This was a short one, since I barely remember the details of the beginning.
It was, well, this girl in orange…I was outside in the sunlight of our house, demented into the similar form of a church from a dream last week. Anyways I saw her enter into the swamp and I knew I could help her as she was trying to get into another dimension which was, well, Wonderland! *my owm that my dreams invented*
To help and along the way I took Huey and apparently my sister was following me. She couldn’t enter through the swamp, as Wonderland is a dimensional plane that goes into the swamp, but is NOT the swamp in our world. Its hard to explain, see.
Well I went, it was cloudy, through the garden to the back wal where Wonderland is located. While there dad was doing something to the lilac bushes against the wall. However from the wall was a big overhanging so up above was concrete with pack snow as our ceiling. I had to find the door again.
There was a sewer manhole covor…on the ceiling, and so desperate I pressed some of it and fancy contraptions came out, like a puzzle! I was solving it as my sister hovored nearby and soon a DS Lite poppsed out attached by a holder. It was on but nothing was happening. I knew that this was to confirm that me, for the first time, found this Wonderland all for me.
I yelled and stated calmly that I know Wonderland is in the wall, and it is from my own head, and that I have found it, so open the door! The top screen showed a creature who looked similar to Bowser who was named Mr. Puffton and he confirmed it so!
Just as he was exalting my name in a booming deep voice, and the wall was being opened…my alarm clock went off. I’m not kidding, it went off before I could go in and see how it changed!
I seem to be getting alot of chase dreams back into that olllddd formula again. This time it added a few more: Formula involving parakeet related anxieties, Tim Curry, and my own Wonderland that is located inside the wall at the end or our yard.
It began where I looking into a giant version of the cage where my parakeet, Lollipop, was in. It was located in the garden. As I looked inside there was, well, a baby bird in it! The cage expanded into some sort of aviary in the shade of our garden, and I also saw many birds. Oliver had long since died so, how could she have children? But they were adopted, as the parakeets revealed themselves as puppets, representations of a society to help insane birds like here. Strangely enough dad was in the cage too.
I pulled out some feathers that were attached to the door and was going to use them as new perches for the cage. Unpon inspecting the chicks though, they were many, and looked like ugly miniature apes! Disgusting.
Walking out I went towards the house, while a strange sort of drama occurred. My mind went into a sort of tangent, into a story about a princess running away and then men in robes…one of them Tim Curry apprehending her and, well, bad things happen. I returned back to my own body and was walked out unto a stage for some Girls Scouts. Turns out I was that girl in the past and had completely forgotten it till now! This time Tim Curry was wearing a red suit, and knowing this I began to run with him behind me.
I had run into the side of the garage where apparently, though I could see perfectly, I was half blind somehow. Another thing was the new houses put up next to our lot were not there, and it was just like the grassy swamp it was before. I ran through, back around into the garden. Tim curry was far behind me now…
I was nearing the wall. I begged aloud that the wonderland would return. And, with a bright light and the trees moved away it did! It turned into a gorgeous brick,yellow, and blue water park entrance! I waded through the water happy and glad and into a giant room filled with sports, water, talking happy people…and 90’s clothes. Everything 90’s, the culture of my childhood.
As I waded through glad that, at last, Wonderland came to me to suit the needs of my escape I was going deeper inside to a door. Along the way however Tim Curry was dressed as a jester Red Wings hocky player, and was stealthily following me! I went through the door and was going through all different rooms of, well, typically 90’s homes and interiors. There were some secret trap doors I went through in their bathrooms into other homes, because since this was my Wonderland, it would suit my needs.
I felt I was waking up, which would explain when I tried to press the tiles of this last bathroom with Tim Curry closing in it didn’t work, and I pretended ot be whisked to the side into blackness to escape his fearful clutches…but it was a lie, for I woke up with the alarm.
I haven’t had any dreams for awhile that involved John Simm as The Master in Doctor Who….that is till this month, because he returns in an episode two-parter the 26th…so I guess I’m hyped, and back to the ‘good ol’ days’ of hanging out with my friend Kit ALOT earlier this year.
And so it was, Harold Saxon was wearing a white shirt and working in an officie building. See it was mostly empty, because a large volcano erupted in Witchita, Kansas and was naturally dissolving and cause chaos of America. Thankfully I was some nerd with black hair and wearing a green office dress-suit and in Britain…in the office building…
Turns out I knew this Harold Saxon was a very nasty man, not even a man, and was really The Master. But that didn’t stop him from going all nasty on me, going ‘you have ten minutes to get up here or I will blow something up!’
Well being me who is a mix of cowering in fear and defying, I was running around…though when he mentioned he had my sister hostage, I had to go! By then my dream self was shaking and I kneeled before him as he sat at a desk, with my sibling in a swivlechair behind him. I also was with the reason he could easily kill me if I was not a good little human. At this point I think I was enjoying this dream…till it went into something more surpriseing as sister so happily and curiously said something quite not child-friendly concerning the fact I was at his mercy. With which, Saxon promptely said yes, he would make me. I didn’t like that.
Thankfully (?) the dream began to warp as usual, devaiting from a devious plot, as we brought out the x-box and I told him in my dimension there was a Master video game where he wins in the three episodes from two years ago! Happily he snapped his fingers so I could prove it to him. Popping it in, it was a video game version of the entire first scene of me running up and down levels of the office building with a time limit……
From here the dream was hazy into myself waking up. Recollecitons of being my normal hairstyle and color, in a white room and leash, wearing a white T-shirt and pants. The Doctor was already a slave and I was locked in this room during the events of episode The Sound of Drums where The Master takes over the earth and a climatic action sequence with the Doctor on the Valiant airship.
After realizing that I believe I woke up at this time.
The first dream involved my Chemistry class. Something was quite wrong, as we were facing in a different direction, and it became evident the tree we were decorating was a giant umbrella. But, as it went along, there was a sorta Dalek-shaped-gray thing that was just really REALLY scary. It reminded me of the killer evil unnatural Christmas tree from a dream in my childhood. It was moving closer and closer to me.
Thankfully my mom’s alarm clock in the other room went off very loud, so I woke up. But she wasn’t there, so I had to turn on a light, go into the room, fiddle around trying to find the switch, and head back to bed.
When I went back to sleep, it was the apocalypse.
The world had gone into wilderness and I lived in a van. We drove to a dark wood church, shrouded by pine trees, the wet dark from wet. Inside there was a choir and this one man, but I knew wrong had been done here, on the stairs to the right-middle. It was where…something about the creator of Winnie the Pooh…but when I went outside to tell the world I had become my true form, which was a purple female Andalite! But, the leader of the church was a strong, bad Andalite…he banished me, and being weaker than him, I went back to the van as a human.
I woke up a little when dad went to bed, but promptely fell asleep.
It was now daylight, and we parked at the curb of a road that led down a green hill-cliff, which was the roof od a warehouse! well, we were behind the wall, which against the wall was a line of thicket and thorns for shelter. I and my brother had the idea, to get money, to make ‘rainbow pumpkin buddies’, and if you buy all four giant ones you get the special small one!
Well it felt that the Nosferatu vampire wearing orange were our new natural predators, so you bet me and my brother hid when the rainbow pumpkins, in the distance, were being destroyed by the vampire. However he saw us, so you bet we ran! We went into the thicket back and forth, but to no use he advanced.
I broke into a run, down the hill, flapping and flopping through the air! I went around the building, which seemed to be the place where our house was, and went to the neighbors looking for any vines to grab and crawl and get away. No use, for when I went into the alleyway, inside the house…I was trapped.
I was held down and trapped, awaiting his cold fingers upon me…soon they did, touching me and pulling at my clothes while he spoke a strange language, talking to himself as I was stripped…
Turning to my left, I saw a y oung boy. He was using a roll of wrapping paper as a measuring stick, demonstrating…something awful, for the poor boy. Then he turned into some bitchy woman!
I escaped somehow, and the dream was becoming more warped. As I ran around and around again, and into the next house while the fmaily was having dinner, the lady behind me kept roling her eyes like an idiot valley girl constantly going ‘You cannot escape very long…’ I ran back out and back to the hill-grassy-wall roof, then back again, after kicking a blue and blonde barbie doll, screaming…
Back into the house I broke through a window. Strangely there was a room, with rows upon rows of dirty white bathtubs! The other room however…was awful. There was these retarded children, who were murderous zombies, glowing in bright digital colors. I felt sad for them, locked in this room sitting at decrepit schooldesks…so against the will of that lady, who was nagging behind me, I set them free.
As I ran with them to, this time strangly another location *like some open spaced golf course* that was out the window the kids were biting and turning other people into zombies! So me and my sister went into a silver car…unfortunate as we went up a hill…there were four evil clowns.
Quite distressing they hijacked us and at gun point were making us go unto some freeway into the city…well, it was not very fun.
Meaning, a bathtub in the dream. Somehow crawling out of it into some wooded area was I, Captain Kirk of the Starship E nterprise, with a cowboy hat in gayish clothing. I had been trapped here against my will by some man, who was..Khan from the episode Space Seed. Worse, he now looked like my old crush…Dracula from Van Helsing.
This Khan/Dracula was forcing me, Kirk, to show he/me was quite gay. It worked frankly, because we rolled together by the log we were sitting on and went into a dream-warped version of the 69 position. From there I was either turning into Kirk participitating, into myself with woman parts, or being in the point of view of a nearby purple mushroom wittnessing the wettish-dream.
I do remember waking up from…that…and residing back into sleep. My sleep forthwith gave me more dreams, this time relating to the fact there was an outdoor movie screen where our old shed used to be, stadium chairs, and behindish to the left in our tree grove were stalls selling DVDs, video games, and stuff.
First the film. The film in fact was a made-up Doctor Who film with David Tennant and companion…older fattish guy in blue. As the doctor goes about doing things, it comes up he’s reminising and missing his lover…er, old friend The Master. I also see my dad and Emily are in the audience watching, and I feel the hope that he would be impressed by the new Doctor series.
Soon minerature puppet figures of a gayish Doctor and John Simm as The Master come up, and they’re tap dancing with cane and top hats! and seriously I swear it was Simmy’s voice so perfect…they were singing and mocking poor Doctor.
I left the staduim to go Christmas shopping. Therein I bought a heavily advertised Gauntlet 2 game for PlayStation 2 for my brother. Going to back, there were candies and beanie babies. And rice Krispie treats! I took a free sample, but I snuck another under the silly teenager eyes of the boy running the thing, as dad passed by chatting with someone, to the pine tree.
I feel perhaps my past relationship with my first boyfriend Zane and his sexual advances on me that I left unrequited has definitely frazzled my brain. Along with other outside-instances and strange, warped fears.
It began when mom was interested in the colored, pretty magical shells that were being sold by an purple-dressed, goateed magician down our street, who parked his purple balloon and tent of wares (reference to The Wizard of Oz I saw the night previously) and so, to get more, I was sent down there to buy.
Mom and dad followed me, as I went through the yard where the magician was. It soon felt like I was in another ‘universe’, like those many fantasy-exotic young adult books and trilogies that are popular. Alas the real reason for me here was revealed. My parents revealed the ’surprise’ and that was to sell me, to prostitute me, to him and these other persons accosiated with him, for the night.
That was extremely disturbing. We would never be that desperate to force me to sell myself! Another ‘dream minute’ went by of strange forced sexual things along with a short story of were-children, all males (who have fur all over their bodies except their human heads) had all grown up, and went to the Magician after the night went by to tell him they were leaving. A herd of the Magician’s elephants ran them off the cliff!
I felt strange and was no longer part of the action, and I went home. There was the walnut tree that no longer had the treehouse, and was growing pears. However only the ripe pears were higher up. I began to straddle the trunks to scoot and clamber up and around the branches to pick the pears. Now, being a woman….it felt comfortable and fun to do so…maybe more than comfort. But such things were done with, when I had reached and was very high up and upside down, and there was a floating green head!
It looked like the silent film version of Mr. Hyde. He was making lewd facial gestures to a piece of dark bark that was suspended from a twig. Then he turned and was making them to me! I was very disgusted, especially with the knowledge that it might float over to me. I quickly clambered down and off to the garage to tell my parents, and then into the house to hide.
I didn’t hide for long, for soon I was back down the street where the Magician was getting arrested (in a suit) into a white van with women lawyers and police. They were driving him to the court because he had sex with a minor, and I latched on the roof. I also became aware that I was wearing a usual form of dress I most of the time seem to have when I have the ability to fly in my dreams: a white, big sleeves gown of some sort, and I also am smaller in size and more like a fairy creature than myself. So it went I was holding on as they drove down the highway…and I flitted off, floating and flapping over the busy cars.
My review of the ’sequel’ to the famous novel Dracula.
To better understand this review, it is best to have read the book first, as the title says, I’m going to be basing from my perspective towards open-minded.
Our book that has garnered my attention for today is the official sequel to Dracula, known as Dracula The Un-Dead. Written by the great-grandnephew of Stoker himself Dacre and horror-enthusiast (and had originally garnered the idea of an official sequel back in the 90’s) Ian Holt. This novel is designated as official because it has been endorsed by the Stoker family.
However upon finishing this reading, I have come to the sad conclusion that it has not satisfied me as much as I wanted in an official, pure sequel to the original novel. It definitely supports the idea of an ‘official sequel’ in the constant add-ins of homages to people and characters associated with the universe of all things sufficiently and proper Dracula of the family’s specifications, while even including Bram Stoker himself and the first novel inside this story! As such this book is plagued with the anguish of the Stoker’s history; The Stokers have had much dismay at how the world of Dracula has been left out of their hands and become a cultural icon constantly re-arranged and exploited. Thus this novel to become part of the original cannon is abundant in subliminal ‘righteous’ things, and by doing so a sequel to garner more respect for the Stoker name and the original that is Dracula, even as far to name this book the original title Dracula was to be.
Another attention that caught my eye was the co-writer Ian Holt. Apparently his story is he is a horror and Dracula enthusiast, and for many years was hounding the Stoker family to pitch the ideas of an official Dracula sequel. Finally the younger generation came about with Dacre Stoker, and so he latched on with this good well-meaning idea, and thus the novel here was penned. If only this book didn’t so change the cannon of the original story, I would have been well pleased. Alas I am pure and I found little of what I thought was to be in this augmentation of Stoker’s Dracula world.
Before I continue, let it be known that I am at this time 17 years old, my view if my opinion and this is my attempt to logically explain myself, and that I have read only some short reviews prior.
So now let us discuss the bad and the good things for the sake of pointing out in detail, because I’m feeling nitpicky and frustrated with the book, to show to light what has made me the feeling of frustration.
1. The Writing Style.
What disappointment! I was quite expecting of course, that the novel would now be in the style of the original: of letters, journals, diaries etc. of the character’s point of view of the plot. However I had higher hopes that it would be, possibly, be written in the style of Stoker and the period of the original. To be a compelling Gothic horror of the Victorian period, and as the original to not go into compelling detail of the sexual and gore symbols and aspects, instead to remain intriguing and an intelligent read with mystery. This book lacks it, and instead becomes a modern quick-and-action style of realism, violence, detail and modern ‘eloquence’. This I really didn’t want in a sequel to a novel that is NOT that. This book is not heavily romanticized in that way at all, and in the way it is written it certainly appeals to the modern generation to write this way. The gap has proven to be too large in this.
2. Countess Batharoy and her relationship with Dracula.
Our original Dracula was a pretty straight-forward plot with our main villain Count Dracula, seductive and evil. However here in DtUD, we find that the original plot of Dracula is actually not in the original true story, because Dracula is read from different points of views, not of the ‘real’ reason why Dracula was there in London, that an omnipresent narrator would explain better if Stoker was to make Dracula NOT the true villain. Once you realize this, it definitely sets up frustration and shock at this change of continuity. If you were to really take this sequel to heart as official, all the decades of Dracula-exploitation, movies, films and other works are wrong. Perhaps this was a secret Stoker agenda…?
Moving on with this, in the sequel (spoilers) it turns out that Dracula was originally going to London in the first novel to combat his former-lover-blood relation the Bloody Countess Batharoy, as he considers himself a hero and is really the good guy. In Dracula he falls really in love with Mina and the blithering band of heros drive him back to Transylvania, where he is ‘killed’ and unable to finish his work to destroy the REAL evil vampire Batharoy. In DtUD we find some dates are changed from the earlier novel to match Dracula arriving in London around the time the Jack the Ripper murders were occurring, which in fact were not caused by him but crazy lesbian Batharoy. Dracula was actually trying to stop her, not himself rise to the pedestal as supreme evil. Because of this naturally you might feel terrible, that the powerful erotic bad-boy figure of Dracula is now remarked as not bad-boy but just erotic, a tragic figure. He already was tragic in a way but he was still a villain. In this sequel I really wanted to enjoy the villain returning but alas I was mistaken, for, as ‘official’ designates, he never was a true villain at all. My womanly heart that thirsts for his type of character with lust and intrigue has been drained and stabbed with the iron stake of Tragic Hero, not Tragic Evil (one hot mutha ‘ucker!).
Bathroy’s type of character is the first of my little frustrating pet-peeves in literary works and film; she is a vicious bitchy lesbian psychotic vampire, who is extremely bitchy, ludicrisiouly evil and her plot she enacts creates all sorts of pet-peeves for me, to be mentioned down the list. I dislike the cliché of an Evil Eve fighting a powerful lawful evil/or good figure. Then comes the idea of why include a not-very related vampiric figure with the world of Dracula? The authors’ justification is that since Bram created this Count Dracula from the real Prince Dracula, perhaps it was also right to create this vampire Countess from the real Countess, as their historic-figure histories (and even some blood relations between these two families) were similar in terms of massacre, blood fetish and cruelty. Another smaller concept is to also add more space and depth to DtUD in plot.
It should be noted that in general media, manga, anime, movies and books that linking the Countess with Dracula is not un-common, and even I in my first series of literary works back in the young days of 2007-08, had linked other vampiric female characters in my (terrible written) fanfic in a similar way this plot of DtUD has done! This makes the spotlight of leading villains even more shared here. My personal preferences was for Dracula at the center, but instead I got a vicious woman as the perpetrator of the crimes in both novels. That, was the killer of my attitude.
In a disturbing moment too was the fact that Batharoy relished torturing Mina Harker who Dracula consummated love with, and even violated her. However the interesting details shall be covered under ‘Good’ plot nit-picks. However the fact of her sharing the evil spotlight is still under annoyance.
3. Continuity.
Already a problem discussed was the ‘fact’ that Dracula was not the real villain in the original story. It turns out that the book this ’sequel’ is from is a book present and published inside the story of DtUD. Indeed Bram Stoker, his theatre, and real historical events are here in this novel, and that Bram published a novel Dracula based on what he interpreted from the rambles of a drunk Van Helsing, to not be real. Thus in the plot the real Dracula and people he wrote (this novel here is the same Dracula we have here today) come back to haunt him and suffer him a stroke, as Dracula points out the errors in that novel. Simply put, the Dracula we know shouldn’t be so easily taken for granted and that this ’sequel’ is needed to fill in the gaps of Dracula’s and bitch Countess’s POV from the first book. Even more gaps is that Dracula does not explicitly mention that Mina actually made love to Dracula; we as fans and readers have interpreted the symbolism and implied to say so. This again justifies why Dacre and Ian wrote in this point of view, as letters and diaries apparently are too hard to get the ‘plot holes’ across to the reader.
If the inserting-Bram-and-the-novel-into-DtUD part doesn’t make you even bat an eye, I must be missing something. I felt this was exploitative and unnecessary to my enjoyment of Bram’s original Dracula universe. My opinion feels it was very odd to do so and any plot-points leading to that idea…alas that the novel needed more assurance that our original beloved Dracula is incredibly flawed, so by putting Mr. Stoker in there with our flawed Dracula seemed needed to get this across and support it. I dang well didn’t like it, for it mixed too much reality and created a novel that wasn’t in the vein of the original that I wanted. Perhaps you wanted it, and that is your preferences, but it is not mine.
Once again, I have come across the support of the preference of what the Dracula universe means to me. Again this nitpicking shows that this is not in a same vein of the original novel’s universe, but is an expansion and widening the possibilities that the original can create. It’s not a truly bad thing, but it is based off of your opinion of what you expected and want.
4. Why was this ’sequel’ written this way?
Indeed, see above for most of this to be explained.
I believe that the sequel was written to:
Give more say and perhaps if you think, a revenge(?) of the Dracula world that Bram originally created. By writing this book under a Stoker namesake, it definitely gains respect and adds to the original story that has created thousands of Dracula-titles. A show of power that has long been denied from the Stokers since 1931.
In a better light in fact, to expand the universe and create more from the holes that original had; We certainly read not the Dracula POV in Dracula, now did we? This has left room for creativity and interpretation left for the official and unofficial sequels thus created henceforth. And now we have DtUD, which is another prime example of interpretation.
And so I leave you to interpret for yourself. Perhaps comment and add more things I may have missed; I have been writing alot about this and my brain can only take so much at the moment.
5. My little pet peeves.
I am always frustrated at when, with three points of views i.e. in a work, that each point-of-view of the action just…well, it’s complicated. One side knows only this part of the plot, and you read in horror as they collide that with the other people that has the answer and knows other parts as well…as such though it’s complicated and makes the novel not as simple and straightforward but artistically complex. And my own little mind’s eye is annoyed, but you probably don’t suffer this problem unlike I. Truthfully I’m frustrated by extensive writing of these things, especially since I know the plot of the first novel, while the bumbling police don’t. It hurts my brain, and for most people it doesn’t. Sad to say, it freaking annoys me. Really. Didn’t I already say that?
Another is the cliche Quincy Harker has been trapped in. He becomes enraged with cliche young-ruffian reasoning and can’t see logic, plus he knows only parts of the plot, thus in horrible-written anger he is a raging fool throughout the book. In the end it only ruins the book and is not delightful literary tension, instead its a sad type of characterization so used in many works of writing and film. As I keep saying, I wished this novel was intelligently written and thought out, and certainly thebrashness of Quincy should have been better written or hopefully found a way out. It is detestable because of how overused it is.
And now on to the good!
I have to say sadly that the good things that I liked are not as strong to the plot as the ‘bad’ opinions. But these littler things do count in my enjoyment and combat with frustration.
1. Bathroy’s character is a constant theme in many of Stoker’s books.
Bram’s literature often has the theme of the fascination and the terrifying qualities of women. In The Lair of the White Worm our vicious woman is certainly evil and having horrible monster qualities. In Dracula Lucy is persecuted with death and sinful vampirism for being a wild vibrant woman participating in Victorian society, while Mina is saved by the virtues of being quiet and modest, saved from damnation of being Dracula’s vivacious harlot. Even then Mina to Bram is a strong character fighting against the constraints of Victorian society; she learns to type on a typewriter in a subliminal effort to express her assertiveness as a person while still existing as a conservative weak girl, as so expected for her by men. This view of her feminism is delightfully explored in DtUD; tainted by Dracula’s passion she has the heart of a powerful tiger, but in response to Harker and to choose the ‘good life’ she lives dressed as a modest housewife. In the end it completely unravels. As with Bathroy, she plays the part of certainly the terrifying aspects of women. She is not only cruel and challenging the society boundaries of what a woman is, but she even is more challenging in being a crazy lesbian, truly terrifying in that time. I applaud these consistencies of Stoker-ish thematic development, even if the character exploration is not Stoker-style in writing.
2. Quincy Harker’s relationship with Basarab is similar to Bram’s relationship with Wilde and Irving.
A subtle thing that delighted me was that, in a way, young Harker’s fascination with the powerful actor Basarab was quite a sort of fascination that Bram Stoker had of the also powerful actor Henry Irving and writer Oscar Wilde. Bram, as Harker too, looked up to Irving-Wilde/Basarab to try to learn, compete and benefit from their teachings and ways. I applaud.
3. The Rape of Mina Harker.
There are two ways to go about this. First is Purist thought, then there is Revised reasoning. Let’s start with Purist.
In the Purist way of dealing with this interesting thing, be known the Purist is: Dracula slightly seduced and raped with blood-exchange and/or physical sex, with Mina Harker, in the original Dracula, founding him on true villain grounds. Thus when we read in DtUD Bathroy lesbian raping Mina and a blood exchange, these events are pararel. To deal with an inconstancy present in DtUD, Mina obviously in this sequel fell in love with Dracula, and the rape from Dracula became seduction to after-sex consent, and not a real honest ‘rape’.
In a Revised reasoning let if be known that: Dracula seduced Mina, however Mina really loved him and wanted the blood exchange and/or sex, and so consented. Thus when Batharoy violates Mina, in this view Bathroy finds herself the villain, and not Dracula. She does an opposite of the sacred sexual exchange Mina had done with Dracula. I prefer the Purist view however since the original plot has steeped itself into my head so long. Choose what you will, for I find both views to be excellent motifs…however much I never wanted any Bathroy and heavy HEAVY lesbian connotations to be so manifest in my preferred Dracula sequel…
4. The addendum of more historical facts to Count Dracula.
I was happy to find more information of Prince Dracula to our Count. I highly believe as our DtUD writers determined that if Bram had done more research he certainly would have added more correct Prince Dracula facts to Count Dracula. DtUD beautifully fixes that somewhat, but in another bout of nitpicky-ness the constant references of calling our dear Count ‘Prince’ feels inconsistent with the original book. But then again, in DtUD the original Dracula we have all read is quite ‘wrong’, so it shouldn’t be considered inconsistent…but mentally in our heads at first, it does bother me a little. It’s a fact truthfully that’s hard to get used to…or you could ignore that fact, because this sequel is really an interpretation.
5. The consummation of Mina and Dracula.
I felt so enthralled and moved by the writing of Mina and Dracula. I believed in the moment, I needed no explicit porn of their lovemaking near the end of the reading, to give the sense of sex and romanticism. Oh, how happy I was of finally a new sequence of Dracula’s sexual relationship with Mina. In fact the only character I truly loved of DtUD was Mina, for she stayed ever the amazing as in Dracula and expanded wonderfully in DtUD. That I give points to Dacre and Ian for.
6. Louis Jourdan reference.
Louis Jourdan played the part of Dracula in a BBC miniseries of Dracula in 1977. That two-part adaption is often over-looked, but as many fans would agree it is one of the closet to the original source novel. I love his role, his charisma, the elegance, romance and the retaination of the novel’s atmosphere. Well-done Dacre, for recognizing his role!
Final words.
All in all, I have come to realize that this is an interpretation and, because of how the original Dracula so has been part of our culture and my influence, it is hard for me to accept that this sequel has made things of the original Dracula world official wrong and right. Therefore I am inclined to reject much of DtUD’s reality and desperately cling to Gothic, sexual horror that is Dracula. In closing I should also note that this sequel lacks the Gothic atmosphere and instead plays heavily in drama, police mystery, shock-horror and perhaps revolting sexual eroticism that I found not lustfully-intriguing but instead curious-intriguing. DtUd has propelled Dracula into the modern era of the 1900’s and our modern world of novel style. Sadly I dislike our ‘official sequel’. My hope for something hearkening back to those days of the second-period 1800’s vampire-craze perhaps might never be returned to. The key is ‘perhaps’, for I would one day love to contribute and change ‘perhaps’ into reality in my lifetime.
With that I leave you with links and your own opinion to formulate. I highly suggest, my Dracula friends, to purchase or download this book because since its ‘official’ you can expect some changes around here in the future, probably small. At least formulate your opinion of this long-awaited (if you really wanted a sequel) sequel, as this book has in fact thrilled readers while others not. It thrilled me, but my liking of it was affected. Even waiting for the paperback or to rent from the library is good enough. You must read this; you must.
My personal reccomendations.
I have been delighted by a small series of sequels to the original Dracula called Bloodlines, written by Kate Cary. Its only pull-back for me anyways is in the two books I have read so far Dracula is actually dead and NOT returning; instead the sage of Dracula continues with his son, plots of vampire intrigue and very wonderful other plot points that entertained me, despite lack of Count Dracula. Another aspect is how it was written in the style of the original Dracula: letter, journals and diaries. What a homage! Another known good book (I have yet to read) is a prequel known as The Dracula Archives by Raymond Rudorff, which is the events that take place before the Dracula novel. Finally I recommend an alternate-universe of Dracula, whereupon Dracula (in an alternate sequel-like formate) and the vampires of the world create a new world order where vampires and humans coexist…not so peacefully. This would be the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman. I have only read the second which is The Bloody Red Baron, an alternate vampire-world version of WWI. So far so good, very nice writing and a compelling Dracula-universe, but certainly not to be meant as the answer to a Dracula sequel.
So it was that I was reading a comic book of a black and white Astroboy Comic, asfter being chased in the dark around grandma’s ___ house by Siruis Black. In the comic there was an old man with longish-white hair being, well, molested on a rock on the water near a dock. Soon I pointed out to my brother that in one panel the guy’s flab seems to spell the word ‘furry’. Soon Astroboy saved him, covered in starfish and green seaweed.
It soon progressed to back at my grandparent’s house, however this time it turned into a building complex/grocery store set not in the area but in the Congo. This whole idea of the Congo, soon the evil gorrillas attacking me *who now turned into Astroboy* and a bomb from a laser sattilite was from the movie review of CongoI saw that very day! With this I, astroboy now, flew far away and watched the people trapped in the complex surrounded by the forest…burn. Die.
Dream 11-6-09
This one was more scary and strange, it played on an abstract form of an anxiety I had, relating to a real-life event that is not my business to disclose those details online to the public.
In this dream I had seemed to be in some sort of movie trailer, or something with alot of snippits of scenes of this sort of romantic comedy. In it was basically the plot of a Fabio-like man, muscular and a womanizer cavorting in lustful situations, trying to woo and soon change to win the love of this nerdish woman with big glasses…that looked like a mix of my mother and my sister. there were scenes of them in love, of fighting, of the beginning and the end. One particiular scene was quite strange, as Fabio-man was in a girlish black cat pink-fur-trimmed sexy outfit with a harem of other cat women, while the nerd woman was disgusted. It was quite a strange sight. As this trailer for the film wore on I felt myself being enticied by this not-exactly-Fabio man, and the plot.
Then it got worse. Soon it skipped to the end, where he’s outside in a parking lot on a bench outside a store….transplanted into a memory landscape from a picnic gathering I was at in 1999. There was a loud voice going ‘2000’s fashions are in!’ denoting now Fabio-man, looking old and nerdy, this was int eh future. He flashbacked to a football game stadium and sittin gon the couch with the nerd woman and children…and they vanished. They were dead. All dead.
Then the face of Fabio-man changed into a recognizable face of the man that had, well, did bad things with, with my sister. I was pulled out of the trailer into the real world into a room that was in the movie, while my sister had this concerned face as she turned off the TV with a remote. I felt anxiety and disgust I was falling for this man in the movie that soon had the face of a person that hurt my sister, especially since I never even met that man nor did he ever hurt me directly! It was strange and well, by and by the dream built up a not-good fantasy from anxiety into this confused mess. It also represented how my sister felt for this man before those things happened.
Dream 11-7-09.
This was far better, if harkening in a dream style I used to have quite alot! That dream style is a chase dream whereupon though I feel powerful in some different new form, I eventually weaken and become so helpless and tired, weak and distressed it ends quite thrillingly wrong. I don’t remember the exact last time I had a dream of this nature, since I am in college and becoming a more responsible adult instead of, say, a dreaming 15 year old just understanding the world of sexuality and self-esteem and feeling the fear of such things.
I don’t specifically remember the beginning, as that is muddyin my memory, but I had become the adility to turn into a purple Transformer robot, and then into a Transformer purple fighter jet. It was quite awesome, however once more another Congo reference came into the dream: Tim Curry from that film was there, a scientist tracking me since, how often does a human turn into a freaking Autobot?
So I turned and began flying, flying low as I trijed to control my new form across the water and Macinac bridge with Tim Curry in pursuit. Soon I landed into a train and turned human, hoping no one would notice I am the human-autobot. Well, there was Tim Curry, sitting across the asile watching me. Soon the train stopped at the place, to the woods, and seensing that the TimCurryNarrating was boding me ill…I ran.
But I became drowsed and weak, my powers and muscle sore and unusable from turning into a giant robot. It has been a long time since I have had this ‘formula’ of a dream where ‘I have some wanted power, get chased, then feel helpless and weak and becomes dominated’. It was scary, because soon Tim Curry was on me. >_>
My dream revealed the anxieties of my Italian class and the fear of being abducted and abused by movie character, pre-code, that don’t look sexy but yet as older experienced dapper men they still ARE a potent sexual symbol. Typical of Halloween nature a man who was a mix of John Carridine’s Dracula and Vincent Price had come to call. And so the dream begins.
I had run to the garden while my family was chatting, and my sister was escaping with me! I took this moment to return to the imaginary eddies and secrets of the wall that led to *previous dreams* Wonderland. This Dracula man was coming for me, and I felt a mix of fear and yet excitement I had returned to a popular dream-landscape. I went through the edge of the right wall into a chamber for the elephants, which led into a building of chambers and boiler, science-room pipes. Down the stairs and through dark lit corridors of black and rust I went, and I had actually emerged at the left side of the wall at our property, high in the air looking at our garden backyard! From there I hid in a sort of outhouse, to the side because the clutter in the room was deep. As I heard talking below, my parents with these ‘Italians’ I felt fear as Carridine-Dracula man *we’ll just call him Carridine* was closer and closer, peering into the room. I held my breath, and thankfully he didn’t see me. However when he went into the cabin room he peered through the sliver in the wall, seeing me while I pretended that he didn’t.
Too late, he dragged me out and proceeded to chase me again with ill-intent! I soon felt he and these other people were bandits that looked, well, stereotypically Mexican. I was quite afraid of what he was ogiung to do to me. In fact I stopped once I was back on the grassy ground because somehow, he did molest me with some magical ‘penitration without actual’. I felt very weird and violated, even though there was no suddenness or anything obviously motioning sexual.
There I know was a blur in my memory of the dream, but now we were in a fish store in the evening. My family including grandma was there, and along the walls of the dimly lit, green place were the small cabin-rooms like what I hid in. I looking at the giant Oscar fish for sale, my siblings running around with me like were we young, screaming, enthusiastic children again. But Carridine was there, with a stern look, pretending like he wasn’t planning something terrible. I do however recall like many dreams I have had wearing a sheet, not over my head but making my arms flap, and I felt smaller sized like a bird. But, that was a short-lived vision.
As my family went outside in the dark parking lot, me and my sister went into the corner room. There was a door we went through, through a hallway that was to the right, and into a nice yellow-lit tent-room where a red-headed man was playing cello, and there were bass and celli strewn about. I thought this was a perfect plan to get rid of Mr. Carridine, for a door opened at the far wall, which opened to the direct view to the store-front door, and Mr. Carridine with glowing eyes was walking calmly, evilly towards where he just saw me. My sister was laughing and such, so I went to plan to escape. I flew back through the hallway to the cabins, whereupon the sides of them at the roof tops were open! I flapped my way silently and quickly through, mostly hidden as Carridine several fish tank rows away was going towards the entrance to the tent he just saw, where he hoped to find me. Fat chance, I had just floated *mistankeningly NOT LOOKING BACK TO SEE IF HE SAW ME* to the open circle window of the door, and viola, I was flapping in the parking lot.
I saw my brother comatose in our Volvo, and that was not right! As I bounced and flapped my way to go to the right, and hide in the rafters of the building I was strangely moving slow…and tired…and…
Now with a blink I was suspended over a pool in the building, as some orange goldfish swam around in it. I was of course terrified, tied up over it and him gloating at the edges of this pool. My parents were there lamenting and arguing, as Carridine was wanting to have his way with me and have me his wife!
Then there was a strange sort of events. I went on about how in a previous dream *that doesn’t exist to my memory* he wrote letters saying he was a ‘honey’ (gay) and therefore I was always completely safe around him. But then he revealed in the letters he was not and actually quite a vicious sex fiend. I felt stunned and wailing at trusting him too much, and now look where I was, I was hanging by a rope while politics ensued about me.
I know his face is kinda…wild but I would never think to be afraid of him. I thought his Dracula quite comically-serious-British, not my type! I guess I was wrong? I certainly, considering how he’s dressed and such a manner, would not think him to be a character that was exclusivly interested in marrying a screaming American 17 year old like me? Especially in a dream? Those notsogood movies I saw with him in it must have affected me deeper than I thought.
As last month’s post, I had found a lovely blog for clowns and clown enthusiasts, clownalley.blogspot. However in contrast…I have found a general opposite to this serious happy-normal clown blog. I found a website dedicated to the media and works of clowns projected as, well, evil.
Disturbing real news articles, pictures, artwork, links, games, etc. This place homages to all things anti-clown, whether making fun of them, fueling your Coulrophobia, or dabbling in the beauty of nasty evil clowns in art, movies, video games.
Another aspect of things to do with evil clowns is the popularity spurt recently. The 80’s and early 90’s had a peak of the evil clown subject in our entertainment with many slasher and horror movies/books such as Clownhouse, Killer Klowns from Outer Space and IT. The 90’s then continued to a lesser-degree of the evil clown archetype by having some evil clowns in video games, and are now adopted as a cannocal ‘meme’, I would say, along with zombies, vampires, pirates, ninjas, etc.
Since the 2000’s however the rise of ‘evil clownage’ has become quite high. DC comics have become more and more mainstream and known and with it the popularity of the Joker, and evil clown, with not even help from the success of The Dark Knight. The ‘cannocal meme’ of evil clowns in video games, media, and internet meme has continued further and further. Pre-made D&D adventures sometimes are a plot of an evil carnival. Gothic music and horror musicians following from the fore-father Alice Cooper’s steps make music about evil clowns as a popular subject. There is talk of a new movie version of Stephen King’s IT. There has been an increase thusly of Coulrophobia, as the clown styles have changed. Modern birthday clowns usually don’t wear as much ‘augustian’ white face, but that is not only for reasons of society’s fear and picking-on their trade.
Certainly the traditional heavily painted faces of clowns from, say, the 50’s is definitely more prone to frighten people than the not-so white-faced clowns of today.
With all this in mind, I have seen the proof myself. Last time in a Halloween store was 2007; not alot of pre-packaged clown costumes. Now in 2009 where I visited two different Halloween costume companies I was surprised at the amount of vile clown masks, decorations, makeup, costumes and etc. of all varieties. There were evil mime and harlequin outfits, vicious skull jesters of two colors, almost-Pennywise faced masks, blood-thirsty jesters, hanging dummies of motion-activated clowns that roared with maniacal laughter when passed by. Luckily there was even more assortment of normal, regular clown costuming and makeup, but that was less attractive than the expensive if you, say, wanted to become a chainsaw-massacreing birthday clown. Certainly the popularity of The Dark Knight that came out last year has certainly helped this influx along into another peak of popularity widespread; Evil clowns are the in thing. And now the internet meme of the zombie clown from the popular Zombieland movie that just came out has assured us that evil clowns are to stay awhile longer.
My Realm of Fantasy magazine for December 2009 came yesterday, and so I eagerly looked to my most favorite column, the Folkroots section now written by SatyrPhil Brucato. This month’s installment was about the archetype in literature and psychological functions of the ‘Demon Lover’, the bad-boy, the temptress, the evil powerful supernatural lover character of tales and reality.
My particular attention came to the paragraphs describing a particular type of Demon Lover that has become immensely popular, and that type is, in its example it talked about, Edward Cullen of Twilight fame.
Due to copyright, I will not post the entire paragraphs word-for-word because that is Brucato’s work (duh) and if you want, buy that issue, because Realms of Fantasy has just switched owners and it needs the money because the ads and work in these new magazines needs serious mental help and money for better staff. Luckily the stories are still quality.
A demon lover is generally a ‘bad’ one, a representational character of things morally not right or what we ourselves wouldn’t do, which makes them whether a seductive villain or villianess attractive to many persons, including myself. Their power to dominate, to go against society rules, to be an outcast and see a different perspective *whether good or bad* to be supernatural and stronger in many cases…this is what characterizes a Demon Lover.
However we are here to discuss what Brucato has helped to explain why multitudes of young teenager girls and other age groups of women have so flocked to the realm of Twilight. In my previous opinionated musings in my head, I had come across the idea that perhaps Edward’s ‘whiney-emo’ status was attractive because the style is Emo and Scene, and the genre that has been emerging in vampire-media has been known as the Vampires in the modern school social scene genre. I was close but I had yet to fully feel confidant in why so many people, that are yet not even that shallow-minded or that into popular culture, still flock to him.
You see, not everyone falls in love with a Demon Lover. There are still a healthy population of people that fall in love with the Heroic character, the Good Boys, the powerful that are moral and golden, Prince Charmings. But the reasoning with Edward Cullen is that he is a little blur of the Good vs. Bad lovers. Edward, that sparkling vampire, is a Demon Lover who goes against his nature for the sake of his chosen innocent girl Bella Swan. This type is unusual in the past of literature but has come up more and more as a popular form of Lover in our media. As Brucato writes;
“Maybe its because, like all archetypes, this immortal figure shifts to accommodate his time and culture. And perhaps, in an age of rape drugs and porn sites, celebricults and pro-anorexia propaganda, our whole world has become a Demon Lover…and in that world, the real transgression is to care.”
This provides the basis of why these characters, viewed as ‘whining emos’ or ‘emotional tragic’ Lovers are now on the rise in our society. We have advanced to accept not just black and white in the power division but of gray-matter; more and more nations with their people are advancing to individualism and intelligence in each person, our capitalist market and internet reach the world over. More people believe in the attraction of Edward because he is sacrificing what he is to become someone better through love, into considering the social cultural setting. This is what has come-up in explaining why, and defending, Edward Cullen.
I hoped I have made the most wild of Twilight-haters, those reading, to consider a form of logical respect for his popular existence, however much they generally do not like in the fantasized Lover. Now that I have taken the time to analyze and write this out, I have discovered that indeed Edward’s archetype is past-attractive type for me. When I wrote the draft of my story S.W.A.N. my villain, Radu, was conflicted within himself to change himself for the reasons of love for female-lead Valerie. This was also not quite but still similar, an idea presented to another story villain Alexander in Rosa von das Roten Tod. However my villains in the end refused or could not actually change their attitude and natural ways of Demon Lover and villain to accommodate their chosen mate. This is where I find the lack-of interest personally for Edward Cullen, not counting the writing style and setting of the entire book series. However these are my preferences and explanation why I am not drooling over Edward. (another is my dislike how the author makes vampires sparkle. The sparkiliness however enhances his sacrificial-for-good qualities however, but still it mess with my preferences in what a vampire is)
I hope you have learned from and enjoyed my rambling of the Twilight explanation.
We were scuttled inside. There, we were in these tower apartments, plain and simple gray carpeting and walls, futuristic. Outside was a small park, the pool and green water. I looked out the windows of the high hall outside my room. The sky was no sky, however but a bubble: it was layers up-and thousands of layers of black seething slime-mud, and we were the last humans in the world. The Federation has let this planet and its people, with were basically one people with one mind *the mud* keep us alive and well to live and breed.
However, we are humans and have made a bad reputation of being destructive aliens. Worse, we were constantly surrounded, with no escape, by the mud alien. As the days passed it became apparent that despite all this leisure and doing nothing…a regiema was intact. Soon we were like in a prison, and these black knight police were scolding, picking on us and deranking my family for silly little things. In a few more days there was more disagreements with this strict policies. We only had one style of clothing, and we were kept like animals.
I soon noted with fear that we were on this planet because we were to be bargaining chips, for the mud-people were in fact none hostile aliens, sly and vile, and would not hesitate to seep their acid sticky mud, like the Blob, through the walls and slowly suffocate and kill us all. Their planet has no air. We certainly would be trapped and die.
Our only way to be alive was to live and shut up and not even speak out about anything, and wait for outside news. We were given to the mud people temporarily as a sign of trust between the more-powerful alien races of this federation. But the trust was lacking. Soon indeed some mud WAS seeping and attacking us in the main building!
Me and the other scrambled to the large window which gave a view of the green small lake-like see, but was incredibly deep, and several stories down. We were sheer over it. I watched others jump, to escape the mud and soon I jumped out too. I closed my eyes, hoping my angle would not make me sink into the water.
I succeeded, and swan as fast as I could to the beach at the park, and the entrance to our building of habitation. The mud had ceased, and they ‘apologized’ for any inconvenience. It was clear they ‘leaked’ so they could show their power. If I got stuck to the mud for a longer time I would begin to dissolve. This place was our only supply of air. I was horribly frightened.
We went back to our rooms, however our pair of scissors was broken. So we opened them up and cut the spring inside, but the black knight laughed and scolded us for not consulting him to fix the scissors! We were condemned to the lowest grade-level, and among the ‘last’ in their caste system. Instead of ridicule from the other humans around us, it was fright. We were just fixing our scissors! We were all in this together, being horribly abused.
Then a large sound. The Mud! They were finally going to kill us! It seeped everywhere, faster but still for a slow death. I ran with the others to the park, as the black knights and even Cooler from DBZ was hitting and laughing, abusing as they went.
However a hero came; a strange alien with three large spaceships was parked. He was to rescue us! We surged into the space ships, and one by one they took off, through the mud with their superior technology and into space.
Space was beautiful. We had barely enough food and we could only last three months, but our journey was to the Federation senate to be housed. We were saved.
It began thus; I walked into a warped, different version of my boyfriend’s house. There I sat on the purple sofa sitting next to him watching a different version of Beetlejuice on the laptop on a table. This was basically like a repeat of one of my dates with him at his house, watching the movie in the same room.
However my boyfriend was not my boyfriend at all, but Beetlejuice himself! Surprisingly though we decided to makeout on the sofa, despite him not my boyfriend and how perverted and giggly Beetlejuice was being. I had to stop though because I had to tell Nathan my ‘boyfriend’ *he was actually a guy I only knew last year but nothing like that* that was breaking up with him to be with the awesome Beetlejuice. I went into another room and was, with every word I said to the sleeping Nathan saying I was breaking up with him, counting the links of this purple and pink plastic link of chains. Nathan though in the middle said he was asleep, and I soon ended and went back to the couch. On the way I went through a short hallway, where one side was windows bright with sunlight and the other side was a white wall with shifting cartoonish colored artsy animals.
Back to the couch, I sat next to him, where we were shyly groping each other. But then I had a thought that I was to wake up soon, and he went to the other side of the couch, posing and sitting far away. I turned and laid at my side, just as my alarm went off…and I turned back to the left, looking over my shoulder as I mumbled “Goodbye Beetlejuice.” The dream world and him melted into reality as I watched, and after a few seconds I realizied I was awake!
All you need about the history, articles, modern works and anything random about CLOWNS.
Yes that’s right. A blog to all things clown. News, history, photos, editorials, videos, make up tips and ads…everything for the clown and clown connisour.
As some might know, or others not, the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake is scheduled for release April 30th, 2010. Our information prior has been only the work-trailer to illustrate ideas for the actual film, snippits of information and knowledge of where the filming was. Now at last we have a trailer…the REAL one. The Big-kahoonie.
Looking at what we can, the movie is filled with the references from the first and some of the previous sequels to the original. I hope that because it’s homaging that, that they will not make a sequel to this remake. Because generally they suck, and it is no longer the 80’s and 90’s when sequels to slasher films were more popular and expected. (tell that to the Final Destination and Shrek franchise.)
However one thing to consider: Director is Michael Bay, and I do know there are people who are not fond of his work (Transformers 1 and 2) due to complaints of massive explosions and gearing to the modern American teenager rumble-tumble movie audience. Reasoning why he’s now taken on this classic 80’s slasher film is simple: it has teenagers in it and alot to do with fire and boiler rooms. Perfect for him…however much many would have liked a more reputable horror-director, not one that has fighting giant robots under his directing belt.
VERSUS 
Luckily the stories are still quality.
