I am in agreement here. When I was reading the books, yes I did read the books, I was semi-okay with it. The sparkling part I was not okay with. I read that part and wanted to flip. I grew up with Dracula, The Vampire Chronicles, and the original vampire/werewolf lore. Not this s**t that she came up with. Van Helsing and Underworld were great. It just completely kills the traditional sight of a vampire to see him walk out into the sun...and not burst into flames...just sparkle.
At least in the Vampire Diaries, they have something that keeps them from bursting into flames, and if they are not wearing their ring, they will burst into flames. At least that makes a little more sense, and kind of keeps to tradition.