When Did My Dad Start Quoting Twilight Movies?

I'd like to think my father is a pretty well educated and cultured guy. He's got a Masters Degree, works at the Chicago Public Schools Central Offices, and loves anything to do with history. So I consider him a serious person. My mother, is a bit of an opposite. Don't get me wrong, she's super smart, but her smart is for business as opposed to philosophy.

So Mom enjoys watching the Twilight Saga movies. You know, the ones with sparkly vampires? Yeah. She ropes dad into watching them when they come out on Demand. So the last instalment in the series came out recently I guess and they watched it on Sunday. I watched it in theaters so I pretty much remember the dialogue and stuff.

Well fast forward to Wednesday, and we just finished having dinner at the table. I tend to slouch at the table after work since I'm tired. Mom yells from the living room "Don't slouch!" so obviously I slouch more. Then dad chimes in "Maribel (mom), humans don't sit up straight." It took me a second to realize that was a line from the Twilight movie.

It wasn't a big thing really, but it gave me a laugh that this big masculine Mexican man, who happens to be a well educated guy, just referenced a movie about sparkly vampires and teen angst. I know it's probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but I like sharing.

When Did I Start Watching Vampire Diaries?

Okay, I have a confession. When I was in middle school, I read the first Twilight Novel. You know what? I liked it. The last one came out my freshman or sophomore year of high school, and by then I kind of fell out of "love" with the storytelling. I understood there was much better literature out there. When the Twilight movies came out, I knew I had to watch them all, because I have a principal of finishing what I start. So I watched every single movie. The last installment was a vast improvement production and polish wise in my opinion, but still it bordered on ridiculous. But, going to the movies shouldn't be about seriousness, it needs to be about escapism.

I like the idea of vampires, and I probably started reading about them back in 6th grade. I discovered a book of Chinese legends and they have a version of the vampire called the Jiangshi. It's a funny looking stiff reanimated corpse that hops around (yes, like a bunny hop) at night sucking peoples life energy out. From there I did a U-Turn to the European version of the vampire, and sprinkled in any other vampire folklore I could find. It was terribly interesting for me. Then I heard about Twilight and was sort of disappointed about the "glittery" approach. But still, it was a nice enough read for a 12 year old.

Now I'm 20, and I'm no less interested in all kinds of creatures. When I heard about Vampire Diaries from all my friends a while back, I dismissed it as another Twilight wannabe series that would eventually die out in popularity...but it didn't. It's just been renewed for its 5th season. I finally decided to give it a shot. My husband, being the peach he is, joined me in this endeavor. We have finished season 1 & 2. I was not disappointed. I'm a little late on the bandwagon, but I really like Vampire Diaries. It's a lot darker than you'd think a CW show would like to be, it's got a BELIEVABLE romance in it, a rich folklore of its own, excellent acting talent, and it keeps me hooked for the next episode.

Not every Zombie, Werewolf, Witch, Vampire flick/show/book/or comic is gonna be a hit. By now you're probably tired of sifting through the thousands of options. But if you're looking for a solid show that seldom disappoints, I recommend The Vampire Diaries.

Oh, in case you're interested, this is a list of all the "supernatural" shows I'm currently watching:

1. The Vampire Diaries (The CW) It's got Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, and who knows what else.
2. The Walking Dead (AMC) Zombies and crazy ass people.
3. Grimm (NBC) Creatures hiding as humans only Grimms can see. Also a good cop show.
4. True Blood (HBO) It's got naked humans, witches, vampires, werewolves, faeries, and southern accents. Although, the main character Sookie has this gap between her teeth...look it up.
5. Being Human (SyFy) It's about a Vampire, Werewolf, and Ghost being roommates. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, I know, but it's really very good.

You know why I watch Vampire Diaries, right?