Dracula's Hometown, in Pictures

Just to redirect your attention to the Huffington Post pictorial article about Sighosoar, Romania, the purported home of Dracula.

(if you haven't seen it already)

Boris Karloff Man-Crush

*a special poem for Halloween

She sneers when she
talks about the rubber
Frankenstein’s Monster
I keep on the shelf next to
pictures of our trip
to Cancun.

Once, I caught her
with a plastic grocery bag
loaded and heavy with
Fangoria
Famous Monsters
and one old Aurora catalog
I rescued from Grandpa’s trash bin
when I was eight.

Ashes to ashes,
pulp to pulp, she said.

No, I said.

Not Boris Karloff.

Doesn’t she understand
this is Karloff?
The Karloff
who garnered enough fame under
gallons of spirit gum to simply
be known as one word.

The Creature:
Karloff.

Doesn’t she understand
this is about growing up with
silver-screen television late night horror show
blood thudding through my veins?

No I will not throw out
the molded plastic drinking glasses
or the bobble-head
or the fired-clay bust from ninth grade art.

Her eyes roll,
she hands me the bag,
and I stash my treasure
under the tall, Lucite-framed
original lobby card
announcing The Monster Demands a Mate,
hanging from the basement wall
of my shrine.

Doesn’t she know?
Boris Karloff is only a man-crush after all,
and not a threat?
Not much of one,
anyway.

Happy Birthday, Bela Lugosi

(20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956)

Born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, Lugosi was a Hungarian born actor who is most famous for his portrayal of the legendary vampire, Dracula, on stage and in Universal's Dracula (1931). He went on to co-star with Universal stalwart Boris Karloff in a few films, including the often underrated The Black Cat (1934).

(which, for the record, has very little to do with Edgar Allan Poe's tale despite advertising to the contrary)

Paper Monsters Everywhere

Build your own paper Frankenstein's Monster (by Bob Canada):

Download the template.

Frankenstien, the Puppet Show?

Odd but true...

Frankenstein: the Trouble Puppet Show, an adaptation of the novel, is playing through October 3rd in Austin, TX.

Check out Trouble Puppet's website for more detail. http://www.troublepuppet.com/

Saving Dracula from the Twilight-Tweakers

Tired of all the squeaky, emo-teen vampires? Need your monsters to be, well, monsters?

"Well, one university is taking an academic trip down memory lane with a conference dedicated to "relat[ing] the undead in literature, art, and other media to questions concerning gender, technology, consumption, and social change." Sub-topics for the event include "teen vampire/zombie fiction," "identity politics," and "celluloid vampires: adaptations and incarnations.""

Sounds like fun.

Read the rest of the article.

Splice the New Frankenstien? Try The Island of Dr. Moreau

From Sci Fi Wire:

"The sci-fi movie Splice, starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, is getting a lot of online buzz based on its initial trailer, and director Vincenzo Natali told reporters that the creature feature is a modern-day Frankenstein."

Right. Mixing human and animal DNA...have we forgotten a step in our evolution, Mr. Director?

That's right: H.G. Wells already told that story over 100 years ago. Now, with Guillermo del Toro as producer, I'll try to withhold final judgment. I'm just not a fan of comparisons to Frankenstein being tossed about lightly.