Random Fangdom

Apologies

2011-12-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

There was a post on here that was about my surgery. To those of you that read it, I apologize for the randomness. To those of you that didn't read it, well I apologize anyways. It has been removed and I am going to be more careful where I post my personal stuff. At least I'll wait until I'm not loopy from the anesthesia or pain meds before I post to a blog. By everyone!

A Gift for the Anti's

2011-12-26T14:41:00.005-07:00

Since it's the holiday season and Christmas has come and gone, I thought I would give my fellow Anti-Twilighters and the rest of you a little gift.

A few weeks ago I came across a Tumblr called "Reasoning with Vampires," which has completely changed my life since I found it and I absolutely adore everything about this website.

Basically what the person running the Tumblr is doing is going through each of the Twilight novels in turn and pointing out everything that's wrong with it in a comical manner. She's just finished New Moon and will soon be starting on Eclipse.

Seriously, this girl is a genius and I love her sense of humor. So please!! Go to her Tumblr! It's absolutely brilliant!

http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com/

-Buffyrules01

Movie Review

2011-11-19T23:41:00.001-07:00

I offer my apologies for not writing as often as I can... I just haven't had anything to write about until today. As many of you readers know, part one of Breaking Dawn was released on November 18th. It is now the 19th and I have seen it three times. (This is both good - it allows me to feel comfortable enough to leave a review - and bad - I've seen it three times in less than 48 hours.) For my review, I will give you what I didn't like, what I liked, neutral (don't hate, but not favorite) parts, and an overall thought. Warning... possible SPOILERS.

Dislikes: The wolf telepathy was weird but understandable on how they did it the way they did. The wolves also looked better in Eclipse (my opinion) then they do in Breaking Dawn.

Neutral: The dialogue in some scenes. There is plenty of "cheese" to go around. The pacing of the movie. It felt like it went really, really fast... it didn't feel like a two hour movie at all the first time I watched it. The second time it kind of did. The third time, since I had seen it about four hours prior, was somewhat torture-some even though I enjoyed the movie again. There is an extra scene after the credits that was okay. I only watched it the first time because it was 'eh' to me.

Likes: I enjoyed this movie. The wedding scene was gorgeous. I liked the wedding dress. It was simple, elegant and beautiful. It fit Bella; her personality, her body, etc.... Poor Charlie. Jessica is annoying. Alice/Jasper (Ashley/Jackson) can really dance. Emmett's toast is awesome. Charlie's toast is hilarious. The Sue and Charlie interaction is cute. The Jacob/Bella dance is beautiful.
The honeymoon was handled tastefully. Bill Condon really gets props for the re-edited version of this (it originally got an R-rating and the "sex" scenes were part of the problem... apparently, because of noises). The main 'sex' scene comes across more as a flashback. Bella's attempts at seduction are funny. Especially the first one.
The pregnancy/birth. I'm just going to say that the CGI/SFX/make-up on Kristen (Bella) were awesome! She really looked sick. The birth scene, itself, was horrible. It was intense but not graphic.
The minor changes that take place in this movie. There are few but lots of reviews by fans are pointing them out. The wolves are supposed to run faster than the vampires. They were made to destroy them. It makes sense that they outrun them. Alice being attacked by a wolf makes sense too. She can't see them, her only fighting method (really) is gone. The wolf fight towards the end... while it's not in the book we don't really know how that things gained from it happened. And Stephenie Meyer was one of the producers on this movie... she had to approve it.
The imprinting scene. I like when Jacob falls to his knees.

Overall: I liked this movie. It was good. There's vampire speed in this movie... for once in the series it seems. There's comic relief (mainly Emmett). And, the movies are tied together. Music from Twilight is used in this one. Bella's lullaby comes back. The prom song is used. And, the acting is better than the other movies.
But, alas, you cannot judge what you have not experienced. So, if you want to judge/understand the movie. You have to go see it for yourself. :) I'd suggest it. It's good.

Introducing Emmett!

2011-09-03T11:03:00.000-06:00

Oh Emmett, the fun-loving member of the Cullen family. The gigantic teddy bear that is a fierce protector of those he loves. The one that needs to be involved in the action in order to feel of use. Emmett’s back story is very briefly touched on in chapter fourteen of Twilight. In The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide we learn that Emmett grew up in Tennessee where he hung out “with a crowd that drank, gambled, and womanized” (pg. 115 - 116). But even though he hung out with the wrong crowd, Emmett helped take care of his “large, Scotch-Irish family by being an excellent hunter and woodsmen” (pg. 115 - 116). When Emmett was finally able to control himself, Edward - after reading his thoughts on wishing to provide for his family in some way - gave him “a small fortune” (pg. 118) that Emmett then placed on his family’s doorstep. After doing this he didn’t look back.

Emmett is one of my favorite secondary characters. He is the comic-relief in the series. When things get tense he’s there to say, or do, something that lightens the situation for a brief second. Kellan Lutz portrays him in the movies and I think that Kellan does a good job portraying Emmett. If you are interested in reading about Emmett’s back story in more detail, Stephenie Meyer has an outtake on her website. The URL for the direct link to the back story is http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/pdf/twi_outtakes_emmett.pdf .

Works Cited

Meyer, Stephenie. The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 2011. Print. 114 - 118.

Review for the Anti's...

2011-08-29T17:34:00.006-06:00

...and those of you who like Twilight, but know that it isn't exactly the best written series in the world.

I'd like to introduce you all to Nightlight: A Parody.

Yes, it's a parody of Twilight.

Written by the National Lampoon, Nightlight tells the story of Belle Goose as she arrives in Switchblade, Oregon, looking for adventure in all the wrong places. On her first day of school, Belle comes across Edwart Mullen, a boy with "reddish, blonde-brown hair that was groomed heterosexually" (13). After a few strange events that really aren't that strange (Edwart won't eat his potatoes at lunch, he saves her from a flying snowball), Bella believes that she is absolutely certain of three things:

First, Edwart was most likely [her] soul mate, maybe.

Second, there was a vampire part of him--which [she] assumed was wildly out of his control--that wanted [her] dead.

And third, [she] unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogenously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed [her]

-Chapter 6

This book is an easy read, only 154 pages, and had me laughing from the first page onward. I honestly believe that people who despise Twilight will like this book, and people who like Twilight will like this book because it is just THAT funny!

The writers take everything that was a bit off in Twilight, like the fact that every boy who meets Bella falls in love with her, and take it to the extreme. Belle Goose believes that every boy who talks to her, gives her mail, looks at her, or runs her over MUST be in love with her.

And Edwart Mullen? Isn't a vampire at all! He's a nerdy human boy who has issues with germs and girls, but is (oddly enough) very good looking. These quirks naturally make Belle Goose curious, and without a second thought she assumes that Edwart must a vampire and hilarity ensues.

The writers even go so far as to joke about what happens in New Moon.

"Isn't it a little soon to cut yourself off from the rest of your peers, depending on a boyfriend to satisfy your social needs as opposed to making friends? Imagine what would happen if something forced that boy to leave! I'm imagining pages and pages would happen--with nothing but the names of the month on them" (Charlie, Ch 6).

And of course they use adjectives excessively, which is one of Stephenie Meyer's faults in the Twilight Saga.

I absolutely adore this book, and would highly recommend this to anyone regardless of whether or not they're Anti-Twilight or a full blown Twilight fanatic. It's just pure fun and good for a few laughs. Honestly, even if you're having a bad day, this book will crack you up and bring a smile to your face. It's truly brilliant and comedy at it's best.

-Buffyrules01

Quick Announcement from Random

2011-08-09T11:47:00.000-06:00

Hello my fellow readers!

As you can probably tell, the month of Harry Potter is over and we are back to our usual randomness. Since we did not finish with our reviews from Harry Potter, those will show up at random over the course of the year along with our character spotlights and all that other good stuff.

I would also like to announce that at the end of this month, our real lives will be taking over and I'm afraid we won't be able to post as much as we can over the summer. We will try our best to post what we can and I imagine the coming months will be very similar to how they were last year.

Until next time!

-Random

The Chamber of Secrets

2011-07-23T15:54:00.003-06:00

The Chamber of Secrets is the second installment of the Harry Potter series and is also the second and last Harry Potter movie that director Chris Columbus ever did.

These two films are also, in my opinion, the closest any of the movies get to the novels. Chris Columbus knew what he was doing when he made these movies, and it shined through in both. He was dedicated to making the Chamber of Secrets as close to the book as he could get, and I think he really achieved it.

But enough about the movie for now, I must talk about the story itself.

The Chamber of Secrets takes place in Harry's second year at Hogwarts when he is 12 years of age. He's survived his first encounter with Voldemort since he was a baby, but he can't survive living at home with the Dursley's. The Dursley's are as cruel as ever and lock Harry up in his room after the house-elf Dobby shows up and dumps a cake on some very important Muggles after Harry refuses to stay away from Hogwarts.

The Weasley boys; Fred, George, and Ron come to save Harry from his bedroom in their enchanted flying Ford Anglia and take him to the Burrow where he stays with them until it's time to head off to Hogwarts. Before Harry can even get to Hogwarts though, he must ride the Hogwarts Express, which has been mysteriously barricaded from entrance. Not knowing what else to do, Harry and Ron fly the Ford Anglia to Hogwarts and crash it into the Whomping Willow, which then results in Ron's wand snapping.

More mysterious events unfold as Mrs Norris is petrified and found hanging from a torch underneath the words "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware."

The Chamber of Secrets has a similar formula to that of the Sorcerer's/Philospher's Stone. Something is amiss and it's up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione to find out. The only problem is, the whole school thinks that Harry is the one petrifying the students after he keeps showing up at the scene of the crime. It's a tough year for him at Hogwarts when everyone has turned against him, and it is only when Hermione is petrified that his classmates start to lighten up a bit.

This novel, while it may seem like not a whole lot is going on (other than a murder mystery without the murder), is actually very informative and has key components that help explain things later on in the series. We find out in Chamber of Secrets that Harry is a Parseltongue, something that only Voldemort and Salazar Slytherin can do, and that Tom Riddle was actually Voldemort's real name back when he looked like a normal person.

It turns out that Tom Riddle was going to school back when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened and that he was the one who opened it in the first place.

In order to go back again and finish what he started, Voldemort actually puts a bit of himself into a diary (which we all now know is a horcrux) and uses his Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy to set it all up so that the diary could fall into the hands of innocent Ginny Weasley and she could bring the diary back into the school.

Naturally, at the end of the story, Harry and Ron figure out what has been petrifying the students, cats, and ghosts of Hogwarts: a Basilisk, which is simply the giant serpent that when seen with the naked eye, can kill a person instantly. They find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in a girl's bathroom and set out on a rescue mission after Ginny has been taken. It is in the Chamber itself where Harry discovers Tom Marvolo Riddle has escaped the diary using Ginny's life source.

Up until this point, Harry has believed that Tom was a hero at Hogwarts, but the tide soon turns when Riddle admits that he opened the Chamber of Secrets before. He then baits Harry by asking him how he, a mere baby, could've defeated the greatest wizard of all time, and then reveals that TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE when switched around spells out I AM LORD VOLDEMORT (JK Rowling is so clever)

In the end, Harry destroys the diary by stabbing it with a the fang/venom from the Basilisk, after nearly being killed by the thing-thank goodness for phoenix's and their healing tears-and all is right in the world again.

Like I said before, the movie gets about as close to the book as you can get and retains that magical essence each installment contains. What's also so special about the film Chamber of Secrets is you get a glimpse at Daniel, Rupert, and Emma growing up. You can really tell the difference in Dan and Rupert's voices in this one, and I love seeing them in the "in-between" stage of puberty.

Well, there you have it! The Chamber of Secrets and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone are probably the only two Harry Potter books that really belong in the Children's Book genre. After this, the characters mature and the stories become a lot darker.

As for my opinion? I do not love or hate this book. It has parts I like to skip over and parts I think are so important on figuring out why Harry is the way he is and what happens in the rest of the novels.

-Buffyrules01

Deathly Hallows...a little too hallow?

2011-07-22T13:22:00.008-06:00

When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out on July 15th, everyone I talked to about it were singing the films praises. They were unanimous in the love that they had for this last picture and were all planning on seeing it again.

I didn't get to see Harry Potter the day it came out, but I was able to see it the next day, and I have to honest with all of you. When I came out of the theater I wasn't in complete awe of what just happened, or bawling my eyes out like I thought I would. Instead...dare I say it...I was disappointed.

Now, this could've been due to the fact that I had just finished reading the Deathly Hallows two days prior and the book was still fresh in my mind. But after a week, I saw it again today and I still didn't get any overwhelming sensations.

It could be that my expectations were exceedingly high for this movie. I mean, after all, it was the last one of the series and they did separate it into two movies to get as much of the book into the films as possible. Or it could've also been that with everyone's talk of its greatness I was anticipating being blown away by the movies end.

This is where I must put up my spoil alert for those who haven't seen the movie. Although, for those of you who have read the books, there's really nothing to spoil. For those of you who have seen the movie, but haven't touched the books, I BEG of you to go do it as soon as possible. Honestly, Deathly Hallows Part 2 did not do the last part of the book the justice it deserves. I also must put up a spoiler for you lot as well, for I will be going over parts in the book as well.

The beginning of this movie started off well; right where we left off in the last movie. Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk to Griphook about their plan to break into Gringotts to get a horcrux, and they speak to Ollivander about Wand Lore. This is where the movie doesn't stray all that much from the book and I really enjoyed myself through this bit of footage as the gang make their way through the vaults, find the horcrux, and then escape the hoards of goblins coming for them with the help of a blind dragon.

Once they apparate to Hogsmeade though...it's like Steve Kloves just threw the book out the window and wrote his own version of the rest of the novel; the "What If?" version.

Honestly, I understand that when books are turned into movies, not everything can go in, that liberties must be taken. This has happened with every Harry Potter movie and I've been fine with it because the essence of the book still lived within each movie. But this?!

The movie starts off with them going to Gringotts and goes on from there, which is the last 205 pages of the book. That's it. 205 pages. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone was 309, that's about 100 page difference. And at 130 minutes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is actually the shortest HP film ever. The longest is Chamber of Secrets at 161, so why couldn't the filmmakers bother making this movie just a little bit longer in order to add a bit more of the book to the movie and give the HP films a proper send off? Why did they need to change/get rid of the best parts of the book and add in new stuff that wasn't needed?

Harry and Voldemort going off of a cliff and taking a joy ride through Hogwarts before crashing into the entrance to the Great Hall? Not needed

Harry, Ron, and Hermione weaving their way through the stairs while they try to kill Nagini with Basilisk fangs for a good few minutes? Not needed. In the book it was just a simple Neville-takes-sword-out-of-hat-and-slices-off-Nagini's-head. A little can go a long way.

And the biggest disappointment of all, the scene that I was looking forward to the most and seriously thought there couldn't be any way they could change it: the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. The movie completely destroyed this scene. What was supposed to be Harry's triumphant "Ah ha!" moment, where he completely psychs out Tom Riddle as they circle around each other in the Great Hall like vultures as everyone looks on, gone. People were fighting in the Great Hall all right, but Harry and Voldemort were just outside attacking each other with red and green streams of light until the moment they both realize the last horcrux is gone. Then, Harry just simply overpowers Tom's "Avada Kedavra" and Voldemort disintegrates into flesh confetti.

And the next scene? Harry just walks into the Great Hall and everyone acts like nothing happened.

...What?!

No!

Harry was supposed to explain to Voldemort why the Elder Wand wasn't working for him. It's probably one of the most intense scenes in the book. Just picture Harry and Voldemort circling each other-even if it's not in the Great Hall, but outside like in the movie-and Daniel Radcliffe says this:

"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. The wand chooses the wizard...The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him it's allegiance...The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy" (pg. 742)

The first time I ever read this in the novel, I had to stop and put it down for a second to take in this revelation. You realize before Voldemort does that Harry disarmed Draco, that he is the owner of the Elder Wand. Now, picture Daniel Radcliffe saying this to Lord Voldemort and tell me that you get chills down your spine reading this:

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it? Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does...I am the true master of the Elder Wand" (pg 743).

Are you getting chills? I do every time I read this bit, it's absolutely brilliant and they didn't put it in the movie!

Other scenes that they completely took out or changed: No Ravenclaw Common Room and Harry's lack of Invisibility Cloak usage.

Again, these were parts in the novel I was most excited to see! When Harry and Luna sneak into the Ravenclaw Common Room using his Invisibility Cloak in order for him to get a proper look at what the lost diadem looks like. One Carrow is attacked, another tries to break in, and Harry reveals to everyone that he is back when one of the Carrows spits in Professor McGonagall's face and Harry knocks him out with a spell.

Simple, would've only taken a few minutes, they could've easily shortened Harry's scene with Helena Ravenclaw in the movies. Having Harry chase Helena around trying to get her to tell him where the diadem is hidden? Waste of perfectly good minutes.

The other scene again involves the final battle scene, but this one is just prior to Harry and Voldemort dueling. It's when Harry is pronounced dead and Riddle is mocking everyone.

In the aftermath of Neville killing Nagini, Harry (in the book) covers himself with his Invisibility Cloak and protects his fellow classmates unbeknownst to Voldemort. It is after Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange, and Voldemort tries to kill her that Harry puts up a shield between him and once again reveals to everyone that he is back.

Then the circling of vultures begins...why couldn't the filmmakers include this? Why did Molly's duel with Bellatrix have to be some random short scene? While it was enjoyable and I will always applaud Molly Weasley for saying those memorable words (which I won't put here in case of younger children, but you all know what she said), that scene could've been above and beyond amazing.

Phew, I think my rant is over. Any of you still with me?

Do not worry folks, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. While I will always be disappointed that those scenes weren't put in, there are some very important, heart-wrenching scenes that were left in the movie. Scenes that I am grateful for and are probably what saved this movie for me (besides the amazing acting, special effects, and score of course. Those are a given in every Harry Potter film).

The Prince's Tale was both sad and moving (although it didn't bring me to tears, it was still sad). I think Severus Snape is one of the most complex characters in this series (he's up there with Dumbledore). JK Rowling really knows how to take you for a ride and I seriously believed in my heart that Snape was a bad guy and irredeemable for killing my beloved Professor. To find out that he was in love with Lily Potter, and always had been...blew me away. I was not expecting that at all in the book and I really liked how the movie added in it's own piece to the tale: Snape visiting Godric's Hallow after the incident and holding Lily as he and Harry both cry in the room (see I like some of the liberties they take!).

The other, like the final battle scene in the book, gave me chills, but for a very different reason. The Resurrection Stone scene. I get emotional every time I read that passage, and in the movie that was the only scene where I had to keep myself together and hold back the tears. Harry asking Sirius if it hurts to die and that LINE!!! The line that even now I cannot write because it makes me so emotional and I won't do it justice. Every.Single.Time. I read the book, I have to stop at this. These lines are so endearing and so sweet, I could see a five year old Harry saying something like this. I can't even-it's just-you know?

If they didn't put this into the movie, I would've left the theater right there in then with the rest of the people heading for the door. There's no way anyone could leave this out, and I am so thankful that they kept this in. This scene in the Forbidden Forest was perfectly done, word for word from the text.

I am almost done (some of you are probably rejoicing, I know this is very long and I apologize), but I have to say, that if you have not read the book-again I BEG YOU-PLEAD WITH YOU-do it! I know it may seem daunting, but you will thank me when you finish. You'll find out more about Dumbledore and get the epic battle scene you missed. And-for those who have seen the movie-you'll find out how Fred met his end and you'll be introduced to Teddy Lupin who sadly was only mentioned for a second on the screen.

Thank you all for staying with me. I hope this all makes sense when I post. Please feel free to discuss and argue with me in the comments. I look forward to it! :)

-Buffyrules01

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Review

2011-07-19T21:57:00.002-06:00

The last time, I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was when I was in seventh grade which was about nine years ago. The first time I read it was when I was in the fourth grade. I’ve watched movie countless times but it is really, truly, magical to reread the first book that introduced me to my friends from Hogwarts. For those of you that have not read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, or even watched the movie, the next little part will have a bit of a spoiler. But, if you have read the book and seen the movie - I hope I give the book the justice it deserves.

We first meet Harry when he is dropped off at number 4 Privet Drive to live with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. These are his only living relatives. We learn that his parents were killed when the most powerful, and most feared, wizard - Lord Voldemort - came to their house in Godric’s Hollow. We don’t learn, until later books, the reasoning behind the decision to kill Harry and his parents. After killing parents, first his father then his mother, Voldemort turned to kill Harry. The curse failed. We later learn that the reason the curse failed to kill Harry has something to do with the fact that his mother died protecting him. Her love for her son, somehow, protected him. Time passes, as it always does, and we meet up with Harry again ten years later. He’s the black sheep of the family. His aunt and uncle use him as a servant basically and get very upset when things happen that are not normal. Eventually, Harry receives his letter to Hogwarts when Hagrid delivers it to him in person. Hagrid and Harry then go to Diagon Alley where Harry gets his books and supplies for school. The real fun starts once Harry arrives at school. During Halloween a troll gets into the school, Harry and Ron run-off to inform Hermione, who had been in the girl’s bathroom, that there is a troll in the school. They come across the troll and lock-it into a room. When they hear a scream Harry and Ron realize they locked it into the girl’s bathroom and they rush to save Hermione and, through teamwork, they come out unscathed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are officially friends. During Christmas, Harry receives his father’s invisibility cloak. Around the same time, Hagrid comes into possession of a dragon’s egg and Malfoy finds out about it. Thankfully, Harry and Hermione are able to help Hagrid send the dragon, named Norbert, off to Ron’s brother Charlie in Romanian. However, the trio gets caught by Filch and they lose 150 points for Gryffindor - Neville also gets caught. Along with the lost points they are given detention that is served in the Forbidden Forest. Fast forward to the end of the term, once they have finished their exams, and they realize that Professor Snape is going to be going down the trapdoor that is guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone. Harry, Ron, and Hermione head off to try and keep Snape from getting the stone. Ron is injured in a game of wizard chess. Hermione helps Harry get through Snape’s protection detail on the stone before going back to help Ron and send word to Dumbledore. And, Harry goes on to find the stone without his friends. The shocker, at least for Harry, is that it isn’t Professor Snape that went after the stone. It is Professor Quirrell. We also learn that Lord Voldemort is alive, but just barely. He only has form when he shares another’s body and he is strengthened by unicorn’s blood. Harry ends up defeating Professor Quirrell and Lord Voldemort leaves Professor Quirrell to die. Dumbledore saves Harry. And, Harry comes to in the hospital/infirmary at Hogwarts. He is able to heal fully enough to attend the End of Term Feast where Slytherin is celebrating their House Cup victory. Dumbledore, however, gives some last minute points and Gryffindor wins the House Cup. Harry, Ron, and Hermione then go home and promise to keep in touch over the summer while Harry plans ways to tease/torment Dudley, his cousin, who doesn’t know he is not allowed to use magic outside of school.

The movie version, which came to theaters in November 2001, follows along with the basic plot. The acting is very good and I enjoy watching it to this day. My only complaint about the movie though is the fact that Daniel Radcliffe was cast as Harry Potter. Before you all jump to conclusions it should be mentioned that I love the acting done by all the actors and actresses. Why then do I wish Daniel Radcliffe hadn’t been cast as Harry Potter? Well, from sixth grade to eighth grade I had the unfortunate nickname of Harry Potter. Apparently, there was a very close resemblance between me and Daniel Radcliffe in our facial structure and voice. I could even pull off a British accent and quote the movie, at least Harry’s lines, word-for-word. It was great! Among friends and family. Then I entered high school and my peers grew up… somewhat. Now, you might be wondering why I’m telling you this… honestly, it makes me laugh now but when I was a middle-schooler it was hard to deal with especially considering the fact that I was, and still am, a girl. But, now… it’s just funny. Especially when you consider the fact that now Daniel Radcliffe and one of my brother’s could be twins, or at least siblings. Actually, scratch that… it’s just weird.

Because of the fact that our very own buffyrules01 did a 7 books in 7 days, I am going to include the time it took me to read this book - 3 hours 28 min. - as well as the other books in the series.

Until next time.

-scarc91989

7 Books in 7 Days

2011-07-14T13:48:00.001-06:00

Yes, I have done it my friends. Just a few hours ago I finished reading the last few pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And I feel in one word: relieved.

For the past 7 days I have immersed myself in the world that I grew up in as a child. Now that I'm adult, the feelings and love I have for this series still have not changed.

When I first opened Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone on July 7th, warm memories of the past flooded back to me. It was like being reacquainted with old friends I hadn't seen or heard from in years; and less face it, I was.

JK Rowling has created something truly spectacular in this series, and I know that it is not something that will fade away with time. Even now, as I write out these very words, people of all ages are getting ready for the end of this franchise. I know some across the pond have already seen it and are singing the last movies praises, but for the rest of us tonight will be the final curtain.

I've heard people say that after tonight, it's the end of their childhood. I'd have to say I agree with them. I remember the first time I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; when it was over I just felt empty, hallow. I didn't want it to end, and so I just kept telling myself over and over "there's still the movies, there's still the movies," so that in some way I could convince myself that Harry Potter hadn't truly ended; there was still time.

Tonight will change everything.

8 movies that have spanned over the course of a decade, and it all ends in just a few hours.

Are you excited? Nervous? Dumbfounded? I'd say I'm all three.

Going back to the books themselves, I don't think I've ever actually read the entire series in it's entirety (shocking, I know). I've gone through and read my favorites every now and then, but I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've read all 7 in order, and it's certainly the first time I've ever read them in such a short amount of time and timed myself.

Now, I will admit that I could've finished the series two days ago, for it was two days ago that I actually finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but I wanted to take my time with last one and really enjoy it for what it was: a great novel.

That being said, my experience with reading all of the books and timing myself was, to say the least, very interesting and eye opening. I've never known how long it would take me to get through certain books before, and knowing that I had a time limit made things exciting (not that I'm saying the Harry Potter books are boring of course, they are FAR from boring). It made me want to keep pushing along as I turned each page, my family members looking at me like I was crazy in the process.

I loved doing this, but I must confess that there was a downside to reading all 7 HP books in 7 days: lack of enjoyment. I honestly would not recommend blazing through each book, one after the other, in just a few hours. It really does put a bit of a damper on the enjoyment of reading the series when you're trying to get through it as fast as possible. Although I did love being reunited with old friends and reading my favorite bits and passages and did (like I said before) enjoy this, I will say that the only time I would do this again would be to see if my reading speed had gotten any faster. Other than that, I think I'll just stick to taking breaks between chapters and reading at a leisurely pace so that it takes a couple days to get through the books rather than a few hours.

And I'm sure some of you are curious and wondering what my times were. Here they are:

Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone: 2:25:43

Chamber of Secrets: 2:51:38.9

Prisoner of Azkaban: 3:13:45.8

Goblet of Fire: 5:44:57.2

Order of the Phoenix: 6:19:57.3

Half-Blood Prince: 4:46:40.3

Deathly Hallows: 7:17:49.4

Some of these were a bit surprising to me, the main one being that I somehow managed to read Half-Blood Prince faster than Goblet of Fire. The only answer I have for that, is Goblet of Fire happens to be one of my favorites and Half-Blood Prince one of my least favorites, so I took more time with Goblet to enjoy it and blasted through Half-Blood to get through it.

So, what do you think? Tell us your favorite novels! Or maybe even time yourself while you read and let us know your times!

And of course, our next posts will be our reviews on the final movie, so keep an eye out for that!

-Buffyrules01

Announcement from the Slayer

2011-07-01T08:47:00.006-06:00

Hello all!

As you can see from the slight changes to our blog, we are going to take a short break from our Twilight escapades and give you something far superior.

That's right, we're giving you Harry Potter! FOR THE WHOLE MONTH! In celebration (or in my case, mourning) of the last movie and Harry and JK Rowling's birthday at the end of this month.

During this time we will go over the books, characters, and movies; countdown the days until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes out-AND-starting on July 7th I will be venturing into what will be known as "7 books in 7 days" where I will be reading all seven Harry Potter books in a week before Harry Potter 7.2 comes out. I'll have until July 14th at 11:59pm to do it, and I will be marking my progress and timing myself the entire time.

We are so very excited for this month and hope that you will join us! Feel free to send in Harry Potter doodles if you'd like!

-Buffyrules01

Getting to Know Your Vamp: Alice Style

2011-06-30T11:45:00.004-06:00

Fellow readers,

I apologize now for not updating as regularly as I should have within the Twilight realm. I was having trouble figuring out who to introduce first, but I've finally decided. For this introduction, I will be introducing Mary Alice Brandon, the girl we all know and love as Alice Cullen (or my personal favorite, Pixie).

Enjoy!

Not much is mentioned in the Twilight Saga regarding Alice other than what we learn from James (the baddie in the first novel) that he once persued her, and that she was in a mental hospital at one point in her life, which is why Alice's memory of her past is so foggy. The only thing Alice remembers is waking up after she had been changed (her sire is unknown) and she automatically started having visions about her future. It is only later on towards the end of the series that we, along with Alice, discover that she had a sister in her human life, and that she currently has a niece living in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Like I said before, Alice has the gift of being able to see into the future, but it is limited; she can only see the outcome of the decision made, nothing is ever set in stone. Her visions are also only limited to humans and vampires, the reasoning? According to Stephenie Meyer, it is because Alice was a human and is a vampire; therefore, she cannot see into the future of shapeshifters or any other supernatural beings who are not like her.

Just recently, more of Alice's past has been revealed (thanks in part to SM's Twilight Guide, which has finally been published). In the guide, her sister is given a name: Cynthia, and we learn that her father was a jeweler and trader specializing in the pearl trade. Back when she was human, Alice received visions at an earlier age, but they only dealt with the changes in the weather. Her true visions of the future wouldn't come into fruition until later on when she was much older.

Up until that point, her parents accepted her visions, laughing them off while also following her guidance; if she mentioned that her grandmother would be arriving shortly an extra plate would be set at the dinner table, for example. Once Alice got older though, her visions became more vast, and unpredictable. She didn't understand back then that her gift had limitations and would change with every decision. She started to hesitate revealing her visions in case she was proven wrong. By the time she was eighteen, she ignored her gift unless the vision/feeling was so intense that she felt compelled to speak.

People started calling her a "witch" or a "changeling" whenever things would turn out badly. When Alice had a vision of her mother being murdered in the woods, she tried to warn her. At first her mother listened...but as the months passed and nothing happened, her mother eventually gave up and went back to her usual duties.

Then one night, Alice had a vision as clear as day of a man in a Model T running her mother's automobile off the road. She tried to stop her, but it was too late. Mrs. Brandon was dead; they declared it an accident

Merely six months later, Mr. Brandon remarried a women only ten years older than Alice in Illinois (jumping the gun, much?). Alice quickly became suspicious of her new stepmother once she discovered that the preparations for the wedding had been going on much longer than six months. When Alice confronted her father on the matter, he was furious and denied everything. After the confrontation, Alice had a vision that proved her suspicions were accurate: her father had exchanged money with the man that killed his wife. Her own father had killed her mother, and was planning on killing her too.

So Alice fled.

She escaped to her Aunt's house, but she refused to listen to her as well (nice relatives, eh?). As a result, her own Uncle chased her off of their property, and Alice was forced to go to the town marshal. By the time she got there, her father and stepmother were already waiting for her. They insisted that Alice had gone mad and sent her to an asylum two counties away.

Once she was there, she was proclaimed dead by her family and the town itself.

While in the mental institution, Alice's head was shaved due to a threat of typhoid fever and she suffered through massive amounts of electroshock therapy, which caused Alice's loss of memory. Her luck was about to change for the better though, for a vampire happened to work at the institution as groundskeeper and he quickly took a liking to the tiny girl with visions. He became her friend and tried his best to keep her away from the electroshock therapy.

Then, one day, Alice saw James was coming for her, and her fate was sealed. She confided in her vampire friend, and together they tried to escape the institution, but it was futile. There was only one thing left to do to protect her. Turn her. The vampire immediately bit her, releasing the venom into her system. The vampire hid her body away while he tried to slow James down, but he was distracted and interrogated by Victoria. By the time James found Alice's body, she was already transitioning. Enraged, James went back and killed the vampire, Alice's only friend in the institution.

As Twilight fans will know, Alice eventually received a vision of Jasper and the Cullen family. She changed her way of living to the vegetarian style of the Cullens as she waited for Jasper to appear. She already knew what Jasper would mean to her.

Finally in 1948, the fateful day arrived. Alice met Jasper in a small diner in Philadelphia where they began their life together before joining the Cullens in 1950. Since becoming a vampire and joining the Cullen family, Alice has attended high school many times and has earned several college degrees in fashion design and international business. She enjoys spending time playing the stock market (which is helped by her visions) and loves designing and shopping for clothes.

Alice can be a little-in your face (though maybe not as much as Rosalie), but I adore her as a character. She had a miserable life as a human, one in which I'm sure we all hope will never happen to us, but she was able to overcome that. Alice could've easily taken her vampirism as a curse (like a certain bronze-haired person we all know), but she didn't. Instead she accepted what she was given and in return, found her soulmate and a family.

-I do not own any of this information, this belongs solely to SM. ScarC

ScarC occasionally writes random oneshots such as "Emmett and the Radar Gun" and "Football Game." She can be found on fanfiction.net under her penname pyroprincess89

Random here to save the day!

2011-06-17T17:17:00.001-06:00

I feel that apologies are in order for our readers who come here and actually like Twilight, or are genuinely interested in it. We've given caveman summaries of the first two novels, and no thanks to Buffyrules, a little bit of bashing. So far we've covered the bases of those who know Twilight like the back of their hand, and possibly given the Anti's something to chuckle at. But what about the rest of you?

Well, you could just as easily go to Wikipedia or Amazon and look up the summary of Twilight, but those places don't tell you why this book has had such a huge impact on women (and maybe some men) of all ages. Why the world has gone crazy for Twilight-that's what I'm here for. I'm going to explain to the best of my abilities why people are so fascinated by this story.

Comic Edward is intrigued!

And here we go again!

Twilight is the story about one girl, a simple 17 year old girl with brown hair and brown eyes-what most people look like (hello dominant genes)-which makes her relatable. Twilight is mostly read by women, so I think it's safe to say that we've all been there; we've all been 17 at one point in our lives (or maybe we're getting there). We all know what it's like to start at a new school, whether it's because we've moved or we're moving up the scholastic ladder. We've all experienced that dread of the unknown: what if I'm late to class? What if no one likes me? What if I don't make any friends? Bella Swan is going through the same thing...only on a different level, she also has to deal with the thought of "Why is that attractive god of a man looking at me like he wants to eat me?"

I admit, that's not exactly how it goes, but those of you who are about to read this series will soon find out that Bella likes to talk about Edward's gloriousness quite a bit

But before Edward becomes "glorious" he is scary, why? Because he is a vampire! And sadly enough, Bella is cursed with delicious smelling blood, and Edward hasn't fed off of a human in years.

Let me take a quick moment here to explain Stephenie Meyer's version of vampires: they don't have fangs (which is a big complaint with vampire enthusiasts), the Sun doesn't burn them because their skin is like granite, so instead it makes them...sparkle....Also the usual stakes, holy water, garlic, etc. that normal vampires would run from-doesn't effect them at all. These vamps also have venom; like snakes they bite their prey and then infect them with their venom. If the vamp hasn't lost control and completely killed the person, eventually said person will become a vampire after the venom has gone through the body, taking up about three days.

Edward and his family, the Cullens (of which there are 7 of them in total) only eat the blood of animals, but Bella's blood smells so good that Edward goes crazy and leaves town for a few days just to get away from her and not massacre the entire school board

Bella, like any girl, thinks about him the whole time, wondering what his deal is and why he doesn't seem to like her (again who can relate to this? Me, for one thing)

Then of course comes the real kicker, the thing that sucks everyone in: the forbidden love

After Edward comes to know Bella (not through his special power which will be talked about later) he ends up falling for her. This of course causes an issue: he's a vampire, she's a human; he wants to eat her, she wants to eat his face with her lips; he's afraid of killing her, she wants him to so that they can be together forever.

It's a modern Romeo and Juliet, and we all know how popular that story is

Really what it comes down to is you have a girl who is just like every other girl in the world (maybe even just like you...unless you're a guy) who defies the odds and ends up winning the heart of a man (a vamp-man) who has spent his entire undead life just going through the motions. He's dead to the world until this girl comes into his life and shows him how to live again.

That to me, is an amazing story

The invisible moon that is often called New...

2011-06-14T15:26:00.005-06:00

Ah yes, New Moon...the second book in the Twilight Saga that is usually the least favorite out of the series (behind Breaking Yawn...I mean, Dawn). I've asked Random to let me talk about this one and she reluctantly (very reluctantly) agreed to let me do this. She probably thinks I'm just going to bash the novel, but no...I'll save my bashing for later. This is going to be another basic synopsis of the novel that is going to be very similar to what Random did (because I absolutely loved how she did it)

So here we go...

Girl reluctantly celebrates birthday

Girl somehow cuts her finger on wrapping paper (???) and with her hemophiliac tendencies, the "wound"bleeds profusely sending the other vamps into a frenzy

My favorite Southern vamp tries to kill Girl

Everyone rejoices

THE END

...just kidding (Random is not going to let me do another one of these things again)

Boy stops Southern vamp

Boy suddenly stops talking to Girl

Boy breaks up with Girl and leaves her

Suddenly there are pages with only one word on each...

Girl is a zombie

Not literally

Girl starts hanging out with Human Boy from the last book

Girl realizes that doing dangerous things allows her to see Boy

Human Boy falls for Girl through the course of the novel

Girl finds out that Human Boy isn't all that human

Human Boy becomes Wolf Boy

Girl almost gets killed by Vamp from previous novel

Girl goes cliff diving after watching Wolf Boy's friends do it

Wolf Boy saves Girl

Girl comes home to find Boy's Pixie sister

Pixie thought Girl had died

Pixie gets vision that Boy is going to kill himself

Pixie and Girl fly to Italy

Girl stops Boy

Girl meets old vamps

Girl and Boy get back together

Girl gets grounded

Basically THE END

All I have to say is not much really happens in this novel. It's kind of like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest...just a bunch of running around with little plot development. Shapeshifters are introduced along with the Volterra but that's it. You could honestly just read to the part where Edward leaves and skip to the part where Bella finds out that he's going to kill himself (which is probably what most people do anyway) and be fine.

There you have it, New Moon...

And here's a doodle!

I think I'm getting better at this drawing thing

Keep sending in your doodles!

-Buffyrules01

And Here We....Go

2011-05-30T16:56:00.001-06:00

Well, I hope everyone is having a great three-day weekend. Today's post is on the background and basics (and I really mean basics) of the story of Twilight. We've all heard of it, most of us have either read it or plan on never reading it, so this is just going to be a little snippet along with some other things we're adding to the Fangdom.

Girl moves to a new state

Girl goes to school

Girl meets boy at school

Boy glares at girl

Girl glares at boy

Boy saves girl from van

Boy saves girl from creepers

Girl falls for boy

Boy is a vampire

Boy wants to eat her

Girl finds this romantic regardless

Boy watches her sleep

Girl and boy decide that they are together

Boy introduces girl to family

Vampires come and want to eat the girl

Boy tries to protect girl, but girl is too stubborn

Girl goes to Phoenix with Boy's fake bro and sis

Girl finds out that evil vamp has her mom

Girl escapes fake bro and sis to save mom

Girl finds out that it was all fake

Girls gets the crap kicked out of her by vamp

Vamp bites girl

Girl is dying

Boy comes and kills vamp

Boy saves girl

Girl wants to be vamp

Boy says no

THE END

On a more serious note, the idea of Twilight came to Stephenie Meyer through a dream where she dreamt about Edward and Bella sitting in a beautiful meadow and Edward tells Bella that he loves her, but he is a vampire and wants to kill her as well. That dream became the 13th chapter of Twilight and in just three months, Meyer finished the first Twilight novel.

In other news, we've come up with a new segment for the Fangdom called "I Do Doodle, You Do Doodle Too" where we will be accepting your drawings (no matter how crappy or amazing) of your favorite, least favorite, down right hilarious scenes from whatever supernatural/mythical form of entertainment you can think of.

Our first one below was done by our very own Buffyrules01 and it's pretty obvious where this is from and why she chose to doodle it:

Buffyrules01 would like to note that she does know that Twilight vampires don't have fangs, but she doesn't care.

So send us your doodles at our e-mail address: randomfandom89@hotmail.com (remember to leave out the "G")

Have a great Memorial Day! -Random

Reviews

2011-05-08T13:17:00.001-06:00

I would first like to apologize to our loyal readers. I have not been putting up any posts lately and I am deeply sorry for it. But, I'm sure that many of you can understand that school needs to come first. So, my next bit of information is I'm DONE - until the fall. Yay!
Okay now, I have two reviews for you loyal readers. The first is in regards to "The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide" and the other is in regards to "Water for Elephants" (the book and the movie).

I have been waiting for this book since it was announced that it would be coming out. I love reading character backgrounds and that was one of the major points for the book. It has other interesting features including: a timeline, an interview with Stephenie Meyer (I must admit that I only glanced over this section), and information regarding the cars in the series and the music Stephenie Meyer used as inspiration. There are other features as well and I'm sure you can look up the book to find out more. But, my review of the book is that it's interesting and better written then the books themselves - I agree with buffyrules01 that the books are lacking in grammatical correctness and a lack of explanation for literature, but it's an interesting story to me and I tend to ignore grammatical errors while I'm reading because I'd rather just enjoy the book. My review for this book is to check it out if you are even remotely interested. It's interesting and it helps clear up some of the confusion that present themselves in the book.

I read the book "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen before I went to see the movie. I wanted to see the movie because I wanted to watch Robert Pattinson in something besides "Twilight" - I think all of the Twilight actors and actresses do better work in movies other than Twilight. My review for the movie... eh, it wasn't terrifically awesome but it wasn't horrible. Although, at one point in the movie I wanted to desperately leave because it was boring and wasn't following the book well. I suggest reading the book more than I suggest seeing the movie. But the choice is up to you.

Those are my reviews and while they might seem a little vague they are what I think. Until next time loyal readers....

-scarc91989

Bring on the Anti's

2011-05-07T14:25:00.005-06:00

I should probably put up a disclaimer before I write anything else: I am the Anti-Twilight, so there may be some slight bashing in this post. I don't mean to offend anyone who is a fan of Twilight, I'm just stating my opinion; that's all. If you want some Twilight lovin', see the previous post.

Moving on!

So...Twilight, a word that now makes me cringe regardless of whether or not it's referred to the series or the time of day.

Several years ago, I too was reading this series and I admit, I liked it at the time. What happened to make me change sides you ask? The answer is very simple: I woke up.

I originally read this series back before it exploded into the craziness it is now, and way back before Twi-Hards were getting their knickers in a twist over everything. I was a naive high schooler who didn't know any better and was trying to get everyone I knew to read this series.

Fast forward through college and I'm now trying to prevent people from reading it. Why? Because it is not quality literature. College opened my eyes to the proper usage of grammar, and let's face it, Twilight has some serious issues when it comes to that front. I physically cannot read the books anymore-it's too painful! The series is now hidden away somewhere in a tub inside my house.

It's not just the grammar that bothers me though. I can't for the life of me figure out why Stephenie Meyer couldn't take the time to explain things within her novels properly. Or to do some research. I'm sorry, but if it takes three months to write a novel of that length and quantity, then something must be wrong. It took JK Rowling five years just to write the first Harry Potter novel-five! And just look at the difference between the two series: you have one with quality writing, wonderful characters, a completely unique made up world that follows it's own set of laws...and then you have Twilight, where not even Port Angeles is depicted correctly.

Now, don't get me wrong. I do think that what Stephenie Meyer has been able to achieve as a stay at home mom is great. The fact that she found the time to even write a novel of that length is amazing-but after the success of the first novel, I think she should've learned more about the craft of creative writing to make each of sequels afterwards better. Instead what we end up with is Breaking Dawn: what is considered by many fans to be the worst and the most disappointing of the saga. Some even go as far to say that it reads like a bad fanfiction. At some points, I'd have to say I agree with them.

I could go on and on about the issues I have with this series right now, but I'm going to save that for later. As we dive into this series and go through everything, you will all see both sides of the spectrum.

I hope you all enjoy what we have in store for you!

-Buffyrules01

The Phenomenon known as...

2011-03-13T21:21:00.001-06:00

Yes...we're bringing THIS up. Instead of doing a segment on Buffy, we've decided to hold off on it for awhile and switch things up by giving you the phenomenon known as the Twilight Saga.

Most of you (unless you've been living under a rock) have heard of this series, and I'm going to take a guess and say that either you've read the books, watched the movies, or you're completely Anti-Twilight and refuse to involve yourself in either. Well, what we're going to do for this is involve all of you. I myself happen to be a Twilight fan, Random is sort of in the middle, and Buffyrules has completely gone to the dark side-she's our Anti-Twilight and refers to those "Twi-Hards" as "Pysch-Wards."

Now, I am certainly not a "Twi-Hard" and neither is Random. I was introduced to the Twilight world right before the first movie came out when one of my roommates, our very own Buffyrules before she turned, thought it would be a great idea to go see the movie when it came out. Before I'd met Buffyrules, vampires used to terrify me; but once she introduced me to Buffy; I was hooked! I agreed to watch the movie, but opted to read the books before seeing it so that I could be on the same page as Buffyrules and my other roommates. By the time Twilight came out in theaters, I had finished the entire series, and I was a fan.

Years have gone by and I still enjoy reading the series, but I can see now why certain people may not enjoy the books as others do.

For the next few weeks, us ladies of Random Fangdom will be bringing you everything we know, love (and hate) about the Twilight series. There aren't going to be any biases, we've all read the series so we're not just judging the book by it's cover, so buckle your seat belts and enjoy the ride! Everyone is welcome: Twilighters, Twi-Hards (just don't go crazy on us), the Anti-Twilights, and even those people who are still trying to decide which side to be on.

We welcome you all!
~ scarc91989

Vampire Mythology: Blood

2011-03-08T11:13:00.006-07:00

"Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonorable peace..." (Dracula, Ch. 3)

Nothing has so defined the vampire race than that which they take from humans to give them life: blood.

Since ancient times, humans have seen the connection between blood and life. Hunters observed the relationship between the spilling of blood and the subsequent loss of consciousness, the ceasing of breath, and eventual death of the animals they sought. Blood was identified with life, and scholars through the ages have produced endless speculations about that connection.

Some believed that by drinking the blood of a victim the conqueror absorbed the additional strength of the conquered (sounds pretty vampirey to me). By drinking the blood of animals, one took on their qualities. As late as the seventeenth century, the women of the Yorkshire area of England were reported to believe that by drinking the blood of their enemies, they could increase their fertility (creepy!).

Among blood's more noticeable qualities was its red color as it flowed out of the body, and as a result redness came to be seen as an essential characteristic of blood, the vehicle of its power. Red objects were often endowed with the same potency as blood. In particular red wine was identified with blood, and in ancient Greece, for example, red wine was drunk by the devotees of the god Dionysus in a symbolic ritual drinking of his blood.

In Dracula, when Lucy Westenra is hovering near death, Van Helsing suggests a blood transfusion, something that was very new at the time due to Dracula being written just as modern medicine was emerging. The idea of using a transfusion to counter the vampire introduced a new concern into the developing myth of the vampire through the twentieth century, especially as the supernatural elements of the myth were being discarded. If vampirism was not a supernatural state, and rather was caused ultimately by a moral or theological flaw of the original vampires, then possibly the blood thirst was the symptom of a diseased condition! Caused by a germ or a chemical disorder of the blood, either of which might be passed by the vampires bite (sounds a little like I Am Legend, doesn't it?).

In the mid 1960's there was a brief medical speculation that vampirism was the result of misdiagnosed porphyria, a disease that caused victims to be sensitive to sunlight and which could be cured or helped.

Anemia is a disease of the blood that was initially associated with vampirism. Anemia is caused by a reduction of either red blood cells or hemoglobin relative to the other ingredients in the blood. The symptoms include a pale complexion, fatigue, and in its more extreme instances, fainting spells. All are symptoms usually associated with a vampire attack. In Dracula, during the early stages of Lucy Westenra's illness, Dr. John Seward hypothesized that possibly she was suffering from anemia. He later concluded that she was not suffering from the loss of red blood cells, but from the loss of whole blood. Dr. Van Helsing agreed with his friend, "I have made careful examination, but there is not functional cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anemic" (ch 9). While Stoker dismissed any association of anemia and vampirism, over the succeeding decades, attempts to posit anemia as the underlying explanation of vampirism occasionally occurred.

The traditional beliefs that surrounded blood, the medical exploration of its properties, and the analogies it harbored, facilitated the adaptability of the vampire myth to a seemingly endless number of situations. Scientific considerations of the vital function played by blood in the human body have, if anything given it an even more mystical place in human life and promoted its revitalization in this modern era.

I own none of the above. It belongs to those who have spent their lives researching vampires and have put this information together for us to learn from
-Buffyrules01

Reviews

2010-12-05T15:17:00.003-07:00

Hi everyone! ~waves excitedly~
Once again, I apologize for the time between posts... hopefully buffyrules01, randomfandom89, and I will be able to get together and decide what the schedule for the blog will be, but until then... I do have some reviews to give.

The first review is of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 - or as I call it Harry Potter #7.1. I know that Harry Potter isn't vampire-ish, but it does have vampires in it (at least mentioned in the books). Anyways, my review of Harry Potter #7.1 is better than what I thought of Harry Potter #6 - I did not like that movie because I felt it didn't stay close to the books. Harry Potter #7.1 was good and I'm very glad that they are making it into two movies because there is NO WAY you can accurately put that much information in Harry Potter #7 (the book) into one movie. NO WAY! The acting was great and the movie stayed close enough to the story that I wasn't too upset with it (like I was in Harry Potter #6). I must also say that the three main characters/actors (and actress) are hilariously funny when they are together. The movie had several laughs, a few scary parts, and at least one sad part - if not a couple more.

*Funny story... (possibility of a SPOILER) the first time I saw Harry Potter #7.1 (I've seen it twice) was with one of my nieces and two of eight nephews. Just before the part where Harry and Hermione get attacked by the snake in Godrick's Hallow I had my 8-yr old nephew come sit on my lap so that I could cover his eyes during the snake part. After that part he stayed on my lap for the rest of the movie. The funny part about this is, when Harry Potter started to strip to his underwear to go save the sword of Gryffindor from a pond, my nephew covered my eyes. It was funny (to me at least).

My next review is of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse DVD. I ended up dragging my oldest brother to Wal*Mart at midnight to get it and, as an 'I'm sorry that I won't be home for Christmas' gift, he bought it for me. I still have to watch the movie with another commentary, but I found the commentary with Kristen Stewart (Bella) and Robert Pattinson (Edward) hilariously funny and I enjoy the fact that neither of them like to fill the movie with "initial" mindless chatter (they did start talking about something from the movie which led to other discussions, but it was okay because those discussions were so off the wall that they made me laugh). Also, the documentary of how the movie was made was pretty cool and filled with funny parts... like seeing Taylor Lautner in a spandex suit/sweatpants for a wolf part.

That's basically it. Oh! For the Harry Potter series, I'm Team Ron and Team Dobby (both of them are funny and cool). Twilight saga, I'm Team Switzerland in arguments (it annoys people) and Team Edward (generally).

-scarc91989

Attention All Fangdomers

2010-08-06T18:22:00.003-06:00

I know we said not long ago that we would be going over everything Buffy for the month of August, but alas! It turns out this month is going to be the busiest month for us all! We apologize for the inconvenience and ask that you, our amazing readers, will bare with us. We truly love you all and hate the fact that we don't have the time right now to fully put our all into our posts.

So, for the rest of this month, we the creators of Random Fangdom will be taking the time away from the blog and will focus our attention on making the Fangdom better than ever before. We want this blog to be the best that it can be, and that can only be done if we can all come together.

When we return in a month, we will start right back up with Buffy and go on from there. If you have any questions or maybe have some ideas for our Fangdom yourselves and would like to make some suggestions please contact us at: randomfandom89@hotmail.com (and no that's not a typo, there isn't a g in fangdom for our e-mail)

-Random Fangdom

Sound Bite

2010-07-28T19:48:00.007-06:00

Hello my lovelies!! Weren't expecting me now, were you? Surprise!! It's Random! I'm here to introduce a new thing to our Fangdom: Sound Bites. Every once in awhile we will be posting music that we find to be very vampirey or very dark in a sense. We might also post some bands that we just like in general, but for the most part it'll be musicians that we feel perfectly suit the vampire genre.

I will be starting off this new column with a band that I quite enjoy (although Buffyrules would like to argue that the band hardly exists anymore). That band is Evanescence.

How many of us can forget "Bring Me to Life," "My Immortal," "Haunted"? Those songs practically scream vampire. Fallen was Evanescence's gold mine-or should I say-platinum mine. There isn't a single bad song on that CD, you can listen to it from start to finish and never get tired of it. I should know, I've done it many times.

2003 was a good year for them; if only Ben Moody hadn't left!! After Fallen came the Open Door, a bit more melodic than Fallen. It's interesting when you first hear it. I personally like "Weight of the World," "Lithium," and "Lose Control." The only issue I have with this CD is once you listen through the entire thing...you get bored with the songs very easily. It's like the symphonies are just too much and over power the rock edge that Evanescence was famous for. It's a lovely CD if you want to fall asleep and have crazy nightmares, but for me it was just okay.

After that the band fell apart. Amy Lee is the only member of Evanescence left, all of the originals have gone on to do better things, making me wonder what Evanescence will sound like now. The band was originally supposed to release their next album this year, but by the sounds of it, it's being pushed back quite a bit.

I still have faith in Evanescence. I still think they are a great band and Amy Lee's voice is unmatched by any other singer I have come across. Truly a superb singer.

Another CD of Evanescence's that you should try to get your hands on is Origin. It's the Pre-Fallen CD and has some pretty crazy sounding tracks."Whisper" and "Imaginary" have a different sound from what you hear on the Fallen CD, and all the others are just very dark and very reminiscent of the old Evanescence. It makes me miss Ben Moody when I hear some of the tracks. "Eternal" is Buffyrules' personal favorite. Seven minutes and twenty two seconds of pure instrumental bliss. How can anyone not love the track? I'm especially fond of the section where the song just sounds like a thunderstorm raging. If you'd like to get ahold of these tracks or the entire CD you can download it off the internet at evanescencereference. Amy Lee and Ben Moody actually stated in an interview that they wanted fans to just download the CD, so don't feel like you're doing something wrong by doing it.

I'm really excited about what's coming up for our Fangdom. Sorry for the various delays, but we do have lives and it gets in the way sometimes. Please forgive us and keep on reading our blog. We truly appreciate those of you who do.

Affiliates: MyVampFiction.com

2010-07-20T19:13:00.005-06:00

We at Random Fangdom our pleased to announce our first ever affiliate: My Vamp Fiction.

MyVampFiction is an open community that encourages fun, intelligent discussion about all things Vampire and Vampire-related. Their goal is to not only provide a one-stop shop for fans to discuss books, music, movies & television series within the Vampire fiction genre (and to some extent, the Paranormal fiction genre as well), but also to inspire creativity through fan fiction, music & art.

So if you're looking for fanfiction just on the Vampire genre and anything Vampire related, we suggest you take a pop over to MyVampFiction. They have some great things going on and even some writing contests you can join.

Just click on the link down below, or in the column on the right side of your screen that says Affiliates.

http://myvampfiction.com/

Into every generation, there is a Chosen One...

2010-07-19T19:13:00.005-06:00

By Buffyrules01

Hello all! We're going to start doing something a little different here at the Fangdom. Every month, us at the Random Fangdom will go over a form of entertainment that has our beloved vampires starring in it. This month, Buffy was picked at random for the start of our new column, and I don't think we could've picked a better show to start with (yes, I'm being biased)! So of course, I was asked to introduce you all to this wonderful TV show. Who better to talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer than me? I don't go by Buffyrules01 for the heck of it.

Moving on...so as you probably have noticed, the month of July is already half over. What are you going to do about that, you ask? Easy, we're going to go into August. For a little over a month and half we will be going over everything we can about Buffy to let those of you who have never seen the show fall in love with it, and to let those who have, reminisce with us.

Buffy first came out in March of 1997, five years after the awful movie of the same name came out. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Movie is a far cry from the successful show, and rightfully so considering Joss Whedon actually walked out in the middle of production when the movie people refused to go with his vision. It just goes to show you that when Joss Whedon is involved, you should listen to what he says; the man is a genius.

The concept of Buffy came to Whedon after he saw that in every horror movie there's always a little blonde girl who goes down a dark alley and gets killed. He wanted to flip the idea and make it so that yes the little blonde girl goes down the dark alley, but she beats the crap out of the thing that's chasing her. That's how Buffy Summers was born.

Years after the bomb that was the movie, Whedon was approached and asked to make his version of Buffy into a TV show. Whedon explained that "They said, 'Do you want to do a show?' And I thought, 'High school as a horror movie.' And so the metaphor became the central concept behind Buffy, and that's how I sold it."

The supernatural elements in the series stood as metaphors for personal anxieties associated with adolescences and young adulthood. Such as the girl who is ignored and feels like she's invisible to others in school. In the Buffyverse, that girl really would become invisible, go insane, and try to kill everyone who ignored her. Or that teacher that every body fantasizes about, in Buffy she'd probably turn out to be a creature and try to kill off all the boys who liked her.

For those of you who have been living under a rock and have no idea what Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about, I'll give you a quick synopsis of the show.

Buffy Summers is a sixteen year old girl who is sent to the fictional town of Sunnydale, California after getting kicked out of her old school in LA for burning down the Gym. The reason for the burn down was because there were vampires in the gym and Buffy is a Vampire Slayer (hence the name of the show). A Vampire Slayer is one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, she alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. So technically Buffy isn't just a vampire slayer, she kills all evil things, but vampires are her specialty.

Each Slayer has what is called a Watcher, a Watcher looks after and trains the Slayer so that she can fight all of the evils in the world until she passes and another one is called.

How did a Slayer come to be, you ask? A bunch of monks took the essence of a pure-demon and put the essence into the body of a girl; the first Slayer. This mystical force gave the Slayer her supernatural abilites such as strength, speed, and superhuman senses.

There are seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and each season is basically a year in the life of Buffy. The first season is shorter than the others, and is Buffy's second semester of her sophomore high school year. The second season is her junior year, the third season is her senior, and so on and so forth through college and whatnot.

What I love so much about this show is that it has every genre you can think of for a series. It's a comedy, a drama, a romance, mystery, thriller-whatever you can think of all rolled into one! The dialogue written for the characters is absolute genius, and we at the Fangdom will go over some of our favorite quotes from the show as we go along. We'll also do some character explorations/spotlights so that you will all get to know and love the characters as much as we do.

If you haven't seen the show yet, I highly suggest you go watch it. The first season is on Hulu, and you can buy two seasons in a pack for about twenty bucks!!! A great deal considering I bought all mine individually back when they were all about forty dollars, dang it.

Vampire Mythology: Crucifixes

2010-07-14T19:37:00.005-06:00

I'm back with some more tasty Vampire Mythology for you all to drain and devour. Today we will be talking about crosses/crucifixes and how they came about in Vampire Lore.

Crazily enough, the emergence of the crucifix came directly from Bram Stoker's Dracula, combining some popular ideas about the magical use of sacred objects by Roman Catholics and the medieval tradition that identified vampirism with Satanism. In addition, a significant amount of Roman Catholic piety focused around the crucifix, and among church members it could easily take on not just sacred, but magical, qualities. It was not just a symbol of the sacred, but the bearer of the sacred.

If the the vampire was of the realm of Satan, it would withdraw from a crucifix. For Stoker, the presence of the crucifix caused the vampire to lose its supernatural strength . Thus, with Dracula, in the case of Harker, Dracula lost his fury; Lucy could not escape her tomb; and when the men burst into Mina's bedroom, the weakened Dracula, faced with overwhelming odds, departed quickly.

While the crucifix was a standard item in the vampire hunter's kit, it was not omnipresent in vampire books and movies. The relation to the holy was among the first elements of the tradition to be challenged as the vampire myth developed. Writers who were not Roman Catholic or even Christian found no meaning in the crucifix and the eucharistic elements, and simply dropped them from consideration. For instance, Anne Rice chose to acknowledge the sacred world but essentially deny its power, specifically mentioning the immunity of her vampires to holy objects.

The challenge to the effectiveness of the crucifix in vampire novels symbolizes a larger challenge to the role of the supernatural in modern life. While the lessening of the role of the supernatural in the novels of Rice has its supporters, the crucifix remains a popular protective object for fictional characters. Consideration of their reaction to sacred objects likely will continue to be a conscious element in the development of new vampire characters in the future.

We know today with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the a cross can protect people from vampires. If a cross so much as touches a vampires skin, it burns them. A perfect example of this would be when Buffy kisses Angel in the first season at the end of the episode "Angel." The cross she wears around her neck burns into his neck, forming a perfect crucifix in his skin. I know with the more recent vampire craze, a lot of those fictional vampires don't shy away from the cross; it has no effect on them. So does this mean that they are less evil than those vampires who are effected by the cross?

Who knows. All we know is, it's up to the writer to decide the effects of the cross.

Review with a Vampire Slayer

2010-07-06T19:19:00.006-06:00

Eclipse. Yes, that is what ScarC and I were sent out to do last week. Random ordered us to go see it, and write a review (ScarC saw it three times-my goodness)

Now, before you Twi-Haters start clicking the "X" at the top of your screen, just stop and listen to me for a second. As many of you know (or have guessed by my name) I am a Buffy fan, a Buffy loyalist, whatever you want to call it. I'm sure some of you reading this are too, so don't feel like I've betrayed you in some way because I have not. I loved vampires before Buffy, after Buffy, I used to draw vampires in elementary school for crying out loud. The reason why I say I'm a Buffy loyalist is because Buffy was the first form of media I ever saw that had my beloved vampires in it. Sure they were being slayed by a petite blonde, but I loved the characters, I loved the vamps, and I loved the show.

It wasn't long after Buffy season 7 had ended, that I came across Twilight while perusing a bookstore (which I later worked at for a year). Back then, there were less than a dozen copies of Twilight on the shelves. New Moon didn't exist yet, Twilight hadn't exploded into the crazy thing it is now, and TwiHards were few and far between. I read the book, I liked the book, and I admit I was excited when I found out there was going to be a sequel to it. So, I guess you could say I'm an original fan, but that's all I am. I'm not obsessed with it, I don't have Rob posters plastered on my wall. I just enjoy the story and the characters. I've only read through each book twice and that's it.

Why am I going through all of this in a movie review? Because I want you to understand where I am coming from, and because I want you all to know that my review for Eclipse is genuine. It's not biased in anyway. It's pure and honest truth.

So as you all now know, I was asked to go see Eclipse and write a review. Now I have to be honest, I can't stand the first movie of the series: Twilight. I had such high hopes for it, I even saw it twice in theaters just to see if the second time around would be any better...it was worse. No offense to people who love Kristen Stewart, but she just could not act in that movie! All the twitching and eye blinking (seriously if you don't believe me, look it up on youtube.). I thought the special effects were bad, the directing, the music, it just wasn't good! And I was taking a film class in college during this time, so I knew what I was talking about. The only thing I liked about that movie was the baseball scene (you can't go wrong with a MUSE song in the background), and the Cullen Family. The Twilight movie actually awakened my love for Jasper. I was intrigued by him in the books and LOVED his relationship with Alice, but it wasn't until I saw him in Twilight that I started to get all twitterpated.

With New Moon things got a little better. I had lower expectations for that movie because New Moon is my least favorite book in the series and I already experienced Twilight, so I was ready for anything. New Moon was definitely a step up from Twilight. With a new director, and more money to spend on special effects, the movie just felt better. The only issues I had were the cheesy scenes here and there (Alice's vision? I mean, come on), Kristen's acting (no surprise there), and the make up for Edward (in the words of a friend who saw it with me, "I'm trying to check out Edward, but all I can see is his lips") a little too much red on the lips there.

This brings us all to June 6th, the day I saw Eclipse (not at midnight, I saw it during the day). The movie opened with Bella and Edward sitting in their meadow, Bella is reading something for English while Edward is distracting her; asking her if she will marry him, to which she still replies with a "no". One thing I do in every Twilight movie is stare at Kristen Stewart's eyes, waiting for the extreme blinking and twitching to occur. It didn't happen at all in this movie. That was when I realized Eclipse was going to be different from all the others.

Eclipse is actually my favorite book in the series, but regardless, I went to the theater on my guard. I didn't want to have high expectations for it like I did with Twilight, only to be greatly disappointed, so I went in with a neutral air about me. Seeing Kristen Stewart's lack of blinking and twitching gave me hope; could this movie possibly be what Twilight should've been? It was. One should call Eclipse the Redeemer of the Twilight Movies. I was almost on the edge of my seat when the Cullen's starting chasing after Victoria through the woods. I knew they wouldn't catch her, but it was amazing to watch all the same.

The only issue I had with Eclipse was the lack of emotion from Kristen Stewart. Sure her blinking had stopped, but she was still bleah in the rest of the acting department. Her deep voice drives me nuts. Honestly, with Rob and Taylor constantly glaring at each other and wanting to fight each other, you could hardly tell she was there. Other than that though, I couldn't find anything wrong with this movie. Compared to the two before it, it was phenomenal. It was funny, it was intense, it was romantic. If I could see it again I would. Mostly because of one individual in particular:

Jasper

HO-LY-DANG! If I hadn't given my heart to Angel(us) long ago, I think Jasper might've taken it during the movie. When he took Emmett down (the strongest of the Cullen's) my heart was all a flutter. There's nothing I love more than watching a vampire beat the crap out of another vampire just on shear skill. Angel does the exact same thing and it's one of the many reasons for why I love him so much.

BEST SCENE EVER: Other than the tent scene and Jacob getting punched in the face (which were both hilarious), I have to say watching Alice and Jasper fight each other. It was the scene I was waiting for and it didn't disappoint at all. I so love their relationship, the fact that the only person who can take down Jasper is his wife, to me, is the sweetest thing ever. Behind every great man is a great woman, and Alice is definitely that.

A close second would have to be the fight scene. I never pictured the newborn vamps' faces breaking like porcelain when they were punched. Amazing visual, Jasper was a beast, need I say more?

I'm glad Eclipse didn't turn out as awful as I had thought, but the Twilight movies still need a lot of work. I mean, when you look at the Twilight movies and then you look at Harry Potter and how the kids who played Harry, Hermione, and Ron started out acting...they were still better than these twenty-somethings running around.

I'm trying to be optimistic about the movies, really. It's just sad that it had to take three movies in order for the saga to at least be decent on screen. I don't think it's the director's fault either, it's got to be the screenwriter.

Anyway, if you want my score on the Twilight Saga movies this is how they go in my opinion:

Twilight: D
New Moon: C
Eclipse: B+

Oh and JASPER JASPER JASPER

Eclipse Review

2010-07-05T20:47:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone! This is Scarc91989 reporting from the confines of her bedroom... must love laptops.

Anyways, I'm here to give you (my lovely readers) my quick review of the movie Eclipse. Simply put... I've seen it three time and plan to go see it again, that should say something. All-in-all though my overall rating for Twilight Saga: Eclipse is an A- or a B+. The reasoning is below. Warning... this might contain spoilers, you have been warned.

There are several reasons why I'm not giving it a solid A and those reasons are: I think they could have done a better job making Edward and the other vamps sparkle, Jasper's uniform could have been more realistic, and they could have made one of the scenes with Kristen Stewart (Bella) not look like a little kid.

There were moments in the movie when Edward and other vamps did not sparkle in the sunlight. One moment being in the last scene in the meadow when Bella and Edward are discussing the wedding plans. Jasper's uniform is supposed to have a yellow sash instead of a red sash and there are minor errors made to the pants and collar. (My brother, Daniel, who I dragged to the movie with me, pointed out these errors. He is a Civil War buff.) And, as for Kristen Stewart looking like a little kid - I think she looks twelve and I blame it on the costume and wig she is wearing. (The picture on the right is the only picture that I can get that shows what I'm talking about... it's not the best example, the best example is when she's using her blood to "mark" the tree while leaving a path for the newborns - at least when the camera backs away and shows her leaving the tree. No copyright infringement intended, all rights belong to their rightful owners in regard to this picture.)

My favorite parts, or scenes you should say, of the movie are: the fight scenes, the tent scene, when Bella punches Jacob and the subsequent exchange with Edward/Jacob & Charlie, "the talk" scene, and the wolves - in general. All those scenes I believe were done exceptionally well by both the actors/actresses involved and the CGI crew.

Now... I must leave you my lovely readers. My personal thought... go watch the movie. If you love it, sweet! If you hate it, at least you can say you watched it. And if you are in the middle, once again... at least you can say you watched it. For the guys, as my brother, Daniel, said 'It's good except for the romantic crap.'

- Scarc91989

CreatureFeature: (sand)Witches! (sand)Witches! They're not even human!

2010-06-29T20:42:00.004-06:00

Okay, so witches are actually human, but you have to admit; the song is catchy!

Welcome my loverlies!!! Did you miss me? I missed you! This week things are going to take an interesting turn. Our lovely vixen Buffyrules01 will NOT be posting this Wednesday. Why you ask? Because I've sent her on an assignment with our other vixen, ScarC. The pair will be posting back to back posts on the same topic when they have finished, so you are all in for double the excitement! Until then, you are stuck with me, and today we are talking about witches.

Now, I believe that vampires, werewolves, and witches are probably the most popular supernatural beings. They are everywhere in literature and media, and Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer even have all three! Because of this, there are massive amounts of information and history involved with the trio and we cannot discuss everything in one simple post! We know this with Buffyrules' column. So, what do you do when you have all this information brimming before you? You right what you can!

So here we go!

In many myths and legends, witches are evil, dishonest, or dangerous. Some cultures do not consider them fully human. If not evil by nature, witches may be possessed by demons or wicked spirits determined to harm humans. Yet ordinary men and women may learn magic for the purpose of hurting others. Such people are sometimes called sorcerers and sorceresses rather than wizards and witches. African tradition distinguishes between good magicians, or medicine men, and bad magicians, or sorcerers. Both types are distinct from the nonhuman witch.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, the belief in witches was widespread. Witches were said to be worshipers of the Devil. Thousands of women and some men were tortured and executed after being accused of witchcraft. The English who settled in North America brought along a fear of witches. A witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 resulted in the execution of 19 people. Even today, accusations of witchcraft can lead to violence in some parts of the world.

Not all witches and wizards are evil. Some myths and folktales feature good spirits or magicians who help people. These are said to practice "white magic" rather than the "black magic" of the evil witches and wizards. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the modern Arthurian legends identify Morgan Le Fay as the enchantress known as Nimuë, or the Lady of the Lake. In this role, she tricks Arthur's magician Merlin into falling in love with her. After learning Merlin's secrets, she imprisons him behind invisible walls.

Witches take many forms. The traditional image in European and American folklore is that of a wrinkled old woman, perhaps wearing a black robe and a cone-shaped hat. These witches communicate with evil spirits called familiars, which often take the form of a black cat. According to legend, Japanese witches have owls as familiars, and African witches have monkeys.

Flight is often associated with witchcraft. In American folktales, witches usually travel through the night skies on enchanted broomsticks. In some parts of Africa, witches are said to fly on bats. African witches often take the form of animals and eat human flesh. In the mythology of some cultures, witches can change into animals to prey upon their victims.

Witches and wizards continue to fascinate the public and inspire people to use them in novel and media. The Harry Potter Series is probably the most well known when it comes to witchcraft and wizardry (ha! pun!). Buffy fans will always remember Willow and her witchiness, and now we have Bonnie on the Vampire Diaries.

It's interesting to see how so many mythical and supernatural beings can all come together. Whether they're fighting against each other, or they're best friends with each other.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this. If I did then I'd be even more fantastic than I already am.

Vampire Mythology: To Stake or Not to Stake?

2010-06-24T18:14:00.013-06:00

That is the question.

Ever the preferred method of killing or immobilizing a vampire; stakes are possibly the most widely recognized way by which a vampire can be dealt with (unless you count sunlight-but you can't carry it around with you).

The stake driven through the heart is said to strike a killing blow to the undead; it is a technique by which a vampire may be put down while other, more permanent, means are used, such as: decapitation and burning. We recognize stakes today as the weapon of choice for any Vampire Slayer, and my personal favorite way to watch vampires meet their ends-in a pile of dust.

So, how did the method of staking come about? Like many other vampire myths, killing with a stake has its own historical significance.

Throughout central and eastern Europe, this method was taken very seriously. Not just any table leg or tree branch would do; the stake had to made of specific materials. In Russia, and through the Baltic, stakes had to be crafted from ash because of it's "magical qualities" (what's so magical about ash isn't said). In Silesia, the stakes were carved from oakwood, while Serbia had theirs crafted from hawthorn because of it's thorny shrub quality.

Vampirism was taken so seriously, in fact, that in Hungary and Romania bodies were staked after death to prevent the dead from coming back.

Most often vampires, or suspected vampires, were staked through the heart, though in Russia and northern Germany, the mouth was targeted for staking. In northeastern Serbia, the stomach was the appropriate place to stake a vampire. It was believed that staking a vampire was a way to relieve the bloated body of the devil spirit.

Staking is still, today, a widely used technique for doing away with vampires. Fictionalists utilize this technique over any and all others for the destruction of vampires. Vampire Diaries and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are just a few examples of that fact.

Forgive me for not posting last night. You may all stake me if you'd like.

Vampire Mythology: Bats baby!

2010-06-16T19:14:00.004-06:00

No discussion of vampires is even thinkable without talking about bats. They are integral to the modern day concept of the vampire, but this was not always the case.

Many cultures have various myths about bats. In South America, Camazotz was a bat god of the caves living in the Bathouse of the Underworld. In Europe, bats and owls were long associated with the supernatural, mainly because they were night creatures. On the other hand, the Gypsies thought them lucky-they wore charms made of bad bones. And in England, the Wakefield crest and those of some others have bats on them.

So how did bats end up becoming associated with vampires? There are only three species of vampire bats in the entire world, all of which occur in Central and South America. During the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors first came into contact with them and recognized the similarity between the feeding habits of the bats and those of their mythical vampires. It wasn't long before they began to associate bats with their vampire legends. Over the following centuries the association became stronger and was used by various people, including James Malcom Rhymer who wrote "Varney the Vampyre" in the 1840's. Stoker cemented the linkage of the bats and vampires in the minds of the general public with what we now know as "Bram Stoker's: Dracula."

Now as we very well know, vampires in media over the past decade don't even turn into bats like the vampires of the olden days. In a ways, it's sort of become taboo. Why would any vampire want to turn into a bat and fly away when they can just run at incredible speeds? The last time I ever saw a vampire turn into a little bat in the media was the movie, "The Littlest Vampire," and that was a kids movie.

Bats and vampires have changed. In movies like Underworld; where Marcus was all bat and his brother was all wolf, and Van Helsing, where Dracula turned into a bat; these bats were ginormous. Not the little tiny bats we see flying around nowadays. These guys were huge and human sized. You would wet your pants if they flew at you.

So there you have it. Bat's influence in the vampire world, even though it's short and sweet-they are still important.

Buffy Moment and Nerdy Passion

2010-06-13T21:18:00.006-06:00

For those of you that are unfortunate enough to not know what I mean by a 'Buffy Moment' let me explain... I had a brief moment where I was reminded of a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which should be discussed in this blog at some point). The moment you might ask was while I was with one of my brothers. He was telling me about how he didn't pass the written portion of a test and BANG! I had a Buffy Moment.

Master: You were destined to die! It was written!

Buffy: What can I say? I flunked the written.

(Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Season 1; Prophecy Girl)

*I told my brother this quote and we had a good laugh.

As for my other topic that is included in the title of this post... "Nerdy Passion"... it comes from hanging out with a couple of friends (a girl and her 15/16 yr. old brother) today in which we discussed our "Nerdy Passion". A nerdy passion, according to our definition, is something that you are completely obsessed with... to the degree that you'd be considered a "nerd" in that subject. My nerdy passion... if you must know... is volcanoes and fire. I probably have others, but that is my biggest one. My girl-friend's brother and I decided that her nerdy passion was benefiting from other people's nerdy passions while his nerdy passion was the fact that he is completely obsessed with Lord of the Rings and has read/watched all the extended versions/clips for it.

So, in an effort to gain a better understanding of the readers of this blog I ask... what is your nerdy passion?

- Scarc91989

Vampire Mythology: Vampire Controversy?!

2010-06-09T19:08:00.005-06:00

Believe it or not, there was an actual controversy involving vampires during the 18th century. Shocking? I thought so too!

As we very well know today, everyone is familiar with vampires. How can you not? There's vampire media and merchandise everywhere! But in Britain very little was known about vampires prior to the 18th century.

What brought the attention of vampires to the general public?

During the 18th century there was a major vampire scare in Eastern Europe. Even government officials frequently got dragged into the hunting and staking of vampires (seriously, people back then were nuts!).

This controversy was directly responsible for England's current vampire myths. In fact,the word Vampire only came into English language in 1732 via an English translation of a German report of the much publicized Arnold Paole vampire staking in Serbia (who? I'll explain it later).

Western scholars seriously considered the existence of vampires for the first time rather than just brushing them off as superstition. It all started with an outbreak of vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in the Austro-Hungarian empire from 1725-1734.

Two famous cases involved Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole. Plogojowitz died at the age of 62, but came back a couple of times after his death asking his son for food. When the son refused, he was found dead the next day. Soon Plogojowitz returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of blood.

In the other famous case Arnold Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer who had been
attacked by a vampire years before, died while haying. After death people began to die and it was believed by everyone that Paole had returned to prey on the neighbors.

These two incidents were extremely well documented. Government officials examined the cases and the bodies, wrote them up in reports, and books were published afterwards of the Paole case and distributed around Europe. The controversy raged for a generation. The problem was exacerbated by rural people having an epidemic of vampire attacks and digging up bodies all over the place. Many scholars said vampires didn't exist - they attributed reports to premature burial, or rabies which causes thirst. However, Dom Augustine Calmet, a well respected French theologian and scholar, put together a carefully thought out treaty in 1746 which said vampires did exist. This had considerable influence on other scholars at the time.

Eventually, Austrian Empress Marie Theresa sent her personal physician to investigate. He said vampires didn't exist and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies. This was the end of the vampire epidemics. But by then everyone knew about vampires and it was only a matter of time before authors would preserve and mold the vampire into something new and much more accessible to the general public.

Can you believe they don't write this stuff in History books? Real people actually believed in vampires and had "vampire epidemics". I'm pretty sure all of us wish vampires could really exist, but these people seriously believed it! What a scary time period to live in!

CreatureFeature: Phoenix

2010-06-03T19:08:00.008-06:00

I told you I would post Creature Feature at any random time, so how many of you guessed that I would do it mere hours after I announced it? Pretty random, eh?

Today we will be talking about the mythical creature known as the Phoenix. Now the Phoenix is probably my favorite creature and rightly so, it's just so dang cool! I wish real birds could burst into flame and come back from their own ashes. The Phoenix is a gorgeous bird of red and gold plummage (or purple and blue-either way it's pretty) and are about the size of an eagle according to some sources (I picture it being much larger). A Phoenix can live from 500 to around 1,000 years before it comes to the end of it's life; it'll then build itself a nest made out of twigs before igniting on fire and burning until nothing is left but ash. Then, of course, it comes out of the ashes and starts it's life all over again.

There is only one Phoenix that comes to my mind when I think of the bird and that is Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix from Harry Potter. We see in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that it burst into flames just like any other Phoenix, but we also know by the conclusion of the novel that Fawkes' tears can heal fatal wounds. This is also trait with any Phoenix. The birds really are immortal in every shape and form.

Another good example of a phoenix is not of a bird, but of a woman. Marvel Comic nerds will rejoice when I mention Jean Grey's Phoenix. I won't delve to deeply in the comics because there are so many and most of you who are reading this probably haven't read them. So I will discuss Jean Grey in the X-men Trilogies. As we know by the end of the series, Jean has had the Phoenix locked inside her mind by Professor Xavier and after her death at the end of the second movie (did anybody notice when the camera pans out across the lake you can see flames in the water in the shape of a bird?) the Phoenix is released and completely takes over Jean. The only way to stop her is to kill her and we get to see the amazingly buff Hugh Jackman get his shirt and skin ripped off several times before he finally gets to her and does it. Since she's a Phoenix though, does that mean she'll rise again? An intriguing thought.

The phoenix is a central figure in Lebanese ancient and modern cultures, as Lebanese are descendants of the Phoenicians and often claim themselves sons of the Phoenix. Lebanon, and Beirut particularly, is often depicted symbolically as a phoenix bird having been destroyed and rebuilt 7 times during its long history.

Don't you just love mythical creatures? There's so much to learn and to appreciate about them. I'm sure there's way more to Phoenixes than what I have found so far, so be watchful of updates to this column. You never know when I'll be adding new stuff!

Announcement: CreatureFeature

2010-06-03T16:27:00.006-06:00

What's this? I'm posting on a Thursday and it isn't even sundown? Don't panic, I'm just doing this because I have an announcement to make; this will be the only time anything is ever posted when it is not dark out.

There will be a slight change to Creature Feature. It will no longer be posted every Saturday; instead, it will be posted at random and it will not be written by ScarC1989. I will be taking up the challenge while ScarC persues other parts of the Fangdom-so keep a weathered eye out for her! The Creature Feature on werewolves will be finished with ScarC and she will be joined by our very own Buffyrules01. No worries, folks, Buffyrules will still be doing her mythology every Wednesday until her research dries up; then it too will show up at random times.

Buffyrules would also like to inform all the vampire fans that she has not turned to the other side by writing about werewolves, she is still a vampire loyalist in her undead heart and as dark as ever.

Expect great things this month. New columns will be showing up to quench your eternal thirst.

Vampire Mythology: Gypsies-say what?

2010-06-02T19:31:00.004-06:00

Yeah, I bet you didn't know gypsies had anything to do with vampires (unless you're a Buffy fan, then you know exactly what I'm talking about *coughSOULcough*). Gypsies have actually been in fiction and on screen for quite some time. In Bram Stoker's book Dracula the Szgany gypsies served Dracula, carrying his boxes of earth to guard him (talk about loyal).

In reality, Gypsies originated as nomadic tribes in northern India, but got their name from the early belief that they came from Egypt. By 1000 AD they started spreading westward and settled in Turkey for a time, incorporating many Turkish words into their Romany language.
By the 14th century they were all through the Balkans and within two more centuries had spread all across Europe. Gypsies arrived in Romania a short time before Vlad Dracula was born in 1431.

Their religion is complex and varies between tribes, but they have a god called O Del, as well as the concept of Good and Evil forces and a strong relationship and loyalty to dead relatives. They believed the dead soul entered a world similar to ours except that there is no death. The soul stayed around the body and sometimes wanted to come back (this so reminds me of the ensouled vamp. most of us know and love). The Gypsy myths of the living dead added to and enriched the vampire myths of Hungary, Romania, and Slavic lands.

The ancient home of the Gypsies; India has many mythical vampire figures. The Bhuta is the soul of a man who died an untimely death. It wandered around animating dead bodies at night and attacked the living like a ghoul. In northern India could be found the brahmaparusha (say that five times fast), a vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull from which it drank blood (gross!).

The most famous Indian vampire is Kali who had fangs, wore a garland of corpses, and had four arms. Her temples were near the cremation grounds. She and the goddess Durga battled the demon Raktabija who could reproduce himself from each drop of blood spilled. Kali drank all his blood so none was spilled, thereby winning the battle and killing Raktabija.

Sara or the Black Goddess is the form in which Kali survived among Gypsies. Gypsies have a belief that the three Marys from the New Testament went to France and baptised a Gypsy called Sara. They still hold a ceremony each May 24th in the French village where this is supposed to have occurred.
One Gypsy vampire was called a mullo (one who is dead). This vampire was believed to return and do malicious things and/or suck the blood of a person (usually a relative who had caused their death, or not properly observed the burial ceremonies, or who kept the deceased's possessions instead of destroying them as was proper.)

Female vampires could return, lead a normal life and even marry, but would exhaust the husband. Anyone who had a hideous appearance, was missing a finger, or had animal appendages, etc. was believed to be a vampire.

Even plants or dogs, cats, or farm animals could become vampires. Pumpkins or melons
kept in the house too long would start to move, make noises, or show blood.

To get rid of a vampire people would hire a dhampire (the son of a vampire and his widow) to detect the vampire. To ward off vampires, gypsies drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs. Further measures included driving stakes into the grave, pouring boiling water over it, decapitating the corpse, or burning it.

In spite of the disruption of Gypsy lives by the various eastern European communist regimes, they still retain much of their culture. In 1992 a new king of the Gypsies was chosen in Bistritz, Romania.

There ya go! Gypsies have a part of vampire mythology too, and in modern day fiction, we know that they would often punish vampires for feeding off of one of their kin. I won't go into further details though, those vampires will be discussed later.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my wit. If any of you are gypsies and find this inaccurate, by all means, contact me and let me know.

2010-05-29T10:18:00.003-06:00

Random Fangdom Followers,

Until I can find more information pertaining to werewolves the "Creature Feature" on werewolves has been temporarily suspended. Please enjoy the "Creature Feature" on vampires and enjoy whatever else is on Random Fangdom.

Sincerely,

-Scarc91989

Vampire Mythology: Different Species Part 2

2010-05-26T19:13:00.006-06:00

Ah, yes, the continuation on the bombshell I dropped last week: different species of vampires?! Get ready to throw your original thoughts on vampires out the window! I'm going to take you back many years ago and talk about the real history of vampires from different lands rather than my own opinions (which I hope you all enjoyed last week). Here we go!

Different Species Part 2

Vampire myths go back thousands of years and occur in almost every culture around the world (I know what you're probably thinking; Buffyrules, you already told us this stuff-well I'm telling you again! Plus this is for those who are just now joining us). The vampires we know of today, although altered my fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East and were transported from places like China, Tibet, and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans, and of course, the Carpathian mountains including places like Transylvania (now Romania) and Hungary (where my ancestors are from, go us!)

Our modern concept of vampires still retain threads, such as drinking blood, return from death, preying on humans, etc. in common with the Eastern European myths, but most of the stuff we're familiar with are just recent inventions. Vampires wearing capes for example or the fact that vampires are always highly attractive people. Sadly that is not the case, that is what fiction and film has given us. For instance, I bet some of you didn't know that in the old myths if you placed millet or poppy seeds in the graves of vampires they will spend all night counting them. Believe it or not, this is true and this very myth is what the Count on Sesame Street is based off of. In the words of Xander Harris: "Von, two, three-three victims, mwa ha ha!"

I'm going to give you two examples now of how vampire myths differ in different countries. The first vampires are Slavic-whoo!

Slavic Vampires

The Slavic people (including most east Europeans from Russia to Bulgaria, Serbia to Poland) have the richest vampire folklore and legends in the world. The origin of Slavic vampire myths developed during the 9th century as a result of conflict between pre-Christian paganism and Christianity. Christianity won out with the vampires and other pagan beliefs surviving folklore.

Causes of vampirism included: being born with a caul, teeth, or tail, being conceived on certain days, irregular death, excommunication, improper burial rituals etc. Preventative measures included: placing a crucifix in the coffin, or blocks under the chin to prevent the body from eating the shroud, nailing clothes to coffin walls for the same reason, placing millet or poppy seeds in the grave because vampires had a fascination with counting, or piercing the body with thorns or stakes (that's right, wield your roses!)

Evidence that a vampire was at work in the neighborhood included: death of cattle, sheep, relatives, neighbors, exhumed bodies being in a lifelike state with new growth of the fingernails or hair, or if the body was swelled up like a drum, or there was blood on the mouth and if the corpse had a ruddy complexion.

Vampires could be destroyed by staking, decapitation, burning, repeating the funeral service, holy water on the grave, exorcism.

Romanian Vampires

Romania is surrounded by Slavic countries, so it isn't surprising that their vampires are variants of the Slavic vampire. They are called Strigoi based on the Roman term strix for screech owl which also came to mean demon or witch. There are different types of strigoi: strigoi vii are live witches who will become vampires after death. They can send out their soul at night to meet with other witches or with Strigoi mort, who are dead vampires. The strigoi mort are the reanimated bodies which return to suck the blood of family, livestock, and neighbors.

A person born with a caul, tail, born out of wedlock, or one who died an unnatural death, or died before baptism, was doomed to become a vampire. As was the seventh child of the same sex in a family, the child of a pregnant woman who didn't eat salt or was looked at by a vampire, or a witch. Naturally, being bitten by vampire meant certain condemnation to a vampiric existence after death.

The Vircolac, which is sometimes mentioned in folklore, was more closely related to a mythological wolf that could devour the sun and moon and later became connected with werewolves rather than vampires. The person afflicted with lycanthropy could turn into a dog, pig, or wolf.

The vampire was usually first noticed when it attacked family and livestock, or threw things around in the house. Vampires, along with witches, were believed to be most active on the Eve of St George's Day (April 22 Julian, May 4 Gregorian calendar), the night when all forms of evil were supposed to be abroad. St Georges Day is still celebrated in Europe.

A vampire in the grave could be told by holes in the earth, an undecomposed corpse with a red face, or having one foot in the corner of the coffin. Living vampires were found by distributing garlic in church and seeing who didn't eat it.

Graves were often opened three years after death of a child, five years after the death of a young person, or seven years after the death of an adult to check for vampirism.

Measures to prevent a person becoming a vampire included: removing the caul from a newborn and destroying it before the baby could eat any of it, careful preparation of dead bodies, including preventing animals from passing over the corpse, placing a thorny branch of wild rose in the grave, and placing garlic on windows and rubbing it on cattle, especially on St George's and St Andrew's days.

To destroy a vampire, a stake was driven through the body followed by decapitation and placing garlic in the mouth. By the 19th century people were shooting a bullet through the coffin. For resistant cases, the body was dismembered and the pieces burned, mixed with water, and given to family members as a cure.
Fascinating isn't it? People went through all that trouble over myths! Can you imagine what life would be like if we still believed in all that stuff? I'm really glad we don't and we have all that stuff from fiction and films to help us sleep at night.
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Disclaimer: I'd like to thank the historians who have spent their lives researching all of this vampire mythology. Without them I would not be able to do the research for this column; everything belongs to them except for my wit.

CreatureFeature: Apologies

2010-05-23T19:25:00.004-06:00

Yes I know, something was to supposed to be posted yesterday night, but alas! Sometimes life gets in the way and things do not go the way they should. I ask everyone to please forgive us; in time there will be another Creature Feature added to the column and the Creature Feature on Werewolves will have more to it, I promise!

In the meantime, please enjoy this amazingly epic video I found that has Vampires vs. Werewolves. We all know that there are people out there who actually prefer werewolves to vampires (boo! hiss!) for reasons which I can't seem to figure out...Oh well, people will like what they want to like and maybe we can convert a few werewolf fans into fans of our fangdom (yay!)

Here is the awesome vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-58z3HxUI&playnext_from=TL&videos=RLYbZ_y_qYQ

Vampire Mythology: Different Species Part 1

2010-05-19T19:09:00.006-06:00

That's right, I'm back! With some succulent info. on our fangy friends.

Different Species

Part 1

Now some of you are probably aware of this (and if you aren't, you better pay attention!), but in literature and the media everyone seems to have their own opinions and views on what vampires should be like. We know that vampires in the Buffyverse look like every day humans until it's time to feed, and then BAM! They morph into their true hideous natures before sinking their fangs into someone's neck. Then, if a Slayer happens to come along, all it takes is one swift jab in the heart for these monsters to collapse into a pile of dust and ash (the sun could also work too).

With Vampire Diaries (I'm using the TV show since it's there and it's visual) they get these weird vainy things beneath their eyes before their eyes turn red and they go in for the kill with their fangs. They too can be killed with stakes, but they don't turn into dust. Their entire bodies get all vainy and they lose their paleness to become grey statue-like corpses.

And then there is of course, Stephenie Meyer. She came out of nowhere in 2003 and brought us-vampires without fangs??? Sparkles in the sunlight? Can only be ripped to shred and burned in order for them to die? What is the world coming to?

Some vampire purists cried "FOUL!" when they heard about these Twilight wannabe-vampires (Twilight fans please don't hurt me, I'm just the messenger!) and some even said that Meyer ruined everything about vampires. Is that true though? Can we really sit here and say that Stephenie Meyer's vampires aren't really vampires? They feed on human blood, unless they choose not to, they can't go out in the sunlight, they're fast, have razor sharp teeth, and are practically indestructable (not to mention attractive like many other vampires we know *coughAngelSpikeLouisLestatStefanDamoncough*)

My take on all of this: If vampires really existed, there would be different species, different types of vampires.

It makes sense doesn't it? If there can be different races when it comes to humanity, why can't vampires have it too?

Now everybody shake hands and make peace with each other. There's no sense in arguing over which type of vampire is the REAL vampire because everyone has their own preference. I love all vampires whether they sparkle in the sun or burn away in a huge ball of fire. I have favorite vampires of course (if you can't tell by my name, I'm a Buffy loyalist at heart) but that doesn't mean I don't like the Underworld vampires or Anne Rice's vampires any less (no worries Underworld and Rice fans, I got you covered). I've never seen Tru Blood, but I'm sure I would like their take on vampires as well.

I know I should be informing you about all the cool vampire history and mythology stuff and telling you what the Romanians thought vampires were as opposed to the Hungarians and the people of the UK, but I just wanted to get this all out there beforehand. It's okay for other people to disagree and have their own ideas on vampires. History shows that people who lived thousands of years before us already had their theories (reason for the Black Plague, anyone? Lilith ring a bell?)

So before I start on anymore history and mythology I ask you all to please think about vampires as several different species rather than the one you're so determined is correct or the one you heart loves most. I'm pretty sure they all want to suck your blood anyway.

CreatureFeature:Werewolves

2010-05-14T14:07:00.005-06:00

Hey everyone! I'm posting this earlier than usual due to the fact that I won't have internet access on Saturday - the usual post date.
Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are humans that are able to change into a wolf, or another wolf-like creature, either voluntarily or via a curse or being bitten/scratched by another werewolf. They are typically associated to undergoing this change at a full moon.
Werewolves are mainly a European character but have also spread throughout the world as time has passed. They have supernatural abilities, like: strength and increased senses. And, are thought to be vulnerable to silver.
The one thing I found extremely interesting while I was looking up information to write this was that Native Americans have something similar to werewolves... a human that can change into an animal... but they are called "shapeshifters".
That's all I have for right now. I'll be adding more detail in a later posting. As for now, enjoy the blog.
- Scarc91989

Vampire Mythology: A Brief History

2010-05-12T17:21:00.010-06:00

Before I even begin to boggle your minds with my brief history on vampire mythology, I'd like to say how excited I am right now to be the first to post for Rangdom Fangdom. The first post of many and I sincerely hope you will enjoy what we have to offer here as much as we like talking about it.

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A Brief History

Where did the ideas of Vampires originate?

When was the first myth cultivated?

These are the very questions that historians themselves have asked while studying the myths and legends of vampires. What these vampire historians have discovered though, is a bit of a bombshell....they have no idea! Historians have no clue as to what the exact date of origin is, they just have their theories (poor historians!). The evidence from their research; however, suggests that the vampire tale was born sometime in Mesopotamia during the age of Abraham. Now I know what you're thinking, I was a bit shocked as well when I discovered this; the idea of vampirism has been around for, well, forever basically! How ironic!

From Mesopotamia merchants, soldiers, and traders travelling on caravans spread the vampire tale and mythology from Asia and the Middle East to the western shores of England and Ireland. There weren't any evidence of vampires back then, just a story and a myth somebody had come up with and spread like wildfire through word of mouth. Here's something that's also interesting: according to evidence found by historians, vampire mythology originated back in the ancient days near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There are Assyrian writings on stone that suggest the possibility of the existence of a vampire woman called Lilith!

Story time!

Modern historians say that Lilith is mentioned in the book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible. According to tradition, Lilith was the wife of Adam before Eve was created, but she was demonized because she refused to obey Adam and demanded that she get equal rights like her husband. Her demands were considered evil and so, her thirst for revenge turned her into a vampire. It really makes one wonder what they thought of us American women over 100 years ago when we demanded equal rights. We are all vampires ladies! Hooray!

Now as I said before, the mythology and story of vampires was spreading through the other countries like a plague. Much later, during the Middle Ages, the vampire mythology was introduced to the Slavic Empires and the Western world. The story of vampires was developed differently in each land and they've remained that way ever since. Every empire created a series of physical attributes of vampires that were relevant to their religion, culture and history. They even used the legend of vampires to explain catastrophic events!

By the high Middle Ages, the vampire mythology had gained a strong hold in all of Western Europe. When the Bubonic Plague broke out in the fourteenth century, many people actually believed that vampires were the cause of it! Now of course, we know that fleas and rats from merchant ships carrying goods from the East spread the Bubonic Plague throughout Europe, but back then people didn't know that. People believed anything back then, those who thought that vampires were the cause also thought that their deceased loved ones would return as a vampire and prey on their next victim. To prevent this from happening, family members would actually dig up the graves of the suspected vampires and mutilate their bodies (sick!).

So there you have it, folks! A brief history on what historians assume is how the story and mythology of vampires came about and how it effected the entire world. Vampires definitely kept themselves busy back then *wink wink*

Next blog or so, I'll delve deeper into the vampire myths and talk more about what each country believed their vampires did and what they looked like (oooh exciting). Until then though, I hope all of you ladies out there who would've fought 100 years ago for equal rights if you could remember; you are a vampire!

Housekeeping

2010-05-04T15:30:00.002-06:00

Just a few things that need mentioning. We will not start officially posting anything until next week and we will only be posting on Wednesdays and Saturdays from now on (so after sundown keep an eye out!)

Also, along with myself and my lovely counterparts (you know who you are!) we will be having Guest Bloggers show up from time to time. If you would like to Guest Blog for Random Fangdom, please don't hesistate to ask. We would love to know what random vampireness you'd like to bring to the table!

This is Madness!

2010-05-03T18:31:00.006-06:00

No! THIS-IS-FANGDOM!

Welcome all ye of vampire faith!

What you see before you is the end of heartbeats and sunshine, and the beginning of all things dark, sinister, and very fangy. We the authors of this fandom have ripped the stakes out of our hearts to give you that which we love and adore most; vampires-and randomness of course!

Like many, we too wish that our fictional blood-suckers actually existed in the real world and dedicate this Random Fangdom to the brooding immortals who stole our beating hearts and kept us coming back for more carnage, mayhem, and eye candy. With some randomness of our own thrown in the mix, be prepared for some unexpected twists and mind boggling questions you've probably never even thought of in the Vampire Universe. We'll go over the myths and legends of these undead creatures, introduce you to the vegetarian vamps. and the even rarer vampires with souls. Show you what the Slayer can do to your fanged friends and of course give our thoughts and opinions on the hottest of the cold and sparkly skinned!

Now we know some of you have read certain vampire novels such as Anne Rice's series, the Vampire Diaries series, and that tiny series nobody can ever seem to escape from-Twilight. We also know about the TV shows that have been out and about; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Tru Blood, Vampire Diaries; and of course all those vampire films we cannot list because there are so many! We ask you the fans of these works to please be respectful of the thoughts and opinions of others, especially for us writers. Some of the things posted here will just be for fun and to give people a new perspective on what they already know. We want to make this as interesting and entertaining as possible so please take things with an open mind and do not get offended if we say your favorite vampire is a "pansy" or say something about your favorite vampire novel or show you don't particularly agree with. Just take it all in and laugh about it!

BE WARNED!

With this fandom also comes the random. Not only will we talk about the undead, but we'll also talk about other things that are of interest to us like certain works of literature and films. This will happen at any random point in time and could be anything, so make sure you look out for it and remember that I warned you!

Also as a part of this Random Fangdom, we would love to hear about any new vampire stuff coming out or anything you find of interest. Even if it's something like fanfiction or a poem somebody wrote on vampires, don't be afraid to tell us!

-From the Creators of Random Fangdom