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From U.K.'s DailyMail:
Rising vamp: Anna Paquin back in the limelight
By Lorien HaynesSince her Oscar-winning performance in The Piano at the age of 11, Anna Paquin has worked hard and kept her head down.
So how is the reluctant A-lister coping with the phenomenal success  of cult vampire series True Blood? Anna Paquin arrives at Gjelina’s, her favourite LA restaurant, on a pale pink pushbike, asks for her usual lemonade, smiles and starts to chatter. Not nervous, over-your-head chatter, but wry, offbeat, barbed wit.
The actress, who for many will for ever be the elemental child Flora in Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano, is laughing about the superhero doll made after her. ‘There’s a Rogue [her character in X-Men] action figure at Toys ’R’ Us! You have to get a kick out of that. I’m nonbiodegradable.’
Chattiness ‘is what people least expect of me, I know,’ says Anna. ‘At one point, in my early 20s, I was so shy that people were surprised I actually spoke.’ Since winning an Oscar at only 11 for The Piano, Anna, now 26, has had a consistent and acclaimed career – from Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre, via Almost Famous, to Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, The Squid and the Whale, and as Rogue (the superheroine whose kiss kills) in the X-Men franchise – but has avoided the public eye. She rarely gives interviews and even more rarely talks about her private life. Her reputation is, she confesses, ‘Being incredibly serious about my work.’
Her head-down, work-hard approach has paid off with industry respect, no tabloid tittle-tattle and a recent Best Actress win at the Golden Globes for True Blood, the steamy vampire comedy-drama TV series that is now airing on the FX channel and will be shown on Channel 4 in October.
 Anna with Holly Hunter in The Piano Since it first screened in the US last autumn, the show has become HBO’s third highest-rated series after The Sopranos and Sex and the City, and Anna is now constantly recognised and papped.
The drama, based on the cult Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, features Anna in the lead role of Sookie, a Southern barmaid who can hear people’s thoughts in a world where vampires have ‘come out of the coffin’. Sookie (for whom Anna has gone blond) even has dress-alike disciples among teens and 20-somethings across the US, all denim micro-shorts and clinging white T-shirts.
For Anna, the show works, ‘Because it’s a perfect marriage of something creatively challenging and potentially mainstream. And that’s rare. It’s a really bold show; odd, dark, twisted and funny.’
The character appeals to Anna’s ‘serious actress’ side because she’s a ‘kick-ass female action lead’, she says. ‘Usually [in dramas] things happen to the girl and around the girl and here she’s right in the centre of it and does a good job holding her own. She’s a very complex and beautifully structured character. How many actresses get to say that?’
True Blood taps into the current vogue for vampires instigated by the hit film Twilight. Anna feels it reflects the need for a secular society to believe in something ‘other’, although the bottom line, she admits, is that a vampire storyline has a ‘dark, dangerous, brooding sexuality’ to it.
Sexual chemistry is arguably what has made True Blood such a success. Anna’s Sookie falls for Bill Compton, a vampire whose thoughts she cannot read, played by British actor Stephen Moyer (Ny-Lon, Lilies, Quills). While filming the first series, Anna and Stephen developed a real-life relationship, which they tried to keep quiet. When they eventually went public it was, says Anna, ‘the worst kept secret on the planet’.
[Continue reading...]
07/18/2009 ~ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1199843/Rising-vamp-Anna-Paquin-limelight.html;jsessionid=CA1604A0D179D67EFF3C3475DDD93D88 |
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| *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* |
From TVGuide.com:
True Blood in Texas: Stephen Moyer Gives Us a Taste
 As brooding vampire Bill Compton, British actor Stephen Moyer is right at the center of the bloodthirsty buzz surrounding HBO's hit True Blood (Sundays at 10 pm/.ET). Not a bad place to be, right?
Not so fast. Moyer's character virtually disappears in the third of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, on which the show is based. And while series creator Alan Ball is clearly creating his own path (see the non-death of Book 1 casualty Lafayette on the show), shouldn't Moyer worry a little? Nah. "That gives Alan the opportunity to invent something," Moyer tells TVGuide.com. "Just like last season with the V trips — they had to invent that. And they're very good at it. So I'm confident that however they keep him there, they'll make Bill's story interesting."
Check out our favorite TV and movie vampires
That's not to say his arc this season hasn't given him plenty to sink his teeth into. Bill's playing daddy to a newborn bloodsucker, while also trying to keep afloat his turbulent relationship with Sookie (Anna Paquin), who is increasingly being eyed by Bill's sheriff, Eric (Alexander Skarsgard). Moyer promises that the road trip to Texas will reveal much more about who Eric was (and is) and further flesh out the vampire world.
"Toward the end of the season, we're going to see the hierarchy taken almost to its peak," he says. "We're going to meet the monarchy, if you will. Last year, we met the grand judge of Louisiana, and this year we're going to meet the monarch of Texas. But he's not the monarch of America. It's kind of an almost feudal system. I love the idea of this incredibly detailed society in which manners are very important as to how you relate to people that are above you.
See photos from both seasons of True Blood
"As much as Eric does to piss Bill off, Bill never has a childlike fit," Moyer continues. "The hierarchy is incredibly strong. So no matter how much Eric does against Bill, Bill will never bad-mouth him. It's sort of an elevated playground mentality. However horrible a kid is to you, you don't go and report him."
Even if that horrible kid is moving in on your girlfriend/midnight snack? "What I think is interesting is the love triangle — giving your characters conflict is always much more interesting to watch than suddenly making Sookie and Eric have a relationship," Moyer says, noting that Bill and Sookie can't — and shouldn't — always be happy together.
Stay caught up on the show with our weekly recaps
"You can't watch two characters be happy in love for 12 episodes," Moyer says. "That would be extremely dull. I do know that [a separation is] going to happen. The writers will do what's best for the show. And who's to say they won't create a character for Bill to love? I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the writers' room."
It's evident in every anecdote the actor tells that he adores the show and his character. Moyer giddily cackles at the mere thought of an upcoming plot twist he can't bring himself to spoil. "You wait, you wait," he laughs. "You won't believe it."
07/18/2009 ~ http://www.tvguide.com/News/True-Blood-Moyer-1008251.aspx?rss=object |
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My last article about the Emmy's - from MTV.com:
'True Blood' Emmy Snub: Five Reasons The Series Deserved A Nomination
 It's as predictable as a vampire's thirst for human blood. Each year a more-than-deserving series is left out in the cold come Emmy nominations time. The glaring omission that had me seeing red this year is HBO's much-talked-about vampire series, "True Blood." Sure, they picked up a few Creative Arts (or "Schmemmys" as Kathy Griffin calls them) nominations in art direction, title design and casting, but no "Big Show" nods to speak of. Oh, the bloody horror! We at Hollywood Crush are obviously fans of the show and in protest of the series' snub we've compiled a list of the five reasons the show deserved to be nominated (the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — we hope you're paying attention!).
1. It's the highest rated show on HBO
The second season premiere of "True Blood" garnered 3.7 million viewers, the network's highest rating since the "Sopranos" finale two years ago. The show even bested itself this week soaring to 3.9 million blood-thirsty watchers. Yet, its HBO brother "Entourage," a show which rambles through the same predictable plot arc each season, gets a nomination for "Outstanding Comedy Series."
2. It has a deeper message
Sure, it's a show about vampires. Sexy ones at that. But when you dig a little deeper in the dirt you find an allegory that examines gay rights, racism, and religion.
3. It has a superb cast
No weak links here. Virtually the entire cast of "True Blood" is Emmy worthy (Anna Paquin's even got an Oscar to her name), but we give special props to Ryan Kwanten for his portrayal of earnest yet dim-witted Jason Stackhouse and Alexander Skarsgård who plays vampire Eric with a chilling likability.
4. It's an adaptation with legs
Instead of copying Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries series scene for scene, creator and director Alan Ball used the author's world as a reference point for his own vision of Bon Temps, LA. He's noticeably deviated from the books (SPOILER ALERT! Lafayette should be dead by now), but many of Charlaine's fans don't seem to mind, which speaks to the likability of Ball's series.
5. It's just darn good television
'Nuff said.
07/18/2009 ~ http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2009/07/16/true-blood-emmy-snub-five-reasons-the-series-deserved-a-nomination/ |
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From WinnipegFreePress.com:
Former Winnipegger nominated for Emmy
Created opening for True Blood
For a guy without cable who doesn't watch television, Shawn Fedorchuk is pretty good at working for the industry.
The 36-year-old Winnipeg native is a senior editor and creative lead at Digital Kitchen in Seattle, a production company that works on everything from the opening sequences of series like The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to commercials.
When the list of Emmy nominees was released Thursday, Fedorchuk's name was among them for his work as part of the team that created the opening sequence for the HBO series True Blood starring another former Winnipegger Anna Paquin as a telepath who falls in love with a vampire.
"It's bloody amazing, get it?" Fedorchuk says with a laugh over the phone from his Seattle office, where he just finished editing a commercial for Shark Week, Discovery Channel's annual homage to all things shark. "It sounds like a major cliché, but it's nice to be recognized. Lots of people in the creative arts toil in obscurity; for me it's nice to be recognized and go to L.A. and have a night on the town and drink some champagne," he says.
Fedorchuk knows of what he speaks. His Emmy nod for outstanding main title design is his third nomination. He has been nominated for his work on the television show The Grid and the best supporting actor intro sequence for the 77th Academy Awards.
But this one might be the biggest since he and his co-worker Rama Allen came up with the idea for the True Blood opening and were involved in the pitch to HBO. Fedorchuk's pitch beat out 12 others from around the world, including competing plans from Digital Kitchen offices in New York and Chicago.
"I just feel really thankful I'm at one of the best companies in the world for doing main titles and to have an amazing team and infrastructure to pull off these massive creative efforts. It's one of the best artistic creative freedoms in the world to have whatever thing that you've dreamt up as far as your original idea, then you get to go make it happen in real life, it's not just a crazy sketch in a book," he says.
The title sequence involves location shots around Louisiana, where the show's fictional town is, and in a church where a Cajun woman is baptized.
[Continue reading...]
07/18/2009 ~ http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/entertainment/TV/former-winnipegger-nominated-for-emmy-51091082.html |
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The UK and True Blood merchandising - from Examiner:
True Blood branded PC accessories
 Twilight may have Lip Venom lip gloss and boxes of sparkly candy adorned with pictures of a brooding Edward and vaguely bored Bella, but when it comes to vampire merchandise, no one does it better than True Blood. From "Fangbanger" T-shirts to pint glasses etched the Tru•Blood logo, True Blood knows how to market their brand to its educated, literate, adult audience. Now, in an effort to capitalize on the full extent of the show's popularity, a line of PC accessories based on hit vampire series is headed for UK shelves, following a deal with HBO and Rocket Licensing. The PC product line will follow in suit along with a number of additional branded apparel, stationary, homewares and gifts currently being developd. “True Blood has all the qualities – flair, fantasy and sex appeal – that we associate with the vampire genre, but it adds the trademark HBO intelligence, originality and style," said Rob Wijeratna, joint managing director of Rocket Licensing. "It’s an irresistible combination with massive appeal among a wide demographic, making it a significant licensing opportunity." One can only hope that this mass marketing of True Blood doesn't counteract the mounting international fandom by over-saturating the marketplace and, thus, undermining the uniqueness and cult-quality the series has worked so hard to develop. Up until not, the marketing plan developed by Digital Kitchen has been nothing less than spectacular. However, the idea of walking into Target and seeing a line of True Blood housewares, alongside Harry Potter blankets and Twilight toothbrushes, would be a bit disconcerting.
07/18/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-16974-True-Blood-Examiner~y2009m7d17-True-Blood-branded-PC-accessories |
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The UK is talking about Bill Compton's 'smokin piece of dead ass' - from TimesOnline:
True Blood on FX: it’s brilliant; it’s filthy
 If you are one of those people who are troubled by a long, hot summer at the best of times — coming down with “sexy hay- fever” on a potent combination of thigh, wine, cigarettes at dusk and the distant sound of cats on roofs — then I must thoroughly dis-recommend True Blood, Alan American Beauty/Six Feet Under Ball’s new series. Not that it’s easy to be disrupted by it, anyway. It’s premiering on the FX channel, which, for many, is the equivalent of putting it roughly 12 miles offshore, in a dinghy, surrounded by police incident tape. You’re not likely to trip over it in your day-to-day TV business.
But as it’s due to transfer to Channel 4 in October we may as well be TV pioneers and deal with it now. Everyone will be talking about it this summer, anyway. And then going for a long, cold shower, before spending an hour looking through a catalogue of concrete renders and finishes in order to calm down a bit.
There are just two key facts, really: it’s brilliant; and it’s filthy. Set in the fictional north Louisiana town of Bon Temps — all bayou, margaritas, Spanish moss and hot pants — True Blood exists in a fractionally different world from ours, where the development of synthetic blood, and the Vampire Rights Amendment, mean that vampires live openly in Scandinavia, and the US. Angelina Jolie has adopted a vampire baby.
Nonetheless, when Bill Compton’s (Stephen Moyer) smokin’ piece of undead ass walks into Merlotte’s Bar, it’s the first vampire the backwater town has ever seen. “That is trouble, looking for a place to happen,” says Tara, one of the barmaids and, coincidentally, the “Categorically Most Enjoyably Arsey Woman” ever to have been portrayed on screen.
[Continue reading...]
07/18/2009 ~ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6716748.ece |
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| *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* |
From Fancast.com:
Valerie Cruz Sinks Her Teeth Into True Blood
Valerie Cruz has managed to score the cable television triple crown. She portrayed Grace Santiago in the first season of Nip/Tuck, then moved onto Dexter, where she played Sylvia Prado. Now she’s joined True Blood, as the Dallas-based vampire Isabel who arrives in Dallas this Sunday. Cruz shared why she loved burning the midnight oil on the set, how she approached playing a very senior citizen and why she’s relieved Isabel did not appear in any of the show’s famous sex scenes.
Who is Isabel?
She is a vampire they’ve introduced this season. [Sookie and Bill] take a trip to Dallas. According to the books she’s about 600 years old. So she’s been around the block. As vampires go she’s a little more in the vein of having a sensitivity and a conscience. She’s pretty fabulous. She has great costumes, a great hairstyle. I don’t think we’ve really seen a vampire quite like her yet.
Why are Bill and Sookie in Dallas? How is Isabel involved in their story?
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but if you read the books you know they go to Dallas to help find a missing vampire. That’s how they encounter all the people in Dallas.
In the book, Isabel worked at a vampire hotel. Is that what she’s doing on the TV series as well?
Yes. Definitely. They did such a great job on the sets. It’s pretty amazing. It was interesting to read the book and then walk
What was it like working with Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer?
I can’t say enough good things. Stephen Moyer is probably the most gracious, gifted actor that I’ve met. He’s really intelligent. He has a real sensitivity to his character, to scenes, to scripts. Anna’s definitely the same way. It was strange because I was a big fan of the show before I [was cast] and interacting with them after being on the outside looking in was a real interesting trip. They’re both really sweet people, kind, and hard workers. The hours on that set are insane. It’s a vampire show, so you’re shooting into the night, getting off at five in the morning. If you can go to work every day after working those hours and be as gracious and kind as both of them are, it’s a real testimony to who they are as people.
How did you approach playing a character who was 600 years old?
A book gives you a lot of back story. On TV there’s not always that time so as an actor, when you come on and you get this character you have to create it from head to toe. I did a lot of research on vampires, read books, watched different movies. I pieced together what it was that I wanted for her. I put her at 600 years old. I thought about the Spanish inquisition. When I knew the time period where she was made it was easier to flesh her out. I took my ideas to wardrobe and the hair and make-up department. They’re so creative. They got on board with the ideas I had. You can tell by the way she dresses. There are hints to a different time and place. I think all these vampires have a world weariness about them. I’ve only lived 33 years and I feel world weary. I can’t imagine having walked the earth for that number of years with no end in sight.
Does Isabel have any of the show’s trademark wild sex scenes?
No, she did not. Thank God! I saved myself and the rest of the world a bad, bad sight.
[Continue reading...]
07/18/2009 ~ http://www.fancast.com/blogs/interviews/valerie-cruz-sinks-her-teeth-into-true-blood/ |
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Gotta love HBO's newest promo - including our Bill:
07/18/2009 |
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Special thanks to EricNorthman.net for the excellent info ...
From Entertainment Weekly 07/24/2009:
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.ericnorthman.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=136 |
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From U.K. Promotions And Incentives:
HBO appoints Rocket for True Blood licensing push
LONDON - Rocket Licensing has been chosen to represent the HBO hit series 'True Blood' brand for licensing and merchandising purposes in the UK and Ireland.
'True Blood' tells the story of a vampire living on artificial blood and coexisting with humans. It has won critical acclaim and 'X-Men' actress Anna Paquin won a Best Actress Golden Globe for her role in the show. The show has a core target market from ages 18 to 30 across both sexes and a significant primary market among over-30s.
Rocket will be targeting a number of key product categories that include apparel, accessories, paper and stationery, homewares, gifts, collectibles and PC accessories. True Blood has achieved broad success in the U.S. market and has just launched in the UK on FX.
Rob Wijeratna, Joint Managing Director of Rocket Licensing, said: True Blood has all the qualities – flair, fantasy and sex appeal – that we associate with the vampire genre, but it adds the trademark HBO intelligence, originality and style. It’s an irresistible combination with massive appeal among a wide demographic, making it a significant licensing opportunity.
James Costos, Vice President, Licensing & Retail at HBO. True Blood is one of our most exciting franchises to date, and provides a multitude of opportunities for products that reflect its popularity and originality that transcends beyond the television.
Last month HBO brought brands including Gillette, Harley-Davidson and Mini to create ads aimed at vampires to promote the US launch of the second series of 'True Blood'.
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.promotionsandincentives.co.uk/channel/salespromotion/article/920765/HBO-appoints-Rocket-True-Blood-licensing-push/ |
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| *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* |
From EOnline:
True Blood Sneak Peeks: Meet Sookie's New Friend
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b134674_true_blood_sneak_peeks_meet_sookies_new.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories |
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From TVGuideMagazine.com:
Summer of Sam
by Kate Hahn July 17, 2009 10:27 AM EST  Chalk it up to puppy love: On soapy vampfest True Blood, Sam Trammell is winning hearts as bar owner Sam Merlotte, who shape-shifts into a watchful collie when he’s not busy stocking the cooler. (It probably doesn’t hurt his popularity that the morphing process often leaves him buck naked.)
A Tony-nominated Broadway vet who previously starred in Showtime’s Going to California, Trammell is, like his current alter ego, a Southern boy who found it hard to put down roots. “Sam’s traveled a lot. I, too, moved around a lot when I was a kid,” he tells TV Guide Magazine. The eldest of three children, he relocated with his family often while his dad built his medical career: “I learned not to open up to people. You get close to someone and then you have to say goodbye—it is painful.”
One person Sam won’t wave off anytime soon? Waitress Daphne (Ashley Jones). “Sam learns a lot from her. She opens him up,” he says. (His real-life squeeze is actress Missy Yager of Mad Men.) And that’s not the only change: “Something physical and emotional happens to Sam in the next two episodes that has never happened to him before. It’s huge,” says Trammell. We can’t bloody wait.
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/feature/summer-of-sam-1738.html |
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From CelebrityRumors.com:
Anna Paquin of True Blood on Letterman.
Anna Paquin of True Blood was on Letterman last night. I have a ton of pictures of her, and the video from Youtube, because that’s how organized I am on Fridays for you. Word. Oh, I don’t like True Blood. I know its the new in thing, but I think it sucks, both literally and figuratively. But that’s just me. Enjoy the pictures of Anna Paquin, she’s smoking hot.
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.celebrityrumors.com/anna-paquin/anna-paquin-of-true-blood-on-letterman.html |
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Good commentary regarding Emmy snub from BroadcastingCable.com:
'Blood’ Flowing Again at HBO
By Melissa Grego -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/17/2009 1:19:34 PM EDT
After admittedly needing to right the ship since the departure of shows like The Sopranos and Sex and the City, HBO finally seems to be gaining steam. The premium cable network’s trio of summer series—True Blood, Entourage and new comedy Hung—is delivering ratings not seen since the Mob-supported glory days, and the network just hauled in 99 Emmy nominations, once again more than any other network.
Michael Lombardo, president of HBO’s programming group and West Coast operations, talked with B&C’s Melissa Grego about the network’s plans for keeping up the momentum, his reaction to Emmy nominations HBO did and didn’t get, and what he thinks of Showtime and other rivals. Following is an edited transcript of that conversation.
Are you feeling some momentum at HBO?
When [HBO co-president] Richard Plepler and I got these jobs a little more than two years ago, the press was writing epitaphs for HBO programming. It’s much nicer to read the press we are getting lately. It feels like it’s working.
What is your reaction to HBO’s 99 Emmy nominations?
Other than ecstatic, dancing on the ceiling? I’m enormously proud of HBO. I think the Emmys shine a light on the enormous breadth of our programming, [and that] is tremendous—unlike many networks out there doing original programming, the series absolutely are well represented but [so are] the movies, the specials, Bill Maher, the documentaries. It really is great for the entire company. It so reflects all the visions delivering.
Are you surprised True Blood didn’t get more recognition?
Not really. Truth is, we premiered the new season of True Blood right before the nominations, so timing-wise it really didn’t have time to have impact with Emmy voters. I think its time will come. Next year, I would be very surprised and disappointed if it weren’t recognized more.
On July 12, True Blood drew a series high 3.9 million viewers, Hung built big on its premiere to 3.6 million viewers, and Entourage returned with its largest audience since following one of the final Sopranos episodes. Is this the performance you expected out of the lineup?
To say we expected this would be a huge overstatement. Richard Plepler, [HBO Entertainment President] Sue Naegle and myself all believed in these three shows, we believed in this as a strong night of programming. You always hope people embrace it, but it exceeded our wildest expectations.
[Continue reading...]
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/315655-_Blood_Flowing_Again_at_HBO.php |
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Interview with Alan Ball - from United Kingdom's TheLondonPaper:
(True Blood Season 1 premieres Friday, July 17)
Friday's TV choice is True Blood, FX,10pm
The writer of American Beauty and Six Feet Under talks to thelondonpaper about his new fascination with the undead
by: Stuart McGurk | 17 July 2009
 Your new vampire drama, True Blood, is a lot of fun, but it’s quite different from your previous HBO series, Six Feet Under, isn’t it? Was that intentional?
Well, it wasn’t like I said: “OK, I want to do something different.” I discovered the book that we based True Blood on by accident, and it was just flat-out entertaining. It walked such a great line between horror and romance and comedy and, you know, darkness. I read the books voraciously and by about the middle of the fourth, I went: “You know what, I think this would make a great TV show.”
The set-up is similar to Twilight – with vampires among us, and the central love affair between a human (Sookie, played by Anna Paquin) and a good vampire (Brit actor Stephen Moyer)…
Yeah, only our people actually have sex in ours! I get asked a lot,: “Why are vampires so important now?” And I just want to go: “Two big projects happened at once, that’s why they’re so important!” Vampires are a really powerful symbol to a lot of people. Honestly, one of the reasons I think Charlaine Harris’s books [on which the series is based] are so successful is that a lot of women fantasise about being taken by a vampire, you know?
Vampires are “out of the coffin” in the show, but still feared. A lot of gay-rights parallels are being played on, aren’t they?
Sure, but to me that’s window dressing. It’s not so much about gay and lesbian rights as it is about any sort of disenfranchised, feared group that people can rally around and say: “We want rights for these people.” And to me it was kinda like a funny take on the culture wars without being too serious. You can’t be too serious – they’re vampires! I’m not so concerned about the mechanics. What I’m interested in is what’s it like to be 170 and to have lost everything you loved and then suddenly discover a second chance. What’s that like? I couldn’t care less about whether you can see yourself in the mirror or what garlic does to you.
With this, a show about the undead, following a show about undertakers (Six Feet Under), are people going to assume you’re fascinated with death?
Ha! I imagine there is some fraction of some truth to that somewhere, deep buried somewhere, but they’re not the same. True Blood is not about mortality, it’s about entertainment, more than anything. It’s just a good rollicking story. I was forced by HBO at one point. They said: “Well what is the series about?” And I thought: “OK, now they want one of those one-sentence dramatic things.” And I said: “It’s about the terrors of intimacy.” And they went: “Oh great, we love that.” And I thought: “I don’t know if it’s about that!”
You’ve spoken before about your sister dying when you were younger. Did writing about death for Six Feet Under help in any way?
Oh, for sure. It was like a combination of help school and therapy, and certainly it allowed me to sort of meditate on mortality and make those steps towards accepting my own mortality. My mum died not long after Six Feet Under ended and it was the first time I lost somebody really close to me and I didn’t feel that the world turned alien.
I read that when you finish a series or a film you take it quite emotionally, as if you have lost someone. Is that true?
Six Feet Under, definitely; and when I was writing American Beauty and Lester died, I cried. That’s been a big part of me, I think. You know, when my sister died when I was so young it traumatised me, so I think that, for many, many years, if something familiar ended, I kinda got pissed about it.
True Blood is more of a “genre” piece than your other work – is that something you’re sticking with?
Yeah, the projects I seem to be drawn to right now are more genre as opposed to, you know, American Beauty and Six Feet Under, where people are angsting about their lives. I’m sort of like: “OK I’m done with that, let’s do vampires now.”
True Blood starts on FX tonight at 10pm
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.thelondonpaper.com/staying-in/tv/previews/fridays-tv-choice-is-true-blood-fx-10pm |
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Ahhhh - from the Denver Post:
"True Blood" reveals meat amid all the fangs, gore
 My tastes usually run to the living.
When "True Blood" premiered on HBO last September, it struck me as too fantastical to appeal as serious drama, too awash in gushing blood to entice week to week. I was at best lukewarm to vampire stories other than those involving Buffy slayage.
But "True Blood's" humor won me over, its excessive blood lust a minor point en route to its knowing social commentary.
There are easier, less-violent shows on cable this summer. But easier isn't the answer.
Now that it's got the summer to itself, "True Blood" is looking better and better, and gaining traction with viewers. Apparently more viewers are giving it another shot in the months when there are fewer quality dramatic distractions.
And the series, with new episodes Sundays at 7 p.m. on HBO, is as funny and as unapologetically bloody as ever.
The hour delivers satisfying comedy and witty social satire — along with the requisite grit, gore, fantasy and, not least, the boundary-pushing sexuality promised by the premium channel.
Beyond the fangs, which click into place over the actors' teeth with the goofy thrill of a cheap effect when a vamp is overcome by blood thirst, this is thoughtful small-screen filmmaking. Now and then the silliness of the fangs gimmick jolts your awareness that this is a real genre piece. Creator Alan Ball calls it "popcorn TV for smart people."
The story lines of "True Blood" are rife with allusions to teenage mood swings and impulse control, adult hedonism, religious compulsion, cross- cultural romance and intermarriage — of the inter-species kind.
[Continue reading...]
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_12846170 |
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Great snarky review "..cocksure vampire Eric Northman.." from BlackBookMag.com:
Newest ‘Twilight’ Vampire’s Probably No
‘True Blood’ Badass  Honestly, I’ll never understand the frenzy around Robert Pattinson. And I think Stephen Moyer actually struck a nerve when he snarked, “He’s a pussy! He’s the Slim-Fast, Diet Coke of vampires,” when he compared Edward Cullen to his own portrayal of smoky fanger Bill Compton on True Blood. So could the addition of another heartthrob to the Twilight franchise move Pattinson to sharpen his teeth, maybe add edge to his vampiric alter-ego? Probably not! Xavier Samuel has been cast in Eclipse, the third installment in the franchise. And his nondescript dreamy good looks will probably pluck an additional heartstring or two with the flick’s fanbase. Perhaps Samuel will become the Nate Archibald of the vampire community. Or perhaps he can win over those who find themselves hating Kristen Stewart. His role in the film, out June 2010, will be of a good-looking college student who joins the plot to kill Kristen Stewart’s Bella. And in that, he and all of RPatz’s worshippers have a singular goal. Whether this will endear him to any of them is anyone’s guess, but all in all, why settle for baby vamps anyway? Especially when you can have cocksure vampire sheriff Eric Northman lording over your trembling heart.
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/xavier-samuel-newest-twilight-vampires-probably-no-true-blood-bad-ass/9236 |
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From BloodCopy:
VOYAGE OF THE DEAD
Admit it, the lower cargo holds of sailing ships weren’t the most pleasant way to spend a month or two. Hiding in the luggage compartment or cargo holds of planes destined somewhere in the vicinity of your destination was a tiny bit demeaning. And I won’t even get started on what a pain getting your coffin onto a painted wagon was in the olden days.
But now things are different. With the Great Revelation have come companies that openly cater to vampires. For undead who like to travel in style, it doesn’t get much better than Anubis Air. These people really know how to please their clientele, and not only because there isn’t a single bat reference in any of the company literature. Voyaging vampires are allotted comfortable travel coffins and courier service to and from their chartered plane, assuring daylight no longer needs to be a factor in your itinerary.
For those vampires who wish to spend the night portion of the trip outside the coffin, I’ve heard the vessels carry a broad assortment of blood substitute, as well as a stocked traditional bar for any breathers who may be accompanying you. Adding in accounts of music channels that cover nearly any era and convenient routes to most major destinations, and it seems the era of the Bon Vivant vampire has finally arrived.
07/17/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=989 |
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From United Kingdom's TheNorthernEcho::
(True Blood Season 1 premieres Friday, July 17)
Blood, sweat and fears
10:50am Friday 17th July 2009
True Blood (FX, 10pm)
 POOR old Count Dracula looks anaemic compared to the vampires in the new series True Blood from Alan Ball, the Six Feet Under creator and Oscar-winner for his American Beauty script.
This series definitely gives an injection of fresh blood to the old vampire stories.
Dare I say that fangs ain’t wot they used to be.
There’s none of that Twilight nonsense, where vampires have good manners and don’t eat between meals while looking like they’ve stepped from the pages of a glossy fashion magazine.
True Blood is gloriously bloody, gruesome and sexy with lashings of gooey gore and uninhibited sexual couplings. Dracula wouldn’t know where to look.
The supernatural drama is based on the Sookie Stackhouse mystery novels by Charlaine Harris (no, I haven’t heard of them either) although I wonder how much Ball has made them his own.
We are in Bon Temps, Louisiana.
Like blood, the town is not to everyone’s taste. Sookie (played by Anna Paquin, whom we first saw as a little girl in The Piano) is a waitress who’s telepathic. Handy in her job as she knows what people want to eat without asking them.
Vampires live among the normal population on whom they no longer need to feed thanks to TruBlood, a synthetic liquid created by the Japanese that slakes a vampire’s thirst.
Of course, there are rebels who like an illegal suck and sink their teeth into humans. This prompts the American Vampire League to proclaim that vampires are feeding off innocent people.
Enter 173-year-old Bill Compton (British actor Stephen Moyer), who fought in the American Civil War and is back home to integrate into normal society.
He spurns “fang bangers”, the name for male and female groupies, in favour of asking Sookie out for a date. She says yes despite a work colleague warning “that vampire wants you for dinner”.
But Sookie is still interested in the behaviour of bloodsuckers.
“Do you turn into a bat, can you do any tricks?” she asks Bill. Isn’t the fact that he’s 173 interesting enough for her? An unsavoury couple hanging around want to take him out – to drain him and sell his blood. This is bound to turn nasty and it does.
Sookie’s brother, Jason (former Home And Away hunk Ryan Kwanten), spends most of his time naked and bonking the local ladies in energetic sex sessions.
Vamp Bill is much more gentle and goodmannered towards Sookie, especially after she’s attacked. Although I suspect that giving her a blood transfusion – his blood – to save her life might prove a bit of a problem in later life.
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/4498686.Blood__sweat_and_fears/ |
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From Newsweek.com:
Bite Me! Why We Love Vampires
Is it the bad economy, or your secret desire for domination? Psychologists weigh in on our obsession with the bloodsuckers.
 There are three things that Kendra Porter of Cleveland looks for in a man. She likes them smart, funny, and tall. Warm, conscious, and breathing are givens. That's why Porter, 27, says she's more than a little bewildered about her latest crush: a 1,000-year-old hunk of vampire Viking eye candy named Eric, just one of the incredibly beautiful creatures populating the HBO series True Blood, based on the bestselling "Southern Vampire Mysteries" of Charlaine Harris. "This is so embarrassing," says Porter, an interior designer, who plans her Sunday nights around the show. "I was never into that whole vampire thing. Now I'm like vampire central. I want to say, 'Bite me.' But, you know, in that really good way."
Poor Ms. Porter. She's missed out on years of the undead's appeal. But vampires have never been as hot as they are now—in a steamy, let's-step-in-the-shower-together way. Women are now so sexually attracted to vampires, advertisers are even getting in on the action. (And who wouldn't want a little vampire action on the side, especially if it involved Alexander Skarsgård?) In a new Gillette billboard, a vampire hunk caresses his cleanly shaven face next to the phrase "Dead Sexy." In another ad, for Marc Ecko cologne, a male vampire nibbles at a naked woman's neck with the line "Attract a Human." As if they needed any help.
Unless you've been sleeping in a coffin for the last few months—and if you have, lucky you!—you'll know that the hottest genre around is the bloodletter, with vampire-based movies, fan clubs, and, of course, the ever-popular vampire-based paranormal romance literature all competing for our attention. In the fall, the CW debuts Vampire Diaries, a teen soap opera that will make the Gossip Girl crowd want someone other than Chace Crawford to bite them. Next week's Comic-Con International, a celebration of all things pop culture held in San Diego, offers up a heavy dose of vampire-themed events, including a panel discussion with members of the True Blood cast and executive producer Alan Ball. And Southern California will see yet another vampire frenzy next month, with Vampire-Con. Billed as the first vampire-centric convention, the two-day Hollywood event includes a vampire-film festival, panel discussions, and a danse macabre featuring "vampirerotica" go-go girls and boys. "People are really excited about this," says Heidi Johnson, Vampire-Con's PR director. "Even my grandmother is into vampires now."
Vampires and sex have been inexorably intertwined since Bram Stoker's iconic sexual predator Count Dracula took a little nip of Mina and Lucy back in 1897. And well before Robert Pattinson (Twilight's Edward Cullen) or Stephen Moyer and Skarsgård (True Blood's vampire duo of Bill Compton and Eric Northman) set the female heart aflutter, a young, virile Frank Langella did the same thing with his sly portrayal of the count in John Badham's 1979 big-screen adaptation of the story. So did an oddly sexy, bespectacled Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 Dracula, and Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt when they bared their fangs in the movie version of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire in 1994. But there's something about the modern-day vampire that's even more alluring than any of these. It's not just that they're sexy. It's that every girl wants to have sex with them.
[Continue reading...]
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.newsweek.com/id/207128 |
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From United Kingdom's Metro:
(True Blood Season 1 premieres Friday, July 17)
The TV Interview: True Blood
 Vampires aren't for everyone. Undead bloodsuckers might be running riot across popular culture right now but there will always be plenty of people who just can't get to grips with eternal life and spontaneous combustion.
True Blood, the new show from Alan 'Six Feet Under' Ball, is looking to change all that.
Set in a world where most vampires are trying to live in harmony with humans – a situation made possible through a mass-market form of synthetic blood – it stars British actor Stephen Moyer as a well-spoken vamp longing for Anna Paquin's telepathic waitress in a small Louisiana town.
But great pains have been made to keep True Blood accessible for anyone who doesn't obsess over genre television.
'Lots of people ask me who it's aimed at,' admits Moyer, 'and the way I explain it is: imagine you've got a Venn diagram where one circle is vampire lovers, another is Alan Ball fans and then you have one circle which is just people who like really good drama. They all cross over in the middle and that's where it becomes something other than just a fantasy show.
People who don't like the vampire genre see something different in True Blood because it's well-written, funny and quite odd
'You wouldn't think that a vampire show could cross over but people who don't like the vampire genre – and, believe me, it's not my go-to genre either – really see something different in True Blood because it's well-written, it's funny and it's also quite odd.'
The plan seems to have worked. Despite a rocky start in the US, True Blood is now a sure-fire hit for cable channel HBO and finally starts screening over here this week. Much of the show's success has been attributed to the brooding charisma of Moyer, who had a lot of competition for such a prize part.
'When I went to casting in London it was like an annual general meeting for British Equity; everyone went up for this role,' he says. 'But Alan saw my audition later that day and I flew over to meet him and Anna the next morning. The three of us all clicked very quickly and the next day I got the job.'
Where True Blood really stands out is with its inventive look at sexuality. This is a show where things go 'hump' in the night, where soppy, Twilight-style romance is replaced by sexual perversion, whether it be humans snorting vamp blood for a Viagra-style hit or the proliferation of 'fang-bangers' – women who get their kicks from letting vampires feed off them.
There's also a clear subtext in how the vampires are treated after coming 'out of the coffin', made clear in the show's credits with a neon church sign declaring that God Hates Fangs.
'I think what's interesting about it is that it's not just a gay subtext,' says Moyer. 'You can apply it to any minority and that's why it works. If you asked Alan Ball if the gay thing was what he was going for, he would categorically deny it. What I love is that my character is immediately ostracised when he arrives in this little town because he's different. Any minority or disenfranchised group can bring their metaphor to the table at that point.'
Yet while all these elements have provided True Blood with its own form of sustenance – the oxygen of publicity – it hasn't hurt that Moyer and his co-star Paquin have become lovers in real life. 'We've actually been together for two years now and our crew have watched us grow as a couple,' says Moyer. 'They didn't really know we were together while we were filming the first series.
'It's still a bit weird when we're doing sex scenes although when we get home and we're in our own bed, we… kind of miss the crew a little bit.' And as messy as that comment sounds, it's nothing compared to how messed up True Blood gets.
True Blood begins on Friday, 10pm, FX Channel.
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/article.html?True_Blood_is_a_show_with_real_bite&in_article_id=703366&in_page_id=9 |
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Okay ... this is just weird ... from buddytv.com:
Keeping Up with the Kardashians:
Kim Vamps Up Her Look
Friday, July 17, 2009
 Even Kim Kardashian isn't safe from the vampire craze. The star of the E! reality series Keeping up with the Kardashians recently underwent a major makeover, going straight-on goth. On her official blog, she posted photos of her new look for all her fans to see.
"Since vampires are all the rage right now, Troy Jensen [makeup artist] and I thought it would be cool to try out a more gothic, almost sinister look!" Kim Kardashian revealed. "This look was inspired by Prada's fall 2009 runway show and it is so unlike anything I've ever done!"
There's no doubt about that. Usually we'd see the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star tanned, so this pale skin shade is a huge difference. It's no Morticia Addams, but you can tell it's what she was going for.
Explaining herself more, Kim Kardashian went on to say that she didn't need to take drastic measures to tap into her inner goth/bloodsucker. "I didn't actually get rid of my eyebrows, haha. Troy used an eyebrow concealing wax to hide them! Pretty creepy, right?"
[Continue reading...]
07/17/2009 ~ http://www.buddytv.com/articles/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians/keeping-up-with-the-kardashian-30071.aspx |
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From io9.com:
True Blood's Christian Conservative
Vampire-Hater Speaks Out
By Meredith Woerner, 4:30 PM on Thu Jul 16 2009
 We interviewed True Blood's vigilant vampire hater, played by Michael McMillian, and learned a little more about the Fellowship Of The Sun's televangelist golden boy, who says he's a cross between George Bush and Bruce Wayne.
We got the chance to chat via email with actor Michael McMillain, and learn a lot more vampire-loathing character, Steve Newlin, who's really a complicated enigma, combining fanaticism with a sense of compassion. There's even a bit of a King Arthur sprinkled into the fold of this character's persona.
What do you think this great character Steve Newlin? He appears to have it all put together, but there's got to be something looming underneath it all (as is the way with all things True Blood).
This is why Steve's a fascinating character to me. He is a living ideology. It's like trying to figure out who [George W.] Bush really was, in some ways. Like, did he really think he was a hero? Did he really think he was a great Christian? Steve repeatedly speaks in terms of black and white — this "with us or against us" terminology we were so accustomed to hearing over the past decade. Is it all just bullshit? It's almost archaic in this modern day and age. I talked to Alan Ball and the writers about where Steve is coming from, and we all agreed on the same thing: he is absolutely being true to himself. He believes everything he says. He's driven by what he was raised to believe in and his conviction that his father was murdered by agents of evil. In some way's he's like Bruce Wayne. He's setting out to ensure that what happened to his family won't happen to anyone else. And, I mean, he has a point. Look what happened to Jessica. That scene in the first season, when she was kidnapped and turned, was a nightmare. So I'm not sure how troubled he really is, beyond the fact he's troubled by the growing acceptance and tolerance of Vampires.
How did you prep for Steve? I see your hair changed from last season, who's decision was that (we love the new look by the way)?
I grew up in the Midwest and had a lot of exposure to big religion. I went to church every Sunday — my mother even sang in the choir – and most families I knew where practicing Christians. I came from a more moderate church, but even at one point I had a Sunday school teacher who preached that Halloween was Satanic. She was eventually asked to step-down, but my point is that my idyllic suburban upbringing had aspects that were extremely conservative and peripherally racist and somewhat violent. My sister went to high school where kids wore homemade T-Shirts that read "Fagbusters." This was in the 90's! My family saw people waving "Jesus hates fags" signs at the grocery store when I was back there a few weeks ago. On the 4th of July! Absolutely batshit… So on an immediate level, I related to this type of character.
Beyond that, I read the books. I wanted to be as faithful as possible to Charlaine Harris's original vision because he's just so scary in the novels. I also spent a lot of time watching documentaries about the religious right, sermons on YouTube, lots of TBN, Ted Haggard, etc. Just trying to immerse myself in the mindset of contemporary religion and also modern-day cults. If you think the Light of Day Camp is ridiculous, then I dare you to watch Jesus Camp. That movie kept me up at night. There's obviously some Bush inspiration there, I think mostly because of the daddy issues, rhetoric and both men being from Texas. The hair style design was a collaboration between Alan and our lead hair stylist, Kelly Kline. I had come in with all this research done, saw the new ‘do in the mirror and went, "Oh. That's who he is." It was like seeing Steve truly for the first time. And it just gets bigger as the season goes on.
[Continue reading...]
07/17/2009 ~ http://io9.com/5316389/true-bloods-christian-conservative-vampire+hater-speaks-out |
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From StarPulse.com:
'True Blood' Star Kristin Bauer Talks Whales & Vampires
July 16th, 2009 3:14pm EDT
 If you don't know her as vampire Pam from HBO's "True Blood," you may recognize Kristin Bauer from "Dark Angel", "JAG" or from the classic "Seinfeld" episode where she played Jerry's "Man Hands" girlfriend, Gillian.
Kristin recently talked to Starpulse about her passionate advocacy for animal welfare, as well as her role as a vampire. She has worked with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Tails for Whales campaign, which raises awareness about the threats facing whales and their habitats, including commercial whaling and climate change.
Starpulse: When you started working with IFAW, what is it about this particular organization that made you want to become a part of it?
Kristen Bauer: Well, it's again how I find my animals, because they found me. A few things happened in two weeks. My brother-in-law is their architect, he did their landscaping and won an award for it on Cape Cod, so my sister was aware of IFAW, so she, for Christmas, gave me a donation to IFAW. Then the certification and the stuffed animal came in the mail, and my dog was running around with the stuffed animal, and that day I was contacted by IFAW and they asked me to do the voiceover for their DVDs. I thought that was an interesting coincidence, so I went to meet her. I heard about the programs they were doing, and they sounded hands-on and involved, but also had enough experience to get the job done. Which I think is an interesting combination, because I think there are a lot of groups that have the best of intentions, but it is mainly volunteer and it is very difficult to get results. I
Are you involved politically in the Whale Protection Act of 2009 that IFAW is supporting?
Yeah, I am going to do what I can and show up when I can. They had a kickoff in DC in May, which I wasn't able to make. Anytime I can show up if I'm not shooting, I will try.
 What future projects do you have coming up with IFAW? What other campaigns would you like to work with?
Well, I am marrying a South African in the next couple of weeks, and I would love to go South Africa and meet the woman I mentioned before working with dogs and cats. I would love to see what she is doing with them on her own.
Since you are so heavily involved in media, what's your opinion on TV shows like "Whale Wars," which actively fight against the whaling industry but also seems to reinforce the opposition because of the melodramatic narratives that they pose?
I haven't seen it yet, but I saw the documentary "Shark Water," and I saw what is happening with de-finning sharks, which is one of the most sad things I have ever seen. It is fantastically sad and ridiculous. I believe that about 90 or more percent of our sharks have their limbs cut off, and it is really hard to fight for such a non-popular creature. We are all primordially afraid of sharks, but they are responsible for the air we breathe; they are part of the underwater eco-system that creates oxygen from the plankton. If sharks are diminishing, then we run out of plankton and that is a problem.
In that documentary I saw the Sea Shepard and I loved him. Because you are so mad when you are watching it when you see people doing this all to use just 3 percent of the fin in a soup. They are ending life on Earth for an appetizer, not to cure cancer, but for an appetizer, for lunch! So you see the Sea Shepard come in, and it is like some great John Wayne movie and he comes out there because it is illegal, but there is not police out there, and he gets on the megaphone yelling at these people. The one thing that we need is just to pull the curtain back from the wizard.
I think people are inherently good. You just tell people that the dog they are buying in a pet store came from a horrible life and you are supporting a horrible industry, and if you go to shelters you can still get a wonderful dog. They are all dogs, all great dogs whether they have papers or not. I have had so many people say they didn't know and have gone to a shelter and gotten their dog there. I think if you just tell people, they can get interested. I also like "Dog Town," which highlights the Best Friends Sanctuary, and so I was happy "Whale Wars" was coming on. I also worry about any time we want to fight the opposition, because there is always a line there. It takes two to fight. I want to highlight what is happening so people can change in their daily lives, but I don't want to give screen time to support the other side and make a game out of this sort of thing.
[Continue reading...]
07/16/2009 ~ http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php?p=130332&more=1&page=1 |
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From BloodCopy:
OUT OF SERVICE
 This is Daphne, one of the newer servers at Merlotte’s. She’s built up quite a reputation in her short time there, but unfortunately in this case there is such a thing as bad press.
I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her firsthand, but people who’ve sat in her section have had plenty to say. Though described by some as “sweet” and “pleasant when you first meet her”, many others have provided much less flattering descriptions, such as “forgetful”, “slower than evolution”, and “completely unfit to serve as a waitress of any kind for any person ever.” Dropped plates, incorrect orders, and extended wait times seem commonplace in the accounts of these unhappy breathers, despite their insistence that Merlotte’s is normally a great place to grab a bite.
Hopefully Daphne will prove a better server for vampires. After all, a simple order of Tru Blood shouldn’t be too hard to keep straight.
07/16/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=983 |
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From RopeOfSilicon.com:
UPDATE: Alexander Skarsgard and Kate Bosworth
Set To Star in 'Straw Dogs' Remake
BY: Brad Brevet
 UPDATE: Okay, now Kate Bosworth has been confirmed by Variety as Marsden's wife in the feature. As much as the Skarsgard casting impressed me, Bosworth's addition… not so much. On top of that, the more fleshed out storyline from Variety sounds rather generic to me. I updated the article below to contain all the new information.
Well, I am not exactly excited for Rod Lurie's update on Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, but the idea "True Blood" co-star Alexander Skarsgard has landed a role has me a little more optimistic as he has joined the cast along with Kate Bosworth.
James Marsden stars in the film in a role that was previously occupied by Dustin Hoffman in the 1971 original thriller I urge all of you to watch, but it appears this remake is going to hardly be anything like the original and is beginning to smell truly vanilla.
Marsden plays a Hollywood screenwriter who relocates with his wife to her hometown in Mississippi. Bosworth plays the wife, who left the South for LA. to become an actress and returns home so her husband can finish his script in quiet. Skarsgard plays her high school boyfriend, an ex-football hero who sees the return of his former girlfriend as a way to reclaim glory.
The big change right off the bat is the decision to move the film from the English setting of the original and send it into the South, although that is one thing that bothers me as I am concerned it is going to play to traditional country bumpkin stereotypes. As for Skarsgard playing an ex-football hero and Bosworth's high school boyfriend sounds so "been-there-done-that."
I wrote more on my thoughts on the remake back in April, but have since toned down my concern seeing how a remake can't hurt the original so why should I bother myself? Perhaps we'll have a pair of good films to look back on.
As it stands now the film was originally set for an August 2010 release, but has since been moved to TBA status. Screen Gems will distribute.
07/16/2009 ~ http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/alexander-skarsgard-set-to-star-in-straw-dogs-remake |
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Are The Rolling Stones vampires? From TheRockRadio.com:
Rolling Stones update
 Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor announced on iorr.org that he has canceled his upcoming North American dates posting: "It is with deep regret that I must announce that the U.S. and Canadian dates scheduled for July and August will have to be canceled, due to health concerns. During my stay in (the) hospital, my physicians have determined it would not be safe for me to travel at this time. I do hope to return to the U.S. and Canada in the future, to sing and play for you." There has been no word given as to what Taylor's specific illness is. Taylor replaced Brian Jones in the band in 1969 and went on to play on such classic albums as Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, Goats Head Soup, and It's Only Rock N' Roll, before quitting in 1975. Later that year Ron Wood toured with the Stones while still a member of the Faces, before joining full-time in 1976. Britain's The Sun reported that Ron Wood's brother-in-law, artist Paul Karslake, has put a painting portraying Wood as a blood-sucking vampire after biting a woman's neck next up for sale on eBay. Karslake, who was inspired by the current HBO show True Blood, explained, "It shows Ronnie feeding off young girls... I don't hate the bloke, but I am very annoyed with him. Ron's a vampire, all those Rolling Stones guys are. They stay up all night and sleep all day."
[Continue reading...]
07/15/2009 ~ http://www.therockradio.com/2009/07/rolling-stones-update_15.html |
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From ComicBookResources.com:
If zombies are the new vampires, then what are sea monsters?
Writing for Publishers Weekly, Stefan Dziemianowicz examines the lurching and lumber ing rise of zombie fiction, from World War Z and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies.
Time magazine has even gone so far as to declare that “Zombies Are the New Vampires,” which probably leaves fans of True Blood/The Southern Vampire Mysteries and Twilight scratching their heads (or sharpening their fangs).
So what’s to blame for this most recent resurgence of the walking dead (lower-case)? As with so many cultural trends of the past several years, the bony finger points to 9/11 which, Dziemianowicz writes, transformed the zombie into “a monster for our time.”
Of course, it’s not all zombies, zombies, zombies (although some days it does seem that way). Quirk Books, the publisher behind the hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — the Jane Austen mashup — already have moved on to a new menace: sea monsters.
Yesterday the company announced it will release Sense, Sensibility and Sea Monsters in September. Co-authored by Ben H. Winters, the next book in the series will include “a giant rampaging mutant lobster,” “octopi with glittering tentacles” and, of course, pirates. (You can view a trailer for the book here.) “I loved the idea of sea monsters,” Winters tells EW.com. “I’d hate to say our culture is oversaturated with vampires and zombies, but it was fun to do something different.” Poor, poor zombies: from “the New Vampires” to yesterday’s news, just like that?
[Continue reading...]
07/15/2009 ~ http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/07/if-zombies-are-the-new-vampire-then-what-are-sea-monsters/ |
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From Thus Spake Drake:
More True Blood Music: Hump-Dancin' and "Dig" info
 In the wake of the recent (well watched) episode of True Blood ("Snap & Fingerpop"), there have been some scrambling about for the music featured. One artist striking while the coal is hot is funknasty rapper Cazwell, who's song "Watch My Mouth" had Lafayette hump-dancing furniture and the ground in the wake of getting some vintage v-juice from our favorite vampire Eric.
In advance of his major label debut, Watch My Mouth (coming August 4), Cazwell has a remixed version of the single "Tonight" available for free download.
Meanwhile, teh internets iz frothing for the song "Dig" by Headbone, which was featured both at Tara's crazy MaryAnn-ized birthday party and through the closing credits. The lead singer of Headbone just happens to be one Bruno **** (who sort of twitters even), who a music editor for True Blood, so one would hope that he'd be quick to take advantage of this window of opportunity to make the song available for download somewhere. Anywhere. We'll keep our eyes (and ears) peeled for that, and update this page when it's inevitably made available is some form.
07/14/2009 ~ http://drakelelane.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-true-blood-music-hump-dancin-and.html |
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From Canyon-News.com:
Exclusive Interview With Ashley Jones
 HOLLYWOOD—Ashley Jones is part of a television dynasty and also a cult classic as well, and I’m just talking about her day job. Ashley portrays the beautiful daughter of Eric Forrester and Brooke Logan on CBS’s daytime mega hit “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Jones who we first caught sight of on “The Young and the Restless” as Megan took over the very coveted role on “B&B” as Bridget Forrester. The role had been previously played by three-time consecutive Emmy winner Jennifer Finnigan. But Ashley soon won over fans and critics alike. Under the guidance of Brad Bell, who could fail?
Jones has relished the role she’s played and she welcomes the new Bridget that we now see on air. After ending her marriage to Nick, Bridget has come full circle. The physician left her very prestigious position as a doctor at a famed Los Angeles hospital and joined her ex-mother-in-law’s fashion house. Bridget soon became Madame X, but later was revealed as the mysterious, sexy diva who is now designing ladies high-fashion like her entire family has been doing for decades. But typical of Bridget, she does so by her own standards and rules.
 Ms. Jones gives Bridget a sensuality and strength that is new to the character. Bridget returned to her roots when she was ready; she recently remarried Nick Marone on her own rules, and the actress who portrays one of the most fascinating and wonderful characters on daytime television is taking her priceless acting skills on to primetime television. HBO has tapped the star to portray Daphne, one of the new and mysterious characters on the cult classic “True Blood.” Ashley Jones has captured the attention of millions of fans of both shows and she is one of the lucky few who is capable and willing to portray two different characters on the small screen at the same time.
[Continue reading...]
07/14/2009 ~ http://www.canyon-news.com/artman2/publish/Television/Exclusive_with_Ashley_Jones_True_Beauty.php |
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From AusielloFiles:
'True Blood' ratings: Still not sucking!
Jul 14, 2009, 12:01 PM | by Michael Ausiello
Viewers' thirst for True Blood is intensifying: After taking a week off, the bloody good vampire saga's latest episode on Sunday attracted a series-high 3.9 million viewers. The potent Blood helped lift Hung, which grew 29 percent from its debut with 3.6 million viewers, and Entourage, which kicked off its sixth season with 3.4 million viewers -- its largest audience in more than two years.
07/14/2009 ~ http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/07/true-blood-ratings-still-not-sucking.html |
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From BloodCopy.com:
WHAT’S HIDING IN THE WOODS?
There’s something in the woods. And it is deadly.
Rumors are spreading. Some claim it’s a beast with six heads, others a new breed of mutant ware. Horrible growling has been heard, stories or entire hordes of livestock taken in a single night. Of course, anything new and mysterious is often met with exaggeration and hyperbole, and I doubt most of these details are accurate.
Whatever this creature is, people are right to fear it. There’s reason to believe it’s attacked at least two people so far, based on my reports of a healer summoned to Shreveport to deal with a highly unusual wound and these photos I recently smuggled out of the Bon Temps morgue:
(WARNING: DISTURBING IMAGES)
What connects these two attacks is the presence of a toxin so powerful even vampire blood can’t neutralize it, and though I’ve heard the healer managed to save one victim, obviously another wasn’t so fortunate. In addition to the wound seen here, her heart was removed while she still drew breath.
This clearly suggests a conscious intent on the part of the beast (or whomever controls it), but it’s impossible to say what purpose or motivation drives it. But make no mistake, it is dangerous to breathers and undead alike.
For my part, I’ll be avoiding the woods at any cost.
07/14/2009 ~ http://bloodcopy.com/?p=969 |
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| *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* | *Minor Spoilers* |
From BuddyTV.com:
True Blood: Michelle Forbes Says Maryann Isn't A Villain. So What Is She, Then?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
 It wasn't particularly easy watching that crucial scene on last Sunday's True Blood. You know, that bit when things really got going during Tara's birthday party. People start shoving cake in their faces and punch each other while laughing--and then the very much expected sex--all while Maryann starts chanting those Greek terms again, and amidst all the gasping, she's transformed... to that monster that ripped Miss Jeanette's heart out.
Sure, some of us had it coming, but you know that feeling of being drawn to something we very well knew (or felt) anyway? Yeah. So enough of those thought bubbles, then, for there are questions to ask. Like, both Maryann and the heart-ripping monster are sinister in their own ways. Or at least that's what they want us to think. So is she a villain?
"I am maenad," Michelle Forbes told TVGuide.com.
Okay, quick search... hrm. "Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by [Dionysus] into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication." Well, that's what Wikipedia says. Apparently maenad roughly translates to "raving ones". Okay. Makes sense. But I can't seem to connect the creature with the Maryann doing all that. Or am I missing something? Anyway.
"Maryann lives in a different moral construct than the rest of us," Forbes said. "Tenderness, violence--they're the same to her. The more that somebody is feeling alive and in their adrenaline and feeding that appetite for what we're not supposed to do, the more that they're in what she considers purity ... She wants to push people into their vices, their purity, their ecstasy. That's what she considers happiness. It's not a nefarious or villainous thing in her mind. She wants everyone to feel the same glory and joy that she feels."
Uh-huh. So shallow questions, then. Like the actual monster, which we saw in the episode two weeks back. Was it really her under all those prosthetics? "It is!" she said. "[It] was really created as we went along. They knew about the prosthetics for the claws, but it became something more as we went along ... the claws just made everything come together, without a doubt."
But obviously uncomfortable. "It really only takes an hour and a half [to put on], but it's very uncomfortable for the rest of the evening," she said. "You can't text; you can't make phone calls. People have to feed you sandwiches."
At least people feed you sandwiches. That's what Maryann would've wanted. I digress.
So, again, Maryann and that heart-ripper are one and the same. She transformed to that monster as she started chanting those weird chants and vibrating like crazy. If that sounds familiar... yep, the flashback with Sam, which almost became bestiality on the telly, which could've been a more uncomfortable sight. So was Maryann really trying to have sex with a dog? Or, why did she want to turn Sam into a dog while they're having sex?
"That is a season-revealer, so I can't say anything," she said. "That's a really important scene; people will be going back to that scene when they see the entire season."
For now, we'll have to get used to seeing Maryann vibrate more and become a monster. And that's just one aspect of this season. Oh well. At least the last scene of the last episode was easier to watch. And cute, too.
07/14/2009 ~ http://www.buddytv.com/articles/true-blood/true-blood-michelle-forbes-say-29972.aspx |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
Charlaine Harris' upcoming books - from SookieStackhouse.com:
Charlaine was at a book signing in Illinois…
Book stuff…
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>
~ CH is getting ready to sign a contract for FOUR more Sookie books.
~ Alcide will appear in the first chapter of the next book.
~ While she loves Quinn, he won’t be appearing in the next book. But he will appear again at some point.
~ We’ll be seeing Eric’s sire in the next book.
~ CH killed off Claudine because she wanted to wrap up the fairy storyline. She says she tried to make her brave until the very end to give her a good send off.
~ Bubba will appear again but she’s not sure when. She says he’s out wandering around looking for stray cats right now.
~ Bill will still be seriously ill from the silver poisoning in the next book.
Not book related, but show related…
~ She loves Anna Paquin as Sookie.
~ She loves seeing Ryan Kwanten… on screen. She also enjoys hugging him.
~ She just loves Jessica. So much that she wishes she had created the character herself.
~ She’s glad the show isn’t a carbon copy of the books and she likes the choices Alan Ball has made.
~ She had other offers other than Ball’s for the Sookie books.
Random stuff…
~ When asked about how Twilight is similar to the SVM books, CH kind of laughed and said that Meyer says she’s never read any other vampire books. And then she didn’t say another word. Until the audience laughed.
~ When asked about the lack of Bill in the books, CH said that she doesn’t write by committee. There doesn’t need to be equal parts Bill and Eric. She writes what/who comes to her because she has created a world of which she is the ruler.
~ She writes by the seat of her pants. Sometimes she doesn’t know the full plot of a book before starting.
~ It took her 2 years to sell “Dead Until Dark”.
~ She’s pretty sure that the next Harper Connelly will be the last because it’s so much work to create all new characters and places for each book.
~ She says that, right now, she’s enjoying writing supernatural stuff more than plain crime.
~ She made Sookie telepathic because, after seriously considering a prosthetic leg, she decided that telepathy was the best disability to have.
~ Sookie was her grandmother’s best friend’s name.
~ She can’t choose between Eric and Bill because they’re both parts of her.
From Keeper of Stars for Blood-Bonded.
Have a great day guys! ~M.
07/14/2009 ~ http://sookiestackhouse.com/?p=2436 |
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True Blood shoots it Louisiana - from Daily Reveille:
HBO’s “True Blood” comes to Clinton, La., to film
Kyle Bove Senior Writer Published:Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Trash lined the streets, panties hung from the statues and graffiti stained the walls of downtown Clinton on Friday afternoon.
Mardi Gras didn’t come early — the cast and crew of HBO’s hit show “True Blood” were in town, filming scenes for the 10th episode of the show’s second season.
At sunrise, crew members transformed Clinton’s quaint town center into Bon Temps, the fictional Louisiana town where the series is set. Its littered, disruptive look was for a yet-to-be-revealed plot twist.
“True Blood” follows feisty, mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her relationship with the dashing Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) — a 173-year-old vampire.
In Sookie’s world, vampires have “come out of the coffin” thanks to a newly developed synthetic blood drink that allows them to survive without human blood.
But not all vampires choose to give up humans cold turkey — making Bon Temps a dangerous place to live.
This isn’t “Twilight” — the violence is brutal, and the sex is explicit. A creepy gumbo of mystery, dark humor, romance and Louisiana culture, the season premiere of “True Blood” on June 14 attracted more viewers than any other HBO show since the series finale of “The Sopranos” two years ago.
“True Blood” was created by Alan Ball, the man behind HBO’s popular, Emmy Award-winning series “Six Feet Under” and the Academy Award-winning film “American Beauty,” and is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.
While the show is shot mainly on a sound stage in Los Angeles, the cast and crew spent some time filming in Shreveport for its first season.
“It’s really important for [the actors] to get a chance to come and be in Louisiana, feel the heat, see the town,” said executive producer Gregg Fienberg.
[Continue reading...]
[View video]
07/14/2009 ~ http://www.lsureveille.com/news/hbo-s-true-blood-comes-to-clinton-la-to-film-1.1773873 |
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And our favorite review from CampBlood.org:
Blood Work! "True Blood" video blog 2.4:
"Shake and Fingerpop"
Monday, July 13, 2009
 Yes, we're back to recap the latest episode of the increasingly horny HBO vampire show, True Blood, with our sexed-up take on 2.4, "Shake and Fingerpop".
Find out what happens when Andy lets me drink Yoo-Hoo, our thoughts on sploshing, and with whom we'd Like to Do Bad Things this week, below!
(Note: No cats were harmed, emotionally scarred or impregnated in the making of this video.)
07/13/2009 ~ http://campblood.org/2009/07/blood-work-true-blood-video-blog-24.html |
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From Horror Happenings Examiner.com:
Allure of the Vampire; Our Sexual Attraction To the Undead
 The mere mention of vampiresinstinctively make people think of nocturnal predator. But over the centuries the vampire has changed from monstrous villain to sexual object, for both men and women alike. The "Twilight" series and "True Blood" are perfect examples of this. A new book, "Allure of the Vampire,"further examines our intimate attraction to these beings in a detailed manner. Join occult author Corvis Nocturnum as he reveals the fascinating evolution of this icon as it has lured and enticed us in folklore, film and books from the days of ancient civilization to the living breathing inhabitants of our modern subculture, the vampire community. This 292-page paperback, with cover design by Dark Realms artist Christine Filipak, is due out this month ($19.99). Corvis Nocturnum is the author of 2005's "Embracing the Darkness; Understanding Dark Subcultures," published by Dark Moon Press. Fangsmith Father Sebastiaan, author of the "Sanguinomicon,"remarks about the new book as follows:“Allure of the Vampire brings you a vision of vampires and sexuality in mythology, philosophy, literature, film and pop culture. It is always good to see Corvis Nocturnum making sincere efforts to bring a fresh view to the big picture of the vampire archetype.”
[Continue reading...]
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.examiner.com/x-9764-Horror-Happenings-Examiner~y2009m7d13-Allure-of-the-Vampire-Our-Sexual-Attraction-To-the-Undead |
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No - it's not Wednesday - but it is 'hump day' according to CreativeLoafing.com:
‘True Blood’ season 2, episode 4
July 13, 2009 at 7:02 pm by Debbie Michaud
 Welcome to Bon Temps, where every day’s Humpday! No one was safe from the hump last night, except for maybe Bill and Sookie for once. Lafayette was humping the couch; Jason was mind-humping Sarah Newlin; Tara was humping Eggs; Sam and Daphne ditched Tara’s party to hump; and Bon Tempians in general were humping anything within humping distance. But what brought all this on? How did folks get into such a humptastic state of mind in the first place?
Let’s start at the beginning.
Jason hasn’t been fitting in too well with his bunkmates — Luke in particular — over at the Light of Day Institute. It seems that Jason isn’t the only one who’d like a slice of Sarah Newlin’s banana pudding. Returning after dark, Jason opens the door to reveal his dozen or so roommates covered in blood and strewn lifeless about the room. A hooded assassin ambushes Jason from the shadows, threatening his life with vampire-like abandon. It’s just Luke, though, playing a silly prank along with all of the other silly ketchup-covered boys. A smug Luke then asks Jason, whose lip was busted in the process, “How’s that lip?” Jason: “It’s fine. How’s your nose?” To which Luke responds in the perfect setup for a right hook: “What?” Jason-1, Luke-0.
[Continue reading...]
07/13/2009 ~ http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/culturesurfing/2009/07/13/true-blood-season-2-episode-4/ |
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Arm Porn - True Blood - 2x04 - The Best of Eric Northman
07/13/2009 |
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Funny review from TVGuideMagazine.com:
Road Trip!
By Damian Holbrook July 13, 2009 10:19 AM EST Things We Learned from True Blood…
—Sarah the holy roller wants to do some unholy rolling with Jason, who is way too dim to realize this…or the fact that his gig as the Light of Day’s new “Soldier of the Sun” is so not as cool as it sounds.
—The kooky-cult church may also be behind the abduction of Dallas’ vamp-poobah, Godric. Too bad they sent the world’s worst limo driver to snatch Sookie at the airport. Never mess with a fangbanger, people.
—Daphne the scratched-up waitress knows Sam’s secret. And like the rest of us, agrees that he looks damn fine in denim.
—Eric’s blood can both heal Lafayette’s leg wound and get him horny for his own furniture. That poor couch. No means no, fry-cook hooker!
—Maryann throws the best parties ever. How else do you explain the guests at Tara’s birthday bash getting all dark-eyed and freaky over a cake that’s not from Carvel? I can only imagine what they would have done to Cookie Puss.
—Speaking of Tara, it’s about time she got herself a hot plate of Eggs! But there is no way that man is human. You see his butt? That thing is supernatural.
—Bloodsucker hotels have the strangest room service. And don’t even get me started on their in-room porn. $16 for “Intercourse with a Vampire”? Please.
Ok, so those are this week’s lessons. Did we miss anything? And what do ya’ll think of this telepathic bellboy? Good guy, or is he luring Sookie away from Jessica and into a trap? Share with the class!
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/true-blood/road-trip--1677.html |
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From NOLA.com - New Orleans Television:
'True Blood' season 2 film crew takes over Clinton, La.,
then heads for New Orleans
by Dave Walker, TV columnist, The Times-Picayune Monday July 13, 2009, 11:38 AM
 Clinton, La. -- Standing in for fictional downtown Bon Temps, La., the blocks surrounding the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse looked like they'd been hit by a lusty tornado over the weekend.
The steamy HBO drama "True Blood" came to Clinton for several days of location shooting, and the town's streets (and trees) were strategically strewn with trash but mostly clothing, for a saucy storyline to play out in a few weeks on the show's 10th episode of the current season.
Saturday, shooting started at about noon and concluded after 2 a.m. Sunday. Wilting heat and humidity prevailed, broken occasionally by light rain.
Series leads Stephen Moyer (who portrays vampire/heartthrob/173-year-old Confederate Army veteran Bill Compton), Academy Award winner Anna Paquin (who plays Sookie Stackhouse and is Moyer's love interest on and off screen) and Ryan Kwanten (Sookie's brother Jason) were on hand for scenes as several dozen curious locals watched on from an out-of-frame.
The Louisiana-set drama, based on a series of popular vampire novels by Charlaine Harris, is mostly shot on back lots and soundstages in the Los Angeles area. Some location work for its first season was done around the Shreveport area. Scenes for three upcoming season-two episodes were shot over the weekend.
And -- incredibly, amazingly, appropriately - an ailing Clinton bat owes its life to "True Blood's" visit.
 The tiny animal fell from a tree near the courthouse as the production was preparing to shoot a scene.
Crew medic Holly O'Quin, whose day job is nurse at Ochsner Health Center, leapt into action.
O'Quin called her brother, Jeff Galpin, a New Orleans stunt coordinator and animal wrangler for film-and-TV productions, who recommended that the baby bat be nursed back to health by feeding it regular doses of evaporated milk and egg whites, which O'Quin administered by needle-less syringe. Paquin, among many others on set, took great interest in the bat's recovery. (O'Quin reported Monday that the bat had recovered enough to fly away at the end of the production day.)
Sunday, on a day off from shooting, Moyer, Paquin and several production officials made a tourist trip to New Orleans. The visit culminated with a large dinner party at Galatoire's. (Deborah Ann Woll, who plays vampire conscript Jessica Hamby on the show, joined the group there.)
A couple of days earlier, Moyer made the drive into the city from the production's Baton Rouge base to wander the streets of the French Quarter - by himself - shooting pictures.
Yes, Bill Compton walked among us, only occasionally recognized.
"I saw a coffeehouse in a courtyard, and I wandered in there," said Moyer, a native of England, about his first-ever trip to New Orleans.
"The coffee looked great. And sitting at the table were two New Orleans mimes, dressed in silver, having a coffee break.
"They were talking (but) went into mime (poses) as I walked past."
Moyer got his coffee and came back to the table and offered a gratuity in exchange for photographing the scene.
"This is the only thing she said," said Moyer of one of the mimes, approximating her thick "True Blood"-homage accent. " 'Anything for you, Bill Compton.'"
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2009/07/after_hbos_true_blood_took_ove.html |
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Chelsey Lately talks True Blood:
07/13/2009 ~ |
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From television station KATC:
True Blood in Louisiana
 HBO, is making Clinton, the final resting place, for it's popular series, True Blood.
The cast and crew, spent the last week, in Clinton, filming for the current season.
The producers, announced the town of Clinton will be the center of all the action, as the fictional town of Bon Temps.
"Well, we were looking for a town that had a nice small town feel like our town of Bon Temps is supposed to have and Clinton fit the bill very closely",says executive producer, Gregg Fienberg.
"The locals they come up, they talk and you get that real authentic accent and that Louisiana swagger and you just sort of incorporate it, said Nelsan Ellis. Ellis plays the character "Lafayette", a short-order grill cook at Merlotte's.
Producers say they plan on shooting in Clinton as long as the town will have them.
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10716470 |
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From People Magazine:
Real-Life Bat Saved by True Blood Vampires
By Alicia Dennis Originally posted Monday July 13, 2009 02:25 PM EDT tiiQuigoWriteAd(757767, 1348086, 240, 190, -1);
 On top of the intense heat, breathtaking humidity and its action-packed tornado storyline, a tiny bat came tumbling out of a tree on the set of HBO's vampire series True Blood during weekend filming in Louisiana – to be saved by the crew.
While Steve Moyer (who plays main vampire Bill Compton) and his on-screen and real-life leading lady Anna Paquin (who plays heroine Sookie Stackhouse) watched with interest, crew medic Holly O'Quin fed the baby bat evaporated milk and egg whites, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
O'Quin, a nurse, consulted with her brother, Jeff Galpin, an animal wrangler, for advice on caring for the injured bat and nursed it back to health using syringe feedings.
The hit Sunday night show gets some of its Louisiana authenticity by shooting in the sultry, moss-draped Southern landscapes, where the tiny town of Clinton was transformed into a tornado-thrashed backdrop.
Between takes, the crew enjoyed nearby New Orleans by sightseeing and dining at the French Quarter's historic Galatoire's Restaurant on Sunday.
Moyer explored the city on his own, shooting photos and barely being recognized – or so he thought. While visiting a coffee shop in a Quarter courtyard, he asked two mimes if he could take their picture, reports the Times-Picayune.
"This is the only thing she said," noted Moyer, quoting one of the mimes: "Anything for you, Bill Compton."
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20290962,00.html |
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From People Magazine:
Couples Watch
 "• Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, having a romantic dinner at Sullivan’s restaurant in Baton Rouge, La. Seated across from each other, the True Blood costars and real-life loves held hands throughout dinner – a martini and white wine and grouper for her, diet soda and steak for him – and split the warm chocolate brownie for dessert."
[Complete article...]
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20290671,00.html |
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From Reuters.com:
Showrunners the unseen stars of television
By Ray Richmond and Matthew Belloni
 LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The showrunner is the workhorse of the television business, acting as the head writer, producer, casting director, editor, sound mixer, studio liaison, network communicator, hand-holder and surrogate parent.
The Hollywood Reporter recently gathered six of the best in the business -- Alan Ball (HBO's "True Blood"); Greg Daniels (NBC's "The Office," "Parks and Recreation"); Katie Jacobs (Fox's "House"); Jenji Kohan (Showtime's "Weeds"); Shonda Rhimes (ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice"); and Matthew Weiner (AMC's "Mad Men") -- to explain how they wear so many different hats.
[Continue reading...]
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE56C23L20090713 |
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From BroadCastNewsRoom.com:
TV critics weigh in on Emmy picks By Ray Richmond
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - With their livelihoods threatened by downsizing and layoffs and bloggers equipped to impersonate them, it's easy to understand why television critics might not feel they receive all the respect they deserve these days.
Even so, their views remain key to building buzz that can result in TV series gaining viewers and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences taking notice at Emmy time.
We asked a group of critics, in advance of Thursday's Emmy Awards nominations announcement and with all due respect, to reveal their nominee choices in a half-dozen high-profile categories.
ROBERT BIANCO, USA TODAY Drama Series: "When people say there's nothing good on television, you really have to wonder what they're watching. Because when it comes to dramas this year, the problem isn't expanding the list from five; it's cutting the candidates down to six. What to include? Start with network TV's two best hours, (ABC's) 'Lost' and (Fox's) '24.' Then throw in (FX's) 'Rescue Me,' absolutely brilliant this season with Michael J. Fox adding great support, and 'Mad Men,' which proved its first-year triumph was no fluke. That still leaves room for HBO's 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' and 'True Blood.' "
MATT ROUSH, TV GUIDE
Lead Actress, Drama: "The strongest new contender is Anna Paquin for (HBO's) 'True Blood,' but don't count out someone from the 'Mad Men' ensemble breaking through -- either Elisabeth Moss or Jones, whose breakdown last season revealed new depths to this gorgeous leading lady's range."
[Complete article...]
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=796498 |
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From United Kingdom's GQMagazine:
(True Blood premieres in the UK Friday, July 17)
True Blood: TV with bite
Alex Bilmes 13 July 2009 13:44
 A steamy, delicious slice of Southern Gothic, with a side order of graphic sex and extreme violence, and some deep fried black comedy, HBO's bloody vampire saga True Blood begins its British run on FX on Friday night - before presumably, following the pattern of The Wire et al and switching to a more mainstream channel, by which time everyone who's even vaguely interested will have seen it on DVD or illegal download. (How long can this go on?)
However and whenever you're able to watch it, though, it's worth the effort: I've only seen the first two episodes, but already I'm hooked. True Blood is the latest offering from Alan Ball, Oscar winning screenwriter of American Beauty and the man behind Six Feet Under, HBO's long-running funeral home drama. In America, where it's already well into its second season, it has become the cable subscription channel's most popular show ever, outdoing even The Sopranos.
This doubtless has something to do with True Blood's direct appeal to a public entangled in one of its periodic obsessions with tales of the undead, from the extraordinary success of the Twilight franchise - books and movie - to the more nuanced charms of Let the Right One In, this year's surprise art-house hit from Sweden. As James Wolcott remarked in Vanity Fair, pop culture is sucking itself dry.
True Blood is strange, and dark, and adult, and there's a lot of subtext - the racism and homophobia metaphors are about as subtle as a bite to the neck - but it's also straight-ahead entertainment, without much of the complexity of HBO's previous hits. Not that there's any shame in that. As Ball himself put it, in an interview with the New York Times, "Women love the storytelling and the romance, and men love the sex and violence."
Set in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, True Blood conjures a world in which vampires have recently come out of hiding to assert their rights as an oppressed minority. They've been able to do this because of the development, in Japan, of TruBlood, an effective synthetic human blood substitute that prevents them having to feed on mortals. It's available over the bar, or at the gas station.
The show's portrait of this alt-reality Louisiana is a joy, managing to encompass the whisky-soaked clichés of the antebellum plantation drama; the pimp rolling, post-Katrina Deep South of Lil Wayne; as well as this deeply odd new world, where supernatural beings mount political campaigns in Washington while "fang-banging" mortals trawl blood bars seeking sex with vampires.
Based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris about a mind-reading waitress, Sookie Stackhouse (played on the show by Anna Paquin, channelling Holly Hunter) who is in lust with a pale and handsome stranger, Bill Compton (British actor Stephen Moyer), True Blood is swampy, sweaty and sexy, with some outrageous imagery, a cracking soundtrack and a title sequence that Saul Bass might stand and salute, as well as some fine acting from a terrific supporting cast, each given his or her own oddball Deep Southerner to animate, or reanimate, or whatever it is one does while trying to breathe life into the undead.
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.gqmagazine.co.uk/gq-daily-news/articles/090713-alex-bilmes-on-true-blood.aspx |
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From AfterElton.com:
IMHO "True Blood" (2.4): Shake and fingerpop
 Somehow, HBO's True Blood continues to top itself each week, and this episode is no exception (but memo to the network: no more "marathons" after just three episodes!). Join us below for the top ten reasons why this episode earns another big up arrow! 10. - Jason has officially become the master of malapropism. Best line of the night: "Evil is making the pre-medicated choice to be a dick!". He's like a hot, shirtless Norm Crosby. 9. - The holy pancake breakfast the morning after Jason is the victim of a practical joke is hilarious, with a table full of brainless-but-gorgeous hunks discussing "who was the first vampire?" Best exchange of the night: - Nathon Fillion-esque Roommate - "One thing you can count on ... God will make sure evil gets punished!"
- Jason - "Then explain Europe to me!"
8. - Jason spends the day with Sarah and Steve, which thanks to Jason's inner-horndog turns into a Playboy's Pious Preacher Girls Of The Bayou softcore video. Steve also reveals another vampire tidbit I wasn't aware of: If you shoot a vampire with a wooden bullet, it's like staking him in the heart. Hmm ... fascinating, but I guess it makes sense.  7. - Lafayette and Tara have a great scene together where she reads him the riot act for not telling her that he was back. Their familial affection for each other is very realistic, but I think I'll pass on calling any of my cousins "hooker". 6. - Lafayette and Eric have an ... interesting ... scene, with the vampire offering to help him heal from his gunshot. After Lafayette feeds on Eric, he's back to his old freak-dancing ways ... but what was Eric's true motive in saving him? Hmm ... 5. Tara moves back in with Sookie, but Maryann isn't going to let her go without a fight. She shows up at Sookie's house with a birthday cake for Tara, and that night throws the greatest combination sploshing & geophagy party ever known. In the midst of the revelry, Maryann disappears into the woods, and after she does that shimmering shake thing, her hands turn into claws. Claws with three talons. A-ha!  4. - Hoyt and Jessica are pulled apart by Bill before they can do anything, but I hope they continue this relationship, which is sweet and hot, with just a touch of menace. I love how Hoyt always refers to Bill as "Vampire Bill" (like that's his name), and I loved Jessica's embarrassment when she realized her fangs were still showing. How many of us who were teen boys can relate to that? 3. - Sookie and Bill head to Dallas to help Eric find Godrick, but Sookie convinces Bill to take Jessica with them (and I love how Bill says "I'll have to call the airline and make arrangements for a second travel coffin". Ha!) And there's another hilarious scene later when Jessica can't get out of her "travel coffin". 2. - At the vampire hotel (which is named Hotel Carmilla), Sookie scans through the adult TV listings (which includes the inevitable title His First Fangbang) while Jessica receives a special room service order - Travis, described by concierge Barry as "male, straight, b-negative". Jessica leads him away, as Sookie looks concerned about the guy's age, but Barry reassures her that the guy is legal. Unfortunately for Barry, she now knows that he just read her mind, and after they have a mutual telepathic realization, he runs away, with Sookie in fast pursuit. 1. - That love scene with Tara and Eggs. Wow! Just ... wow. Another stellar episode that answers some questions while setting up even more for the future. What did you think of this week's outing? Btw, is it just me, or are they making the vampires look a lot more ghoulish than last season? Last year it was hard to tell that Bill was a vampire, but this season it seems like that they're slathering on the "living dead" makeup. Or maybe it's that I'm watching it for the first time in HD?
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.afterelton.com/blog/snicks/imho-true-blood-%282.4%29-shake-and-fingerpop |
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From Zap2it:
'True Blood': Soldier boy By Carrie Raisler |  This week on " True Blood," Jason becomes a solider of God, Sookie meets someone just like her, Tara has a wild party and Eric wears a tank top. I'll let you all guess which of those things I was the most interested in watching.
[Continue reading...]
Random thoughts:
- Arlene's little giggle at Daphne's complaint about working hard was hilarious.
- Tara's birthday tears and confession to Eggs about always crying on her birthday was probably supposed to be heart wrenching and character-illuminating, but I found it quite a tired cliche. They've tried to give Tara more depth, but this took her character back about 100 paces for me.
- Bill threatening the limo driver (Hank from Breaking Bad!) was AWESOME. That was the first time I've ever thought Stephen Moyer really pulled off the fine line between cheesy awesomeness and true menace that being a TV vampire requires.
- I vote Eric sits around in a black tank top baring his forearms more often. Anyone with me on this?
Favorite quotes:- "Are you going to leave, or am I going to have to throw you out? Through a window. That is closed!" - Bill, to Hoyt
- "Bill, that is just rude." - Sookie, in response
- "Is it my fault my fangs come out when I get turned on?" - Jessica
- "I am a vampire, I'm supposed to be tormented." - Bill
- "I'll need to call the airlines to arrange for two travel coffins instead of just one." - Bill
- "Maybe Jesus was the first vampire. I mean, he rose from the dead, too. He told people 'Hey y'all, drink my blood. It will give you special powers.'" - Jason
- "Evil is making the premeditated choice to be a dick." - Jason
- "I've always love these, they're like booze for dolls. They gave me ten!" - Sookie, holding an airplane-sized vodka bottle
07/13/2009 ~ http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2009/07/true.html |
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From BuddyTV.com:
'True Blood' Recap: It's Not a Coincidence, Or Is It?
This episode of True Blood is all about coincidences. Jason is called up to the big house, Daphne knows something, Maryann's true self is revealed, and Barry arrives. What is the real meaning behind all of these seemingly random events? Let's try to find out,
 Sex, Secrets and Claws
Tara finally moves into Sookie's place, but it's the same day Sookie leaves for Dallas. It's also Tara's birthday, but Maryann, Eggs and Carl come over for a surprise birthday party which, of course, turns into an orgy with the whole town stopping by.
Maryann puts on some of her magic mojo and Tara and Eggs start dancing seductively before he takes her upstairs for her birthday present. He's decided to give her a Hard-Boiled Eggs, which is my special code name for some hot lovemaking.
Also at the party is Sam, who gets hot and heavy with new waitress Daphne. But things get as complicated as Denise Richards' life when Daphne reveals that she knows all about his morphing ability. It seems like every week, Daphne gets more and more interesting.
Speaking of interesting revelations, Maryann is outside working her mojo by digging into the dirt and summoning the orgy gods, which cause everyone at the party to have sex, eat dirt and fight. Maryann does her little shake, rattle and roll until her arms turn into monster hands. Monster hands with three giant claws just like the ones of the half bull that attacked Sookie, killed Miss Jeanette, and clawed Daphne. So I guess she's the killer. Or is she? I'm guessing True Blood is way too smart to make things that easy.
[Continue reading...] | Jason Stackhouse: Soldier or Man Whore?
[Continue reading...] | Sookie Does Dallas
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.buddytv.com/articles/true-blood/true-blood-recap-its-not-a-coi-29935.aspx |
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From AceShowBiz.com:
Preview of 'True Blood' 2.05: Never Let Me Go
July 13, 2009 07:53:58 GMT
Maryann's status questioned, Jason reaches a stage at Fellowship of the Sun, and Sookie meets one of her kind.
 On the next "True Blood", Tara confronts Eggs on the status of his relationship with Maryann. Eggs responds, "We take care of each other". Rebuffed by Tara in her relocation efforts, Maryann decides to cast her spell on the staff of Merlotte's, softening Tara up toward her new "family."
In an interview with TV Guide, Michelle Forbes who plays Maryann explained the complicated triangle between her, Tara and Eggs. In reply to the question why Maryann is so focused on Tara and Eggs, Michelle said "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."
In Dallas, Sookie connects with one of her own, then joins Bill and Eric for a strategic summit at the lair of the missing vampire, Godric, attended by his lieutenants, Stan and Isabel. Meanwhile, Jason shows his mettle at a Light of Day boot camp, and is rewarded for his hard work with a gift from Sarah. Eric shares a little-known secret about his past with Bill, and Sookie makes a decision that might solve the Godric mystery - or get her killed.
Called "Never Let Me Go", the new episode airs Sunday, July 19.
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00025651.html |
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From StarPulse.com:
'True Blood' Recap: This Show Just Gets Better By The Week
July 13th, 2009 11:23am EDT
Usually after a really solid first season, shows have a dip in quality during the second season. Maybe it is because the writers are floundering or that it is hard to top what came before, but it's been seen in shows like "Lost" and "Heroes" in their second season. Not so much with "True Blood." If anything, this show just seems to get better by the week. Maybe it is because of the lack of filler; there are only 12 episodes each season, not 22, so they can get to the point and tighten the plot. Whatever the reasons, this season is kicking some serious butt. "True Blood" for best Drama of 2009!
Bill is developing his father-daughter relationship with Jessica, thanks to a little gentle prodding from Sookie, and he is starting to listen to his ... what do they call her? He suggests progeny, but Sookie suggests ward. They're too cute. Anyway, now that Sookie has agreed to go to Dallas for Eric, she has to finish up a few things in Bon Temps first. Tara agrees to move in with her, which doesn't please Maryann one bit but she manages to fake a smile anyway. Sookie also attempts to connect with Sam again, even apologizing for sort of leading him on, but he's too busy with his own stuff to take her olive branch. The important thing is that Sam hasn't left yet, and that may be because of Daphne ...although she seems to have some secrets of her own.
 Sookie, Bill and Jessica arrive in Dallas and Sookie nearly gets kidnapped by an agent of the Fellowship of the Sun. This makes things somewhat more complicated, because if Godric was taken by the humans, what does that say for less powerful vampires? Eric is concerned to say the least. This also is dangerous since Jason is rising the ranks of the Fellowship and is now deemed a Soldier of the Sun. Steve and Sarah favor him openly, although the other boys taunt Jason it's because Sarah wants to sleep with him. All Jason wants these days is a sense of purpose and worth, so the idea of going back to just being a piece of meat isn't really appealing to him. What Sarah and Steve are really up to is a big question mark. They seem to be using him, manipulating him, but for what? Next week might just answer that for us.
Tara is having a bad birthday, but apparently all of her birthdays are bad. She moves into Sookie's house and Maryann surprises her with a big planned party. It's sweet things like that which make Maryann a really sympathetic character, although she's just using it as an excuse to have a big orgy for her nefarious purposes. Eggs and Tara make up and during the massive drugged orgy end up having sex. I hope this doesn't screw over Tara too much, because it's been nice seeing her finally get happy. She never gets that present from her mother that Sam brings to the birthday party, but it's hard to know if that's good or bad. Her mother is a bad influence. Maryann is a ... good influence? The world is a crazy place! Also, Maryann may just be the three clawed demon that attacked Sookie. Aw. I kind of don't want her to be the villain, although clearly she is, because she's such a fantastic addition to this cast.
Lafayette agrees to take Eric's blood to heal his infected leg, and in return Eric will be able to track him at any given time. This is followed by a great scene with Lafayette buzzing on Eric's old blood and basically humping everything in sight. We missed you, happy drugged Lafayette! This episode ends with Sookie meeting Barry the bellhop at the vampire hotel, and finding out she's not really as alone as she feared. He can hear thoughts too! What! Better watch out, Bill, Barry's cute and understands what she is going through.
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/07/13/true_blood_recap_this_show_just_gets_bet |
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From Mark Blankenship at HuffingtonPost.com:
True Blood Sucker Punch: Episode 4
Posted: July 13, 2009 01:30 AM [Continue reading...]
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-blankenship/itrue-bloodi-sucker-punch_b_230353.html |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From TVGuide.com:
True Blood's Michelle Forbes on Maryann: She's Not a Villain
Jul 13, 2009 11:22 AM ET | by Mickey O'Connor
 Sunday's revealing episode ofTrue Blood confirmed for us that the bull-headed monster who is stalking Bon Temps' ladies and Maryann are one and the same! How does the very pleasant Michelle Forbes reconcile her sunny portrayal of Maryann, "that Ibiza party girl," with the clawed she-beast who ripped out Miss Jeannette's heart? "Maryann lives in a different moral construct than the rest of us," she says, emphasizing that Maryann doesn't think of herself as a villain. Earlier, Forbes hinted that True Blood might look like Animal Farm by the season's end. Here, she talks about becoming the monster, why Maryann does what she does and, gulp, bestiality?
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------> TVGuide.com: All right, level with us: What is Maryann really?
Forbes: I am maenad. [Wikipedia has a quick primer on what a maenad is.]
TVGuide.com: Is that really you under all those prosthetics?
Forbes: It is!
TVGuide.com: What kind of process did you have to go through to get into all that?
Forbes: Maryann, and what she turns into, was really created as we went along. They knew about the prosthetics for the claws, but it became something more as we went along. Some of the sounds the creature made were developed in post-production. But the claws just made everything come together, without a doubt.
TVGuide.com: How long did it take to get into all that?
Forbes: It really only takes an hour and a half, but it's very uncomfortable for the rest of the evening. You can't text; you can't make phone calls. People have to feed you sandwiches.
TVGuide.com: And there's a big headpiece. Is that removable?
Forbes: Yes, that's removable, but the claws aren't. You're buttoned into those.
TVGuide.com: Did you have any inspiration for the gait or how the creature moves?
Forbes: Maryann's movements are really important. I wanted there to be a hint of... not masculinity, but I wanted it to be ambiguous and asexual because Maryann is so sexual and so feminine. I wanted it to be totally different than the very fluid way in which Maryann moves, with her long hair and long dresses.
TVGuide.com: So if her goal is pleasure or ecstasy, why is she also violent?
Forbes: Maryann lives in a different moral construct than the rest of us. Tenderness, violence — they're the same to her. The more that somebody is feeling alive and in their adrenaline and feeding that appetite for what we're not supposed to do, the more that they're in what she considers purity. That is her life blood; that is her excitement.
All those things that people hold themselves back from — food, sex, booze, drugs — she wants to push people into their vices, their purity, their ecstasy. That's what she considers happiness. It's not a nefarious or villainous thing in her mind. She wants everyone to feel the same glory and joy that she feels. She wants everyone to join the party.
TVGuide.com: In one scene, we see that Maryann can vibrate and will Sam to shape-shift. So why, in the flashback scene, does she vibrate when they're having sex? Was she trying to have sex with a dog?
Forbes: That is a season-revealer, so I can't say anything. That's a really important scene; people will be going back to that scene when they see the entire season.
Watch clips of True Blood in our Online Video Guide
07/13/2009 ~ http://www.tvguide.com/News/True-Blood-Forbes-1007953.aspx?rss=breakingnews |
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From NYTimes.com:
With a Little ‘True Blood,’ HBO Is Reviving Its Fortunes
By Bill Carter
Published: July 12, 2009
The slump at HBO is apparently over.
 In “True Blood,” the pay cable giant has its first hit since “Rome,” and the numbers indicate it may be the biggest thing on the channel since “The Sopranos.” If that sounds surprising, it may be because few saw it coming — inside HBO or out.
In the three episodes measured so far this, its second, season, “True Blood” has amassed viewer totals that any network, including broadcast networks, would be excited to own: 12.1 million, 10 million and 10.3 million. And HBO has attracted those viewers from an audience base about a third the size of fully distributed networks.
“This is hopefully a long-running franchise for us,” said Michael Lombardo, the president of programming for HBO.
In just about every way “True Blood” is a buoyant story for a network that needed one. Two years ago, the channel removed Chris Albrecht, the company chief executive, who had been widely credited as the creative mastermind behind the string of commercial or critical series successes at the network, including “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Six Feet Under” and “The Wire.” (Mr. Albrecht was fired after being charged with domestic abuse in Las Vegas.) Since then, the network has been fending off charges that its once vaunted programming lineup was a thing of the past.
The new creative team, headed by Richard Plepler and Mr. Lombardo, began with a cupboard mostly barren, as shows like “John From Cincinnati” failed to catch fire and one long-running quality drama, “Big Love,” had to overcome tepid support from the previous regime.
Rivals like Showtime, which had their own string of critical successes with “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie,” began using a new term for the network: “HB-Over.”
By most evaluations, from critics and many of HBO’s own executives, “True Blood” is a different kind of series. Whereas “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” were dramatically and ethically complex, the artistic aspirations of “True Blood” seem on the surface less ambitious, as the show’s creator, Alan Ball, conceded.
“When I first pitched it, I said it’s popcorn television,” Mr. Ball said. “It has a lot going on beneath the surface, and I love the layers because I love to write layered stories. But I love the popcorn part of ‘True Blood.’ It’s just really great fun.”
He also acknowledged the elemental reason the show works: “Women love the storytelling and the romance, and men love the sex and violence.”
[Continue reading...]
07/12/2009 ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/business/media/13hbo.html?_r=1 |
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From Richmond Times Dispatch:
Interview: Charlaine Harris
JON GAMBRELL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 12, 2009
 INTERVIEW
MAGNOLIA, Ark. Vampires typically roam the fogged streets of London or the humid nights of New Orleans, opulent worlds filled with beautiful monsters and formal balls.
Trailer parks and honky-tonks didn't fit -- until author Charlaine Harris took a chance with a telepathic barmaid named Sookie Stackhouse.
Now, Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries series has hit The New York Times' list of best-sellers, gained fans far beyond her south Arkansas town and inspired a television series on HBO. Though fueled by sex, violence and hints of humor, Harris' novels hold a mirror up to a South where race and societal change permeate through her prose.
Still, the mother of three said her only concern at first was finding something that would sell.
"I'm no crusader," Harris says. "I just like to make a point. If people get it, good. If they don't, OK."
Stackhouse's fictional hometown of Bon Temps, La., resembles the South in which Harris grew up, filled with waitresses who wear Keds sneakers and shop at Wal-Mart. Trailer homes dot the rural pastures of the north Louisiana town and pickup trucks fill the parking lot of the bar where Harris' heroine works.
For Kevin Durand, an associate philosophy professor at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, life in Bon Temps evokes where his family once lived in Louisiana.
"As she describes the place, it's a place I've been," said Durand, who specializes in pop culture ghouls and vampires. "I've seen all of those things before."
That sense of place allows the fantastic to seem commonplace, especially as were animals, fairies and witches crowd into the story around Stackhouse and her vampire associates. Even the vampires, though satiated with artificial blood produced in Japan, struggle with scheduling nocturnal home repairs.
In a way, Harris, 57, says she wanted to serve as an "anti-Anne Rice," allowing humor and reality to drive her novels. "I just drew on my knowledge of what it's like to live in a small town from the viewpoint of a person who has very little disposable income . . . a person who's really having to count their pennies, plan ahead to pay their property tax," she says. "That's most people, I believe."
That pretty much is a picture of Magnolia, a city of 11,000 only 20 miles away from Louisiana. There, the small county courthouse sits in a square near a gazebo. Murals of magnolia flowers and oil derricks, once the town's lifeblood, cover building walls. A diner across the street hosts a workday crowd, but don't look for a bottle of beer -- it's a dry county.
[Continue reading...]
07/12/2009 ~ http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/entertainment/books_literature/article/BCHAR12_20090708-173005/278761/ |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From DarkUFO:
True Blood - Behind the Scenes Set Video
07/12/2009 ~ http://spoilertv.blogspot.com/2009/07/true-blood-behind-scenes-set-video.html |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From BuddyTV.com
True Blood: Previewing Episode 2.4 "Shake and Fingerpop"
Sunday, July 12, 2009
 Hello again, True Blood folkies. We were off over the Fourth of July holiday, which is a good thing since we get a break, but not exactly with the show in mind. No new episode, sure, with HBO deciding to show the first three of the second season all over again, which I didn't watch because I figured I just watched the newest episode the week before. And now that we're dealing with a new episode tonight, I'm wondering what happened last week again. What again?
Oh, right. Sookie gets attacked, Tara gets suspicious, Sam gets confused and Jason almost gets it.
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------>
So we're finally set for that Dallas adventure with Sookie, Bill and Eric, on the lookout for whatever monster that was that attacked her, and, as it turns out, Daphne, too. Finally, a breather after all the crazy things that's happening in Bon Temps--and, obviously, it's taken a turn for the worse with Maryann's Greek chants, which is already a flimsy excuse for things. I've been hearing stuff about vampire hotels and vampire porn when they get to Dallas. (Speaking of which, I have a friend in Dallas. Hello Rae! Don't let the vamps bite!)
While we can expect more (awkward?) moments between Bill and Sookie, my eyes are towards three other couples, if you're wondering about them. Tara and Eggs is turning out to be a fairly awkward couple, and more because she's growing suspicious over things--he's too good to be true, Maryann's being freaky and the rest of the town is. But dearie, she's got you by the next, sorts. On tonight's episode, Maryann throws her a birthday party, and... you guessed it.
We also ended that last episode with a moment between Sam and Daphne, and looks like he won't be leaving Bon Temps any time soon: the two will spend some quality time together. Maybe one of the few moments for us to thank Maryann for something.
But I'm actually more curious about how the Jessica-Hoyt story will turn out. It's one of those endearing, aww-shucks moments that you don't really expect from True Blood (and because the Bill-Sookie moments go oomph oomph oomph of sorts). Suddenly I think she's pretty, and I think he's lucky, but maybe familial units won't exactly make things easy on them.
But the focus of tonight's episode is in Dallas, that expedition, and a surprise at the airport. What, Tru Blood has taxes now? That, and Jason falling into another one of those Newlin holes, and an Eric-Lafayette encounter that might have something to do with the photo up there--because the latter won't have a choice, apparently--on tonight's True Blood, finally returning from that hiatus from 9pm on HBO.
07/12/2009 ~ http://www.buddytv.com/articles/true-blood/true-blood-previewing-episode-29914.aspx |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From DaemonsTV.com:
TRUE BLOOD "Shake And Fingerpop" Review
(Season 2 Episode 4)  Can you believe they made us wait two weeks for this?! But TRUE BLOOD is finally back this Sunday, July 12, with an exciting all new episode, "Shake And Fingerpop."
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------> Jason In this episode, Jason continues to become friendlier with Reverend Steve and his wife, Sarah, which actually fuels jealousy from some of the other people at the camp, especially Luke. He also gets put on a new mission. Can't wait to see how that one's going to turn out.
Oh and I have to mention my favorite quote, which is typical Jason:
Luke: "God will make sure evil gets punished."
Jason: "Yeah, then explain Europe to me." You just have to love him, he just can't help it.
Sam Sam's plans to leave town are being pushed back a little. And if you remember, at the end of last episode we saw that Daphne had a big scar on her back (which looked like the same one Sookie got). We don't learn much more about her scar, but her relationship with Sam does evolve, and there is a small reveal towards the end of the episode.
Tara Tara makes a big decision in this episode, which impacts her living arrangements. It's also her birthday and let's just say Maryann has some big plans for her.
Lafayette Poor Lafayette is recovering from his few days of nightmare. But let me tell you, there is this hilarious scene between Eric and Lafayette you don't want to miss. This is why so many people love his character.
Jessica In the last episode, Bill interrupted Jessica and Hoyt's night together. Unfortunately, we won't see much of them in this episode, but something tells me it's not the end of their relationship.
Until then, Jessica ends up going to Dallas with Bill and Sookie. And I have to say, I really love her and I can't wait to see what kind of trouble she gets herself into during the trip.
Sookie Sookie and Bill head to Dallas, but there is a surprise waiting for them at the arrival.
Also this week's cliffhanger involves Sookie, and is pretty damn cool if you ask me. I definitely didn't see it coming and I doubt you will either.
07/12/2009 ~ http://www.daemonstv.com/2009/07/11/true-blood-shake-and-fingerpop-review-season-2-episode-4/ |
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| ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** | ***SPOILERS*** |
From RopeOfSilicon.com
TV Review: Tonight's 'True Blood',
Episode 2.04 'Shake and Fingerpop' The best of season two so far
BY: Brad Brevet | July 12th 2009 at 1:06 AM
I hope all of you liked the last episode of "True Blood" (Scratches) as much as I did, but if you are still skeptical the second season is a winner so far this is the episode that is either going to convince you or you just aren't on board. "Shake and Fingerpop" may be my favorite episode to date. If you had any doubts as to whom the creature in the woods was you won't any longer. If you wanted more Jason Stackhouse excellence you get it in spades. And if you wanted the existence of Bill and Sookie to feel more than just the center of the story and finally engage you then look no further.
Text is hidden - to see text, highlight after this point------> Episode 4 of the second season begins at the Light of Day Leadership Conference as Jason tells the rest of his bunkmates he's moving out and just prior to a tough guy speech he removes his clip-on tie in a moment of hillbilly awesomeness, but it's not the last time he sets everyone straight. Later in the episode he's having lunch with Luke and another one of the Light of Day followers (sorry, I don't know his name) and the following conversation takes place:
JASON: I don't know who Lazarus was, but he sure as hell was not the first vampire. Everybody knows it was Dracula.
LUKE: It's in the Bible moron. Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead.
JASON: So Jesus made the first vampire? Maybe Jesus was the first vampire. Man, he rose from the dead too, and he told people, "Hey y'all, drink my blood it'll give you special powers."
LUKE: Jesus never said that -
THIRD PARTY: The first vampire was Cain. Being a vampire is the mark of Cain. It's God's punishment for bringing the first evil into the world by killing his brother.
LUKE: No, the first evil was Eve, for eating the apple. That's why they call it Eve-il.
JASON: That wasn't even… That was just skirtin' the rules. Evil is making the premedicated choice to be a dick.
LUKE: One thing you can count on – God will make sure evil gets punished.
JASON: Yeah? Then explain Europe to me.
And yes, he says "premedicated" and not "premeditated". I listened to it three times to make sure. It's classic writing that raises an interesting religious aspect to the conversation all while maintaining the show's ability to make you laugh. On top of that, this show has found a perfect balance between using hillbilly nature as a comedic device all while never taking it so far it becomes stale or insulting.
The writers realize the absurdity of what is going on in "True Blood" is enough to make for comedic dialogue if approached with sincetiry. The best example I can think of — off the top of my head — is Detective Belflour's dedication to learning more about the pig he saw at Maryann's. Every time he brings it up it sounds ridiculous and makes me laugh just by the way he says "pig," but it is a completely legitimate storyline allowing for the joke to also serve as a storytelling device. Smart stuff.
Beyond that this episode has Bill admitting he is a self-hating vampire to which he tells Sookie, "I am a vampire… I am supposed to be tormented." Legitimate excuse. Sam and Daphne are getting closer as their skinny dipping session from the end of the last episode continues, but toward the end of the episode Daphne tells Sam she knows what he is… but now just what exactly is Daphne?
However, despite all of this, my favorite moment comes as Bill and Sookie head off with Jessica to Dallas to investigate the disappearance of the vampire Godric. There is a shot of Bill and Sookie in a limo that makes them look like the godfather couple of the vampire underworld as Jessica makes her first attempt to glamour someone. It is such a perfect picture, I can only hope it's the direction this show ends up taking things in the future.
I don't want to say much more as I feel I have almost said too much, but this was definitely my favorite episode of the second season so far and I can't wait to see where they take things from here.
07/12/2009 ~ http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/tv-review-tonights-true-blood-episode-2-04-shake-and-fingerpop |
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