True Blood, Shmoo Blood.

POSTSCRIPT to my last entry:

For the record, I believe vampires are the hackneyed imaginings of novelists and screenwriters.  Be that as it may, students (most of whom resemble vampires) still choose to attend my lectures.

I’m a novice in the area of biology; however, I find it inconceivable that an organic creature (alleged vampires may be inhabited by a mystical entity, but the bodies they inhabit are organic human remains) can accelerate the growth of its teeth at such a rate as to replicate the speed that’s portrayed in the mouths of “vamps” who release their fangs in movies and television.  Those vampires, Bill and Eric, in TRUE BLOOD have the fastest retractable fangs I’ve ever seen on screen, and furthermore, I cannot fathom why or how they can run so quickly – when they run like that they remind of me of Wile E. Coyote.  


I don’t know what Sookie Stackhouse sees in them.  The human tooth is made up of highly condensed tissues that surpass the durability of bone, which is why dental records are so often used to identify the dead.  Teeth last, much longer than bone.  Teeth are much harder than bone, and much less likely to be malleable, no matter how supernatural the force is that tries to manipulate their molecules.

I’m open to the idea of the existence of such a creature, perhaps one outside of what Hollywood’s depiction of it is – I just haven’t come cross any evidence of one yet...

For Vampires, Fashion is Undead Too.

I’m not sure whether the latest vampire craze has anything to do with my students’ interest in “ghosts.”  They certainly can’t get enough of stuff like the Twilight series, The Vampire Diaries,  and True Blood, I would argue that vampires fall into the category of “ghosts” as opposed to the category of “cryptids,” even though they are portrayed as being physically in our world, they are technically dead – the physical body is controlled by an ethereal force, a force outside, or beyond, our spiritual world.

This popular “gothic,” or simply “goth” as the kids like to call it, sensibility has driven up the numbers of students registering for my fall class.  Whatever it’s called, I’m a fan of this sensibility, as it’s currently keeping me employed at my university.  I have noticed that along with the rise of student numbers has come the rise of piercings, tattoos and black leather exhibited on their persons.  I have no opinion on their personal disfigurements or lapses in fashion sense, that is their business and their business alone.

The more extroverted kids have taken to actually wearing “fangs;” in fact, you can get your own pair of dental-fit fangs right here if you’re so inclined:

http://www.vampfangs.com/

As for me, my business is the business of ghosts, and other paranormal phenomenon, et al.