Tasha's (aka Beren) Journal

aardvarkinmud What do you collect?

So this is a fun question. I have collected many things in my time. I used to collect stamps, but I gave them all to my dad, who is an avid collector. There are, however, many things I still collect :).

Avengers Stuff
I collect just about anything with movie Avengers on it. I am specifically a Loki fan, but there's not enough with him on it so I have to make do with general MCU things.

I have:

• stationary
• rubbish bins
• games
• flying thingies
• planes
• Lego
• books
• action figures
• Thor's hammer
• Hawkeye's bow etc.

Well, you get the picture. I really liked the movie :).

Digital Art/Manga Drawing Books

I have a weakness - I see these books and I have to buy them. Usually my source is The Works because they have them at a price I can afford and whenever I go in I often come out with another one. It's the techniques that fascinate me and I love reading about how other people create these images.

Vampire Films/TV

I love all things vampire and I have a weakness for vampire films and TV. I have 125 vampire movies and 14 vampire TV shows (some with multiple seasons) on DVD/Blu-ray. As you can probably tell I'm pickier about the TV shows, but not so much the movies. < br />

Some of the films are absolutely brilliant, some are so bad they can't even be watched in fast forward and enjoyed. I kid you not.

One of the purchases that was a mistake is called Vampire Killer Barbys which seems to have an Asian girl on the front, but it has no Asian people in it and seems to be more trying to push a band's terrible music than producing a plot. I didn't even get to the end in fast forward.

I have another one called Cowboys and Vampires and it's not quite as bad, but it is so boring. It shouldn't be possible for a vampire movie to be boring, but it so is.

Then there are the great ones like Underworld, The Lost Boys and Let Me In. I knew those were going to be good before I bought them and I can watch them over and over again.


Then there are the delights, that were maybes and turned out to be jewels: Fright Night 2 (2013) is a brilliant film, I love it. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sounds like it should be terrible, but it's wonderful.

You can never really tell what you're going to get with a vampire movie. Some have huge budgets, but miss the mark, others have virtually no budget, but strike a nerve. It's impossible to tell if they will be good by the title or by the description, because sometimes they outright lie or get it wrong. Occasionally you have to wonder if the person who wrote the blurb actually ever saw the film.

Here are a few recs not listed above you might not have seen:

• Byzantium
• Higanjima - Escape from Vampire Island
• Lost Boys 3 - The Thirst
• Sundown - The Vampire In Retreat
• Once Bitten
• Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (has Benedict Cumberbatch's mum in it)

Tell me which vampire movies you love or what you like to collect, I'd love to know.