Well I guess I should just come out and say it, because of how much time school has been taking up I haven't been able to write the script for the next episode of AWAT. I have the majority of the research done (I am still looking for more information on the vampire myths from the island nations in Asia), and I will try to post that episode ASAP. Unlike the previous episode, I might wind up just winging this episode rather than following a script. While going over my research that I have done and while practicing how to pronounce the various names for the different types of vampires I found that it seemed more natural to just talk about what I knew than to read something that I had typed up.
My short stories are taking a bit longer than normal for two reasons. One, my free time that I would usually dedicate to working on my short stories is being taken up by working on TS and working on the essay for my world lit class. Two, I have reached a little bit of writer's block with both of my stories I am working on. The writer's block with Wild Love comes from the fact that I am focusing more on figuring out how I want the werewolves to work and the fact that Wild Love is turning out a lot longer than I originally planned and that is throwing me for a loop. For the Beauty and the Beast story the writer's block is coming more from my research. I am trying to find a good balance for combining both Gaelic and Celtic mythology with the story of Beauty and the Beast. However, yesterday while messing around on deviantart I found a picture of a Daoine Sidhe that I absolutely fell in love with. http://harpygirl91.deviantart.com/#/d99d23 That picture defiantly gave me some inspiration for my beauty and the beast story. But no matter how much inspiration I have, I still don't have as much time to set aside to work on my stories. However, I hopefully will be able to make some time in the future.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Essays and organizations
Well I learned last week that I will have to write an essay for my World Literature class dealing with mythology in one of the books we are going to read (or have read) in my World Lit class. The first thing I do is to go to the library and try to find every book I think I could possibly use as a reference for my essay. I wound up checking out seventeen books, and after skimming through all of them, determined that I am only going to use about five of them. DX I still need to read through my web sources (I have about fifteen of those), but looking through the web sources should be quicker than looking through the books.
I have also been busy with organizations. I am currently a pledge trainer and a prayer group leader for Sigma Phi Lambda, the historian of the Philosophy club, an officer in an organization one of my friends is starting up called The Tea Drops, and I got invited to join another organization. DX
I have also been busy with organizations. I am currently a pledge trainer and a prayer group leader for Sigma Phi Lambda, the historian of the Philosophy club, an officer in an organization one of my friends is starting up called The Tea Drops, and I got invited to join another organization. DX
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Some links I think would be handy.
Hey! I can't believe I forgot to share these links!
My blip.tv page where I will be posting the episodes:
http://aroundtheworldandacrosstime.blip.tv/
My deviantart page where I will be posting short stories inspired by my research:
http://harpygirl91.deviantart.com
Now on my DA page I only have one story up so far based off my research called "Nightfall". The short stories I am going to work on are going to be a mix of horror stories and romance stories. I will be writing the stories in a pattern with a romance story following a horror story and a horror story following a romance story. I am always looking for feedback on my stories, and I hope you will enjoy my short stories. :D
My blip.tv page where I will be posting the episodes:
http://aroundtheworldandacrosstime.blip.tv/
My deviantart page where I will be posting short stories inspired by my research:
http://harpygirl91.deviantart.com
Now on my DA page I only have one story up so far based off my research called "Nightfall". The short stories I am going to work on are going to be a mix of horror stories and romance stories. I will be writing the stories in a pattern with a romance story following a horror story and a horror story following a romance story. I am always looking for feedback on my stories, and I hope you will enjoy my short stories. :D
Friday, September 3, 2010
European Vampires
Well here is the first of my blog posts that go along with Around the World and Across time. This blog post is pretty much a blog version of the script for the actual episode itself.
Mesopotamia
In Mesopotamia a demon named Lilith became known for drinking the blood of babies. In Hebrew myths she was known for drinking the blood of infants, women, and rarely men. Families used to hang amulets from their children’s cradles in order to protect the child from Lilith. Some of you might recognize Lilith as the name of Adam’s first wife in some beliefs. Lilith was described as having the form of a beautiful woman. Another similar creature was known as Lamashtu, a Babylonian goddess who menaced women during childbirth and would feed off the bones and blood of breastfeeding infants. Lamashtu was described as having a lioness head with donkey’s ears and teeth, long fingernails, and the feet of a bird.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece had its fair share of vampiric creatures in its myths as well. Empusa first appeared in Greek myth as the daughter of the goddess Hecate. She would seduce men in their sleep and then drain them of blood. In later myths, Empusa (plural empuses) became the guardians of roads. Empusa was distinguished by her brazen slippers and flaming hair.
Lamia was a another creature from Greek Mythology that became known for eating and drinking the blood of children due to the goddess Hera killing Lamia’s children. It is said that Lamia was driven insane by what Hera did to her children and that is what led to Lamia attacking children. Lamia was easily recognizable by a snakeskin wrapped around her waist or arm. Several people compare the legend of Lamia to the legend of La Llrona from Mexico.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome only had one vampiric creature known as Strix that resembled an owl. The only way that someone could become a Strix was if they angered the Roman Gods. A Strix was viewed as a bad omen because it would feed off human flesh and blood.
Middle Ages
It wasn’t until the 18th century that the word vampire was actually used to describe a creature that lived off of blood. The word vampire first appeared in the English Oxford Dictionary in 1734.
Slavic Beliefs
You could become a Slavic vampire was caused by being an immoral person, being a magician, dying an unnatural death, committing suicide, excommunication, being buried improperly, an animal or bird going over an empty grave, being born with the amniotic sac attached to the head, or being conceived on a certain day. Don’t you love how easy it would be to become a vampire in Slavic lore? However, it was relatively easy to kill them as well. All it usually took was a stake through the heart, burning the vampire while it was awake, or performing the rites of exorcism during the day at the grave. A common name for vampires in Slavic lore was pijavica which translates into drinker, and the word Mora or Morana was used to refer to female vampires.
Interesting fact, the word vampire is derived from the Slavic word vampir.
Hungary
In Hungary vampires were known as izcacus which literally translates to blood drinker. It was said that the izcacus was a demon summoned to defeat the enemies of pagans.
Romania
There were two types of vampires in Romania, the moroi and the strigoi. The moroi were the phantoms of a dead person that rose from the grave in order to draw energy from the living. Strigoi had the ability to turn into different animals, turn invisible, and to drain their victims of blood. Oddly enough the most common way to become a strigoi was to die before getting married. The easiest way to kill a strigoi was to drive a stake made from rosebush or aspen wood through its heart, cutting out the heart and burning it and the body of the vampire, or decapitating the vampire and burning the head and body.
Roma and Gypsy Beliefs
In Roma, the mullo (which translates into one who is dead) was a dead person that would attack the relative that caused the mullo’s death, who didn’t properly oversee the burial rituals, or who kept the deceased’s possessions instead of burning the possessions as tradition mandated.
Greece in the Middle Ages
Once again we look at Greece for yet another vampire, the vrykolakas. The vrykolakas was created when the deceased was excommunicated; the deceased desecrating a holy day; the deceased committed a serious crime; the deceased died alone, a cat jumped across the grave of the deceased (those dastardly cats), or the deceased ate meat from a sheep that was killed by a wolf, or the deceased had been cursed. There were several ways to kill a vrykolakas including but not limited to exorcising, impaling, beheading, cutting the corpse to pieces, or cremating the corpse.
Western Europe
Four types of vampires can be found in Western Europe. The baobhan sith from Scottish mythology has the form of a beautiful woman wearing a green dress. It is said that once a year she rises from her grave to seduce young men to dance with her, and once they were in her grasp she would use her sharp fingernails to drain her victim of his blood. In Celtic folklore the leanan sídhe was a fairy muse that had some vampiric traits, she is often connected to the Dearg-due an Irish vampire that is thought to have been the inspiration for Bram Stocker’s Dracula. The final European vampire I found was the Bruxsa of Portugal, which was another female vampire that would take the form of a bird during the night and attack travelers for their blood. Don’t you just love how many of these vampires are female?
Sources:
The Vampire Book by J. Gordon Melton
And several other sources which I found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vampires_in_folklore_and_mythology
Feel free to post a comment here or to message me at meghanjh@hotmail.com with your questions.
Mesopotamia
In Mesopotamia a demon named Lilith became known for drinking the blood of babies. In Hebrew myths she was known for drinking the blood of infants, women, and rarely men. Families used to hang amulets from their children’s cradles in order to protect the child from Lilith. Some of you might recognize Lilith as the name of Adam’s first wife in some beliefs. Lilith was described as having the form of a beautiful woman. Another similar creature was known as Lamashtu, a Babylonian goddess who menaced women during childbirth and would feed off the bones and blood of breastfeeding infants. Lamashtu was described as having a lioness head with donkey’s ears and teeth, long fingernails, and the feet of a bird.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece had its fair share of vampiric creatures in its myths as well. Empusa first appeared in Greek myth as the daughter of the goddess Hecate. She would seduce men in their sleep and then drain them of blood. In later myths, Empusa (plural empuses) became the guardians of roads. Empusa was distinguished by her brazen slippers and flaming hair.
Lamia was a another creature from Greek Mythology that became known for eating and drinking the blood of children due to the goddess Hera killing Lamia’s children. It is said that Lamia was driven insane by what Hera did to her children and that is what led to Lamia attacking children. Lamia was easily recognizable by a snakeskin wrapped around her waist or arm. Several people compare the legend of Lamia to the legend of La Llrona from Mexico.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome only had one vampiric creature known as Strix that resembled an owl. The only way that someone could become a Strix was if they angered the Roman Gods. A Strix was viewed as a bad omen because it would feed off human flesh and blood.
Middle Ages
It wasn’t until the 18th century that the word vampire was actually used to describe a creature that lived off of blood. The word vampire first appeared in the English Oxford Dictionary in 1734.
Slavic Beliefs
You could become a Slavic vampire was caused by being an immoral person, being a magician, dying an unnatural death, committing suicide, excommunication, being buried improperly, an animal or bird going over an empty grave, being born with the amniotic sac attached to the head, or being conceived on a certain day. Don’t you love how easy it would be to become a vampire in Slavic lore? However, it was relatively easy to kill them as well. All it usually took was a stake through the heart, burning the vampire while it was awake, or performing the rites of exorcism during the day at the grave. A common name for vampires in Slavic lore was pijavica which translates into drinker, and the word Mora or Morana was used to refer to female vampires.
Interesting fact, the word vampire is derived from the Slavic word vampir.
Hungary
In Hungary vampires were known as izcacus which literally translates to blood drinker. It was said that the izcacus was a demon summoned to defeat the enemies of pagans.
Romania
There were two types of vampires in Romania, the moroi and the strigoi. The moroi were the phantoms of a dead person that rose from the grave in order to draw energy from the living. Strigoi had the ability to turn into different animals, turn invisible, and to drain their victims of blood. Oddly enough the most common way to become a strigoi was to die before getting married. The easiest way to kill a strigoi was to drive a stake made from rosebush or aspen wood through its heart, cutting out the heart and burning it and the body of the vampire, or decapitating the vampire and burning the head and body.
Roma and Gypsy Beliefs
In Roma, the mullo (which translates into one who is dead) was a dead person that would attack the relative that caused the mullo’s death, who didn’t properly oversee the burial rituals, or who kept the deceased’s possessions instead of burning the possessions as tradition mandated.
Greece in the Middle Ages
Once again we look at Greece for yet another vampire, the vrykolakas. The vrykolakas was created when the deceased was excommunicated; the deceased desecrating a holy day; the deceased committed a serious crime; the deceased died alone, a cat jumped across the grave of the deceased (those dastardly cats), or the deceased ate meat from a sheep that was killed by a wolf, or the deceased had been cursed. There were several ways to kill a vrykolakas including but not limited to exorcising, impaling, beheading, cutting the corpse to pieces, or cremating the corpse.
Western Europe
Four types of vampires can be found in Western Europe. The baobhan sith from Scottish mythology has the form of a beautiful woman wearing a green dress. It is said that once a year she rises from her grave to seduce young men to dance with her, and once they were in her grasp she would use her sharp fingernails to drain her victim of his blood. In Celtic folklore the leanan sídhe was a fairy muse that had some vampiric traits, she is often connected to the Dearg-due an Irish vampire that is thought to have been the inspiration for Bram Stocker’s Dracula. The final European vampire I found was the Bruxsa of Portugal, which was another female vampire that would take the form of a bird during the night and attack travelers for their blood. Don’t you just love how many of these vampires are female?
Sources:
The Vampire Book by J. Gordon Melton
And several other sources which I found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vampires_in_folklore_and_mythology
Feel free to post a comment here or to message me at meghanjh@hotmail.com with your questions.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Introduction to my Web Show
I am planning on starting a web show talking about the history, symbolism, and defining characteristics of various mythological creatures including vampires, werewolves, fairies, and many others.
Season one I will focus on vampires with the first several episodes being about the history of vampires in myths from several different regions and countries, then I will talk about what the vampires symbolize in these myths. After talking about how vampires are portrayed in mythology, I will talk about how vampires are portrayed in literature starting with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and finishing with Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. I will also talk about how vampires are portrayed in the media. The last thing I will talk about in the vampire season is other creatures from legends and mythology that are similar to vampires.
Now some of you may be wondering if I will talk about the “vampires” in the Twilight series when I talk about vampires in literature/modern culture. The answer is simple, yes I shall, but the section of the Vampire season where I will be talking about Twilight will probably be during two spin-off episodes.
During this spin-off episodes for the vampire season, I will talk about two series, the first episode I will talk about Sherrilyn Kenyon’s the Dark-Hunter series and how vampires inspired the Daimons featured in her books but she was smart enough not to refer to them as vampires. In the second episode I will talk about Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and how she pretty much spit in the face of vampire mythology and how the “vampires’ in her books are not vampires according to the criteria set by vampire mythology. It essentially will be a comparison between the mystical creatures in the both series and the traditional vampire.
I am currently just finishing up the research and writing stage of my web show, so I should be able to start uploading videos to my blip.tv account and my youtube account.
The later seasons will follow the same basic pattern that I used in the first season where I will first talk about how the creatures are portrayed in myths, talk about the symbolism of the creature, then talk about how the creature is portrayed in literature and in modern culture.
The only exception will be the season about werewolves where I will also talk about shape-shifters and skin-walkers exactly how I talked about the creatures similar to vampires during the vampire series.
During the vampire season, I am also considering doing some episodes talking about people who practice vampirism (meaning people that have in the past and present actually drank blood) including several serial killers throughout history that drank the blood of their victims, and people that suffer from Porphyria (a disease that can cause the person afflicted with it to have cravings for human or animal blood).
List of possible seasons:
Season 1: Vampires
Season 2: Werewolves
Season 3: Demons
Season 4: Zombies
Season 5: Half-Man, Half-Animal creatures
Season 6: Gods and Goddesses of the Moon
Season 7: Gods and Goddesses of the Sun
Season 8: Gods and Goddesses of Love
Season 9: Gods and Goddesses of Death
Future Seasons: I will take suggestions for future seasons if I run out of ideas. XD
Season one I will focus on vampires with the first several episodes being about the history of vampires in myths from several different regions and countries, then I will talk about what the vampires symbolize in these myths. After talking about how vampires are portrayed in mythology, I will talk about how vampires are portrayed in literature starting with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and finishing with Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. I will also talk about how vampires are portrayed in the media. The last thing I will talk about in the vampire season is other creatures from legends and mythology that are similar to vampires.
Now some of you may be wondering if I will talk about the “vampires” in the Twilight series when I talk about vampires in literature/modern culture. The answer is simple, yes I shall, but the section of the Vampire season where I will be talking about Twilight will probably be during two spin-off episodes.
During this spin-off episodes for the vampire season, I will talk about two series, the first episode I will talk about Sherrilyn Kenyon’s the Dark-Hunter series and how vampires inspired the Daimons featured in her books but she was smart enough not to refer to them as vampires. In the second episode I will talk about Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and how she pretty much spit in the face of vampire mythology and how the “vampires’ in her books are not vampires according to the criteria set by vampire mythology. It essentially will be a comparison between the mystical creatures in the both series and the traditional vampire.
I am currently just finishing up the research and writing stage of my web show, so I should be able to start uploading videos to my blip.tv account and my youtube account.
The later seasons will follow the same basic pattern that I used in the first season where I will first talk about how the creatures are portrayed in myths, talk about the symbolism of the creature, then talk about how the creature is portrayed in literature and in modern culture.
The only exception will be the season about werewolves where I will also talk about shape-shifters and skin-walkers exactly how I talked about the creatures similar to vampires during the vampire series.
During the vampire season, I am also considering doing some episodes talking about people who practice vampirism (meaning people that have in the past and present actually drank blood) including several serial killers throughout history that drank the blood of their victims, and people that suffer from Porphyria (a disease that can cause the person afflicted with it to have cravings for human or animal blood).
List of possible seasons:
Season 1: Vampires
Season 2: Werewolves
Season 3: Demons
Season 4: Zombies
Season 5: Half-Man, Half-Animal creatures
Season 6: Gods and Goddesses of the Moon
Season 7: Gods and Goddesses of the Sun
Season 8: Gods and Goddesses of Love
Season 9: Gods and Goddesses of Death
Future Seasons: I will take suggestions for future seasons if I run out of ideas. XD
Friday, July 30, 2010
About to start web series
Well I have finally finished writing the script for the first episode of my webshow Around the World and Across Time. Once I finish recording and posting the video I will post a link and the actual video in this blog. In addition to posting the video I will also be making blog posts that follow along with the episodes and will contain additional information about the things I cover in the videos.
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