Throwback Thursday - Dracula

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Dracula

Andy Fish over at Fishwrap has posted a page from his upcoming graphic novel, Dracula. Andy's post reminded me of something that happened shortly after I was married.

During the late 70's, the vampire myth enjoyed a resurgence in pop culture with a remake of Dracula starring Frank Langella. Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot spun off a made for tv movie. I had seen both movies and thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Flash forward to the mid-80's. When I glanced through the TV Guide (yes, we actually had a small book to look through to choose our viewing pleasures back in the olden days) and saw Nosferatu was going to be on. I couldn't resist. I was home alone one night as Himself was teaching. Had nothing better to do, so I settled in. I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the Hollywood version with this different looking version of the myth. (I love horror films. Not the gratuitous slasher junk of today's features. But thrillers. The movies that give you the heebie-jeebies because you don't really see any gore or violence, but fill in the details from your own overactive, fertile imagination. I digress..)

In a dream, I told Nosferatu I thought he was incredibly ugly. I told him though Bela Lugosi as Dracula was charming and elegant, Frank Langella as Dracula was stunningly handsome. As you can imagine, Nosferatu took exception to my audacity and as dreams sometimes deteriorate into nightmares, Nosferatu began to chase me. My arms were pumping like steam engine pistons, and my chubby little legs were churning up the ground as fast as I could go. I glanced over my shoulder and could see Nosferatu gaining on me. I turned and ran full steam. Nosferatu reached his bony hand with its horrendously long fingernails and grazed my thigh. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a high-pitched, blood curdling scream.

Then there was laughter. Gales and guffaws of someone busting a gut a with laughter. My legs were still churning. I was breathing heavily. Great gasps as I tried to fill my aching lungs with oxygen. My mouth, a gaping maw. I felt the blood pounding through my ears in time to my heart pounding in my chest. I felt my eyes, huge and round ballooning out of their sockets. I came to a dead stop on top of the bed. Himself sat on the edge of the bed. He was the source of the laughter.

"Ha.." he tried to speak, but words failed him as he was laughing so hard. "Ha, that..that is...is.. the funniest thing I've ever seen. You were dancing on the bed!" Another wave of laughter shook him.

At first, I was a little put out. To think my husband who was supposed to be my protector, my shield, my knight in shining armor was an unsympathetic clod! But no matter how fetching one looks standing in the middle of the bed and wearing a pale blue, Christian Dior nightshirt, the reality is one looks ridiculous running in place on the bed. And never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut. I sat on the bed and laughed with Himself.

I still think Nosferatu is one fugly dude. I'd take Bela Lugosi's charm and Frank Langella's dark looks any day and twice on Sunday over Nosferatu. I'd even gravitate towards the sparkly vampires of Twilight though I could do without the teen angst. On another tangent, I'm grateful that Stephenie Myer's vampire romance caught the imagination of The Young One. The Young One is not much of a reader. She burned through the pages of the series and is reading the entire series again.

Do horror movies make you dance on the bed?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Continued watching the anime, Blue Exorcist, with The Eldest. Interesting story. Can the Rin,the son of Satan, prove he's not evil. Entertaining teen angst. 

2. Picked the Young One up from the airport after a weekend trip to Ohio to visit a friend. Flight delayed only a half an hour due to weather. Himself even found a spot in a free cellphone lot where he could wait.

3. Had the hardware installed for the first part of my bionic tooth. All went well. Very little swelling, little discomfort, no pain, and no reaction to the antibiotic. Have to wait 6 mos for part 2.

4. The new diffuser for the essential oils arrived. This one is beautiful as well as functional. It's also larger so will cover almost half of the first floor, and was on sale.

5. I didn't win the lottery, but had a dream about my dad. That was my prize. In the dream, Dad was standing outside the BMW of Natick car dealership and was in a television commercial. The interview was a kind of man on the street. Dad must have been on his way to Donlan's grocery store when he was stopped for the interview. Dad was wearing his favorite, ratty, long sleeve, blue sweater/shirt and a baseball cap. Dad never left the house without a hat.

Himself and I were watching television when the commercial came on. I was excited and yelled, "That's Dad! I have to text The Brother."

How was your week?

I'm A Genius

Sharing blankets and sheets is always a constant tug of war. Who doesn't like sheets tucked in? Who does? Who wraps the blankets around them like a burrito? Who tosses and turns until they are on top of the sheet, like a magician pulling a tablecloth off a table?

During the Summer, we each had our own top sheet and things worked out just fine. Separate blankets on a full size bed not such a great idea. There's not much room and someone gets buried under an avalanche of blankets. Himself suggested we just use the duvet. After all, the cover on the comforter is supposed to be like a top sheet. But having to undo the cover to wash it and then stuff the comforter back in sounded like too much effort for me.

So, I came up with the idea of pinning the top sheet to the underside of the duvet. Much easier to unpin and wash the sheet. I told Himself I was a genius.

Sleeping in the newly made up bed, I had a dream. In the dream, I was getting dressed to go some where. I was wearing some sort of a tank top except my head was through one of the arm holes. The rest of the top was hanging off my shoulders and was all twisted. Bra and bra straps were showing. Not an attractive sight.

So, the interpretation of the dream? I'm a genius with a healthy slice of humble pie.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Visited Himself's side of the family at the annual Clan Gathering

2. Had brunch at Lambie's and a fabulous visit. Her Christmas decorations were still up.She has such a knack for decorating, and her house should be featured in a magazine.

3. Had the The Brother and his wife over. They gave us a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory. We spent the card on a date night. I took home a slice of Chris' Outrageous Cheesecake   and I didn't share!

4. Each day, I display an affirmation card. The card chosen for New Year's Eve was Dream. I thought it was perfect. Rather than looking back, look forward as I start The Good Things journal for 2015.

5. Between all the leftovers from the Brother's visit, eating out, and our tradition of having Chinese food for New Year's Eve, I haven't cooked all week!

How was your week?

Sometimes A Banana

I had a dream the other night. I tried to remember as much as I could, but as usually happens with dreams, one is left with a wispy fragment.

The dream started in a school or some sort of  building with rooms on either side of a long corridor. The corridor is well lit as are the rooms. There's a lot of activity going on. Apparently, I was supposed to teach a class, and I was looking for my room.

There's a location shift or else a huge chunk of dream I can't remember or having a dream about teaching a class, but not being able to find the classroom is boring. I'm outside a row of triple-decker houses like the kind my Auntie and Grandma lived in East Boston. My new blue car is parked in front of one of the houses though I don't recognize any of the houses and don't know anyone who lives there. My car is not parallel parked as you usually find in the city. My car is nosed in like you would park in a driveway. Course this might be because I can't parallel park to save my soul, and I avoid the task at all costs.

I'm standing on the passenger side of the car. The door is open, and I'm cleaning the dashboard. Only the dash is made of glass, and I can see the gleaming parts of the engine, wheels, curb, and street. I'm industriously cleaning the glass with a blue microfiber cloth. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice an older woman standing next to my car, in front of one of the houses. She is holding a large pot of chicken soup. She's the mother of one of my colleagues at the museum. He recently had emergency surgery and was home recovering (for real, not just in the dream). Holding her pot of chicken soup, his Ma calls his name. No answer. She calls again. And again no answer. So she calls louder and uses his given name. "Andrew!" He had once said his Ma was the only one to call him by his given name. He comes out of the house and takes the soup pot, and he an his mother go in the house. They do not notice me, and I pretend I'm not eavesdropping or notice them. I just continue cleaning the glass dashboard of my car.

Now comes the weird part. Actor, Lee Marvin, the villain in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance comes out of the house I'm parked in front of. Apparently, he was inside scrubbing the bathtub. A couple of people come out of the house after him. They are discussing what they should do for him. Someone says, "When someone does you a kindness, aren't you supposed to do a kindness back?" I recognize this line from The Little Princess starring Shirley Temple. Again, I'm invisible to Marvin and the other players. I'm just busy cleaning the glass dashboard.

That's all I can remember. I have no idea what any of it means other than sometimes, a banana is just a banana.

Recurring Dream Theme

Still from 9/ 2012 video showing SDO's view of the sun being
partially blocked by Earth. Credit: NASA/SDO 

I have a recurring dream theme. I dream of incredible sky and star vistas in gorgeous shades of blue. The dreamscapes rival the images from Hubble telescope. I don't have these dreams often usually when everything is going well, no stress, no worries. It's been quite some time since I've had one of these dreams.

This week I dreamt of a solar eclipse. It's the first time I've ever dreamt of an eclipse and most likely it was induced by the decongestants I was popping like candy. Not my usual glorious blues, the image was still beautiful in its fiery hues. Besides the eclipse, I have a hazy recollection of two giant figures holding on either side like supporters in a coat of arms. That's all I can remember. I should have written about it right after I woke up from the dream. Still things are going well, and life is good in spite of the nasty cold that won't let me go.

Do you have recurring dreams?

Dracula

Andy Fish over at Fishwrap has posted a page from his upcoming graphic novel, Dracula. Andy's post reminded me of something that happened shortly after I was married.

During the late 70's, the vampire myth enjoyed a resurgence in pop culture with a remake of Dracula starring Frank Langella. Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot spun off a made for tv movie. I had seen both movies and thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Flash forward to the mid-80's. When I glanced through the TV Guide (yes, we actually had a small book to look through to choose our viewing pleasures back in the olden days) and saw Nosferatu was going to be on. I couldn't resist. I was home alone one night as Himself was teaching. Had nothing better to do, so I settled in. I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the Hollywood version with this different looking version of the myth. (I love horror films. Not the gratuitous slasher junk of today's features. But thrillers. The movies that give you the heebie-jeebies because you don't really see any gore or violence, but fill in the details from your own overactive, fertile imagination. I digress..)

In a dream, I told Nosferatu I thought he was incredibly ugly. I told him though Bela Lugosi as Dracula was charming and elegant, Frank Langella as Dracula was stunningly handsome. As you can imagine, Nosferatu took exception to my audacity and as dreams sometimes deteriorate into nightmares, Nosferatu began to chase me. My arms were pumping like steam engine pistons, and my chubby little legs were churning up the ground as fast as I could go. I glanced over my shoulder and could see Nosferatu gaining on me. I turned and ran full steam. Nosferatu reached his bony hand with its horrendously long fingernails and grazed my thigh. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a high-pitched, blood curdling scream.

Then there was laughter. Gales and guffaws of someone busting a gut a with laughter. My legs were still churning. I was breathing heavily. Great gasps as I tried to fill my aching lungs with oxygen. My mouth, a gaping maw. I felt the blood pounding through my ears in time to my heart pounding in my chest. I felt my eyes, huge and round ballooning out of their sockets. I came to a dead stop on top of the bed. Himself sat on the edge of the bed. He was the source of the laughter.

"Ha.." he tried to speak, but words failed him as he was laughing so hard. "Ha, that..that is...is.. the funniest thing I've ever seen. You were dancing on the bed!" Another wave of laughter shook him.

At first, I was a little put out. To think my husband who was supposed to be my protector, my shield, my knight in shining armor was an unsympathetic clod! But no matter how fetching one looks standing in the middle of the bed and wearing a pale blue, Christian Dior nightshirt, the reality is one looks ridiculous running in place on the bed. And never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut. I sat on the bed and laughed with Himself.

I still think Nosferatu is one fugly dude. I'd take Bela Lugosi's charm and Frank Langella's dark looks any day and twice on Sunday over Nosferatu. I'd even gravitate towards the sparkly vampires of Twilight though I could do without the teen angst. On another tangent, I'm grateful that Stephenie Myer's vampire romance caught the imagination of The Young One. The Young One is not much of a reader. She burned through the pages of the series and is reading the entire series again.

Do horror movies make you dance on the bed?

Recurring Dream

I have a recurring dream. I dream of twinkling stars in skies so blue it takes my breath away. Sometimes I can see outlines of the constellations as they appear on maps or in books. Incredible vistas in magnificent shades of blue. Dark blues, light blues, almost day time. I always awake amazed and awed.

I've had the star dreams since I was a kid. It took me a long time to realize these dreams always occur when I am most happy and centered. I haven't had a star dream in a very long time.

Do you have recurring dreams?

Watercolor wash over 18K Gold Leafing pen on Arches Text Wove.