Everyone has an opinion when it comes to vampire movies. No, really. Everyone.

We've given you our picks. Last week, we asked on Facebook and Twitter, "What movies define vampires for you?"

You answered: Classic 1922 German horror film "Nosferatu" and 1987's "Lost Boys," which added the expression "vamp out" to the vampire lexicon. "Interview With The Vampire," "Underworld" and the soon-to-be-remade Swedish film "Let The Right One In" also merited repeat mentions...

Lisa Schwartz: "Lost Boys." It looks a little hokey now, but I still love it! Posted Wednesday from South Elgin on Facebook.

Billie Jo Moffett (billiejo): Defiantly "Nosferatu" from 1922, the quintessential vampire flick. Posted Thursday from Belvidere on Twitter.

Chris Roberts (crober72): Gotta be "Lost Boys." Dated, yes, but still a classic. Posted Thursday from Bartlett on Twitter.

Gary Percy (Wishbone59): Gotta be "Nosferatu," hands down. Posted Thursday from Elgin on Twitter.

Sue Everson (goeverson): "Nosferatu," "Let The Right One In," "Interview With The Vampire," "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" TV series, "True Blood" -- all favs. Posted Saturday from Elgin on Twitter.

More of the favorite fanged films you submitted, after the jump...

The latest movie in the Twilight saga -- that plot-less melodramatic of shirtless, suicidal, gothic creatures and the bland teen girl they very well could destroy if ever she were to make them angry (I'm totally serious. Have you read these books?) -- was released at midnight. And, you've probably caught on, we can think of a lot of other vampire movies we'd rather see for the umpteenth time than "Eclipse."

There is one nice thing I can think to say about the Twilight saga: Its movie soundtracks are incongruently solid, featuring music by such indie darlings as Beck, Vampire Weekend, current Jack White project The Dead Weather, The Black Keys and Band of Horses.

But Reporter Mike Danahey and I have done you one better. Oh, yes. We've made a vampire/werewolf/love triangle-themed playlist that has no shameful Twilight connection. That's right.

So without further ago... for your Twilight-free listening enjoyment...

Go on, Twihards -- defend Twilight. And let us know what tracks we missed.

-- Emily McFarlan, Staff Writer

It's Twilight-a-palooza today at The Courier-News! Except without anyone actually writing about "Eclipse," the third and latest installment in the Twilight saga, out today!

That's because we're not exactly fans of Twilight, as you may have noticed. We are, however, fans of other, dare we say better vampire movies. See Staff Writer Dave Gathman, Readers' Reporter Emily McFarlan and Community News Editor Julia Doyle's columns in today's "Our Towns" section. Check back later for more fun with Twilight on Between the Bylines.

Meantime, here's Staff Writer Katie Anderson's favorite fanged flick...

There is no competition in my mind. "Bram Stoker's Dracula," the 1992 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is the quintessential vampire flick.

For a vampire fan, "Dracula" has everything. The blood-sucking lead appears as a bat, a beast, a wolf, rats, mist, a dashing gentleman and a creepy old count. The movie delivers the seduction and terror that make vampires and the lore surrounding them fascinating. And it does so with beautiful scenery and cinematography, A-list acting (Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder) and without the cheese typically associated with the genre.

How "Dracula" foreshadowed Twilight, after the jump.

Newsrooms are, shall we say, interesting places. From the blaring police scanners to the stacks of old and competing newspapers to the lineup of stuffed Peeps on the community news editor's desk.

Or maybe that's just The Courier-News newsroom.

We got such a positive response from Katie's post, Between the Bylines ... literally, showing off what it, QUITE literally, looks like to work in a newsroom, we thought we'd post a few more pictures. Think of it as a public service to those of you who said your offices have "clean desk" policies. Live vicariously!

But first, here's one from reader Laurie Faith Gibson-Aiello of Elgin, who writes...

"I keep my worker Smurf happy with chocolate kisses and the playing cards to shuffle during long meetings/conference calls."

More Courier newsroom desks, after the jump.

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some of the movies that opened this past weekend...

Knight and Day

With Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, this looks like the high-budget version of that movie that came out a few weeks ago with Ashton Kutcher -- the one where Kutcher is a retired spy who gets outed, so to speak. This looks loud and lame.

Brew rating: A case of Old Style.

Grown Ups, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

OK, here is the deal. I have cheated.

But I don't like that term for deciding that I wanted something sweet. So I am going to say I indulged.

I indulged Saturday night. I drove into Chicago, and my friend Carla and I went out for Mexican. I had the chicken burrito suizo. It was yummy. But really, how bad could cheese, sour cream, chicken and a tortilla be for someone going for an Atkins/The Zone hybrid diet?

It gets worse, after the jump.

The Elgin City Council is set to welcome a whole bunch o' new citizens at tonight's meeting. Making the affair "Glee"-like is that the Elgin Choral Union will be performing for the newbies.

If this were "Glee," here's what I'd like the 20-song citizenship hit list to be...

The five-song set list for the Elgin Choral Union to perform, and a brief explanation, after the jump.

NOTE: You said you wanted to see more insider-type information. Today we give you a peek at what is literally between a few of our bylined staff members' desks.

Here is a photo of the area between the desks of Reader's Reporter Emily McFarlan and Staff Writer Katie Anderson.

You'll notice Ron Weasley of Harry Potter shooting some sort of green wizard fire out of his hand, a few big-eyed creatures from German Kinder Eggs, a dangerous-looking tape dispenser and a doe-eyed stapler.

What do you keep perched on your desk or stashed in the office for inspiration (or distraction) during the work day? Leave us a comment, or e-mail a photo to Emily.

And check out more photos of what's Between the Bylines in the Courier newsroom, after the jump.

Q: Which Courier-News reporter first was published in her church cookbook?

A: That was me -- Readers' Reporter Emily McFarlan. At age 7. In "Home Cooking," a cookbook published by St. James Lutheran Church in Western Springs.

As I remember it, my mom had pulled out the ol' typewriter (Yes, typewriter. I promise I'm not that old. My parents just aren't that hip to technology. Which is why I took it on as a personal calling.) and hacked out recipes for lemon squares and applesauce and yogurt pancakes and taffy apple salad and a cottage cheese JELL-O mold. Nothing unusual -- my parents had met working at a newspaper, and my mom was a typesetter. I have lots of little "newspapers" I typed up on that typewriter, including comic strips I'd drawn and other articles I'd clipped and glued to the paper.

So I decided to type up a recipe, too. All in lowercase letters. With questionable punctuation and subject-verb agreement. For something called "ham roll-ups." I kid you not.

Here it is: My first published work. Feel free to steal that this evening for an after-work snack. Yum.

HAM ROLL UP S

medium thick ham slices cream cheese spread cheese on ham slices. youhave a hamroll up's.

Missing from this recipe is the key step where you roll up the piece of ham with the cream cheese inside. Because, you know, "ham roll-ups" is not just a clever name. But you gotta love that little flourish at the end: "You have a ham roll-up(s)." Taa-daa!

What about you? What was your first foray into your chosen field? And does embarrassing evidence exist to this very day?

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some of the movies opening the weekend of Friday, June 18...

Toy Story 3

So Buzz and the gang wind up at a day care center, which for toys would be like us being sent to a nursing home, I guess. The script is by the same guy who wrote the quirky indie hit "Little Miss Sunshine," which means it could be subtly subversive. It's in 3D because, bless their little hearts, moviemakers want to get parents to spend as much as they can at the Cineplex.

Adult rule: If you are single, go see this at one of the later shows when the kids should all be in bed. That way, if you wind up crying, none of them see what a wimp you are. Also, it's just plain creepy for a single adult to go into a movie house packed with kids. It reeks of Michael Jackson, and though it's close to the anniversary of his death, heading to a packed kids' flick is not the way to mark the occasion, however ironic that might seem.

Beer rating: A couple A&W Root Beers.

Speaking of A&W (this is Readers' Reporter Emily McFarlan, here), this video "explains" what that stands for -- and was one of those viral videos my friends and I thought was HILARIOUS in college...

"Jonah Hex" and "Cyrus," after the jump.

I wasn't able to take part in any of Elgin's Bike to Work activities this week, except for one -- actually getting on my bike and riding to work.

Well, I just did it one day -- today (Thursday, June 17). And I'm only halfway through the process -- I still need to ride home in order to call it a real commute.

It's sort of an important step for me, though. Because of a recent move, home now is 16 miles away. That's much farther than the commute-of-sorts I had whenever I pedaled between my west-side Elgin home and The Courier-News office on Lake Street, on the city's near-east side. In those days, I could practically fall off my bike and be at work.

So although I'm an experienced bicyclist, today's trip still was a new adventure. There were the practical considerations, of course: having work clothes ready at the office so I could get out of my riding attire (I brought a gym bag of clothes to work yesterday), leaving early enough to get here on time (an hour instead of a half-hour), knowing the route (including the Fox River Trail bike path).

More considerations, Bike to Work Week activities, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

Sorry, yes, I should have blogged before today... it has been a very hectic last week. But the good news is (or was) -- drumroll please -- five pounds lost for Week One. Woot woot!

Of course, I followed that weigh in with a Blackhawks game party at a friend's house. I had to stop and buy food for the party... which led to finding this gorgeous-looking little carrot cake and a bottle of wine at Caputo's.

Followed, then, by a weekend at the Chicago Blues Festival. I pack quite a picnic for Blues Fest. However, this year that picnic included fresh fruit, salad, veggies and generally pretty healthy food. Well... at least until my friend Krys showed up with the strawberry rhubarb pie from another friend's pie store in Chicago. I had a VERY small slice.

How does a birthday affect a weigh in? Find out, after the jump.

Here it is: A sneak peek of new hyperlocal website BocaJump Elgin, launching Tuesday, June 29!

Reporter Mike Danahey has the scoop in his article in today's Courier-News, Getting a jump on new media: Elgin-centric website launches. And we've got a screen grab of what the website will look like...

The website will feature former Courier-News Freelance Reporter JJ Bailey and former Managing Editor Mike Bailey, who said the site will complement rather than compete with the newspaper. Meantime, elgin.bocajump.com simply says "BocaJump will become aware in the Summer of 2010."

I'll be a' waiting 'til then to see what our former colleagues are up to! (We've probably missed Mike Bailey's columns more than most here in the Courier newsroom.) And I think more news can only be good news for Elgin residents. But what do you think about hyperlocal online efforts, like BocaJump? (For background: The New York Times and CNN both have run reports about the trend.) What can The Courier-News, as Elgin's paper of record for more than a decade, learn and incorporate from hyperlocal online efforts? Share your ideas here!

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

Last week, I spent my vacation time the same way I do every summer: Working with Hope for the First Nations, a nonprofit my friends and I founded on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota.

(Thanks to Community News Editor Julia Doyle and Reporter Katie Anderson for taking over Twitter, Facebook and this blog while I was out!)

Hope for the First Nations grew out of a trip offered by my tiny Lutheran high school to keep students occupied over the summer, leading Vacation Bible School for kids at a church near Pine Point, a community on the southern edge of the reservation. When the high school discontinued the trip after my friends and I had graduated, we formed a 501(c)3 and moved into the Pine Point Community Center. Since then, we've launched a summer Hope Day Camp in most of the communities on the reservation, led by teams from across the country. We've also started making trips throughout the year, partnering with tribal leaders on odd jobs, like Christmas parties, pow wows and building projects.

It's a rewarding way to spend a summer vacation. Plus, the Ojibwe culture and Minnesota landscape are absolutely beautiful.

But you don't need to start a nonprofit or drive 10 hours to find a fun way to spend your summer vacation.

Google Map of your favorite area festivals, more summer vacation ideas, after the jump.

Happy Flag Day!

This stretch from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July is like the "holiday shopping season" of flags, Tom Culumber of the Marine Corps League said in my Readers' Reporter column today. If you're one of the many out shopping for a new American flag, the Marine Corps League is holding a flag retirement ceremony at 6 p.m. Monday, June 28, at the Elgin VFW Watch City Post 1307, 1601 Weld Rd.

Other organizations collect and retire flags -- preferably by "burning in a dignified manner" -- throughout the year. Click the links below to find the chapters closest to you and ask about their flag retirement programs:

• Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
• The American Legion
• Boy Scouts of America
• Girl Scouts of America

Why retire the flag? Check out the U.S. Code, Title 4, Chapter 1--The Flag. For instance, did you know the flag never should touch anything below it? Although if it does, it's an urban myth that the flag code says a flag that touches the ground should be burned.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

A lot of remakes opening the weekend of Friday, June 11...

The A-Team

Yet another old TV show is made into a movie. This one is brought up-to-date and apparently involves a group of wronged Iraq war vets out to clear their names. Naturally, lots of explosions follow. It stars Liam Neeson and some guy named Quinton Jackson in the role made famous by Mr. T. Let me be the first to say it: I pity the fool who spends $10 on this instead of waiting for the DVD.

Beer rating: A case of Old Style.

The Karate Kid, after the jump. No pun intended.

NOTE: Courier-News freelancer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

I go in for my weekly weigh-in at 5 p.m. today. Haven't been this nervous since my last dentist appointment. I am afraid that the news will hurt.

Don't get me wrong, I think I have been pretty good for the past seven days. I did 40-50 minutes on the Gazelle four times since last week ... sorry, Saturday and Sunday were just too booked to fit in a workout and I will strangle anyone who tries to tell me that I could have found the time if I wanted to. You work freelance from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and tell me if you shoehorn in time for a workout and lunch/dinner. (I think the sugar deprivation is making my grumpy).

I have been sticking to salads, chicken breast and veggies for the past week. The hardest day, though was a friend's birthday party last Saturday, followed by a 'Hawks party on Sunday.

more on finding a "healthy" condiment and temptations, after the jump.

NOTE: One thing you said you wanted to see more of in Between the Bylines was insider-type information and bloopers. Remembering your request Courier-News reporter Katie Anderson used her camera phone this week to capture an insider moment exclusively for our Courier-News blog.

In today's post, Katie talks about what goes into the police reports section of the Courier-News and the blooper featured in the picture.

One of the most popular sections of both the print and online Courier-News is the police reports. This is the part of the paper where we list any serious accidents, arrests or crimes reported by local police departments each day.

Some content for the section comes from press releases. Other items come from incident reports we collect at individual police stations. Circuit clerk records and interviews with cops also provide us with the information we put into the section reporters lovingly call "blotter."

Many of the most interesting stories in the police reports section however, come from bond court.

Get the insider scoop on how we gather info for blotter and more on that bus picture, after the jump.

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR COMPUTER MONITORS.

The photo at right was not taken from a scene in "Big Bird Earns Her Diploma." It's me on my graduation day - way back in 1992 - at Waukegan High School.

I'm no fashionista, but pasty, pale redheads - like me -- should NEVER wear the color yellow. But there I was graduating high school, forced to wear this gold, shiny polyester monstrosity, and I was not a happy camper. As a result, this is one of the few photos that exist of me in the gown.

I never thought this photo would again see the light of day, but when we got to talking about high school graduations and getting readers to send in photos for our online gallery for the Class of 2010, I immediately thought of my own high school graduation day. I figured there had to be some old school graduation photos that were as awfully colorful as mine.

So I'm sharing this photo and throwing down the graduation gauntlet. Can you top my garish gold graduation gown? Send me your jpg-formatted photos at jdoyle@stmedianetwork.com. Please include your name, year of graduation (be honest), and your current city of residence.

We'll pick some of our favorites and post them on the blog!

-- Julia Doyle, Community News Editor

Today's cover story introduced readers to the wide variety of summer camps in the Elgin area. When I set out to write the story, I figured the job would be easy -- call up a few park districts and put together a list. That was before I knew just how many camps each school and park district offered!

As I compiled the information for this article, I had to make a tough decision. Not all of the information was going to fit into the printed Courier-News.

The article published today focused on academic, traditional outdoor and fine arts camps. I had to leave sports camps out.

The main reason behind this decision was the belief that most kids who are interested in sports and improving athletic skills are already researching camps or have heard about them through their respective school athletic departments.

But don't fret, dear readers, I've included plenty of sports and fitness camp information here. Scroll through to learn more about what local YMCA, school and park districts are offering...

Village of South Elgin
Sports offered: Volleyball, lacrosse, flag football, cheer leading, youth fitness and roller hockey

School District U46
Sports offered: Baseball, basketball, cheerleading, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, softball, tennis, cross country, football, strength and gymnastics

Northern Illinois University
Sports offered: Tennis, baseball, soccer, cheerleading, softball, volleyball, wrestling, football, basketball, cross country/track and field

Links to more sports camps, after the jump

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

There are entirely too many mock-able movies opening the weekend of Friday, June 4...

Marmaduke

Talk about a career going to the dogs. Owen Wilson was in "Marley and Me." Now he's the voice of Marmaduke, the cartoon strip dog. Only the movie looks like it uses real animals and makes it look like they talk. Creepy. Who reads Marmaduke? Does anyone under the age of 100 even know who he is? I would only see this if Marmaduke fights a vampire pit bull.

Beer rating: Take me to the Flying Dog Brewery in Maryland instead.

Splice, Killers, Get Him to the Greek, Ondine, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelancer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

I hate "diet plans." They make no sense and don't tell me what I want to know in five minutes or less. I need bullet points and lists, not prose.

I've bought diet books before, including The Zone and the Atkins books. And they bored me to tears. Which is why I probably couldn't stick to them. They don't tell a single woman with a busy schedule how to do this without wasting my time. Sitting and reading your flowery prose means I am not walking or on the Gazelle or heading over to the Y for a workout.

I don't care about reading about the science behind your particular plan. I know. I have heard from people who've had success and the diet works. I don't want to know about your personal history and challenges. I have my own, thank you very much. Just like I delete most "inspirational" e-mail forwards, I will ignore your "inspirational" story.

More frustrations, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelancer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

The first weigh in for Elgin's Biggest Loser, Take Two, was Wednesday night. And the good/bad news is the line for check-in and weigh-in was long.

The good news is people know about the challenge this time around and are lining up to get involved. The bad news is so many people need the extra motivation and help this program brings.

And, yes, I still am one of them. And let's just say I am not quite ready to come to terms with the number that popped up on the digital scale readout. Yes, I looked at it -- I guess I had to to know if any progress gets made. But I really didn't like it.

How'd that first week go? Find out after the jump.

NOTE: Got questions about journalism? We promised you we'd answer them. Now we're back from the Memorial Day holiday, and we're ready for more! Here's the next Q and A...

"What's the Courier doing to embrace this change?" -- frankwolfton, via blog comment

Ask and ye shall receive.

You asked if we still thought it was a good idea for young people to get into newspapers. We answered: YES! The fact that people need newspapers hasn't changed. What has and likely will is the way people read those newspapers, thanks to something you may have heard of called "the Interwebs."

To which, you asked, well, what is The Courier-News doing about that?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked. As your Readers' Reporter, I'm the fingers behind the keyboard, if you will. The Courier's resident geek. The one coming up with hackneyed ideas for Facebook and Twitter pages and blogs and hacking out most of the posts for all of the above. And I could talk about this all day.

Let's start with the big one...

Social media. One of the things the Internet has changed about the way you read the news is it's become a social experience. According to Pew Internet, 59 percent of Americans get their news from a combination of online and offline sources. Of those, 75 percent get that news via e-mail or social networks, and 52 percent will pass it on through those means.

Since social media is where you're getting your news, social media is where we're putting it. We have three Twitter accounts: @courierrss (headlines from our RSS feeds), @courierfbscores (sports) and @couriernews (breaking news and interaction with yours truly). I've also made Twitter Lists for each of the communities we cover and each of the regular sections in The Courier-News. We have a Facebook fan page. We even did the MySpace thing for a while... but seriously. Does anybody even use MySpace anymore?! (If I'm wrong, and that's important to you -- let me know. I'll start updating our profile again.)

And we've made it easy for you to pass it on through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc., with a "Share/Bookmark" link at the top of each article on The Courier-News website (and the bottom of every blog post).

E-mail, smartphones and this here blog, after the jump.