New Orleans in November

I was in New Orleans for SETAC up until this Monday. Good trip. Interesting town. I did all the touristy stuff: walked up and down Bourbon St., went on a Vampire tour, drank a hurricane (only 1/4 of it), had my share of etoufee, gumbo and a shrimp po' boy. Tasted alligator, saw an alligator and an armadillo on our airboat tour. Also got to hold a baby alligator. it's nice to do something new and different every once in a while.

Now I am back to the grind. Did I mention I really hate this time of year? Shorter days, dreary weather, lonely feling, cold, limited to indoor activities, cold, drafts, chills after I eat, dry throats, sore nose, running nose, bad hair, the list goes on and on. Can't wear short-sleeve shirts, can't wear flip flops, can't swim in the pool, can go to the beach but nothing is open if you want to go there. Just got to suffer along until the spring and then realize I am again one year older than I was.

More Intensity and Books

So I will admit I am very much absorbed into the True Blood universe. I started reading the books only a week ago and I am already on book 2: Living Dead in Dallas. Thanks Charlaine Harris for writing something I can sink my teeth into and not get bored.

As for the HBO show, I keep watching things on you tube about the characters or last night I watched this promo thing where Alan Ball gave this synopsis of the whole first season. I am completely enthralled.

Now, last week I was trying to find out what was wrong with me that I am so preoccupied with this. This week I am riding the wave. I am just enjoying the focus and fun of it all. Realizing why I am caught up is half the fun of being caught up. I just love the way Vampire Bill is devoted to Sookie. Even after she thinks she wants to be with someone else. She comes back to him. She awakens something in him he thought he lost. True Love. You can't beat that, even with a Vampire...even better with a Vampire :-)

Intensity

So I've been getting into True Blood lately. On HBO. Had not a whole lot to do last week while I was sick so I caught up on Season 1. There is something that strikes me as either really great acting, great storytelling, or great perception on my part or a combination therein about the scenes where the vampire Bill looks at Sookie. I don't know what it is but there is this amazing sense of combined devotion, love, lust, intensity I find incredibly intriguing. What is that? It makes me think of real life relationships that could have this same intensity but you would never know unless you saw a couple like this or were one of a couple like this.

I like the scenes where he tries desperately to get to her when he knows she's in danger but he is stifled by the daylight. The one episode where he foregoes holding back because it is daylight, he almost burns to a crisp to be there for Sookie. In the next scene where he is back in one piece and waiting on her door step shows what he went through just to see her. Just to be with her. This is some romanticized ideal. Perhaps that is the appeal but I can't get it out of my head what a good feeling it gives.

I like the converations they have because they stare intently at one another. I like the way Bill says Sookie's name. All of this is wrapped into a romantic idealism you don't normally see so I find it refreshing and cute.

I also saw this movie Broken English recently. An indie film with Parker Posey. She meets this French man with whom she falls in love but does not realize it until the end. She's not foolish or crazy about not knowing, just scared and hesistant. But the French guy is also intensely devoted and loving/ caring and seems to say all the right things even when he doesn't know her well and she freaks out in the middle of a cafe they stopped in.

This kind of intensity or love/devotion is rare. I like when it is portrayed on screen. It makes me want to wrap it up and put it in a nice place then pull it out and look at it just to smile and recognize it is out there.