That We Have Come

It is important we know

That we have come

And to know that what we know

Is a war half won

That we have come

To the point of self-apprehension

That we have come

And we must make a decision

Or we’ll win a war

Only to flunk a struggle

For this time love;

An impending hurdle.

That we have come

Not a crowd

But a people with funk

And hope profound

That we have come

Into war

Yet out war

We have sprung

To rouse ourselves from the mud

As champions of freedom

I say it is enough

That we have come

Akpan

10 Less Common Vampire Traits

Photo credit: sodahead.com

Updated: Nov. 6th, 2016

Ever since Stoker created his Dracula-probably, the greatest anti-hero of all time and definitely, the most adapted villain in film and literature-vampire writers as well as film makers have added several improvisations to the vampire genre. 

Just like the more commonplace, the less-known traits exist as well. And thing is, each of these gains a better foothold with the release of every new film and lit. 


1. Sympathy Towards Humans
It's not every day you hear a vamp sympathize with humans. Why should they? Humans are food to vampires. Blade is a fine example of a vampire with heart. Edward Dalton, head hematologist (blood doctor) in Daybreakers felt sympathy towards humans, as well.

2. Invitation into Private Residence
In Salem's Lot a vampire had to be invited by the occupant of a house or they were powerless to enter. A scene in Ninjas vs. Vampires has a female vampire asking to be invited in by a guy before she could go in. Most modern vampires don't need IVs. They know their way in.

3. War Between Vampires
In Blade II a vampire hybrid feeds on other vampires giving the idea of dissension within the bloodsucking world. In Twilight the Cullen family battle James and his team for the life of Bella Swan. In The Saga of Darren Shan, the vampires are at war with the vampaneze (a bloodthirsty variant of the vampire). Usually, vamps co-exist in mutual confidence and reciprocal virtues *clears throat*.

4. Telepathy
Markus from Underworld gains access to other people's memory bank by drinking the victim's blood. Throughout the movie, there is a bonding of minds through drinking of blood. In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mina's mind bonds with the Count when he traps her under his power. An event like this one is scarce in the vampire genre.

5. Holy Symbols
Science easily becomes the new magic. Recently, somebody shared a link on Reddit about a group of scientists creating a zombie virus. Back in the day, zombies were strictly tied to voodoo. Back to vampires, in Underworld, Daybreakers, The Vampire Chronicles, Blade, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and many others, holy relics do not harm, scare, or kill vampire. You could scratch a few with 'em if you got close enough besides that holy symbols are just objects.

6. Flight
Most powerful vamps glide effortlessly. However, besides the bloodsuckers in Stephen King's Salem's Lot, Markus in  Underworld and, the 'subsiders' (who grew wings) in Daybreakers most vampires have no business off the ground. If they really feel like flying they might catch a plane.

7. Blood Substitute
Blade used a special serum to fight off his thirst for blood. In Daybreakers where a plague turned the entire world into vampires reducing humans to a mere 5% of the population, blood was in scarce supply and research for a blood substitute was inevitable. You don't see this kind of stuff in every vampire movie.

8. Human Lovers
Dracula had Mina (Bram Stoker's Dracula); Edward Cullen had Bella (Twilight Saga); Selene had Michael, who later became a hybrid vampire/werewolf (Underworld); Darren Shan had Monkey girl (The Saga of Darren Shan), the list goes on. This trait is almost fit to be part of the common vampire traits.

9. Associate with Werewolves
The werewolf is a sworn enemy of the vampire but modern writers have added a new twist to the age-old feud between the two species. In Twilight, a pack of werewolves fought side by side with vampires against bloodthirsty vampires from another coven; Underworld has a hybrid of werewolves called Lycans protecting and serving vampires. Remember, Dracula can only be killed by a bite from a werewolf. This is a fine twist to the old vampire legend.

10. Resents Being Vamps
Now ain't that a bitch. Edward Dalton (Daybreakers) resents his brother for turning him into a vamp and fights relentlessly to find a cure. He also refuses to drink human blood. Darren Shan (The Saga of Darren Shan) was coerced to turn a vampire to save his friends life. For turning his mother while she was pregnant with him thereby, making him a half-vampire, Blade (Blade) hunted and killed vampires all his life.


The mentioned traits, with exception of one or two, are rare and unusual additions to vampire lit. and film. All of these are without argument, great plot devices which never cease to thrill vampire movie and book geeks the world over.

Keep your pen bleeding.



Akpan

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10 Most Common Vampire Traits

CHRISTOPHER LEE AS COUNT DRACULA

Updated on June.16.2015

Vampires are forever.

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person. -— Wikipedia

The horror world's favorite undead species seem to have it all. Favored above zombies and werewolves, these bloodsuckers almost take it all in their stride. I didn't want to wander too far out from the facts so, I made myself sit and watch/re-watch several fine vampire movies and series. And of course, I sourced for online info to boot.

Some traits, fans believe, make vampires what they are. These traits are regarded as prerequisites  for identifying bloodsuckers. And although, there have been drastic modifications in the field these characteristics remain seemingly untouched and well-preserved.

1. Thirst For Blood

What else is new? Thirst for blood is the definitive vampire characteristic. The idea is really pronounced in the movie Daybreaker. I'm yet to see a movie which refutes this fact. After all, it's the reason vampires are called bloodsuckers which is a synonym of the word vampire. But I might be wrong, you know. I'm judging from the point of view of someone who's watched only over 30 vampire movies/series. They feed both on human and animal blood.

2. Immortality

These guys are not called undead for nothing, are they? They've been dead and back, not back as humans but in a twisted form and this realm permits the abomination they became. In movies like Underworld vampires develop a technique which allows them to travel through time something called HIBERNATION. They stay frozen in a grave for a couple 100 years until the Elders activate or awaken them.

3. Hypersensitive to Sunlight

Generally, vampires avoid contact with direct sunlight. Those who risk it bust into flames or turn to ash. In Salem's Lot however, sunlight only hurts the night crawlers, it isn't fatal. The character Selene  in Underworld is no longer irritated by sunlight when she gains special powers after drinking blood of the vampire forefather, Alexander Corvinus. Dracula is only weakened by sunlight.

4. Extraordinary Healing Ability

Vampires heal fast. In Blade Wesley Snipes acting as the eponymous character slices off a vampires arm and in the next scene, regeneration of the lost arm occurs. In other movies, the regeneration occurs faster, almost instantly to a  point the vampire appears immune to weapons. These night crawlers also seem to heal faster in moonlight or to regenerate quicker after drinking blood.

5. Reproduction by Biting

Vampires bite to gain access to the human veins because they feed on blood. When a vampire bites, the venom is transmitted into the victim's blood stream and s/he turns. Even though, there are instances of vampire bites killing the victim outright, the fastest method of reproducing vampires is via biting. And most films and books seem to follow this idea.

6. Superhuman Ability

All works of film and literature seem to agree that vampires acquire enhanced strength when they turn. From Blade to Underworld to the more recent film Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, people do extraordinary stuff when they become vampires. And sometimes, they learn combat skills pretty fast.

7. Speed

Since Bram Stoker said, The dead ride fast, it seems every vampire book and movie has been trying too hard to live up to the very last letter of those words. Watch The Saga of Darren Shan and get a taste of what I'm getting at. But then, any vampire flick features fast bloodsuckers. Why not, no rational human is gonna wait around for one slow vermin to have a go at them. The adrenaline in a vamp's blood is always rushing to overflowing like a shot of morphine straight to the head.

8. Stakes

Every vampire is susceptible to stakes. The stake might be of oak or some other exotic tree, it might be ash stake or it might be a metal of any kind, silver, steel, whatever. Thing is once the stake goes through the heart of a bloodsucker, it dies. Another thing is if the stake is pulled out before the monster either busts into flames or turns to ashes, the wound heals and the vamp lives to fight another day.

9. Fangs

All the vampires I have read about or watched on TV have fangs. In certain situations, the canine teeth are retractable. They need these to pierce the flesh so they can suck out the juice.

10. Fire

All the guys with twisted lust for blood have an intense aversion for fire. Generally, flame destroys vampires of all power levels and many of their opponents wield it as a weapon when combating them. Even in the age of mass cleansing in European folklore, fire was considered a potent weapon of annihilation for vampires.

The traits listed here are true at least, eight out of ten times for all vampires in film and literature.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

3 Tips on Developing a Relevant Writing Style

An understanding of your personality and true worth fuels your deepest capacities. It’s impossible to create knock-out write ups when you have not defined yourself for yourself. This is the concrete stuff you will present in your writing.

Write with every intention to communicate everything you stand for. Your art is the expression of the inner character. Therefore, to improve your flow, define a personal writing style and straddle your craft along that line.

For an artist to thrive in his work, he’s got to know who he is.

Where are you coming from?

What have you been through? Going through right now?

What is your outlook on life?

What is your mind state?

The slums/mansion you grew up in could be a ledge on which you project your trade. Again, it all boils down to your frame of mind. Look really deep within and touch things. Touch the individual waiting to be reaped like the wheat of harvest. This is where your experiences come into the picture. You’re never fully dressed for the job without one.

Define what you stand for. Study your history.

What do you believe about yourself, the world and its future?

What drives you? Motivates you?

Visualize and then congeal the things that describe you in your writing.

Do you stand for justice in the legal system;

Free education for ghetto children;

Better days on the streets;

An end to incessant domestic violence;

Waking the world up to the evil it willfully shuts its eyes to;

The love in a family or in relationships?

It’s time to take a stand so you can make a statement.

A lot of writers have sleepless nights trying to find a subject to write about. You might find your interest pushes you towards reading the papers. Don’t fight it.

In formulating a personal writing style, try to imagine the ideal life you want for yourself and the price you are willing to pay to possess it–What really matters to you?

What would you be doing with your life a few years from now?

How seriously do you want people to take you and the message of your stories?

If you make the decision to place your craft above every other thing, to make writing your medium for communicating to the world, your channel for expressing yourself, for changing lives, then what atcha write and the way atcha write it will come to you as naturally as sleep comes to a man trapped under the spell of Morpheus.

Your experience is the connect between becoming a fulfilled writer and discovery of a unique, personal and relevant writing style. Focus on these things, keep going over them in your mind, let them place you in your niche.

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

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Live A Lie (I)

Visions thro’ my eyesight

Prophesying lies to another lifetime.

Society feeding violence;

And by fostering insolence

Leave the next generation an item for correspondence.

Youths grow on the compost of greed.

Ina time of need,

Friends betray with speed.

It all sprouted as a seed

Until hate became a fruit-producing-tree.

Too many persecutions; too many crucifixions;

Too many questions;

Corruption multiplying without objections.

Justice got run out of court,

The news is evil report

Death and its cohort

Run the street like a broad.

Hypocrisy increaseth

No decree restricts it.

Its depth’s deeper than the abyss,

Its venom lethal than rabies.

Religious fanatics; political arsonists

Spitting infrared anarchy,

Unremittingly pathetic.

I’m in a rage of a game,

The only place to turn is blame.

Things will never be the same

Not when the moral question is black comedy.

Despair shrouds society

With a desperate intensity initiating delinquency.

Vice substitutes virtue

Posing as model of a noble statue.

Fools tick off the statutes,

Spitting on naked truth.

Shame is sick of this stock of shame

Yet, political correctness

Demands that we deny it as non-existent.

Darkness visible is the new brightness

Stench of rut assaults persistent.

These are the days of the multiplication of iniquities;

A young nation reviving antiquities,

Voicing the tag line of vanity in blasphemous ditties.

What else could be worse?

Straight outta the mouth o’ the horse.

Men betray men’s trust

Like Judas snitched on Jesus.

What greater decay could humanity come to?

Since Adam bit into that apple see what we been thro’?

Pain displacing rage,

Rage choked in an ache,

Hate’s all there’s at stake.

My generation; youth generation

Trading their dignity for the ability of the paper

Watching n’ waiting to pull off a caper.

It’s live or die

So they ya’ll chose to live a lie.

Akpan

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• You are my past
• Is Friendship Forever....
• The Anatomy Of A Lie
• It's a poor idea to lie to yourself

I Ain't

Inspired by Dr. Chinua Achebe

I ain’t got limbs,

But I’m a successful writer;

I ain’t got feet,

And I’m the world’s fastest runner;

I ain’t got skills, ya’ll

But I am an inventor of dimensions;

I ain’t got brains,

But I am Albert Einstein;

I ain’t got ears,

But I’m Ludwig Van Beethoven;

I ain’t got a dime,

But I’m the richest dude who ever lived.

I’m keeping my head up;

I ain’t ever giving up.

I’m tied to Destiny’s apron

This is coming straight outta the cauldron.

Ain’t got no monument erected in my name,

But I’m sure as heck making history.

I ain’t got noble blood seeping thro’ my veins

But I am royalty.

Measuring my actions

With a surgeon’s precision,

As mysterious as the eclipse,

Total like the finality of the apocalypse.

I ain’t got a face to save,

But I am a respectable personality;

I ain’t free,

But I’m a Pilgrim making stunning Progress;

I ain’t got no inspiration,

But I’m spitting poetry like Shakespeare;

I ain’t got no vision,

But my every breath fulfils a dream.

I got stranger convictions

Than the condemned with his head thro the noose,

Of better things in store:

Ignoring challenges conditions

And practically striving to even the score.

I ain’t got balls,

But I’m battling lions three times my size;

I ain’t got no locus,

But I’m situated and ready to roll;

Taking up challenges

One step at a time,

This fella gonna hit it big in his prime.

Emancipate myself from aggression,

Set my sights on redemption,

It’s time to make some changes around here.

Step out on his flyness, that’s me

As I charge the atmosphere.

I got no nuclear war heads

But I rule the world, nevertheless;

I ain’t got no strategy,

But I’m confounding adversaries from all angles;

I ain’t got strong biceps

But the worlds strapped over my shoulder;

I ain’t got no incentive,

Still I rise steady above status quo;

I’m trapped. I ain’t got a way of escape

But lookit here, I found Aladdin’s lamp.

Destiny’s child is who I be-

Descendant of a royal pedigree.

I ain’t got no sight of eyes,

But I’m putting finishing touches to my Paradise Lost.

I am the African antelope,

And this is my jungle.

My antlers positioned like periscopes

Always on alert for any rumble.

Danger is my beat,

Ducking hunter’s bullets and I’m dancing.

I’ve learned that when I believe in who I am

I’d never have to underestimate who I ain’t,

Or stand in the way of what I can

…or can’t.

Akpan

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