Tag: monster

October 28th Frankenstein Friday

October Holidays

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in the Mid-1800’s in England. Some of what she was writing was true, at least to those believers who thought local doctors were trying to actually create living beings from dead ones. Today, we know that Frankenstein Friday means that Halloween will soon be here. It falls on the last Friday of October and, naturally Halloween comes shortly there after on the last day of October. The actual Frankenstein Friday was created by Ron MacCloskey in 1997.

How to celebrate – Get ready for Halloween. Read about the Mid-1800’s in England. Wear your Frankenstein costume if you got one.

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August 30th Frankenstein Day

August Holidays

We all know, and sort of love, the monster that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley create in 1818, Frankenstein! He isn’t as bad as some of the other monsters we face and is always misunderstood. One of the leading questions today is, was it possible Mary actually knew someone attempting to do “Frankenstein” to resurrect a loved one. The idea of making a human out of parts from dead people was a fascinating idea back in the early 1800’s and one apparently concerning to the population of Europe. Today, August 30th, 1797 was Mary’s birthday.

How to celebrate – Read Frankenstein. Watch one of the many Frankenstein movies. Read some of Shelley’s other works.

October 29th Frankenstein Friday

October Holidays

Ron MacCloskey of Westfield, New Jersey placed Frankenstein Friday on the last Friday of October in 1997 to have some fun. To, in a way, start Halloween before Halloween starts. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote Frankenstein back in 1818 at the age of 21. Her creature was different from the one we now celebrate, it’s up to you whether the newer version is better or the older one. Either way, today, or maybe tonight, you should celebrate Frankenstein because it would be a monstrous shame if you didn’t.

How to celebrate – Dress up like Frankenstein. Read “Frankenstein”. Watch old Frankenstein movies.

August 30th Frankenstein Day

August Holidays

Probably the best known monster ever created – Frankenstein’s Monster. Today we celebrate Frankenstein Day on author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly’s birthday, in 1797. 21 years later, in 1818, she wrote Frankenstein…or, as it was called originally, “The Modern Prometheus”. She had a sorted life with a lot of tragedy including three children (basically) dying at birth and her husband dying relatively early in their marriage. She did have one child that survived named Percy. She wrote a number of other works, none as famous though as Frankenstein.

How to celebrate – Read Frankenstein, or “The Modern Prometheus” which is notably different from what the movies turned her book into. Find out what other stories Shelly wrote. Read about Shelly’s life as it is a story in itself.

October 29th Frankenstein Friday

October Holidays

Ron MacCloskey of Westfield, New Jersey placed Frankenstein Friday on the last Friday of October in 1997 to have some fun. To, in a way, start Halloween before Halloween starts. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote Frankenstein back in 1818 at the age of 21. Her creature was different from the one we now celebrate, it’s up to you whether the newer version is better or the older one. Either way, today, or maybe tonight, you should celebrate Frankenstein because it would be a monstrous shame if you didn’t.

How to celebrate – Dress up like Frankenstein. Read “Frankenstein”. Watch old Frankenstein movies.

October 29th National Frankenstein Day

October Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Frankenstein is very popular, after all… this is like the 30th Frankenstein Day we’ve had this year already (not really it’s only three but who’s counting). The fact is, Mary Shelly really hit it big (I wonder if she lived long enough to know it). And what makes today even more special is apparently it was created by Frankenberry Cereal!

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Frankenstein is probably the most popular monster ever created (don’t tell the Mummy or Werewolf). There are at least 54 movies created that either feature Frankenstein or he makes an appearance in. That’s even more than Rocky! And that’s not even counting television! He has been portrayed as evil, funny and even love-able.

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Now that we are close to Halloween, he will be even more visible than ever. Although, recently he has become a little less of a monster than in past years. Now kids dress up as political figures, various Pokemon creatures and those always scary ballerinas.

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Frankenstein is an international wonder. A part of him is British, French, American, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Russian, Brazilian, Spanish… well, you get the picture. He got the legs, arms, heart, kidneys, liver…

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So enjoy another of the many Frankenstein Days. There’s enough of him to go around and his wife, The Bride of Frankenstein covers his days off. Invite Frankenstein over for an evening of fun and merriment… just don;t leave any of your spare body parts laying around.

How to celebrate – Read Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Try and build your own Frankenstein. Realize that monster is an ugly word.

October 26th National Frankenstein Friday

October Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Okay, so we all know Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in 1818 when she was only 21 years old. Wow, what an imagination! With Halloween and Frankenstein Day both coming up soon, it’s nice to kick it off with a Frankenstein Friday. The idea was created by Ron MacClosky, who appropriately won the “Franky” award for doing so.

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I mean, who doesn’t know about Frankenstein’s Monster? Children, adults, other monsters… we all know about Frankenstein! I even wrote a play about a fashionable, intelligent Frank Einstein (Available on Playscripts.com). The monster has been played as sad, humorous, curious and just about any other emotion you can imagine.

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The thing is, his name shouldn’t be Frankenstein because that was his creators name. If want his last name to be Frankenstein then, okay… but he needed to be given a first name as well. Maybe that’s why he roamed the countryside so angry all the time. How would you like it is people only called you by your last name!?!

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He is probably the only monster ever created that heart could really have belonged to daddy. He was very conflicted as well. He had one arm that had belonged to a man named White. The other belonged to a man named Wong. That makes it easy to understand that in the heat of the moment, he might not be able to know White from Wong.

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So, you might ask why do we celebrate Frankenstein Friday? It’s simply because if we didn’t we might find ourselves Abbey Normal. Think about it.

How to celebrate – Read the first chapter of Frankenstein but wait to read the rest on Frankenstein Day. If you want a good laugh, watch “Young Frankenstein”. Experiment n your own by mixing parts from a Barbie doll and a GI Joe.

August 30th National Frankenstein Day

August Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Who is the best know monster of all time? Well, Frankenstein of course! He has been portrayed in so many movies, television shows and books that he has become an icon. He is played scary, funny, sad, happy, you name it and someone has performed it that way.

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We celebrate it today on Mary Wollenstone Shelley’s birthday, August 30th, 1797. she actually wrote Frankenstein in 1818 and my research shows she was in Scotland at the time. She was a novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer and a travel writer but no doubt she is best remember for The Modern Prometheus, the original title of Frankenstein.

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I am curious if she ever made anywhere near  the money others did off of her work. And though I do not know it for sure, I doubt there is any copyright applied to her work anymore.  There have also been stories about her getting the story from a relative who was actually trying to ring the dead back to life.  I don’t know if there is any truth to it or not but it is a wild story to just dream up.

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I also wonder if she had any idea it would become as popular as it did. And would she have taken offense at the way the world has treated her character. We probably will never know… unless, someone is secretly working on bringing her back.

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How to celebrate – Read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Watch a Frankenstein movie. See if you can find any other works of Mary Shelley’s to read.