I confess to God almighty, to blessed Mary, ever Virgin, to all the Saints, and to you Father, that I have sinned very much in thought, word, deed and omission, by my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault. Especially since my last confession which was ....... approximately 23 years and several months ago. Er. Hmm. I accuse myself of the following sins."
"Go on my son."
Okay, here goes.
"In the last 23 years I have read 64 true crime books, you know, those sleazy penny dreadfuls about serial killers and all of that, and I have read umpteen books about pop music, but I have not read any Tolstoy, Toni Morrison or Balzac, no Stendahl, no Kafka… no Thomas Pynchon... zero Proust... are you getting the drift here?"
Good Christ, thinks the priest, it's one of those. I wouldn't have thought it to look at the fellow. But he's one all right.
"No Toni Morrison, are you sure my son?"
"None at all, father. I even read
Interview with the Vampire, but I didn't read
Beloved or the
Song of Solomon or
Gilead or
Middlemarch or
The Magic Mountain or any of that stuff."
"Yet you know the titles."
"Oh yes, I know the titles, father. That's all I know. Just the titles."
"Go on then."
"Well… also… I think Michael Haneke movies are dull and repetitive. And
2666 is dreadful and I'd rather throw myself off a cliff than sit through anything by Eisenstein, Godard or Fellini. And I realise throwing yourself off a cliff is another sin."
"Well you're right about that. You'd better come clean about the rest of it too, I suppose."
"Right. Yes. Well."
Silence.
"This is quite difficult, father. Okay. I never listened to Radiohead."
The priest is visibly shocked.
"You never listened to Radiohead? The world's greatest band whose
OK Computer is poised to wrest the title of all time best rock album from the dead hands of the shibboleths of the sixties for ever?"
"Yes Father, that Radiohead."
"You never even heard them? At all?"
"No Father. For these and all my other sins that I cannot now remember, I am truly sorry, firmly resolve not to sin again and humbly ask pardon of God, and of you, Father, counsel, penance and absolution".
"Well, I've heard some things, as you do, when you're a priest, I can tell you. But this…. Well, at the very least, you must read three Toni Morrisons, go and buy AND listen to
OK Computer AND
Kid A, and buy AND view the boxed set of Werner Herzog which is on Amazon for a reasonable price. And don't leave it another 23 years again."
"O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin."
"Out you go then, skedaddle."
Whew, that was awful. But it had to be done. Fancy mentioning
Interview with the Vampire. I could have said something else, like Jack Kerouac, that's bad enough. Oh the shame. Well, he's probably heard worse. Oh well. Hmm, Radiohead can't be that bad, can they?
Rating: really liked it
Almost didn't make it past part II. 😉 I thought I would love this book, but I actually enjoyed the movie more. I will see what others think about book two, I'm a little curious about the ending in the novel (different from the movie) but this book was fairly monotonous...
