Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The first book from the 69 Club was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith, which was added to the list because Chudzie wanted to read something light and funny, before diving head first into the heavier stuff, quite understandable considering the books on the list. The novel is a 2010 mashup novel, which was released in March 2010.

Vampire Hunter combines the history of Abraham Lincoln with vampires. Yes, you read that correctly - vampires. The novel is actually quite historically accurate, as Grahame-Smith fills in the holes and gaps of uncertainty of Lincoln's life with vampires. For example, Lincoln's mother died when he was still a young boy (around 8 years old) from a unknown disease, which the author credits as being poisoned with vampire blood. (According to the novel, by drinking the blood of a vampire you die a horrific death similar to milk poisoning). Other historical tie-ins consisted of slaves being used a food supply for vampires, the death of Willie Lincoln credited to an attack by vampires, and the entire history of the lost colony of Roanoke being caused by the discovery of a vampire among the colonists (who consequently kills everyone in the colony).

I discovered the book while Christmas shopping for Rachel's father, who is a huge fan of President Lincoln. While we were shopping on Amazon for Christmas ideas, I came across the book and thought it was perfect for him, with the only hesitation that the historical parts wouldn't be accurate. Like a giddy school girl, he loved his present after opening it and I'm pretty sure had the book read days after receiving it. When it was released in paperback this past April, I bought it with some extra birthday money from Target. It was well worth the cost of the book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, whether they are a fan of Abraham Lincoln or vampires. Grahame-Smith clearly went the distance to create a plausible melding of vampire mayham and history. The story is well researched and like I've said several times already, the history was on target. As a an avid history lover and horror reader, I really enjoyed this work and I look forward to see what the next project that Seth Grahame-Smith is going to come up with (hopefully he'll continue the saga as hinted to in the novel).

World Hemophilia Day

I'm not sure how I seemed to have missed this story, but apparently in April called World Hemophilia Day. Hemophilia is a blood disorder which it takes a long time for the blood to clot. The most notable person with the disease would be Alexei, the son of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Of course you can't mention Alexei without also mentioning Rasputin, the creepy bearded man who could stop the bleeding, something that no one else seemed capable of doing.

World Hemophilia Day was celebrated around the world in a variety of ways. (Apparently, the US doesn't find this monumental holiday as exciting as Romania). For example, many pharmaceutical companies make large donations of products and money to the World Federation of Hemophilia to commemorate this day. Not only is their an entire day dedicated to hemophilia, but they actually have a federation.

Donations weren't enough for the people in Romania. Instead of making a contribution, they decided to turn a Buchrest city fountain blood red to raise public awareness of the disorder.

Was there no other way for the Romanians to raise awareness of Hemophilia besides turning a fountain blood red? I guess you can't be too surprised, considering Transylvania is located in Romania.

Transylvania = vampires = vampires love blood

I assumed that vampires weren't real, however, I'm beginning to think my assumption is very incorrect. How else could you explain a country turning fountains red to make people aware of blood disorder?

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the conversation, when someone proposed the idea of turning fountains red. I'm curious as to whether the other people in attendance gave the man blank stares or were overly excited about the idea.

Actually, I'm beginning to think there was a room full of grown men who jumped on the idea of freaking out the entire country with red fountains. The Romanians didn't just turn one fountain red, they turned pretty much any fountain in the country red. 

I'm curious whether the citizens knew anything about this before hand. Could you imaging walking past a fountain and it suddenly turning red. Personally, I would have been completely freaked out and probably pooped my pants. Actually, I would have completely pooped my pants and probably had a complete panic attack.

Leave it to the Romanians to make an awareness day creepy.

Photo of the Day: Sparkling Vampires

Photo of the Day: Jar Jar Binks

Random Questions

1. Where does the toe tag go on a dead person if they don't have toes?
2. Do they bury people with their braces on?
3. Do dentists go to other dentists or do they just do it themselves?
4. What's the difference between normal ketchup and fancy ketchup?
5. Is there a time limit on fortune cookie predictions?
6. If ghosts can walk through walls and glide down stairs, why don't they fall through the floor?
7. What do you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant?
8. Why aren't drapes double sided so it looks nice on the inside and outside of your home?
9. Why are the little Styrofoam pieces called peanuts?
10. Do Siamese twins pay for one ticket or two tickets when they go to movies and concerts?
11. Do Jewish vampires avoid crosses or Stars of David?
12. Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
13. If Mars had earthquakes would they be called marsquakes?
14. Did Noah have woodpeckers on the ark? If he did, where did he keep them?
15. How do you handcuff a one-armed man?
16. Are children who act in rated 'R' movies allowed to see them?
17. Do the English people eat English muffins or are they called American muffins?
18. Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
19. If a bunch of cats jump on top of each other, is it still called a dog pile?
20. What type of animal is Snuffaluffagus?
21. On Gilligan's Island, how did Ginger have so many different outfits when they were only going on a 3 hour tour?
22. Why does toilet bowl cleaner only come in the color blue?
23. Why is there a light in the fridge but not the freezer?
24. If there were a thousand seagulls in an airplane while its flying, each weighing two pounds each, but they were all flying in the airplane, would the airplane weight 2000 pounds more?
25. How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?