Thursday, April 06, 2006

My, what pointy teeth you have!

So, before we go any further, it's best to expain the "vamp" in "Vampdaddy", as the "daddy" part is rather simple -- I am one. And, although he has recently felt his two eye-teeth arrive with a painful vengeance, he doesn't have fangs, and neither do I.

My first discovery of my interest in vampires came in college, during one Christmas break where I locked myself in my room at home and read all three books of Ann Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles" (there were only three at the time -- "Interview...", "...Lestat", and "Queen of the Damned"). I went from there to reading "Dracula" for the first time, and then had the experience of being on the production crew for a stage version of the novel while in college. Since then I've amassed a pretty decent collection of vampire fiction and folklore -- and the Edward Gorey "Dracula" paper-doll stage set (for the kid in me).

In graduate school, I included a section of my Masters Thesis on the Vampire as a jungian shadow archetype -- it is, after all, one of the most enduring mythical creatures; with movies, books, plays, breakfast cereals, songs, and a host of other things based on it. Clearly the concept has a place in our subconscious.

So, people get to know me, and then come to my house, see my vampire-themed shelf of books, and wonder for a moment if they got me wrong. But, I like to keep people guessing, I suppose.

As I've begun thinking of getting a blog started, I debated for some time what to title it. "Vampdaddy" was my wife's suggestion -- it certainly brings together two things I'm quite into at the moment.

Besides, it certainly sounds more appropriate than if I used my love of my favorite band, the "Cocteau Twins".

Anyway, on with the show...

No comments: