Better red than dead

From The Australian

Screen vampires never die, they just get more depraved or turn vegetarian

SILVER bullets, crucifixes, wooden stakes through the heart: screen vampires have faced an abundance of killers through the decades and mostly have emerged undead, ready to terrorise for another century or two. But how are they faring against the greatest vampire-killer of them all? I speak, of course, of Twilight, the behemoth book and film franchise turning these embodiments of evil into house-trained lap vamps who vant to meet your parents before escorting you on a fang-free date.

New Moon, the sequel to last year's paranormal romance Twilight, will be released in Australia in November, bringing with it a bloody war between those who can't get enough of pallid dream boy Robert Pattinson, and those who think he's a wooden stake in the vampire genre.

Fortunately the ambulatory dead are notoriously difficult to keep down and cinema's most sanitised vampire story arrives at the same time as television's most twisted. True Blood, the second season of which has become US pay-TV channel HBO's highest rating show of the year and has just started airing in Australia on Showcase, is Twilight's dark doppelganger, taking Dracula's polymorphously perverse progeny into realms outrageously depraved even for the undead.

So who will emerge victorious: Twilight's Edward Cullen, a vegetarian vamp who won't go beyond first base before interspecies marriage; or True Blood's steamy Bill Compton, a 170-something hellhound who's polite enough to recommend iron tablets but who will suck victims senseless during sex?
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'True Blood' season two finale: Fans and Charlaine Harris talk about it

From Lehigh Valley Entertainment By Melanie Henry

Tonight is the night I and millions of fans have been waiting for -- the season two finale of "True Blood."

I thought season one was innovative and brilliant. As for season two -- beyond my expectations, with the small exception of Maryann. She really has been a focal point of this season, but I'm hoping tonight she will get her comeuppance, and the writers will get rid of her once and for all.

I had a chance to speak with Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels (the books upon which the HBO series "True Blood" is based), and the fans of "True Blood," and they had much to say about the hit show.

For the complete interview with Charlaine Harris continue reading below:

Q. How did you come up with the idea for the Sookie Stackhouse novels?
A. My other books had done well, but I wanted to broaden my readership base, I wanted to appeal to a broader audience. I decided to write about a young woman who was dating a vampire, rather than just writing about vampires. Obviously I am using vampires as a metaphor for other things, that's what makes the books more interesting for me. It give the books more depth, though writing about vampires is fun!

Q. What do you think about the HBO series "True Blood"?
A. I love the series! I am very fond of Alan (Ball), he is a genius at casting. I've really enjoyed watching the series.

Q. What was it like meeting the cast members of the show, that play the characters you have created?
A. I had met them all (the cast) previously. Filming the finale was kind of like a reunion. When I first met them I was very nervous because I didn't know too many actors. We got along great ... we are all people that have the same goals.

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My Review of "Club Dead" by Shawn

Sookie: “Okay, I’d hoped to avoid this, but ... Bill, I rescind your invitation into my house. Eric, I rescind your invitation into my house.”

If you think that quote is dramatic enough, it should give you a very good description for how the third book plays out. Sookie and Bill may be ship-worthy on the series, True Blood but the books have been more conflicting with me.

There are a lot of problems with Sookie and Bill as a couple on screen but I think the biggest one has to be Bill’s possessiveness. It’s never going to be an endearing trait and territorial as he is, this book actually doesn’t feature him a lot in. Though that’s more than compensated with the fact that he’s virtually mentioned every second page.

We’re at the stage that in Sookie and Bill’s relationship, things have gotten progressively sour between them. Bill’s attempts of cataloguing a vampire directory for the Queen Of Louisiana and his attempts of keeping this from Eric, Pam and Chow had Sookie threatened by them.

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-review-of-club-dead.html

VIDEO INTERVIEW: True Blood's Anna Paquin Shows Off Her Ring; Boyfriend Stephen Moyer Reveals Engagement Details

RadarOnline.com caught up with True Blood’s true loves, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, on the red carpet at the Good Dog Animal Rescue charity event in Hollywood. Paquin shyly showed us her diamond engagement ring and Moyer, who recently revealed he helped picked the ring himself, told us how he came up with the perfect design. Watch the video for more, including Stephen’s favorite thing about Anna, only on RadarOnline.com:

Video here

Stephen and Anna and more dogs

more with the dogs..

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer: Dog Lovers

Showing their love for the canine population, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer were spotted at A Night of Emotion, held at LA Dogworks last night (September 23).

The “True Blood” costars looked to be in good spirits as they mingled with fellow celebrities and posed for the paparazzi.

As for balancing their working relationship with their real-life romance, Moyer told press, “We are very relaxed together on set, off set and that can only help with some of the things that we get asked to do.”

Stephen also revealed that he and Paquin were an item long before everyone found out about them. “We were very, very caged. We kept tabs on our own relationship, let alone telling anybody because we were very concerned about how it would play out given that anybody who signed up to do one of these series signs for seven years. So, you don’t take a decision like that lightly.”

more photos here

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Bleeding heart by David Vendetta

Bleeding heart by David Vendetta LYRICS

Thanks, saroufim93

Explore HBO Imagine: It's an HBO brand experience

I have no idea what the hell this is - but it's cool.

There are many sides to every story - see them all. HBO invites you to participate in a multi-dimensional storytelling experience that defies expectations and proves that a change in perspective changes everything. Will you uncover the truth and see the bigger picture?
Click here to explore HBOimagine.com

Stephen Moyer's 'True Blood' Spoiler!

Sexy Stephen Moyer let slip to "Extra" that there will be more creatures than just vamps, shape-shifters and Maenids on the next season of "True Blood."

"The only word that I know about is werewolves," Stephen coyly told "Extra." "I know nothing, but Alan has already admitted there will be werewolves. There are in book three of the series."

Moyer also dished on his engagement to co-star Anna Paquin -- and how she hates surprises. "I try to surprise her all the time and she loathes it," Stephen said, adding that his proposal shocked the actress. "She opened it up, she looked at it, and she looked at me. I said, 'It is what you think it is.' She said, 'Oh yeah what do I think it is?' And the rest is private."

Read more: http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2009/09/stephen_moyer_true_blood_spoiler_anna_paquin.php#ixzz0S2zVnGRJ

BookChick Recommends “Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs”

And now may we present: the humorous vampire chick-lit subgenre? That’s what you’ll find in Molly Harper’s "Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs." And I say move over Charlaine Harris ’cause Molly Harper’s nipping at your heels.

I want to start out by saying I am not a vampire fiction groupie. I read what I love and usually love what I read. And, let’s be honest, the genre has become saturated with watered-down versions, blatant knock offs & snooze fests galore. Sadly, too many authors are chasing the elusive dream of recreating something that has garnered success for others instead of listening to their muse & creating their own literary blockbuster. That said, “Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs” is a standout!....

I will leave you with this thought: If Sookie Stackhouse had a cousin, it’d definitely be saucy Jane Jameson.

Read all : http://bookchick.com/2009/09/bookchickcom-recommends-nice-girls-dont-have-fangs/

Moyers , Trammel and Forbes talk True Blood at Emmys

True Blood Wedding Going to the Dogs

Sure, vampires and weredogs have never gotten along in Bon Temps, La., the fictional setting of HBO's hit series True Blood, but when Stephen Moyer marries Anna Paquin, those of the furry kind will be well-represented in the wedding party.

"Splash, my alpha, will be the ringbearer," Moyer said at the L.A. Dogworks and Good Dog Animal Rescue fund raiser on Wednesday. "My son [Billy, born in 2000] might be unhappy about that."

But Splash, a 10-year-old border collie Moyer calls "a grumpy little sod," won't have to worry about getting fitted for a tux quite yet. Moyer, 39, and Paquin, 27 – who spent nearly the entire event holding hands – haven't set a date yet.

"We haven’t planned anything," Moyer said. "People say, 'You are engaged to be married,' and I’m like, 'Really? I thought we were just engaged.' "

At least there's an engagement ring. Moyer's friend Cathy Waterman, a California jewelry designer popular among celebrities, created Paquin's ring, which includes what Moyer described as a dark-colored "rustic diamond."

For now, Moyer, who plays vampire Bill Compton, and Paquin, who plays Bill's telepathic girlfriend Sookie Stackhouse, would rather think about Halloween details than wedding details.

"Funny enough, a friend of ours wants to go as me. He’s about that big [waist high]," he said. "And we were talking about taking my daughter [Lila, born in 2002] as Sookie, but then we thought that would be really bad. Ha."

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20307819,00.html

"True Blood" delivers solid second season

Season 2 review from a student at Texas A&M East Texas

Excessive violence, drug use and sexual themes riddled the second season of True Blood and every second of it was amazing.

The second season came with multiple storylines built around the minor characters. The main story still focused on vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer) and his telepathic girl friend Sookie (Anna Paquin). This was definitely not a bad thing though. I started watching the second season with the hope Sookie and Bill's romance would be the primary focus of the show and was not disappointed.

The series follows the journey of the two oddly coupled lovers as they journey to Dallas to aid in the search for a missing vampire. While the two main protagonists are running around Texas, their hometown of Bon Temps, LA is being ravaged by a priestess to the Greek god of wine and debauchery, Dionysus.

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Love bites: Stephen Moyer, star of True Blood

From Telegraph UK

Stephen Moyer is the latest British actor to become a sex symbol in America,playing a 173-year-old vampire in True Blood, the year’s most talked-about new drama series.

Those with a taste for quality US drama may already have been feasting on the strange pleasures of True Blood, the new series from the Oscar-winning writer of American Beauty and Six Feet Under, Alan Ball. It has been showing here on the FX channel and is soon to arrive on Channel 4. In the States it is HBO’s most watched show since The Sopranos, and audiences are growing, recently topping five million viewers. For the British actor Stephen Moyer, who plays its romantic hero, Bill Compton, a 173-year-old vampire, the series has turned him into a star and, at 39, a late-blooming sex symbol.

Moyer’s vampire is a tragic hero in the Heathcliff mould. The first time he appears on screen he is ordering a bottle of synthetic blood (O-neg, his favourite flavour) in a Louisiana bar. Dark-haired and deathly pale, he exudes a stillness and controlled intensity. His eyes lock with those of waitress Sookie (Anna Paquin), who informs him that they did have some, but no one ordered it, so it went off. 'You’re our first… vampire,’ she says

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6 word stories: let's write about Godric

We all love 6 word stories ..you guys post your 6 word stories about Godric in comments !

Top 10 moments from ‘True Blood’ season 2

From Debbie Michaud at Creativeloafing

‘True Blood’ wrapped up two Sundays ago, sadly, but it did snag an Emmy at last Sunday’s awards for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. So what moments from this season helped earn the cast its trophy? Here’s our countdown of the season’s top 10 best moments, as well as some of its most memorable quotes (PIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!).

10. GODRIC’S PAD IS DA BOMB (episode 9)
Luke blows Godric’s lair to kingdom come in the name of Rev. Newlin. Bill watches, stunned, from the driveway where he’s just escorted Lorena (”You may be immortal, Lorena, but you are dead to me”). From the front yard, it looks as though the white-hot blast eviscerated everything: men, vampires, and Barcaloungers alike.

Bill rushes inside and finds Sookie still alive and sprawled on the floor beneath Eric, who shielded her from the blast. The inside is littered with insides. On Eric’s command, Bill exits as quickly as he arrived to snag and punish Luke’s cohorts. Eric feigns dying, imploring Sookie to suck the silver shrapnel from his chest. Sookie, who thinks that’s like totally gross, refuses, until Eric exhales in a melodramatic whimper “(gasp) … dying … (gasp)” and lets a limp arm fall to the floor with a thud. Next thing we (and Bill) know, Sookie’s straddling Eric and literally licking his wounds. This kind of hanky panky has consequences, Bill tells Sookie. Since she’s now swallowed Eric’s blood, the two are forever connected. Like Bill, he’ll always be able to sense her emotions and Sookie will feel sexually attracted to Eric. “I could kill him,” Sookie says later on. “I concur,” says Bill.

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Queen Sophie-Ann - Workplace Psychopath

Patty from IwanttowriteforTrueBlood Blog writes..

n the vampire world it seems that size matters - fang size. Going by the length of Queen Sophie-Ann's pointy teeth she is one powerful vamp.

Alan Ball has said of the Queen that “Nobody’s ever entirely happy to see her...She’s very powerful, capricious and most likely insane.”

While her behaviour is certainly eccentric, she doesn't seem insane. What she definitely is is a psychopath (I'll leave it up to medical and legal professions to decide whether psychopaths are insane or not).

Psychopaths can be described as "generally highly destructive and manipulative individuals with dark sides who have no remorse for their actions..."

"They are typically only interested in power, control, domination and subjugation, and it is believed that female psychopaths are more dangerous than males as they are more socially skillful in their manipulation."

Actually, now I think back on it all of the girl vamps in True Blood have bigger fangs than the boys. Maybe in the TB universe vampires are like birds of prey where the female is bigger and stronger than the male.

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True Blood Music Video of the Day: Running up that hill by Placebo

Running Up That Hill by Placebo

Thanks, XMrsFrodoBagginsX