A new discovery about mosquitoes reveals why vampires will never exist

 Scientists have found a type of bacteria that kills off the mosquito that carries malaria. That's good news. The way the bacteria works means it could also be used to make sure there is never a plague of vampires. That's even more good news. Anopheles gambiae, the blood-sucking, malaria-carrying mosquito has been a deadly adversary to humanity for a long time. Malaria kills almost a million people per year. Researchers have come up with hundreds of potential ways to combat the disease, from engineering a malaria-proof mosquito to shooting the mosquitos that carry malaria out of the sky with lasers. This latest effort might also fight more mythical foes of humanity.

read on

Fall TV season: Are witches the new vampires?

Guys with fangs are so last year. This fall, witches are taking over.
You'll find them on HBO's "True Blood," where Sookie will face down a coven this season. They'll be casting spells on their fellow high school students in the CW's "The Secret Circle," a drama from "The Vampire Diaries" creator Kevin Williamson. A particularly wicked one shows up in ABC's "Once Upon a Time" to place a curse on the town of Storybrook. Plus, with NBC's mystery "Grimm" riffing on various fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel's friend with the black pointy hat might soon join the others.

So where did all the soft-hearted, sharp-toothed Edward Cullens go? Since women generally watch more television than men, the networks are greenlighting more female-skewing shows for fall, including ensemble dramas lead by female characters (ABC's "Pan Am," NBC's "The Playboy Club," ABC's "Good Christian Belles") to comedies anchored by actresses (Christina Applegate's "Up All Night" and Whitney Cummings' "Whitney" on NBC, Zoey Deschanel's "The New Girl" on Fox). And viewers seem to like bad girls best: CBS' "2 Broke Girls," starring an insult-slinging Kat Dennings, tested better than any comedy or drama in CBS history, and two of the season's most highly anticipated shows, "Good Christian Belles" and ABC's "Apartment 23," originally had titles that featured a word that rhymes with witch. For networks seeking female viewers and mean girl heroines, witches offer the perfect double threat.

read on

WebMD Q&A With True Blood's Stephen Moyer

The film and TV star talks to us about working with his co-star and real-life wife Anna Paquin, raising a family, and maintaining those killer abs.

As sexy vampire Bill Compton in the hit HBO series True Blood, actor Stephen Moyer has earned heaps of praise and thousands of fans. Though he started his acting career on stage in his native England, he's truly come into his own as a film and television actor, appearing in more than a dozen movies and more than 20 television series since 1996. The award-winning actor sat down with WebMD the Magazine and dished about his feelings about love, children, middle-age, fitness, and how he's learned to love blood.

Your hit HBO series True Blood returns for its fourth season in June. WebMD wants to know: Do you know your own blood type?

Noooo! That's awful -- I should! That's crazy! I don't remember! My doctor knows, because we've talked about it. Even Bill Compton [the 175-year-old vampire Moyer plays on TV], whom I'm really, really close to, I don't even know what his favorite type of blood is.

read on

Anna Paquin on Marrying her True Blood Costar, Life as Sookie Stackhouse, and Stalking Aaron Sorkin

The Academy Award-winning actress tells Health about everything from life with Stephen Moyer to her number one workout motivator in the June 2011 issue, hitting newsstands May 20.

On whether she ever gets sick of costar and husband, Stephen Moyer:

“No. I miss him when he leaves. That’s nauseating, I know. My me-time requirements are quite small.”

On how playing Sookie motivates her to work out:

“If you’re going to be spending literally every single day of your working life wearing clothes that barely cover your body, you’re gonna be extra-diligent…There’s just a little extra motivation of, ‘Hmmm, teeny white shorts and a bikini top? I think I will go to Pilates this morning.’”

On her favorite TV show:

“I re-watch – and when I say the entire series, I literally mean the entire series of – The West Wing every year. I'm sort of secretly stalking Aaron Sorkin. I'm obsessed with his work. I think he's a genius.”

On how she handled Hollywood at such a young age:

“I have a really, really, really normal family. And by normal I mean we’re all nuts on some level. I think you’ve gotta be a little nuts to pursue any kind of creative job. I was also a really good kid…I didn’t rebel in the traditional sense.”

On the difference between looking healthy and being healthy:

“People in this town have a weird tendency to say, if someone's lost weight, ‘Oh my God, you look amazing.’ And you're like, ‘I just had my tonsils out and didn't eat for three weeks,’…But it's not healthy."

TRUE BLOOD COMPLETE SEASON 3 ON DVD MAY 23 - TOP 12 VAMPIRES ON SCREEN

Season three of True Blood may have finished on the television but you can soon relive Bon Temps vamptasticly sexy drama on DVD and Blu-ray.
The third 12-episode foray into the lives of Louisiana’s most blood-thirsty inhabitants sees Sookie pursue Bill’s kidnappers into deepest Mississippi, home to a powerful vampire king and a pack of vicious werewolves. As the season moves forward, dark secrets are tested and some come to light – including the extraordinary origins of one Sookie Stackhouse. But even with the introduction of new mythical beings vampires will always come out on top!
Here are our top 12 fanged favourites from film and television...
Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) – Dark Shadows (1967 -1971)
Barnabas Collins is a 200-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette, on the American soap opera Dark Shadows. Although his role was meant to be brief, the popularity of the character and the quick spike in ratings resulted in him continuing with the show and virtually becoming the star of it.

read on 
 

Power Grid The 10 Greatest Vampire Archetypes

Allow Us To Explain

We’ve been in a vampir-ey mood lately. Perhaps its the success of Being Human on this side of the pond, the imminent end of the Twilight movie franchise, or maybe it’s Priest.
…naaaahhh, haha, it’s not Priest.
The Vampire is a mythological creature that can function as something of a Rorschach test: it is what you make of it. Vampirism has been a metaphor for pretty much any moral threat to the social collective. Originally, vampires weren’t sexy, pretty, pale people, tormented over their fate. (Or not.) Nor did they have a penchant for Egyptian jewelry or lying around on couches in cheap velvet listening to the Smiths. They were in many ways the original zombies. You know…re-animated bodies, crawling from the grave to feast on the blood of mortals be they sexy or no.
Today, Vampires can be whatever we want them to be: recovering addicts, stunted children, sinners seeking redemption, or the object of everyone’s uncontrollable lust.
Here we have listed, for your eternal pleasure, some of the most common, most famous, most versatile vein bursting bloodletters in our contemporary culture. And believe us when we say… they all suck.

read on

True Blood Vampires Prove Too Rude For The Tube

Vampires. These days you can't walk down the street without tripping over one. Okay, that's not true, but with movie posters, adverts and other ad campaigns for the fanged fiends almost everywhere, you get the picture... sort of. Anyway, here's some interesting news relating to True Blood Season 3's promotional ads being banned from the London Underground for 'sexual connotations'.
The ads are vying for space with prostitutes cards in the telephone boxes of our great city. See press release below:
"Smash hit TV series True Blood's vampires have proven 'too rude for the tube' and been driven from the comforting darkness of London's underground to take refuge in phone boxes across the capital. HBO's controversial new 'VILF' poster campaign to launch the third season DVD and Blu-ray release on 23 May has been banned by the tube for its sexual connotations. However, the vampires are not without a haven as the campaign has made it onto phone boxes across London from today.

read on

Local actor spills on True Blood

Grant Bowler's character Cooter may have been killed in series three of True Blood but the actor says that doesn't mean he can't rise from the dead.
The actor, who considers himself both an Australian and a New Zealander, says that while the werewolf biker gang leader was fatally shot, it doesn't mean he can't return in the next series.

"There's always a chance that Cooter may come back from the dead but I'm not telling you whether he does or he doesn't," Bowler says.

"Alan Ball (the show's creator) is the cleverist man I've ever met and I'm not alienating him for anybody," he laughs.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/local-actor-spills-on-true-blood-20110517-1eqy5.html#ixzz1MthNSk6w

Sookie Stackhouse author Charlaine Harris shares with fans at the Michigan Theater

Bestselling novelist Charlaine Harris finished her book tour at the Michigan Theater last night.
The 11th installment of her immensely popular “Sookie Stackhouse” novels, "Dead Reckoning", came out this month and soared to the #1 spot on the New York Times “Best Seller” list.
The charming and funny southerner did her best not to give away spoilers Monday. But she did supply plenty of juicy tidbits to gnaw on, which were eaten up by fans of her books and the HBO hit "True Blood" — the popular television sereis based on Harris’ epic vampire-romance-horror-drama saga.

read on

TRUE BLOOD’S ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD FEATURED ON THE COVER OF THE JUNE ISSUE OF GQ

...on newsstands nationwide May 24, 2011

With his totally convincing American accent and eyes deep as a glacial fjord, Alexander Skarsgård has won over fans of HBO’s True Blood (especially the female ones). Now the Swede is ready for the big screen with three major films opening soon—one of them being Straw Dogs, where he met his current flame, Kate Bosworth. Brett Martin catches up with Skarsgård while whale-watching off the coast of California and the actor opens up about filming love scenes with Anna Paquin, his time spent in the Swedish military, his relationship with his famous father, Stellan Skarsgård, and more. I’ve pulled some key quotes for you below:

Skarsgård on the love scenes with Anna Paquin - who is married to their True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer:
“It’s really clear to Steve and to everybody else what the deal is—which is that Anna is like a sister to me... Those love scenes take quite a bit of acting, actually. A lot of acting.”

...on why he decided to join the Swedish military:
“It was my way of going off into the unknown,” he says. “I didn’t want to just be somebody’s son.”

...on LA versus his native country:
“You walk into the coffee shop, and the girl asks how your day is. When I first moved here, I loved that. I know it’s shallow and superficial and she doesn’t give a f*ck about my day, but I still like it,” he says. Sweden, by contrast, is more reserved. “It’s difficult to get to know a Swede. But once you do, you’re in,” he says. And there’s a stronger sense of boundaries. “You’re never going to see a television show The Skarsgårds.”

...on his famous father, actor Stellan Skarsgård:
“I don’t think I came to acting to compete with my father. But, you know, he wasn’t around as much as normal dads, and seeing his passion…Maybe it was a way to get his attention... I mean, if anything, we’re trying to take care of him. He’s over the hill.”

Stellan on Alex and his brothers:
“Of course I’m threatened,” he says of his sons. “They’re younger, they’re better-looking, and they’re all trying to kill me.”

http://www.gq.com/style/profiles/201105/25-most-stylish-tv-stars-men#slide=1 

Joe Manganiello Talks Witches, Blood and Nudity in S4- MTV

MTV Shows

Sookie Stackhouse novel 'Dead Reckoning' sprints toward series finale

Sookie Stackhouse stands in the center of a blood bath - or two or three - and wonders how her sleepy Southern life got so seriously gothic. The fang- and beast-filled soap opera centered around a telepathic barmaid began as the Southern Vampire Series in 2001. It took flight after HBO's take on the tale in 2009. The literary charm comes from the author's trademark biting wit and flair for dialogue.

This sentiment grows during the latest and 11th installment of writer Charlaine Harris' series, which is the basis for HBO's "True Blood."

The Arkansas-based writer has an affection for small, rural towns and how seemingly simple people rise to meet what can be insurmountable and complex challenges.

read on

True Blood - Season 4 - New Promo - Witches vs. Vampires

'Vampire Diaries' Season Two: 5 Most OMG! Moments

Excuse us, we're still trying to pick ourselves off the floor after watching last night's epic season finale of "Vampire Diaries." Seriously, we didn't think anything could match the twists and turns that led to season one's cliffhanger, but somehow the writers managed to surprise us yet again—this time with ghosts, gun shots and an evil Stefan.
Perhaps we should have expected last night's mindwarp. After all, this entire season has been filled with jaw-dropping moments we never saw coming. So in honor of all the surprises "TVD" writers have thrown our way this season, we've come up with a list of the top five that shocked us the most. Buckle up and check them out after the jump.

read on

True Blood Season 4 Promo - The new season

The New Season©ShareURL=http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?autoplay=true

True Blood filming today LA at 506 S Grand Ave (3:00 P.M. – 7:00 A.M.).

Hmmmm wonder what this is ??

Millennium Biltmore Hotel

Formerly: The Regal Biltmore Hotel
Built: 1923
• True Blood is filming at 506 S Grand Ave (3:00 P.M. – 7:00 A.M.).

True Blood Season 4 Screen Test

Screen Test