Monday, August 22, 2011

The True Blood Ménage à Trois You Never Knew You Didn’t Want!

Dreams (almost) came true (for some viewers) last night! We (almost) got to watch Bill and Eric gingerly cross their vampire swords, but Sookie was there and ruined it! Ah well, get ready for a face full of sexy vampire Sax Man and vaseline-smudged lenses — we're going into Sookie's brain.
It's Pro/Con time!
Pro: Snaps to True Blood for painstakingly planting the groundwork of the Vampire Tolerance Maypole Dance or whatever. Notice how True Blood made damn sure you knew the Tolerance Day was at hand right down to Nan's "I'll see you at that tolerance thing on the 29th" in the "Previously on True Blood" round-up? Because what is this show if not 100% logical. Making sure that the Tolerance Day has been well mentioned and planned, and not shoehorned into the plot as some giant event in which to set another vampire disaster. Nope. Having a fairy-troll-goblin run up and blurt "My sister and I have been fighting a fairy civil war for the fairy crown no you can't leave if you eat the fairy fruit now quickly jump into this fairy crevasse." But the Tolerance Day Fair? That took days to build up.

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True Blood' recap: Kill Bill, Volume 1

Sookie's amusing sex dream in which she considers a romantic life involving both Bill and Eric might have been the most salacious component of Sunday's installment of "True Blood," but the episode, "Let's Get Out of Here" also saw a serious ratcheting up of tensions in the brewing war between the vampires and the witches. Namely, Antonia reveals her plan to use Eric to kill Bill in front of a crowd of onlookers and TV news crews. 
The action begins as last week's cemetery showdown comes to a close. Alcide rushes a wounded Sookie home, but Bill overtakes them and gives his ex his own blood to help her heal from the gunshot that nearly killed her. Frustrated when Sookie comes to and begins chastising the boys for not running out to immediately search for Eric, the werewolf heads home to Debbie, who's lying in bed watching "Cheaters."

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True Blood: Are Stereotypes Always Offensive?

The True Blood characters of Lafayette and Jesus both appear to be extreme examples of gay characters, with Lafayette embracing stereotypes while Jesus rejects them. It’s common knowledge that True Blood’s creator and producer Alan Ball is openly gay, but does his sexual identity give him free license to traffic in stereotypes?
Welcome back for another look at sex and gender issues in HBO’s True Blood. We’re closing in on the end of the show’s fourth season, so if you haven’t yet, make sure to check out our earlier articles on the show, including a look at Tara’s transformation into a cagefighting lesbian, a closer read of the series’ witches and more.

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Q&A: Jim Parrack of 'True Blood'

Most of the actors on HBO's True Blood are having a bloody good time portraying vampires, werewolves and a variety of other supernatural beasties. But Jim Parrack, a.k.a. Hoyt Fortenberry, who seems to be one of the few humans residing in Bon Temps, isn't the least bit jealous of his costars. "I know they're having fun with all the supernatural stuff," the North Texas native says. "But I'm barely getting to the point in life where I understand what it is to be human, so there's plenty that's exciting for me to express about that." Indeed, this season's ill-fated romance between Hoyt and vampire Jessica (played by Debra Ann Woll) is one that just about any viewer can relate to. What could be more uniquely human than a story of love on the rocks? Season 4 of True Blood (8 p.m. CT Sundays) is quickly drawing to a close and it appears that Jessica has already moved on. But don't count Hoyt out just yet. "Alan Ball, our show's creator, says you can't be happy in love for more than an episode for it to be good TV," Parrack says, "and I think he's right!"
You and Debra Ann Woll have had great chemistry onscreen. What's your secret?
"She has been my favorite person on the show to work with. We're both kind of dorks about acting. We love it. We get together on set and rehearse and talk about it. Some actors, I think, don't want to seem too excited about acting. Maybe it doesn't look cool. But she and I love it too much to hide our enthusiasm."

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Body Snatched: Interview with Nelsan Ellis

Nelsan Ellis shares what it's like to play a character within a character, what's up with Lafayette's hair, and who he thinks Sookie should settle down with.


Possession is really the word of the season, and Lafayette gets a major dose of it in ‘Let’s Get Out of Here.’ How did you prepare to play the restless spirit of a murdered Creole woman?
Study the actress who’s playing the role. I was studying her dailies, and then she and I got together to work.  I talked a lot to Fiona and tried to figure out what “possession” meant to me. I realized that I don’t become the person – the person becomes me. They get into a body where the mechanics are already there. Mavis has this funky little swish to her walk, but I was like, “No, my hips can’t move like that.” But I’d have something subtle that suggested that that was the direction that my hips wanted to go in. So, I tried to figure out what subtle nuances I could take from her that would remind the audience of who she was inside of me but also stay true to what Lafayette is, what his body does and the fact that he’s still in there.

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True Blood : Since when did Merlotte's become self- serve ??

I got thinking about this week's episode and wondered who is minding the store ?
One of the things that grounds the Sookie books in normalcy or reality is that Sookie is always worrying about money and trying to make ends meet and Sam like all small business owners has trouble ever taking time off even for family emergencies ...man,  the True Blood writers DO NOT live in that world.

Lets go down the list of Merlotte's employees and where they are for the 2 nights and one day that the last episode covered.

Sam - owner just picks up and decides to go camping is gone one day and one night - he takes the first night off for a date with Luna )
Lafayette- Cook is inhabited by the ghost of Mavis and spends 2 night and one day helping her search for the skeleton baby
Terry - Cook is gone one day and one night trying to get back Baby Mikey from LaMavis (Lala/Mavis)
Arlene - Waitress is also gone one day and one night trying to get back Baby Mikey from LaMavis
Holly - Waitress is gone one day and two nights imprisoned in MoonGoddess Emporium by MarAntonia ( Marnie and Antonia )
Tommy - does work part of one day at Merlotte's and gone for sure one night pretending to be Sam and getting his ass kicked by Marcus.
Jessica - waitress she also does not work during the time span at Merlotte's and spends one night with Nan   and the second night with Jason.
Sookie - waitress she also does not work any of those nights or days at Merlotte's

So who's minding the store ???
Who's managing, cooking and waiting tables ????  Just wonderin' ?


True Blood: We TOLD You Taylor Swift Was A Goth Icon

I hope you heard the great discussion Jef and I had last night about this episode - if not listen to podcast!

We told you that Taylor Swift was going to become a goth icon, but did you listen? Did you? No. No you said we were "crazy." That our logic was "sketchy." That we should take the "medication" that nice "doctor" prescribed us after we "went apeshit" over the Dungeons & Dragons movie.

Well, we were right and you were wrong because here comes Ms. Swift in all her gothy glory right on True Blood.

Truth be told, we love Taylor Swift. Our love is guileless and unashamed. When we were reluctantly flipping through Houston's sad FM dial searching for any melody to take the pain of traffic away, and Swift's "Mine" came on, we knew that we were just going to have to live with the fact that the little minx is completely pop-awesome. She is, and we will fight any one of you tooth and freakin' nail over the fact.

Admittedly, when we claimed that Swift would rise to become a spooky starlet, we were just having some fun with our editor at a young star's expense. However, since then we've watched her carefully, and every now and then she really does pull some awesomely dark and wonderful stuff.

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True Blood Music Episode 4.09 - Let’s Get Out of Here

Episode 4.09 - Let’s Get Out of Here

“Sleep Walk” by Henri Rene (Sookie fantasizes about Eric & Bill)


“Stray Dog” by Kevin Welch (Tommy meets Marcus at Merlotte’s)


“Theme from Picnic” by Terry Snyder (Sookie tells fantasy Eric & Bill that she wants it all)


“Tears Wellin’ Up” by Chris Norton & Frank Mize


“Haunted” by Taylor Swift


“Let’s Get Out of Here” by Les Savvy Fav







‘True Blood,’ Season 4, Episode 9, ‘Let’s Get Out of Here’: TV Recap

Amidst the chaos of the vampire/witch melee, Alcide dashes in and whisks the mortally wounded Sookie from the graveyard, only to have super flash Bill sweep in and race her back home. It seems like Alcide is always a day late and a dollar short when it comes to his timing with Sookie and in this situation again, he’s rendered rather helpless in doing anything to remedy her bullet wound blood loss. But as we’ve seen a lot in four seasons, vampire blood can work magic on the dying and the danger is quickly abated for Sookie when Bill gets her to feed off him. She awakens a bit later sharing a non verbal, soulful look with Bill and is immediately adamant about finding Eric. Alcide has finally seen enough and essentially says “I can’t” and “I’m out” to Sookie and heads home to Debbie.

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'True Blood': Stephen Moyer weighs in on Bill and Sookie's future

Fans of True Blood’s Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) have had a rough season. First, his lady love Sookie (Anna Paquin) was AWOL for more than a year in the fairy world, only to have Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) claim “ownership” of her when she returned. Then, to make matters worse, the Nordic vampire’s Lapland-cold heart thawed after witches made him forget his thousand-year history of slaughter. Suddenly, Eric was a lovesick puppydog, and fans of Bill watched in horror as he and Sookie engaged in some epic moonlit shagging. And if that didn’t make you think it’s hard out here for a vamp, last week Bill found himself dragged off by the same coven that had cursed Eric. Maybe Stephen Moyer can bare his fangs and help us make sense of Bill’s ill fortune.

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True Blood Review: Too Much of a Bad Thing

I don't usually post many negative TB articles but these are the things folks are complaining about this year ...

True Blood offered up one of its greatest mysteries this week: How did Jason and Jessica end up in the back of his pickup truck?!? I can imagine a few scenarios:

Perhaps that's where Jason keeps his condoms... Maybe he got a flat tire, Jessica assisted and then he couldn't help but give her a few pumps, as well... They may have believed Bill was home and wanted to keep their affair a secret... Or possibly it was simply there and, hey, Alan Ball figured: why not?!?

Drink, Sookie!

I focus on this seemingly inane point because I found the setting of Jason and Jessica's lovemaking to be hilarious, and also because I wanted to start on a lighter note before stating: "Let's Get Out of Here" was my least favorite episode of what's likely been my favorite season.

Here's why:

Too much Lafayette. We get it. The guy is a medium. This will likely come in handy somehow during the final showdown with Antonia. But, wow, that was a long, excruciating way to draw out the extent of Lafayette's powers.

Read more: http://www.tvfanatic.com/2011/08/true-blood-review-lets-get-out-of-here/#ixzz1VlqkEJJS

True Blood Season 4 Ep 09 " Let's get out of here " subtitles ! What did they say last night ???

True Blood Ep9 Subtitles

Talk Blood S4 Ep Episode 9 "Let's get out of here" the Podcast up!

Wow--- we had a great time last night ! If you missed the show live,  here is the podcast ( it's also on iTunes) and below you will find the chat room log - the discussions are great and sometimes soooo funny!

Thanks to my co-hosts : Alex from Fempop.com and Jefwithonef from Houston Press and the wonderful episode sponsor,  Carrie who owns Cosmic Fibers. She has gorgeous True Blood inspired yarn colors such as "Breed, Ghostdaddy, Breed - Handdyed True Blood Inspired Sock Yarn"

Please visit her shop on Etsy and/or suggest it to anyone you know who is a knitter. You could also just send her an email and thank her for sponsoring the episode. http://www.etsy.com/shop/cosmicfibersyarn 

Listen to internet radio with True Blood in Dallas on Blog Talk Radio


tbep09chatlog

'True Blood': Bad Times in Bon Temps

Conflict resolution is the theme of the week in Bon Temps. There are the bad breakup dust-ups—Hoyt calling Jessica a monster, werewolves and shifters fighting because alpha Marcus doesn't understand the concept of moving on—but the most interesting examples of successful and failed conflict resolution are with the two unhappy ghosts come back to get revenge/justice/babies. While one restless spirit is busy executing a massacre at a Living-Dead Tolerance meeting (shouldn't it be the Living-Dead Alliance?), another is finding a peaceful conclusion to her sorrows.
Antonia is practically becoming a vampire herself, hitting almost every point on the checklist of vampire crimes she listed off in her debut: She is walking around despite being long dead, has supernatural powers, is holding innocents captive, is controlling the actions of others, has killed, and intends to kill more. Her thirst is for revenge rather than blood, but the distinction is probably not very soothing to her victims, and the people she has sworn to protect are meanwhile burning their hands into giant lumps of blisters trying to escape her Moon Goddess Emporium prison.

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Actor Ryan Kwanten on ‘Griff the Invisible’ Versus ‘True Blood’

How important to you is it to balance your work on “True Blood” with projects like “Griff the Invisible,” that are created in or that shoot in your native Australia?
I’ve been very fortunate in the last couple of years, where two of the better scripts that I’ve read happened to be Australian scripts by Australian writers and directors. And that is now very much sort of an important part of my hiatus period – in the five months I get off, I’ll at least do one film that’s based in Australia now. Because there really are some great filmmakers down there, and some really good stories to tell.
Does working on a show like “True Blood” which has fewer episodes maybe than a network show give you more time to pursue these film projects?
The short answer is yes. I feel very fortunate to have landed the role, and to be on that network, because they do phenomenal stuff. They refuse to rest on their laurels, I feel, in terms of each season there’s a progression and it’s getting stronger and stronger, and outside of that it’s really changed my life. It’s taken my career to a whole other level.
Because “True Blood” is so consistently unpredictable, does it continue to surprise or challenge you, or have you sort of adjusted to its twists and turns and they’ve become a natural or comfortable progression?
No. Alan Ball does a very TV-savvy version of the books, so even if you are phenomenally well-researched in knowing what happens in the books, that doesn’t necessarily parlay into knowing what’s going to happen in our series. There’s been more than a fair share of things that have been different. This season is no different; my character is supposed to turn into a were-panther this season, but we’ll see what happens with that. He might be lucky to survive the season, so we’ll see.

read whole interview here 

Kristin Bauer van Straten Exclusive Interview TRUE BLOOD

On the HBO vampire series True Blood, actress Kristin Bauer van Straten plays fan favorite character Pam. As the offspring and primary aide of Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard), her lethal instinct and keen fashion sense have made her a force to be reckoned with, and one of the most quoted characters on the show. With her Maker currently suffering from amnesia and her face rotting with no sign of repair, thanks to some nasty spells from a witch coven, Season 4 has had some crazy twists and turns for Pam, which are sure to get even crazier, as things head toward the season finale.
During a recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Kristin Bauer van Straten talked about following her instincts when it comes to playing Pam, what it’s like to be remembered for her great one-liners rather than the nude scenes that much of the other cast has been known to do, how she still hasn’t gotten completely used to talking with the fangs, how much fun it’s been to explore a whole new side to Pam and her relationship with Eric, and how she can’t wait to get to work on Season 5 and learn about her character’s genesis in becoming a vampire. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

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'True Blood' Eric Vs. Bill: Sookie Makes a Choice Sookie and Eric's romance has been heating up, but don't count Bill out yet.

Vampire blood-driven dreams have been an effective narrative tool in HBO’s True Blood.

And Sunday’s episode gave viewers another example of that when Sookie (Anna Paquin) had to drink Bill’s (Stephen Moyer) blood to survive the gun shot that hit her during last episode’s Witch War II.

As a result, Sookie had a very telling dream that brought Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) and Bill together for a talk. And wearing red lingerie doesn’t hurt when trying to plead one’s case to two men, either. What unraveled was Sookie’s decision that she loved both men and would like to find a way for them to be OK with that, as well. Ah, dreams. That would never fly in the real world, but it does reveal where Sookie’s mind is when it comes to the two men. Or does it?

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Preview for True Blood Episode 4.10 – “Burning Down The House”


Inside the Episode: 4.09 ‘Let’s Get Out of Here’


True Blood Recap - Episode 4.09 "Let's get out of here "