Vanity Fair is a brilliant, savvy magazine which has had a lot of great covers and even better interviews. In fact, no one does avant garde and controversial better. It is a glossy extravaganza of ads and money, Annie Leibovitz and a stellar celebrity galaxy. They’ve produced issues that are definitely archive worthy; like the infamous issue where they interviewed Jennifer Aniston and probed for answers on the divorce of the century between herself and the dubious Brad Pitt. A scant few years later, they were anything but bashful when preening after scoring a gorgeous cover, breathtaking pitures and a juicy interview in July of 2008 with the new Mrs. Brad Pitt, the ever beautiful and voluptuous lipped Angelina Jolie. (Did I mention how we loved it, by the way?) Vanity Fair is after all unbiased, and all is fair in love and war. (We love that, too!) It is a media outlet that is a very fine reflection of our pop culture; it maybe even defines who we are as a western culture, civilized and polished, all glossy and airbrushed and well financed in order to be considered perfect and worthy and accomplished. If one would look back on our society 100 years from now and gather information based only on the content of a Vanity Fair magazine, I think they’d be very amused and entertained to say the least, at how much pandering we were obsessed with and how star struck we were on a whole. Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a rant, it’s more of an unbiased observation. I am right there with the best of them enjoying the pantheon of the stars in the entertainment constellation and the great past time of wanting more. I think it is amazing how little we’ve changed as a civilization. Celebrity is the new nobility, and now anyone can be king or queen, no matter their station in life. If you have the heart of a social climber, and the grit and the fangs to get you to the top, a meteoric rise to stardom is not impossible if you’re hungry enough. Vanity Fair is such a fitting name for a magazine that showcases the lifestyles of the rich and famous and what you need to get there. However, before Vanity Fair the magazine, there was another piece of literary success that chronicled the fictitious life of perhaps the most prolific social climber and one of the most important heroines of the Victorian era. Tune in later and I’ll tell you what and who.

So, you have to be dead not to have heard by now the craze that Rob Pattinson has caused as Edward Cullen in the monster hit Twilight. In fact, because of this movie, he has been catapulted into stellar stardom almost instantaneously. Rolling Stone has dubbed him the hottest actor of 2008! Go figure. Even Rob himself is baffled by his sudden effect on women, declaring one minute he couldn’t get a date, now girls are clamoring over him. LOL. Let me tell you, I have stood in line at bookstores accidentally eavesdropping on teenage girls gushing and nearly swooning over this movie!!! It is quite hilarious and painful to admit however, that I, too, have joined the plethora of gaa gaa girls and am a willing acolyte of the Twilight Saga. But I digress. You see, I have been waiting a looong time for a vampire like Edward. Edward Cullen fulfilled all my wishes for the depth of feeling and anguished yearning I ever wanted from Lestat but was never given. If truth be told, I have been waiting a long time for the blatant honesty of Bella Swan, too. She embodied all the earnest awkwardness and angst ridden devotion of being a teenager. Their casting as the lead characters was a stroke of pure creative and instinctual genius. There was an electric chemistry between these two actors. There was a deep ebbing of passion coursing through this movie, yet Pattinson and Stewart were able to retain the pureness and innocence of first love, of true love. My thoughts on Twilight? Beautiful. The film style was up close and personal; it is a character story mostly and the camera feels like you’re actually in the room. It almost felt like spying at times. Forgive the special effects and the $37 million dollar budget. It’s a story about love. Deep, abiding, and eternal. A love worth waiting for. Twilight has loud whispers and strong undercurrents of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It also has deeper, slightly theological nuances and pulse. Eve does fall for temptation, but it is Adam who offers her the forbidden fruit, and desire is the serpent in the garden of the undead. In a surreal twist of fate, Bella Swan is tempted by everything that Edward Cullen is. She is tempted by the very curse that makes him immortal. And she is irrevocably tempted, beguiled, enthralled by the knowledge that she is unfathomably and seductively different from him; human. Edward Cullen is tormented by her mortality, and inexplicably drawn to the one person who could make him want to be human again. How can he stay away from her when she is his life? How can he be near her when his very nature is to lust for her blood?

~P.S.~ If you haven’t seen the movie yet, go see it! You will love it! Folks at Hollywood.com say, “The most epic romance since Titanic.” Justified!

The dreaded end of the boy wizard adventures is fast approaching, and his pop culture reign of literary success and as box office king is coming to an inevitable close. In so many ways it marks the end of an era for many children (who are tweens and teens and young adults now) who grew up watching the crew at Hogwarts. Of course before the end does come, we will squeeze every last ounce of enjoyment out of the sojourn of this franchise.Yet before we’ve seen the last of Harry and pals, we will surely quest for something new. It is in our nature, and we are a voracious and hungry culture, always looking for something to fill the void. Enter Twilight, the first book in the teen series written by the very talented and spellbinding Stephenie Meyer. The new saga is filled with vampires, teenage angst and the first stirrings of true, bittersweet love. It is a saga that is being feverishly and zealously feted by the teenage masses and movie studios alike. Indeed this phenom has vamped its way onto the New York Times Best Seller list and has cast a full on glamour on its bevy of readers. The movie is in theaters tomorrow , November 21st, and proves once again that teens rule the entertainment arena, and can and do drive the industry. It took me a while to get on the Stephenie Meyer train; I am after all a parent to a very busy youngling. During my travels over the past year, I would come across advertisements in book stores and in magazines, and I heard a buzz about a great new voice in the paranormal genre set to rival Anne Rice. I would stare quizzically at the huge Bella’s Choice posters, only vaguely aware that something big was happening. I was too preoccupied with adult endeavours to realize that this book was taking the world by storm and jumping off the literary pages and onto the silver screen faster than you could say bite me. So, now that I am aware, let’s shake off this cloak of jaded cynicism and adult responsibilities and willingly invite the phenomena that is Twilight to swoop down and fall upon me. Move over Lestat, Edward is here.

~P.S.~ There is a midnight screening of Twilight tonight at a theater in my neighborhood and we all know that there is nothing quite like the energy which accompanies the first showing of a highly anticipated film. I wonder how much Hollywood will deviate from the author’s vision in order to make a film which translates successfully to the screen? Either way, there are sure to be thrills and teeth. Stay tuned!

A while back I heard somewhere that The Witching Hour was going to be made into a movie. Anticipation and excitement filled me at this prospect, but I have as yet to hear or see anything more. What’s the hold up, I wonder? This book would be amazing to watch! Anyhoo, y’all remember The Witching Hour written by the famously talented Anne Rice, right? (Anne Rice is the author of that little vampire tale.) Well, if you don’t (tsk! tsk!), and for the Mayfair virgins out there, here’s a quick rundown.

The Witching Hour_www.amazon.com

The Witching Hour is an incredibly eerie and chilling tale of the matriarchal Mayfair family who just happen to be a long line of witches. This powerful clan is deeply embedded in New Orleans and all that is Southern gentility, though they hail from Scotland and even journeyed to Haiti before becoming firmly entrenched in the crumbling secrecy of the First Street house. They are an extremely wealthy and successful family, very tight knit despite the plethora of family members. They have a family law firm founded by Julien, one of the most powerful of male witches ever born to the Mayfairs, which deftly manages the Mayfair Legacy, the Mayfair Emerald, and the female designee always chosen by the last designee (or so they think). They also have an inescapable covenant with a dangerous and seductive spirit named Lasher. The pseudo antagonists of this story are the mysterious Talamasca, a slightly decaying and aged secret order that at times reminded me of the church in its composition, but who are gifted scholars recording and witnessing the supernatural. They have in their possession a veritable treasure trove of occult artifacts, which they cleave to as their own private museum, and extensive archives of all sorts of paranormal events, occurrences and entities throughout the ages. These silent watchers, or supernatural spies if you will, have of course chronicled the lives of the Mayfair witches for centuries, unwittingly becoming bound to the very witches they were set to simply watch, and despite the very real peril to their own lives. But the witches are wise, “the man” is always close at hand, the devilish Lasher will protect his own as long as it serves his malevolent desire to live and breathe. Of course there’s lots more to this frightening tale. It is filled with the exploits of the many witches, their passions and pitfalls and hair raising paranormal peccadilloes. It is a book that is decadent and alluring, seductive and thrilling, abounding with deeds of very questionable morality and conscience, filled with delightful tricks that are a definite treat. Too delicious, right? For those of you who are unfamiliar with this trilogy of novels, which include Lasher and Taltos, Amazon.com is selling them in an affordable bundle. So pick up a copy of each and slide into this sensual and lush world filled with characters that are guaranteed to unnerve.

~P.S.~ I think this work of fabulous fiction is definitely screen worthy. I think Orlando Bloom would make a delectable Lasher. Any ideas on who could play Rowan Mayfair, Michael Curry and Aaron Lightner? Do tell if you do.