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Alexander Skarsgard - nice arm p*rn picture - from Hollywood Elsewhere:All-Day DogsToday's visit to the Straw Dogs interior sound-stage set in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana was a fascinating burrow; ditto visiting the exterior of the farmhouse, located in the fictional Mississippi town of Blackwater, that David and Amy Sumner (James Marsden, Kate Bosworth) move into, live in and then, during the third act, defend in a violent siege by five locals (James Woods, Alexander Skarsgard, Drew Powell, Rhys Coiro, Billy Lush). Except I'm not allowed to write about anything except in a general way, so here's some aroma & atmosphere.[click to enlarge]
Boadicea | 10/03/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Special thanks to TrueBloodNet for finding this great blog on Charlaine Harris' site: October 2, 2009
Charlaine praises the value of her first readers for making suggestions on how to improve the books before they are published: “A first reader is someone you trust to tell you the truth, not someone you know will tell you comforting lies. An ideal first reader is intelligent, consistent, conversant with your other books and with the laws of the language and diligent. When I say ‘diligent,’ I mean someone who’ll drop everything to plow through your book if you say, ‘This was supposed to be on my editor’s desk three days ago.’ “Charlaine is grateful to have two friends who serve her well as first readers. She also has continuity readers to help her keep track of the multitude of details — character and place names, etc. “Now, by the time my overworked editor sees the book, I think it’s in much better shape. This saves time and worry — at least for me! And I think the reader comes out ahead, too.”She knows, however, that there are still occasionally slight errors in continuity: “Though I can’t carry the whole series in my head and refer to it all the time, I ought to be able to, I tell myself; and it’s very upsetting for me when I make a mistake. It’s not from lack of caring; it’s from lack of brain room. My memory is so full after my long career (at least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it) that I don’t have room for more facts.”In the past couple of years, her books have gone through the continuity expert phase so that the reprints are much more error-free. [Continue reading...] [Read Charlaine's blog...] Boadicea | 10/02/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Very funny find from 'Dallas' and Loving True Blood In Dallas - from Univ of Rochester Campus Times:By Willie Clark
But, luckily, you won’t have to look that hard. Brought to you by writers of The Onion and The New Yorker, “The New Vampire’s Handbook” offers a humorous look at the genre, while presenting rules for new aspiring vampires (or real ones) to abide by. We were lucky enough to talk to Joe Garden, of The Onion fame, and discuss the book he contributed to and vampires in general. First and foremost, what made you decide to write this new vampire book? Joe Garden: Well, it was kind of a combination of things. Obviously vampire books and stuff have always been popular. Everybody has been talking about the new vampire craze and that’s really not totally accurate because vampires have always been popular. Ever since “Dracula” in the ’30s or even the old “Barnie the Vampire” books in the 1800s. [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 10/02/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blood lust, sexual lust and fangs - from Canada's Centretown News Online:Friday, 02 October 2009 | By Veronica Quach
Vampires give audiences their desired dose of violence and sex, elements that have always been staples in entertainment. Adventures and dramas feature fighting sequences or car chases followed by a hot make out scene. Even comedies spoof people fighting and make fun of sex. Vampires continue the trend. What is more violent than sucking somebody’s blood until the person dies? And at the same time, the exchange of fluids – blood – and the penetration of the fangs is a metaphor for sex. In some fiction, they don’t even bother with the metaphor. These bloodsuckers rose to fame in the 21st century with Twilight and True Blood. They were a great concept. Twilight, a book turned movie by Summit Entertainment, made vampire entertainment mainstream. The franchise targets teenagers with a climactic fighting sequence and sexual tension between the protagonists, but no sex. Becoming better known is the cult success True Blood, a book turned HBO TV series. True Blood is aimed at adult audiences with bloody death scenes and nudity during sex scenes. But new vampire material has become redundant, uncreative and over-publicized. Example: The Vampire Diaries, a new CW TV series. The series seems to be a rip-off of Twilight and True Blood. All these stories are about love between a male vampire and a human girl in high school. But many critics are quick to defend The Vampire Diaries. They say the series is based on the L.J. Smith book series that predates Twilight and its plot and characters are original. However, some critics have ignored the fact that TV series only appeared after Twilight created hoards of vampire lovers. The Vampire Diaries has also changed specific plot details to appeal to Twilight fans, which diminishes some of the originality the show would have had. In the book, Elena, the female protagonist, is an independent girl who pursues Stefan, the vampire love-interest. The book screams girl power. However, the TV show has Stefan make the first move. He shows up when Elena falls in a cemetery. [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 10/02/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Fangoria:HALLOWEEN '09: FANGORIA’S TOP 20 HOMETOWN HAUNTS At FANGORIA we know Horror, and there is nowhere you can find real live movie and video game style FX laden horror than at the best hometown haunted houses in America! They take you into an experience that you won’t soon forget. We have searched for some of the scariest, most over the top haunted houses (not including theme parks) and now we present our 2009 list of the Top 20 Hometown Haunted Houses in America! So once you have watched your favorite horror movie and survived a zombie attack on your PC, go out into the October night to one of these terrifying events…and don’t say we didn’t warn you! 1) Netherworld – Norcross, GA (Atlanta area) One of the most creative and ingenious Haunted houses ever created; movie quality special effects, elaborate sets, a powerful acting troupe and remarkably unique scares make Netherworld our #1 Haunted House in 2009! 2) House of Shock - New Orleans, LA The House of Shock is one of the most infamous Haunted Attractions in the world! A full horror pre-show features pyrotechnics, explosions and even a freak show. 3) 13th Gate – Baton Rougue, LA Louisiana takes 2 of our top 3 spots with 13th Gate coming in at #3 on our list. 4) The Darkness - St. Louis, MO With a total renovation for 2009 you’ll see props and sets beyond your imagination at this fright complex in the city under the arch. 5) Dead Acres – Pataskala, OH (Columbus area) Anall out extreme haunted house on the outskirts of Columbus, OH; Dead Acres is a full on sensory assault performed every night right before your very eyes! 6) The Edge of Hell - Kansas City, MO This granddaddy of haunted houses is 35 Years old this year and features a 24 foot live Python and a 4 Story Slide! 7) Cutting Edge - Fort Worth, Texas This Texas behemoth was just named the world’s largest walk through haunted house by the Guinness Book of World Records…what else is there to say. http://www.cuttingedgehauntedhouse.com 8) Haunted Schoolhouse & Haunted Laboratory – Akron, OH These huge events span 7 floors of terror in two large buildings and the folks behind them have been scaring the pants off of patrons since Michael, Freddy and Jason were in diapers. 9) Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses – Ulster Park, NY
10) The Bates Motel - Glen Mills, PA (Philadelphia area) With a 20 minute long haunted wagon ride (packed with monsters, special effects and spine-tingling stunts), a corn maze and a world class haunted attraction, this event takes Halloween to a whole new level of Horror! 11) Erebus - Pontiac MI A four story monstrosity of a haunted house where you will be eaten and buried alive! 12) Thrillvania – Terrell, TX Highlighted by the classic and long standing Haunted Verdun Manor, Thrillvania features 8 different attractions on over 50 acres! If werewolves are your thing…this is the place! 13) House of Torment - Austin TX Great production value, over the top designs, and intense in your face monsters land House of Torment in the unlucky #13 spot on our list! 14) Scarehouse - Etna, PA (Pittsburgh area) It takes a full year of design and construction for the ScareHouse team to turn their nightmares into your reality. Pittsburgh…it’s not just for Zombies anymore! 15) Dent School House – Cincinnati OH Steeped in history and one of the scariest buildings you’ll have the displeasure to step foot in, some say it’s actually haunted by the buildings eerie past. 16) Shocktoberfest – Reading, PA Complete with multiple haunted houses, a 3-D asylum, a hayride and a haunted midway…this multi-attraction event is not to be missed. 17) Raven's Grin Inn - Mount Carroll, Illinois Perhaps the most bizarre event on our list…guest are given personal tours through this real life fun house of the macabre! Part haunted house, part carnival attraction, part folk art project gone terribly awry. 18) Haunted Overload - Lee, NH Originally started as a charity home haunt, Haunted Overload has taken the leap to professional haunt in big way. The authentic farm location provides the perfect backdrop for hundreds of lighted pumpkins and movie quality sets. 19) Dark Raven Manor - Hamburg, NY Featuring many custom created effects and specializing in originality; you’ll see things at Dark Raven Manor you won’t see anywhere else.20) Phobia – Houston, TX With nine free standing attractions in two locations we suggest you wear your running shoes. Boadicea | 10/02/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From AOL's Inside TV:By: Maggie Furlong
The Costume: 'True Blood' lovers Sookie Stackhouse and "Vampire Bill" Compton What You'll Need: Terribly over-exaggerated Louisiana accents; a tight Merlotte's T-shirt, short-shorts, a mini apron and tennis shoes for Sookie; pasty makeup, all black clothing and a brooding stare for Bill. Oh, and some fangs for when things get frisky, of course. Optional Accessories: A bottle of wine that can double as TruBlood. (Hint: drink from the bottle and be as sloppy as you want -- the more blood dripping around your lips, the better!) Also, if you have a tall, pale, blonde and handsome guy friend, an Eric would make the love triangle complete. Boadicea | 10/02/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Dark UFO and TV Guide:[Click image to enlarge]
Boadicea | 10/02/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'Blood' featured in True Blood S02E10 - from New Brunswick Urban Voice:But Band of Skulls, from Southampton, still remain true to their sound.
In a very short span of time, Southampton, UK group Band of Skulls has an impressive list of accomplishments and is steadily seeing their fortunes change for the best. Mixing classic rock, guitar-heavy bands like Led Zeppelin with modern groups like The White Stripes, their debut record 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey' is a potent blues-driven mix of both these bands. Band of Skulls vocalist-guitarist Russell Marsden doesn't deny the band wearing their influences on their sleeves but admits that defining a specific genre for the group is not easy for anybody, not even the band."There's some disagreement within the band over what our songs should sound like," Marsden admits from the band's recent American tour. "At the end of the day though, I'd like to think that our record isn't necessarily defined by the sound or style of our songs, but rather by the excitement that went into making the record. I don't think that good music is tied down to one specific genre or time period. The three of us in the band get inspired and excited by all kinds of different records covering many genres of music." According to Marsden, the Band of Skulls members have always held diverse musical influences, with their members having played in other bands ranging from extreme metal to jazz music. 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey' was recorded, mixed and mastered from January through to March 2009 at Radiohead's Courtyard Studios in the UK.
The song racked up more than 350,000 downloads between Canada and the U.S., giving the band an unprecedented level of exposure before they even had a record available for purchase. In addition to the iTunes coup, buzz was steadily building from critics and fans alike and positive word about the band began spreading internationally. And as if all of the above isn't enough, the group landed their song 'Blood' in an episode of the popular HBO series True Blood and has a track ('Friends') on the upcoming soundtrack to New Moon, the next installment of the Twilight movie series. If things have been happening too quickly for the group, Marsden hides the stress well. "So far, it's been amazing; we are very lucky but it's strange because in our little bubble nothing has really changed. More people are discovering us and you sense something building, but in other ways, it's just another day," he says. These days, Band of Skulls are adjusting to the touring life rather well. They have practically been going non-stop since Spring and Marsden doesn't foresee things slowing down until the holidays. "We are trying to find a balance that we are happy with between playing live and finding the time to get more songs written. We love playing shows but are trying to get some more writing done. We don't want a long gap between our records, so in our minds, we'd like to retreat and focus on making some new music." Band of Skulls excellent debut record 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey' is available in stores and online now. Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A True Blood picture - very, very cool idea in photography - from Tampa Bay:By Dalia Colón, Times Staff Writer In Print: Friday, October 2, 2009
Well, now he can. Fangs and all. Just time for Halloween, two local photographers have teamed up to offer Boudoir with a Bite, a vampire-themed photo package for couples. Jamie Jackson of Jamie Jackson Photography in St. Petersburg and Lisa Presnail of South Tampa Photography have long offered romantic photo shoots, but they're adding a twist inspired by the Twilight book characters and the HBO fantasy drama True Blood. For the portraits, the guy wears his own black pants and black shirt. The woman wears her own negligee or a costume supplied by Maison Rouge, a local lingerie boutique affiliated with the photographers. One of the two wears fangs. "The fangs help them," Jackson said. "If you just stand two people there and say, 'Look romantic,' sometimes they get really stiff. But if you say, 'Act like a vampire,' they kind of have fun acting that character out." The $495 package includes two looks, full hair and makeup, wine or champagne, hors d' oeuvres and a $100 print credit for a male-female couple or single woman. (There's an additional charge for two women to have their hair and makeup done.) Styling and the shoot take about three hours. Kelly Moore has read all four Twilight books and has watched episodes of True Blood. When she learned of Boudoir with a Bite, she thought it'd be a romantic way to capture her and her husband of nine years, Brian Moore, in pictures. "That's not really my scene," admitted Brian, 39. "However, I do see how certain people would love that — particularly couples." For their shoot, Brian and Kelly took turns wearing the fangs. The Tampa couple display the framed photos in their bedroom. "They were very tastefully done, and they were actually very beautiful. It's something that you wouldn't be afraid for your children to see. You wouldn't be afraid for your family to see," said Kelly, 34. "It's a really good experience for couples from an intimacy perspective. I really think that it's engaging, and it's something that puts you into a different world together." Ladies, while pouring over the Twilight series, how many times did you stop reading and think, Why can't my man look at me the way Edward looks at Bella? Well, now he can. Fangs and all. Just in time for Halloween, two local photographers have teamed up to offer Boudoir with a Bite, a vampire-themed photo package for couples. Jamie Jackson of Jamie Jackson Photography in St. Petersburg and Lisa Presnail of South Tampa Photography have long offered romantic photo shoots, but they're adding a twist inspired by the Twilight book characters and the HBO fantasy drama True Blood. For the portraits, the guy wears his own black pants and black shirt. The woman wears her own negligee or a costume supplied by Maison Rouge, a local lingerie boutique affiliated with the photographers. One of the two wears fangs. "The fangs help them," Jackson said. "If you just stand two people there and say, 'Look romantic,' sometimes they get really stiff. But if you say, 'Act like a vampire,' they kind of have fun acting that character out." The $495 package includes two looks, full hair and makeup, wine or champagne, hors d' oeuvres and a $100 print credit for a male-female couple or single woman. (There's an additional charge for two women, for hair and makeup.) Styling and the shoot take about three hours. Kelly Moore has read all four Twilight books and has watched True Blood. When she learned of Boudoir with a Bite, she thought it'd be romantic to capture her and her husband of nine years, Brian Moore, in pictures. "That's not really my scene," admitted Brian, 39. "However, I do see how certain people would love that — particularly couples." For their shoot, Brian and Kelly took turns wearing the fangs. The Tampa couple display the framed photos in their bedroom. "They were very tastefully done, and they were actually very beautiful. It's something that you wouldn't be afraid for your children to see," said Kelly, 34. "It's a really good experience for couples from an intimacy perspective. ... It's something that puts you into a different world together." Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thank you to UK Truebies and Shadaliza at The Vault:Interview with Stephen Moyer in the October issue of Company Magazine. Thanks to Tinchy from UK Truebies for the scan. [Click to enlarge]
Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
True Blood's 'magistrate' - from MTV's Splashpage:
The Red Skull is one of Marvel's most loathsome villains, meaning that an actor capable of such a sinister performance is required for "The First Avenger: Captain America." We've already seen a classic Marvel rogue mishandled on screen in the form of Doctor Doom—going a similar route with the Skull would completely neuter the "Captain America" movie. For a successful Cap flick, Marvel needs someone to faithfully bring the terrifying villain to life—and these five actors have exactly what it takes. [Read entire article]
While Ivanek has appeared on the big screen before, he's much more recognizable for his television credits. Personally, I think it's time that he makes the transition to film. Ivanek's physique and his practiced history as an on-screen villain makes him an ideal candidate for the Red Skull. Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Catamount Software:VampBlood comes to iPhone for TrueBlood fans
Impress other True Blood fans with your very own virtual True Blood drink called VampBlood… Vampires need not prey on the innocent any longer, and humans can enjoy drinking the synthetic blood without any of the aftertaste. Features: • Tilt to drink. Behaves like a the real stuff! • Shake to refill your drink. • Tap (i) to select different blood types. • Tap (i) and click link to order the real stuff – TruBlood. [For more information...] Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For female readers interested in BOB (not 'Bill On the Brain") - from Canada's The Ubyssey:Too Sexy #10Kasha Chang & Austin Holm | Thursday, October 1st, 2009 Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From UK's The First Post:The attraction of new vampire TV series True Blood FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 1, 2009
Today's vampires are not about death, or even its cursed mirror, immortality, as True Blood, the red-hot new vampire series from HBO, illustrates. No. According to the show's creator Alan Ball: "Vampires are sex." Sex without the attendant fear of death. These vampires have come ‘out of the coffin’ to join normal societyBut even that doesn't quite catch the phenomenon, or explain why the new strain of vampires who have overrun popular culture have particularly seduced impressionable young women. Truth is, women know that these sexed-up new vampires, like Bill Compton, the 173-year-old blood-sucker played by Stephen Moyer in True Blood, are really about the ultimate penetration - of the soul. Yet True Blood had a shaky start when it premiered in the States last autumn. Critics were initially cold about the show, which is based on the best-selling Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris. True Blood features Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, a telepathic cocktail waitress who works at Merlotte's bar in the decidedly gothic town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie falls in love with vampire Bill. "You don't know how many people he's sucked the blood out of," one of Sookie's friends warns her. Actually what really intrigues Sookie about Bill is that, because he is technically dead - or perhaps undead, who knows? - he is the first person whose mind she cannot read. There's also his smouldering good looks, his broody, haunted demeanour, his seductively restrained manner... and, of course, his long fangs, which show when sexually aroused. Bela Lugosi he is not. True Blood cleverly upends many of the conventions of popular portrayals of vampirism. These vampires have come "out of the coffin" and are trying to "mainstream" into normal society. That's a lot more palatable because they now have access to synthetic human blood – called Tru Blood (sic) – dispensed at bars like Fangtasia. Which means they are less inclined to stick their fangs into the tempting, swan-like necks of the young women who seem to abound in the True Blood world. Humans who have sex with vampires are 'fang-bangers', and there are a lot of them. True Blood bares more young flesh for our delectation than any mainstream American drama series. "Women love the story-telling and the romance," believes Ball, whose last HBO series was Six Feet Under, "and men love the sex and violence." In fact, women seem to love it all. Viewing figures, which show a predominantly female audience, climbed dramatically in the US after the first few episodes and the show is now HBO's most successful since The Sopranos. The second season, which finished in the middle of September, notched up audience figures of an average 12.4 million viewers a week, very big numbers for a cable network. The show has already been renewed for another season and next Wednesday Channel 4 starts screening it in Britain. The knock-on effect has given a huge boost to Harris's books, which took an astonishing seven spots in last week's top 20 New York Times mass market paperback list. Some see True Blood's success as simply a spin-off of the Twilight craze, the book series by Stephanie Meyers. Twilight became a movie starring young British heart-throb Robert Pattinson as teen vampire Edward Cullen for whom Bella, played by Kristin Stewart, yearns. New Moon, the second film in the series, will be released in November. But what's really fascinating is how today's vampire phenomenon reaches so widely across demographic and even political lines. While True Blood is aimed at adults - its creator is a politically liberal gay man - Twilight, with its chaste protagonists, has female tweens in mind. Not surprising given that author Stephanie Meyers is a conservative Mormon. Now a new American TV series, The Vampire Diaries/ - devised by Kevin Williamson, the creator of Dawson's Creek - which premiered a few weeks ago, is targeting the late teens. Alan Ball says that while he's having a blast with his de-coffined vampires, he's also aware that the changing nature of vampire stories reveals "the general state of the cultural psyche". In the end, you see, vampires are us. And long may they live. Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(I do believe this reporter lives on Mars) From Cinematical:by Jette Kernion Oct 1st 2009
I don't watch the TV show True Blood, and had no idea that Skarsgard had such a following of female fans. The theater was packed, and many attendees were nicely dressed women. During the Q&A, more audience members than usual were snapping photos. Admittedly, Skarsgard is very easy on the eyes. But I was completely taken aback when, after the Q&A, a crowd of women mobbed the Alamo Drafthouse lobby to get photos taken with Skarsgard. As a friend of mine remarked, it was as though a cloud of estrogen had descended upon the film festival -- there are plenty of women at Fantastic Fest, but they aren't usually clamoring around a male movie star. Although I did not have my own photo taken with him, Skarsgard proved to be a patient gentleman who gracefully let any number of women pose for pictures with him. Later that night, he showed up at the Highball for a late-night party and was equally polite to gushing fans. Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From UK's PrimeTime Unreality TV:October 1st, 2009 by Lisa McGarry.
What was your first impression of True Blood when you were approached with it? I was in London with my kids and I said to my agent I really didn’t want to see anything else at that time, but she said Alan Ball has written this script and it’s the one that everyone is talking about and asked me to read it. When I got it I couldn’t believe it, I finished it in one sitting and when I got to the final page I just wanted to read more. I put myself on tape, Alan received it and he said that’s the guy. I flew out to LA that afternoon and the next morning I met with him and Anna (Paquin) and later that afternoon I got it. I don’t remember ever reading something and being so engaged by it, the world he sets up is just so extraordinary – it’s been an exciting ride. Tell us a little about the set up of the show? True blood is set in a fictional town called Bon Temps in Louisiana. The first episode centres around a bar, Merlotte’s, where the viewer is introduced to Sookie (Anna Paquin’s character). We know right from the start that vampires exist in this world but nobody in Bon Temps has ever seen one. About 20 minutes into the first episode Bill, my character and a vampire, walks into Merlotte’s. Sookie is telepathic and all her life she’s been able to hear everybody’s thoughts. Then suddenly there is this presence when Bill walks into the bar, she can’t read his thoughts and she immediately knows that something is different about him. He can also see that there is something different about her and that’s the attraction. Bill is trying to live his life “mainstreaming”, living off Tru Blood rather than feeding on humans. He’s an outsider ostracised by vampire society because he’s mainstreaming and trying to live like a human but he’s obviously also feared by the humans because he is a vampire, so he’s kind of the ultimate outsider and I think he can see that she’s an outsider too. It’s a pretty bizarre prospect that you’ve got vampires living in normal society, how has this come about? In the story the Japanese invented a synthetic blood drink three years before, the idea being that the blood was invented for use in war etc for blood transfusions. Vampires came out and said they could drink this blood so that they no longer have to feed off humans. Then a drinks company marketed it as Tru Blood so that vampires could drink in normal bars like anybody else, and that’s what Tru Blood is. How did you manage to engage with the character Bill? What kind of research did you do? Well I looked at the American civil war which I’d never really studied before as my character’s father was a slave owner (even though my character wasn’t) and he fought with the confederates for the south. Alan (Ball) actually asked me if I thought anything was missing from the character. And I liked the idea if you imagined you died what would you do? If it was me, I’d want to listen to all the music I never listened to when I was alive, and read every book that I’d never read, watch the films I’d never seen and play the instruments that I had never played. So I thought that’s great, he’s going to make me into this aesthetic genius who knows everything but Alan being warped, made my character listen to Tuvan throat singing and Cambodian disco, so in every episode you see me listening to some obscure sound. Another thing that I think is interesting about him is that vampires have no heartbeat so there’s no blips, no moment where his heart skips a beat – when he stops and he’s sitting he’s just “being”. We played with the idea of trying to make him as still as possible so that every movement is considered. When he moves, he’s doing it for a reason. It’s almost like a video game, I can move at lightening speed but if I do it costs me, it’s like my energy depletes and I need to feed sooner meaning I only do it if I need to. Bill really is a fascinating character to play. Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CNN interviews True Blood stars:Hi Marquee Blog readers–ready for part two of my True Blood HBO Emmy After Party Special? Well here you go—an exclusive tidbit about the new season from Stephen Moyer.
When I asked Stephen about working with Anna Paquin, his real life fiancée, he told me how much he loves getting to spend all of that extra time with her, but warned that it might not last for long. “I love working with Anna–I don’t think we will be working together this season only because it’s very hard to make Bill and Sookie the couple just be Bill and Sookie the couple. Nobody wants to watch that forever–every single drama you’ve ever watched has that thing where now you’ve watched and now let’s put him over there and see how he works with her and how she works with him…so we’ll see!” Uh-oh, sounds like there may be some trouble in Bill and Sookie paradise next season! What do you guys think? Do you agree with Stephen? Would you like to see Bill and Sookie paired with other people next season? I can’t wait to read what you think! Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What? Bill and Eric not together? CNN interviews True Blood stars:September 28, 2009Happy Monday Marquee Blog readers–I’ve got a treat for you! Remember my blog posting about last week’s HBO EMMY Awards after party? Well, while I was there I caught up with all of your favorite True Blood stars and told them about their devoted Marquee Blog followers. When they heard how excited all of you guys are about the show and about how much you have been reading and commenting about it, they wanted to send you some exclusive video messages– take a look: [Watch video...] Boadicea | 10/01/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Acting, True Blood and Generation Kill - from the UK's Channel 4:Alexander Skarsgård InterviewBy Benjie Goodhart
It was almost all so different, though. As a child actor, Skarsgård turned his back on the industry aged 13. It was only after a seven-year hiatus that he decided to give acting another go. It was, it would seem, a good decision. Just how good, the next few years will reveal. You’re from an acting background, and obviously your dad [Stellan Skarsgård] is hugely successful. Did you grow up proud of his level of success, or did you just take what he did for granted? He wasn’t that big a star when I grew up. The thing that brought him to Hollywood was Breaking the Waves, the Lars von Trier movie, which was in 1996. I was already 20 years old by that point. Growing up, my father was working at a theatre in Stockholm, so he was mostly a stage actor. He did movies as well, but smaller Swedish movies. I’ve got younger siblings, and it was different for them. They did more of the travelling around the world, being on sets and all of that exotic stuff. For me, it was running around backstage at the theatre, and I didn’t really think much about it. On the subject of your siblings, a few of them have gone into acting as well, haven’t they? Yeah. I’ve got a brother who’s two months old, and it’s kind of difficult to say what he’ll do! But I’m the oldest, I’ve got a brother who’s four years younger than I am, and he’s an actor back home in Sweden. And I have another brother who’s 18, who’s working doing movies in Sweden right now as well. How old were you when you started acting? Seven. I did my first movie when I was seven, and then I worked for about six years, doing movies and television in Sweden. But then I quit when I was 13, and didn’t work at all for seven years. Why did you quit? This was in 1989, and back then in good old Sweden, we only had two TV channels. I did a movie for television there, and whatever was on, people would watch, so the impact that had back then was huge. Suddenly people recognised me wherever I went, and it just made me very uncomfortable. It was a weird age to become famous. I didn’t know how to handle it, and I was very self-conscious and stressed out about the whole situation. I just wanted to be one of the guys, so I quit, basically. I didn’t have the urge to act for seven years. What drew you back into acting? I was 20, and like most guys of that age I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I was thinking about different options, and naturally acting came up again, and I thought about it, and I felt that it might be different now I’m 20 instead of 13. Hopefully I’m a bit more sure of who I am and what I want in life, and maybe I can handle it better than I did when I was 13. Leaving acting had never had anything to do with the craft, the work, at all. It was only because I wasn’t comfortable being recognised, and I thought that might be better. So I decided to give it a go again, and went to New York to study theatre for a while, and got hooked pretty instantly. You’ve got two new series coming up on Channel 4 this autumn. True Blood is a drama about vampires, which will automatically make people think of Buffy - but it’s really not like that, is it? I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen Buffy! Well, this isn’t exactly aimed at kids, is it? No! Definitely not! It’s pretty dark. Summarise the concept of True Blood. The series is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries. Charlaine [Harris, the books’ author] created this world where vampires live in coexistence with humans. They came out of the coffin two years ago, and went out publicly and said ‘Yes, we do exist, but don’t worry, we’re not going to harm you because we can drink synthetic blood now. We just want to live in peace.’ And it takes place in Bon Temps, a small town in Louisiana, and it’s basically about prejudice, and how these vampires try to fit into society and find a role. Your character is a vampire called Eric Northman. What’s he like? He’s the sheriff of Area Five, which basically means he’s the sheriff of the vampires in Louisiana. He’s one of the oldest vampires around, and one of the strongest and most powerful. He’s a true entrepreneur - he’s got a nightclub in Shreveport, and he sees this as an opportunity to make money. Curious humans will come into the club and buy souvenirs and see real vampires, and he uses that and makes money from it. He’s been around for 1,000 years. How do you play someone who has a thousand-year back story? Well, I think he’s got huge confidence, and also he doesn’t waste time. He’s been around for that long, so he cuts to the chase and gets down to business. And it’s hard to impress a guy like that, because he’s seen it all. That’s why he’s intrigued by Sookie [the show’s heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin] because there’s something new here, something interesting and different about her that he can’t really put his finger on. In general he’s not very interested in humans, they don’t impress him, he thinks they’re naïve and stupid in general. But there’s something different about Sookie, and that intrigues him. That’s what gets his attention, basically. Did you read the books when you got the part? Yeah. I read the first five books before we started season one, but when we started shooting, it was just too confusing to keep reading the books [there are nine] because I didn’t want to end up wondering if I’d read something in the book or in the script. But we’re on hiatus now, so I’m going to go back and read a few more. The series is adapted by Alan Ball, who wrote and produced Six Feet Under and American Beauty. Did that add to your excitement about the project? Oh yeah, yeah. I reacted like most people would do when I heard it was a vampire show, I thought ‘Whoa - I have no idea what this is going to be like.’ But then, when they told me that he was behind it, that made me very interested in working on it. In literature and cinema and on TV we seem to return time and again to vampire stories. What do you think is behind our fascination with the genre? I think it has to do with immortality and eternal youth. What creates a platform for good drama is that that is so alluring and intriguing to people. Immortality and eternal youth are so attractive, yet the fact that vampires are also lethal predators who could kill you in an instant creates great platforms for drama, I think. You have that duality. An encounter with a vampire could let you live forever, or you could become vampire food. The series is quite risqué. Did it cause controversy when it first came out in the US? Yeah, a bit. It’s pretty full-on, and very graphic and gory. Season two is even more graphic, so we’ll see what the response is. The other series you’ve got coming up on Channel 4 is Generation Kill. That’s also based on a book, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s based on a book written by Evan Wright, who was a journalist who was embedded with First Reconnaissance Battalion of the US Marines for the first five weeks of the Iraq invasion in 2003. It’s basically about his experience of that journey. Are the events portrayed pretty accurate to what happened? Yeah, everything that is on the show happened in real life. One of the actors is a real Marine, and plays himself on the show. We had two other guys from First Reconnaissance with us for the duration of the shoot, which was seven months in Africa. They were behind the camera for every single take every single day, making sure that everything was legit and was real, and what we say and what we do on the show happened for real. It was very important to us to show exactly what happened, and not make it into a Hollywood series or movie where everything is dramatised, and things are added or removed. We just wanted to tell it exactly as it was, and I hope we succeeded in doing that. You play Sergeant Brad Colbert. What’s he like? He’s a team leader, a sergeant, and one of the senior guys in First Reconnaissance, but he’s not as macho as the other guys. He’s a bit of a loner, he’s doing his own thing. He loves the first stage of the invasion, where he actually gets to sit down alone and plan the mission that he gets. He’s a perfectionist when it comes to that, and he really believes in the cause. He believes that they’re out there to help people, to liberate people, but throughout the series things will change. It’s hard for him to do his job, because he needs to be there and motivate the guys, and make sure they’re sharp and aggressive, because otherwise they’re more likely to get killed. But at the same time, he’s beginning to think “What the hell are we doing out here?” Did you meet the real Sergeant Colbert while you were filming? No. Was that a conscious decision? No. If I’d had a chance to meet him before we started filming, and hang out with him for a month or two, then great. But he was in the UK, embedded with the special forces. UK? That’s a really tough posting, being sent over here! Yeah. That’s the real deal! So he was in the UK, and I couldn’t get hold of him. I was able to get his email address, but at that point we were already two weeks into shooting it, and I’d already created my version of Brad Colbert after talking to the guys who knew him, and also talking to Evan Wright, who spent five weeks in a Humvee with him. So I’d already created my Brad Colbert, and at that point I decided not to get in touch with him, because I’d made my choices and found my path, and had to continue down that road with conviction. But I did get a chance to see him as soon as I got back to the States. Evan Wright was kind enough to throw a barbecue at his place, and he invited me and Brad, because he wanted us to meet somewhere other than the red carpet before the Premiere, and get a chance to sit down and talk. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to finally meet him. It must have been strange, finally meeting someone whose character you’ve spent so long immersing yourself in. Yeah. I was with that character for a year. It’s his life. All the quotes and things I say on the show are his life. When I talk about my ex-girlfriend, and hookers in Australia, these are things that he actually said. And he never asked for this to become a huge HBO series, so I didn’t know how he would react when I met him. But I have a tremendous amount of respect and love for the man, so it was very important for me that he would be proud of what we did and how I portrayed him. And he didn’t kill me, so I guess I did okay. Aside from the guys working on the show, did you spend any time immersed with the US Marines as part of your research? No, but I’m a sergeant in the Swedish Marines. Yeah, you did your national service with them. Did that experience prove useful in filming this series? Absolutely, it was very useful, just to help understand how you deal with your officers and peers, understand the group dynamic between the guys, and also how you handle your weapons systems and all that kind of stuff. It was very helpful to have gone through that. Were you a good soldier, and was it something you enjoyed? Not really. It’s mandatory to do it in Sweden. I wanted to join the Marines, that’s not mandatory, but you have to do some sort of service to the state, doing something else. But I wanted to do this because I grew up in downtown Stockholm, and I wanted to challenge myself. I figured if I was going to do this, I wanted to do it for real and full-on, and actually physically and mentally challenge myself. At least then it might be interesting, and something I can use later on, instead of spending ten months in a booth stamping passports. But most of the guys I was with in my platoon were kind of like Rambos, you know? I wasn’t like that at all. I knew this definitely wasn’t a profession for me. I did this solely for my own reasons, to experience these things and challenge myself. It was kind of weird, and at times I hated it, but I’m glad I finished it. Generation Kill shows a lot of bravery and gusto from the Marines, but it doesn’t necessarily tie in with the homespun, patriotic, apple-pie image of troops that exists in the US. Did the depiction of the troops upset people? No, I think the Marine community really embraced the show, because it felt legit and it felt real and it made the audience realise that it’s more complicated than they might have thought. It made the audience realise that these are all individuals, and they’re very young, and they’re all there for different reasons. Some really believe in it, some are there because they’re bored, some are there because they’re trying to avoid jail. So it was definitely embraced by the Marine community, and by the army and the air force and the navy as well. I know that some of the officers weren’t happy about it, because they wanted it to be a pro-Marine Corps series where everything is amazing and they’re all patriots and all fighting for the right cause, so some of them weren’t happy with either Evan Wright’s book, or with the series either. But we can live with that. I imagine that filming it was a pretty odd experience on set. It must have been an almost exclusively male environment. Yeah. It was funny talking to the real Marines who were out there with us. They said it was very similar to being in the Marines - not, obviously, what you do for your work, but with the group, and how bonds are formed and how tight you get when you spend that long all together. And on a set it’s 80 per cent wait and 20 per cent action, and I think it’s pretty much the same thing in the Marine Corps. You do something, then you sit around and bullshit for hours and hours, and wait for the next order. So that definitely created a similarity, and I think it was great that we did this 3,000 miles away from our families and our homes, because all we had was each other, and I think that was good for the show. Looking at the two series, which you did back to back, the roles are very different. Was that a conscious decision - do you always like to have that element of variety to your roles? Yeah, because it keeps me on my toes and it keeps me motivated and creative. If I do something for seven months, and then I jump into a character that’s very similar to that, I think I’m going to get bored, and I’m not going to do a good job. I need to be challenged, I need to feel almost nervous about a new project and a new character. That gets me excited, and it definitely helps me in my creative process. Boadicea | 09/30/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An interview of the man behind THE interviews, Michael Ausiello - from Star Pulse:September 30th, 2009 11:15am EDT
The line between celebrity and non-celebrity has blurred in the past 15 years thanks to a change in how we interpret and apply entertainment and media into our daily lives. This change has created a domino effect that has also hit the field of journalism. We need journalists to keep us apprised of the latest gossip, news, and scandals. These days information is available 24/7, and there is nothing we wish to leave untouched. As a result, media journalists, those tethered between the worlds of entertainment and reality, are becoming celebrities themselves. We look to them for television spoilers, news, and any and all insider information. They hold the answers we covet at the office water cooler and re-tweet in line at the coffee house. Check out part one of uur candid interview with Michael Ausiello in which he talks about his beginnings, his job, and his ideas on celebrity. [Read entire article]
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"It is possible to have your neck and suck it too." From The Eyeopener:How to fix yourself after a sloppy nightIcky hickey Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Written by Eyeopener Staff
According to Su-Ting Teo, Ryerson's Director of Student Health and Wellness, it is impossible to make bruises heal faster — coverage is the only option. Fourth-year theatre production student Paul Beauchamp has had to deal with hiding hickeys in the past. "I was excited to get my first hickey, but then my mom pointed it out. I denied it, but ever since I've been really careful," he said. Beauchamp uses winter scarves, turtlenecks and the occasional popped collar to hide his hickeys. In more desperate situations, he gets a friend to cover it with makeup. Makeup artist Alisa Lyons said colour is most important when covering a hickey. Dark purple bruises in the early stages need a yellow-based concealer, while salmon tones are best for yellowish- green bruises. For best results, warm a small amount of matte makeup between your fingers before applying, blending, and setting with loose powder, Lyons said. If the shiner does not fade, repeat the process in thin layers. Jamie Metzger, a third-year fashion student, has a different staple to camouflage her bawdy blemishes. When every type of foundation at the drug store failed her, she sought a last resort — Sally Hansen spray-on nylons. "I've always got a bottle of it now," she said. So the next time you watch an episode of True Blood before a night on the town, don't feel guilty. It is possible to have your neck and suck it too. — Carly Maga [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 09/30/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Great article about Alan Ball - from UK's The Times:
It’s one of those too-good-to-be-true sunny days in Los Angeles, and Alan Ball is sitting in a dark, chilly office, talking about death. Not just death, actually, but grief: the unbearable pain; the torment of knowing that we’ll all end up as wormfood. It’s the kind of thing that passes for everyday conversation with Ball, as you might expect from the man responsible for creating hit television shows entitled Six Feet Under and True Blood, which starts on Channel 4 next week. “As much as we pretend we don’t get old, that we don’t die, it’s something we all have to face,” Ball says. “That’s why we have this instinct to rubber-neck at car wrecks. Death is the ultimate mystery." Ball knows of what he speaks. When he was 13, he was a passenger in a car driven by his older sister — it was her 22nd birthday — when she was killed in an accident. “She drove off the highway, there was a blind spot, and she pulled out,” he recalls, still flinching slightly. “The impact broke her neck. It was very bloody. At that impressionable age, Death came and stuck its ugly old face in mine, and said: ‘Hello, here I am.’ ” Ball escaped without a scrape. It was that terrible event perhaps more than any other that shaped Ball, who ultimately went on to become a playwright, sit-com producer and Oscar-winning screenplay writer — he was responsible for the 1999 Kevin Spacey masterpiece American Beauty — and at the age of 52 has emerged as one of the most unusual and unsettling creative forces in American television. But as much as he might still look as though the weight of several planets is upon him — on the morning we meet he sports a greying beard with hiking boots, jeans and a woodcutter shirt — Ball claims that True Blood is his way of lightening up. “Six Feet Under was about life in the presence of death,” he says. “But after that show ended I thought to myself: ‘OK, I’m done looking into the abyss now. I’m ready for a theme park ride.’ ” Based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries novel series by Charlene Harris, True Blood is certainly a change of tempo. The title sequence, set to Jace Everett’s country stompalong Bad Things, features pole dancers, faith-healers and close-ups of blood-red lips and roadkill. The plot centres on a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her vampire love interest, Bill Compton (played by the British actor Stephen Moyer, now engaged to Paquin in real life). “I was never into the vampire thing,” Ball says. “I never saw Buffy. I never read any Anne Rice novels. But vampires are sexy: it’s the penetration, the exchange of fluids ... they’re a very potent metaphor, especially for people who like to fantasise about being taken. What makes it OK is that vampires aren’t real. No one wants to fantasise about being taken by a real human being because that’s terrifying.” He adds that when he first picked up one of Harris’s books, “I promised myself I’d read a chapter before I went to bed, and before I switched out the light I’d read seven.” The son of a Lockheed quality control inspector from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia, Ball clearly has a nostalgia for what he calls the “gothic sensibility of the South”, and it seeps through every beautifully shot HD frame of True Blood. He contends that in spite of his sister’s death he had a “pretty standard” childhood. That is, if being 19 years the junior of your parents’ first child counts as “standard” (he has two brothers, the other 15 years older than him). Not to mention realising at a young age that he was gay. “I was always very aware of that,” he concedes. “I mean, when I was 8 and went to see Goldfinger I found myself being turned on by Sean Connery. I was also very aware that it was something I had to keep a secret. I thought it meant you were relegated for ever to the outside fringes of society. I tried to be straight. I even had a teenage girlfriend — who I really ought to apologise to — before I came out in my thirties.” But it was the aftermath of the car accident, not Ball’s sexuality, that made his early life most difficult. “It blew my family apart. My mother became very religious and struggled with depression — she’d take us to this church where people spoke in tongues — so for a long time it seemed like it was just me and my dad, but he was drinking and withdrew into himself. We’d go out to eat at night and he’d be swerving all over the road and I’d be thinking: ‘Hey, Dad, maybe this isn’t the best thing to do when you’ve got a kid who’s been in a fatal car accident.’ “Then my mother really got into Revelations and the end of the world. When I was 14 I’d come home and the first thing she’d say would be: ‘Well, another prophecy came true today.’ ” It wasn’t until years later that he was finally able to grieve for his sister. “For six months I thought I was going crazy. I’d walk through the streets crying. It was lucky I was living in New York at the time: in New York no one pays you any attention if you’re walking through the streets crying.” It was also in New York that Ball founded a theatre outfit, the Alarm Dog Repertory Company, while paying the rent with various artdirecting jobs at trade magazines including Adweek and Inside PR (the inspiration for the souldevouring position held by Lester Burnham, the antihero of American Beauty). Then one of Ball’s plays, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, caught the attention of the Hollywood producers Tom Werner and Marcy Carsey. They invited him out to Los Angeles to become a staff writer for the sit-com Grace Under Fire, starring the comedienne Brett Butler. “At first I thought LA was appalling, disgusting,” Ball says. Getting another job writing for Cybill, starring Cybill Shepherd, didn’t do much to change his mind. “After a while I became a bit of a hack. In every episode there was a part where one of the characters would have to learn a lesson from what had just happened. I used to call it ‘the moment of shit’, because it just trivialised everything.” In the end, Ball stayed with Cybill until its fourth and final season in 1998, becoming the executive producer. “By the third season I really wanted to leave, but they backed the money truck up to my house and I stayed,” he says. “But I felt like such a whore, and at nights I dumped all of my frustration into the script of American Beauty. It’s a very angry script. It’s what you get when you’ve been working with a crazy person who walks into the room and says: ‘I got a bad haircut, let’s write a show about that.’ ” Everything changed after American Beauty earned Ball an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards (the movie cost £9.5 million to make and earned £225 million). Fortunately, it overshadowed the failure of his first solo television effort, Oh Grow Up — about three male Brooklyn housemates, two straight, one gay — that was cancelled by the ABC network.
At first, Ball feared having to write schmaltzy storylines again. But he needn’t have worried: “After HBO saw the pilot, they sent me a note saying: ‘Can you make this more f***ed-up?’ ” The show became a cult hit, although some critics poked fun at it for its relentlessly bleak plot. “That’s where it needed to go,” Ball shrugs, adding that he found it therapeutic. “It made death and grief less frightening to me. When my mother died I knew what grief was, so it didn’t freak me out.” Although Ball says his family could never be described as close, he at least came to a kind of peace with his mother before she passed away. “When I came out to her, she said: ‘God has dealt me some blows in this life. I blame your father, because I think he was that way, too.’ But she eventually came around and accepted me, and met my partner. It was tough, but thank God I did it, because we ended up having a real relationship.” Ironically enough, Ball and his partner didn’t get any such acceptance from their 80-year-old next-door neighbour in the Hollywood Hills: every day he would empty his rubbish into their driveway, until they finally took out a restraining order. The old man has since died and his property was torn down to make way for a mansion, but then the stock exchange crashed and the new owner pulled out. “It’s all wild and overgrown now,” Ball says. “It’s kind of beautiful. There are deer living there.” Asked about California’s recent overturning of the law allowing same-sex marriage, Ball says it turns gays into “second-class citizens”, but that “it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s wrong with America”. Still, Ball appears to have finally found a kind of of peace in Los Angeles. He says he loves the city now, particularly the space to walk his dogs at Runyon Canyon, a nearby park. He’s also become a Buddhist, because “it’s about love and not denouncing others, like the Christianity of my childhood”. “I’m a fairly happy person,” he says. “I’m content. I really like my life. But for some reason I still get people coming up to me and saying, ‘Cheer up’.” Perhaps that’s because Ball’s happiness isn’t exactly conventional: for example, he reveals that his idea of a good night is “a Vicodin [a highly addictive prescription painkiller] and a pay-per-view movie.” As for his career, Ball has signed a deal with HBO to do two more seasons of True Blood. He also has two other shows in the works, including an adaptation of the British series Bad Girls, along with several movie projects. But his heart seems to be more in the small screen. “I could never have sold Six Feet Under as movie,” he argues. “It’s just the nature of the medium: a movie is like a short story, while a TV series is like a novel. And what I love about Six Feet Under is that it really touched people, personally.” Alas, not always in the most obviously gratifying ways. For example, Ball recalls one fan he met shortly after his mother died. “I was at the funeral home and the mortician came up to me and said: ‘I’m in this business because of you’.” It was enough to render Ball speechless for a moment. “Then I was like: ‘Is that a good thing?’ ” True Blood starts on Channel 4 on Oct 7 (10pm) Boadicea | 09/30/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Newsweek interviews Ryan Kwanten (video):Boadicea | 09/29/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marketing vampires 101 - from The Buzznet:This Vampire Thing Has Gone Too FarOkay guys, I'll be the first to admit, vampires are awesome. I've been into the whole thing since long before a sparkling poster child for abusive relationships rekindled it by romantically telling his girlfriend how easily he could kill her. I love me some vampires.
Not only does Blood Energy Potion have a similar nutritional makeup to real blood, but it has the same color, look, and consistency of blood. Get real blood nutrients without that real blood taste! The re-sealable transfusion bag style pouch provides the convenient delivery of fluids for vampires and humans alike! Contains no real blood, just synthetic! " But taste-wise? Well, apparently it is fruit punch flavored. So...at least they stopped before they made it taste like blood. I guess. Look, guys, I could take the sodas, the wines, the glitter...even the sex toys. But this? This is just a bit far even for me. ...so watch for when I inevitably get some when it comes out and do a taste test. Why? Because I'm also the girl who recently watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine just to see how bad it really was. Boadicea | 09/29/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
True Blood Wiki member Tincar (and reporter for True Blood's Nest) received a wonderful thank you note from Stephen:We would like to thank all of you who participated in this fun (and charitable!) event; there is more fun to come! Without further ado, below is a the message from Stephen Moyer and the winning number. To my Wicked Women and fans, We want to thank Stephen for taking the time out of his busy schedule to pick the number and we would like to congratulate Sherry Kramer on being selected by Stephen as the winner of the vial. We are preparing the list of all the people that donated and it is on its way to Stephen and Mark now. Thank you everyone! Boadicea | 09/29/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
True Blood is #1 - from TV Squad:TV Squad Ten: My favorite HBO showsPosted Sep 29th 2009 11:11AM by Jane Boursaw
I know I'm missing a few biggies, like Rome, Deadwood, Flight of the Conchords, and Extras, but it's only because I either haven't watched these shows or have only watched a few episodes -- not enough to make an informed opinion. I'm sure they'll make my Jane After Dark column at some point in the future. So I hope you'll tell me your favorites in the comments below. 1. True Blood. This vampire series is one of my favorite new shows of the past few years. Not only does it pack just about every emotion into every episode -- love, lust, joy, sadness, and terror, to name a few -- but the characters are fun and unpredictable. Alan Ball is a master at setting the bar high, and he continues to do that with True Blood. While I liked season one a little better than season two (didn't really go for the Maryann storyline), I can't wait to see what happens in season three. Read my interviews with Alan Ball and Stephen Moyer, who plays vampire Bill Compton. [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 09/29/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Graffitti WV Spirit:Trammell finds ‘true’ roots in West Virginia | By Danny Forinash | POSTED: September 29, 200
On the HBO original series “True Blood,” Sam Trammell plays a shape-shifter, changing from man to animal and back again. On Oct. 30, Trammell will be transforming back into a West Virginian. “I really am thrilled to be coming back to Charleston,” he said. “I consider Charleston home. My mom and dad still live there. I really miss it, and I’m excited to see all my friends and family. It’s great to be coming home.” But the main focus of Trammell’s Charleston visit will be supporting the work of East End Main Street, a program of the Charleston Area Alliance dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Charleston’s oldest and most diverse neighborhood. Trammel will be the highlight of EEMS’s inaugural HallowEast fundraiser, participating in “Inside the Main Street Studio,” a sit-down, “Inside the Actors Studio”-style interview, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Kanawha Players, 309 Beauregard St. David Wohl, dean of arts and humanities at West Virginia State University, will be asking the questions, and a Kanawha Players performance of “Dial M for Murder” will follow Trammell’s appearance. Trammell fits well with HallowEast, of course, because he considers Charleston his hometown. Being a star on “True Blood,” though, helps, because the show’s dark theme mixes well with a Halloween event. “It’s a good fit for Halloween,” Trammell said. “If you’ve read the Charlaine Harris books (on which the show is based), you know she introduces a whole host of fantastical creatures. For sure, it’s a Halloween sort of show.” And viewers in West Virginia, like fans all across the country, are engrossed in the evolving storyline, one that continually weaves Louisiana culture and vampire lore into a tale that is all at once scary, funny, captivating, provocative and smart. “It’s always interesting to hear from people who are really into the show,” Trammell said. “It attracts a wide demographic. Sometimes, people will ask my dad what’s going to happen next on the show, and he has no idea. It amazes me people in West Virginia are actually keeping up with what I’m doing on the show. The attention is completely new to me.” Trammell was born in Louisiana and has lived in North Dakota and Indiana. But he spent most of his early life in Charleston, going to Overbrook Elementary, John Adams Middle School and George Washington High School. After attending Brown University and the University of Paris, Trammell acted on Broadway and eventually appeared in several films – “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” and “Autumn in New York,” among others – and guest-starred on several televisions shows – “House,” “CSI: New York” and “Dexter,” among others. “True Blood,” though, has catapulted Trammell to celebrity status, which is evident by the growing number of talk show appearances. “Sam is a star on the rise, so we are thrilled and honored he is taking the time to be a part of, and really the highlight of, HallowEast,” said EEMS Program Director Ric Cavender. “A lot of fans are going to be excited, too.” [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 09/29/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Another poll? Yep - from Extra TV:VOTE: Hottest Supporting Vampire!Posted on September 28, 2009 Stephen Moyer, Robert Pattinson and Paul Wesley steal the spotlight in "True Blood", "Twilight" and "The Vampire Diaries" -- but all of these leading men have blood-sucking sidekicks that give them a run for their money as the hottest vampire on-set!
Tell "Extra" -- Who is the hottest supporting vampire? Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Cinematical:by Elisabeth Rappe Sep 28th 2009 // 8:45PM
But Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson over at Slate have done some historical digging, and come to a surprising discovery: We've never not been in the middle of a vampire craze. Christopher Lee created one, and when the popularity of the vampire began to wane, Anne Rice stepped in. When readers tired of Lestat, in walked Joss Whedon with Buffy, and so on. There's only been a few gaps that Slate terms "The Garlic Years" when vampires were "back in the coffin," perhaps most notably between 1960-1965, and 1975-76. If you think about the entertainment trends of those years, it actually makes sense why no one was sniffing out the artery. That period of the 1960s was when Hitchcock flourished, as did Steve McQueen and James Bond. 1976 was the year of Rocky, Taxi Driver, Network, and so much more. The vogue was for sleek mortal cool and for gritty realism, neither of which are embodied by vampires. So, why does it seem like there's more fangbangers than ever? I think it's purely because of the Internet and the way entertainment overwhelms us with marketing. When Interview with the Vampire hit theaters, it didn't come blazing with blood energy drinks, and static-cling decals. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was popular enough to warrant t-shirts, books, and prosthetic Halloween make-up, but it never got an official drink or subway banners the way True Blood has. But like so many boom town trends, it's created and sustained more by advertising executives wanting us to believe there's a new fashion for the fang rather than admitting its a well worn genre. Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From TVbythenumbers:True Blood Is the “Stickiest” Show On TelevisionPosted on 28 September 2009 by Bill Gorman
Rentrak Reports New Weekly Engagement Metric-New ‘Stickiness’ Index Measures Viewer Involvement- [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Excellent commentary about True Blood's Nathan Barr - from TV Squad:The Music of Mad Men, True Blood and Sons of AnnarchyPosted Sep 28th 2009 2:01PM by Jane Boursaw
Another show with great use of music is Sons of Anarchy. In his review of "Tears," Danny noted, "Letting Katey Sagal sing a solemn cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" was really a great move on whomever made that call." I couldn't agree more. The song just washed all of the sadness and weight of her rape over us in a big way. And, of course, I can't talk about TV show music without mentioning True Blood. Not only is the theme song perfect -- "Bad Things" by Jace Everett -- but specific scenes and the end credits always feature the exact right songs, as well. Some examples include "Scratches" by Debbie Davies (at the end of the "Scratches" episodes); "Deeper Into You" by Johnny Hazzard (Lafayette begging to be turned, not killed); and "Walking the Dog" by Rufus Thomas (Sookie waking up to find Sam in dog form at the end of her bed). That's just a tiny sample; great music is used in every episode, and Nathan Barr (follow him on Twitter) does a truly awesome job with the True Blood score. Clearly, a lot of thought goes into the song choices for these shows. What other shows make great use of music? Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*fanning self* (I voted for the first one) - From The Ausiello Files:
This oughta get the True Blood-thirsty among you salivating! Since Alan Ball has confirmed that season 3 will make an animal attraction of the werewolf Alcide (who debuted in the third Sookie novel, Club Dead), I thought I — and, in turn, you — should help the series’ busy, busy creator on his hunt for just the right actor to sink his teeth into the juicy part. My suggestions: Henry Cavill: If The Tudors‘ other heartthrob can look that good in tights and frilly shirts, we can’t imagine he’d fare worse with back hair front and back. The question is, could he rock the role without an English accent? Benjamin Bratt: The former Cleaner star may seem a little long in the tooth to strike up the necessary chemistry with Anna Paquin, whose Sookie he helps search for Bill. But remember, her currently-MIA almost-fiance is hundreds of years older! Steven Strait: Since he’s modeled for Details and Vogue, it’s a given that the Stop-Loss and 10,000 BC vet has tall, dark and handsome down pat. But does he have the chops to pull off a compelling performance in canine chompers? Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Thanks to a little show on The CW as well as a certain Grey’s Anatomy “ghost” story, supernatural hoo-ha is old hat to Denny’s portrayer. Trouble is, coming off slightly mad, occasionally bad and potentially dangerous isn’t. (Confession: I never saw Morgan’s slightly mad, occasionally bad and potentially dangerous turn in Watchman.) Ben Browder: Part romantic lead, part action hero, the SyFy mainstay (Farscape, Stargate SG-1) could play Alcide in his sleep. But as with Bratt, his age could be an issue. Cam Gigandet: One glance at this Twilight vamp and you think, “Here comes trouble.” Unfortunately for Ball and Co., movie casting directors generally seem to also think, “Here comes our Next Big Thing.” So he’s about as likely to be available for hire as Eric is for breakfast. Your turn — who do you see donning a furry body stocking for True Blood’s next monster mash? Vote in the poll and then sound off in the comments! (Additional reporting by Andy Patrick) [Cast your vote] Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From EOnline:Today 11:31 AM PDT by Megan Masters
No, real-life lovebirds Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer won't be there, but this is your chance to hear scoop on the upcoming third season from the writers themselves, including show runner extraordinaire Alan Ball. And for being a loyal Watch With Kristin devotee, we're giving you the goods first. Tickets for True Blood: Inside the Writers Roomwill be available this Thursday, Oct. 1 at the Paley Center website. Wouldn't you love to toss around some of your own storyline ideas with the powers that be, or even just ask one of many burning Q's—like why it took so long to kill off Maryann? Yeah, we thought so. True Blood: Inside the Writers Room happens Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. See you there! Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Chattanooga Times Free Press:Bloodthirsty: Audiences drink up vampirism in pop culture
Academics say vampires represent death, sexuality and cultural uncertainty, but Bess Helton just thinks they're cool. "I like it because it's got a lot of fantasy stuff and a love story," said Bess, 14, a self-proclaimed "Twilight"-ophile. "It's fun to read about vampires." From best-selling teen romance series "Twilight" to HBO's "True Blood," vampirism is sinking its teeth into pop-culture audiences. The CW television network premiered "The Vampire Diaries" earlier this month. "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," based on a novel by author Darren Shan, hits theaters next month. So why are vampires so bloody interesting? "Vampire narratives are adaptable to periods of anxiety," said Donovan Gwinner, who teaches a class called "Got Blood? Vampires in Literature, Film and Pop Culture" at Aurora University in Aurora, Ill. Indeed Bela Lugosi earned immortality playing Dracula in the original film adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel at the height of the Great Depression. Anne Rice's "Interview With the Vampire" fueled sales in the 1980s when readers saw the bloodletting story as a metaphor for the AIDS crisis. Some have linked the current vampire phenomenon to economic uncertainty. The "Twilight" series also has been viewed as allegorical toward abstinence. "We live in a sexual generation," said Jenny Mitchell, 30. "People are more willing to do things that they normally wouldn't do, and now you have a book out where a guy is saying 'I want to wait until we're married.' " "Part of the appeal of 'Twilight,' " said Dr. Gwinner, "is the chivalric, courtly romance. It reads in a lot of ways like a Jane Austen novel, where the sexuality is very suppressed." Historically however, he said, vampiric feeding has been a "sexualized exchange and assault." Sensual vampirism relates to the oral stage -- "an overt form of consumption" (bloodsucking), also a form of bodily penetration. Phyllis Roth, an English professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., said fascination with vampirism has always been related to fascination with death. "We are the only creature that knows we are going to die, and there are those who argue that everything in culture is a way of trying to establish our immortality," she said. "But most of the vampire figures wind up bemoaning living for that long. It's a way of demonstrating that death is necessary. There is not immortality without sadness." It remains to be seen whether writers like Meyer and Charlaine Harris (the "Southern Vampire" series upon which "True Blood" is based) will gain their own immortality. At this time, however, the undead have a strong heartbeat. Two months before its opening, the movie adaptation of Meyer's second novel, "New Moon," has sold out more than 60 theaters. Bess Helton, her mother said, already has tickets. Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Halloween, Tim Burton Style - from io9:If you've ever longed to dress like a character from one of Tim Burton's films — or are simply looking for an extremely expensive Halloween costume — check out this Burton-directed fashion shoot, showcasing the dark, quirky looks for fall. In anticipation of the Burton retrospective, which comes to the New York Museum of Modern Art this November, Harper's Bazaar asked Burton to dream up his fantasy fashion spread, one inspired by his own movies. Of course, these outfits will set you back a few thousand dollars apiece, to say nothing about the giant skeleton props.
Tim Burton's Magical Fashion [Harper's Bazaar via Super Punch] Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alabama's Crimson White talks about vamps and marketing:
Published:Monday, September 28, 2009 People just can’t seem to get enough of vampires these days. Perhaps the most recognized vampires in pop culture today are those of the heavily followed “Twilight” books and movies and HBO’s hit TV series “True Blood,” but those only scratch the surface of the vampire world. What is it about vampires that make them so appealing? Sarah Houston, a senior majoring in biology and history, said vampires had a unique appeal for the opposite sex. As a result, she said, many students would see new and upcoming vampire flicks like “Twilight: New Moon” and “Daybreakers.” “Women find vampires appealing because they are the bad boy,” Houston said. “I’ll definitely be going to the ‘New Moon’ midnight showing.” Chris Irving, a junior majoring in chemical engineering, said it is a combination of mythical and inherent power that make vampires so attractive to audiences. He said vampires have also changed over the years, shifting their character from a grotesque figure of wickedness to slightly emo, debonair characters. “They want to be edgy, they want to be different,” Irving says. “They [vampires] went from being bad to being dateable.” Morgan Stacy, a UA professor in the American studies department, sees the spirit of the vampire spreading out of the horror genre. “The vampire has branched out beyond horror films, something like ‘True Blood’ especially,” Morgan said. But vampires weren’t always as glamorous as they are today. Early films such as “Nosferatu” (1922) depict the vampire as a soulless, horrifying creature, but now characters like Edward Cullen from the Twilight series and Queen Akasha from “Queen of the Damned” (2003) depict vampires as sexy and provocative. This is just one example of the many image changes vampires have taken over the years. Even the most famous vampire of all time, Count Dracula, has undergone a drastic image change. Not all students like these changes, however. Caitlin Kirby, a junior majoring in chemical engineering, said vampires’ attraction comes from otherworldly elements such as sucking the blood of the living, getting to live forever, and commanding black magic. Kirby said that’s the way it ought to stay. “It’s all fantasy, it’s not real,” Kirby said. “I think they need to stay as mythical, scary creatures.” But the vampire has remained a prominent figure of the horror genre despite its shift in look and personality. Certainly the “Blade” trilogy and the massive TV hit “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” have built a large fan base for people who dislike how current media production houses have taken the image of the vampire and turned it against its original core meaning. Turning the vampire into a figure of tortured romance hasn’t seemed to slow down the making of new and upcoming vampire flicks. The release of “New Moon” will mark the sixth feature-length vampire movie in 2009 alone. Kelly Muenstermen, a senior biology major, said the wave of vampire movies is just film companies profiting off of the current trend. “It is a point of market saturation,” Muenstermen said. “Vampires are decidedly a rally cry, and companies are cashing in on the dollar.” Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vamp make-up is in - from London's Evening Standard:Black eyes please: the vampire look is backLiz Hoggard | 28.09.09
When the A-list turned up to Burberry's catwalk show last Tuesday they changed the face of make- up. The front row was dominated by black-eyed beauties, batting their full-on lashes, looking bang on trend. There was Harry Potter star Emma Watson transformed into a sultry vamp — all chalk-white face and extreme eye shadow. “You're such a grown-up girl now, darling,” said Mario Testino to Watson as he slipped into the front-row seat next to her. And he should know. He shot her for Burberry's latest poster campaign with lashings of kohl and windswept hair. Earlier this year, Ruth Marshall-Johnson, senior editor of Think Tank, published by future trends analyst WGSN, predicted “the vampire look will be very popular”. At Burberry, blonde superstar Aggy Deyn showed off a new raven bob, Alexa Chung accentuated those catlike eyes with deep, dark shadows. Even Posh was channelling Morticia Adams with mysterious metallic eye make-up and onyx lipstick. In taking a nod at noir, fashion is reclaiming the erotic and the macabre and embracing the trend for vampire chic. Thanks to hit films Twilight and Let The Right One In, and new cult TV show True Blood, gothic make-up looks were all over the 2009 runways. Think sexy neutrals with a monochrome edge. The new Black Eyed Peas make-up look — as it's been dubbed — is part emo, part rock chick. Hair is layered and dark, with sweeping bangs. The eyes take centre stage, framed by heavy, well-defined brows. The face is left matte; lips nude. But we wouldn't be here without French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld. In her own words, she has always been a “black eyes girl”. She made a rare appearance at the Burberry show, completing the heavy-lidded line-up. The following day, supermodel Iman was sporting charcoal-black eyeshadow at the “Important Dinner for Women 4” in New York. Even M&S is at it. Ads for their Limited Collection feature a model with a curtain of Iggy Pop hair, smoky eyes and kohl put on with a trowel. A dead ringer for Carine, in fact. According to MAC's Terry Barber, who did makeup for the Vivienne Westwood Red Label, Pam Hogg and Headonism shows: “You want worn-in smokiness, that sensually dirty look.” Roitfeld's own tip: adding a little white to the inside of the inner lid to open and lift them up. So sharpen your kohl pencils now, and get set to smoulder. Back to black Senior make-up artist at MAC Neil Young explains how to get great black eyes without looking as if you've gone eight rounds in a championship fight. “A black eye is really a technique not a colour,” he says, “and can be created in any shade. However, blending is the key to creating it successfully.” Step 1: “Start by blending a kohl pencil around upper and lower lash lines.” Step 2: “Blend any hard edges away using a smudge brush.” Step 3: “Once the edges of the pencil are diffused, sweep over an eyeshadow in the same colour as the pencil. MAC Blacktied (£11) is perfect as it is slightly light reflective and appears softer around the eye. Use a blending brush for this as it applies the eyeshadow and blends it seamlessly at the same time.” Step 4: “Clean off any excess product from the brush and soften the edges of the make-up until the colour graduates to nothing.” Step 5: “Follow with several coats of mascara and, if you're feeling daring, line the inner rim of the eye with kohl for a super sexy effect.” Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
True Blood's Tanya Wright (Kenya) - from Mississippi's Clarion Ledger:
COLUMBUS — In 2006, when Tanya Wright first penned the script for a very personal film she hoped to one day make, she had never heard of Columbus. But while in the city to meet a business partner, the native New Yorker and Los Angeles-based actress had what one might call a Possum Town epiphany. "I was here, and we were talking about making a couple of movies," said Wright, who plays the character Kenya in the HBO series True Blood. "I had this script I wrote several years ago that was very dear to my heart. We actually weren't going to make this one any time soon (but) I looked out the window one day and realized this is the perfect place to shoot this movie, just perfect in every way." Butterfly Rising was Wright's directing debut and what she calls a passion project inspired by an experience in her own life. "My brother, Barron Wright, died suddenly in 2005, and I was ... changing, wide and deep. My attraction to butterflies during this period of my life was strong. A butterfly - with its four stages: egg, caterpillar, cocoon and, finally, butterfly - is the result of a metamorphosis, the complete transformation." In Wright's screenplay, the character Lilah Belle loses her brother - Brooks Berry of Columbus - and sets out to escape her grief, embarking on a road trip to "Newhope, Miss.," but not before coaxing the most scandalous woman in Artesia - the fictional Rose Johnson - to go with her. These two broken souls steal a vintage truck and head out on the open road for a fated meeting with the mythical, magical Lazarus of the Butterflies, who transforms their destinies. Once the decision to produce the screenplay was made, "I went on a mission, driving around the city and area scouting locations," Wright said. "I was amazed at how similar things were to the pictures in my mind." [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 09/28/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I seldom post fan created videos ... but this one is outstanding: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE party to go to after the Emmy's (gotta love Kathy Griffin):Boadicea | 09/27/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Ask The Answer Bitch at EOnline:Today 7:02 AM PDT by Leslie Gornstein
—Eternal High, via the Answer B!tch inbox Another question aimed at getting me to wax forth on Robert Pattinson. Fine. I've seen Wagnerian operas with more charm than that child. I've seen larvae with more melanin that that child. I've seen cinder blocks more fascinating than that child. Now, before we go any further, the draw of True Blood should not in any way be confused with Twilight's appeal. People love True Blood because they're almost guaranteed to turn on any given episode and see somebody half nekkid. But it's the utter denial of sexuality in the Twilight series that has made it one of the most successful vampire franchises ever. Between its doormat heroine, its domineering, borderline stalker of a male lead, and their nearly nonexistent sex life, the franchise is prime fodder for the promise-ring crowd. But neither of those series comes even close to being the first to mix vampires and sexual issues, not by far... 1. Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula novel was published during the Victorian era for a reason. Back then there were about 8,000 rules on when to have sex, how to have sex, where to have sex. People broke the rules, of course, but respectable people weren't supposed to, and any Stoker scholar with a brain has drawn parallels between the bloodsucking—but technically chaste—Dracula and the sexual tensions and frustrations of the era. As one critic put it, "Dracula has embedded in it a very disturbing psychosexual allegory...that there is a demonic force at work in the world whose intent is to eroticize women...That force transforms Lucy Westenra, a beautiful nineteen-year-old virgin, into a shameless slut." In other words, for that time and place, Dracula was about as R-rated as mainstream entertainment got. 2. Actors like Catherine Deneuve were doing the hot sexy vampire thing before most of you were even blastocysts. In 1983, a vampy Deneuve got it on with a bloodsuckin' Susan Sarandon in the rated-R undead flick The Hunger. And oh: There was a vamp David Bowie, too. 3. Some of you can remember Brad Pitt in the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire. The flick also was rated R. I bring this up to prove that the R-rating treatment has been going on with vampires for quite a while, and it's been driving the kids wild for just as long. Now, have these adult-rated pieces of entertainment driven people as crazy as Twilight or True Blood? Maybe. But probably not. Need me to prove it to you? Look! Over there! Edward Cullen! In a Volvo! Boadicea | 09/27/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Memphis Vampire Examiner:September 27, 11:51 AM | Raelynn Coomb
True Blood is a carbonated slightly tart, lightly sweet, blood-orange drink that is sold by four packs for $16. And it's also a preferred drink of Bill Compton. This item will be available to ship on October 7th. From the makers of Mana and Health Energy Potion, the new Blood Energy Potion is described as a sweet fruit punch drink that has a similar nutritional make up as real blood with the same blood consistency but not the same blood taste and also claims to give you 4 hours of energy.Oh, and you get to drink it from your own re-sealable IV transfusion bag! Individually these little bags will cost you $5.99 each, but you can buy a 48 pack for $191.92. Unfortunately, you can't get these yet. They won't be available until January 2010. Boadicea | 09/27/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Forbes:The pay cable chief talks about the competition, the network's comeback and what's next. Lacey Rose
In the face of growing competition and inescapable digitalization, HBO is once again luring viewers, buzz and award show acclaim. Chief among the highlights for a network that snagged 21 Emmy wins this month is its vampire-themed smash True Blood. The Alan Ball drama cumulatively charmed 12.4 million viewers on a weekly basis this season, making it HBO's second most watched series behind The Sopranos. Up next, Nelson and his colleagues will roll out another hotly anticipated cadre of potential hits from director Martin Scorsese (Boardwalk Empire) and The Wire's David Simon (Treme). [Continue reading...] Boadicea | 09/27/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From Melodika:
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| The inspiration of HBO's decadent Emmy tent - from Fox News: Famed Beverly Hills Courier columnist George Christy gives you an insider's peek into Hollywood's A-list parties and personalities.
More agreement surfaced that host Neil Patrick Harris juiced the evening, as he did with the Tony Awards in June. And that he should be booked now for next year was discussed after the Nokia Theatre ceremony during HBO’s posh party at the Pacific Design Center. Two thousand guests celebrated the cable giant’s 99 Emmy nominations – more than any other network for the ninth year in a row, winning 21 awards. They concurred that the HBO fete is Numero Uno, which is why everyone convenes for this auspicious evening that’s remembered with huge thanks and appreciation. HBO’s grand-slam soirees and premieres are created and designed by Billy B, as friends call him. This is our resident genius Billy Butchkavitz, who grew up in a rambling Eastern Pennsylvania farmhouse, and stores humongous grab bags of surprises in his hip pockets for the fabled fetes he designs. Two years ago for HBO’s Emmy party, Billy dazzled the crowd with his Thailand theme, and last year’s HBO’s Brasilia decor still has Lynne Segall, an admitted fan who’s the LA Times v-p of entertainment and advertising, in awe and raving. This week, HBO guests marveled at Billy’s centerpiece in the dining area of the 20-foot-in-diameter chandelier of glittering ruby-red crystals, extending 28 feet from the ceiling. A knockout that had eyes gaping. Billy claims the inspiration for his overall décor was Parisian couturier Paul Poiret (1879-1944), who banished the corset and created free-flowing, luxurious Art-Decoesque gowns for his clients. “Poiret’s famous for hosting the most extravagant parties for a fashion designer,” informed Billy, noting that the rose was Poiret’s signature, with Billy creating a garden for the party with one hundred ten-feet-tall rosebush topiaries he custom-ordered and had shipped by boat from China. Blood-red roses dressed the tables and buffets, with many guests assuming that Billy was inspired by HBO’s popular series, True Blood. Boadicea | 09/27/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From UK's Times Online: Soft flesh, sinking teeth, romance, possession — we're having a gothic moment with Twilight and True Blood September 27, 2009 | India Knight
Shortly after this, I wrote a feature about people who genuinely believed themselves to be vampires, including a man who had had his teeth filed into fangs, along with his unscary posse, all of whom lived in a squat off the Caledonian Road. Again, I was overcome with laughter halfway through. Of all the 1980s youth cults, goth has always struck me as the most comical. They were always so provincial: you never met a goth who came from, say, Shoreditch. They were always from places like Pontypridd or Mablethorpe, with their little cloaks and spider’s-web necklaces. And they took themselves so seriously: you wanted to tickle them and say, “Psst, you’re not really undead. Here, have a Wotsit.” It is with some incredulity, then, that I am obliged to report that goths have had the last laugh. In 2009, we’re all vampire-obsessed. You can buy black nail polish at Superdrug. Dita Von Teese, Nicole Kidman and Madonna have helped popularise intense pallor, and starlets such as Rumer Willis and Kristen Stewart continue the tradition. Every luxe make-up and fashion brand around can sell you all you need to look freshly exhumed; meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan is posting pictures of herself wearing fangs on Twitter. Elsewhere, the publishing industry may be on its knees, but not when it comes to Mormon housewife (yes, really) Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, read by teenagers and their mums and dads. Her trilogy spent a collective 143 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The first Twilight film, adapted from Meyer’s book, made a superstar of Robert Pattinson, who plays a 108-year-old vampire. Its sequel, New Moon, is scheduled for release in November. Following the success of Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is being remade as a big-bucks Hollywood movie. On television, the hottest series for ages — and I say this as an adult who loves The Wire, not as an emo teenager — is True Blood, an incredibly sexy vampire series steeped in Southern gothic and created by Alan Ball, previously of Six Feet Under. The series is based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books, and has been showing on the cable channel FX to rave reviews. It comes to Channel 4 this autumn. In America, a new series called The Vampire Diaries premiered this month to 4.8m viewers. And so it goes on: vampires — or vamps, as they’re known to fans — are having a moment. Why is this? Most obviously, you can’t get more escapist than a vampire, and what people want when they feel their lives have taken a nose dive, along with the global economy, is escapism. Second, vampires aren’t superheroes but loners, operating outside of society’s rules, and, therefore, of irresistible appeal to huge swathes of society, teenagers chief among them. The idea that “they walk among us”, that our own cosy little communities are under attack from something Other and dangerous, is also, obviously, resonant. But mostly it’s because this new breed of vampires are sexy — forget Nosferatu with his ratty teeth: what’s on offer now is toned young flesh, and plenty of it. The idea of soft flesh, sinking teeth, blood and possession, served up with a hefty dose of glamour, is a perfect fit with our pansexual 21st-century tastes. Add romance to the sex — because vampires are intensely romantic, doomed to roam the earth in the dark, incapable of experiencing human love — and you have the perfect package: pure escapism, sex, romance and good-looking people. No wonder the public can’t wait to sink its teeth (sorry) into the next piece of vampire entertainment: it’s 2009, and we’re a long way from the Caledonian Road. New vampire TV: your guide to True Blood Lead character Sookie Stackhouse is telepathic. While bussing tables, she can read the locals’ disgust at the fact she is dating Bill, a 200-year-old vampire, the only person who’s mind she can’t read. (He’s technically dead, ergo no brain waves.) Fang-banging (intercourse between vampire and human) is commonplace, though risky, as vampires’ fangs come out when aroused. The main pick-up joint is Fangtasia, which serves both real and synthesised blood. Lafayette, the town’s gay, drug-dealing burger-flipper, is the point of contact for V, highly illegal and greatly sought-after “tabs” of vampire blood. The effect this has on mortals is that of total euphoria, but careless over consumption can lead to a rather compromising priapic state. It also encourages sexual fantasy about the dispensing vamp. Other residents include a shapeshifter, a man who can turn into beast at will, and a supernatural maenad who hypnotises the entire town and turns them into a wide-eyed and thrusting orgy. Hard, ahem, to miss. True Blood starts on Channel 4 on October 5 at 10pm Boadicea | 09/27/2009 | Post Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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