Gary Oldman

Bram Stoker's Dracula is a 1992 American horror fantasy erotic drama film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It stars Gary Oldman as Count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina Harker, Anthony Hopkins as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker.

Count Dracula (portrayed by Gary Oldman)

"I am the monster that breathing men would kill. I am Dracula."

 
Gary Oldman's Dracula brought to the the screen an elegant mixture of man and monster. He was ruthless, powerful, ancient and vengeful. Yet beneath all of that armor, he was still just a man who longed for and had lost everything (including his soul) for his one true love. Like Frank Langella's Dracula, Oldman was a seductive and charismatic aristocrat. His chivalry was as disarming as it was dangerous, for he was no less a monster regardless the form he wore. Which, by the way, was one of my favorite aspects of this film—Dracula was shown in all his glory. He was a rat, a bat, mist, a wolfman, and a creepy old woman in a red satin gown.

Perhaps one of the most brilliant parodies, ever...
Gary Oldman's Dracula (portrayed my Charles Montgomery Burns)

The Simpsons: Tapped Out ~ Mr. Burns as Count Dracula

  Let the bloodbath begin! Celebrate Halloween all October long
with a new vampire post every day! Who's your favorite?

Boobarella

Boobarella
On The Simpsons, Booberella is an ample-chested vampire-looking woman and  local TV personality in Springfield. She hosts late-night monster movies and always dresses in low-cut vampire-style outfits that show lots of cleavage. She is well aware of her large breasts, and constantly draws attention to them, makes reference to them, or tells people to look at them. Booberella is the daughter of Bill, an employee in the Accounting department at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant[1]. She has occasionally been seen dating Duffman. Booberella's trademark, unsurprisingly, is her obsession with her own breasts, in combination with talking like a vampire. Booberella also has her own line of handbags.

Boobarella

When Marge Simpson was taken hostage during a bank robbery, she managed to place a cell phone call to Homer and told him that if she didn't make it out alive, he could get remarried to anyone whose name was on the list in the back of his closet. Booberella was one of the names on the list.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out ~ Boobarella

Let the witchery begin! Celebrate Halloween all October long
with a new witch post every day! Who's your favorite?

Marge Simpson Bouvier

"Treehouse of Horror VIII" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons' ninth season and first aired on the Fox network on October 26, 1997. In the eighth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer Simpson is the last man left alive when a neutron bomb destroys Springfield until a gang of mutants come after him, Homer buys a transporter that Bart uses to switch bodies with a housefly, and Marge is accused of witchcraft in a Puritan rendition of Springfield in 1649.

Treehouse of Horror: The Bouvier Sisters

"Easy-Bake Coven"
In 1649, the town of Springfield is witness to many witch burnings. In the church, the townspeople try to figure out whom to condemn next. People start accusing one another and soon chaos erupts, until Marge Simpson attempts to intervene. She tries to talk sense into the townspeople, but Moe accuses her of being a witch. Mayor Quimby assures her that she is entitled to due process which means she will be thrown off a cliff with a broomstick; if she is a witch she will be able to fly to safety, in which case the authorities expect her to report back for punishment. If she is not a witch, then she will fall to an honorable Christian death. Lisa tries to speak on her mother's behalf, but Marge gets shoved off the cliff regardless. 

The townspeople are shocked to see that a green-skinned Marge is now flying on a broomstick revealing  that she really is a witch, and naturally, of course,... an evil one. She returns to her elder sisters, Patty and Selma, in their secluded mountain lair. The Bouvier Sisters watch Ned and Maude Flanders talking about how the witches eat children, which gives them the wicked notion to do just that. They knock on the Flanders' door and demand their sons. Before they leave, Maude offers the them gingerbread men instead. The witches seem to like these better than the children, and let Rod and Todd go. They proceed to go from house to house, getting goodies in exchange for not eating the children (though they already actually had eaten some beforehand). As the witches fly off, the Sea Captain explains that that is how the tradition of Halloween and trick-or-treating actually got started. 

The scene then jumps to the following year in the same town where everyone is dressed in costumes. Homer and several others are egging a house for not opening the door, before Lisa points out that it's actually their own house, making everyone laugh. Homer then accuses her of being a witch, and proceeds to chase her off into the moonlight...

The Simpsons: Tapped Out ~ Witch Marge

Let the witchery begin! Celebrate Halloween all October long
with a new witch post every day! Who's your favorite?

There's An App For That: City Planning Games

Perhaps it's due to my over-compulsive need to organize the things in my surroundings (and in my head), but city / village planning games get me hooked pretty quickly. I remember spending many an hour watching the little mob riots take to the streets, or the giant robot from space come down and destroy my town in the original SimCity back when I was a kid.

As a homage to those early pre-gamer days of mine, here's the quick and dirty on some of my favorite city builder apps currently out there:

Cosmic Colony
Next to Fantasy Town, Cosmic Colony has got some of the best designed buildings and town decor around. A lot of creative thinking went into the look of some of the available shops, homes and alien relics. There's a space exploration mini-game available about once a day that rewards a random little somethin' to help spruce up the colony. Space pirates can be a problem, though...

Fantasy Town
Fantasy Town has some of the best art direction I've seen yet, giving the game a really unique, and very beautiful look. It's worth checking out despite the fact that earning money in the game for the land expansions can take a really long time. That, coupled with the unfortunate need to occasionally spend gems (which cost real world money to acquire) just to complete quests eventually turned me off altogether.

Forestville
Another absolutely beautiful game, Forestville's charm resides not just in its buildings, but in its citizens as well. The village is full of adorable little foxes, bears, birds, rabbits, frogs, beavers, hedgehogs, and deer (and the list keeps going). It's Furry Fandom Heaven! Each species has special, unique characters and rare versions such as the occasional crow, polar bear or blue frog that will randomly pop up and add even more variety to the mix! I'm all for diversity! ~wink~

Kingdoms & Lords
Kingdoms & Lords, ironically, suffers from the reverse issue effecting Fantasy Town. It's pretty easy to earn enough money early in the game to buy a great amount of land, but... you have nothing to put on it until much much later. Even then, most of the buildings you can add (which are exquisite, by the way) do nothing unless you log into a social network with the game (something most people might not feel comfortable doing). Kingdoms & Lords has a great deal of potential, however. It just needs to be fleshed out a bit more in its earlier levels.

Oregon Settler
Oregon Settler is a very fun, frontier-flavored city game full of covered wagons, head-bobbing farm animals, and malaria. Not kidding.  

Pyramid Valley

In Pyramid Valley, you get to choose between being either Ramses or Cleopatra (either avatar is decenlty customizable) and begin building your very own dynasty. Egyptian, Nubian, and Greek-styled architecture, and a complex trade route system make this particular city builder a very unique gem well worth playing.

Smurf Village

Filled with almost every memorable character in Smurfdom, Smurf Village delivers a very addictive gaming experience whether you grew up watching these little blue guys or not. The mushroom homes are very customizable (balconies, chimneys, etc.), and there's even a tropical island and mountainside to explore and build on now too. It's unquestionably Smurfberry Crack!

The Simpsons: Tapped Out

After an explosion at the power plant, Sprinfield gets turned completely inside out, and rebuilding it, as well as locating all of its lost citizens becomes a brilliantly scripted adventure! Each character you rediscover has their own unique jobs (quests) to fulfill, and the new Springfield is completely yours to redesign. This became an instant favorite for me! As a big fan of the show, the fun-factor is insanely high!

Tiny Village

The prehistoric-themed Tiny Village is frequently updated with tons of new content, as well as holiday events and quests. You can harvest resources, build houses and shops, or raise a multitude of dinosaurs. Unfortunately, many of the really great items require gems (which are purchased with real world money), and they're costly. My only other critique is that I wish there was a little more variation with the games' citizenry, or at the least a few unique ones walking about. As you can tell from the screenshot below... they all look alike.