A COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 3

BUT GETTING BACK TO DRACULA...

Greetings and salutations to you all here on our third straight night/day of the continuing countdown to that hallowed eve that shall remain nameless!

Tonight just a casual view of some artistic depictions of Dracula in the popular culture.

And some not-so-artistic ones...

Why look what someone has gone and done to a fountain cherub?

Guess even they like to dress up for the occasion!

Is it possible that Batman borrowed his symbol from Dracula?

I believe this was a 1938 production.

I dunno, but it sure seems those Bat-fellas borrowed a lot from the pictures, why not the theatre too?

The great illustrator Frank Frazetta has a little fun with the monsters and Dracula most prominently!

(Click to Frazettafy this one to the proper size)

Dracula and his spiffy chopper!

Yes, even Tweety has been Dracula-fied!

Does this mean we should cheer for Sylvester Van Helsing?

Well, that's enough for tonight--in the meantime enjoy this greeting

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 2

INTERIOR DESECRATION

When going about putting together this year's Countdown to Halloween blog, I got to thinking about dressing the place up a bit more for the occasion.

A little something extra to get into the mood.

So I tried coming up with alternate titles for my blog and the obvious one was "Count Blogula" as the focus of the thing is Dracula and all things vampire.  My nephew even helped come up with the idea.  But when I went looking around to see about the title, it appears that there already was a "Count Blogula"--a few, possibly.  Not really hard to believe, since it's kind of an obvious choice, and so I had to eliminate it as a faux title.

But not before I did some experimenting with the idea (and others):

Above, I wanted to try a kind of texture that was half welcome mat, half pumpkin and I think it came out pretty well.  Click to get a closer look.

This is more a neon sign approach which wasn't half bad--I try it out below with another possible blog title.

I have always loved the title of the Hammer film DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE more than any other title featuring the bloody Count and so I gave it a shot here with kind of a poster design minus the painting or photo.

I was playing around with lens flares here and kind of liked the way it almost looked like the sunrise--a clear sign that the good guys might just carry the day in your classic vampire flick!

 

Another experiment in the neon look with a different title--came up with this one last minute and have yet to take the time to see if anyone has this as their handle.  Maybe I'll get around to using it this year or next--we shall see.

And now a musical treat for all you kids out there--a little ditty about a whole different kind of vampire from Arctic Monkeys:

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2013: DAY 1

It's going to have to be a much more casual countdown to the hallowed holiday that we all know and love as HALLOWEEN this year--mainly because I've not had the proper frame of mind to get myself organized as of yet.  Usually by now I've gotten this thing broken down into weeks and possibly even days, thoroughly planned out pics and tales and reviews and, well, you know, THE GOODS.

Didn't quite make it this year.

But, fear not, dear reader (or maybe you should!), for all will be well as the days draw down to the darkness that is to come.  The "BLOG OF BLOOD" as I have temporarily labeled this place, will yield it's due come reaping time!

The title "BLOG OF BLOOD" is fitting this year because my main focus will be those blood-sucking fiends, the vampire--and the granddaddy of them all, DRACULA!  Figured it was about time to give Bram Stoker's invention a good looking over and, of course, the lore that inspired the good Count.

And, all the while, I'll be giving the novel a listening to on audiobook to enhance the countdown--if nothing else, it makes me sad that the arts of letter-writing and journal-keeping have fallen so far to the way-side.  Mina could teach kids today the importance of good correspondence.

(Like myself, it appears good ol' Christopher Lee hasn't quite summoned the Halloween spirit yet...)

Before we go, I must first encourage you to click on the "Countdown to Halloween" button to get linked up to the center of our blog circle from which you can visit one of a multitude of blogs such as this for a peek at the plethora of paths we all take to reach that dark, gooey center of ourselves as the darkness grows more present and the cool air creeps in under the doors!

I will, regardless of my slow start, make an effort to post something of value each and every night this month, so stick around as we continue the...

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN!