Transylvania Mania!

My roommates and I have an insatiable thirst for vampires lately.

Feels like the rest of society has a similar appetite, too, since pop culture is currently smeared with images of pale, hunky vampires (quite an eerie twist on the "strong, silent type"). Our cultural fascination has shifted from superheroes to the supernatural, as tales of the sexy undead and the female ingenues who fall for them have replaced those about superhumans fighting evil.

The vampire craze at our house began with a gift. Catherine received "Twilight" - the first installment of a four-part series about a lonely vampire who cannot resist the aromatic blood of Bella, the "plain Jane," new girl in town - for Christmas.

Catherine devoured the book in 3 days over the holidays. Emily, also my roommate, borrowed the book from Catherine and 3 days later "Twilight" secured a new fan.

"Twilight" wasn't the only catalyst to the Transylvania mania at 7A, though. One night in early January, Dave and I were hanging out at my house with plans to watch a DVD. Since we had already watched all the movies in my collection that weren't totally girlie, we thought we'd try the one that was still wrapped in its clear packaging. It was a promotional video with a single episode: "True Blood, episode one." We had never heard of it, but we were intrigued.

"Is this painful or amazing?" I wondered aloud, after stomaching inter-species intercourse, violent beatings and a vampire licking a girl's bloody wounds. We both agreed that while it was explicitly over-the-top and unapologetically gratuituous, it was pretty damn awesome.

We shared the news of our latest guilty pleasure with Catherine and Emily. The next day, they watched the episode and I began reading "Twilight." The girls were hooked on "True Blood" and its surly vampire, Bill, right off the bat and made it their mission to watch the other episodes.

When Catherine and Emily put their minds to something, they can acheive amazing results. A friend had the remaining episodes burned on her external harddrive and leant it Emily. A solid start, but not nearly the end.

I returned from dinner with my mom one night and heard wild excitement emanating from the living room.

"Kate!" Catherine exclaimed. "You're just in time! We're starting the second episode of 'True Blood.'"

I was thrilled, naturally, but nothing could have prepared me for what the girls had set up. The living room was filled with a pale blue light, as if I was entering a Cineplex theatre. Confused, I turned to the empty space above our TV and saw the opening sequence of "True Blood" playing across the wall. I didn't know which was more unbelievable: vampire romances or the fact that the girls rigged up a projector to create a home movie theatre.

Unfortunately, I fell behind in my "True Blood" viewings, but, after receiving the second book in the Twilight series for my birthday, I am one step ahead in the reading genre. While it's not a literary masterpiece, it's definitely a cultural phenomenon that I can (pun alert) really sink my teeth into.

Catherine and Emily, however, continued their "True Blood" odyssey and last Wednesday marked the screening of the season finale. It was bittersweet, knowing the excitement was coming to an end, but that doesn't mean they didn't celebrate this monumental occassion. Catherine and Emily threw a fang-tastic exit party, complete with "I <3 Vampires" t-shirts and Pomegranate juice disguised as "V" (the nickname for vampire blood, which some of the townspeople use to get a freaky buzz in the show). Now, they wait with hopeful hearts for their immortal beloved to return when the series resumes with its second season in the summer.

It's interesting that in both stories, the vampires are men. There are female vampires, of course, but the central love stories feature a male vampire and a female human. Sookie and Bella are outcasts, much like the vampires they fall in love with. The girls feel that they are misunderstood by the humans in their worlds and are seduced by the possibility of connection with their vampire suitors. It is the age-old desire, I guess, for someone to "get" you, even if everyone else thinks you're a total freak. Sure, the guy's not human, but finally, for Bella and Sookie, there is that feeling of connection and recognition that we all crave. Just so happens that these dudes also have an ancient craving for the girls' blood (insert mischevious Count Dracula laugh). Except, in both cases, we're dealing with "good" vampires who are "mainstreaming" and trying their darndest to resist their blood lust for a chance at true love.