Warmth and Football

Boulder has just seen two days with the high temperatures 20 degrees warmer than normal - we've been in the low 80s instead of the low 60s.  We had a temperature of 70 degrees at 9 this morning - but our high temp tomorrow is expected to be 52, the Monday night's low around freezing.  Yuck.  Our plants don't know what to do - there are daffodils and iris getting ready to bloom.  Brother-in-law Jim is still gathering 5 pints of ripe raspberries every afternoon (and that's after I eat them off the canes for breakfast each weekday).  Lovey and Nedi have been enjoying the sunshine and warmth - and the squirrels are getting quite plump.  Lovey is sprawled across the foot of my bed at the moment, while Nedi is stretched out on the patio, absorbing the sun's rays.
   Yesterday was Homecoming for the CU Buffs here in Boulder - and they had to play UCLA.  I have to admit that I expected a blow-out by UCLA - but the game went to two over times, and CU lost by a field goal.  I had much higher hopes for the South Carolina Gamecocks playing at Auburn - even though SC hadn't won at Jordan-Hare Stadium, ever.  And the Gamecocks scored first!  The only problem was that two of Dylan Thompson's passes were intercepted - the last one in the end zone that would have tied the scores at 42.  There was less than a minute left, and Auburn kept running the ball, making sure that the Gamecocks couldn't get the pigskin in their hands....  *Sigh*  It would have been wonderful if Steve Spurrier could have won that game!  Thankfully, the Gators had a bye, and so I didn't have to watch their inept efforts.  I don't think Will Muschamp will be the head coach next year...
  I'm starting to get excited about the Breeders Cup races at the end of this week.  As soon as the entries and fields are known, I'll be commenting on them.

Poenari Castle - Fortress of Vlad Tepes in Romania

One can easily see that "Castle Dracula" is set high in the mountains of Romania, and is surrounded by vast expanses of forest.

One Week to the Breeders Cup Races!

Next week, thirteen horse races will be run on that will be worth $24.5 million at Santa Anita in California.  Four races on Friday, 31 October have purses totaling $5 million; nine races on Saturday, 1 November, have a combined purse of $19.5 million.  The NBC Sports Network will have taped coverage of Friday's races on Friday evening; they will show eight of the races live Saturday; and the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic will be shown live on regular NBC stations.  There are 201 horses pre-entered in the 13 races.  Actual entries will be known on Tuesday.
   Several top horses will not be racing this year - Beholder spiked a temperature and will not be able to defend her championship; Wise Dan was expected to run in the Mile, but he has a non-displaced cannon bone fracture, and probably won't race again until next year (the poor guy had colic surgery during the summer, then came back and won two races); some promising youngsters have been retired to stud, and, while California Chrome is scheduled to run in the Classic, it is rumored that if he doesn't win, he'll also be retired.  And, as I've stated before, I'm disappointed that the Breeders Cup stopped sponsoring the Marathon race - a race for horses that love to run longer distances and have great staying power.
  One very good piece of news is that jockey Gary Stevens will return to riding on 31 October, in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.  He'll be riding Sivoliere 14 weeks to the day of his complete knee replacement.

Missing:

Beholder

Wise Dan

Present:

California Chrome, 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner

Gary Stevens returns after a complete knee replacement

Dracula On Film & On Stage

In the novel Dracula, the main character is first described as being a "tall old man, clean shaven, save for a long white mustache and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of color about him anywhere."  Later, when he appears in England , he seems younger, and is described as "a tall thin man, with a beaky nose and black mustache and pointed beard... His face was not a good face.  It was hard, and cruel, and sensual, and big white teeth,that looked all the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's."  In fact, Stoker has Dracula sporting a large and bushy Victorian mustache, having massive eyebrows, and dense, curly hair - not to mention sharp white teeth, particularly the canines.  He is not especially pale, but he is usually well dressed.
  The first motion pictures depicting Count Dracula appeared in 1922 - the first, Dracula's Death, was a Hungarian production and greatly changed from the novel; the second, Nosferatu, which was made in Germany and without the permission of Stoker's family, so a good many things were changed to avoid lawsuits. Nothing of Dracula's Death remains, but Nosferatu survived.

Scene from Nosferatu

   Dracula was next seen on the London stage, portrayed by Raymond Huntley in 1924.  Huntley reputedly wore his own tuxedo and opera cape in his role.

   In the United States, Dracula was performed by Bela Lugosi, first on stage, and then, on film in 1931:

Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and werewolves became big production themes in movies.  Then they became "tired" and over-used...  Then a series of new Dracula films were made, starring Christoper Lee, and frightening, bloody, gory Dracula portrayals were again popular.

In the 1980s and '90s, Dracula seemed to become a romantic idea, and the way Frank Langella portrayed  the Count made a lot of women want to become his victims...

Then, in the late 1990s and early part of the new millennium, we had The Master in Buffy the Vampire Slayer on television.  Rudolph Martin played the leader of all vampires...

  There has been an army of vampire novels written since the late 1970s that are easily accessible to readers everywhere.  My favorite (of course) is Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint Germain series - more for the history and insights of different cultures at different times, as well as the excellent writing and the chance to see the Count grow in his un-dead "humanity."  Charlaine Harris' first few Sookie Stackhouse books had me in stitches - especially the ones that reference Bubba (Elvis is a failed vampire!).  Anne Rice  cannot keep my attention.  And I have to admit that I haven't read any of the "Twilight" series....

    Sitting here, looking at Rudolph Martin's vampire photo makes me wonder when and how the plump, well-fed, dark visaged vampires of legend turned into the thin white wraiths that are generally portrayed today.

Halloween Illustrations

"Potty-Peeper" Sues Sheriff, Jail - Wants Gold Coinage

Only in Boulder, Colorado.......   This news story is taken from the Boulder Daily Camera and was written by Staff Writer Mitchell Byars:
"Luke Chrisco, who is currently awaiting a hearing on whether he violated the terms of his probation, is suing the Boulder County Jail and the Boulder County Sheriff's Office over "harm and flagrant deprivation" of his right while housed at the jail. Chrisco, the man who admitted to climbing into the tank of a portable toilet at a Boulder yoga festival in 2011 to spy on women for his own sexual gratification, filed a handwritten complaint to the Boulder District Court on Aug. 8 seeking $99,999 or "an equal amount of gold coinage."

  In the complaint, the 34-year-old Chrisco alleges that jail deputies lost his legal documents while he was incarcerated there. Chrisco also claims he was discriminated against because of his sex offense, that several guards threatened him, and that he was repeatedly moved in the jail "without cause for the purpose of driving me insane."  Chrisco alleged that the actions of the deputies caused him to twice attempt suicide while being housed at the jail.                                             Chrisco is once again in custody in the Boulder County Jail on charges of failing to comply with parole and is being held without bond, according to jail records.  A Boulder judge sentenced Chrisco in 2013 to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and one count of unlawful sexual contact, but Chrisco is currently out on parole.  But probation officials said Chrisco has not been completing his sex-offender treatment, a condition of his 10-year intensive supervised sexual offender probation.                                                                             Chrisco appeared at a hearing Thursday and represented himself, with his former defense attorney, Matt Connell, serving as advisory counsel. Connell, at the hearing, said that he had no concerns about Chrisco's competency.  Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter initially set Chrisco for a probation violation hearing in November, but Chrisco said that was "insufficient time" to prepare his defense. Berkenkotter granted the request for more time and scheduled Chrisco for a hearing on Dec. 12.  Chrisco also made a motion seeking expanded media coverage, but Berkenkotter told him third party from the media would have to make that request.         Chrisco was arrested in June 2011, a few days after a woman using a portable toilet at a Boulder yoga festival noticed something moving in the tank and then saw a feces-stained man emerge from the toilet and run away.                                                                                                           According to police and court records, Chrisco -- who was arrested by Vail police in an unrelated incident -- told Boulder and University of Colorado police that he hid in crawl spaces and bathrooms around Boulder, including at CU, Naropa University, the Department of Motor Vehicles office and a number of businesses, in order to watch women use the toilet.  Police later found physical modifications in many of the locations that matched Chrisco's descriptions of his hiding places."

Vlad Dracul and Vlad Tepes Portraits

A contemporary painting of Vlad Dracul, father of Vlad Tepes

A 1462 engraving of Vlad Tepes from a Transylvanian Saxon pamphlet

A 1488 painted woodcut of Vlad Tepes from a Nuremberg book

The Ambras Castle portrait of Vlad Tepes, painted in 1560; a copy of a painting made during Vlad III's life, which was later lost

Theodor Aman painted "The Meeting of Vlad Tepes and the Turkish Envoys" - was when they refused to remove their turbans, and Vlad had them nailed to their heads