Dracula Untold movie review and information

I had forgotten to share my review on the movie Dracula Untold.

It's actually pretty good. It's not another run-of-the-mill, you know what's going to happen, love story of a vampire movie. It follows a little more closely to the real history of Vlad the Impaler. He's the one the Dracula stories were originally based on. 

The movie gives you a sympathetic villain. While Vlad is supposed to be an evil monster, he's the one you want on your team fighting against the Turks.

His only desire is to save his family, especially his son from the tyrannical rule of the Turkish King. He doesn't want his son to face the same fate of being turned into a mindless killer who will obey any order without hesitation. To save his wife from the heartache of having her son taken from her. And to save his kingdom from having to give up their sons as well. His heart was in the right place. His method for achieving the power necessary to accomplish his goals, however, may be questionable. He strikes a deal with what should be the first Dracula. The original vampire. In return, he has 3 days to destroy the Turks. Battle after battle, you follow his dire and dark conquests. You root for him to win! 

Now I don't want to spoil the movie for those planning to see it. It had some good CGI effects, wonderfully done scenes, and if it wasn't so "scary", I'm sure even kids would enjoy the action. I don't reccomend it for children though.
There were some things that I wasn't impressed with. Especially with a scene at the end that was dragged out when it should have been cut short with fantastic action. But every movie has its flaws, right? They don't explain why silver is dangerous to the vampires. So unless you are familiar with the other versions of Dracula, you probably wouldn't know the connection that has been made to Judas Iscariot.

The story of the real Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, is quite an interesting one. He didn't use fangs to bite the necks of his victims to drain their blood. He instead impaled them, collected the blood and dipped his bread into it. Talk about psychopath of the olden times.... He avenged his fathers betrayal and death by slaughtering hundreds of the noblemen.
"Dracula" means "Son of the Dragon". Vlad III chose to be called that. His father had been a member of a secret society called the Order of the Dragon. His father, being proud of this, changed his name to Dracul which was Romanian for Dragon. Vlad III was involved with this Order as a child and changed his name to Dracula, or the Son of the Dragon. Now, however, the translation is closer to the Son of the Devil. This is where the belief that vampires were devils or minions of Satan came into play.

Vlad had a cruel and dark sense of humor. There are accounts of how he enjoyed impaling and boiling people alive. He liked watching them twitch "like frogs". These two punishments were his only forms of punishment throughout his rule.
He wanted to "clean" up his capitol, Tirgoviste. So he invited the sick, vagrants, and beggars for a feast. Then he had the court where they dined boarded up and set fire to the place. This was how he dealt with the unwanted people around his kingdom.
His rule was so undisputed and feared, that he left an elaborate golden cup in plain view in the town square. Anyone could drink from it, however, it could not leave the square. Though poverty plagued the people, no one dared to even touch it. Fear was truly deep within the hearts of his people.
He couldn't handle any form of defeat. So when the Turks pushed his armies back into retreat, he burned villages, killed the townspeople, and poisoned the wells. Better that he do it himself than let the Turkish army have the satisfaction, right? In total, historians believe that Dracula killed somewhere from 40,000 up to 100,000 people. By the time the Turks got to the capitol of Tirgoviste, there was a Forest of the Impaled. 20,000 bodies of Turks were on display. Men, women, children, old and young alike were not spared.

Bram Stoker invented quite a character when he chose to write Dracula. He used the stories of Vlad Tepes (aka Vlad III, Vlad the Impaler) as well as the other vampire stories that were written before he even set pen to paper. Carmilla was the more original vampire. A lesbian who preyed on lonely young women and bathed in their blood. Varney the Vampire was another penny dreadful series that Stoker could draw inspiration from.

Hope you enjoy the movie! And take the time to do your own research when you watch things based on historical events!

Some facts used in this informative posting: http://listverse.com/2013/01/26/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-real-dracula/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Dracula

Our historical field trip

Being a homeschooler, one of the best things we get to do are frequent field trips! Most recently we went to the Castillo de San Marcos castle during national park week.

No, it's not a fort as I was used to calling it. One of the living history actors corrected me on that one.

It's a castle because it has a moat and drawbridge. It's a very unique and special shape too. With the diamond corners it provides a perfectly clear view of every angle.
We were there for the cannon firing which happens daily and at certain times.

They have Rangers who give short condensed history lessons. From one of those lessons, we learned all the following facts:

The Castillo de San Marcos was used as a prison by Americans to hold Indians who were being removed from their lands and taken to reservations. Most notably were Apache and also the wives and children of Geronimo.

For over 300 years it was held strong by the Spanish. They finally gave it up in a trading deal to the English to get Cuba back. The English tried and consistently failed to capture the Castillo but never did. And when they did, they tried to hold double its capacity which required renovations and made their soldiers miserable during the summer months.

Prior to the Castillo, there were approximately nine other forts built around town. They were mostly destroyed by termites, fire and sieges though.

The Castillo is built from a special mixture that includes coquina which is a type of tiny shell here. It could actually absorb a cannon ball instead of being totally damaged. However, it had to be cut in over 40,000 blocks, dried over days-years and then built. It took many years to complete it.

The moat never held water. During sieges, it kept livestock and prevented anyone from storming the walls.
The cannons were strategically placed to cover every part of the surrounding areas. The smaller ones could hit up to a mile away which is about where the St. Augustine lighthouse is now. The larger one can go up to three miles. It certainly kept ships far away.

The bathroom pipes were "flushed" by the tides....
If you ever have the chance to be in town and want a special but fun learning adventure - I suggest a trip to the Castillo de San Marcos!

Where have our virtuous values vanished to?

Once upon a time...
We have all heard stories that start with those words. Nowadays it's the title of a hit TV show depicting classic fairy tales with a modernistic twist.

They are also typically the beginning of tales concerning bravery, honor, dignity, honesty and chivalry. Whatever happened to those virtues?

A man who would brave the monsters or stand before an army showing no fear, only courage, to his enemies. Women with honor worth fighting and dying for. Anyone ever heard of the old common law - You touch her, you marry her? Shot gun wedding? Even if you don't like musicals, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is where I first learned the terms. I'm not a big musical fan, but that was one I could watch over and over. Historically, if you "touched" her, your choices were to marry her with her dad standing ready with his shotgun or he would hang you from the nearest tree.

Dignity is a word that most people these days probably don't even know the meaning of. "Dignity - the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect." Once upon a time, you earned high esteem and respect by the way you acted towards and treated others. Just as the Golden Rule says: do unto others as you would have done unto you.
How many people these days feel guilty when they tell a lie? When I was growing up, there was no such thing as a white lie. You either tell the truth or you don't. And yes, sometimes the truth hurt. Sometimes people get their feelings hurt because they can't handle the truth. Or they just don't want to accept it. Does that mean we should just baby their feelings? I think not. It's raising a generation of pansy-hearted fools who want to live in a day dream of over-inflated egos.

Chivalry, according to the dictionary means courtesy towards women. It was more than opening a door and letting a woman pass through first. A gentleman would lay down his cloak or coat over a mud puddle so that a lady wouldn't soil her petticoat. He would go that extra mile just to put her mind at ease or to see her smile. Don't get me wrong, I don't think women should be as weak as they once were. Fainting at the sight of blood? No, thanks. Nor would I want two guys to duel over my affections and have the winner (whoever was still alive) calling claim over me afterwards. It's the passion and honor though that has been truly lost. And to be honest, women may have been the ones who pushed it all away. Women fought for equality, which is fine in some areas. But we keep pushing. If a man holds the door open for the wrong woman, the response might be something along the lines of, "What? I can't open my own door?" when it should have been, "Thank you."

Today we have STD's running rampant, young girls becoming single mothers, guys chasing what's considered "easy tail", lying about anything and everything as easy as if they were telling the truth, stealing as though everything in the world belongs to them...

What happened? Will we ever truly see the once upon a time moments return? Or will they only appear in the handful of people who are still holding fast to the beauty of an age long past? They seem to be prominent in movies, television and books but the response to them is, "It's just a work of fiction. None of that is true. That doesn't happen in real life."
I hope everyone that reads this, takes a good look around them. I hope you pay more attention to others. Be a little more mindful of how you act and treat those you come in contact with. Who knows? Maybe we can revive old virtues once again.