The Cliffs of Insanity

Aunt Tudi and I have some errands to run later. After that, though, I have some things I want to do.

I've begun a new quote renovation, taking old quotes and giving modern interpretations, usually Sithly in nature, 'cos that's how I roll yo.

I'm also going to be writing a thing for the mods on TJB on how to deal with 'problem children' on the forums and on their networking sites. We're all being friended and followed from You Tube to Twitter and, sometimes, it gets little hairy with some of the more obnoxious Nerfs. Since I've had experience with folks like this in the past, especially whilst working in The Pit, I'm gonna impart what knowledge I have regarding this to the mods, one of which is relatively new to the net and are a little freaked out by what she's recently had to deal with. I expect things are only gonna get worse in the respect with the release of the next couple of episodes of The Joker Blogs. Tasks will be involved, so things are sure to get crazy.

The next part of The Blood Crown is for Kelat to pass on to Orphaeus the body of knowledge she carries within her infinite memory. He'll be come the keeper of all the Tarmian history and wisdom in relation to the Tribes of Thessaly, making him the first male to hold such sacred knowledge, and the first human. I think his title won't be Father of Memory, but Bard of Memory. In Tarmian, the word would be Kelat'lihar'vha, which essentially means the Singer of Memory. The memories will come unbidden to him as they are needed on the journey to and quest within Rome. Cadmus will be furious that he must depend on Orphaeus for knowledge they need for the success of their venture, but it won't matter because this ability Orphaeus possesses will be the one thing that will keep him alive in the presence of such a volatile and vicious Vampire.

I'm thinking of seeking collaboration in turning The Chalice into a screenplay. The book was always a movie in my head first. I'd had the thing cast, the person I wanted to score the film, and possible directors. I never stuck with one director, because none of them seemed just right for maintaining the vision I wanted. Maybe Peter Jackson, but I'm not sure he'd want to move away from the central goodness he tries to instill in his films, even though he comes from a gory, ridiculous background. Neither one really fits The Chalice anyway. Sure there's fantasy and blood, but neither really fits into the Jackson world. I need a director who has a hint of sociopathy, who can tap into the soul of the Cadmus character and allow the actor to bring him out in all his horrible glory. Personally, I'd like Ed Kowalczyk to play Cadmus Pariah. After seeing the 'Freaks' video, I really think he could pull it off, and he's had acting experience before, having appeared in The Fight Club.





I added that extra video to show his stage presence. He has that hypnotic charismatic power over his audience that I've described in Cadmus more than once. I think he'd be a dead ringer for the Cadmus character. Of course Barry would be my first pick, but I don't think he'd be willing to do that and, honestly, he's too old for the young Vampire now. Not that he doesn't still look uncannily young for his age, don't get me wrong. I just wonder if Ed could do a British accent and if he'd be willing to work with Barry Andrews in the creation of the character for screen. And, of course, Barry would have to do the songs for Magnificat. I'd like for Danny Elfman to score the film.

Gods listen to me. I talk like it's already a given, and I still don't have anyone who could help me make it into a screenplay. Pathetic much? I'm way too much of a dreamer.

Speaking of music, booraven22 sent me a bunch, including "I Like It" by Moby. I was listening to it while on chat with one of the TJB mods, luvthyjoker, who also happens to be a fantastic video editor who shows her fine work at her You Tube channel. I sent the song to her with the message "Nerfs the world over would worship at your toes if you made a tribute video to this song." Well, she did. And I've been laughing uncontrollably ever since. I'm not posting the link here because that'd just be wrong of me, and I feel dirty enough as it is. Anyway, that's a lot of what I did yesterday, just cackling at the absurdity of what we'd done. I blame booraven22 for sending me the song. I have to blame someone.

These new meds are kicking my butt. I fell asleep during Knowing last night, so I need to watch the rest of that. For now, though, I think I'm gonna have another lie down.

I was reading the banter between my beloved booraven22 and morriganwind regarding Cadmus Pariah and how perfect Billy Zane would be to play the role in a movie. Of course, I agree that he would be an excellent candidate, I was the one who made the observation. What I can't wrap my mind around is how these two otherwise sane (as far as I know) ladies went on to drool over not only Mr. Zane, but Cadmus as well. I thought to myself, "Do they want to die? Do these females who've encountered Cadmus on the page and have a similar reaction all have a desire to be vivisected, bled out, and massacred without a thought for their inherent holiness? Do they not realise that he's a monster?

And then it dawns on me that Cadmus, even though an unequivocal product of his father's very existence, is my child. Every perversion, every profanity, every act of sadism, every manipulation came slithering out of my brain and onto paper or into Word. When he whispers to his victims, it's me whispering. When he rends the flesh of his father, it's me holding the knife. When he holds Faust hostage (a story yet to written down) and visits such delicious suffering upon the young vampire for the duration of the Summer of Sam, it's me devising the next torture session, all for the Blood.

I realised something the other day, thanks to Clive Barker. I was about halfway through Mister B. Gone when I read this passage:

That makes me wonder ----- the idea of me telling you makes me wonder. What do I sound like in your head? Did you give me the voice of somebody you've always hated, or someone you love?

Oh wait, do I sound like you? No, do I? That would be weird, that would be so weird. it'd be like I didn't really exist, except in your head.

I'd never thought about it before, but every villain I ever read, every creature of questionable alignment or dark seduction sounds like Cadmus. Someone who knows me only marginally well may read this and think, "Oh, she hears Barry in her head when reading certain characters." But that's not true. Cadmus is similar in some ways to B, but he doesn't sound like Barry.

(LOL! I just noticed that the demon in Clive Barker's is named what I most usually call B ~ another Shriek-Barker collaboration in the rotted truffle I call a brain. Have you noticed how black truffles look like brains? And we eat them. Could it be that we're devouring tree brains, that the object of our cravings makes those of us who can afford such delicacies arboreal neurovores? I'm drifting...)

I have Cadmus speaking in my head on a regular basis, yet it's me giving him the breath to do so. I'm a terrible person. I should be committed and decked in the best refinery a madhouse has to offer, the tightest straitjacket with the rustiest buckles, so the straps can't slip. But on to happier ponderings regarding this terrible creature that resides in my brainmeats.

Yes, Billy Zane could be a good candidate for Cadmus Pariah, should my book ever be made into a film (that is, assuming it ever bloody gets published, the prospects of which are looking bleak at best). But he's not the best choice for a few reasons: he's too big. Cadmus is on the small side. I actually pegged him as being smaller than B, but I found out that B was actually smaller than I thought. Imagine my horror. Barry could and should play Cadmus, regardless of age. Being a living Vampire, Cadmus does age, and can age at varying speeds depending on his hunger. If starved, the years can catch up with him, thus the reason for his being very keen on maintaining a high level of satiety. He doesn't have to be young or even middle-aged (like B). He could be elderly, although that wouldn't be ideal. Barry appears younger than he actually is (because he's a Vampire, I just know it), so it could work. Barring B taking the role of Cadmus, there are two other ideal people, one of whom is an American, so he'd have to work on not necessarily a British accent, but an indefinable European accent. That would be Ed Kowalczyk of Live fame. He fairly evokes the damned spirit of Cadmus in this video.



and, again, in this one:



Every move the man makes is like a word in some unspeakable poetry. Take Philly out of him and replace it with the embodiment of Europe, and we'd have Cadmus incarnate, I swear. If that didn't work, the next best person would be Tom Hardy. His work in bringing Shinzon to life in Star Trek: Nemesis is nothing short of miraculous. And, no, the irony of the movie's title isn't lost on me.



His voice and accent are pretty much perfect for the role of Cadmus. If I could combine Ed and Tom, I'd be a happy filmmaker, even though I'm far from ever being capable of making a decent film. I would have to trust my producers and director(s), and hope they wouldn't cast Tom Cruise in any role in The Chalice. If that happened, it would become public knowledge that I'm capable of the atrocities attributed to dear Cadmus in the book.

In the meantime, please somebody explain to me why you think Cadmus is attractive. Sure, he's attractive to the other characters in the novel, but I don't see how he could be anything but reprehensible to those of us in the "real world." I don't understand the motivation behind it. Enlighten me. I beg you.