But Mother Nature had other plans. The temperatures here, as in most of the nation, have set new records for heat. Today, the temp soared to 106 degrees. The air quality is so poor that they devised a new "bad-der" than bad category. Before, unbreathable air was Code Red. Now it is PURPLE. (I think it should have been BLUE for lack of oxygen, but I wasn't consulted.)
So instead of visiting sights, we've been happily crafting. We've worked on Zentangle designs, journals, and yesterday Katigan painted a lovely yellow sunflower on a canvas for my guest room. In addition, we've become devotees of the local mall. Not something I recommend, but geez, at least we got a lot of exercise walking around!
Last night we decided to see a movie. Since I couldn't take her to soak up any historical culture, I thought, "Hmmm. How about 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,' based on the book of the same name?"
Since I'm nervously awaiting the release of my first book in The Jane Eyre Chronicles--Death of a Schoolgirl--I was eager to see how another author handled mixing fact and fiction.
The answer?
THREE thumbs down.
Ugh, ugh, ugh. Possibly the worst movie I've ever seen, and I've seen some real stinkers. As one reviewer said, "It needs more hatchet," as in, someone who authorized this should have had his head cut off. Another columnist pointed out that this is SUCH an inherently bad idea that he had to see the movie.
I remember when one of the editors from the publishing house that bought this book told a bunch of us at Sleuthfest that it was coming out. There were stunned expressions all around the table. A couple of authors seriously considered poking their eyes out with forks. I mean, here we all were, pitching our best ideas, and this senior editor tells us with a straight face that his house bought...a book about Abraham Lincoln hunting vampires. I guess you'd call it "high concept." It's sort of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Abe Lincoln with a bit of the Matrix mixed in.
Or maybe you'd just call it what it was...a really, really bad idea. And certainly a waste of money for the movie-goer.
5 comments:
I totally agree! There is nothing about Lincoln and vampire hunting that goes together for me. And the only idea more high-concept than that for me is (because it has fewer words) "Cowboys and Aliens." Didn't go see that one either. I was at the RWA conference quite a few years ago when one editor was basking in the glow of having bought a book which shall remain nameless (Meryl Streep was in the movie) but which was purely a man's fantasy. Stranger blows into town, shacks up with lonely housewife whose family is away, then blows on out of town. NOT a romance. At. All.
Thanks for the warning, Joanna. I was curious--but now I'll definitely avoid that one.
I'm usually positive, or at least willing to say, "Hey, it didn't work for me, but someone else might like it," but I have to say in this case...it was just BAD to the bone.
There was so much that strayed from the facts. 1.) Mary Todd was part of a slave-owning family. 2.) The Lincolns had four sons, not one, and so the dynamics were much different than in the movie. 3.) The whole notion that slavery existed solely so vampires could feed on slaves in the South is just plain...silly.
The movie sounds awful.
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