"On this night, thin is the veil, at Darkest hour I see most clear. Warmth of the candle light on my face, cold of the night against my back. I roam with the spirits of this land. Both worlds I seek, and see as one. What I will I now become."

(Copyrights belong to yours truly)

Everyday I am at work, I think about something I want to write about, yet I forget it right after I get home. Hunger, thirst, uncomfortable feeling and tiredness seem to dull my mind in the evening.

One realization I've made and remembered was that my energy or motivation to paint or draw hasn't been low because all this time I have just been lazy, but I've been just depressed enough that I've felt tired all the time unable to do what I wanted. Now that I'm feeling better my head is forming ideas and I'm dreaming of my summer-vacation when I could hopefully paint and finish all the unfinished projects. Now I'm still studying in the hope of getting a high school- diploma. Well, I think it's not exactly "high school", but since the education systems are different in every country, and I can't figure out any other word quite as fitting, I'll use that one.

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When I was a kid, I saw this scary looking book in the local library, the book was called "Noidan käsikirja"/"Witches handbook". I think after looking into those pages of mysterious, odd and frightening in the eyes of a kid about 6-8 year old, I was the most afraid of vampires.

It sounds ridiculous to think, that some child would be scared of vampires out of all the supernatural monsters, but that amusement comes from the ruined image of vampires. The biggest causes for this were the TV-shows "Buffy the vampire slayer", "Twilight"-franchise and "True blood". Of course the Anne Rice's books - or most likely the movie-adaptations - have had some of the fault too, although I did like the "Interview with the Vampire". Probably because it was a book with desperate mood and the most unique descriptions of the vampiric-vision. I was impressed the way everything was described. Yet I feel that it too was at fault with damaging what the vampires used to mean in different folklore's. Now a days vampires are beautiful teenagers - or adults - who seem to walk around in the daylight and lack all the average weaknesses of the vampires in mythologies. No crosses, no garlic, no holy water and you can do whatever you want with them and they won't die.
And even when all the typical vampiristic characteristics fit, like in the "True Blood", which is great, but the supernatural aspects are lacking and the unique mind they supposedly have, like the book "Dracula" by Bram Stoker suggest as well as the "Interview with the vampire", is not there. Not to mention the icky-romance crap. I cannot understand the female-need to fantasize about being a human with supernatural hunks chasing after you. Its the main reason why vampires have lost their glamour - vampire-pun intended.
Vampires are supposedly mystic beings with their own hidden agendas, which include most of all draining blood from the humans. The mystical quality in them lies also in the fact that their true natures are hidden. They are the wolves in the sheep's-clothing. And all of this I have mentioned qualifies especially when thinking about the supernatural blood-thirsty vampires, who are nothing like human beings, yet they still have the knowledge of what it is like to act human, and they look the part to some degree. I even like the idea of the human in the new-born, "embraced" vampire-fledgling is gone, and only the shell of it remains yet it's inhabited by this monstrous creature.

One specific exception that almost has all the qualities I enjoy is the game (bear with me nongamers): "Vampire Masquerade - Bloodlines". Previous part "Redemption" is unknown to me for it's difficult attainability.

(Images belong to Troika Games)

It's now an old game, easy to find for example in Steam (google it if you don't understand), yet I still am in love with that game. It gives everything a vampire/horror-enthusiastic could desire for: you can only play the nights - and it really is a never-ending, beautiful night. The music entraps you into the sinister mood, that makes you feel like you're high from the blood you drink:

"I suddenly have the desire to walk down that dark and foreboding alley over there! ...Care to join me?"

There's a lot to tell, yet I won't make this a long story. The curious ones can read about it themselves or even better; just buy it from Steam and try it.

(Images belong to Troika Games)

A Grangel - my first clan. Ah, the nostalgia...

 (Images belong to Troika Games)

"Real terror is not the sight of death, it is the fear of death. What is the fear of death? Terror of the unknown. Is it these eyes you peer into? No, I am not the unknown; You and I are closer kin than you and it were."

--Pisha

(Images belong to Troika Games)

"I'm over here, boss! Wait, maybe I'm over here! Or maybe I'm behind you with a hatchet in my hand... or did you ever stop to think that your fear, if given a voice, would sound... like... this." - Gary

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The amount of details the game developers have put in the game is astonishing. I - for example - love the nightly radio-broadcast "Deb of Night":

These still make me laugh.

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Perhaps, for closure; for me, the real vampires are pretty much the folklore-ones. They are the undead monsters that drink human blood. Of course the specifics varies between different mythologies, but they are monsters.

But I also do not like the monster-movies versions of the vampires, like in the movie "30 days of night". But that was mostly because the plot and storyline didn't really deliver.

This is just the top of the iceberg. There's tons of bad and good examples. And this little blabber wasn't really an introduction to vampires in entertainment, but just a small ranting about my own views, what I like. Quite as boring as it seems.