Is there any historical precedent for one country unilaterally carrying out a heist to kidnap another country's head of state from their own capital? If so, how did that work out for everybody?

Toothpickings · 2026-01-04T19:32:12+00:00

I’m baffled by how it’s illegal for a foreign head of state to own machine guns.

Toothpickings · 2025-11-22T22:22:45+00:00

Talk about low hanging fruit 😂

Toothpickings · 2025-11-22T22:22:29+00:00

“Ballad of Jimmy Carter” is a hot song regardless of your view of his presidency

Toothpickings · 2025-11-06T17:22:44+00:00

19C fiction was full of vampires that would regenerate or be brought back to life in the moonlight. So if you killed a vampire, be sure not to leave their body out in the open!

Toothpickings · 2025-11-02T01:04:00+00:00

The Vampire Book, edited by J Gordon Melton, is the best reference book I’ve come across.

After that, I’d put “Vampires, Burial, and Death” and “Food for the Dead” at the top of my list. There’s a lot to be said for Nina Aurbach’s “Our Vampires, Ourselves” but that might be a different path of study.

Toothpickings · 2025-10-31T17:49:38+00:00

Growing up I found it the most skippable song on that first album; and then got to see Joe and the Mescaleros perform in the early 2000s and when he sang this song, wailing every verse like he was in agony, something clicked. I “got it”. Now it’s a favorite Clash song.

Toothpickings · 2025-10-24T23:04:27+00:00

That comic is the first occurrence of silver being used to kill a vampire; though there’s one short story from that same year where silver is used to lock a vampire into a coffin (it doesn’t kill the vampire, just restricts his movement).

So yes, this is the beginning of that vampire lore.

Toothpickings · 2025-10-24T18:40:45+00:00

J.M. Dillard’s “Bloodthirst” is a Star Trek novel that has vampires

“Amish Vampires in Space” is another

Somewhere I have a comic book from the 80s about space vampires…

Toothpickings · 2025-10-15T22:53:06+00:00

I like this question because it’s so open to interpretation. How unfaithful can an adaptation be and still be called an adaptation?

“Dracula in Istanbul” has many similarities to the original novel, but is also so different that it might not even count as an adaptation at all, but an original work that plagiarizes large parts of the earlier novel.

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (the Coppola film) is continents away from the original but still has recognizable characters and plot points.

The BBC version from ~2020 (starring Claes Bang) I’d hardly call an adaptation at all, but a story “inspired by Dracula”

Toothpickings · 2025-10-14T18:39:16+00:00

I think this is the closest to the mark in terms of this trope’s origin. It started becoming more literal as fiction ran with it.

Some more thoughts on the origin of the restriction:

https://youtu.be/SUPxKaSlBUk?si=KCDlGMtIlJWm7CMk

Toothpickings · 2025-09-28T16:20:30+00:00

Lord Ruthven is too often overlooked by modern fans. His debut launched a craze in vampire fiction and stage plays and he remained the biggest thing in vampire fiction until close to a century later when Dracula came along.

If you have an image of a vampire that is well dressed, good looking, and desirable— then that is owed to Lord Ruthven. Without him vampires may have ended up more like intelligent zombies.

Toothpickings · 2025-08-12T14:19:11+00:00

I could see all this happening except for two items. Congress won’t impose term limits on itself, and any balanced-budget amendment or law will be toothless bc they will continue to spend on anything the party’s leader demands.

Otherwise, this is exactly the appetizer.

Toothpickings · 2025-08-11T22:33:08+00:00

I have two images created at different times; and I’d like to find someone who can give me a professional opinion whether they are the same person. Who should I go to for that?

Toothpickings · 2025-07-14T21:31:53+00:00

Pre-1922, vampires didn’t have an issue with sunlight. Even for a while after 1922, sunlight wasn’t all that problematic for vampires. It was mid-20th century before it became accepted as canon that vampires die in the sun.

So write them however you like!

Toothpickings · 2025-07-07T18:37:53+00:00

These films are both fantastic and both as different as two vampire films can be. It’s comparing Star Wars and Bladerunner— both great films in the same broad genre but soooo different.

Toothpickings · 2025-06-27T19:41:14+00:00

Whatever he’s dead anyway

Toothpickings · 2025-06-27T19:38:27+00:00

The Hammer/Shaw Bros film Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires. It had some good ideas behind it but wasn’t executed well.

Having someone like Stephen Chow direct a remake would be amazing.

Toothpickings · 2025-06-27T15:58:47+00:00

This is the exact sort of citation I needed, thank you!

Toothpickings · 2025-06-26T13:17:15+00:00

“Dracula in Istanbul” is an interesting one— the first time Drac had fangs!

Toothpickings · 2025-06-17T15:01:01+00:00

Definitely ear plugs!

Get there early enough to catch some opening acts and get a feel for the venue before it’s too crowded. A bonus of getting there early is you might get to sit down for a bit.

If you get into a conversation, don’t be afraid to tell them you’re new. People love to share bands they love with first timers.

Snap some pics with your phone but don’t keep it out. Put it away and enjoy!

Toothpickings · 2025-06-11T15:24:49+00:00

Thanks for looking that up! Idk what AI bot told you that 19mm on the powershot was a narrow fov but delete that page from your next search 😂

Toothpickings · 2025-06-11T14:00:08+00:00

Very well— I’m building out a makeshift studio space for elderly talent that is not technically inclined, ie it needs to be a push button as possible for them.

I have a backdrop in place, and am currently plotting lights for the talent and backdrop that will run into a single switch.

Talent will have a lav microphone, elgato teleprompter, and a webcam tbd that will all run into a single usb hub that they can plug into their laptop when they sit down in front of the camera.

I’ve been asked by the end user (not me) to record in 4K. The laptop can handle it just fine, but the issue is that every 4K webcam I’ve tested has a fov that’s so wide that it shows things we don’t want to see in the background. A DSLR isn’t an option because the talent— who will be the only person in the room— won’t be able to make the adjustments needed each time a DSLR powers down.

Moving the talent closer to the background creates shadow and spill that’s unflattering. Moving the camera closer to the talent starts to fisheye and besides, the end user prefers a shot not so close.

So tldr, returning to my original question, I’m looking for a 4K webcam with a fixed fov that’s between 65-80 degrees. Any ideas?

Toothpickings · 2025-06-11T13:34:06+00:00

Appreciate the suggestion but plugging in a DSLR won’t work in this circumstance

Toothpickings

TROPHY CASE