I'm a What?

While googling about, I came across an article on Smashing Lists, titled "Top 10 Real-life Vampire Hunters." Let's say I was quite surprised by the fifth entry:

Smashing Lists

Certain readers may recall my former blog, Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist. I stopped writing it in 2011. As far as I know, I never gave the impression that I hunted vampires. I don't. Never have. Hell, I don't even believe they exist—sorry to disappoint.

I'll admit though, I used to fantasise about being one. When I was younger, I used to collect crucifixes. I once bought a special bottle from a $2 store, with the intent of putting holy water in it. One Hallowe'en—2006, I think it was—I  dressed as vampire hunter and walked the streets of Melbourne... but no, I've never tried to hunt them.

When I started this particular blog, I wasn't upgrading to Van Helsing expert-level. I just wanted to shrug off the "amateur" label: "The 'amateur' tag was a self-imposed albatross 'round my neck, which left me wanting to branch out into something a little more...professional." I didn't mean professional vampire hunting.

For the record, vampirologists study vampires. Not necessarily the real deal, but vampires as a subject. You don't have to believe in elves, pixies or fairies to be a folklorist—same deal for vampirologists.

I did find the article amusing. I've got no real beef with it—unless people take it seriously. I hope they don't! But as to wondering whether I've "indulged in a bit of vampire killing", it would've been nice if the author asked first!

Trackbacks

Time for a peek at where my blog's been turning up on the internoodle. If you know of any more, let me know.

This blog began operation on September 20 and I've already chalked up 38 posts (including this one) and counting. I'll tell ya, the new format and outlook have done wonders for my productivity. 

I'm sure many readers and followers of my former blog, Diary of an amateur vampirologist, are unaware of this blog's existence, as I haven't gone out of my way to promote it. I wanted it to be a surprise, a treat, an Easter egg, for people who read the entirety of DOAAV's last post and followed the last link in the entry. For those who did, I hope your effort's been amply rewarded! 

Incidentally, the snake-eating-its-own-tail picture I chose for the last entry of DOAAV was obviously not a random image: it's Ouroboros, which symbolises 'self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end'. I thought a phoenix would be too obvious.

Vampire costumes

Therefore, it's especially pleasing to see comments on this blog, as well as receiving 'shout-outs' elsewhere. Sure, some of 'em are from Google (thank you, Feedjit), but I appreciate it all the same.

So, trackbacks. The first 'shout-out' came from bshistorian, who linked to my articles on the Nicolas Cage vampire thing. Those entries have generated a decent amount of traffic, I'll add. But honestly, I didn't expect them to. It's just like my coverage of the 'antique' vampire killing kits: you never know what'll catch on.

Speaking of which, the blog scored a thread on the Athiest forums, thanks to that Nic Cage stuff. I can't help but be amused by that, due to my own religious beliefs.

It was great to see The vampirologist featured on Everlost's Vampire news, so soon after starting it. That's publicity you can't buy! Kidding. Thanks, E.

Lastly, Chad Savage celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of one of his pictures, by giving a shout to this blog. But, I can't take all the credit: Jane discovered the source. If it wasn't for her TinEye, I would've still been clueless.

Speaking of Jane, she actually created a Google doc, just to provide reliable translations for one of my entries. I am truly humbled by and thankful for her efforts.

The comments here have been great, too. There've been some teething problems, but the commenting function should be fixed now.

Precursor

Click to embiggen

The Vampirologist is a concept I've carried around for a while; but wasn't always meant to be a blog. In 2006, I laid the foundation for a personal website—designed with Microsoft Publisher 2003, no less (left).

It was composed of four major sections: 'Writings', 'News', 'Images' and 'Mail'.

'Writings' would've been 'dedicated to my writings on the topic of vampirism', with 'a section on essays and such which are linked to via the web.' It would've included reviews, essays and short stories.

'News' was intended to relate 'any mention of updates here or items of interest relating to the site or to vampire research.' I would've also used the page to 'announce any news of my Secret Projects©', which, I guess, are still under wraps.

News articles relating to vampires would've featured, too.

'Images' is fairly self-explanatory, as is 'Mail'. The latter would've been like a letters to the editor column featured in magazines and journals.

I never got around to completing the design, nor composing the required content. It 'gathered dust' on my hard-drive, as I pursued other interests. Incidentally, the black strip under the text of 'Welcome to my homepage' does not feature in the original design: it's masking personal info. 

The homepage design featured mock articles to give a 'feel' for how the site was gonna look, with accompanying thumbnails. It's interesting to look back and see the pic I amended to 'Talking with the Experts' five years ago. That's Thomas J. Garza, who, as it happens, I interviewed for real, recently.

Testing, testing

Good evening. My name's Anthony Hogg and this is the first entry of my new blog, The vampirologist. Until recently, I was the author of Diary of an amateur vampirologist. The 'amateur' tag was a self-imposed albatross 'round my neck, which left me wanting to branch out into something a little more...professional.

That's where this blog comes in.

Sure, it'll feature news snippets, random thoughts, interviews, things that've caught my attention, stuff I've bought—just as the 'old' one did—but it'll also give precedence to scholarly subjects (I hope).

I've also gone for a design far more 'streamlined' than my last effort. Not too many distractions in the background. No more bolding the entry's opening. That was a pain in the ass to do for every subsequent entry, let me tell you. I like the Wikipediaish look of this template and, to be honest, it's one of the factors that lead to the creation of this blog.

Incidentally, this blog doesn't 'invalidate' my other one. There's a lot of good stuff on there, including the first (print) article I've ever written. I'm still proud of it. So, I'm not closing that blog because I'm ashamed of its content; far from it. Think of this as the latest 'phase' in my 'evolution'.

My long-term ambition is to write my own books on vampires, which is why I spend so much time researching them. If you want to know how I got into this 'trade', check out my contribution to VampChix. If you're interested in being a vampirologist, yourself, I've got some tips for you.

So, sit back, relax, enjoy and if you were a reader or follower of Diary of an amateur vampirologist, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of this one, too.