Happy Thursday My Blogger Chums

In Today's Issue

2nd Person
A 2nd Person Poem
Vampires
Trivial Top 10
Finish with a Song

At a recent creative writing group meeting, we were asked to look and second person point of view in writing.

First person is you describing what is happening to you.

Third person is where you are taking an overview and narrating the story.

Second person is where you are telling the reader what they are doing, for example :-

'You are late, you look at your watch and gasp.'

This form of writing is one of the most un-used point of views.

The advantage of this POV is that it puts the reader directly into the story.

Here's something I wrote to example second person, it's called...You.

You look in her 

eyes

You hear all her 

sighs

You read from her 

mind

you hope she's your kind

You long for her

lips

You feel for her

hips

You hold her so

tight

You pray for the

night

You ache and you

need

On her neck you will

feed

Until she is 

drained

And your thirst is

contained

Then off you will

fly

Bat kite in the 

sky

Vampire 'Facts'

A group a vampires has variously been called a clutch, brood, coven, pack, or a clan.

The Muppet vampire, Count von Count from Sesame Street, is based on actual vampire myth. One way to supposedly deter a vampire is to throw seeds (usually mustard) outside a door or place fishing net outside a window. Vampires are compelled to count the seeds or the holes in the net, delaying them until the sun comes up.

A rare disease called porphyria causes vampire-like symptoms, such as an extreme sensitivity to sunlight and sometimes hairiness. In extreme cases, teeth might be stained reddish brown, and eventually the patient may go mad

Documented medical disorders that people accused of being a vampire may have suffered from include haematodipsia, which is a sexual thirst for blood, and hemeralopia or day blindness. Anemia was often mistaken for a symptom of a vampire attack

One of the most famous “true vampires” was Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614) who was accused of biting the flesh of girls while torturing them and bathing in their blood to retain her youthful beauty. She was by all accounts a very attractive woman

The legend that vampires must sleep in coffins probably arose from reports of gravediggers and morticians who described corpses suddenly sitting up in their graves or coffins. This eerie phenomenon could be caused by the decomposing process

By the end of the twentieth century, over 300 motion pictures were made about vampires, and over 100 of them featured Dracula. Over 1,000 vampire novels were published, most within the past 25 years.

Trivial Top 10

Count Dracula is one of the most played characters of all time. Here is a list of the top 10 actors who have embodied him on the screen.

(From wickedhorror.com)

10. DUNCAN REGEHR

Duncan Regehr portrayed the Count in the 1980's flop The Monster Squad.. It has now become a cult classic.

9. JOHN CARRADINE-

Carradine took over the role at the tail-end of the Universal era, playing the Count through House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein, as well as in Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.

8. JACK PALANCE-

Palance was an unconventional choice for Dracula, but his portrayal gave his charactisation a more romantic style and tried to bring historical facts into the story.

7. LOUIS JORDAN-

Like Palance, Jordan was a more romantic Count. Unlike Palance, it wasn’t the character that was written romantically. This version of Dracula is similar to the cruel character of the novel, but Louis Jordan brings a romantic elegance to it that makes it very endearing to watch. 

6. BELA LUGOSI

Bela Lugosi was a fantastic Dracula, obviously. He is the performance that everyone seems to base theirs on and he is the classic image of Dracula, but that’s both a blessing and a curse. Because he doesn’t have a ton in common with the novel and the original film doesn’t totally hold up, but his performance is great. His scene with Van Helsing in the office is incredible acting from both of them. His voice draws you in, and there is a reason it’s lasted for so long.

5. FRANK LANGELLA-

He is suave, intense, seductive, so heroic that you forget that he is actually the villain. This was very much a Dracula at the onset of the Anne Rice generation, and definitely works well as that. 

4. GARY OLDMAN-

Gary Oldman is one of the great living actors. He brings a lot to every role and in many ways his version of Dracula had to do some of the hardest things to pull off. They needed a very, very good actor in the role for the movie to work at all, considering what they had Dracula doing. Three full body prosthetics, full old-age prosthetic and a general vampire face. Plus the prologue sequence, playing Vlad the Impaler and wearing the elaborate armor. Dracula is a chameleon in this movie and yet, through all of that, the performance shines through. While the appearance changes drastically, the character is fluid from one scene to the next and that is the testament to a truly incredible actor.

3. MAX SCHRECK-

While F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu was an unofficial adaptation, it was an adaptation nonetheless. And the performance that Schreck gives is so remarkable that a (satirical) film was made in 2000, with Dafoe as Schreck, that suspects the actor himself may have been a vampire. Because that’s how good he is in the film. It’s all so elaborate that you actually feel like he may be exactly as he appears to be. The transformation he undergoes is intense and the physicality is chilling. One of the most instantly recognizable vampires of all time, and always will be.

2. KLAUS KINSKI-

The only thing that tops Schreck in Nosferatu is Kinski in Nosferatu. Which is actually not true, because Kinski was playing a very different version of the vampire, despite the physical differences. The major difference separating the original Nosferatu from Herzog’s version is the fact that the latter film is not an unofficial adaptation. So the character is at least called Dracula here, and has more characteristics in common with Stoker’s Count from a story standpoint, mostly because this was also a talking adaptation as supposed to the original silent film.

1. CHRISTOPHER LEE-

Christopher Lee played Dracula through several films, some he didn’t really want to do, but he brought a level of grace and class to the role every single time. He had a presence as Dracula that never dulled and he commanded your attention every time he stepped on screen. Even with numerous actors before him and after him in the role, he’s had a lasting legacy as the character. He could be charming, classy, and sophisticated, but he was also vicious and cruel, and exuded a sense of evil through every single scene he was in.

Sooooo finish with a song....This is a Goth classic, Bauhaus with Bela Lugosi's Dead.
Released in 1982 !!!