Kurenai Considerations

Crimson tints in light and shadow

Well, I've been promising a period in which my blogging will mainly consist of "Image of the Day" type posts. As the past few updates indicate, that time is now!!!

But that doesn't mean I won't be posting my random thoughts, birth date celebrations, or art show reports. It just means that the daily churn of posting will be photographs, a couple words, and, occasionally, a few music vids after the jump. But when I have the time and energy, you can count on my traditional style of blogging, for better or worse. ;-)

Anyways, I'm glad to be back at the keyboard, in good health, and of a disposition quite optimistic.

Now, let's listen to some music.

Children of the Night

Nosferatu, 1922

On this date in 1897, Dracula by Bram Stoker was published. It wasn't the first treatment of the vampire in Gothic literature and it may not be the best of the lot, but it certainly was the most influential. Tales of vampires had existed for countless centuries. Yet, it was this book that drew together the salient elements of the folklore and wove it into a coherent and memorable tale.

I am a hardcore enthusiast of horror fiction, but vampires have never been my thing. I prefer the forlorn haunting of classic ghost stories or the cosmic weirdness of Lovecraftian horror. There has always been a geeky power fantasy underlying the vampire narrative. This has become more prominent in recent years, such as in the writings of Anne Rice or Stephenie Meyer, to choose two from among many.



Dracula (1931), Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Frances Dade as Lucy


I know many horror enthusiasts HATE the angsty vamps and sparkly vamps. But I'd argue that these types are but realizations of the unstated attraction that vampires have always had, even back in the earliest Gothic examples.

But should vampires be the "good guys" of the narrative?