Here it is! The promised blog which I never thought I would actually have. It’s a little odd actually to think of myself as someone who writes a blog. If it weren’t for Japan and those around me continuously asking if I would have a blog to chronicle my time in good ol’ Nippon I don’t think I would have ever started one. I was never really good with this kind of stuff. I could never keep a diary for longer than a week and despite many attempts by my mother to coerce me into keeping a journal whenever I went on a trip they never kept. So I will toast this new blog with the hopes that I don’t abandon it, not in Japan or afterwards when I’m back in Oberlin.

What I haven’t shared with some of you (except for maybe Vilma) is my plan for this blog after I return from Japan. At first I thought, hey maybe I can start being one of those really impressive people who comment on current politics and the state of the world. But come on, who am I fooling? That’s not me. Then I thought perhaps I could be like my friends Daniel and Liz who write about their daily lives (and do a pretty damn good job of it too). But this idea also failed, as I’m not very good when it comes to talking about myself or what goes on in my life. And then it hit me. My blog revelation of the year! Why do people start writing blogs? It’s either A) they have strong convictions over a certain topic that they want to discuss, B) they enjoy writing and can pull off talking about everyday life with pizzazz, or C) they’re famous.

B and C are definitely out which left me with option A. What do I have strong convictions about? What is it that I really care about? That’s right! Movies! The big Silver Screen! Something that I really missed from my home was when my mom, my brother Vicente, and I would all go see a movie and passionately discuss it afterwards. Every time I read reviews on a film I had seen recently I always seemed to have something to say myself.

And while I love all of my friends at Oberlin (and miss them very much right now) it has to be said that I’ve yet to find someone who has truly matched my movie taste. I think this is due to the fact that not only did I grow up in the same house as my brother Vicente (this may not make sense to most of you as most of you haven’t met him but trust me it has a lot to do with the way I turned out) but I basically turn into a very nerdy guy when it comes to movies. Throw my mom’s penchant for cheesy movies into the mix and honestly there was never any hope for me.

All of this to say I’ve discovered that a blog would be the perfect excuse for me to rant and rave about movies I’ve seen, movies I want to see, and movies that deserve to burn in cinematic hell.

Never fear though, project Jazmin Goes to Japan is still happening. As promised I’m saving this for later, with one small exception. Since I’m stuck in Texas for the rest of the summer with not much else to do I’ve decided to do some summer blog posts concerning movies. With one or two posts thrown in concerning Japan before I leave.

I’ve got to say I’m actually quite excited for this. I should probably wrap up this post though and I think I know the perfect note to end it on.

As some of you may know I’m a bit of a Guillermo Del Toro fan and while I hope everyone who cares to read this knows who he is, for those that don’t I’ll add a little bit about him. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, he’s directed some of my favorite movies such as Blade 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Devil’s Backbone. He is also responsible for the Hellboy films. Turns out this amazingly talented Mexican director is also a bit of a writer. Co-writing with author Chuck Hogan the two have just released the first book of a vampire trilogy called The Strain.

I just finished reading it and…….*drum roll*…..it was amazing! Now I know what you’re thinking, vampires? C’mon that genre has been rehashed so much nowadays that between True Blood and Twilight who can bring originality to it? I’ll tell you who can, mi mexicano favorito Guillermo Del Toro that’s who! And Chuck Hogan.

I knew this book was going to be the breath of fresh air that we all needed for the vampire genre when I stumbled upon an interview with Del Toro over The Strain. As he put it, he’s sick of the lovey-dovey safety glasses that have been put on vampires recently. He wants to move away from the romanticized image that the Twilight series has projected upon vampires and return these blood-sucking creatures to their original pee-in-your-pants ferocity. And I have to say he has done a brilliant job!

This was one of the few books that I’ve read which have made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. In fact there’s only been one other book that had me this unsettled (The Charnel House in case anyone’s interested in a good read). Del Toro and Hogan bring us back to the lore of a Bram Stoker’s-like vampire, returning to the roots you could say. Opening with a grandmother telling her grandson a bone chilling fable of a monster that roams at night, there’s the feeling that this ancient creature is both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. These two writers include their own twist on the genre, not only by the subtle differences of these vampires’ physical make-up (something I can’t help but think was slightly influenced by Guillermo’s time spent directing Blade 2, think of the freak of nature vampires that Blade had to go hunting after in the film) but also by the way we are introduced to them.

The book starts off with a plane landing in NYC where all the passengers inside are dead with no clue of what could have killed them. And even though we readers are let in on the big secret that it’s a vampire which did this, you are every bit uncertain of what the hell is going on just as the characters in the book are.
I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a gripping summer read. Forewarning, this is not for the faint of heart. It’s not so much the graphic nature of the book, but rather all throughout reading it you get the feeling of something crawling up your spine and settling at the back of your neck (this is mostly in the beginning but still lingers later on). Even after you put it down there’s still that unsettled feeling that something’s not quite right. One character refers the main vampire as Mr. Leech and trust me after you read the description Del Toro and Hogan have included you’ll never look at Edward Cullen the same way.

All in all Del Toro and Hogan have done one hell of an amazing job and I cannot wait to read the next two. Thank God for these two men otherwise we might have forgotten just how blood-curdling vampires can truly be.

And there it was folks! My very first blog post, phew that was tougher than I thought.