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***SPOILERS***
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From TVGuide.com:
True Blood's Michelle Forbes Ponders
"The Riddle of Maryann"
Jul 11, 2009 02:32 PM ET | by Mickey O'Connor
 Michelle Forbes likes that her True Blood character, Maryann Forrester, is such an enigma. It reminds her of how she got the acting gig. "I was told a lot, yet very little, and that is the riddle of Maryann," she says, quixotically. "I was so lost initially." Join the club. You may have heard that Maryann is a maenad, and that's technically accurate — but it's certainly not the whole story. Forbes was gracious enough to help us understand Maryann's maybe-not-so-evil-after-all ways in this two-part interview. (After you watch Sunday's episode, come back Monday morning for the juicy bits of Part 2.)
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------> TVGuide.com: When I heard Alan Ball was going to be doing a vampire show, I thought: Oh, no! I'm not generally a fan of goth or genre-type stuff.
Michelle Forbes: That's what's so fascinating about [True Blood]. For someone who seems to be known for her sci-fi career, I had not thought of vampires for more than five minutes in my entire life. But this show is not about vampires. It's looking at all these different beings — a telepathic waitress, a shape-shifter bar owner, or, you know, Stephen Root's lonely accountant vampire — and it gives such a real face to this world of the supernatural that I always found rather goofy.
TVGuide.com: And the end result is both fun and sophisticated.
Forbes: You have this landscape for social commentary, for questioning injustice, compassion and our pack-mentality thinking allegorically.
TVGuide.com: Were you a fan of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels?
Forbes: I'd never even heard of them. I bought them, read the first one and then put them down because we are telling our own story. For the "book-ies" out there, everyone has to remember that it's an adaptation, not a translation.
TVGuide.com: There is a character who's similar to Maryann in the books though, isn't there?
Forbes: Yes, Callisto — she shows up in the second book. I was like, why didn't we use that name? It's so much prettier than Maryann.
TVGuide.com: What did they tell you in advance about Maryann?
Forbes: There were discussions about Greek mythology, and yet you open a script and you're dancing to the B-52's. It was a little hard trying to understand how the two mesh together, but with these writers and [series creator Alan Ball], the trust factor is massive. Everything became evident the more I sat still.
TVGuide.com: What exactly did you talk about?
Forbes: We talked about Bacchus and Dionysus; what a maenad is, how they're led by appetite, how they thrive off other peoples' appetites, chaos and destruction. But, you know, that was the diving board, but it wasn't the pool.
TVGuide.com: So Maryann is a hybrid of some sort?
Forbes: Yes. With these characters, you can do as much research as you want, but you're not going to find out that vampires sometimes wear tracksuits and flip-flops. So you take that foundation, and then you jump into the pool. You just get wet.
TVGuide.com: So then how did you make Maryann contemporary?
Forbes: I watched a lot of Ken Russell films. I thought a lot about New York in the '80s, [avant-garde punk singer] Lydia Lunch, when there was just freedom and excess and people were just knocking down walls, and there was chaos and destruction. On the Lower East Side, there were rats running through the street and people loved it! Stepping over bodies to walk home! The burning trash cans. There was just this creativity.
TVGuide.com: But then, Maryann's veneer is very calming and kind of New Age.
Forbes: She's happy; she's happier than all of us. It pisses me off actually.
TVGuide.com: What do you like about playing her?
Forbes: I tend to play a lot of tortured people, so it has been liberating playing Maryann. There is a sense of contentment that was, to be honest, initially horrifying and frightening to me. She's not afraid of anything, and not in that clichéd way, she's truly just OK. She's not afraid. She can eat what she likes, she can have sex with whom she likes, she can play with whom she likes. She can dress in beautiful clothes. She has everything at her fingertips. There's nothing she doesn't need.
TVGuide.com: Speaking of the clothes, did the wardrobe help you find her?
Forbes: Yes. She is that Ibiza party girl. She's the girl who never left the party, but it hasn't hurt her. Those people are usually quite tragic, but she's not. She doesn't give one blink as to what people think of her. She'sfree of all those constraints.
TVGuide.com: Why is Maryann so focused on Tara and her relationship with Eggs?
Forbes: Tara is just the one of the moment, the conduit into this town. Before her, it was Eggs. Before Eggs, it was someone else. After Tara, it will be someone else. The goal is much larger. Tara is just the most vulnerable and the most susceptible right now.
TVGuide.com: What language did Sookie hear when she read Maryann's thoughts? Are we to assume it's Greek?
Forbes: Yes, it's Greek, and you'll be hearing a lot more of it.
TVGuide.com: What exactly is happening when Maryann vibrates?
Forbes: The vibrations are very integral to who she is. She thrives off the energy of the people around her. When they are in a place of ecstasy, that feeds her. Her appetite is fed off the appetite of others.
TVGuide.com: But isn't she also creating their behavior?
Forbes: It's a mutual energy flow, if you will. She sets it in motion and then she receives the energy from it.
TVGuide.com: Are those vibration scenes really weird to film?
Forbes: You do feel a little nutty. There's some green screen; it depends because it happens in different ways at different times. It's a bit technical at times and you have to brace yourself for the fact that you're standing there shaking in front of the crew.
TVGuide.com: What's up with the pig? Is it a shape-shifted human? Like maybe Karl, Maryann's butler?
Forbes: We'll keep finding out. I mean, animals of all sorts play their part as the season progresses. The pig is important, but it's not as important as you think. There are so many other animals that come into play. Come back Monday morning for Part 2 of our interview with Forbes, when she reveals other facets of Maryann's complicated identity.
Watch clips of True Blood in our Online Video Guide
Follow TVGuide.com on Twitter for more breaking news and scoop
07/11/2009 ~ http://www.tvguide.com/News/True-Blood-Forbes-1007941.aspx?rss=object |
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From NationalLedger.com:
Twilight Battle: New Moon Star Robert Pattinson vs.
the True Blood Hunks
By Lynda Johnson
 Robert Pattinson vaulted to the top of the heap of Hollywood men with his Twilight role as Edward Cullen and his star is now very bright with the New Moon sequel shot, and awaiting a fall promotion and release. But while Rob Pattinson has many of the ladies interested what about the HBO series "True Blood"? While the women of the show are stripping put of their clothes to earn that "R" rating on the HBO series, the men are certainly steamy in high definition television as well.
Us Weekly Magazine reports, "The men of HBO’s hit vampire drama are a feast - for the eyes describing Ryan Kwanten as "lusty, oft-shirtless Jason Stackhouse, the Australian native, 32, effortlessly beds a bevy of woman." Oh my. In real life, however, Kwanten doesn’t have it so easy. The actor (who declines to say if he has a mate) laments to Us, “Dating is hard!”
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Sam Trammell - Playing brooding bar owner Sam (a shape shifter who can morph into animals), brought the New Orleans-born actor, 38, a role he’s adjusting to: hunk. “It makes for awkward conversation with the relatives,” Trammell, who has a girlfriend, tells Us Weekly.
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Stephen Moyer - Even onscreen lover interest Anna Paquin, 26, couldn’t resist the smoldering U.K. native, 39 who plays vampire Bill: The two began dating in 2008 after meeting during their audition for the show. Their chemistry, Moyer has said, “was unstoppable.”
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Alexander Skarsgard - Creator Alan Ball calls the 6’4” Swede, 32, “gorgeous”. But the single star, who plays Moyer’s villainous nemesis Eric - “a predator in a Versace suit,” Skarsgard tolls US - balks at being called a sex symbol: “James Dean was a sex symbol.”
07/11/2009 ~ http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272626908.shtml |
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From Jacksonville TV Examiner:
Loving the parasite: the appeal of vampires
 They prey on humans. We're all human. So, really, vampires should be pretty abhorrent, right? Something you want to stay away from, like a hungry wolf in winter, or a tiger that's developed a taste for human flesh. They're parasites like fleas, mosquitoes or ticks-- something that steals our blood, and eventually can steal our lives.
And yet, we, as a pop-culture, seem to love vampires. But why?
Mostly, it's probably the modern humanizing of the creatures. In mythology and legend, vampires are usually horrible revenants, things that either don't know they were once human, and still prey on them because they won't or can't accept death, or they're like ghosts or such, they look human, but all they want is to steal the life they don't have anymore. But since TV picked up on the trope, they've changed. Back in the 60s, Barnabas Collins was one of the first sympathetic vampires the culture as a whole saw (on the supernatural soap-opera Dark Shadows that was almost remade in the 90s), and since then, it's sort of exploded: this idea that even though the basic state of a vampire is as a cold-blooded killer, the modern vamp can learn to regain his or her humanity, and can overcome their basic nature. This makes vampires much closer to something we, as people, can adapt to and empathize with, and transforms them from evil bloodsucking villain-monsters into brooding, conflicted, complex and eminently attractive love interests.
It really caught on with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel, the vampire with a soul who was consumed by guilt over his past actions, kicked off the current wave of sexy, dark and brooding vampires that continues through Twilight's Edward Cullen, True Blood's Bill Compton, and presumably through to the Vampire Diaries. These vamps, are capable of love, and come ready-made with the central conflict of the repentant vampire's story: will they turn their human loves, or will they live forever, unchanging, while they let them die? It's the same conflict that often cropped up in Highlander, but it's moved to the front and it's given the added dimension of an option to do something about it. Highlanders can't choose who else is immortal, but a vampire can-- and each show has a different answer to how that situation plays out. Angel didn't turn Buffy or Cordelia, and Spike wasn't able to hurt humans; Henry, in Blood Ties, chose not to turn his various loves because after about a year or two, there's a sort of territoriality that kicks in, meaning he'll lose them anyway, on top of the fact that being turned changes
your personality. Mick St John, of Moonlight, and Bill Compton were both changed against their will and wanted no part in inflicting such a perceived curse on anyone else. But with Twilight as the reigning word in vampirism in pop culture just now, it's only a matter of time before one of these shows catches takes the direction of turning the main love interest (not just a side character, as is the case of True Blood), and then there will be new issues to iron out in their interpersonal relationships.
These vampire leads tend to be old-fashioned, somewhat conservative, generally self-hating, or at least close to it, and are usually repulsed by what they have to do to survive, or what they did before reaching their do-good epiphanies. It makes them sometimes less interesting than the secondary vampire characters that move through their lives, like Spike and Joseph and Eric, but the old-fashioned-ness gives them a place to work from, a way to be gentle and charming and sweet that most vampires lack, and it allows them to be the romantic leads we the viewers want. From goody-two-shoes Angel through to stalkerish bad boys like Edward, there's a change among them, but they're still there to be what the traditional vampire can't be: both the dark and the light side of love, the entanglement of blood and death with eternal life, and the ultimate untouchable and therefore ideal lover.
07/11/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-11396-Jacksonville-TV-Examiner~y2009m7d11-Loving-the-parasite-the-appeal-of-vampires |
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From United Kingdom's Guardian:
(True Blood Season 1 premieres in the UK Friday, July 17)
TV preview: True Blood
After years of writing TV drama Six Feet Under, Alan Ball is certainly no stranger to death – but why did he want to enter the world of the living dead for his steamy new series? He explains all to Sam Delaney
Sam Delaney
The Guardian, Saturday 11 July 2009
17 Jul FX; Oct Channel 4
About 20 minutes into the first episode of True Blood, just as you're beginning to suspect it could be nothing more than a cross between Buffy and The Dukes Of Hazzard, there's a scene that hints you could be in for something a tiny bit darker.
Jason Stackhouse, the show's good-looking, tail-chasing redneck, is enjoying an impassioned one-night stand with an older woman. After he discovers a set of suspicious-looking bite marks on her inner thigh, she confesses that she once had sex with a vampire. Jason is caught somewhere between disgust and titillation. She says she filmed the incident and offers to show him. Next thing you know, Jason is being orally pleasured on the sofa while watching a videotape of his lover having messed-up sex with this scary, shaven-headed dude with tattoos and fangs. The vamp roars at the camera and his body mutates as he goes about his dirty business. It's at once sick, macabre, terrifying and hilarious. The point is, True Blood is completely out there TV drama. And this grotesque sequence encapsulates the warped appeal that has made it HBO's biggest hit since The Sopranos. Now it's coming to Britain.
The show's creator is Alan Ball – the man who had previously found success at HBO with Six Feet Under. He had some clear ideas about how to approach the vampire genre in a surprising and unique way. "No opera music, no leather outfits and no stupid contact lenses that make the vampires eyes go weird when their fangs come out," he says. "These were the rules I set myself when I started to write."
[Continue reading...]
07/11/2009 ~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jul/11/true-blood-tv-preview |
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From BlastMagazine.com:
Jace Everett wants to do bad things with you,
in a nice way
 By Jess d'Arbonne
Don’t let him fool you. He might say he wants to do bad things with you in his powerful single “Bad Things” (from HBO’s “True Blood”), but the truth is Jace Everett is a real gentleman. It’s hard to imagine him doing bad things with anyone, unless those bad things involve his unique brand of Nashville country rock. In fact, he’s more likely to lend a friend a helping hand, or charm this reporter starry-eyed.
Everett’s brand new album, Red Revelations came out on June 23 from Weston Boys Entertainment, and I’ve been listening to it ever since. An impressive vocal range and driving bass lines make the album immediately ear-catching, from the sultry opening track “Posession” to the hip-swaying “Lean Into the Wind” to the final track “Bad Things.” It’s an album full of stories, both playful and dark. Some songs will get you tapping your feet to the rhythm and getting down with your bad self, while others will make you want to pour yourself a tall glass of whiskey and take a trip down memory lane.
[Continue reading...]
07/11/2009 ~ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/07/jace-everett-wants-to-do-bad-things-with-you-in-a-nice-way/ |
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From Louisiana's television station WAFB:
HBO show "True Blood comes to Baton Rouge area
CLINTON, LA (WAFB) - Parts of Louisiana are looking more like Hollywood lately. A new tax credit law to bring more motion pictures to the Bayou State is enticing many productions.
9 News spent the day on the set of "True Blood." It's anewHBO show about vampires living in Louisiana.
It takes place in a fictional town in North Louisiana, but HBO decided to shoot a lot of its second season near Baton Rouge.
"The whole atmosphere is suited for what we do and a sound stage isn't," said actor Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette Reynoldson the show.
The show's creators spent weeks scouting locations for the fictional town of Bon Temps. They tell 9 News theyfound what they were looking for in Clinton, the town in East Feliciana Parish. The production will also film in Baton Rouge at several locations.
"It's really important for them (the actors) to get a chance to be in Louisiana and feel the heat and see the town," said executive producer Gregg Fienberg.
Governor Bobby Jindal on Thursday enacted a law that would give projects like "True Blood" a 30 percent tax credit on whatever is spent in the state.
[Continue reading...]
07/11/2009 ~ http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=10709647 |
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From DreadCentral.com:
Trick 'r Treat (2008)
 Reviewed by Andrew Kasch
Starring Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker, Lauren Lee Smith Directed by Mike Dougherty
You’ve heard it all before but this time it’s for real: Trick ‘r Treat is the film that horror fans have been waiting for - the antidote to every insipid remake, sequel and over hyped “holy grail” we’ve had to suffer through in recent years. Bursting onto the screen with endless energy, first-time director Michael Dougherty (co-writer of X-Men 2 and Superman Returns) has cast aside all pretensions and delivered a wildly entertaining slice of EC Comics gold equal to CreepshowTales from the Crypt.
Told over the course of a single Halloween night, the story follows a multitude of characters (teens, parents, several small kids and one angry old man) through four interweaving stories. At the center of it all is the diabolical Sam – a creepy kid who sports an iconic mask and delivers his own brand of havoc throughout. To say anything more would be criminal, but these classic anthology stories waste no time delivering the gory goods.
[Continue reading...]
07/10/2009 ~ http://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/trick-r-treat-2008 |
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From BloodCopy:
HEALER IN TOWN
It’s confirmed. Someone with intimate knowledge of the healing arts recently made a stop in Shreveport. A rare occurrence only made more curious by the secrecy surrounding it.
“A healer was summoned, though I will not say by whom or for what purpose,” said an individual who insisted on anonymity.
While not necessarily allies, healers and vampires have often found themselves in close proximity, if for no other reason than our blood does make for an excellent healing agent. But in this case, I don’t believe this healer’s trip was motivated out of collecting blood, as the nature of the visit was described as “immediate” and “urgent.”
I’ve heard whisperings the patient in question is a breather who holds some level of importance to a fairly important local vampire, though offhand I can’t imagine anyone who fits that description.
Given the extremely specialized abilities of a healer (no to mention the steep cost), it’s clear this is no small matter. Is it possible this is somehow linked to the vampires performing regular searches outside the vampire bar as of late? If so, it means that whatever they’re looking for, they haven’t found it.
I can only hope that more healers aren’t required before they do.
07/10/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=965 |
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From New York Post PopWrap:
 Prior to the start of "True Blood's" second season, HBO sent the first four episodes out to writers. Sunday (finally) brings the fourth installment, which means a few things. Namely, I will once again be able to enjoy new episodes the following week. But more importantly, it marks what I consider to be the most disturbing, revealing and shocking episode of "True Blood" ever.
Beneath the cut lies a sneak preview of a Maryann-thrown birthday party for Tara. In true Maryann style, it's a rager. But what you won't see until Sunday is just how wild it gets. Trust!
07/10/2009 ~ http://blogs.nypost.com/popwrap/archives/2009/07/true_blood_thro.html |
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From PopEater.com:
Move Over 'Twilight': The Top 10 Vampires
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| *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* |
From Watch With Kristin EOnline.com:
True Blood Returns This Sunday,
and We've Got Your Scoop Right Here!
 After a break (argh!) for the July Fouth holiday, HBO's cult-hit drama True Blood returns this Sunday with a brand-new ep, and to celebrate, we've got a veritable bloodbath of dish.
Read on to see two sneak peeks of Sunday's ep, and check out three exclusive new True Blood interviews, including a chat with breakout star Deborah Ann Woll and a talk with hilarious series creator Alan Ball, who shares some awesome wisdom with us, including, "If you're a vampire, you're not going to want an all-white house."
Q&A with Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby)
Jessica didn't want to become a vampire, and now she's a part of this vampire family. I take it she'll have some adjustment problems.
Absolutely. It's a whole new world. She has to deal with everything you have to deal with as a 17-year-old girl, and on top of that, she can kill people, which is maybe not such a good thing to add with a teenage temper.
Does her dramatic relationship will Bill settle down eventually, or does it remain more of a strained situation?
It settles down as much as a father-daughter relationship ever does. Is that mysterious enough for you?
Does she get involved in the Dallas mystery this season?
Yes and no. I get to go. Definitely a field trip. I'm certainly a complication in many ways.
What's it like working with Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin?
Stephen and Anna are so lovely and kind and funny and talented. I'm newer to this business, obviously, than either of them, and it's been an honor to really watch them and learn from them. They're so willing to teach and learn right along with me, so I have such respect for them.
 Q&A with executive produer Alan Ball
What genre of television would you say True Blood is, if you had to pick just one?
Drama. We don't have an actual sign in the writers room that reads, "It's the emotions, stupid," but we might as well. We feel like we have to keep these characters rooted in some sort of emotional reality because otherwise, it's a parade of special effects and set pieces.
Last season True Blood was very Southern Gothic and grounded in Bon Temps, La. This season seems more of an epic vampire family saga. Are we leaving Bon Temps for good?
I'm working with source material, so I'm following the books. The show gets a little bigger in scope this year, but it always remains rooted in Bon Temps. That's where Sookie lives, that's where Bill lives, that's where all our major characters live. They may go out of town for this reason or that reason, but they'll always come home.
Sometimes people on this show are just covered in blood—the first episodes are so graphic. Are you going for a comic-book look for the show? Are you going for a specific visual type?
The reality of the fictional world of vampires is that it's bloody. Blood is everywhere, they feed on it, and they feed on people when they are having sex, so it's a messy world. If you're a vampire you're not going to want an all-white house. You're going to need a lot of Scotchgard.
As a writer, what's your personal favorite storyline this season?
That's like asking me who my favorite child is! I can't answer that. If you make me pick one, I'll have to stay it's the storyline of the alien invasion that kicks in around episode six.
 Q&A with Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte)
Let's talk about Michelle Forbes' character, Maryann. Sam knew her from something before.
I did. I knew Maryann; you're going to find all of that out. A lot of Sam's history is explored this year, and you find out how they know each other. My storyline this year is very much entwined with hers. She's a very, very intense creature for Sam.
Will Sam have a new romance this year?
Yes, Sam has some new romance this year. And he's got some other stuff going on this year.
Like what? Any vampires?
Maybe vampire. Sam really opens up this year. He becomes more vulnerable than he was in the past. He shares more of himself than he has.
What's your favorite scene you've shot this season?
We did a scene recently that was so crazy. I don't even know how to describe it. I don't know how it's going to come out, it's just insane. The writers are crazy; they're not playing it safe at all this year. They're taking huge chances. If you could think of the craziest possible thing that could happen in a fantastical world of vampires and creatures, you'd have to double it to figure this out. It's really crazy. I hope it's good.
07/10/2009 ~ http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b133566_true_blood_returns_this_sunday_weve_got.html |
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True Blood is good for shifters - from YouTango.com:
Keep your private and professional lives separate!
Five jobs that can wreck your relationship.
If you're a fan of soap operas, specifically Falcon Crest or The Bold and the Beautiful, you may be familiar with long-haired lover-boy Lorenzo Lamas. Well, things aren't going to great for the soap star; in fact, the drama has spilled out of the daytime and into his real life.
Back in 2002 Lorenzo was on his fourth wife (anyone know what number he's on now?), Playboy model Shauna Sand. They divorced after the unlucky hunk learned wifey was having an affair with Lorenzo's 18-year-old son, A.J., according to Star. How's that for life imitating art?
In the spirit of keeping your private and professional lives separate, here are five other jobs that can wreck your relationship.
Doctor. Everyone's heard of the M.D. who is so dedicated to their patients that they forget their spouse. And if you're married to a med student forget about spending any time with them—unless you're carrying their text books. How To Date A Med Student
Any kind of shift worker. Unless your significant other also works at night, the graveyard shift can be a real disaster for relationships. If you're in this situation watch True Blood—Sookie and Bill seem to make it work, and he doesn't even have weekends off.
Psychologist. It helps to have listening skills, but your spouse will always be able to say "stop shrinking me!" and you'll never be able to retaliate.
Actor. Your s.o.'s got to be pretty confident if they're going to reign in jealousy at your kissing scenes. Hollywood types make it look easy, but it can't be effortless to see your husband or wife getting busy with someone else.
Writer. Write what you know. How many fights have ensued after a writer was a little too candid in a personal essay or memoir?
07/10/2009 ~ http://www.yourtango.com/200927772/6-jobs-could-wreck-your-relationship |
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From The American Prospect:
"SOOKIE, I AM VAMPEAR!"
 Since it's Friday, I'm not going to apologize for my descent into nerdblogging: Latoya Peterson delves into the very binary approaches to sex in recent vampire offerings True Blood and Twilight as compared to Buffy The Vampire Slayer. "In both series, sex is spiked with danger. A man’s protection and a woman’s desire are intimately connected to violence. Sookie frequently finds herself the subject of Bill’s wrath while he is trying to protect her. In Twilight, Edward’s penchant for pointing out all the ways in which he could maim Bella by accident borders on S & M foreplay. This would have never gone down with Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
I haven't, and won't, watch Twilight, but I actually prefer the portrayal of vampires in True Blood to Buffy inone sense--vampires' lack of free will in the latter show always disturbed me. The evil vampires in True Blood are evil by choice. But I'm definitely missing the subversive approach to gender Buffy brought to the table. Nevertheless, Peterson argues there's something of the good sex/bad sex dynamic in Buffy as well: "In Buffy, there is also a slight whiff of the virginity good/sex bad dynamic. (Creator Joss Whedon caught heat for having Angel turn evil after they consummated their relationship.) "
I think this misunderstands that moment. Everyone knows someone who lost their virginity to some jerk who said they loved them and then made a complete about face once they got what they wanted--the dynamic there is more about the pitfalls of adolescent intimacy than a qualitative judgment about sex in general. While Xander also has something of a traumatic semi-consensual encounter with Faith, both of Willow's initial experiences--with Oz, and then Tara--are positive. Sexis "bad"on the show only when the personal motivations involved are selfish--like when Buffy uses Spike for emotional and physical intimacy. I think that's a far more realistic take than either True Blood or Twilight are offering. -- A. Serwer
07/10/2009 ~ http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=07&year=2009&base_name=sookie_i_am_vampear |
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Is Shakira auditioning for a role in True Blood? (teasing) From MTV:
Published by MTV News on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:50 am.  It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Shakira, the platinum-selling superstar from Colombia whose chart smashes include “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Underneath Your Clothes.” But she’s back with a new single called “She-Wolf” that will premiere this weekend as a free download. The Spanish-language version “Loba” is already out, and it sounds like an excellent little slice of electro-disco. The concept is intriguing, though: Shakira casts herself as the titular wolf, saying in the chorus, “There’s a wolf in the closet/ Open up and set her free.” The song even uses the world “lycanthropy,” which has to be a first for a pop song of this size. Could Shakira be paying tribute to everybody’s favorite werewolf Jacob from “Twilight”? Or is “She-Wolf” a well-timed tribute to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video? Does she hope to supplant Sam on “True Blood”? What do you think? Are werewolves the new vampires?
07/10/2009 ~ http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/07/10/shakiras-single-new-moon/ |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From Spoiler Guy:
TrueBlood 2.04 – “Shake and Fingerpop” Spoilers
Posted by SpoilerGuy on July 10th, 2009
Damn you HBO, you made me do it! It was a hard wait wasn’t it? It makes perfect sense, mind you, to steer clear of the holiday weekend with your shiny new True Blood episode – wouldn’t want it tarnished by a dramatic drop in numbers due to a bunch of hung-over fourth of July revelers. Still, the tension hurts doesn’t it? Having to wait all this time to find out the fate of Sookie and company. Well, if the next couple of days seem a little too long, SpoilerGuy has a couple of tidbits for you on True Blood’s return “Shake and Fingerpop”. Beware of major spoilers.
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------> • Bill “saves” Hoyt, but he doesn’t exactly need saving – turns out Jessica is able to keep her vampire tendencies in check even in the throes of teen horniness.
• Tara lets Maryanne know she is moving out, and M.A. is surprisingly passive – for now. Tara finds out about lafayette and finds him convalescing, suffering with infection, and refusing medical treatment.
• Andy loses his badge.
• Steve and Sarah invite Jason to their home for lunch, where he promptly entertains fantasies of culinary eroticism as Sarah BBQs some ribs. Later, Jason is told that God has chosen him to become a “Soldier of the Sun.”
• Sookie, Bill, and Jessica arrive in Dallas to find that there was a plot to kill them on arrival.
• Eric shows up at Lafayette’s and gives him the gift of ultra-healing vampire blood.
• Maryanne shows up at Sookie’s house while she is in Dallas, and throws a wild party for Tara – ala last episode.
And since, believe it or not, that is only about the middle of the episode – I’ll stop there. I don’t need to point this out, but I will anyways, this episode of True Blood is a mover. Lots of new plot threads set up, a few short term mysteries serviced, and the overall tension of True Blood twisted up a notch. Watch it. Love it.
07/10/2009 ~ http://www.tvovermind.com/tv-news/true-blood/trueblood-2-04-shake-and-fingerpop-spoilers-and-videos/6301 |
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From Canadian KBSRadio:
'Durham County' explores female rage in season 2
with help from Michelle Forbes
By: Cassandra Szklarski, THE CANADIAN PRESS
 TORONTO - She's quite possibly one of the most ubiquitous actresses you've never heard of, but a glance at Michelle Forbes's resume reads like a compendium of the best-loved TV series in recent memory.
The dark-haired beauty currently appears in "In Treatment" and "True Blood," had stints on "24" and "Lost," and was a regular on the defunct cult hits "Battlestar Galactica" and "Homicide: Life on the Street."
Now Forbes is joining one of Canada's most acclaimed series, "Durham County," as the alluring but troubled forensic psychologist Pen Verrity. The second season begins Monday on The Movie Network and Movie Central.
Managing her career has been a juggling act lately, Forbes admitted in a recent interview from her home in Los Angeles, where she was in the midst of shooting HBO Canada's "True Blood."
[Continue reading...]
07/09/2009 ~ http://www.kbsradio.ca/news/55/957182 |
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From USAToday.com:
'True Blood' gets truly great with new episode
Not that the first three episodes haven't been great, gory, sexy fantasy fun, or that it hasn't been a pleasure to see new characters arrive and new stories begin. But with Sunday's episode, the first this season written by creator Alan Ball, you can just feel the show's main plots kick into another gear.
That is, by the way, par for the True Blood course: It was around this same time last go-round that Gran died, the event that jump-started the first season. Nothing quite that series-shaking happens Sunday, but major answers do arrive, including some important new information about that heart-coveting monster, as major shifts send the characters off and running in new directions.
For Sookie and her beloved blood-sucker, Bill (the perfectly teamed Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer), that means a trip to Dallas to hunt for a kidnapped vampire sheriff, with Bill's vamp ward Jessica (an amusingly petulant Deborah Ann Woll) in tow. No, the show hasn't left the backwoods of Bon Temps. But by taking a big-city sojourn, True Blood can explore a whole new humorous side of its out, loud and proud vampire metaphor, complete with luxury vampire hotels that play vampire porn. (Sample title: Intercourse With a Vampire.)
Happily, the new plot continues to stoke the fire Paquin and Moyer bring to their hot, star-crossed romance while adding a new layer of domestic comedy. Somewhat reluctantly, they're now raising a teenager — and underneath the vamp-vs.-human overlay is a smart exploration of the accommodations two very different people have to come to when parenting.
Other stories perk along, including one that reunites two terrific actors and characters: Alexander Skarsgard's Eric and Nelsan Ellis' Lafayette. Indeed, sparing Lafayette the deadly fate he met in Charlaine Harris' first book was one of the biggest and smartest departures the show has made.
The only story line stumble so far is Jason's (Ryan Kwanten) stint with an anti-vampire cult. It has been entertaining, but too much of the humor plays as an overly familiar attack on fundamentalists. If the plot (like the show itself) hasn't already shot over the top, it's skimming right along the border, and the writers would be wise to resist the urge to soar higher.
That qualm aside, what we're seeing this season is a show that has grown confident and comfortable enough to expand its universe while maintaining its tonal control. Almost every comic scene includes the threat of horror, and almost every horrific scene has some small touch of comic relief.
All in all, True Blood is one of TV's true joys. Drink deep.
07/09/2009 ~ http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2009-07-09-true-blood_N.htm |
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From BloodCopy:
BEST IN SHOW?
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
You have been warned:
True Blood - Episode 2.04 - Shake and Fingerpop -
3 More Sneak Peeks
07/09/2009 ~ http://spoilertv.blogspot.com/2009/07/true-blood-episode-204-shake-and_09.html |
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From the Chicago Tribune:
'True Blood' Comic-Con: Details on the vampire invasion
Originally posted: July 9, 2009
The "True Blood" panel at San Diego Comic-Con is likely to be one of the hottest tickets of the convention, which takes place July 23-26. And we've finally got the details on who'll be there.
The panel will take place at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, and here's the rundown of who will be appearing on the panel: Executive producer Alan Ball, Charlaine Harris (who wrote the novels on which the HBO show is based), Anna Paquin (Sookie), Stephen Moyer (Bill), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Rutina Wesley (Tara), Sam Trammell (Sam), Alexander Skarskard (Eric), Michelle Forbes (Maryann) and Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica).
Ryan Kwanten (Jason) will be shooting a movie in Australia, so he and his abs will be unable to attend.
One thing I'm double checking on, so don't take this to the bank yet: I believe the panel is in Ballroom 20, but will update this post when I find out for sure.
07/09/2009 ~ http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/07/true-blood-comiccon-details-on-the-vampire-invasion.html |
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Thanks to True Blood Wiki member WalksAgain for the tip!
Did Robert Pattinson (RPttz) audition for True Blood?
The translation from Spanish to English of an interview with Robert Pattinson, is purported to be:
Is it true that you did castings for vampire characters before?
Yes, I did an audition for True Blood, but that didn't work out. I didn't think I would get the role of Edward Cullen either, because the character is very enigmatic. I didn't want to play the biggest vampire stereotype, so I tried to humanize him.
Scans below:
07/09/2009 |
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***SPOILERS***
| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
You've been warned!
True Blood: Shake and Fingerpop (Recap)
07/09/2009 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRlBH7AsB_E&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Freader%2Fview%2F%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3Dwy&feature=player_embedded |
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The United Kingdom prepares for True Blood - From The List:
(Begins airing in UK Friday, July 17, 2009)
True Blood / Dead Good
 With True Blood, Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball has found a series with depth, dark humour and bite in equal measure, as Suzanne Black discovers
The TV schedules have succumbed to a plague of bloodsucking parasites ever since Buffy staked her first vampire. But have vamps lost their bite? True Blood puts the allegorical power back into the fangs of the undead, and triumphs over the genre’s other offerings.
Starting life as a series of supernatural detective novels, True Blood hits UK screens this month. The second series is currently airing in the US, with its first episode hailed as the most watched programme on subscription channel HBO since the final episode of The Sopranos.
Published in 2004, Dead Until Dark was the first of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mystery novels. It supposed a contemporary world where vampires had gone public and, thanks to a synthetic O-substitute called Tru Blood, renounced that pesky bloodsucking habit in favour of campaigning for civil rights and a legitimate place in society. With an interesting concept but a disappointing delivery, it had definite screen potential. Alan Ball, well-known from his deadpan funeral parlour show Six Feet Under and also the scriptwriter of that haunting portrayal of suburban ennui, American Beauty, was perfectly placed to realise it.
Turning the first book into 12 one-hour episodes, he pared down the novel’s flabbiness and beefed up the action, adding new characters to flesh out the ensemble. Set in the small, quiet southern US town of Bon Temps, Sookie Stackhouse is a sweet-as-apple-pie waitress (who happens to be telepathic) and falls for Bill the vampire amid a spate of local murders, in which both vamps and vampire-haters are implicated. A woman writhing in her underwear, gospel choirs and river baptisms, a decaying fox crawling with maggots – the opening credits of True Blood amass scenes of nature’s ferocity and human intensity, underscored by Jace Everett’s sleazy country tune ‘Bad Thing’. Compiling images of evil and the transformative, from the first shot this obviously isn’t a soap opera with sanitised fairytale monsters. Vampire rights delegates clash with Christian cult Children of the Sun in the media; human women who sleep with vampires are pejoratively branded ‘fangbangers’ and, on top of that, some of the vampires have no intention of making nice with the daylight-going public. Suffice to say, the transition of vampires into society isn’t a smooth one. Rather, small-town mentality is writ large and applied to the human/non-human divide in a way that calls into question all forms of discrimination.
In a time when TV is proving its worth with cerebral programming that audiences are lapping up (Ball’s own Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, The Wire and latterly Dexter, Breaking Bad and 30 Rock), Ball has taken an age-old genre and forced it to grow up. The programme is by turns serious, funny, gory and often winningly campy, deflating genre stereotypes with some well-aimed comic capering. In a cultural landscape overridden with supernatural creatures, Ball never forgets to bring the message back to the real world.
[Continue reading...]
07/09/2009 ~ http://www.list.co.uk/article/18783-true-blood/ |
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From the Jacksonville Observer:
Exclusive: Dave Chappelle, True Blood, and More! Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith - Jul 9th, 2009
 NIGHT AND DAY: Ashley Jones definitely took the term “moonlighting” to the maximum with her nine-episode recurring role as Daphne on “True Blood” this season. The actress known as Bridget Forrester to fans of CBS’s “Bold and the Beautiful” found herself doing night shooting into the wee hours on the hit HBO vampire drama, then “I’d have to be at ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ by 8:30. That happened a half dozen to a dozen times. There were times I didn’t sleep for 48 hours.” However, “I loved every single minute of it,” says Ashley.
For one thing, “This character is so different from anything I’ve played before; she has a happy-go-lucky feel to her. At the same time she’s very energetic, and really, there’s a sensuality to her that I’ve never played before, It’s such a paradigm shift from my character on ‘Bold and the Beautiful,’ who is not the kind of girl to ever go skinny dipping. To this girl, down in Louisiana, skinny dipping, alligators and all, it’s a regular thing. She’s not scared of life, she’s fearless and fun, a country girl with an East Texas-Louisiana accent, educated only as much as she has to be.”
Jones just wrapped “True Blood” this week, with “B and B” about to go dark on its summer hiatus. “It gives people enough time to rejuvenate, to visit their families. Or, in my case, the way I roll, it’s enough time to do another job, another side endeavor.”
[Continue reading...]
07/09/2009 ~ http://www.jaxobserver.com/2009/07/09/exclusive-dave-chappelle-true-blood-and-more/ |
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From BeanStockd.com:
Citizen Beanstockd (7.9.09):
Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart Should Try True Blood
Thursday July 09th 2009, 8:34 am
 This week, I begin with my renewed obsession with the HBO vampire show True Blood, which now boasts every kind of goblin, sorceress and demon you can imagine. Can we talk about racy and semi-disturbing? Four episodes into season two and we still don’t really know who’s good or bad; we just know their sexual appetites are insatiable. Maybe that’s the point? Don’t get me wrong, Anna Paquin’s tittays are pretty much perfect, but when her boyf, Vampire Bill, chomps on her neck and sullies the bedspread and Ol’ Sookie’s mammaries with hemoglobin…that ain’t sexy. It just makes Ol’ BB a little queasy. And aren’t they all supposed to be different species? At any rate, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart must wish they lived in Louisiana and not Washington.
[Continue reading...]
07/09/2009 ~ http://www.beanstockd.com/beanstockd/2009/07/09/citizen-beanstockd-7909-robert-pattinson-paris-jackson%E2%80%99s-debut/5690 |
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Thanks 'Dallas' for the tip on this one - from TheCelebrityCafe.com:
Kristen Bauer -
By: Ted Simmons
 Actress Kristen Bauer is best known for her role as Pam, the blood-thirsty diva on HBO's True Blood. Kristen is committed to her acting, but she is also deeply committed to working for great causes, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Kristen talked with TheCelebrityCafe.com's Ted Simmons about saving domestic and wild animals, preserving the planet, and life as a vampire.
Ted Simmons: You're on this wildly successful show, True Blood, and you play Pam. How would you describe Pam?
Kristen Bauer: Pam is just unremorseful. What's fun about her to play is she's a true vampire. How humans look at a Big Mac, that's how she looks at humans. They're just an entertainment and a food source. So she's endlessly fun to play. The costume people are amazing. Pam is just all about being immortal, powerful, and having an outfit for every occasion. It's such a blast.
TS: It really is fun trying to play those evil characters, the ones who are maybe a little unlike you.
KB: I know that's the thing. I don't know why it's so unbelievably fun to play someone who's just 100 percent evil, but it's a blast. There are no complicating feelings, there's no feeling bad for anybody. It's just 100 percent selfish.
TS: True Blood just started its second season. What's your schedule been like as the episodes are coming out?
KB: When we do work there's a huge cast and so many story lines going on, we only work a few days an episode. But when we do, we work long hours; especially last season. Whenever there are special effects or a lot of blood, it takes a long time. And because we're vampires, if the scene is outside we're shooting at night. So we're shooting 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Though the hours are really long, and half the time you're delirious, the fun part is once you get past the physical pain of either the clothing or the hours or the special effects, you get sort of giddy. And Alexander Skarsgard is so funny. And Stephen [Moyer] and Anna [Paquin] are so much fun, and they're also the ones I'm in scenes with. We just laugh and have such a ball. It's just a fun set to be on. And the directors are nice, and [show creator] Alan Ball is so lovely and gracious.
TS: You mentioned that you're a painter, and I saw some of the paintings you did and they look quite professional, at least to me. How did that avenue kind of come to be?
KB: I started drawing probably in junior high. My sister went to fine arts school, so I kind of was aware of it, and my school had a small art department. Then by high school, when I was trying to think about what I might want to do in college, I was so sick of academics. I couldn't imagine the pain of having to go to college to study math and science and history. It just made me want to hang myself. So I just started drawing a lot and got a portfolio together so I could get into fine art school, which is what I did.
I mainly drew, I didn't paint very much. And then one my first acting jobs was with Peter Falk I did a Colombo movie of the week. And he's a big art lover. So, he mentioned this art school in L.A. that was wonderful, that taught people how to really paint like they were masters.
So I enrolled and started painting for at least a decade, maybe less. And when you have been drawing as long as I have, painting is just sort of the logical next step. So I've been doing portraits and landscapes and drawing weekly for almost, what feels like 20 years, but I've taken a few breaks when I get busy.
TS: Is it nice to turn such a passion of yours into something you can really pursue and get out there, post on the Web and stuff like that?
KB: It is. It was also, not really scary, but it was a real conscientious decision because I've been doing it so long, and it was my sanctuary that nobody knew about. Because acting in this business is so hectic that I wanted this thing that was just mine and I just did for me. It's the opposite of acting; you're alone in a room by yourself, or with my dogs. And then at a certain point, for some reason, something changed and I wanted to let people know that I do this, and that's why I did the web site.
I never had a web site before that, and the whole purpose was to kind of go, "look what I do in my off time," and I was actually a little nervous about it. But what's been fun is because of True Blood, people Google me and look at my site, and if I do get any mail, I get the nicest e-mails from people. So, my nervousness has kind of faded. And I also, when I'm not working I do portraits for people. So, it's actually becoming quite a lovely thing. And I've been approached about doing some art shows. So, I guess that'll be the next step to kind of stand in a room with people while they look at my art.
[Continue reading...]
07/08/2009 ~ http://thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/kristen_bauer_2009_06.html |
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From Houma, Louisiana: HoumaToday.com:
Vampire-basher in ‘True Blood’ has ties to Houma Published: Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 11:48 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 11:48 a.m.  HOUMA — Every week, Wes Brown morphs into Luke McDonald, a competitive ex-football player hell-bent on oppressing Louisiana vampires as part of HBO’s sultry hit series, “True Blood.”
“It’s such an original show,” Brown said. “It’s by far the most original thing I’ve ever worked on. There’s nothing like ‘True Blood’ on television right now.”
Protesting vampires could be new turf for the young actor, but the show’s mystical Louisiana setting is familiar ground.
The 27-year-old Brown was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but grew up in Baton Rouge, where he lived from infancy through his college graduation from Louisiana State University.
Brown moved to Los Angeles in 2005, but his family ties remain in south Louisiana. He has relatives in Baton Rouge, Gonzales, Raceland and Houma, including his uncle, Houma lawyer Paul Brown.
Wes Brown landed his role on the second season of “True Blood” in December. The series, set in the fictional Louisiana town of Bon Temps, has fed audiences’ blood-lust for vampire shows, capturing numerous awards and proving hot in television ratings.
The series centers on the coexistence of humans and vampires, with the drama revolving around the life of Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid who falls for a vampire.
Brown’s character, Luke McDonald, started appearing on the show last month as friend and cohort of Sookie’s brother, Jason Stackhouse, a passionate member of the anti-vampire church Fellowship of the Sun.
[Continue reading...]
07/08/2009 ~ http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20090708/ARTICLES/907089922/1008/LIVING?Title=Vampire-basher-in-True-Blood-has-ties-to-Houma |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From AusielloFiles:
Warning: Bloody good 'True Blood' spoilers Jul 8, 2009, 02:09 PM | by Michael Ausiello Categories: News, True Blood
 HBO just released the titles and extended loglines for all five of True Blood's August episodes and man, they are juicy. How juicy? So juicy that I'm inclined to forgive them for withholding fresh Blood from me last Sunday. Have a look-see yourself... Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>Aug. 2: "Release Me"
Betrayed by Daphne, Sam finds himself in an unenviable predicament at the hands of Maryann and her wild-eyed minions. Imprisoned with Hugo in the F.O.T.S. church, Sookie uses her telepathic powers to reach out to Bill, who’s being detained at the hotel by a stubbornly obsessive Lorena. After crossing a line with the Newlins, a fearful Jason tries to sever his ties with the Fellowship of the Sun, but gets plenty of resistance from Steve and his enforcer Gabe.Crave more Blood? Good 'cause four more spoilery paragraphs await you after the jump...
Aug. 9: "Timebomb"
Sookie’s captivity takes an unexpected turn when Eric arrives to do his master’s bidding on the eve of the Fellowship’s lockdown. In Bon Temps, Sam finds himself in hot water after making a gruesome discovery at Merlotte’s, and Andy proves no help in coming to his defense. Sent home by Bill, Jessica and Hoyt learn that when it comes to sex, every time is the first time. Tara and Eggs devour a mysterious meal prepared by Maryann, with unexpected results. After Jason pays off his debt to the vampires, Godric looks to enlighten his more single-minded followers.
Aug. 16: "I Will Rise Up"
A wounded Eric plays Sookie for a sucker, to Bill’s dismay, and ends up getting inside her head. Later, Sookie and Jason bond over their recent adventures. Blaming Eggs for Tara’s bruises and bizarre behavior, Lafayette and Lettie Mae try to figure out a way to pry their kin from Maryann’s clutches. Hoyt defends his relationship with Jessica to Maxine, to no avail. Jailed by Bud along with a group of Bon Temps revelers, Sam looks for a way to escape and avoid capture by an increasingly obsessed Maryann. In Dallas, Eric and the vampires defend their recent actions to Nan Flanagan and are shocked when Godric decides to take the fall for their PR disaster.
Aug. 23: "New World in My View"
Sookie, Bill, and Jason return to a Bon Temps turned upside down by Maryann. Lured to Merlotte’s by Arlene, Sam and Andy find cold comfort in their refuge from a group of bloodthirsty revelers. Bill discovers that traditional vampire techniques don’t work on Maryann; Hoyt and Jessica try to keep a lid on Maxine’s madness; and Sookie tries to push through the darkness consuming Tara. With all hell breaking loose, Jason takes the bull by the horns to rescue Sam, at least for the moment.
Aug. 30: "Frenzy"
With the crisis in Bon Temps careening out of control, Bill seeks out the advice of Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood), the Vampire Queen of Louisiana, but must exercise patience before she gives him critical information. Meanwhile, Sookie and Lafayette find that protecting Tara from herself is more difficult than they anticipated; a desperate Sam turns to an unlikely source for assistance; and Jessica tests Hoyt’s allegiance to Maxine.
07/08/2009 ~ http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/07/true-blood-spoilers-for-august.html |
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From BloodCopy:
FOLLOW THE TWITTER
 For those of you who follow my commentary on twitter (@AndrewBloodcopy), I’d invite you to also follow@BonTempsGossip. I don’t claim to personally know all those mentioned therein (or vouch for the accuracy of all the details), but something tells me these are more than idle rumors.
At present, one specific tweet has proven especially intriguing: vampires searching the woods around Fangtasia (a vampire bar in Shreveport). While I’m not yet at liberty to comment on this, sufficient to say it’s far from common knowledge, and if our gossiper’s contacts prove this good moving forward he/she may prove a very, very rich source of information.
07/08/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=949 |
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Interview of Deborah Ann Woll from Televisionaryblog.com:
Seeing Red: Televisionary Talks with Deborah Ann Woll
of HBO's "True Blood"
Written by Jace | Tuesday, July 07, 2009
 Viewers of HBO's Southern Gothic vampire drama True Blood were likely shocked last week when teenage vampire Jessica Hamby nearly walked away with the series when she sauntered languidly into Merlotte's in search of something to crave her hunger, both physically and emotionally. Set to the haunting strain of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy," the scene not only brought Jessica to the forefront of the talented ensemble cast but memorably established the flame-haired actress who plays her, Brooklyn-born newcomer Deborah Ann Woll, as a major force to be reckoned with in the acting community. I had the chance to catch up with the incandescent Deborah Ann Woll yesterday, where we talked about what's in store for mischievous teenage vampire Jessica Hamby, her character's star-crossed romance with Jim Parrack's Hoyt Fortenberry, and what's coming up for Jessica on Season Two of True Blood. So get your fangs ready, pour yourself a bottle of B-negative Tru Blood, and let's chat with True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll. Televisionary: How would you describe Jessica as a character? And has your perception of her changed at all during the course of shooting Season Two? Deborah Ann Woll: Well, my feeling about Jessica is that she is a profoundly lonely person. Having lived your life in a family where you were not allowed to express yourself or feel real, that must be a very lonely life. And then to be in a lonely life where you can't be with your family, you can't be with the people you knew, and things are happening to you that you don't understand, I think her story is really about finding love and somebody to spend her time with.
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.televisionaryblog.com/2009/07/seeing-red-televisionary-talks-with.html |
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Very hot!:
Deborah Ann Woll video portrait by Tyler Shields
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQDKPqHWvg8 |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From FilmingDirect.com:
More True Blood Photos
 Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>Considering the popularity of the show and we were a part of this coming Sundays episode(episode 4) and also episode 5 and episode 6. We thought we would let you know who was there, our favorite sherriff Eric, Sookie and Bill were all there at Sofitel LA in April filming these episodes. We even got a a surprise guest with one of the stars of AMC’s huge hit “Breaking Bad” star Dean Norris in one of the lobby scenes. And of course what would the drama be without the newest vixen and troublemakerJessica Hamby playing along in the lobby. Photos below- sorry none with the stars of the show.
07/07/2009 ~ http://blog.filmingdirect.com/posts/more-true-blood-photos/ |
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From Blood Copy:
BITE MARKS
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From Blood Copy:
ONCE BITTEN
 The Fangbanger trend is showing no signs of slowing down. From concerned parents’ groups, to news specials, to an internet video of coeds offering “tips” to those with vampire lovers, the public is being inundated with the notion of human vampire coupling.
For those that choose this path, I say more power to you, but at the same time, it’s important to note that not every human is rushing off to find the closest bite, and not every vampire is ready to prey upon the first breather that shows him or her attention.
I bring this up because of a site I recently found depicting signs your ex is a fangbanger. Though I don’t doubt for a second that vampires have led to break up of some human couples, it doesn’t mean that any breakup is automatically the product of a night spent in the company of the undead. Speaking specifically to this list, it seems fairly evident it’s been compiled by breathers, containing inaccuracies, exaggerations, and a some entries intended only to be humorous. It is an entertaining read (though contains some mature content), but please take it as amusement, not a definitive how-to-guide to blaming glamour as the reason your relationship went sour.
07/07/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=941 |
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The United Kingdom weighs in - from UK Television DigitalSpy.com:
(True Blood begins airing in the UK on Friday, July 17)
Ten reasons to love 'True Blood'
Tuesday, July 7 2009, 10:55am EDT
By Dan French, TV Reporter and Neil Wilkes, Editor
It may have escaped your notice, but we're getting more than a little excited about True Blood around these parts lately. For the uninitiated, we feel it's time to justify our enthusiasm. Read on for ten reasons why we think you should get a hankering for some True Blood...
1. The concept
True Blood is set in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana in the not-too-distant future: a time where vampires have 'come out of the closest' and co-exist, albeit fractiously, with humans. This is possible because of the creation of a synthetic blood alternative called 'TruBlood', a Japanese invention that negates the need for vampires to feast on humans.
2. Anna Paquin
One of the best pieces of casting comes from X-Men's Anna Paquin, who stars in the lead role of waitress Sookie Stackhouse - a part she auditioned for five times. Sookie's meek and mild-mannered on the surface, but don't let that fool you - she's a bit of a minx underneath it all. She also has a very special gift.
3. The love story
Young Sookie gets very excited when Bon Temps gets its first vampiric resident - the menacingly-named Vampire Bill (Paquin's boyfriend Stephen Moyer). He's dark, mysterious - and devilishly handsome. So begins the show's central love story.
4. The sex
This is just another vampire drama, right? Wrong. It's a sexy vamp drama full of, well... sexy vamps. And the show really earns its 10pm timeslot - there's nothing remotely pre-watershed in here! Heading up the bed-hopping shenanigans is resident man-slut Jason Stackhouse - aka Ryan Kwanten - who spends at least more than 50% of his scenes shirtless and/or pantsless.
5. The feisty best friend
Sookie's best friend Tara is bold, brash and ballsy. She has a long-time crush on Sookie's brother Jason but beneath her confident exterior she harbours an abusive homelife.
6. Lafayette
The local gossip/burger-flipper/shady businessman is overlooked in the first couple of episodes, but when his dark side surfaces, he becomes much more integral to the action. Look out for some extremely dodgy dealings and killer one-liners.
7. The violence
Sex? Check. Fangs? Check. Violence? Absolutely! What vampire series would be complete without a fair few seductively aggressive scenes? When blood is shed, it's either during the throes of passion (after a cheeky vamp bite) or in the midst of a revenge-driven fist fight.
8. Alan Ball
True Blood is adapted from the Charlaine Harris novels by Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under and Oscar-winner American Beauty. In the States it airs on premium network HBO, which is known for its quality output.
9. The future
The show is already well into its second season in the US, but there's lots to look forward to in the first season, including a murder mystery, a shock slaying - and an unwelcome demonic intrusion.
10. The timeslot
What better excuse to save some dollar and avoid the weekend's alcohol-induced antics? Finally, Friday nights really are worth staying in for!
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a163764/ten-reasons-to-love-true-blood.html |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | **SPOILERS*** | **SPOILERS*** |
From HollywoodCrush.MTV.com:
‘True Blood’: A Trio Of Spoilers To Fill Last Sunday’s Bloody Void Posted July 7th, 2009 by joshwigler in TV News  Down in the dumps that there wasn’t a new episode of “True Blood” last Sunday? Fret not, my blood-craving brethren — like the fictional Tru Blood drink touted on the show, the Internet itself is often a sufficient replacement for that vampiric craving in your belly.
Case in point: just yesterday, E! Online revealed some fangtastic news about the show’s upcoming events. From Jason Stackhouse’s character arc to a bevy of new vampire characters, there was no shortage of information about the future of “True Blood” on display. We’ve got the spoiler-filled rundown after the jump, so get those fangs on and let’s get to it!
Text is hidden - to see text,
highlight after this point------>While telepathic Sookie Stackhouse is knocking boots and making nice with vampire boyfriend Bill Compton, her brother Jason isn’t quite as warm-hearted towards Bill’s species. He’s currently undergoing leadership training with the Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire movement, though he’s had second thoughts about his role in the organization.
Actor Ryan Kwanten (pictured above with Anna Paquin) revealed to E! that his character wouldn’t be away from Sookie for too long, and once they reunite, their paths will be the same. Said Ryan, “There will be [a reunion between the Stackhouse siblings] and quite an electric one, too, where we gang up for the greater good.” Meanwhile, several new characters are slated to join the “True Blood” roster as Sookie, Bill and Eric head to Dallas. The mysterious Godric (Allan Hyde) will appear in the July 19th episode, accompanied by vampire lieutenants Stan (Ed Quinn) and Isabel (Valerie Cruz). And, at some point we will finally see Vampire queen Sophie-Ann Leclerq, who is played by Evan Rachel Wood.
“Isabel runs with the Dallas vampires, but she kind of becomes friends with both Bill and Eric,” Valerie described of her role. “And she likes Sookie. [Isabel] has a penchant for humans, and she’s sensitive to this love story they have.”
And even though the season finale is still several episodes away, the events of that episode occur pretty quickly after the events of the first season.
“The second-season finale is only two weeks after the end of the first season,” revealed Carrie Preston, who plays waitress Arlene. “Things get crazy in Bon Temps, Louisiana.”
07/07/2009 ~ http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2009/07/07/true-blood-a-trio-of-spoilers-to-fill-last-sundays-bloody-void/ |
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From SplashPage.MTV.com:
New ‘Blade’ Spin-Off Trilogy In The Works, Says Stephen Dorff Published by Josh Wigler on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 1:12 pm.  With the vampire genre flourishing thanks to the likes of “Twilight” and “True Blood,” it was only a matter of time before comic books turned their attention towards bloodsuckers once more in the form of “Blade,” the half-vampire vampire-hunting hero from Marvel Comics. The Wesley Snipes-starring franchise has been dormant for years, though there was recent scuttlebutt about a revival sans Snipes. Now, new rumors suggest that not only will Snipes not return, but Blade himself might be absent as well.
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/07/07/new-blade-spin-off-trilogy-in-the-works-says-stephen-dorff/ |
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From CeleBuzz.com:
True Blood: New Character Photos
(Full size photos are available in True Blood photo library.)
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.celebuzz.com/true-blood-new-character-photos-s117321/photos/ |
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From The New Straights Times Online:
Spooky chic
Vampire mania is taking the fashion scene by storm, writes RUTH LA FERLA.
 THE symptoms are unnerving: a taste for fresh meat — rare, if you please; an aversion to sunlight; and a passion for spectral-looking, fine-boned rakes. All are indications that the sufferer has been bitten by the vampire bug.
Sookie Stackhouse, the feisty young heroine of HBO’s True Blood, risks doom whenever she visits with her otherworldly beau. And Oskar, the adolescent misfit of the Swedish art film Let the Right One In, a favourite in fashion circles, courts extinction each time he ventures out with Eli, the eerily ageless shape-shifter he befriends.
Sookie and Oskar are in the throes of vampire lust, a pop-culture contagion being spread via television, films and fiction. What began with the Twilight Saga, the luridly romantic young-adult series by Stephenie Meyer, followed by Twilight, the movie, has become a pandemic of unholy proportions.
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/Features/20090706103639/Article/indexF_html |
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From BloodCopy:
BET THEY DO WOODWORKING, TOO
 This is Jason Stackhouse. He’s been suspected (and acquitted) of a few murders recently, but luckily, he’s now found his calling, joining the crusade to rid the world of the vampire menace. Like Jason, you can join in too and share in His Holy Light; all you need is a pure heart, stout belief that vampires are inherently evil, and a major credit card (though I believe cash is preferred).
Yes, turns out that leadership conference I mentioned a few weeks ago is in full swing, as Rev. Steve Newlin has set about training the next wave of bigoted breathers looking to stamp out anything with fangs. Not content to simply let these “great young leaders” find their place in the Rev. Newlin’s army of hate, I’ve made it my business to find out exactly what’s going on at this Texas retreat.
Lucky for me, I can be quite resourceful, and have managed to get an inside track of the itinerary. For those of you who just can’t wait until you’re “chosen” to join in (or don’t’ have enough money to cover it), you’ve missed out on a rousing game of capture the flag, talented thespians improving how to best confront those misguided vampire sympathizers, and a performance by Amanda Jayne of her new song “Jesus Asked Me Out Today.” Almost enough to make me wish I were still human and eligible to join. Only the exact opposite.
So why single out Mr. Stackhouse? Apparently he’s gotten special recognition, both from Rev. Newlin and his wife, Sarah. Kudos Jason- on behalf of the vampire community I’d like to offer my sincere congratulations.
Maybe sometime we vampires will have the chance to tell you in person.
07/07/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=924 |
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From DiscoverMagazine:
One Thing Vampires and Humans Can Agree on:
Synthetic Blood Would Be Great
 Everyone is enjoying their summer run of HBO’s True Blood, yes? Our team of brooding vampires and charming Louisianans seem to be up to their usual high jinks. For those not into the show, it’s premised on the invention of TruBlood, a synthetic human blood substitute. A few years before the show begins, the Japanese have invented the stuff, and for the first time, vampires can subsist without killing people. They decide that now is the time to come out of the coffin—err, closet—and go mainstream.
But producing synthetic human blood has been a grail of sorts of the medical profession for decades. Imagine, no more public-service messages on the radio, begging for donations, no more blood donor trucks. If synthetic blood came into being, there would be no more searching for exact blood types, or fear of contracting blood-born diseases from transfusions. Heck, the entire blood-for-cookie market would collapse, and I mean that in the best way possible. And it may actually happen, possibly within the next few years.
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2009/07/06/true-trublood/ |
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From StarPulse.com:
'Twilight's' Passive Female
Vs. 'Buffy,' 'Harry Potter' & 'True Blood'
 Originally, this article was supposed to be the next installment in the internet battle between Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Twilight. There are countless videos online of Buffy taking on Edward, Buffy besting Bella, etc. Meanwhile, there are academics furiously typing away at feminist critiques of this battle. And many on team "Buffy" are ferociously against the poorly written "Twilight" narrative.
However, it isn't about just "Buffy" and "Twilight;" it really has become everything in literature and film relating to vampires and fantasy versus this one text. And, what we found quite staggering after watching some pivotal "Buffy" episodes, some "Angel" episodes, re-watching some "True Blood," and re-reading "Harry Potter" for the upcoming film, there are more Bella-esque characters than on the surface.
The problem that many have with "Twilight" is that it is a poor representation of a role model for young girls. Bella is a very passive character. Her motivations are purely driven towards coupling with Edward. From the start she does not mind losing herself, and her humanity, to be with him. Defining oneself through such an unhealthy connection is the antithesis of feminism and against what the Girl Power wave the 1990s fought against.
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/07/06/twilight_s_passive_female_vs_buffy_harry |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From Zap2it.com:
'True Blood': You Ask, I Answer on Lafayette's fate, 'True' love lives & more
By Korbi Ghosh
 HBO staked us with a "True Blood" rerun last night. No good. But today, I'm answering a few of your "TB" questions to keep you satiated 'til next Sunday...
Text is hidden - to see text,
highlight after this point------>Any scoop on summer scripted shows like "True Blood"? They seem to be dragging out Lafayette's fate. I guess the next episode we get somewhere finally? -kellek
Um, sort of. Seems to me Lafayette wasn't made a Vampire, since he will end up drinking Eric's blood in order to heal his wounds... but I'm still not super clear on the whole Vampire deal. Do Vamp's ever suck on each other for strength? What I know for sure is that Eric's blood brings our boy Lafayette back to fighting form. We'll see the happy-go-lucky guy we loved last season once again.
What's up with Eggs and Tara? Is it over? -Kate
Ha, oh hells no.
I love the idea of Hoyt and Jessica on "True Blood"! -P
Hoyt loves the idea too. Jessica's into it as well, but I don't think she's exactly a one man kind of vampiress... not just yet anyway.
Am I imagining the overwhelming sexual tension between Jason Stackhouse and the preacher's wife on "True Blood"? Is something going to happen with that? -Maria
No to the former. Yes to the latter. Keep watching, you're not waiting for nothing.
Sookie and Eric! Is Alan Ball going to completely ignore that storyline from the book series? -Paula
Nope. When I spoke to Stephen Moyer about what's coming up with S&E, he got a little jealous. I think he was joking... for the most part.
I read on Twitter that you weren't a big fan of last week's "True Blood" episode. It was a little disappointing compared to the first two. -Jan
No worries, they step it back up this coming Sunday...
Psyched for what's on tap? Anything specific you're hoping to see this season?
Oh, I keep forgetting to show you guys a photo of the SAG Foundation's "True Blood" event with Stephen Moyer, which I moderated a couple weeks ago. Great guy. Anna Paquin's a lucky girl. He looks hot with a little color in his face, no?
07/07/2009 ~ http://blog.zap2it.com/korbitv/2009/07/true-blood-you-ask-i-answer.html |
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From TheHollywoodGossip.com:
Anna Paquin: Nude True Blood Scenes = Hot
Posted on July 6th, 2009 2:21 PM by Free Britney
Of course, doing the scenes with real-life love Stephen Moyer makes it easier.
For Anna Paquin, work entails embracing the supernatural.
And lots of boinking with real-life boyfriend Stephen Moyer.
"It's a very sexy vampire show," the star of HBO's True Blood said in an interview with AOL Television, "and yes, there's more getting it on, so to speak."
Paquin, who plays sweet clairvoyant Sookie Stackhouse on HBO's cult hit, doesn't seem fazed by - True Blood spoiler alert! - the gratuitous nudity required.
"I feel fine," Paquin says. "Although the way that people ask me about it all the time, I feel like maybe I should feel uptight about it. But I really don't."
"Obviously, if you're already with that person then you're not having to sort of get over the 'Wow, I'm naked with someone I don't even know the middle name of!'" the 26-year-old Academy Award-winner (for The Piano) laughs.
"I think that regardless of what kind of scene you're doing, the better you know the person ... the more open and real your performance can be," she adds.
"And that goes for stunt scenes and heavy emotional scenes and sex scenes. OK, so I have a little bit of a leg up in that area with my on-screen [partner]."
Stephen Moyer recently incurred the wrath of Twilight fans for calling Robert Pattinson a pu$$y and the Diet Coke of vampires. Now he's going to make people jealous by virtue of the fact that he boinks Anna Paquin on screen.
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/07/anna-paquin-nude-true-blood-scenes-stephen-moyer-no-prob/ |
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From TheCelebrityCafe.com:
True Blood vs Twilight
6-Jul-2009
Written by: Mamusu Tucker
My opinion on which is better and why.
I am a fan of both the Twilight and True Blood franchises.
There have been a lot of comparisons being made lately about which one is better and which one is not being original. Out of both, I started watching True Blood first. Last summer I watched the premiere of the HBO series and immediately was hooked.
Everything about the show was great. It was an intense hour of television. I can honestly say not one episode was a disappointment. The cliffhangers that happened at the end of each episode had me excited for the next week. The acting was believable and the character of Bill made you want to have a southern vampire boyfriend.
The only thing I can say is that True Blood is not a show that should be watched by those who cannot even get into an R rated movie due to the explicit sex scenes. Even the book series is just as good as the television show. After watching the series, I did not even want to look at Twilight.
I was actually annoyed when I heard about Twilight because it made me feel as if everyone wanted to take part of the success that was created from True Blood. But after a bored evening when I had nothing else to do I decided to watch the movie.
I wasn't as blown away as everyone else was. I actually wasn't really blown away by the acting but looking at Edward sort of made me forget that the whole movie seemed rushed.
A week later I bought the book and actually liked it a lot more than the movie, but just like with the movie I was not blown away. I did become hooked on the series because I wanted to see what else was going to happen in the story line. Maybe if I was younger it would have really grabbed my attention like True Blood has.
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/29975.html |
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From Jacksonville.com:
Wolves are set to steal spotlight
By Laura Capitano
Since January, there has been a two in five chance that a Top 10 U.S. bestselling book is a Stephenie Meyer vampire story, according to USA Today. Between the "Twilight" franchise, HBO's "True Blood," and the upcoming Ethan Hawke/Willem DaFoe movie, "Daybreakers," vampires are clearly enjoying a pop culture boom that's enough to make Buffy the slayer and Anne Rice totally jealous.
It stands to reason that the motion picture industry would want to parlay public demand for reanimated corpses into a revival of other ghoulish figures on screen. Next up: werewolf city, baby. Leading the pack is Warner Brothers, who's said by film industry reports to be looking for just the right writer to reinterpret none other than 1985's "Teen Wolf." You know, that old casting fluke that placed shorty Michael J. Fox not only as a werewolf but also as one who played on a high school basketball team.
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.jacksonville.com/lifestyles/columnists/laura_capitano/2009-07-06/story/wolves_are_set_to_steal_spotlight |
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From Examiner.com:
"Jennifer's Body" trailer? Fun.
The movie poster? Fail.
The seemingly unstoppable Megan Fox is the star of Diablo Cody's latest written effort Jennifer's Body, and while the red-band trailer looks fun in a The Craft sort of way, it's the poster I have a bigger problem with.
I mean, with True Blood so hot right now, you'd think the promotions team behind the movie would have gone another direction. Or maybe they knew exactly what they were doing and hoped to ride the wave of HBO's success via its artwork. Or maybe this is Megan Fox's way of finally fulfilling her dream to literally be Angelina Jolie (see Entertainment Weekly's photo below).
Whatever the mindframe was, I've got to say I'm not sold though I am glad film promoters opted to stay away from going the Michael Bay route of using Fox. There's no question the actress is a looker, but part of what makes the movie worth the mention is the chance to see Fox live up to her physical hype by actually, you know, acting.
Jennifer's Body opens September 18.
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-12068-Oakland-Celebrity-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m7d6-Jennifers-Body-trailer-fun-The-movie-poster-Fail |
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Spoilers from EOnline:
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>Eileen in Menlo Park, Calif.: Spill me some news on True Blood, especially about that gorgeous Jason Stackhouse.
True Blood star Ryan Kwanten tells us that Jason and his sister, Sookie, won't be separated forever: "There will be [a reunion between the Stackhouse siblings] and quite an electric one, too, where we gang up for the greater good."
Tim in Sarasota Springs, Fla.: When do we finally get to see this badass vampire Godric on True Blood?
We've been waiting patiently for this mysterious vampire-of-all-vampires too, and the wait is almost over. Godric (Allan Hyde) pops up in the July 19 episode, along with his lieutenants Stan (Eureka's Ed Quinn) and Isabel (Valerie Cruz). Valerie tells us, "Isabel runs with the Dallas vampires, but she kind of becomes friends with both Bill and Eric. And she likes Sookie. [Isabel] has a penchant for humans, and she's sensitive to this love story they have."
Lee in Terre Haute, Ind.: I need some True Blood info!
Carrie Preston, who plays Arlene, says, "The second-season finale is only two weeks after the end of the first season. Things get crazy in Bon Temps, Louisiana, I'll tell you that." Wait, Arlene doesn't die, does she? "Not so far!"
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b132777_spoiler_chat_whos_taking_break_from.html |
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True Blood recording artist, Greg Laswell - from Examiner Dallas:
Greg Laswell returns to Dallas
 Promotional Photo
First, who is Greg Laswell? He was born in Long Beach, California in 1974. He attended Point Loma Nazarene University, and was the front man for a local band in San Diego called Shillglen. The band was nominated for San Diego’s Best Alternative album, and had over 400,000 downloads. In 2001 the band mutually broke up, and Laswell went onto venture as a soloist. Laswell signed onto Vanguard Records, after a fairly successful album debut of Good Movie.
He then went onto create the album Through Toledo, which created frenzy within the music world. He gained instant fame being the background for television shows, and movies. He has been a reoccurring artist on the television show “Grey’s Anatomy” He has also been heard on additional television shows: “True Blood”, “ Smallville”, “Shark”,” Without a Trace”, “The Hills’, “Numb3rs,” and “90210.”
[Continue reading...]
07/07/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-13204-Dallas-Generation-Y-Examiner~y2009m7d6-Greg-Laswell-returns-to-Dallas |
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From TV Guide:
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>If you think Tara’s new beau, Eggs (Mechad Brooks), seems too good to be true, you’re right. He’s got a secret. A very, very, very old secret that will soon be revealed. How will Tara react when she learns who Eggs really is? "I'm curious to know if it freaks her out,” says Rutina Wesley (Tara). “With everything else going on in Louisiana, she'll probably be like, 'I like you, whatever...'”
From Boston Herald:
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>“She is a woman who is all about appetite,” Forbes said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. “She’s not human. She has a definite myopic quest that she is on. And she is going to have one hell of a time achieving that quest. Maryann is definitely a character that’s about perspective in the sense that she sees her goal as beautiful and blissful and of the divine and pure, so she doesn’t consider what she is doing as being bad at all. It’s quite a beautiful thing, and she’s graciously allowing everyone to come with her. I don’t perceive her as a villain.”
07/05/2009 ~ http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/what-the-keck/kecks-exclusives-kiefer-sutherland-on-24s-new-set-1600.html
~ http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/general/view/20090701michelle_forbes_stays_true_to_rebellious_nature_as_mysterious_maryann/srvc=home&position=also |
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Hmmm ... Fangoria's & RopeOfSilicon's graphic design of new movie "Jennifer's Body" too similar to True Blood's?
[Continue reading...]
07/06/2009 ~ http://www.fangoria.com/home/news/9-film-news/3129-red-band-trailer-for-jennifers-body.html
~ http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/movie/jennifers-body |
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From Rochester Examiner:
Vampires aren't just for tweens
 Photo copyright Associate Press
Mention vampires to any tween or teen and they will immediately think of the Twilight franchise fronted by the charming Edward Cullen and his coven of do-gooder vampires which includes the often moody Rosalie, who was born and raised in Rochester NY. But while these vampires may rule the teen scene, they are not alone.
HBO launched the now hit True Blood, a show that focuses on the raising problem of vampires in the deep south. While this show's premise can be a bit far out for even the biggest vampire fanatics, it has developed an enormous cult following and subsequently, enormous ratings. This following can be attributed to the strong cast led by Anna Paquin and the heart-throb Stephen Moyer.
If True Blood fails to grab your attention, the book series it's based on,The Southern Vampire Mysteryseries, may just do the trick. This collection of novels is well-written and will have any vampire fan on the edge of their seats. While the good looking vampires and romances in this series are reminiscent of another very famous vampire series, there is no glittery skin, or puppy love to detract from the plot.
[Continue reading...]
07/06/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-15711-Rochester--Pop-Culture-Examiner~y2009m7d5-Vampires-arent-just-for-tweens |
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From TVGuide.com:
Season 2 Episode 4 "Shake and Fingerpop" first airing 07/12/2009
Bill, Sookie and Jessica fly to Dallas on a mission for Eric to find a missing vampire; Maryann corrals the locals for Tara's birthday party; Jason's new assignment at the Light of Day Institute inspires even more jealousy among his rivals; Lafayette receives an unlikely remedy for his injured leg; Sam finds a reason to delay his departure.
Season 2 Episode 5 "Never Let Me Go" first airing 07/19/2009
Sookie tries to connect with a stranger in Dallas who shares her abilities, and also joins Bill and Eric for an important meeting convened to address Godric's disappearance. Meanwhile, Sarah rewards Jason's hard work at camp, and Maryann seeks to change Tara's moving plans.
Season 2 Episode 6 "Hard-Hearted Hannah" first airing 07/26/2009
Sookie and Hugo, Isabel's human beau, set off on a risky mission to find the missing Godric; Bill encounters a face from his past in Dallas; Hoyt is still smitten with Jessica; Andy has questions for Lafayette about his recent disappearance; Jason faces a new series of tests at the Light of Day camp; Tara and Eggs take a road trip.
07/05/2009 ~ |
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A wonderful news find from LovingTrueBloodInDallas:
Filming Direct Booked TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
at Sofitel LA
Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles, CA just wrapped HBO’s TRUE BLOOD.
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>Click on Image for a more detailed view One of HBO’s newest hit shows “True Blood” is starting season 2 in June , keep watch for Stone Rose Lounge this season. Also featured is the amazing lobby of Sofitel LA located in West Hollywood. Shooting took two seperate days and a total of 18 hours one day and 24 hours the following week. During shooting of True Blood, Sofitel LA was turned into “Carmilla Hotel” a Vampire Hotel located in the south. The concierge desk featured Tru Blood bottles of blood (which look more like beer bottles). This exciting shoot was a huge hit with guests of the hotel. Guests of Sofitel got to see star of True Blood Anna Paquin upclose. Before and After photos were taking during shooting, see attached photos in this blog for a sneak peak at the show. True Blood’s filming was a total success and we hope to book them again sometime in the future. If you would like FilmingDirect.com to represent your hotel, home, bar…please contact us at info@filmingdirect.com or use our contact page to send a message to our sales department. For information about True Blood go to www.hbo.com/trueblood
07/05/2009 ~ http://blog.filmingdirect.com/posts/true-blood/ |
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From the Jackson TV Examiner - True Blood's "Bad Things" one of the top five theme songs:
The top five (plus one) TV theme songs
A theme song is the first impression we get of a show each week, the thing that tells us from across the room or even across the house that our show is starting and we need to be there to watch it. So here's the five most recognizable, sing-along-able, memorable and best theme songs, in no particular order:
Veronica Mars: Catchy, chipper and edgy at the same time, and rediculously sing-able, the VM theme is actually a whole song (We Used to be Friends, by the Dandy Warhols), though the best parts were included in the dreamy, sunny and photoshop-friendly opening sequence. Who can hear this song without thinking of the good old days when Veronica was fighting crime, My-best-friend-Lily-Caine was still dead and sometimes a ghost, and Logan was an entitled jerk with a baseball bat and alot of problems?
True Blood: Slinky and sexy, a little country and a little rock and roll, and, again, very sing-along-able, "Bad Things" by Jace Everett is something that should be on everyone's playlist, and the opening sequence it plays over-- shots of religion and life and sex and weirdness in the Bayou-- though not exactly safe for work, is really well made. Together with the song, it about sums up the world that our Sookie Stackhouse finds herself in, and gives a good overview of the world to get you in the right headspace for watching the show.
[Continue reading...]
07/05/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-11396-Jacksonville-TV-Examiner~y2009m7d5-The-top-five-plus-one-TV-theme-songs |
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TV Guide interview with Nelson Ellis (Lafayette):
07/05/2009 ~ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9rmzo_true-blood-nelsan-ellis_shortfilms |
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From National Ledger:
Valerie Cruz, 'True Blood's' First
Latina Vampire Speaks
By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
Jul 5, 2009
Text hidden - highlight from here------->Valerie Cruz, who comes aboard "True Blood" this season as the show's first Latina vampire, Isabel, recounts that she was surprised to find series creator Alan Ball on hand when she first went in for a casting meeting.
 | | Valerie Cruz, 'True Blood's' First Latina Vampire Speaks (Image: WENN) |
"Funny, I wasn't even expecting him to be in the room. A lot of producers nowadays, it's like they can't even be bothered to be in the room anymore. They want it on tape," says the actress, known as Sylvia Prado -- Jimmy Smits' wife -- to "Dexter" fans. "There are a lot of things you can't get from an audition tape -- the energy when someone walks in, their interaction. Alan is such a class act. He's there at every table read. The writers I've spoken to say he's incredibly gracious -- he trusts the people that he hires to really do a great job. The cool thing about it is, once you're cast, once the whole thing is put together, he takes a step back and lets people do creatively what they want to do."
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One thing she did, as Isabel, "I definitely asked for the wardrobe. Everyone was pretty gracious about that. She's 600 years old and definitely from the time of the Spanish Inquisition in my mind. It's pretty clear where she comes from. She still speaks with a Spanish accent."
Adds Cruz, "I've always loved vampires, so I was really excited about doing the show. Well, you'd be hard-pressed to find an actor who doesn't get excited about the prospect of playing a character with this mindset that you live forever. The world just weighs on you differently, you know? That's part of what makes vampires so interesting to play. In a sense they lack humanity, but in another sense there is a great humanness about them."
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Cruz says she became an avid fan of "True Blood" in its first season. "My handful of Sunday nights when I could watch TV were 'Mad Men' and 'True Blood,' even though I was working on 'Dexter' at the time. It made me feel a little bit of a traitor."
07/05/2009 ~ http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272626812.shtml |
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Monster condoms from Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man:
07/05/2009 ~ http://www.fangoria.com/home/indie-frights/3104-monster-condoms-for-frankenstein-dracula-a-the-invisible-man-.html |
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