07/13/2004: "Affirmation of the Felty Undead"
Listening to: Juno Reactor - ShangoCurrent mood: delighted
You know, every now and then you're going along having not so great a day, like, the kind of day where you're really not sure it's worth it to keep breathing, and then suddenly you see something that just makes the world a beautiful place full of life and meaning once again. I had to look something up on WikiPedia today and noticed that the featured article was their entry on Vampires. Always being a fan of vampire lore I gave it a click. I was skimming happily through the article when I came to the following bullet point in the section listing "other vampiric weaknesses":
Such small items as rice, poppy seeds or salt, which can be strewn in a vampire's path. Possibly caused by OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it is a common facet of many vampire myths. Thus the hanging of many cloves of garlic, or the scattering of small objects is said to cause the vampire to have to spend much time counting the exact number of spilled (or hung) objects before moving on. This can keep them out of mischief until morning. Possible origin of Count von Count (also see Sesame Street). This varies by tradition. (My emphasis)
First of all, though I may have been hip to the fact that The Count's name is actually Count von Count when I was 6 or something like that, I really had no idea. And that sort of thing is all kinds of pleasing to me. But the fact that Count von Count has an actual plausible origin within vampire cosmology... This is simply mind-blowing. It's the weird little connections like that that make me think hey, maybe Western Civilazation does have a reason for existing after all. Count von Count is a vampire, vampires have OCD, OCD makes you count things. My god, it's full of stars.
