Kulcha of Kowalski and Drakula

Breathe in us, may your handpour olive oil onto our breast.Shield us from the dark word,From the dark word, save us!

        Leading Austrian author Ilse Aichinger has passed away; see, for example, the DeutscheWelle report 
       Her classic The Greater Hope was released in a new translation (the previous one, Herod's Children, appeared back in 1963 and has long been out of print; Time called it"thoroughly unbearable") very recently (earlier this year) -- albeit (only) by German (!) publisher Königshausen & Neumann; see their publicity page, or (try to) get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. (Tip to US/UK/Australian/etc. publishers: license this.) 
      

       In The Guardian they have part one of their 'Best books of 2016', where a solid list of writers: 'choose their best reads of 2016'

       In The Telegraph they have their: 'top critics count down the year's best, from 50 to 1', in The top 50 books of the year

WHEN someone like Michael Longley describes his work as being better than food or sex, then you know that he is in the right job. Belfast born and bred, the poet is still more than happy with what he describes as a "sacred calling" Poetic soul

Long live sacred actors like Dan Fogler and the elevating spirit of independent, bohemian community theatre ... These thespians will be household name like Fogler soon ...

Lucy Westenra	Madeleine Boyle
Wilhelmina 'Mina' Murray	Cassady Maddox
Jonathan Harker	Dimitri Armatas
John Seward	Nathan Bennett
Renfield	Cormac James
Abraham Van Helsing	Paul Murton
Count Dracula	Daniel D'Amico
Attendant / Vixen	Antoinette Grey
Attendant / Maid / Vixen	Eleni Pyretzis
Attendant

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them isn't about the movie's hero, Newt Scamander, or even any of the beasts that give the film its title. Instead, it's Jacob Kowalski, the No-Maj (that's an American non-wizard to you newbies) baker who accidentally gets caught up in Newt's magical adventures, and whose situation at the film's end leaves viewers in the lurch. Spoilers ahead. At the conclusion of the film, Jacob, having witnessed too much magic for some wizards' liking, is forced to have his memory obliviated — or at least, that seems to be the case. At the very end of the movie, Jacob is seen replicating the shapes of the magical beasts he saw in pastries at his bakery, and he even seems to vaguely recognize his witch love, Queenie, when she walks into his shop. So was Jacob really obliviated at Fantastic Beasts' end? Actor Dan Fogler isn't so sure JK Rowlingova's little dictionary of animals has spawned a huge film franchise, with all the attendant merchandise

From happy go lucky Jakub Kowalski to another friendly Mittleuropean character Drakula  with creatures great and small inside the Kafkaesque lunatic asylumn ... Bram Stoker's  GOTHIC tale of  DRACULA has fascinated generations and needs no introduction. Stoker, a friend of Wilde and Conan Doyle, wrote the piece while employed as administrator of London's Lyceum Theatre and always hoped to see it adapted for the stage.
Since its original publication in 1897, Dracula has epitomised the Horror genre and popularised the vampire legend, spawning countless spin-offs and reimaginings over the last 120-odd years. Like many Victorian classics, Draculaexplores the clash between science and the supernatural, civilized society and the primal. The fear of the exotic and unknown; unspeakable evil hidden behind a cultured human visage; primal passions; the corruption of the soul; 'morality' (particularly the expectations placed on women); and courage against a seemingly unbeatable foe are all strong themes within this play  Genesian theatre