I’ve always wanted black crystal wine glasses. The ones I usually find are quite boring with black stems or just plain glass with no ornament. I finally came across these great Black Diamond wine glasses. I found them at this really cheesy website called ABC Distributing, but they are really cool and better than anything I’ve seen. Trust me I’ve been looking for a long time.  They are really cheap at $10.95 for 4! Of course they are not crystal and actually just made of glass, but hey for that price who cares? Can’t you just picture me offering one of these glasses filled with blood to a new subject a la David in The Lost Boys?

While I was covering all of the goodies during the month of October I found lots of cool things online to post about. Unfortunately, I had to save them until October was done. Now that November is in full swing I can let loose. First off we have the Blood Powered Lamp. Yup, that’s what I said. A lamp powered by your own blood. Well, you could use anyone’s blood actually, if you have some lying around. What a ghoulish idea, right? I’d like to think it was a spooky idea that some vampire had, but unfortunately no. Mike Thompson, an English designer from The Netherlands had a completely different purpose in mind. “What if, every time you wanted to switch on a light, you had to bleed? Would you think twice before illuminating the room, and in turn, using up energy?” In other words would we think differently about using up energy if it cost us something valuable each time. Interesting idea, huh? The lamp contains luminol. Luminol is the chemical forensic scientists use to check for traces of blood at a crime scene. Luminol reacts with the iron in blood and creates a bright blue glow. To use the lamp, you have to break the glass, cut yourself, and drip blood into the opening along with some activating powder. Unfortunately, each lamp can only be used once. Might make you rethink how much energy you use. Unless, of course, you have a supply of extra blood collected from your victims lying around.

What’s with all of the blood drinks lately? Apparently the world is obsessed with vampires. I’m not sure how I feel about the general public coming to the dark side. Sometimes when things go mainstrean it messes them up. I enjoy looking for scary things. I don’t want to go into Target to find my next blog item unless it’s in their Halloween section. Anyway, the latest drink to hit the shelves is Blood Energy Potion made by Mana and Health Energy Potion. This one they have tried to make as realistic as possible. Unfortunately I have yet to be blessed with a sample like the other Blood Drink I covered the other day. So there will be no review for this yet. It only comes in a fruit punch flavor. Though it contains no actual blood it does have the same color, look, and consistency of blood. As it says on the website, “Get real blood nutrients without that real blood taste!” The fun part is it comes in a re-sealable transfusion bag pouch. Unfortunately this will not be released until January of 2010. Bad luck if you wanted to make your vampire costume more authentic for Halloween. I will be putting in an order for mine at $5.99 each and plan to review it when I receive it next year.

Apparently being a blogger of all things scary does have it’s privileges. I received this new drink that just came out called Tru Blood. I actually received it before my life went haywire, so I am a little late in reviewing it. This is brought to us by HBO to tie in with the show True Blood. The bottle is red with a black cap and the label says O Positive, Tru Blood, Blood Orange Carbonated Drink. The presentation is great. Now on to the flavor. I hesitate to say if something is good or not because obviously that is up to each individual to decide. I will say for myself and the three other people who tried it that we were split. Two of us liked it and two didn’t. Here’s my opinion. When you first open it there is an orange smell. The first taste you get is actually very good. Very fruity and refreshing, but not orangey as the smell would suggest. Unfortunately the taste quickly disappears and leaves you with the taste of artificial sweetener. I tried to drink a whole bottle, but really did not enjoy it. Again, this is all personal taste. Of course I don’t like Diet Coke either and there are people that swear by it. Don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself and let me know what you think.

After a huge marketing blitz and much anticipation The Vampire Diaries has arrived. I was busy that night and had to Tivo it, but finally got around to watching it. I knew it had premiered to big ratings. Well, big for the CW anyway, so I was excited to see it. I was looking forward to it just as much as all the other vampire lovers out there. I’m still looking for a vampire show to really get excited about and thought this might be it. Unfortunately for me this was not it. It was okay. It wasn’t horrible. I just felt like I was watching the 90210 version of Twilight. I know, I know, Vampire Diaries came out first, but you can’t tell me their casting wasn’t influenced by Twilight. Practically every character looked like one from Twilight. I really felt there was nothing original about this. It was nice to see Ian Somerhalder from Lost again. He fit nicely into the cast and gave it some edge that it was missing up until the last 10 minutes. The fog rolling in sort of bugged me as well and seemed cheesy. I was bored by the writing in the diaries and voiceovers, but I do realize that it is called Vampire Diaries after all. I just hope it doesn’t rely on this for filler. Will I continue watching in hopes of it improving? Yes, but I don’t have high hopes. I was just hoping for a vampire show that I could really sink my teeth into. Just my 2 cents.

Today is T-Shirt Tuesday and I have a very important t-shirt to present to all of you. Why Can’t Vampires & Werewolves Just Get Along? is an age old question that must be openly discussed. To trace their history is a long and difficult process. There were recently a series of three documentaries that addressed this very issue called Underworld that I suggest you see. They were brilliantly produced. The movies portrayed a very realistic view of what has gone on between the werewolves and vampires since the beginning. Unfortunately they do not offer any answer to the problem, but maybe by watching we can all gain a better understanding of why. Show your support against this awful war and maybe if enough of us wear it we can end it once and for all.

Next time you’re taking a bite out of someone’s neck you might want to think about saving some of that blood. This Blood Vial Necklace could save you some trouble later. Say you’re going about your vampire business and just not finding anyone attractive to bite into. You’re starting to get a little peckish. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you have a little blood around your neck to hold off the hunger until you do find someone worth drinking?

You can also use this necklace to profess your love to a significant other. Remember when Billy Bob and Big Lips Magoo were married for a brief time and famously exchanged blood vials? Well, now you can be like them and do the same thing. I can’t say I want to be anything like them and have no desire to swap blood with my husband, but to each their own. It even comes in a little coffin shaped gift box. How cute is that?

For today’s T-Shirt Tuesday I present you with the Vampire Office Chat t-shirt. I just busted a gut when I saw this. So here are these vampires standing around the blood warmer and can you imagine what they are discussing? Last nights kill? Hardly. They are talking about what happened on last nights episode of The Big Fang Theory, How I Met Your Sire and of course the top rated Two and a Half Vampires.

Now this Tattooed Skull Chair is cool! If it wasn’t $4000 I’d already own it. This comes from the Mama-Tried Studios located in Brooklyn and is designed by Scott Campbell owner of Saved Tattoo. It’s actually a leather chair that is hand tattooed and apparently takes just as long to do as tattooing a person. They also offer tattooed leather pillows that might be more in your budget for $125. Check out their website for a bunch of other items as well. One particular item that I am coveting and I might just have to give in to is the laser etched replacement backs for Apple laptops. They cost $200, but they are so awesome and you can bet you won’t see a bunch of them around. There are quite a few designs, but I am particular to the shown below.

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Vampires all want to go back to their roots and visit Dracula’s Castle, or should I say Bran Castle, in Transylvania, Romania. Nothing strange about that. Unfortunately, travel is not so easy for your run-of-the-mill vampire. We can’t all be rich and live in castles. Some of us have to eke out a living working nights at the local video store and living in an old mausoleum. In case you didn’t know, video store clerks don’t make that much. Anyway, I am here to help all of you lowly vampires who do not have the sort of life where you can travel and visit your homeland. Now you can take a 360 tour of Bran Castle on your computer. That is if you can even afford that.