What do Edward Cullen, William the Bloody a.k.a. Spike, Angel, and the cast of True Blood have in common: they're all vampires and craved by females.
The blow-up in the media over the "Twilight" series has shed new light on the vampire fetish. But, why now and why the fascination?
Donald Holly, an anthropology professor, said he wrote a research paper which detailed the fascination between women and vampires.
Holly's research paper titled "What's In a Coin? Reading the Material Culture of Legend Tripping and Other activities," explores the logic behind this.
According to the paper, "The appetite of teenagers for these images seems especially insatiable. Whether they identify with the vampire's marginal place in society or are attracted to the power and sexual symbolism of vampires, teenagers and young adults are among the primary consumers of vampire-themed media."
Some of the attraction can be pinpointed toward old horror films and the emergence of the gothic sub-culture.
As far as having a sexual fetish towards vampires, Holly explained some possible circumstances that could've led to the growth of this phenomenon.
He said it could be the penetration taking place that biting and releasing blood and the sexual release that may come from it.
"How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-by-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful" is the perfect holiday gift for those who take their vampire loving seriously...but also like to laugh. Twilight fans, True Blood aficionados, and Vampire Diaries devotees alike will delight in this guide to dating the undead. South Portland, Maine (PRWEB) November 6, 2009 -- Need a gift for the vampire lover who already has everything Twilight and True Blood? Your best solution could be a vampire “dating guide” that straddles the line between serious advice and parody.
Diana Laurence’s book "How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-by-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful" was released in October 2009 by Sellers Publishing. The 5.5” x 8.5”, two-color, 160-page softcover book retails for $14.95 and is available in bookstores worldwide, as well as from online retailers.
The book has been featured in Glamour, Publisher’s Weekly, ForeWord, Gifts and Decorative Accessories, and Greetings, etc. It was chosen #3 favorite vampire book by Internet Review of Books, made the Chapters/Indigo top five vampire guidebooks list, is a Night Owl Romance Top Pick, and has been selected by Target stores as a Preferred Read for January 2010.
While Laurence’s take on vampire lore and romance is her own, her romantic approach will appeal to fans of the “Twilight” series. UK teen Web site Sugarscape said, “If you love yourself some [Edward] Cullen, you need this book…it has all manner of useful info on why vampires are so attractive, how come normal people fall for these sinister beings and most importantly, how a mortal-vampire relationship can be achieved and conducted successfully.”
Fans of the HBO series “True Blood” will likewise enjoy "How to Catch and Keep a Vampire." TrueBloodNet called the book “a wonderful guide to balancing fantasy and passion with your ordinary life,” and said, “If you’ve had people poo-poo your vampire passions, this book assures you that you are not alone.”
The book is totally appropriate for teenage readers and their outlook. YA Vampire Books said, “Sometimes I even wondered if the author could read my mind, she knew exactly how I reacted, felt and thought.” Meanwhile, mature readers will also enjoy the guide, which one reviewer said, “could almost be termed a women empowerment how-to book.”
For more information on "How to Catch and Keep a Vampire", visit www.dianalaurence.com/vampire/holiday and www.howtocatchandkeepavampire.com.
Diana Laurence has published over a dozen titles, including "Soul’s Embrace" (2004), the popular "Bloodchained" vampire romance series (2007-2009), and the suspense thriller "Looking on Darkness" (2009). She is a well-known blogger and essayist on the topics of love, romance, and vampires. For more information visit her Web site, www.dianalaurence.com.
In the inimitable tradition of the mega-hit environmental stage production Tamara, the world premiere of Terance Duddy and Theodore Ott’s The House of Besarab is sure to bring inventive theatrical life back into the Hollywood American Legion Post on Highland Avenue near the Hollywood Bowl, the imposing 33,000-sq.ft. Egyptian Revival-Moroccan Deco edifice where Tamara debuted in 1983 and broke all records by holding court there through 1994, selling out regularly and putting some 240 LA actors to work during its unprecedented run.
The House of Besarab’s special spiritually-inclined opening night guests include psychic actress Marcia deRousse, so memorable in her current run as the über-scary Dr. Ludwig on the hit HBO TV series True Blood; married mediums Michael and Marti Parry; and clairvoyant Donna D’Amore of the Heart & Soul Healing Arts Center.
Marcia deRousse, the diminutive “f”-bomb spouting vampiric expert on True Blood, plied her more mystical wares as the star of the TV series pilot Small Medium at Large, among many roles on television series. She was the mother of Matthew McConoughey and Gary Oldman in the feature film Tiptoes and worked on Highway to Heaven with Michael Landon, someone she believes to now be one of her spirit guides. Recently onstage she was runner-up for Best Actress for The Sugar Bean Sisters at Sierra Madre Playhouse in Entertainment Today’s annual Ticketholder Awards and appeared opposite The house of Besarab’s Dr. Van Helsing, Travis Holder, in the west coast premiere of Charles Mee’s Summertime at Theatre @ Boston Court.
Miss deRousse explains, “I have been a psychic medium since I was akid, and ‘talked’ to my spirit guides every night when I went to bed. Then when my grandma died, I was sure it was a mistake that everyone was crying beside her grave, because she was standing there winking at me saying, ‘I'm OK, honey… I’m right here.’” But religious constraints and dogma caused deRousse to repress her gift for many years until the death of her mother in 2000,when medium Brian Hurst told her on first sight, “You know you can do this, right?” Aside from her successful acting career, deRousse is now a noted psychic, medium, and animal communicator, also adept at helping people explore past lives.
Alexander Skarsgard joins co-stars Sam Trammell, Michelle Forbes and Rutina Wesley at the premiere of their HBO vampire series True Blood at Max Linder Cinema on Thursday (November 5) in Paris, France.
The 33-year-old actor was just in Sweden to re-shoot scenes for his new movie, Puss. Two weeks ago at an event in New York City, Alexander spoke to JustJared.com exclusively. Check it:
JJ: Tell us about your character in Straw Dogs. AS: I play a guy named Charlie who’s a guy from Mississippi who was a big star when he was younger — the quarterback of the football team. He was dating Kate Bosworth’s character, who was the cheerleader — the hottest girl in school — and everything was perfect. He had the best life and people were, like, “You’re going to play in the NFL someday!” And then he got injured and nothing really happened for him. The movie starts later [in Charlie's life] and he’s in his late twenties — he’s gotten bitter in a way. And [Kate's character] comes back with her new boyfriend (James Marsden), who’s a Hollywood screenwriter. The movie’s about the dynamic between the three of them when they come back, how Charlie reacts to that. He wants her back…
JJ: What was it like working with Kate? AS: I love Kate. She’s amazing - she’s going to be amazing in this movie. It’s a really tough part, but she did a great job - she’s a very good friend of mine.
JJ: What was your favorite part about working on the movie? AS: Working with those people - Jimmy Marsden, who plays the screenwriter, is a fantastic guy and Rhys Coiro and Drew Powell and Billy Lush, I’d worked with on Generation Kill. They played my buddies. And the entire crew - it was just an amazing experience, and Rod Lurie, the director, is a fantastic director.
Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. With Season 2 just completed, Rocks Off is now working our way backwards through the episodes we missed as HBO begins reruns.
Country Rap is a lot like Albanian folk dancing... and we're not going to explain that comparison. Just take our word for it. The most famous of the hick-hoppers is Bubba Sparxxx, but this week we focus on one Cowboy Troy. A Longhorn who managed a Foot Locker before achieving success with his first major release Loco Motive, which debuted at Number No. 2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Since then it's been only up and up for Troy.
The debut single from Loco Motive, and a No. 1 Country download from iTunes, was a track called "I Play Chicken With the Train." Being our introduction to the world of country rap, it's quite an experience to hear, bringing a very pleasant meshing of the best of two genres' strengths. Rappers sell their product with themselves, using their own aura as the main drawing force of the music. Country also has that strut, but its superpower lies more in the ability to turn basic folk melodies into powerful performance pieces. What you are left with upon the mating of these styles is big, brash and, most of all, catchy.
And that kind of big bad is exactly why "I Play Chicken With the Train" is the perfect background music for one of the best scenes from True Blood Season 1. A minor character in the book series but a major presence on the show, Lafayette serves as Merlotte's cook. Appreciation of his skills usually heads off confrontation with the more backwards of Bon Temps residents, but a trio of yokels just had to send their burger back because "It has AIDS" on it. The result is...well, it speaks for itself. True Blood airs Saturdays at 8 p.m. on HBO.
Along with loving mostly everything about True Blood (especially Bellefleurs), us ladies at The Nest are unashamed Bill devotees. So it was with some trepidation that we sat down with our silver pens to think of some super fantastic questions to ask Mariana Klaveno, aka Lorena, the founding member of Team Bill and downright scary vampire wench from HELL. Realising that the question ‘why are you such a bitch?’ was rather unfair, since Mariana is in fact a) an innocent actress and b) actually very nice, we managed to think of a few zingers, and were delighted with the answers. I think this is my favourite interview we’ve ever done, and ooh look, an exclusive from the lady herself:
“Lorena is definitely coming back and I have a feeling she’s pissed off!”
Awesome, I’m totally looking forward to it. Read and enjoy this juicy interview y’all, and leave Mariana a comment to tell her what a bloody good job she’s been doing with her mad villain acting skills! TB-N: You grew up in rural Washington. Did you live on a farm and do you get to go home often these days?
MK: I did live on a farm. I’ve known some people to exaggerate that statement a bit but I can honestly state it as a fact. I didn’t live near one or visit one a few times; I lived on our family’s wheat & barley farm until I left for college at eighteen.
I don’t get home as often as I’d like, but I try to visit at least twice a year. My parents usually make a few trips to Los Angeles every year as well, so I get to see them more often than I do the farm.
TB-N: Did you dream of being an actress when you were a kid or was it something you kind of got into gradually?
MK: I absolutely dreamed of it as a kid and I really have no practical reason as to why. No one in my family is even remotely involved in acting. They are all immensely talented in their own careers and interests, my parents included, but I am the only performer in the bunch. I was actually quite secretive about it. Growing up where I did, I didn’t know anyone who went on to pursue acting professionally. Our school didn’t even have a drama class. It seemed like such an unrealistic thing that aside from my close friends, I was too terrified to voice to anyone how serious my interest was until I was a senior in high school. Luckily, I’ve received nothing but constant support over the years from everyone back home.
Will Terry and Arlene still be together when we return for Season 3 of True Blood? — Anna
MICKEY: Yep. Executive producer Alan Ball told us that the happy couple "will make a surprising discovery that will bring them closer together." Translation: All that free lovin' they did under Maryann's spell will result in an unplanned pregnancy. I hope the baby has hair that looks like a sunset after a bomb went off.
As you might have heard, celebrated local baker Kir Jensen’s cute-as-pie downtown dessert cart The Sugar Cube—home of the addictive Highway to Heaven and Amy Winehouse cupcakes—is back from the dead after a seven month absence. But, oh what, you ask, does she have in stores for Portland’s sugar and fat junkies this time around when she opens up shop tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 5 in her new pink cart (see photo below) at the Mississippi Marketplace food cart pod? Well, it involves beer and True Blood, of course.
Here’s some menu teasers (around $3-$7), straight from the redheaded Chicago gal’s mouth:
“Beer.Cheese.Bacon: Warm Guinness and ginger stout cake, topped with Fifty Licks vanilla bean ice cream, praline bacon crunch, shaved white cheddar, buckwheat honey drizzle. Booyah!
Cupcake of the week: First up? A homage to my favorite character on True Blood…”The Lafayette.” Red velvet cake, topped with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting…and a gold lame thong garnish.
[Update 10 am Thursday, Nov. 5: Jensen says that The Lafayette will not be available today. She's still "searching for gold lame thong."]
Spiced, freshly pressed apple cider: infused with vanilla bean and ginger served with cinnamon stix, nutmeg and other goodness. Comes hot with a Tonali’s old fashioned glazed doughnut.”
Oh holy christ. As Jensen would say, that sounds like a “sugargasm.” The baker also promised some Thanksgiving take home specials later this month. We’ll report back after tomorrow’s opening. Follow The Sugar cube on Twitter for more updates.
The Sugar Cube at Mississippi Marketplace, corner of North Mississippi and Skidmore, www.thesugarcubepdx.com. Noon-closing (whenever she runs outta goods) Thursday-Sunday. Photos of Sugar Cube logo and new cart courtesy of Kir Jensen.
It’s always great to be the hometown hero. But since he flew solo from his old outfit, Green on Red, 19 years ago, San Francisco folk-blues growler Chuck Prophet has settled for another distinct honor: being huge everywhere else instead.
The guitarist, 45, has built a marquee-topping name for himself overseas, and until recently his work was always released exclusively on British and European labels. Stateside tours? “I don’t think it’s ever gotten as sad as [the poorly-attended shows in] that Anvil movie,” he says over lunch at his favorite Castro-district café. “But it gets sad pretty fast.”
For example, Prophet — who plays The City Sunday, backing his new Mexico-City-recorded “Let Freedom Ring!” on U.S. imprint YepRoc — cites one show in Chapel Hill, where he was told he could play for the door take. “So we did the gig, everybody had a good time, and at the end of the night I went to the doorman, who shrugged and said, ‘Oh, we didn’t do much business tonight,’” he says. “And I’m looking around, and the place is full, but he goes ‘Sorry — those are just the regulars.’ We’ve had a lot of gigs like that in the States.”
This puzzles Prophet. “It’s a bummer for me to think that people would get what I do more overseas than here, because that is not how I designed it,” he says.
“Freedom,” his 11th CD, is easily accessible.
In memorable tracks like “Barely Exist,” “Hot Talk” and the sardonic “American Man,” Prophet proffers a warm, Jimmie Vaughn-beefy guitar style and gruff vocals that have always fallen somewhere between Tom Waits and Elliott Murphy. It’s the blues, not brain surgery.
Naturally, Prophet follows the work — and the respect. Green on Red was recently invited to reunite for Britain’s annual All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, to perform the 1985 classic “Gas Food Lodging” in its entirety.
“In England, we’ve found a core audience that’s stayed with us through some records that took left turns,” says the singer, who usually tours and records with his keyboardist wife Stephanie Finch.
Yanks are finally catching on. New West signed Prophet for two U.S. albums in 2002, and he scored a chart hit with “Summertime Thing.” His songs have also found their way into TV in “True Blood,” “The L Word” and “Sons of Anarchy.”
“After being on all these British labels, North America became this thing that I figured would just go away if I ignored it long enough,” Prophet says. “But of course, it never did.”
For those of you who wanted me to ask her specific questions, I've posted them below. I couldn't ask them all, so if yours isn't here it's hopefully been answered in the story.
Kate Burnham: Will Sookie ever settle down with one of her admirers or is she doomed to serial monogamy on a grand scale?
"You're just going to have to keep reading the books to find out."
Joanne: Some vampires have special gifts, for example Eric can fly. Does Bill Compton have a special gift?
"He can levitate. He already did that in the first book, as far as I know that's all he can do. But I'm sure that he'll tell me if I ask him."
Tiffany Leger: Will Sookie ever go into the attic to find some of Gran's secrets?
"She'll go in the attic, but I don't know how many secrets she'll find in there."
LilaS: At the end of the last book, Sookie's had a pretty bad time of it. She comes across broken, both in spirit and physically. How have you addressed this in the new book and will the unbreakable spirit that has become synonymous with her character return? Or is this a turning point for the character?
"Of course she's not ever going to be the same again, you're not after that. She will gradually recover her spirit but it's going to be a gradual process and the beginning of book 10 (A Touch of Dead) addresses that."
Nina: Bill, a character so significant in the first two books, has been sidelined. What are the chances of seeing him with Sookie in hot and unforgettable moments again?
"That's not gong to happen in book 10, that's all I can say."
Jane Blount: Why would you kill Bill? He is the most fascinating character I've read in years - so mysterious, cool and dark. I'd kill to hear his voice, as you describe it ... and I want to finish your wonderful books without crying.
"I did not kill Bill. Alan sort of said something at PaleyFest in an interview. He said 'Charlaine thought about killing Bill in the last book but she was talked out of it.' That was something of a mis-statement and I certainly wish he hadn't made it! In casual conversation I mentioned that had been one of the possible endings for Dead and Gone and that I'd thought about it and discarded it. But the truth is, and I think almost every writer does this, I've considered killing every character at one time or another, and some of them I follow though with. But some I decide I need to be alive."
khansen: I read recently that you said you didn't understand why so many fans love Eric so much? If this is true, why was he written to always be there for Sookie, give her what she needs, always tell her the truth, and be emotionally awakened by her, and happier with her than he had been in hundreds of years? He seems perfect for her. Have I read all of the books wrong?
"I'm not denying that's one side of Eric, but he's also a ruthless killer and I think some of my readers tend to forget that in their enthusiasm for his sexier habits."
Andy Swist: If you had to pick one of Sookie's many suitors as your favourite to write about, who would it be and why?
"Oh my goodness, I like to write about all of them, it just depends on my actions in the books. If I didn't enjoy writing about them, I wouldn't have created them. There are things about all of them that I admire, or I wouldn't have made them attractive to Sookie."
Wednesday, November 4 2009, 12:03pm EST By Dan French, TV Reporter
True Blood creator Alan Ball has claimed that Lindsay Lohan was the inspiration for one of the characters on his show.
According to Sci Fi Wire, Evan Rachel Wood's Vampire Queen of Louisiana is based on the Mean Girls actress.
Text is hidden - highlight to reveal text >>> Discussing the introduction of the Vampire King of Mississippi, Ball said: "He's older. He's much more mature. He's much more methodical and grounded.
"[Vampire Queen is] kind of crazy. To me, she's kind of like Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan, where she has a very short attention span and she's very, very egomaniacal and very self-obsessed and doesn't really think about her actions, whereas the Vampire King is very much an adult."He has an agenda. He has things he wants to achieve. I think he's much more formidable than she is."
When Alan Ball wrote the satirical screenplay American Beauty, he didn't specifically mean it as a scathing commentary on suburban life.
"I happen to live in suburbia," Ball, 52, told the Hook recently. "And I like it."
His script dealt more with the zeitgeist of suburbia, and he intended his account of middle-class dad Lester Burnham's dissolution "to be an indictment of the shallowness of American values that [Americans] are basically conditioned from birth to accept as gospel," he explains.
"In that regard," he says, "I don't know if there is any more scathing indictment of American culture than American culture itself."
Ball's targets seem peculiarly ironic— but not illogical-- considering that his prior writing background was mainly in pure Americana: sitcoms. But his days of unrewarding toil on shows like Grace Under Fire soon ended: American Beauty won him the 1999 Academy Award for best original screenplay, among numerous other laurels.
"It became this phenomenon," Ball marvels. "Who knows why?"
Being thrust into the spotlight, Ball recalls, "was a strange experience... It's a place that I'm not entirely comfortable. And all the things that are really, really huge traps for an artist of any kind were all just sprung on me at once."
Ball dodged those traps smoothly, and next developed the hugely popular HBO series, Six Feet Under, which, for five seasons, chronicled the lives of a family of morticians. In 2008, he followed it up with HBO's True Blood, an adaptation of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels. Set in Louisiana, the series traces a vast undead community's attempts to assimilate into everyday human life.
Appropriately, Ball discovered the novels while waiting for a dental appointment. At a bookstore, he was amused by the tagline for Harris' Dead Until Dark-- "Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend wasn't such a good idea after all"— and bought the book. "I really just couldn't put it down," he says.
Like a vampire guzzling type-O negative, he was hooked. Somewhere around reading the fourth book, he envisioned Harris' novels as a TV series. "What I really loved," Ball says, "was that they walked this razor's edge of tone between romance and the supernatural and horror and comedy and social commentary and Wal-Mart trailer park people... I just found it delightful. It was so escapist and so much fun."
True Blood has further cemented Ball's warm relationship with television, in which, it seems, he is content. Or is he?
"It's just a lot easier to get interesting, complicated, morally ambiguous stories about flawed characters done on the small screen," he says, "than it is on the big screen."
Pinning down a unifying theme in the wildly disparate subjects of Ball's work is tricky. But while discussing his sense of humor, he gives more than a little hint about it.
"One of my ways of dealing with depressing matters," he explains, "is to make fun of them. It is one of the things that I learned in adolescence, and I've never really outgrown it because it has helped me survive a lot."
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- What do stars Jason Lewis (Sex and the City), Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries), Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), andRyan Kwanten (True Blood) have in common? They all make an appearance with over 100 other celebrities, athletes, and top models in About Face, a stunning limited-edition book of portraits by top celebrity photographer John Russo, scheduled for a February 2010 release by Pixie Press Worldwide.
"There's a bold, direct honesty to Russo's Portraits." - Greg Gorman The 160-pages of black and white photographs shot with the soon-to-be-extinct Type 55 Polaroid film captures the intensity of the male subjects. The book has already grabbed the attention of editors familiar with Russo's ambitious project. As Metro Magazine remarks in their advance praise for About Face, "Over the course of [About Face] a conversation between the words and images emerges; the result is a book about aesthetics that is surprisingly thought-provoking."
According to Publisher Jordana Woodland Goguen, when Pixie Press Worldwide heard that celebrity photographer John Russo was shooting a series of portraits with Type 55 Polaroid film, she was intrigued. "When Russo showed us the first prints, we were struck by their bold simplistic beauty and our About Face collaboration began," explains Goguen. The creative mission was to record the raw beauty, intrigue, and power of the male face. The photographs in the book prove that their mission was accomplished. Although Type 55 film is gone forever, it will live on through the timeless images in the book.
About Face is cloth bound, 160 pages, 10.25 x 12.50 inches, and signed, with a limited-edition of 1500 copies.
Pixie Press Worldwide - About Face is the first book published by Pixie Press Worldwide. Established in 2009, Pixie Press Worldwide is dedicated to publishing unique photography and coffee table books that emphasize beauty, innovation, and inspiration. Each collector's-edition book published by Pixie Press Worldwide will have a limited production run with a portion of the proceeds given to charities that assist women and children in need. To find out more, please visit www.PixiePressWorldwide.com
Crooked Still, the alternative bluegrass band whose music features prominently in the wildly successful HBO vampire series True Blood, will bring their high-energy sound to Texas State University on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The performance will be held at 8 p.m. in the Glade outdoor theatre on campus. Admission is free. The show is part of the Jerry and Cathy Supple Folk Music Series, co-sponsored by Century Tel.
Crooked Still formed in Boston in 2001 and developed a genre-bending sound from the combination of five distinctive talents who are not content to limit themselves to any one project or style of music. While Crooked Still is the main band for these talented players, all are involved in other projects. Each individual contribution is enriched by the multidimensionality of their creative wellspring. The band has released four albums: Hop High (2004), Shaken by a Low Sound (2006), Still Crooked (2008) and the most recent, Live (2009).
In the event of rain, Evans Auditorium will be the alternate venue.
For more information, visit the Encore Series website at www.encoreseries.txstate.edu or contact the Events Coordinator at (512) 245-3501.
The hit HBO vampire series True Blood has a terrific new collection of modern goth jewelry designed by Udi Behr (right), the Chief Designer for Love Peace and Hope. We attended the launch party for the fierce new True Blood line and chatted with Behr himself about all things jewelry and vampires. Read the interview to find out why Udi Behr wants to be a vampire, and then check out the gallery of the sexy bling True Blood inspired.
Luxist: Do you like True Blood?
Udi Behr: I love True Blood! I don't do anything I don't love.
L: What's your background? Where are you from?
UB: My background is very confusing. My father is Dutch, my mother is English, and they met in Israel, so I was born and raised in Israel. I moved to New York 26 years ago on Halloween Day.
L: Perfect.
UB: My first night in New York was the Village on Halloween night.
L: How old were you?
UB: I was 23.
L: Oh my gosh, that must have been the best night of your life.
UB: Exactly -- if you ask me what happened, this is all because of that first night in New York. I blame it all on the first night in New York! I live near the village today, and I still remember what I saw 26 years ago, but I don't remember what I saw last year.
L: So your True Blood designs are based around the infinity symbol?
UB: The infinity symbol and two fangs that link into it. If you look at my line, a couple of the specific iconic shapes are teardrops of blood with rubies, I'm doing the 8, eternity, and the chains. I use either leather or stainless steel, because vampires get very damaged if they wear silver, so, just in case Louisiana vampires or Texas vampires want to buy jewelry, tada! They can!
L: So, there's no silver in the collection?
UB: The rings are silver, and the earrings are silver.
L: So the vampires should shy away from those.
UB: Yes -- but there are people who want to protect themselves from vampires, too. Not all vampires are great. But, on a serious note, it's hard to manipulate stainless steel in rings, so all the rings and earrings are silver, and all the chains are stainless steel or leather.
L: So, who's your favorite True Blood character?
UB: That's a good question. Let's see, everybody likes Eric. Everybody wants to be Eric, he's the coolest vampire. He's so cool, you know? He's not in love, he doesn't want a girlfriend, and Tara, I like Tara very much, she's a really cool girl.
L: What do you think of her boyfriend?
UB: Well, for me, he just pisses me off every time I go to the gym. It's hard for guys to compete, you know?
L: I would imagine!
UB: I want to be a vampire. That's why I'm doing this. You sleep all day and you party all night! And you live forever! Only one thing: I like to go to the beach.
You can shop for Udi Behr's hot new True Blood collection at TrueBloodJewelry.com.
It'll be a while before HBO's True Blood comes back for its third season and we all find out what happened to Bill (Stephen Moyer). But if you can't wait that long, we talked to executive producer Alan Ball and writers Raelle Tucker and Alexander Woo, who probably told us more than they should have about what's going to happen:
We spoke to the writers before they participated in a panel at at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Spoilers ahead!)
Text is hidden - highlight to reveal text >>>
Bill won't be back for a while. Ball confirmed that the arc of Bill's kidnapping will last "about six episodes." That sounds like just enough time to put Sookie (Anna Paquin) through the wringer, but not enough to try viewers' patience. Plus, we'll probably still get to see Bill deal with his captors in episodes 1-5.
Meet the Merlottes. Shape-shifter Sam (Sam Trammell) will find his family this year, and Tucker gets to write their characters a lot in episode two. "I'm getting to write Sam's family, which is a lot of fun, and, really, I feel really satisfying as a character arc," she said. "I really am glad that he's taking this journey and he's learning about himself. I find that interesting. They aren't the brightest people, maybe. At least they appear that way. They're fairly dysfunctional, but like anybody else, they have their good things about them and not-so-good things. They're still getting to know each other. Sam's still getting to know them, and so are we."
Werewolves sink their teeth into Louisiana. Werewolves are coming to True Blood, and Ball offered a preview of what his wolf-people will look like. "They're just wolves," Ball said. "It's just people who can turn into wolves, but they're slightly bigger and much stronger. Their eyes glow orange a little bit."
There's even more supernatural stuff. It's not just vampires and werewolves. Woo is most excited about the expanding world of season three. "The entire world is going to get a lot bigger," Woo said. "Not only the human world, but in Sookie's eyes, she's going to see the whole supernatural world. Luckily, since this show is through Sookie's eyes, as an audience we'll get to see a much larger supernatural world."
Sookie will explore her own powers. Sookie's powers have gone from simple telepathy to some kind of hand-glowing power. Tucker confirmed that Sookie's powers continue to expand in season three. "I think that Sookie is conscious of her abilities more this season than she's been, and she's questioning them more," Tucker said. "We're going to be exploring that more this season."
Meet the Vampire King. Ball said the Vampire King of Mississippi is coming in season three. He provides a contrast to Sophie-Anne, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana (Evan Rachel Wood). "He's older," Ball said. "He's much more mature. He's much more methodical and grounded. She's kind of crazy. To me, she's kind of like Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan, where she has a very short attention span and she's very, very egomaniacal and very self-obsessed and doesn't really think about her actions, whereas the Vampire King is very much an adult. He has an agenda. He has things he wants to achieve. I think he's much more formidable than she is."
Jason will stay out of trouble. In two seasons, Sookie's brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten), has been accused of murder and got caught up in a cult. Season three will find him keeping a low profile. "I think Jason's path this season is actually about not getting into trouble," Tucker said. "It's about trying to stay out of trouble. I think it's going well for him."
Sophie-Anne might get into more trouble. Wood is signed to return for more episodes in season three. Since her recreational activities include orchestrating the sale of vampire blood, things could go very badly for her. "Well, Sophie Anne, when last we left her, she was sort of behind this selling of V as a recreational drug on the streets, pretty much," Ball said. "That's not something a vampire authority figure should be doing. If higher-up vampire authority figures figure that out, they're not going to be happy."
There's a new biker gang in town. Season three will introduce a biker gang called Coot's F--k You Crew. Tucker said the new characters are still evolving and won't be what you expect. "The one thing I will say is that they are very mysterious," Tucker said. "They're a group who's been around a lot longer than you think. I don't want to say too much about them right now, because I think that we are in the early stages of figuring that out."
A new character called Tommy Mickens brings the hurt. Woo is writing the new character of Tommy Mickens, who will make a huge impact on our favorite characters. "Tommy Mickens is someone I don't want to reveal too much about, because I don't want to ruin the surprise," Woo said. "He's a completely new character, but he plays very prominently in the emotional life of at first one and then, later, several other of our characters. He'll be the first domino to push the rest."
Headgear plays a major role. Helmets have become a joke in the writer's room. Tucker explained how the writers became aware they were relying too much on protective headgear. "There've been several moments that we've been pitching things and thought, 'Oh, well, maybe she could be wearing a helmet, and that would protect her. Maybe he could wear a helmet in that scene,'" Tucker recalled. "Suddenly we realized we had a whole bunch of characters wearing helmets for no particular reason. So we thought, oh, that's the theme of the season."
Sorry, ladies, Eric is still a tease. Fans keep demanding more screen time for Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), but the writers won't indulge them. "You know, what's funny is that he's in the first two books; he's a fairly minor character in Sookie's universe," Tucker said. "There's a lot of fan pressure that they're supposed to be this big romantic thing, which actually in Charlaine [Harris]'s books doesn't happen until much, much further down. I think if we did that, we'd probably bore them all to death. I think part of the magic of Eric is some of the mystery of Eric and the inaccessibility of Eric. I think you don't want to turn them into the nice romantic love interest who's in every scene. I think his danger is important, so not just throwing him up whenever somebody wants to see his bare chest is actually a more disciplined approach."
By LISA A. FLAM • Philadelphia Daily News Associated Press
NEW YORK - SO, YOU admire the fashions of popular TV characters. Do you want to dress just like them?
This fall, you can if you favor the slim suits worn by one smartly dressed 1960s adman, the sexy looks of those real-life housewives or necklaces dripping with "blood" - make that rubies - inspired by modern vampires.
The latest collaborations from the intersection of television and retail are licensed clothing and jewelry lines tied to the hit shows "Mad Men," the "Real Housewives" franchise and the vampire drama "True Blood."
"It is a loud and clear signal that the American consumer is looking for fashion excitement that isn't being delivered by traditional stores or designers," said David Wolfe, creative director at The Doneger Group, a fashion-forecasting company.
Attention Vampire fanatics: For those looking to fill the void before "New Moon" opens, the next season of "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries" latest episode, check out "Vampire Taxonomy: Identifying and Interacting with the Modern-Day Bloodsucker," by Meredith Woerner. One part witty how-to interaction guide and two parts vampire glossary, this book is a humorous, yet authoritative look at pop culture's current fixation on all things fang-tastic.
"Taxonomy" begins with an overview of vampire origins, and then delves right into the gory detail of five definitive vampire types: Romantic (aka Edward Cullen, Bill Compton — see an illustration after the jump), Villainous (Count Orlok, Dracula), Tragic (Angel, Jasper Cullen), Halfies (Blade). We like the Tragic vamps best, in large part due to an adolescent crush on "Buffy" heartthrob Angel (it wasn't the same after he left!), and also because we are suckers for those tortured souls. Er, tortured soul-less? Ha. Who knew there were so many puns to be had in writing about vampires? Anyway, moving on...
Our favorite part of the book lies in Chapter 8: "Living in an Undead World, Real-life Applications," in which Woerner lays out ground rules for dating a vampire, how to survive an attack, and some handy self-defense moves.
To wit, the "Eight Steps to a Safe Vampire Relationship" :
Determine whether its love, lust or possession, ("... Suss out whether what you're feeling is the real deal or merely the aftereffects of a fang-gasm")
Know whats on the menu ("Do not date a non-vegan vamp")
Guess who's coming to dinner? ("When dating a vampire you will meet both humans and vamps who will look down on your union ... be prepared for both sets of prejudices")
Set boundaries
Become vampire correct
Be explicitly honest ("A vampire in love is a dangerous thing if you are not clear and concise with all of your intentions and interactions")
Give and take ("You're going to have to give up some of your sunny days in trade for a healthy relationship")
Text is hidden - highlight to reveal text >>> Melina in Washington, D.C.: Thanks for the True Blood news last week! Do you have anything else about Eric?
Your wish is my command. Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) fans will be happy to hear that even though Godric (Allan Hyde) is dead, the writers are considering exploring his 1,000-year history with Eric through flashbacks. Whoo-hoo!
"A funny thing happened on the way to the Film Festival"
BY JONATHAN KIEFER
What is the Virginia Film Festival?
It is your plan for the weekend, resolved.
Can you be more specific?
Yes. The Virginia Film Festival is an annual motion-picture exhibition event, taking place again this Thursday through Sunday, November 5-8, in multiple venues with more than 80 movies of varying size, shape, disposition and value to humanity.
Overseen in part by UVA’s College of Arts and Sciences, this hallowed ceremony of cultural enrichment takes the heritage of American cinema very seriously, but still knows how to have a good time. Hence, “Funny Business,” the event’s infinitely interpretable theme for 2009. That could mean funny ha ha and funny strange, or business plan and business casual. Or neither, or both.
What it definitely does mean is all manner of comedies, dramas, documentaries and a few music videos—from America and from many other strange and exotic countries, like Bolivia, the Czech Republic, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Uruguay and Hollywood. Plus some that were made right here in your hometown. And there will also be several cerebrally stimulating film-related events and a couple of schmooze-tastic parties.
This year, the weekend’s special guests include, among others, John Waters (showing Pink Flamingos and Hairspray and discussing his life and work), Matthew Broderick (showing Election and premiering his new film Wonderful World on closing night), Alan Ball (showing American Beauty and discussing his HBO series “True Blood”), and, of course, you.
By Christina Rafael • Published:Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Singer/songwriter Jace Everett will be opening for The Duhks on Sunday at the Chico Women’s Club.
Everett, whose new album Red Revelations came out earlier this year, has made many new fans since his song “Bad Things” became the theme song for the HBO series “True Blood.”
The song was recorded for his self-titled 2005 album. He realized the show’s potential during it’s Hollywood premiere where the first two episodes were shown back to back.
“The folks at Sony got a hold of me in June or July before the show aired,” said Everett, who released his new album “Red Revelations” earlier this year.
“In June 2008, that’s when we started talking about it, doing mixing for it and all that kind of stuff,” he sad. “It’s the same exact tracks — we mixed it again. They’re pretty indistinguishable, we just had to do an edit to make it shorter.”
Though Everett’s song has only recently gained popularity, he has been performing since he was a tehhenager.
“I’ve been playing — getting paid for it — since I was about 15 or 16, which was a really long time ago,” he said with a laugh.
The song “Bad Things” is played during the opening credits of “True Blood” while graphic images of road kill and strippers overlay the country song. “It’s meant to be dark, but also somewhat tongue-in-cheek,” Everett said. “You know, it’s got a sense of humor about it. The visuals, they knocked me out.”
The show, which chronicles the life of waitress “Sookie Stackhouse” as she falls for a mainstream vampire, has become a phenomenon of its own, following the popular “Twilight” book and film series.
“I had no idea, you know?” Everett said. “I didn’t know that it was going to be as successful as it has been.”
“Bad Things,” a crowd favorite at shows, was previously taken to mainstream country radio, but didn’t receive much airplay.
“It was too dark for the country radio market, I guess,” Everett said. “It worked out well that they didn’t because it was a basically unknown song by the time Alan Ball got a hold of it. I think that’s what they wanted, something that they could brand with their mark.”
A fan of “True Blood,” Everett said many of the songs on his new album are influenced by the darker elements of the show as well as the assortment of emotions in scenes.
Everett also noted he was really able to go “off the deep end” with the music on the new album.
“I love the fact that it mixes so many genres,” Everett said. “It’s kind of a cohesive thing and that’s what I try to do with my music, so I think we make good partners.”
One of the esteeemed guests at the MCM Expo back in October was Nelsan Ellis, whose performance as Lafayette in the southern-fried vampire series True Blood has brought the actor to the attention of TV fans and slash-fiction writers the world over. As part of the Expo's festivities, he took part in a Q&A session on the main stage, fielding queries from all and sundry - speaking of his introduction to True Blood, the creation of Lafayette, and working with show creator Alan Ball.
What is it like for you, when you come to conventions like this, and you see all these people who respect your work?
It's flattering. When an actor experiences people appreciating his work, it feels good.
How did you first become involved in the series? I auditioned! I had four auditions, and for some reason, Alan Ball hired me.
Did you know anything about the books [The Southern Vampire Mysteries series] before you auditioned?
I did not know anything about Charlaine Harris' books. My agent told me to audition, and I read seven of the books - I think at the time she had only seven done. My character dies after the first book, so I was like, 'damn!', but I read all seven before the audition.
And, of course, you read that, and know your character is going to die. How did that change your performance?
Well, it was straightforward. They gave me a one-year contract, and said 'you're gonna die after 12 episodes', and I was cool with that.
And when you didn't, how did you feel?
Elated! Because I still had a job! Alan Ball told me after we had the table read of the twelfth episode. So, up until that point, I thought I was dead. He went 'you know you're not dying, right?', and I said 'I didn't, but thanks for telling me!'.
Your character has been described as a homosexual, drug-dealing chef. What was the biggest challenge out of having to do all of those? Can you cook?
I cannot cook! [laughs] In fact, my son rarely eats my food. But, it's make-believe! And I have a strong imagination, so I think I'm pretty good on all the stuff.
How is it playing a role that is so different from how you are as a person?
It's fun. Every chance I get to where I could be something that's not me, I jump at it. Because I'm guarded and I have these rules on how I should behave, but whenever I get to jump out of those rules, and go fucking crazy (excuse my language), I do! Lafayette is a dream role for me.
What gave you the urge to audition for the role?
My agents, they told me to audition - so I did!
What has been your favourite moment playing Lafayette so far? The AIDS-Burger scene [cheer from audience] was my favourite moment. I'm a rough type of dude, I was in the military, so I like physical activity, so I got to do that, and beat some ass. That was my favourite, and plus it was just a well written scene. (Link)
How did you come up with the Lafayette character?
It was a collaboration. We all threw in some ideas. The scarf thing, is 'cause my momma used to wear a lot of scarves. I think there's some Prince influence in there. We did research, went to a whole lot of gay clubs, we'd go down on the strip, so we just came up with it. We also threw in some ideas into this stew of his wardrobe. Especially his head-wraps.
Do you relate to your character in any way?
Absolutely! I don't know how. His toughness, his aggressiveness. What else? I'm a creature from the street, so his street-smarts. I'm not as bold as he is, in all situations, but I'd like to be.
REMEMBER when you were a teenager and you had a serious crush on a celeb?
By the age of 14 my flower fairy wallpaper was pretty much obliterated by posters of Ralph Macchio, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland and Nathan from Brother Beyond.
Every night when I got home from school I would rush upstairs to gaze lovingly at them.
That's all well and good for a teenager but I'm not sure it's normal for someone rapidly approaching 33.
When I first switched on True Blood I was fully expecting to fall for deathly-pale neck biter Bill Compton but instead I am head over heels about beautiful blond Jason Stackhouse, played by Ryan Kwanten.
For anyone who hasn't watched the show, I'm sure after seeing him, you will understand his appeal.
I googled him, just to see what his real name was of course, and stumbled across some incredible pictures of him.
The fan site gave you the option to download the photos to your phone and I actually considered it – before mentally shaking myself and giving myself a good talking to.
The next thing you know I'll be reviving that teenage pastime of adding up the number of times the letters L, O, V, E appear in both our names to find out the percentage of our "true love".
That's because one key difference between tween smash Twilight and True Blood is that this series is packed full of shagging. Even the lead, Anna Paquin, who plays telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (crazy name, crazy gal!) gets her kit off.
But it's all justified as True Blood was spawned by Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, and it's an HBO production, meaning it considers itself a bit more arty than your usual TV fare. And for the most part, it is.
LAST weekend I went to a fetish club called Torture Garden. If this seems like an eccentric way to begin a feature about vampires, bear with me. Torture Garden began in London in 1990, and pitches itself as a night of "fantasy and transformation". Back then, the fetish scene was much more taboo than it is now, and a combination of tabloid scaremongering and overzealous policing resulted in nights being closed down.
Since then, Britain's sexual landscape has changed significantly. There is less homophobia (or, at the very least, homophobia is less socially acceptable), burlesque is everywhere, sadomasochism and fetishism are talked about more openly, and Torture Garden's Edinburgh debut did not attract any protests. Which is exactly as it should be. It was one of the friendliest, safest, most open-minded club nights I've been to.
Watching True Blood, the hit HBO vampire series that recently began on Channel 4, I keep thinking of Torture Garden. It's a show with a fascinating theme – what happens when mainstream society begins to absorb a minority it once viewed with suspicion and fear. For those not already addicted, True Blood is set in a parallel world where vampires have come out of the coffin, as it were, thanks to a synthetic drink called Tru-Blood which means they no longer need to feed on humans. After hiding from the world for centuries, they now walk openly among the living (only at night, obviously) and campaign for vampire rights in the media. They face hatred and bigotry, particularly from the religious, and much of the storyline is about the uneasy co-existence between vampires and humans.
True Blood is nuanced enough to remain ambiguous about what minority the vampires might represent. One obvious conclusion is that it's about being gay. There's a gay chef, Lafayette, who has to endure redneck ignorance just as the vampires do, and a punning road sign that says "God hates fangs". But Lafayette is also black; the series is set in the American Deep South, and there are frequent references to slavery, so it seems to be about racism too.
True Blood's main vampire, Bill Compton, wants to live an ordinary "mainstream" life. He dates a human called Sookie (X-Men's Anna Paquin, very amused that a vampire could have a name as boring as Bill) and even gives a history lecture at his local church (yes, he tells his astonished, ill-informed audience, vampires can look at crucifixes without bursting into flames).
Other vampires have no desire to conform and regard Bill as a sellout (these vampires hang out in a "vampire bar" which bears a passing resemblance to Torture Garden). The humans, meanwhile, fear the vampires but secretly envy them. The local drug dealer sells vampire blood, whose effects are a little like Viagra and LSD combined, and sex with a vampire is seen as a transgressive thrill – an image that plenty of gay people, and black people too, will find wearily familiar. Familiar, too, will be the vampires' resentment at the hypocrisy of a "mainstream" that is reluctant to accept them as they are, but happy to gawp at and exploit them.
Dracula therapy! The doctor draws vials of your own blood, adds vitamins and amino acids to the serum and then injects it into your face
They call it 'Dracula Therapy', and if that isn't enough to freak you out, it involves having your face injected with your own blood. But S3 Therapy is the hottest news in anti-ageing right now.
The name is short for Stimulated Self Serum skin therapy, and has been introduced to the UK by the innovative London-based French cosmetic doctor, Daniel Sister.
The idea is that a doctor draws vials of your own blood, then separates it into the red blood cells, the clear serum and the platelets. Then, after vitamins and amino acids have been added, the enriched serum is injected back into your face.
This, says Dr Sister, stimulates DNA repair, heals scars and makes dry, wizened, wrinkled and lacklustre skin look and feel younger naturally, without the need for synthetic fillers or harsh and painful lasers or peels.
If S3 sounds weird, it has a surprisingly respectable medical pedigree. For more than two decades, dentists have used patient's own 'serum' to make receding gums regenerate themselves.
And in the U.S., several studies indicate that injecting plateletrich plasma into sports injuries can lead to faster recovery.
The secret? The serum is rich in growth factors, natural proteins that can supercharge healing and reverse damage in the body.
Dr Sister says: 'I thought, if serum therapy was good enough for bones and soft tissue like gums, then it could do even better in the skin.'
He decided to merge platelet-rich plasma therapy, which involves deep injections into damaged soft tissue, with the traditional French beauty treatment, mesotherapy, which involves dozens of tiny injections of vitamins and minerals into the superficial layers of the skin.
Plastic surgeons tend to sneer at mesotherapy, but studies have shown that trauma to the skin in the form of tiny puncture holes can dramatically increase natural collagen levels.
Dr Sister works in partnership with Dr Cyrille Blum, another French cosmetic doctor working in London. They are usually fully booked, but manage to squeeze me in at 8pm to try the new therapy.
I explain I'd like firmer skin and look generally more radiant and less tired. I'm also prone to spots. Dr Blum says he can help, and also get rid of the lines on my forehead and the ones between my nose and mouth.
S3 Therapy starts with Dr Blum taking blood from my arm - four vials of it - which are put in a centrifuge to separate out the red cells. After a few minutes the vials emerge, with thick red blood at the bottom and a yellowish clear liquid at the top, which he siphons off and mixes with vitamins and proteins. Then I start the process.
So, does it hurt? Yes. It hurts quite a bit. It didn't help that I was tired, hungry and stressed, but there are a lot of injections. I lost count.
Dr Blum injected all over my face from hairline to jawline, crosshatching my face with tiny pinpricks. I felt like a voodoo doll, but everything was done in around ten minutes. I expected my face to be a mass of little bleeding holes, but there was no blood, just a little mild redness.
Then he started the deeper injections around my eyes, in my forehead, from nose to mouth, and between my eyebrows. I was dreading these, but they were fine, barely hurting at all.
The treatment finishes with a nice lie-down under red and blue therapeutic lights, which are good at healing skin and destroying bacteria, including the bacteria that cause acne.
With the help of make-up, I could have gone to work if necessary. My face felt tender, but, exhausted, I slept well. The next day my skin looked fine, even good.
The lines between nose and mouth and on my forehead had vanished. A Vesuvius of a spot on my chin was much reduced. My husband thought I looked exactly the same, but my four-year-old daughter said that I was 'even more beautiful'.
I will, apparently, see the real changes to my skin over the next few weeks as the magical growth factors turn back the clock.
While being needled, I vowed 'never again', but admiring my plumper, line-free face, I'd do it again in the recommended four-to-six monthly intervals. But only after a good lunch, and maybe after a couple of Nurofen tablets.
While rifling through a stockpile of DVDs at my local bootlegger last winter, I came across a British cult classic, not yet released in the States. From the opening credits, I was captivated by its raw portrayal of UK street kids, fast paced cinematography and brilliantly composed film score.
When I updated my Twitter status to read, "Watching KiDULTHOOD. The British version of ’Kids’", The Angel responded.
THIRSTY: How did you come up with the name, The Angel?
The Angel: Back in the day, when I was signed to Delicious Vinyl, I was just going out under Angel or Angel C. (The Label) was like, "There is no way we can put you out as "Angel". It’s too generic. No one is going to understand who you are. So we went through many months of horrendous band names until one day, Mike Ross, the owner of Delicious said, "What about ‘The Angel’"?
The name stuck, but she assures us with a delicate laugh, “There is no pretention (in that name). Some people get the wrong idea. I'm very down to earth."
THIRSTY: When you talk about being in the “Cave” on Twitter, where are you?
The Angel: I’m either in my studio or in other peoples studio, mixing, recording, editing; you know, working on music. Especially when I'm working to picture, you really need it to be dark so you can look at the screen and get sense of what is going on. You feel like you’re not on the same planet anymore.
Her resume reads like the tattooed arm of a seven foot Laker. She splits her time well between producing, recording and scoring for both television and film. Her music has blessed projects ranging from the Tupac and Tim Roth feature, "Gridlock'd", to HBO’s new hit series, “True Blood”. All the while, The Angel insists on keeping one foot firmly planted in the underground music scene, from LA to London.
November 2nd, 2009 8:55 am / Author: Luisa Metcalfe
She’s barely wrapped her Australian thriller Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark but Katie Holmes has signed on for another movie, replacing Liv Tyler in the indie comedy The Romantics.
Katie will executive produce as well as star in the flick about eight friends who reunite for a wedding of two buddies as tension unfolds between the bride and maid of honor over the groom.
The star-studded lineup includes True Blood’s Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel, Malin Akerman, Elijah Wood and Adam Brody.
The movie starts filming this week in New York. Katie, 30, will play Laura, the maid of honor to Anna Paquin’s Lila, who’s the bride.
Laura and Lila are best friends who both have a past with the groom played by Transformers hunk Josh.
t’s Sunday and that usually means True Blood would be airing in a just a few short hours. But, new episodes of the series won’t be back until next year. How do we make it through? Well, there are reruns, but speculating on what could happen next seems like so much more fun.
HollywoodOutbreak.com turned to True Blood stars, Sam Trammel, who plays shape-shifter, Sam Merlotte on the show, as well as Michelle Forbes, who was the evil incarnate, Maryann Forrester last season, for answers about the upcoming shows.
Sam apparently goes hunting for his biological parents (dog hunting no doubt), which should be anthropomorphic.
But, we won’t be seeing Maryann again, says Forbes, who literally had her heart ripped out in the season finale.
Still, Forbes is counting on Sam Merlotte finding true love. Just one problem…he did, Daphne Landry (Ashley Jones), whoMaryann promptly slaughtered just before the season ender.
Click onto video for an update on what’s to come on True Blood from Sam Trammel and Michelle Forbes. True Blood returns for season three in June, 2010.
October 31, 1:21 AMSoundtracks ExaminerMark Morton
Having only been in the film music composition scene for barely a decade, Nathan Barr has certainly racked up a mass of credits. With film work including Cabin Fever, the two Hostel movies, and 2001 Maniacs, he is easily among the breakout talent for the new breed of horror. Barr is also known for constantly challenging himself creatively, so between horror outings, he has frequently been seen scoring outlandish comedies for the Broken Lizard team (Club Dread, Beerfest, The Slammin’ Salmon).
But all of that is merely prologue, as Barr is best known for his dramatic and fiercely innovative scores for the hit HBO television series True Blood. In each episode, he effortlessly raises the bar for television music with unique instrumentation, genre blending, and a surgical attentiveness to character.
So, as we are on the eve of Halloween, be a little bit naughty, and sink your teeth into our conversation with Nathan Barr!In your bio, it states that you were briefly under the wing of Hans Zimmer. What did he teach you that resonates through what you do these days?
I was under his wing for only eight months, and then I flew the nest. It was such an amazing experience. It was like being thrown into the deep end of the pool and learning to swim. I didn’t even understand what MIDI stood for when I began working for Hans. I had no knowledge of the technology behind film scoring; I had no knowledge about the creative process behind writing music-to-picture. So he was very gracious in the sense that he would let me sit behind him while he wrote and actually watch him write-to-picture, and that’s really where I learned that. And more than anything, he taught me the importance of technology. So when I walked in there, I knew next to nothing about any of that stuff, and when I left eight months later, I had a very strong foundation to work from.
By some bizarre twist of fate, you have become known primarily as a horror film composer, but you are also the go-to guy for the Broken Lizard movies. How did that dichotomy come together? That’s a really good question, actually. It was just one of those random things. They say that, as a composer, you either start out in horror or porn, and I started in horror. I worked on a couple of horror films and then my agent randomly set me up on a meeting with Paul Soter, who is one of the Broken Lizard guys. And it ended up being for the film Club Dread, which was half horror, half comedy. It turned out to be a great collaboration, so it turned into opportunities to work on straight comedies with them, as well as Dukes of Hazzard, and they took me along for the ride. So yeah, it was a half horror, half comedy film that got the ball rolling.
I would suppose, then, that 2001 Maniacs was also a perfect vehicle for you, because it, too seamlessly blended elements from both worlds? Yeah, absolutely; no question! They are both movies that deal with violence in a humorous way and play with horror stereotypes.
Something else that that crops up a lot in your work, especially in True Blood, is the inclusion of traditional Southern, Americana-style music. Is that something rooted in your heritage, or did you actually have to learn that musical language? It’s so funny. No, I just sort of ended up doing these Southern-themed movies. I did another one called Briar Patch several years ago. I really have no connection to Southern music at all. The only real tie I had was my father used to play banjo as I was growing up, so that sound is in my ears. But as to why I am particularly writing Southern-tinged music, it’s a mystery to me, but I do enjoy it. Do you find it challenging to inject suspense into an otherwise playful style of music? Not really. One of the ways I’ve done it is instead of using a banjo, I’ll use an instrument that sounds like a banjo, like a Turkish Cümbü?, and then I’ll play it in a non-traditional way. So it still sounds kinda Southern but it brings about a certain level of tension that is required by the film. It’s fun to do that kind of stuff. I remember for 2001 Maniacs, there was this seduction scene, and I used a bowed saw, a banjo, and other stuff.
Do you go out of your way to use unusual instruments, or do you happen upon them for various projects? I absolutely go out of my way to find them. What I’ve discovered is a way to keep composing fresh. Instead of sitting down at a piano every time I write a score, before I start each project, I’ll go out and buy a couple new instruments from wherever, as long as they look interesting and useful. For example, writing a tune on the piano is different from writing the same piece for the guitar. I think we all have those muscle memory issues that we lock into. And I think by changing it up from writing with a keyed instrument to a string instrument to a wind instrument, you are getting your mind to think about melody in a different way.
That’s how I try to keep things fresh. And something that I do a lot on True Blood a lot that I love is, instead of using synthesizers and samples, picking up an acoustic instrument and playing without click to a scene. So you are reacting to the scene not just as a composer, but also as an audience member.
So, when you pick up a new project, what determines your primary compositional instrument? That really depends. I was actually just talking about this with some other composers the other day. As you do more and more films, practice enables you to recognize, based on how the film is shot and what the scope of the story is in terms of textures. These days, when I look at a film, I can tell you right away whether or not it will be able to handle an orchestra. And the other part is being able to think outside of the box. If I determine that it is not suitable for an orchestra, and I find that guitars would be right for it, instead of doing the obvious thing and using acoustic guitars, I’ll go to something else in that family that is going to add something a little bit unique to the sound floor.
One of the truly endearing qualities of your ability is that, although you have a lot of horror scores to your credit, you manage to give each its own voice, with little to no crossover tonality. That is a feat so few composers are able to accomplish these days. That’s a really, really huge compliment, thank you! I think the idea of identity with a composer, a director or writer is something that is so important, and I think it gets lost A, in the studio system when everything is homogenous (they take the identity out of it), or B, that someone doesn’t have a particularly unique voice. So it’s nothing I set out to do consciously, it’s just something that comes naturally. And I am very grateful when I put out something that sounds like me rather than someone else. It gives me a unique style and flavor that I get hired for. There are lots of composers in this business that can make themselves sound like another composer to a T, and they get hired to do that over and over again. You never really get a sense of their style, and that would be my nightmare.
And speaking of nightmares, I loved the way you contrasted the brutality of Hostel with a whimsical, almost fantasy-based score. I was just flipping channels the other day and that came on. It’s totally over-the-top, but that was definitely a conscious choice that Eli Roth and I made. And that sense of quirkiness is definitely a part of Eli’s filmmaking. I think the people who are horrified by Eli’s films aren’t understanding, to a degree, that Eli’s standing on the sidelines laughing at the whole thing. To an extent, there’s a sense of humor to the whole thing, which allowed me to play up that quirkiness in the score.
On the topic of Eli Roth, have you heard any truth to the rumor that Thanksgiving will actually be made in the near future? You know, I’ve heard rumors about that same thing swirling around for a while now. I haven’t heard from Eli directly. He’s got a lot of projects he’s working on right now, all of which are very exciting, and I think that might be one that is in the pipeline. But I’m not 100% sure about it.
So what exactly lured you to television? I wasn’t seeking out television at all. I haven’t deliberately stayed away from it, it’s just that it never really came into my life. And that’s partly okay with me, because I don’t watch much TV at all. So really, what brought me to TV was just [show creator] Alan Ball. It was one of those really lucky twists of fate. He shot the pilot and was cutting it together, and somehow my score for Hostel wound up in the cutting room, so they used it as temp. Even though it wasn’t exactly right, there was enough of something in it that they liked, so they called me in for an interview. So, they narrowed it down between me and another composer (who happens to be a dear friend), and Alan went away on vacation after shooting and took a stack of each of our CDs. And I guess he just felt that the match was better with me. So I got the Ball call saying he wanted me, and there was no way I was turning that down!
When creating the sound of a scene or episode of True Blood, what is your primary focus? Is it the emotions of the characters, the setting, or a thematic atmosphere? It’s absolutely 100% about the characters. Alan doesn’t speak in musical terms. He’s always speaking to story and character, and as a composer for TV, the job is to enrich the lives and storylines of those characters. And so everything I do for the show is based around the characters – what a character is thinking, what his/her motivation is, where the character is headed in the story. And of course, there are essential themes, like Bill and Sookie’s love theme, and things like that. But it is definitely all character-driven.
I like that there is a lot of action in your music – it is not a standard atmospheric droning. And you also manage to temper the tension with these somber, tragic elements allowing the viewer to almost feel the pain these vampires have carried with them for centuries. I think again, it’s the strength of the writing and the story. A lot of the time, I don’t even consciously push for it. It’s there in the story, so it naturally comes out in the music. I get tuned into the story and what’s going on. Alan is very clear and concise about what he wants the music to say in each scene. But for whatever reason, I think I do “sadness” well. I really relate to that part of True Blood. I love the sadness, the angst of the romance – that’s a place I am very comfortable enriching.
Even the ones who don't look anything like teen heartthrob Rob Pattinson of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise are a hit among fans of all ages -- and blood types. Though vampires have been popular for decades, people are devouring today's books, TV series and feature films.
Jennifer Koerner of Montgomery was bitten by the vampire bug long ago and loves it all, particularly "Twilight" and HBO's "True Blood."
"I get so caught up in the story and can't ever get enough," said Koerner, whose 12-year-old daughter shares her enthusiasm for these mysterious creatures of the night (but the tween isn't allowed to watch "True Blood").She has read the books in the "Twilight" series several times and is still reading them because the characters are so wonderful and intriguing (the highly anticipated second movie based on the book of the same name, "New Moon," comes out Nov. 20). And then "True Blood," the series in which the seductive creatures sex-up a small town in Louisiana, provides a great escape from reality, she said.
Meredith Woerner, who has a book coming out later this month titled "Vampire Taxonomy: Identifying and Interacting with the Modern-day Bloodsucker" said that people are ready for some magic, and vampires certainly meet the criteria.
"We're at a supernatural height right now with superheroes and science fiction," she said.
Welcome to the climactic final battle of Vampire Wars! We've been pitting three structurally similar vampire-tastic TV series against each other, and now it's time to decide which show has the sexiest vampire with a heart of gold. These guys are built to kill and eat nubile young things, but in each case, a chance encounter with a very special nubile young thing causes them to instantaneously mate for life and get all heroic, violating a bunch of standard protocols of vampire-dom.
Your choices this round are David Boreanaz's Angel from Buffy and Angel, Paul Wesley's Stefan Salvatore from the breakout CW hit Vampire Diaries, and Stephen Moyer's Bill Compton from HBO's supernatural party bus True Blood.
Then, since the "good vampire" industry has been dominated of late by a certain Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga, we're offering you a bonus round, where you can decide between those first three and your boo Edward. (Plus, inspired by on a fan suggestion, we even set up a non-official do-over of the Best Heroine round that includes Bella Swan. We're expecting an epic Buffy-Bella throwdown in that category!)
You'll be able to cast your votes throughout Halloween weekend. If you didn't already cast your ballot for Best Heroine, Best Evil (Yet Hot) Vampire, Best Best Friend and Best Xander/Wayward Little Brother, what are you waiting for? We'll declare the final winner of Vampire Wars on Monday in the spoiler chat. (Hint: Things are looking good for a certain Slayer, so True Blood and Vampire Diaries fans need to step it up if they want a chance at winning!)
Yesterday, True Blood collaborators Nathan Bar, Gary Calamar and Jace Everett attended the Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film & TV Music Conference at the Beverly Hilton, in Los Angeles and discussed how the music team developed the show’s distinct, award-winning Cajun-vampiric sound with moderator: Ann Donahue, Senior Editor, Billboard. Here are some photos of them at the event:
BEVERLY HILLS—This week in Hollywoodland was filled with surprises, new tell-all books, casting rumors, a prince threw a bash at the famed Beverly Hills Hotel and a Hollywood and Broadway legend was honored.
Text is hidden - highlight to reveal text >>> News came on a “True Blood” message board that the charismatic and talented Eric Braeden was being considered for a pivotal role as the supreme vampire on the hit HBO series. This role is for the vampire who is the leader of all vampires. The rumor was too good to be true. Or is it? Emmy-winner Braeden who has portrayed Victor Newman on “The Young and the Restless” for almost 30 years to date has recently renewed his contract with the soap. Last week Braden’s representative told Canyon News, “Eric has agreed to return to ‘Y&R.’ This week when the rep was contacted for a statement about the rumors flying fast and furious online of Eric’s possible alliance with “True Blood.” The same statement was given.
I decided I had to delve deeper into this rumor, because Eric Braeden is the most powerful force in acting today on-screen and I can imagine seeing him as the head vampire and putting all the other bloodsuckers in their places like no other actor could convey on the small screen. It wouldn’t be a major surprise to see a performer doing double duty with “True Blood,” as Ashley Jones successfully played roles on “TB” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” last season smoothly. Also, during 1996 Braeden worked on the film “Titanic” starring Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett while continuing flawlessly playing Victor Newman on “Y&R.” When Canyon News contacted HBO directly, they chose not to make a statement. Then I contacted the media relations division of Sony and CBS and was told, “Y&R does not comment on rumors.” Finally when Canyon News contacted the “True Blood” production offices, their media representative stated, “All I can say is we are currently seeing people all week for various roles for season 3.” Not a confirmation, but no denial either.
For now we’ll file this story under a rumor. Though it was too big of a story to go without some investigating, as Eric Braeden’s appearance on the hit show would put the already successful series over the top to mega-hit status in the time it would take for Sookie to decide to marry Bill.
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