MY FAVORITE THINGS

First Sight of... (contd.)

Right... back to the post I started a few days ago; about my first glimpse of famous actors and actresses. It may seem uninteresting to some but I just have to share this!

Even though the world first began noticing him in STAR WARS; my first Harrison Ford film was Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom and I can watch this movie over and over!

Ha! I don't even have to ponder on my first Sandra Bullock/Keanu Reeves film; who on earth can ever forget SPEED???

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My first Adam Sandler film was HAPPY GILMORE, full of laughs and fun, including a very annoying villain and his sidekick.

Not Pretty Woman or An Officer & A Gentleman; My first Richard Gere movie AND Kim Basinger was NO MERCY and all because I left the VCR recording timer on! (psst For first timers, steamy love scene where Richard still has his clothes on)

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For Harry Potter fans who don't know it; it would be a shock to know that Alan Rickman who played Severus Snape was the gang leader of 'terrorists' Hans Gruber who was later thrown off a very tall building in DIE HARD. My first glimpse of him was of a criminal with a German accent, totally surprised to later find out he is actually English.

My first Samuel L. Jackson movie was the third in the Die Hard franchise; DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE. Not my favorite of all of them but superb acting by him and Bruce Willis.

I honestly wish I could say that Rocky was my first Stallone movie but it was actually Rambo: First Blood II. my Dad borrowed from a friend to Mum's dismay since it was so violent. As kids who were already used to James Bond we were ready for anything but the violence did shock us.

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Clint Eastwood was unknown to me until the 1975 film, The Eiger Sanction. And considering the great movies he has been in like THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY, this is not a first time Clint Eastwood film of mine I'm proud to share.

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Jon Voight (Angelina Jolie's papa) appeared before me for the first time in THE CHAMP. It was also my first look at Ricky Schroder (his debut) and goodness, for such a young actor; his performance really stunned me, especially the memorable part when he cried over his dead father's body, begging him to wake up.

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My first Daniel Craig film was LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER. Since I knew he was English, I was confused at first when I heard him speak in an American accent but since American Angelina spoke with an English accent, I was like... oh, it's for his role.

Long before I saw him in MAN OF STEEL as Superman, my first Henry Cavill film was THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (his debut) where he played Albert Mondengo. Funny back then, I paid more attention to the actor who played Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel)

My first Kevin Costner film was THE BODYGUARD and my favorite part was his farewell kiss with Whitney Huston.*sigh*

My first Jim Carrey AND Cameron Diaz' film (her debut) THE MASK!!! There's no part of the movie that I didn't laugh at; his overwhelming courting at the park, the police emptying his pockets and the memorable dance with Cameron at the club.

My first Joseph Fiennes (brother of Ralph Fiennes) & Gwyneth Paltrow film-and I'm so proud to say so- is SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE! Another movie I can watch all over again. I knew Elizabeth I (Judi Dench) would set a good example by not allowing a divorce between Viola & Lord Wessex but it made me sad all the same she and Will weren't free to marry in the end.

My first Julia Roberts film... what else would it be but PRETTY WOMAN? Beautiful story, equally beautiful soundtrack (Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman, Roxette's It Must Have Been Love)

My first Sir Anthony Hopkins' film was the 1996 biopic, Surviving Picasso; told through the eyes of Picasso's lover/muse, Francoise Gilot (mother of Paloma and Claude).

Long before I saw him as 007 in The Living Daylights and License to Kill; my first glimpse of Timothy Dalton was as Edward Rochester in JANE EYRE. Brilliant and super hot actor even though Edward Rochester was described as ugly in the book!

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My first sight of Will Smith was the unforgettable and hilarious THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR after which I found out he was a rapper as well.

No, not SET IT OFF , my first introduction to Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett was in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and I really loved her in the role of a rookie professor.

My first Robin Williams film was POPEYE (his debut) and I liked the film, box office failure or not; it was rather entertaining

Saw him much later on in Sex & The City, Desperate Housewives and Twin Peaks but my first peek at Kyle Maclachlan was the 1987 movie THE HIDDEN where he played a secretive & somewhat clueless FBI agent who turned out to be an alien on the hunt for an alien serial killer who goes from one human host to another.

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My first Steve Martin film was PENNIES FROM HEAVEN. I was rather confused with the story so I had to re-watch. Not a movie I want to watch again after those two times however.

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First Jamie Foxx glimpse; THE JAMIE FOXX show and I began to really enjoy it after his character and Fancy (Grace Beauvais) finally became a couple. Most of the time before that I found him annoying.

'... And Justice For All' Where is Trayvon's? (continued)

I have relatives in the United States, including a young cousin studying in Boston, and I would hate if any of them and many more African Americans suffer the terrible injustice and pain Trayvon Martin and his family are currently suffering after his killer- after using the excuse of self-defence- acquitted of his murder. As President Obama said, they are in a democratic country governed by laws. But after the stunning verdict, I thought about Trayvon and his family over and over again, and I thought, 'WHERE is Trayvon's justice if the words '...And Justice For All is true?
If every citizen- black, white, Hispanic- is truly equal in America today, then Trayvon Martin and his family should have justice. The man who deprived a family of their son because of so-called 'self-defence' committed a crime, not a shooting. And if every African American would be suspected of being a criminal because of a hoodie and race; then we are living in a very sad world where we are STILL being judged by the colour of our skin. Thankfully, not all people succumb to the ugliness of racism. My late father was a student in England back in the 60s and even though he faced racism from some people, there were many Caucasians who treated him like a friend and made him feel at home. I have made many friends on Twitter who have treated me with nothing but kindness and sincere friendliness since I joined that social network.

Trayvon Martin's death is as sad as Damilola Taylor's- a boy much younger than him who was stabbed to death with a broken glass by some teenagers in England years ago and he was his Nigerian parents' only son.
Racial profiling is as ugly as racial discrimination, and it has ended a young boy's life. Zimmerman's acquittal is a travesty of justice. It cannot be borne and it won't be borne. With this unjust acquittal, another George Zimmerman can easily shoot another African American teenager and then say that it waself-defencese after thinking... no... assuming the person in question was a criminal.

I really hope that the efforts of the NAACP to have this man charged with civil rights violation will yield positive results. If he is still able to wiggle his way out the charge; he should keep in mind that The Day of Judgement, where he will be judged by God for his crime; will inevitably come.

First Sight of...

Hollywood actors/actresses had their beginnings before they reached the high status they enjoy today. Below are the movies where I first saw or ever heard of a particular actor or actress. A few are movies where some made their debut, others long afterwards.

My first Ralph Fiennes film: THE ENGLISH PATIENT. Beautiful yet sad film and I'm still trying to forget Kristin Scott Thomas' full frontal nude scene. Mind, I'm not a prude; I just found it weird.

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My first Kevin Kline film: I LOVE YOU TO DEATH (1990)
Hilarious movie about a man who cheated on his wife and she plots revenge, since as a strong Catholic she cannot divorce him. How is killing him any better?

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My first Denzel Washington film: THE PELICAN BRIEF(1993) Later read the book and got pissed off he didn't get to kiss Julia Roberts.

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My first Brad Pitt film: INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994) What can I say about it except I wonder why vampires have to be so attractive? (Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas)

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My first Audrey Hepburn film: MY FAIR LADY (1964) Eliza finally mastering cultured way of speaking made my day though I found Professor Higgins (Rex Harrison) VERY annoying the whole time.

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My first Antonio Banderas film: DESPERADO (1995)My first thought of Tony on seeing him... sexy YET scary.

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My first Joe Mantegna film: BABY'S DAY OUT (1994) Just how a baby was able to outwit 3 adult men is what I'm still laughing over.

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My first Eddie Murphy film: THE GOLDEN CHILD (1986)

It was hard viewing a chap who made wisecracks half the time as a hero but Eddie Murphy managed it. Good movie.

My first Tom Cruise film: COCKTAIL (1988)Tom Cruise going up that penthouse to propose to the love of his life and she willingly defying her rich snobbish father brought tears.

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My first Wesley Snipes film: PASSENGER 57 (1992) Black 'Bruce Lee' was what I called him that time; and brilliant acting. However, my first actual first sight of him was as gang member in the intro of M.J's music video, Bad.

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My first Cuba Gooding Jr. film- THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN (1995) My favorite part: When two of the pilots landed in the middle of a field where a prison crew was working and the raw pride on the African American convicts' faces on seeing two of their own were actual pilots.

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My first Jodie Foster film: THE ACCUSED(1988) though the first time I ever heard her name was through reading the plot summary of NELL. I hated the rape scene, hence not a movie I was to see again unless I keep my eyes closed and the volume down in that part.

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My first Humphrey Bogart/Katherine Hepburn film: THE AFRICAN QUEEN(1951) A pretty much mismatched couple who first quarrel then fall in love is a movie to watch!

My first Russel Crowe film: A BEAUTIFUL MIND(2001), first I heard of him was when reading plot summary of VIRTUOSITY. It was a shock to see Nash was actually hallucinating but his struggle to overcome it was very moving.

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Long before he starred in DIE HARD, I grew up watching Bruce Willis and his co-star Cybill Shepherd in the ABC series MOONLIGHTING(1985-89) , one of my favorite shows back in the day. Friends, Enemies, Partners, Lovers... who won't be addicted to David and Maddie?

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My first Al Pacino film: SCARFACE(1983) Full of swearing and violence and the concept of those who live by the sword with die by the sword was glaringly shown.

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My first Claire Danes film: LITTLE WOMEN(1994)- her debut

Next to JANE EYRE, I love this story very much.

My first sight of A.J Cook years before her current show, CRIMINAL MINDS was in FINAL DESTINATION II (2003) Death is inevitable hence cannot be cheated but it is a very scary movie to watch if you are the nervous typ.

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My first Leonardo Dicaprio film: ROMEO + JULIET(1996); first time of hearing of him was while reading plot summary of THE BASKETBALL DIARIES. Modern setting of the Bard's play and equally tragic ending.

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My first Morgan Freeman film: LEAN ON ME(1989)
No surprise that the stern but well meaning principal was once a drill sergeant; no wonder he kept everyone under their toes!

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My first Jean Claude Van Damme film: NO RETREAT; NO SURRENDER(1986) Scary was my description of him but he was the real reason why we watched the whole film, not because of the lead actor, Kurt Mckinney.

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My first Jackie Chan film: DRAGONS FOREVER. Funny as hell is all I can say!

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My first Angelina Jolie film: GIA. A true life story about a supermodel and her tragic self destruction, which makes it very sad.

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My first Halle Berry film: STRICTLY BUSINESS. She was the reason we kept on until the end and we had no regrets!

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My first Tom Hanks film: FORREST GUMP. A simple man who saw, experienced and achieved a lot is moving and inspirational.

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My first Drew Barrymore film: THE WEDDING SINGER; where she played a sweet natured waitress .

TO BE CONTINUED...

'... And Justice For All' Where is Trayvon's?

After everything said and done; George Zimmerman was found NOT guilty for shooting 17 year old Trayvon Martin; an unarmed teenager who was returning to his home after running an errand. Zimmerman approached the boy in the first place because he wore a hoodie and he was black; both equals 'suspicious suspect' and in the cause of trying to be a hero- a family was deprived of their son and Zimmerman walks; along with the same gun he used to shoot Trayvon. No justice for that unfortunate boy or his grieving family.
I don't understand this 'stand your ground' law in Florida and I don't understand this; the fact that the boy was black and wearing a hoodie; does that give one the right to assume that the person is up to no good? Would Zimmerman have gone after the boy if the boy was white? When it happened; I wanted to assume that Zimmerman's action wasn't racist but an act of pure idiocy but I was infuriated when I learnt that he actually pleaded NOT guilty in court; what... did the gun accidentally go off?
Lord knows why the jury reached the 'not guilty' verdict over this case. WHY did this horrible man disobey the police's instruction about staying where he was, WHY did he have to shoot that poor boy, WHY and HOW can he actually defend his action when Trayvon was not even armed... he wasn't even armed; didn't the jury remember that? Of what use can one call America the land of the free if people with black skin are equivalent to evil criminals and not able to get deserved justice?
So now, this man has gone free along with his gun; free to shoot somebody else's child. Well, let him roam free; I wonder if he will ever sleep well at night knowing the pain he's inflicted on Trayvon's family and still maintain that he did what was expected from him. But I also hope that the people who loved Trayvon and the supporters of the Martin family will take heed of President Obama's words about honouring Trayvon's memory by curbing gun violence and the vigilantes should do nothing to make matters worse. Hounding Zimmerman and starting fires and violent protests will not bring that unfortunate boy back.
Zimmerman may have escaped the long prison sentence he deserved but if he is a God fearing man (which I very much doubt), for the rest of his life he should remember that he will not escape justice from God on his day of reckoning. He feels he did the right thing acting on so called instinct before he ended the life of a young boy; He will answer to God on the Day Of Judgement.
May Trayvon Martin rest in peace and may his family be given spiritual healing as they move on with their lives.

FINDING MY PLACE IN THE WORLD...WHEN EXACTLY?

Everyone keeps saying that we are created to make something of ourselves while on earth. That is something I'm aiming at doing but today I started wondering if I will ever get there. Today, I experienced a feeling I've always hated and hoped will never come about again. A friend asked me to fill in for him teaching his English class as I've been out of work for months. It was an advanced class; not what I am used to but I figured I would be able to do what I can with them. I was appalled when my question, 'What is a preposition?' got only one reply so I got out a textbook from the elementary level in order to get them back to the basics. I was not trying to be insulting; I was only trying to help. But it turned out they were playing me for a fool- they DID know the answer the whole time and my friend told me over the phone how they complained about me using 'BRIGHTER GRAMMAR'; which was way below their level, which cast doubts about me being a suitable teacher. I feel so embarrassed and humiliated beyond measure and my confidence completely shattered.

I have been an on-off and on-again English teacher for several years. It was easier teaching the younger ones; not because of the curriculum but because you would command respect from them. Sometimes I was a bit harsh but never deliberately unkind; I love kids. But secondary school kids- High School- are another thing. Junior Secondary, no problem as well but seniors- they do all they can to frustrate you and make you look like a fool and in the end, you wonder how they see you and if teaching is actually your calling after all.

The last secondary school job I had, I had to deal with sexual harassment and deal with kids who weren't exactly ready to learn and who told tales of me to my boss, work overload ( I was teaching Civic Education as well, which was not my discipline) which got me into trouble as there were times I couldn't cover a particular topic in a week. Toppled with having to go to the University after work- my life was neither happy nor easy.

The Pre-school job earned me a very lousy pay and no matter what I did, or tried my best , it turned out I wasn't doing enough and I had to leave to deal with my studies.

Now today, it hit home- I'm a failure as a teacher; no mistake. But until I get my degree and write another book and finally get some independence; I am yet to find my place in the world. Life's not a bed of roses but I never thought there would be times I would feel so low and useless; wondering about the way forward. Even with my published fables and fan fiction on the Internet- I have no confidence, I keep worrying if I've written anything worth while; if I ever will be worthwhile in people's eyes. I've always tried not to get depressed but with today's incident and going over my past experiences; I just can't help the way I feel right now.And when will I find my place in the world at last?

'ONCE UPON A TIME...' ONE OF THE BEST SHOWS OF OUR TIME

'And Snow White was kind and went with him (The Prince) and their wedding was held with with pomp and great splendour'- excerpt from Snow White, Grimm's Fairy Tales

While this is not my favorite fairy tale, I have read it over and over for many years and watched the various versions. Disney's Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs gave the dwarfs their humorous names; Doc, Bashful, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy and Dopey and followed the Evil Queen's basic problem with Snow White described by Wilheim & Jakob Grimm - the need to be the fairest in the land and Snow White was robbing her of that glory hence attempting to kill her with a poisoned apple( in the original story her prior weapons included lacing her too tight and a poisoned comb) and Snow White was awaken by true love's first kiss by her prince.

2001's Snow White: The Fairest of Them All; the Evil Queen Elspeth's (who was actually changed from an old crone to her beautiful state) beef with Snow was that Snow was fast becoming a woman and this was making her feel older and the fact that the visiting prince she was trying to seduce was far more interested in Snow White, which aroused her jealousy and fear that she was losing her beauty; so she sends one of her guards to kill Snow White and turned Prince Alfred into a bear when he rebuffed her advances. Snow White meets seven little men named after the days of the week of all things (actually Wednesday is the only tall one and one of the little men is a woman) and the Evil Queen disguises herself as Snow White's dead mother in order to get her to eat the poisoned apple.

In ONCE UPON A TIME; a show I am now hopelessly addicted to(thanks to my favorite twitter friend Jesi's recommendation); the story goes beyond Snow White and her prince's blissful happy ending; for their happy ending was denied to them... by the apparently undefeated Evil Queen; Snow White's stepmother. Although majority of the fairy tale characters we know are featured in the show; the story line's focus is on the vendetta The Evil Queen has against Snow White. Thanks to an innocent blunder on Snow White's part, The Evil Queen's true love was killed right before her eyes, hence was forced to marry a man she didn't love- Snow White's father.The beef here is not jealousy, or insecurity but the Evil Queen's thirst for revenge against Snow and making sure she, her husband James and everyone who sided with Snow White never get the happy ending she and her love were denied. So, she obtained a curse from the ever dealing Rumplestiltskin which transported everyone to the modern world with no memories of their prior lives; only the Queen being aware of her real origins.Conveniently, the Evil Queen rules the town of Storybrook as Mayor Regina Mills and is the mother of an adopted son Henry (the son of Snow and James' daughter Emma who was locked in a magic wardrobe when the curse came to the land) and gets the shock of her life when Henry brought his birth mother to Storybrook, as she is the one who can lift the curse.
I have only watched 9 episodes but really; the creators came up with such a brilliant idea. Although I'm sorry about Regina losing her darling Daniel, I loath the character because I see her as a ruthless, vengeful murderer with no conscience. The episodes that got me upset was the one where she did all she could to squash the undeniable attraction between Snow and James (Mary Margaret and David in the real world) and killing Sheriff Graham (the huntsman sent to kill Snow White) when he started getting flashes of his past life after kissing Emma. It was bad enough that Regina was using him as a plaything and puppet but then to kill him so cold bloodedly was more than I could bear!
The cause of The Evil Queen's vendetta against Snow White is very interesting; I suppose the creators wanted to give a plausible reason behind the Queen's hatred for Snow White; even though Snow White did not exactly mean to ruin her life. Two versions I'd watched long before ONCE UPON A TIME had to do with jealousy and insecurity but one in particular, the 1997 horror version SNOW WHITE: A TALE OF TERROR did not; at least the jealousy was not over Snow's beauty.

Set in the time of The Crusades; Snow White's name is actually Lilli; daughter of Lord Fredrick Hoffman and Lady Lilliana(who died giving birth to her via an emergency C- birth). She's resentful of her father's remarriage to another woman years later, Lady Claudia; refusing to make friends with her even though she was given a pup as a present. But don't think Claudia was a complete innocent either; one of the maids mysteriously died after viewing Claudia's magic mirror and for some reason Claudia kept on dressing Lilli in child clothes even when she's a grown young woman. Anyhow, Lilli decided to dress more 'grown up' and found one of her mother's old gowns to wear for the ball. In the gown, Lilli looked exactly like her mother which her father commented on and triggered off Claudia's jealousy... and miscarriage.Claudia is told she can never have any more children and she blames Lilli for her misfortune thus the revenge begins.

ONCE UPON A TIME is a very good show. Although the main focus is Snow White; I like the clever twists in the story arcs of the other characters and the brilliant performance of Lara Parrilla as Regina the evil queen, Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow and Jennifer Morrison as Emma. How the series will end I don't know but what I do want is a long series run; the finale being the long awaited happy ending for all the characters.

VAMPIRES

Ghosts are one thing, but there are the 'undead' entities known for suckling blood from unfortunate victims in lieu of food to stay alive and forever doomed to stay out of the sun and roam only at night or they would burst to flames and have the power of transforming into bats.

I think the myth of vampires evolved from vampire bats' habit of sucking the blood of their prey(mostly mammals but sometimes humans too), their devilish, ugly appearances and the fact that they hunt only when it is fully dark. Like cats, vampire bats are viewed with superstition and some how or the other, vampires found their way into myths and folklore. One early mythical theory was that vampires were corpses possessed or resurrected by an evil spirit. The main myth these days is that a person becomes a vampire after being bitten by one and as they do no not really belong to the earth or the afterlife; they have no souls, they cannot die yet they have eternal life (which disables them from aging any further) and the only that could sustain them is human blood; hence the state of being 'undead'. The only way one is shielded from a vampire, the saying goes, is if a vampire is exposed to garlic, fire or a crucifix.
African and European countries were full of such myths and superstitions and then in 1897, Irish author Bram Stoker began the modern vampire fiction with his most notable work, Dracula; about a Transylvania noble who turned out to be a vampire seeking world domination and over the years many movie adaptations of this story followed and new vampire characters created.
My first sight of a vampire on television was Count Dracula portrayed by British actor Christopher Lee (below; at the time I hadn't heard of Bela Lugosi). I was about 7 years old and more squeamish about horror movies than I am now. What I saw at first was CL in a formal suit and cape and slicked back hair, next thing I knew I was screaming at the sight of his red eyes

and fangs as he sucked blood from his victim's neck. Several years passed before I summoned up courage to watch it in full and buy the actual book!

Thanks to vampire shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Vampire Diaries,True Blood; films like Twilight and Fright Night, vampires are pretty much popular in the media today. But is the old superstition there- are they real and hiding in the shadows and do the people who watch such believe they do exist or they are just merely being entertained?
No body wants to die but death is inevitable to all. But would a person terrified of death prefer to have eternal life by taking blood of others as its soul energy sources if actually being offered the option- hypothetically speaking ? I sincerely doubt it; for a person to roam the earth for hundreds of years lurking in the shadows and preying on the innocent for blood to live, that sort of eternal life can be nothing but described as a curse and living in damnation.