If everyone who sees this could reach out to someone(s) they care about, call/text/message/chat/etc., and just remind them how much they mean to you… do the thing. Life can be short *hugs*
I’m sorry, I meant to get to the asks and then I just… ran out of steam on it, and needed some offline time.
It helped that the funeral was on a perfect day (global warming :- ), the sun was out, there was a soft breeze, and the deceased’s little sister, she’s 14 and taller than her mom, was so supportive to both her parents. I was one of the last to leave their home and the mom of the deceased was surrounded by a few very close friends she’d had since middle school, and I felt like I was leaving her in very capable hands.
But yeah, it hit me again today, the gravity of the situation, and I keep going between sadness and denial, but it’s better now. Sometimes terrible things happen to innocent people.
I have about 15 asks that are fresh-ish (yay asks!), and I’ll try to get them answered today, which means I may be going over my usual self-imposed 10 post/day limit, I might schedule them for posting at spaced intervals so I don’t spam your dash.
Thanks for your patience, last week was kind of rough, I went to a funeral for a family friend, the deceased was a 16 yo boy (it was a heart attack) and I’m debating whether to post about it further, but… it was a reminder that life can be very short, real life comes first, time is precious.
Well first of all, #I love these kind of stories, where ppl talk about how they got sucked into this fandom, whether it’s when they first saw movie!IWTV (or movie!QOTD) or starting reading one of the books…
Movie!IWTV is frightening, there are brutally scary parts. It touches on a lot of taboo subjects. The kind of violence it has is scary partly because there’s the element of betrayal in many instances, definitely when Claudia knifes Lestat, and then when Louis sets him on fire ;A; We laugh about it now bc if we didn’t have a sense of humor about it, it would just be too cruel. But that is really cute that you watched it with your older sister, hopefully she explained things that were confusing or at least provided some support during the scary parts ;]
I was given book!IWTV when I was 11 and saw the movie soon after, sneaking over to my best friend’s house bc it was rated R and I wasn’t allowed to watch it. It was dark comedy to us, and we ended up watching it repeatedly, trying to memorize the lines so we could say them along with the movie. Our favorite line had to be:
“Just remember: Life – without me – would be even more unbearable.”And I can’t really gif that out, the shot is pretty dark, but you remember, it was here:
That line was a declaration between us, too. We’re still best friends to this day, 20+ years after bonding over this series!
VC had a huge enough influence on us. For better or worse *shrugs*
I was an ambivert. I was completely obsessed with antagonists, too. The VC encouraged me to develop all those extroverted traits I loved in Lestat, which other characters didn’t always approve of, but he dgaf! He marched to his own drum. He craves the spotlight for validation but his own love for himself outweighs these external rewards. The VC has been a huge source of strength. So much great advice. Here’s an example, that suffering can be embraced as being a valuable part of our experience, too:
“It’s an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, give a greater luster to our colors, a richer resonance to our words. That is, if it doesn’t destroy us, if it doesn’t burn away the optimism and the spirit, the capacity for visions, and the respect for simple yet indispensable things.” –Lestat, Queen of the Damned
But really, the quote that bound me and my best friend together, that’s what I hope for fandom to accomplish. We do come and go, but I’ve been in this for 20+ years, and it seems to me that VC fandom as a whole will always be here for those who want it.
“Just remember: Life – without me – would be even more unbearable.”
^What I think is also worth mentioning here is that Lestat could have killed Louis or just left Louis in NOLA at any time (before Claudia). But he didn’t. Even at his worst, Lestat was still fascinated with Louis, and life – without him – would have been even more unbearable ❤
♛*hugs anon* Darling, not to worry at all, I can handle a little clothes-rumpling. I destroy most of my clothes anyway, sadly, it’s part of the job *winks*
Be strong, ma petite. Remember to hug yourself, too. Sometimes we have to be our own head cheerleaders.
//ooc; Thanks for coming back and telling us this,
Ableism!anon! It was a difficult topic to address and I’m really glad Lestat and I were able to help you.
If you have to remind yourself every day, then do it: F*ck the haters.
I almost didn’t answer this bc I feel like ppl are going to think that I sent it to myself, so if you wouldn’t mind, anon, plz do come back and message me privately off-anon, or send another message telling me what u love about me so that this looks less like I sent it to myself!
once upon a time young young teenage me used to write fan fiction like my life depended on it, new fics every week and I had no idea there was someone out there printing out my fics and putting them in a box to read when they needed something to cheer them up
anyways fast forward to 20 year old me on my third date with Emily and she mentions offhand that she’s got this box of fic she printed out and saved
it’s a few months later after that and she shows me one of the fics in the box and holy shit that’s my garbage fic from so long ago
anyways my point is life is a fucking trip my dude
i still remember when we found this out. i don’t think either of us stopped yelling for hours
look it’s been eight years and I’m still like LMAO I MARRIED A FAN
This is the cutest thing I’ve ever read in my whole life
I watched it on VHS** for the first time, now I have it on DVD, but I don’t have any other formats. The real crime is that I’ve never seen it in a theatre ;A; I was under 17 when it came out!
Lestat has mixed feelings about watching IWTV, bc he enjoys a lot of it, and he loves to tease Louis about the rats and the poodles, it is visually appealing, the kills are pretty accurate and he does love to revisit his seduction of Louis and the times when they were happy <3. But he also feels like the movie overall paints him in an excessively negative light. There are also many scenes that are painful for him (and Louis) to watch, like, y’know, Louis defensively setting Lestat on fire… and when Louis finds Claudia’s ashes. They’ve been through so much ;A;
I would think it would be hard to watch a movie of a time period in my own life, with other people playing me and my family, loved ones, and the people who antagonized me (intentionally or not). To have some enormously famous actor playing me would be flattering but that I’m portrayed as the antagonist in my lover’s life? That would probably hurt. I DO antagonize ppl and ppl antagonize me. We’re all the protagonists in our own stories, and none of us are perfect cinnamon rolls – except Mojo – we’re all works in progress, and I think Lestat watches IWTV with that in mind. He’s grown a lot since then, through a lot of effort and a lot more obstacle-conquering, he’s proven that he has a place in this world, even if he’s mostly serving as a cautionary tale (basically: ”Don’t do this thing that I did!”)
Asterisked stuff and my own movie!IWTV-watching preferences
under the cut, cut for length.
Re: Which do you prefer? I haven’t bought the Blu-ray bc I don’t have a Blu-ray player; I have a small DVD collection but I didn’t want to have to rebuy them all. I agree, the picture quality is in fact better in the Blu-ray,* bc I’ve seen it, so I should probably bite the bullet and get the Blu-ray *pouts* For now, I’m okay w/ missing out on a few of the actor’s eyelashes and skin pores, lol.
I have to listen to music in order to be productive, and I hum or sing along with it. I love listening to the TV or movies when I’m working on my memes or other artistic things, I make jewelry as a hobby, too. But I can’t listen to TV/movies when doing video edits, bc then the audio clashes. Knowing so many of the lines in IWTV, it’s a good one to listen to and say the lines along with it. My voice sounds like a 12 year old’s, I should dub myself in for some of Lestat’s lines and post vids, you’ll think it’s Claudia making fun of him, pfffft.
So yes, I’ll listen to IWTV sometimes for background noise, but when I want to actually watch it on its own or w/ ppl, the DVD is fine, or the Blu-ray, if I’m visiting someone and they have that format at their place.
**There’s something nostalgic for me about the VHS tape format, which I don’t have anymore. It was a big hunk of plastic w/ a thick protective plastic box in my little tween hands when I was 11, and it seemed more substantial, more worthy of carrying a whole tragic & beautiful movie than these fragile little circles in their skinny little cases that we have now. My copy was well-used, and I took good care of it, I never noticed a decrease in the picture quality even after countless replays even tho I’ve heard ppl say that VHS tapes would get worn.
*Re: Picture quality: At first glance, on a laptop or smaller device screen (and at this teensy size like ugh) these two shots of Louis look identical (it’s not exactly the same frame but it’s as close as I could get w/o going crazay):
But when you see it on a bigger screen, there’s more resolution on the
Since the @vcsecretgifts Holiday ‘16 exchange was so fruitful, I thought I’d ask if there was any interest in a Spring ‘17 exchange… you want in?
We would likely have the due date be between late-April to mid-May, and the theme would be Spring or “Maker’s Day” (a sort of vampiry mother/father’s day, hmm?).
Times like these call for more fanworks ❤ I consider it a brief bit of relief for those who go out and fight the good fights, whether that’s in your own lives, or for society as a whole, and everything else!
(*There is only one Holiday ‘16 gift outstanding, substitute gift is in the works… but next time around we will allow more time to make the gifts and we will have substitute gifters lined up earlier, too.)
A little breakdown of this scene, re: why I loved Tom’s Lestat so much in this scene, since we’re talking about it.
^Claudia leads him in, and he’s so trusting. When he sees the boys there, he is not immediately very pleased. He actually looks a little disappointed. The house rule is not to bring victims into the house, and she brought them in, is he going to have to lay down the law again? Bad timing for it, since he’s trying to make peace with her.
She glances up at him to gauge his reaction but looks away before he can meet her gaze. She’s thrilled with what she’s about to do and doesn’t want him derailing her from her mission.
^I use this gif a lot for “such feels,” but there’s really more going on here, and not necessarily happiness. She’s told him that the boys are the gift to him. He starts w/ a facepalm, bc, hey, Lestat would actually rather not kill children.* He tries to go for adult evildoers. It’s clearer in TVL than in movie!IWTV, but he does tell Louis in an earlier scene, “Evildoers are easier, and they taste better.”**
Lestat is also very guarded in his body language here, all closed off w/ his arms across his chest (we don’t usually see him this closed off in the movie). When he shows his face, he’s not smiling at first, bc, this wasn’t really the kind of truce he would have wanted. But then he rallies, shakes his head a little bit, and tries to smile, probably tells himself inwardly, “She did this for me, she has good intentions…”
^”Well, you certainly have… outdone yourself,” he says. He’s struggling to compliment her, that hesitation could have led to a criticism. Trying to convince himself that this is a peace offering and to reign in his usual edgy sense of humor. The main rule in their home was always “Never [kill] in the house” and she wants him to share this kill. In. The. House. A rule she’s broken countless times. He’s still guarded, still has his arms up protectively.
The smile fails as he looks over the boys like he’s looking at something unappetizing at a buffet. For me, that would be the wilted salad area.
^There’s a full second pause as he looks at her bc he’s still struggling to believe it was all this easy. Then he asks: “We forgive each other, then?” This is Lestat without any of his bravado, no games, not asking as her maker, just as someone who loves her and wants her love, too. This is the Lestat who spent most of his childhood unloved or beaten down for trying to find a place where ppl would love him ;A;
^There’s almost a full second pause as she looks at him – bc she doesn’t really forgive him – and then says: “Yes” She’s lying right to his face, so evil! If you cover her mouth, her eyebrows don’t change at all with that smile. But there is still a chance to abandon her plan if she wants to.
^Having secured the peace, putting his trust in her about this gift being OK to consume, he has this little sigh of relief; his usual confidence comes back in, you can see a hint of a smile as he turns away.
(This victim is one of the moments in the film that really pushed the envelope for its time, when Lestat bites into the child. It’s actually a lot less homoerotic/pedophilic than in the book, where he gets his hands wrapped up in the kid’s shirt. Unlike when he bites adults and we see his face, here, we see him from behind. It makes it less sexual, he didn’t choose this victim, it’s seems like it’s more about the consumption.)
^Anyway… he thinks she spiked their blood with absinthe bc he immediately feels drugged/drunk from it.
She tells him it’s laudanum, and he repeats that word, has he heard of it before? Probably not, bc she tells him what it does.
So right up until the moment she explicitly lays it out for him, he still believes they’ve reconciled, and even that she flavored the blood for him as an extra consideration! It’s a very painful betrayal, specifically bc he wanted to believe her SO BADLY that he ignored all the red flags ;A;
You could say he deserved this betrayal, but I think this scene is part of what makes Tom’s Lestat so very good. Even as he’s led into getting his punishment, you still feel sorry for him, it’s hard to hate a monster when he’s being this trusting and gentle and really wanting to well… not be a monster.
I recognize that this is a social media site so you are welcome to reblog and comment and engage on this, but please do so respectfully, and keep in mind that #your headcanon may vary, and we are all entitled to our own interpretations/opinions about canon, and about movie!IWTV.
(Asterisked notes under the cut.)
* It’s implied that Lestat and Claudia finished off whole families together in an earlier scene in the film, including children, but we’ve only seen him kill adults on screen up to this point. In the book, it’s Claudia who insists on killing families (her own, IIRC), and she kills a mother and daughter who worked domestically in the flat for Louis and Lestat. Lestat rarely kills children in the books, typically it’s only in moments of extreme emotional weakness.Tom would have known this, bc he read books 1-4.
**
“Evildoers are easier, and they taste better.” – This is what Lestat tells Louis to try to get him to acclimate to the idea that killing is okay, and in fact, some ppl need to be killed anyway, to protect the general population (like Lestat killing the wolves to save the villagers back in the Auvergne). But in the books it’s implied that innocent blood tastes better, which makes it harder to resist. “…these victims had been taken in the perfect semblance of love. The very blood seemed warmer with their innocence, richer with their goodness.” (TVL)
I might do more of these if you’re interested, but they do take a long time to put together. We’ll see…
I-want-my-IWTV 