the Blood Queen

Well, truth be told, I think weblogging is a little hokey! I thought I would try this in order to have a means of keeping a journal... a task I am supposed to do for my Master's degree... and a pursuit I have had on hold now for nearing 2 years. Now over half a year has passed since I made my last entry and NONE of the entries have been about what I am studying! I was excited by blogging only when I found out that html coding was easy enough even for me - self-proclaimed technophobe.

Well, anyway, here I am again. The problem is that I have absolutely nothing profound to offer. I can only offer recent thoughts. Although I am no longer trying to learn Serbian online, I was searching for information on history and the arts in Eastern Europe (after having lengthy conversations re: such with the Russian wife of an American diplomat). Instead I came upon a story of Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Queen of (what was then) Transylvania - a woman who believed the blood of young maidens was the secret to youth. This was a timely discovery as the movie Van Helsing just opened in Taipei. Normally, I dislike violent movies, but I am always interested to see in which new direction they will take the story each time. I am given pause to wonder what Romanians and Hungarians and all those living near the Carpathians think about what stories Irish Author Bram Stoker and the American film industry have saddled them with.