Just when, after over a decade of excessive vampire romanticism in film and TV, you thought you were ready to declare the undead dead, information started trickling out (like blood, you might say!) about Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement’s vampire mockumentary, What We do in the Shadows, and you probably thought, “If they’ll make me laugh and they’re from New Zealand, how can I say vampires are dead, quite yet?” Indeed, since they’ll surely outlive all of us, it’s best we continue to get acquainted, not only with our fictional vamps, but also with the real ones. Inspired by True Blood, Vice’s series The Real, which explores the real-life versions of Hollywood phenomena, has filmed a short doc about a vampiric subculture in the American south.
As they’re dead and such, vampires, despite being deemed “sexy,” are often noted to have a ghastly pallor. The came could certainly be said, and in fact certainly has been said, about this year’s round of acting Oscar nominees. The glaring whiteness of the actors (and the glaringly absurd exclusion of Selma actors therein) was noted at a recent nominee luncheon by the upcoming Oscar host — Neil Patrick Harris — on Instagram.
Speaking of that silly, out-of-touch awards ceremony that everyone still — for some reason — watches and discusses long in advance (case in point), the ultra-talented Julianne Moore has been nominated for an Oscar for her role in a film that isn’t ultra-good. But as Vulture points out, Julianne Moore gets nominated all the time, and for better movies, yet is still “the Meryl Streep of not winning Oscars.” The website has generously provided a list of all of the films for which Moore should have actually won an Oscar.
Though you can likely easily engage in a heated debate about Julianne Moore’s Oscar eligibility, you may, for reasons of pronunciation-based intimidation, be unlikely to invoke the teachings of Slavoj Žižek in said debate; The Atlantic is here to help you fluidly overcome your fear of tripping over uncertain syllables in authors’/theorists’ names. That being said, please continue to refrain from invoking the teachings of Slavoj Žižek in your discussion of Julianne Moore’s Oscar eligibility. Both of their talents can be put to better use.
Žižek might, however, have something to say about internet writers’ tendency — and seeming obligation — to insert branded images of cute animals in posts like this, as I’ve done with this screenshot of a lion cub and a bulldog playing, taken from an Android commercial. Also, is it just me, or does that bulldog appear to be somewhat… vampiric?