FRANKENSTEIN CASTLE

There really is a Frankenstein Castle. "Burg Frankenstein" is located in the hills just south of Darmstadt, Germany.

 

The legend of a monster and mystery of creation. The town of Darmstadt is about half an hour from Frankfurt, a winding road takes you up a mountain to the ruins of a castle called Frankenstein. An original fortress was first built in the 10th Century. The current castle was constructed beginning in the 13th Century with additions in the next two hundred years. Abandoned as a residence in the late 1600's, serving for awhile as a prison and then completely forgotten and a ruin ever since with some walls, an intact though damaged distinctive tower and a small chapel, said to be haunted.

The Darmstadt Castle Frankenstein was resurrected in romantic age of the 1800’s as a part of the era’s fascination with gothic and romantic literature and the publishing of Mary Shelley’s famous novel of “Frankenstein” in 1818. The inspiration for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s brilliant, haunting work has been the subject of speculation ever since it’s first printing. Connections of the name of the novel with an actual place have been tantalizing, though never proven. The novel of Frankenstein has very little to do with a castle, which was more an invention of James Whale’s iconic version of the story in the Universal film with Boris Karloff, indelibly etched as the monster and castle as a romantic setting for a film. 

Mary Shelley’s inspiration is more complex. In the novel, Victor von Frankenstein is not German at all but Swiss from Geneva. Her story was most famously begun at Lake Geneva in the summer of 1816. The science student's undetailed creation of an unnamed “creature” were carried out at Ingolstadt University and most of the story takes place in Switzerland, the Alps, and on a ship. There is a suggestion that Mary Shelley visited the Darmstadt Castle Frankenstein ruin on a boat trip down the Rhine River in 1814. There is no record of a visit to Darmstadt, or mention of it in her journals. She perhaps may have heard from Byron, who spent more time in Germany than the Shelleys, of the castle and its legend of physician, crackpot theologian and alchemist, Johann Dippel, rumored to have tried to raise the dead by experimenting with human corpses in the castle in its days as a prison. Dippel was trying to discover the alchemist's "Elixer Vitae" potion of eternal life from blood and body fluids. 

Since 1972, the castle has hosted annual Halloween parties to pay homage to the monster of Frankenstein, the student whose god-like ambition was eternalized in a literary milestone. 

MONSTER MONTH IS HERE

It is October; Monster month, so I can declare,
I love Frankenstein.
Ever since I was just a kid I loved Frankenstein, I read Mary Shelly's novel "Frankenstein - or the Modern Prometheus" when I was about 12 years old. And have reread it several times over the years. Shelly completed the novel when she was only 18 years old. Even with her husband's connections it took over a year to find a publisher for her novel.
Of course Frankenstein is the name of the Doctor that created the monster, the poor monster never had a name other than "Frankenstein's monster", no wonder he had issues.
But what I really love is Frankenstein movies. There have been over 100 movies (believe it or not) having to do with Frankenstein in some way. No I have not seen them all. There are some good ones some bad ones and some very bad ones. How about "Lust for Frankenstein" 1998, nope, haven't seen that one. There are funny ones "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" or how about "Blakenstein" , haven't seen that one either
The first "Frankenstein" was a silent movie released in 1910, it was a whole 13 minutes long. This short film was thought to be lost until, in 1975, a collector found he had a badly damaged copy. As much restoration that could be done on the film was done and you can now find this film in it's entirety on You Tube.
My favorites by far are the Universal Studios movies made in the 1930's; "Frankenstein" 1931, "Bride of Frankenstein" 1934, and "Son of Frankenstein" 1939. With the famous monster created by actor Boris Karloff.
And of course high on the list of favorites is Mel Brooks "Young Frankenstein" and to make this one even more funny, you should watch the 3 old ones first. There are many subtle scenes that Mel Brooks took from the old ones, like someone descending an enclosed stair case with an unlit candle! who knows where the light source is. Or lightning flashes that can be seen in a dungeon with no windows! great stuff.
If your a purest. The movie that follows Mary Shelly's novel the closest is a 2004 made for TV movie staring Luke Gross as the monster.

SO, HAPPY OCTOBER
Watch a Frankenstein movie.
there are plenty to go around.

IT IS CALLED "FAITH"

Last night I saw a very smart man on television declare unequivocally that there "is no God". Everything started with the "big bang" before that, there was nothing, not even God. When we die we will simply cease to exist. Our minds, like a cosmic computer will just shut down and we will be no more. Of course he had all of the scientific theory at his disposal to prove what he was saying.
As I watched this little lump of a man sitting in an empty room, I could not help but think that his life is as empty as the room he was setting in. He may have one of the highest IQ's on earth and he may be very rich and respected among men. But I could not help but feel sorry for him.
I honestly do not know were I would personally be if I did not have my faith and my belief in
God. If I did not have my belief in the creator of all things.
I may have a somewhat limited IQ and my name is not well known outside a small circle of people but I know beyond a doubt that there is a God. That He cares for each of us and He knows us as His children.
He is the Supreme Being. He created heaven and earth and all things in them. It is His work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all man.
God is the Supreme Being in whom I believe and whom I worship. He is the Creator, Ruler and Preserver of all things. HE IS THE BIG BANG!
Ponder the beauties of His creation; trees, flowers, animals, mountains, the ocean waves, the miracle of a newborn child. Gaze to the heavens, where the courses of the stars and planets are evidence of "God moving in his majesty and power"

a couple of films I would recommend:
"The Case for a Creator"
"The Privileged Planet"

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful one hundred percent!”

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

Even my wife has started "texting".
Yes it has been a challenge but she is getting it.
With more and more "seniors" getting into the texting game it's time we had our own list of texting codes, so that everyone will know what we are talking about.

ATD: At The Doctor
BFF: Best Friend Fell
WTF: Why The Face
BTW: Bring The Wheelchair
FWIW: Forgot Where I Was
FWTCW: Forgot Where The Car Was
FYI: Found Your Insulin
GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low
GHA: Got Heartburn Again
HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
IMHO: Is My Hearing Aid On
LMDO: Laughing MY Dentures Out
LOL: Living On Lipitor
SGGP: Sorry Gotta Go Poop
OMG: Oh My Gas!
TTYL: Talk To You Louder
WAITT: Who Am I Talking To
WTP: Where's The Prunes
GGLKI: Gotta Go Laxative Kicking In

OLD, BUT NOT DEAD YET

When I was a child I counted my birthdays by months not years. To a kid your life revolves around birthdays and Christmas. The time span between each is counted in long weeks. Every kid knows how old they are right down to the month.
The years go flying by when you get older. The older you get the faster time travels.
Well now I'm old. Not dead yet mind you. But so much older.

When I was born (an official baby boomer) Harry Truman was in the white house. George Albert Smith was president of the LDS church.
A gallon of gas was $.20. Wow! A six pack of coke was $.37, of course they were 6 oz bottles. A postage stamp cost a whole $.03, and that was the only choice you had of getting a message cross country. No e-mail yet.
And speaking of e-mail, 1951 was the year that the first commercial computer was sold. The UNIVAC 1. The massive computer was 8 feet high, 7-1/2 feet wide and 14-1/2 feet long. 46 machines were built, for about $1 million each.

I don't count birthdays in years anymore but in rounded decades. I'm hoping I still have a few years left. I come from a line of long livers. My grandparents all lived into their 80's and my paternal grandmother had a couple of siblings that lived into their 90's. I try to take care of myself. I don't get enough exercise, I kind of watch what I eat. But some things are just worth the trouble.

"I'm 93 years old, do you really think a pat of butter is going to shorten my life"
(Jacob Jankowski, "Water for Elephants")

I DON'T THINK SO

THOUGHTS ON POLYGAMY

I have recently been re-reading one of Mark Twain's great works "Roughing It"
I love reading Mark Twain, especially his works of "non-fiction" using the term lightly, since he himself admitted to "fits of exaggeration at times". But that being said I love his sarcastic sense of humor and unique powers of observation about almost everything American.
while I was reading, it brought a smile to my face to read his account of his two day stay in Salt Lake City. and especially his comments on polygamy. they are now quoted as he wrote them.

Our stay in Salt Lake City amounted to only two days, and therefore we had no time to make the customary inquisition into the workings of polygamy and get up the usual statistics and deductions preparatory to calling attention of the nation at large one more to the matter.

I had the will to do it. With the gushing self-sufficiency of youth I was feverish to plunge in headlong and achieve a great reform here—until I saw the Mormon women. Then I was touched. My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor ungainly and pathetically “homely” creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, “No—the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not their harsh censure--and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of open-handed generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence.”

This is a cartoon that was published in a national magazine at the time of Brigham Young's death. depicting, with some humor, his mourning wives.

I HATE FEBRUARY

I really hate February. Every February I become engrossed with bitterness and anger for no reason. All day, everything anyone says irritates me. It doesn't matter what they say, just the fact that they're talking, I want to hammer a nail through their tongue, and into the floor!

There are no holidays looming to look forward to, except those stupid days that only bankers and government workers get to take off.

Winter has strung on way too long. All the snow that looked so festive in December is now just hiding in all the dark places, covered with pollution that came from who knows where. And as the snow melts it exposes that ugly brown sludge underneath that is supposed to be GRASS, or flowers or something else that is ALIVE!

All month, I can't bring myself to be motivated to do anything but be miserable. Every event annoys me. Even if it's completely insignificant and irrelevant to my life, I just want to die, or at least just sleep until spring comes.

I'm certain that a big part of my sub-suicidal animosity this month is due to the weather. December we marvel and smile as new snow falls. January is cold and snowy, but at least it has character. February is crap. Even the original calendar makers, Mayans or Greeks or who ever they were, they knew that February sucked, that's why it only has 28 days which are mostly 28 days of monochromatic drab.

February is so uninteresting, dull, boring, tedious, monotonous, dry, dreary; unexciting, unimaginative, uninspiring, insipid, lackluster, flat, stale, wishy-washy, colorless; lame, tired, sterile, anemic, barren, tame; middle-of-the-road, run-of-the-mill, mediocre, nondescript, characterless, mundane, unremarkable, humdrum. . . . . . it even pisses of ground hogs.

WHO IS THAT UNKNOWN CHILD

Yes, I love my Mac.
iPhoto has a great feature that cycles through your photos and identifies faces. the more you use it the better it gets. Well each time it cycles through my pictures it stops on this pair of eyes and wants me to confirm his/her identity (far right). Well try as I must I have not been able to figure out which one of my grandchildren is nicknamed "bolt eyes" Maybe I'll give it a name and see if I can find any more of him/her

MULTIPLE ZANES

I took one of my grandsons on a private photo shoot, took 94 pictures. Then I spent an hour or so with Photoshop and created "Multiple Zanes". Here is the finished project.