Saturday, February 28, 2009

Dancers in the Dark : Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.


What'll you do when you get lonely
And nobody's waiting by your side?
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.

Layla LaRue LeMay talks about her unusual name to Sean in Dancers in the Dark (Charlaine Harris Sookieverse novella from 2004)

" My parents liked the song ? You know it ?"
Sean says " Which version ? The original one by Cream or the slower version by Eric Clapton?

She says " the original..in their wilder years, they thought it was cool to name their daughter after a song "

I was mystified by this exchange as the original version of Layla was NOT BY CREAM. It was written by Eric Clapton and first released in 1970 by his band, Derek and the Dominos from the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It was re-released as a single (shorter version) in 1971 and 1972.

Eric Clapton was in Cream but that band dissolved two years before the song was released. This is kind of like asking "was it the song by Eric Clapton or the one by Eric Clapton?"

There is truly a fascinating story behind the song and the love affair between Eric and Pattie Boyd who was married to Beatle, George Harrison , but there is only one song called Layla by Eric Clapton ( recorded multiple times ) and no song called Layla by Cream.

In 1966, George Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a model he met during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. During the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison became firm friends. However, trouble was brewing for Clapton. Between his tenures in Cream and Blind Faith, in his words, "something else quite unexpected was happening: I was falling in love with Pattie."

The title, "Layla", was inspired by the The Story of Layla by the Persian classical poet Nezami. It is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from the northern Arabian Peninsula,in the Umayyad era during the 7th century. When he wrote "Layla", Clapton had been told the story by his friend Ian Dallas who was in the process of converting to Islam. Nezami's tale, about a moon-princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the one who was desperately in love with her, resulting in his madness (Majnun, meaning "madman" in Persian and Arabic), struck a deep chord with Clapton.

Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979. Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding party with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

Patti just wrote a best selling book about this time in her life

Boyd, Pattie and Junor, Penny (2007). Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me.. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN-13: 9780739358191.

Her web page is here : http://www.pattieboyd.co.uk/ (the photos and the scrap book are amazing!)

Here is the 1970 version from Derrick and the Dominoes ( Eric Clapton you will also hear Duane Allman )



This is how it sounded in 1986 by Eric Clapton ( you will hear Phil Collins on drums)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Other_Assorted_Love_Songs

http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2008/Derek%20and%20the%20Dominos%20Layla.jpg

True Blood Behind the scenes : Lisa Fowler (Arlene's daughter ) played by Laura Weber

"You do that, then we'll talk "

Lisa is played by Laura Weber. Here is Laura's Info page

She appears in these three episodes of True Blood Season one. Did I also just see her in a Stouffer's commercial ?

- I Don't Wanna Know (2008) TV episode ..

- The Fourth Man in the Fire (2008) TV episode .

- Sparks Fly Out (2008) TV episode ..

Film :Seq/Kings Cyn National Park

Television :True Blood Recurring HBO

Commercials :AARP ,Ross Department Stores,Marshall Fields Department Stores -



True Blood Season 1 Episode list from IMDb


Nice episode list from IMDb


Season 1, Episode 1: Strange Love

Original Air Date—7 September 2008
In a society where humans and vampires co-exist, Sookie Stackhouse may have found a perfect boyfriend. Sookie is clairvoyant and constantly hears people's thoughts so it makes dating a bit difficult. When vampire Bill Compton walks into the bar where she works as a waitress, she realizes that she can't "hear" what he's thinking. Vampires came out of the coffin two years before when the Japanese invented Tru Blood, a synthetic blood substitute. She rescues Bill when a couple of lowlifes try to steal his blood but she may have a price to pay for interfering. Meanwhile, Sookie's brother s arrested after a local woman is found strangled.

Season 1, Episode 2: The First Taste

Original Air Date—14 September 2008
Mack and Denise Rattray get their revenge on Sookie but Bill steps in to save her. Subsequently, Sookie's senses begin to undergo a transformation. She later learns that the Rattrays are dead and the police immediately suspect Bill. She also begins to wonder just how far vampires will go when a leading opponent of the Vampire Rights Act is killed in an accident. Bill agrees to visit Sookie and her grandmother and Tara and Jason invite themselves for the evening. Jason Stackhouse gets to see the video of his evening with Maudette Pickens. The police release him but his experience doesn't dissuade him from sleeping with every woman who will have him.

Season 1, Episode 3: Mine

Original Air Date—21 September 2008
Bill Compton's allure is diminished somewhat when Sookie visits him in his home and finds that several other rather nasty vampires has also dropped in for a visit. Bill protects her from his one-time friends but she sees a nasty side of vampire life. Dawn Green spends the night with Sookie's brother Jason but she kicks him out after an argument. She is found strangled later that day. Tara walks out on her alcoholic mother and spends the night with her employer, bar owner Sam Merlotte.

Season 1, Episode 4: Escape from Dragon House

Original Air Date—28 September 2008
With the town's second murder in a week, Jason is again the number one suspect, but Tara provides him with an alibi. Knowing that both Maudette and Dawn had frequented the Fangtasia vampire club, Sookie asks Bill to take her there as she tries to find evidence that will clear her brother. Both of the dead girls were well known at the club and Sookie meets Eric, the vampire elder. Sam Merlotte seems to have a few eccentricities of his own. Jason buys vampire blood - an aphrodisiac - from Tara's cousin Lafayette and despite clear instructions to never take more than one or two drop at any one time, downs the entire vial with somewhat painful results.

Season 1, Episode 5: Sparks Fly Out

Original Air Date—5 October 2008
After their encounter with the policeman, Sookie tells Bill that she won't be seeing him anymore. Bill keeps his promise to Sookie's Gran to speak at the monthly meeting of the Descendents of the Glorious Dead. He reminiscences about the Civil War and the Mayor gives him an old photo he found in the archives. He recalls the circumstances of how he became a vampire. Sookie's boss Sam Merlotte asks her out on a date but things don't go as he planned. Sookie is shocked by what she finds when she gets home. Jason gets more vampire blood from Lafayette and takes an interest in Tara after he hears she has a thing for him.

Season 1, Episode 6: Cold Ground

Original Air Date—12 October 2008
With her Gran there latest victim of the serial killer, Sookie has to deal with her emotions. She can't block out the thoughts of others and she knows many of the townspeople blame her association with vampires as the main reason her grandmother is now dead. She has a very clear message for them at the woman's funeral. Despite Sam Merlotte's and Bill's pleading, Sookie insists on staying in the house. She does however decide to spend the night with Bill.

Season 1, Episode 7: Burning House of Love

Original Air Date—19 October 2008
After spending the night with Bill, Sookie is convinced that she has found the man of her dreams. Her fellow workers and the customers at the bar don't quite agree as rumors spread of their relationship. Tara's alcoholic mother is convinced that she needs an exorcism and when Tara refuses to pay, tries to get a loan from the bank. Jason is desperate to get more vampire blood and visits Fangtasia where he meets someone who introduces himself to something altogether different. Sam Merlotte is seen running across the bayou - naked. The patrons at the bar are not too pleased when a group of Bill's one-time vampire friends show up. When they mention that they've bought a house locally, some of the good old boys decide to do something about it.

Season 1, Episode 8: The Fourth Man in the Fire

Original Air Date—26 October 2008
Sookie is thrilled to learn that Bill wasn't in the fire that killed four people. Her enthusiasm doesn't sit well with either the customers or her co-workers at Sam Merlotte's bar. Jason and his new friend Amy Burley are desperate to get more vampire blood. They decide to follow Lafayette to his source, but Amy's actions reveal that she has clearly done this before. Following her exorcism, Tara's mother is a new person - sober and hard working, she has also become an active member of her church. Tara is pleased with the transformation, but is not happy with her own lot in life. Arlene Fowler gets Sookie to baby sit for her but is taken aback when she realizes that Bill will also be spending the evening. Sookie is not pleased when Bill agrees to let the head of the vampire clan borrow her for an evening.

Season 1, Episode 9: Plaisir d'amour

Original Air Date—2 November 2008
After Sookie identifies the man responsible for stealing from Fangtasia, Bill steps in to protect her. In doing so however, he breaks a vampire taboo and must now face the consequences. Knowing he will be away, he asks Sam Merlotte to keep an eye on Sookie. Jason and Amy take their kidnapped vampire, Eddie, to Jason's house and confine him to the basement. They draw his blood and Jason undergoes an odd transformation. With Amy now working at Merlotte's, Jason spends some time just talking to Eddie and they develop a rapport. Tara visits her mother's exorcist but decides she can't afford the $800 cost. With Bill away, Sookie chooses to spend the night at Bill's house but wakes up the next morning with a naked man in her bed.

Season 1, Episode 10: I Don't Wanna Know

Original Air Date—9 November 2008
With Bill away, Sookie sleeps at his house only to wake up with a naked Sam Merlotte sleeping at the foot of the bed. She believes he is the serial killer but he assures her that he isn't and shares his secret with her. He also recalls important events in his life. Arlene and Rene have their engagement party at Sam's bar and Sookie - already freaked out by Sam's revelation - is stalked in the darkened kitchen. Tara decides to undergo the exorcism but later discovers something about the exorcist, Miss Jeanette. Jason decides it's time to do something about Eddie. Bill has to face the music and appears before a court presided over by Magister to learn what will happen to him for killing a fellow vampire. The normal sentence would to spend 5 years is a silver-wrapped coffin but Magister has a better idea.

Season 1, Episode 11: To Love Is to Bury

Original Air Date—16 November 2008
Jason and Amy have to clean up after Eddie's demise but it pushes Jason to the edge and he isn't sure if he wants to continue his relationship with her. Sookie caught a glimpse of something during her encounter with the serial killer and she and Sam travel to a diner in an adjoining county to see if they can get more information. What they learn is that the killer may once have struck there as well. Bill completes Jessica's transformation into a vampire but when he tells her what has happened, he doesn't quite get the reaction he was expecting. Tara is arrested for drunk driving and her mother refuses to bail her out. A stranger, Mary Ann, comes to her rescue. The serial killer strikes again leading the police to arrest Jason.

Season 1, Episode 12: You'll Be the Death of Me

Original Air Date—23 November 2008
The identity of the serial killer is revealed and he sets his sights on Sookie. He chases her to the graveyard near Bill's house and hearing her screams, Bill goes out into the sunlight to rescue her. While in jail, Jason is approached by the Fellowship of the Sun, the anti-vampire church, and he gets religion. Tara still isn't sure she can trust Maryann but she does enjoy living in her luxurious home. She's likes it even more when she meets another temporary resident, nicknamed Eggs. Maryann and Sam Merlotte have a connection.

True Blood Fan Art : Sookie, Waitress And Telepath by lovejam




Sookie, Waitress And Telepath


Thanks to the really talented lovejam

http://lovejam.deviantart.com/

The women in Eric Northman's life

So what do we know about the women in Eric's life?

Pam Ravenscroft

All Together Dead Book 7

After I'd awakened, I discovered being a vampire freed some wild thing in me." "After what he did, you didn't want to kill him?" "No," she said instantly. "I wanted to have sex with him, and I did. We had sex many, many times." She grinned. "The tie between maker and child doesn't have to be sexual, but with us it was. That changed quite soon, actually, as my tastes broadened. I wanted to try everything I'd been denied in my human life." "So you actually liked it, being a vampire? You were glad?" Pam shrugged. "Yes, I've always loved being what I am."

More on how Pam was turned


Dawn Green




Dead Until Dark
Bk1 and True Blood
Eric says in the TV series that "he's tasted her" in Book 1 Eric said . "I have been with this one," coolly, tapping Dawn's picture. "She liked pain."






Ginger


Dead until Dark Book 1
"Pam, get out of the way," I said, quietly but sharply. Once Pam was distracted from her own blood lust, she evaluated the situation in one glance. She swung open the office door and propelled Belinda through it, stood beside it to usher us out. "Call Ginger," I suggested, and the sense of what I was saying penetrated Pam's fog of desire. "Ginger," she called hoarsely, and the blond girl stumbled from a door down the hall. "Eric wants you," Pam told her. Ginger's face lit up like she had a date with David Duchovny, and she was in the room and rubbing against Eric almost as fast as a vampire could have. As if he'd woken from a spell,Eric looked down at Ginger when she ran her hands up his chest. As he bent to kiss her, Eric looked at me over her head. "I'll see you again," he said, and I pulled Bill out the door as quick as a wink. Bill didn't want to go. It was like trying to tow a log. But once we were out in the hall he seemed to be a little more aware of the need to get out of there, and we hurried from Fangtasia and got into Bill's car.


Sookie Stackhouse


Dead to the World Book 4
The Eric/ Sookie relationship happens during his witch induced amnesia in Book 4. In that book, Eric briefly lives with Sookie and this book includes the absolute favorite Eric/Sookie shower scene.

Here is a description about how Sookie later thinks about her relationship with Eric:
Call me stereotypical. I'd spent the night with a man who'd told me I was beautiful, a man who'd enjoyed me and who'd given me intense pleasure. He had touched me and held me and laughed with me. We weren't in danger of making a baby with our pleasures, because vampires just can't do that. I wasn't being disloyal to anyone (though I'll admit I'd had a few pangs when I thought of Bill), and neither was Eric. I couldn't see the harm.



Are there others?

We assume so, Yes- but we also know he does not demand sexual favors from the Fangtasia staff?

In from Dead to Worse , Book 8 Felicia, the Fangtasia bartender says that Eric does demand not favors from his staff.

"Oh, my friend Indira asked me to come. She said servitude with Eric is not so bad." Felicia shrugged, to show how "not so bad" it was. "He doesn't demand sexual services if the woman is not so inclined, and he asks in return only a few hours in the bar and special chores from time to time." "So he has a reputation as a good boss?" "Oh, yes." Felicia looked almost surprised. "He's no softie, of course." Softie was not a word you could use in the same sentence as Eric .

Comment ? Have I missed anyone ?

Vampire movie posters

Vampire movie posters from AllPoster.com HERE 20% off today Simply enter the following coupon code: FOUR
Enter the code in the "Add Gift Certificate Or Coupon Code" box on the"Please Confirm Your Purchase" page to receive your discount.


A Bloody Year from HBO ; The Buzz News

From the HBO news blog

Alexander Skarsgard blew audiences away as Sgt. Brad Colbert in 'Generation Kill,' but the role wasn't exactly a 9-to-5 gig. "It was basically like, 'Well, boot camp starts tomorrow so you have to fly to Namibia now,'" he says. "So I didn't even have time to go back home to say goodbye to my mom and my dad and my siblings so it was tough to be away for that long. But it was also good in a way because it's about this platoon and in a way they're very isolated. So I think it helped that us, as actors, lived together and spent 24/7 together for seven months." The actor's part on 'True Blood,' however, isn't nearly as regimented. "It gives me a lot of freedom," he says. "I can do whatever I want because who's going to tell me what a 1,000 year old vampire Viking is like?" (photo: George Pimentel/WireImage.com)

http://www.hbo.com/news/archives/2009_02_27.html

[About.com]

True Blood Music Video of the Day: All Night Diner, Modest Mouse


All Night Diner by Modest Mouse LYRICS

Thanks losteyesight

Friday, February 27, 2009

'Mine' the title song for True Blood Season One Episode Three

I recently did a Season 2 Spoiler show for my Blogtalk radio show, where we looked at what we might know about the upcoming episode by examining the title song for that episode.

I can't tell you how many emails I received from folks saying they felt so stupid for not realizing that the True Blood episodes were named for songs. It's OK but I thought it might be a good idea to look back at the song, the artist and the lyrics for each of last season's episode title songs.


So let's look back to Episode Three: Season One: Mine aired : 9/21/2008

Song: Mine
Artist: Bing Crosby & Judy Garland
Album: Bing - His Legendary Years 1931-1957
Scene: Sookie sneaks up on Bill and they kiss passionately ( dream sequence)

After nine titles from 1931 (which were acquired by Decca later on), the program concentrates on the 1934-1957 period and, in addition to the expected hits, all aspects of his career are covered. Despite a few Dixieland-flavored selections, Crosby had largely abandoned jazz by the late '30s, but his phrasing (which was influenced by Louis Armstrong) and appealing voice should be of interest to jazz listeners. His ballads grew in stature in later years, while the up-tempo performances tended to be less memorable novelties. Although it should be augmented by collections that focus on his recordings of the '20s and early '30s, this is the definitive Bing Crosby set. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Mine
Music by George Gershwin, Words by Ira Gershwin

Mine, love is mine,
Whether it rain or storm or shine.
Mine, you are mine;
Never another valentine.
And I am yours;
Tell me that I'm yours;
Show me that smile my heart adores.
Mine, more than divine –
To know that love like yours is mine!

You can listen to a few minutes of the song here

This is not 'Mine' but it's Crosby and Garland singing another song together from the same album so you can hear their voices together.



All Rhodes lead to : Charlaine Harris sets much of ' All Together Dead' in the city of Rhodes, where is that ?

We have been talking about the Sookieverse fictional city of Rhodes in our discussion of 'Dancers in the Dark' the Charlaine Harris novella about the dancing vampire team, Sean and Layla.

Aside from in the novella, we also see them in the book 'All Together Dead', where as performers from the Blue Moon Productions they dance for and with the guests at the vampire summit. They also dance with Eric and Sookie.




Rhodes is a fictional city but this is what we know about it ...

-'It's way up there by Chicago ' according to Sookie
-It's located on Lake Michigan ( in one of 4 states IL, IN, WI or MI)
-Pyramid of Giza hotel is located there
-You can commute from Rhodes to Chicago ( Glassport pg 73 ATD)
-It's a three hour flight from Shreveport to Rhodes
-Our dancing vampire couple, Sean O'Rourke and Layla LaRue LeMay live in Rhodes.

*The Giza hotel in Rhodes is described as looking an awful lot like the Luxor in Las Vegas.

What have I missed ?

Interview with Charlaine Harris: Dead-On Author

Very nice article on Charlaine Harris from her alma mater, Rhodes College.

Charlaine Harris ’73 has enjoyed a 20-year-plus career as a top-selling mystery writer. She’s known for her novels spiked with humor, romance and bloody murder. Six years ago she really cut loose and began writing about vampires—Southern vampires in particular. Book sales skyrocketed, catching the eye of Alan Ball, creator of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” and now “True Blood,” a series based on Harris’ work. The show, starring Anna Paquin, is set to air on HBO in January 2008. These days, life just isn’t the same for this Magnolia, AR, author, homemaker, softball mom and senior warden at St. James Episcopal Church.

Barely 5’ tall, the blue-eyed writer with short, curly auburn hair is gracious and soft-spoken, with a wicked sense of humor and a delight in the absurd.

Since the late 1980s, she’s lived in Magnolia (population: 11,578), smack in the middle of the ArkLaTex region where three states meet. Her home, secluded and serene, sits on several acres. A duck pond in the front yard (population: 1 duck) completes the pastoral setting. Her office is a comfortable den-like room attached to a capacious carport. Her dogs, Rocky, a boxer/cocker spaniel mix, and Oscar the dachshund, trail her everywhere. Harris and her husband Hal Schulz, a chemical engineer, have raised three children here. It’s a perfect family home—and a writer’s paradise.

Harris’ first book, Sweet and Deadly, was published in 1981. In 1989 she began her Aurora Teagarden series, about a small-town librarian who’s an excellent sleuth. Her Lily Bard books, which followed in 1996, relate the adventures of a heroine with a dark side who cleans houses for a living in the fictitious town of Shakespeare, AR.

Five years later, Harris published Dead Until Dark, the first of her highly successful Southern Vampire series featuring Sookie Stackhouse, who can read minds and has a vampire boyfriend named—Bill. (No “Lestat” or “Armand” for her.) Harris introduced Harper Connelly, a woman who can find bodies and often identify them, in 2005.

“I’ve always been interested in the paranormal, the horrible, weird and strange,” Harris explains. “I wrote ghost stories when I was very young. Ever since I could hold a pencil, that is what I wanted to do.

“I majored in English and communication arts at Rhodes. I wrote some one-act plays that were staged after I graduated. I also wrote a lot of poetry at Rhodes, which was terrible,” she confesses. “Poetry is so hard to do well.

“But I felt a calling to write conventional mysteries, and in conventional mysteries you can’t have those weird elements. The mystery scene was very conservative until seven or eight years ago. That’s when it loosened up enough to permit explicit sex and aspects of the paranormal. And I was just tired of writing conventional mysteries. I was looking at 50 and thought, ‘If I’m ever going to get out of the mid-list I have to take a big leap.’ And this was my big leap. So I thought I’d just write about everything I always wanted to write about.”

Harris is a four-time New York Times Book Review bestselling author (her latest vampire book, All Together Dead, debuted at #6 this year). A review in the Times said of her work: “Harris writes neatly and with assurance, and she avoids the goo that makes equivalent books so sticky.” Thanks to the success of the Sookie books, which are published simultaneously in hardback and on CD, all of Harris’ books are again in print; the rights of the earlier ones have reverted to her.

Harris claims all her works have a purpose.

“I don’t write the books just for the adventure of them—I have an agenda,” she explains. “Sookie serves my agenda for the Southern Vampire series. She has a disability, she’s an outcast who dates other outcasts—vampires—yet she’s a brave young woman with a lot of charm, I think. The series is really about marginalized people. Though if you don’t get that and read the books for the sheer fun of it, that’s OK too. I just write with a purpose.”

Getting her writing career started was the hard part. Harris married her first husband soon after graduating from Rhodes. An Army veteran, he was attending college in the Mississippi Delta and she needed to find work to support them.

“I had to take any job I could,” she says. “I worked as a teacher’s aide for a couple of weeks till the kids told me they were going to kill me, and I thought, ‘OK, I believe you!’ I worked in the offset darkroom at a newspaper in Cleveland, MS. That was really a hard job—standing up all day on concrete in the dark for $1.25 an hour. Later, I got a job proofreading and typesetting at the newspaper in Clarksdale, and then, typesetting at the Delta Design Group in Greenville.”

She divorced and landed a job back in Memphis, typesetting in the printing department at FedEx. “It was the best job I’d had, but I really wanted to write, of course.”

When Harris remarried, she got that chance.

“This is a Rhodes story,” she says with delight. “A few years after we’d graduated, Henry Slack (’74), who lives in Atlanta, gave a New Year’s Eve party. Several of us flew in for it, including Kathy Schardt (’74). Kathy, who was from St. Louis, had gone to high school with one Hal Schulz, who lived in Houston at the time, and invited him to the party. Somehow, I just made off with Hal! He asked me to marry him two weeks later. We celebrated our 29th anniversary in August.”

After the wedding, Schulz swept Harris off her feet again.

“When we married, Hal said to me, ‘Just stay home and write.’ It was wonderful. Then after a month or two he said, ‘I haven’t really noticed you writing.’ I had to make good. So I wrote a book—and sold it. But writers don’t make that much money. We could have qualified for food stamps if we’d lived on what I made for the first 20 years of my career. Hal would say during that time that my writing was more like a heavily subsidized hobby. He doesn’t say that anymore,” she laughs.

Harris’ books cut across genres, selling to romance, science fiction and mystery readers. Several of her books are sold in other countries, most recently Sweden and Estonia. Her audience, she says, “includes everybody.”

“I just have the greatest readers in the world,” she says warmly. “Teenagers are reading my books now, which makes me feel kind of funny because my books are sort of adult.” Then there was the softball mom who sat down beside her last season and said, “Well, I didn’t know your books were X-rated!”

“That made me feel a bit guilty for a minute and then I thought, ‘Why? I’m an adult, she’s an adult.’ But then, there are 200 churches in this county.”

Harris maintains a large Web site (charlaineharris.com). It’s an ongoing dialogue with her fans. She blogs weekly, posts news and upcoming events and openly invites her readers to comment. She is a recipient of several awards, including the Anthony, presented by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, and three Reviewers’ Choice Awards from Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine. She also serves as a board member-at-large of Mystery Writers of America, one of whose many functions is to present the annual Edgar Allen Poe Awards (Edgars). This year, she read for the best first-novel award, “not for best-novel, which would require reading more than 400 books.”

In the local community, Harris has served on the Magnolia Arts Council and as president of the Softball Boosters Club. Her high-school-aged daughter is a team standout. In fact, a tall, teetering pyramid of her home-run softballs, each one authographed by the team and encased in a clear plastic cube, sits atop a bookcase by the front door. With modest pride, Harris says she needs to order more cubes. Her older son works for a computer company in Ft. Worth, TX, and her younger one is in the military. This is Harris’ third time as senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church, which, she says, has taught her how to work well with others.

Until lately, she’s lived a fairly normal life in Magnolia.

“For 20 years, nobody fussed with me until now,” she says. “Now” means the upcoming HBO television series, “True Blood.”

“I suddenly have a golden aura,” she laughs. “In a way, I sometimes kind of resent it because I consider writing the most wonderful thing anybody can do. But now that it’s involved with television, people seem impressed. I think, ‘Guys, you’ve got this backward!’”

That’s not to say Harris isn’t excited. Alan Ball is executive producer, writer and director of “True Blood.” The Atlanta-born Ball is perhaps best known as executive producer and writer of the 1999 film “American Beauty” which won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and the 2001-05 HBO series “Six Feet Under,” which garnered seven Emmys and three Golden Globes.

Fittingly, the Harris/Ball connection happened in a bookstore.

“Alan went to a bookstore one day, just browsing, found one of my vampire books and bought it. Then he went back and bought all the others the next day,” explains a still-astonished Harris.

Says Ball: “I fell in love with Charlaine’s Southern Vampire books. I couldn’t put them down, and whenever I finished one, I wanted to start the next one immediately. I thought they would make a terrific television series.”

“When Alan approached me about doing the series, I had two other offers on the table,” says Harris. “Alan’s was by far the one I was most inclined to take because he’s such a great talent. It’s just been fantastic working with him.”

The series takes place in rural Louisiana, at a time when vampires have made their existence known to the world following the development of synthetic blood in Japan. What’s more, vampires, prized for attracting tourism, are protected by state law. But as any minority, the vamps experience a variety of reactions from the greater population.

The books are her babies, but Harris will not write for the TV show.

“Your rights end after you sign that contract. That’s it. It’s Alan’s property now,” Harris says. “However, I’ve read the first two scripts and they’re fabulous. They’re him. The show is going to be me as filtered through him and the necessities of television, so it’ll be a whole different animal.

“Alan’s writing style has some very funny moments and some very bloody ones, but that’s the way I write. He really ‘got’ me. That’s how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books.”

Ball responds: “Charlaine’s enthusiasm for her characters and their world is palpable and it’s rubbed off on all of us involved with the show. So I feel a strong obligation to remain as true to her work as possible.”

Harris has visited the Hollywood set.

“It’s being filmed at the same studio where ‘I Love Lucy’ was filmed,” she says. “Some of these places are so old (this one was built in the very early 20th century and is still in use). I watched them build the sets on the soundstage and talked to all the production people. The day I was there they were interviewing the dogs that were going to play Sam (a shapeshifter) in his dog form along with the cat that was going to play Sookie’s cat. It was the craziest-looking cat. I think they called it a British blue—it looks like an owl with fur. But Alan just loved this cat, so I said, ‘OK, fine.’”

Back in Magnolia, Harris recently sent a new Sookie book to her publisher, and she’s working on another.

“With the TV series coming up, Sookie is pretty much the center of the universe for now,” she says.

“After 20 years of people being able to wait for the next book to come out, it’s really nice that now they’re anxious for it.”

http://www.rhodes.edu/155_9930.asp

Who is your current TV crush?


I thought this was fun over at Shine at Yahoo, you might want to weigh in with your crush! HERE

Then I got to thinking, why are TV crushes so next level? Well, for starters, you have a guaranteed viewing date with your crush once a week, and unlike a movie actor or character, you get to understand the nuances of their personality. It sounds slightly psycho, but you find yourself smiling, saying “That was so Jack,” or whatever. Because you think you know them!

Thankfully, I’m not the only staffer at Shine with a TV crush.

* Alexander Skarsgard from "True Blood" - This guy is the son of amazing actor Stellan Skarsgard and has apparently been voted Sexiest Man in Sweden 5 times. I first started crushing on him when I saw him in HBO's "Generation Kill," where he was fantastic as a crew-cut Marine lieutenant. In "True Blood," he's just stunning -- even with long hair (not my normal thing) -- as blonde-beauty vampire Eric. Puts Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen to shame.

Now, Shine readers, I ask you: confess your TV crush! It's clearly safe to gush around here.

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Redefine by Soil

Redefine by Soil [LYRICS]

Thanks, Sparkleyedward

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Jace Everett Reaps Good Fueled by ‘Bad Things’

For one week in 2006, Jace Everett’s “Bad Things” was downloaded for free by about 210,000 iTunes users – and one of them just happened to be Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. Country radio ignored the single but Ball ultimately resurrected the spooky-but-sexy song to play under the opening credits of his HBO vampire drama, True Blood.

“He just fell in love with it,” Everett says. “You know, it’s campy. He’s smart enough to know that it’s kind of cool and bad-ass, but it’s also with a wink and a grin. And that’s the kind of show he wanted to make.”

Since True Blood premiered in September 2008, “Bad Things” has been streamed nearly 5 million times on Everett’s MySpace page. He describes it as “basically a rockabilly song with minor chords,” and when he’s asked how they captured that distinctive growl in the production, he confesses, “I don’t know how the hell we got it to sound the way we did, but I’m glad we did.”

With True Blood just starting to air in Europe, Everett is eager to set up an overseas tour. He’s already traveled there twice on behalf of the Country Music Association to introduce international audiences to contemporary country music. (Everett’s writing credits include Josh Turner’s No. 1 hit, “Your Man.”) In the meantime, he’s wrapping an album with producers Chuck Prophet and Brad Jones for an independent Nashville label, Weston Boys Entertainment, with the goal of securing more music placement in Hollywood.

“It wasn’t a publisher, it wasn’t a record company,” Everett elaborates. “It was really an organic thing which should be encouraging to people out there like me, who are struggling to make ends meet in this business. Sometimes if you just put something out there, good things can happen.”

Craig Shelburne

http://www.bmi.com/images/musicworld/e/everett_j_500.jpg


Hottest Vampire Couples

From OK! Magazine- great videos on site

Blame it on Béla Lugosi, Bram Stoker, Anne Rice... the list of those who have brought sex appeal to the undead has captivated readers and movie audiences for centuries — especially when it comes to the undeniable attraction between the bloodthirsty vamp and his mortal victim!

OK! decided to put together some of our favorite vampire couples through the years. Call it our "sexiest couples" list with a biting twist!

#1:
Who can deny the sexual heat between True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer)? The brooding centuries-old Bill falls for the naive and virginal waitress, Sookie, and to say that sparks fly — well, take a look for yourself!

#2 :
The next hot vampire couple is a blast from the past. David Boreanaz made the undead cool--even something to be desired as the hunky and tortured vampire Angel on t.v.'s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) herself couldn't help falling in love with this bloodsucker with a debonair flair, spiking the show's ratings and even landing David with his own Vampy spinoff, Angel.

More here

True Blood - Episode 2.05 - Never Let Me Go - Casting Call

True Blood - Episode 2.05 - Never Let Me Go - Casting Call

Here are some more roles for Episode 2.05

[GABE] 30s to 40s, fit, military, big and built, he's a member of the Light Of Day Institute, and is a drill instructor at a Boot Camp for vampire hunters. A man with leather lungs and a Marine's ferocious, remorseless demeanor...RECURRING (10)

[STAN] In his 40s, metro sexual. Godric's lieutenant in Texas, he's a vampire dressed in expensive Western wear. A volatile troublemaker...RECURRING (31)

[ISABEL] In her 30s, an elegant Hispanic vampire, Isabel is Godric's other lieutenant...RECURRING (31)

Source: SpoilerTV

2009 Agatha Award Nominees announced today









* Note: A story from 'Wolfsbane and Mistletoe' has been nominated for best short story.
The nominees for the 2009 Agatha Awards (for traditional mysteries published in 2008) have been announced by Malice Domestic. Winners will be chosen by attendees at the Malice Domestic 21 convention (May 1-3), and will be announced Saturday, May 2.

Our Congratulations to the Nominees!

Best Novel

Donna Andrews, Six Geese A-Slaying (Minotaur Books)

Rhys Bowen , A Royal Pain (Penguin Group)

Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month (Minotaur Books)

Anne Perry, Buckingham Palace Gardens (Random House)

Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel

Sarah Atwell, Through a Glass, Deadly (Berkley Trade)

Krista Davis, The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (Penguin Group)

Rosemary Harris, Pushing Up Daisies (Minotaur Books)

G.M. Malliet, Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)

Joanna Campbell Slan, Paper, Scissors, Death (Midnight Ink)

Best Non-fiction

African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study, Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Co.)

How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries, Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)

Anthony Boucher, A Bibliography, Jeff Marks (McFarland & Co.)

Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories, Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Metro Books)

The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher, Kate Summerscale (Walker)

Best Short Story

Dana Cameron, “The Night Things Changed” (Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner; Ace)

Jane Cleland, “Killing Time” (Alfred Hitchock Mystery Magazine, Nov 2008)

Carla Coupe, “Dangerous Crossin” (Chesapeake Crimes 3, edited by Donna Andrews and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)

Toni L.P. Kelner, “Skull and Cross Examination” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Feb 2008)

Nancy Pickard, “A Nice Old Guy” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Aug 2008)

Best Children’s/Young Adult

Peter Abrahams, Into the Dark (HarperCollins)

Sarah Masters Buckey, A Thief in the Theater, (American Girl)

Chris Grabenstein, The Crossroads (Random House)

Nancy Means Wright, The Great Circus Train Robbery (Hilliard and Harris)

Great prices from Amazon to pre-order True Blood DVDs and Dead and Gone today!!!

O.K. , get busy and pre-order today !

These are great prices from Amazon !
We are a little over 2 months out now from the release of Dead and Gone, Book 9 and the Season 1 of True Blood in DVDs and I know you wnat to make sure you get you copy.

The True Blood DVDs will ship May 19 and Dead and Gone on May 5th!
* you can also pre-order the True Blood video in Blu-ray

..... ......

Vamp bar names..


Here are some possible vampire bar names, do you have a good one ?

Remember, as Bill says about the name Fangtasia "You have to remember that most vampires are very old. Puns used to be the highest form of humor."

Bucket O'Blood

InternaLust

The Nip and Suck

Long In The Tooth

The Jugular Vein

Siphon

Ye ole Bloody Brewery

The Bat Cave

The Cozy Coffin

Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea IV : Eric and religion

"Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea " that's a very familiar exclamation to readers of the Sookie Stackhouse books and I decided to take a closer look at churches, religion, the Bible and prayer in the Sookie books.

*Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea Part I : Sookie and faith

*Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea Part II: The Bible

*Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea Part III: Prayer

We have a number of references in the books to Eric's religion.

Club Dead , Bk 3

All this while, I'd held the phone clamped to my ear, and when it squawked, I was actually startled. "We got him down in time," Betty Joe said brightly. "The call came in time," I told Eric. He closed his eyes and seemed to be offering up a prayer. I wondered to whom Eric prayed. I waited for further instructions.

Dead to the World, Bk4

"I was never a Christian," Eric said. Now, that didn't surprise me. "But I can't imagine a belief system that would tell you to sit still and get slaughtered."
I blinked, wondering if that wasn't exactly what Christianity taught. But I am no theologian or Bible scholar, and I would have to leave the judgment on my action to God, who was also no theologian.
Somehow I felt better, and I was in fact grateful to be alive.

All Together Dead , Bk 7
(Eric is ordained by the Church of the Loving Spirit)

"Church of the Loving Spirit," she told me, bagging three copies of the CD and handing them to a fangbanger sent by his master to pick them up. "He got his certificate from the online course, with Bobby Burnham's help. He ( Eric) can perform marriage services."

From the BBC: History

The Viking Age was a period of considerable religious change in Scandinavia. Part of the popular image of the Vikings is that they were all pagans, with a hatred of the Christian Church, but this view is very misleading. It is true that almost the entire population of Scandinavia was pagan at the beginning of the Viking Age, but the Vikings had many gods, and it was no problem for them to accept the Christian god alongside their own. Most scholars today believe that Viking attacks on Christian churches had nothing to do with religion, but more to do with the fact that monasteries were typically both wealthy and poorly defended, making them an easy target for plunder.

The Vikings came into contact with Christianity through their raids, and when they settled in lands with a Christian population, they adopted Christianity quite quickly.

Carrie Preston Dishes About 'True Blood,'

Starpulse: 'True Blood' is a little more graphic than I thought it was going to be.

Carrie Preston: Uh, yes, soft porn. It's good though, that's part of why people like it. It's surprising that way.Carrie Preston

What can you tell me about your character Arlene in the new season?

Arlene is one of those people who is not very good without a man. She's definitely on the lookout.

Is something going on with her & Terry (played by Todd Lowe)?

Um, let's just say Terry is definitely interested.

What are some of the things you'd like to happen with Arlene in the new season?

Well, I'd like to see her find love, of course.

More functional, not dysfunctional love.

Exactly, a functional love. I'd like to see Arlene get more involved in the supernatural side of things. I don't know if that's either against the vampires or maybe she joins them or maybe she accepts the vampires. That would be fun to see her mixed up in that. There's going to be a lot more supernatural stuff going on this season from what we've been told. There are more creatures that we're going to get to know

What's it like playing a redhead? Do you dye your hair or wear a wig?

I wear a wig. Obviously because of the books we had to stick with it...everytime they talk about it they talk about her red hair. They presented to me the option of dying my hair, but then I would have had to have extensions because we wanted the hair to be long. I did anyway. I didn't want to do that to my own hair, and I like being a blonde. And they found this fantastic wig with real hair, and we were lucky it just fit well and so that's the one we stuck with. They didn't even build me a new one because this one fit so well. I liked it, and it was working. They gave it a little haircut this season, so she's sporting a little cuter style.

Well you look completely different than Arlene does.

I definitely do, and no one knows that I'm on the show. Yesterday I went to the set because we had a read through of the next script, and still to this day even though we are up to the 16th episode we're getting ready to shoot including the first season, and still people don't know who I am. People I work with! It still takes them a few beats, they'll look at me, 'Hello, what's your name?' I'm like, 'It's Carrie, guys,' and 'Oh, I forgot, I forgot you're blonde' it's very funny.

Lafayette, is he really dead?

Well, I don't know if I can really tell you that. But I know he was a beloved character from the first season.

What about MaryAnn? She's very mysterious. Can you tell us anything about her?

We're going to learn a lot more about her coming in the next season. She's definitely a lot more than what she seems.

You and your husband (Lost star Michael Emerson) both star in supernatural-themed shows.

I know, isn't that interesting.

Do you believe in ghosts or ESP or a sixth sense or any of that kind of pheonomenon?

I do, and I also love those kinds of shows. My all-time favorite show was X-Files. I love any kind of show that has an other worldliness or its elevated or deals with the unseen. I just like to be transported to a different place. Sure, I think that there are spirits among us. I believe in maybe people doing things from the beyond. I definitely have a belief in the other worldliness of life.

Is there any chance your husband could make a cameo on "True Blood" - he would make a great vampire.

Wouldn't he? I know. Alan Ball is a huge fan of Michael's, and he told me as much. I met Alan Ball when I was in his movie "Towelhead." One day we were just standing on the set and I said something about my husband on "Lost" and he said, 'Your husband's on 'Lost?' I'm a huge fan of 'Lost!' At the time (Michael) played the character Henry Gale, and I said 'He plays Henry Gale' and he screamed, 'Your husband is Henry Gale!' He was so excited. So when we started the season of 'True Blood' somewhere along the way Michael came to the set, and (Ball) said 'We have to find something for you on 'True Blood'' so who knows!

I did a cameo on Michael's show. I played Michael's mother when the did the flashback.

Read on HERE

New York Fashion Week Trend Alert: Bloodsuckers


Now we are talking ! These are beautiful and very cool....

I'm forever intrigued by bloodsuckers, but the sexiest monster has once again been popularized with the successes of Twilight and True Blood. I'm actually surprised I didn't see more gothic romance on the Fall runways; then again, we still have London, Milan, and Paris to go. A handful of New York designers delivered sultry, moody looks complete with sharp black outwear, ruffled blouses, lace aplenty, blood-colored tights and tulle, and neck-baring sexiness. Jill Stuart showed a youthful, slightly '80s version that would have garnered any Lost Boy's attention.

from Fabsugar more here
http://www.fabsugar.com/2859692

True Blood goes to the Movies: Ryan Kwanten stars in Don't Fade Away

I believe it's still in post production and there will be a release date soon.

Life was easy for Jackson White. With looks, brains, and athletic ability,the world's possibilities seemed limitless. But, when he came to New York City to pursue a career in the music industry, he was so seduced by money and status that he lost track of who he was. Now, with both his personal and professional lives on the edge of ruin, he's been called home to care for his dying father. While in North Carolina, he'll have to confront the friends he lost track of and the girl he never met.


Mischa Barton ... Kat

Ryan Kwanten ... Jackson White

Beau Bridges ... Chris White

Ja Rule ... Foster



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0899145/

True Blood Music Video of the Day : Good Enough



Good Enough by Evanescence [LYRICS]

thanks NocturnaRaven


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

HBO: television will never be the same again

Critics, audiences and Barack Obama all agree that some of the most intelligent and trail-blazing entertainment in recent memory has come from one source: the US cable television channel HBO. But is there more to their magic formula than sex, violence and shopping? Sam Delaney finds out.

The executives at HBO took a year to make up their minds about David Chase's new drama. The pilot episode had been subtle, complex and dark. Were audiences really ready for a show about a mob boss in the throes of a midlife crisis? Then there was the name. The Sopranos? It sounded like a show about opera singers. They suggested some more explicit titles: Family Man, The Tony Files, Made In New Jersey. But Chase wouldn't budge. Eventually, against some of their better instincts, they gave the series the go-ahead.

When the first set of scripts came through, their worst fears seemed fulfilled. In one of the early episodes, protagonist Tony Soprano was described as taking his teenage daughter on a college road trip, during the course of which he beats then fatally strangles a former colleague turned FBI informant. The executives were aghast. 'We called David in and said, ''We can't have the hero commit a brutal murder this early in the series! Are you nuts?" ' says HBO co-president Richard Plepler. 'He said, ''That's what it is. That's the show I'm making.'' We thought about that for a while and said, ''OK, you're right. That is the show you're making. And it's a great show.'"

Read on Telegraph UK

HERE

Totally “In” In ‘09: Literal Vampires

* Dallas just slowly shakes her head*

OUT WITH 2008: People pretending to be vampires in True Blood & Twilight, pseudo-goth clothing associated with vampire subculture.

IN WITH 2009: Actual, literal vampires. As evidenced by these people from London’s Fashion Week:

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2009/02/25/totally-in-in-09-literal-vampires/

I saw another vampire inspired fashion article last week. HERE

I'll just let you guys be your own judge on this ...

Sookie Stackhouse book's dedications, acknowledgments and prologues for Book 5 Dead as a Doornail

Book 5 Dead as a Doornail

Dedication

This book is dedicated to a wonderful woman I don’t get to see often enough. Janet Hutchings (then an editor at Walker, now editor of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine ) was brave enough to take me on many years ago after I’d taken a long sabbatical from writing. God bless her.

Acknowledgments

I didn’t thank Patrick Schulz for loaning me his Benelli for the last book—sorry, Son. My friend Toni L. P. Kelner, who pointed out some problems in the first half of the book, is due a big hats-off. My friend Paula Woldan gave me moral support and some information on pirates, and was willing to endure me on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Her daughter Jennifer saved my life by helping me prepare the manuscript. Shay, a Faithful Reader, had the great idea for the calendar. And in thanking the Woldan family, I have to include Jay, a volunteer firefighter for many years, who shared his knowledge and expertise with me.

Must Love Hellhounds: a new anthology from Charlaine Harris

You can pre-order Must Love Hellhounds now on Amazon.
This title will be released on September 1, 2009.

Charlaine has said this one will contain a science fiction novella based on the Britlingens.

"I've already written a novella that's a sort of spinoff from the Sookie series, about the two female bodyguards that appear in All Together Dead . It'll appear in a three-in-one book called Must Love Hellhounds"

I posted more about this book here : http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/2009/02/charlaine-harris-is-writing-sookieverse.html

Fashion faux pas in Sookieville : Graceland t-shirt




Who wears this t-shirt, in what book and what is the scene ?

You have to email me with your guess..

Email: True Blood in Dallas

True Blood Season 2 Possible Title Song: Ep. 5 " Never Let Me Go"

This is exciting ! We now (might)know the titles of the first 5 episodes of True Blood for Season 2.
Now the one thing we know about True Blood is that the episode names come from the a song used in and that it is somehow significant to that episode.

Episode 2.01 - Nothing but the Blood
Episode 2.02 - Keep this Party Going
Episode 2.03 - Changed to Scratches from Scratch My Back
Episode 2.04 - Changed to Shake and Fingerpop from Let's Take a Trip Together

All we know about Season 2 spoilers, casting calls etc. can be found here
We know the amazing Gary Calamar puts great effort into musically curating True Blood !

Episode 2.05 - Never Let Me Go

Now, this is only my guess, I just research the various songs with the leaked title and come up with a song I think it might be.

The obvious choice here for the Episode 5 title song is probably the very famous Curtis Mayfield love song "Never Let Me Go" and I'll also include a video of it below too. I was digging around and I found another interesting song and it's from a crunk band and I thought it would be great to talk about crunk.

So another possibility for " Never Let Me Go " could be from the Family Force Five. Family Force 5 (often abbreviated FF5, formerly known as The Phamily and The Brothers) is a crunk rock band from Atlanta, Georgia.

The three leading members of the band are sons of Jerome Olds, a Christian artist from the late 1980s. Prior to the formation of Family Force 5, the brothers were also members of a "boy band" known as The Brothers.

I'm always looking for interesting southern connections for True Blood music and FFF is described as a crunk band. Crunk is a style of music which originated from southern hip hop and electronic dance music in the early 1990's.
Webster's Dictionary defines "crunk" as a "word of fluctuating meaning used during the 1990s in lyrics of the rap groups OutKast and Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, a style of Southern rap music featuring repetitive chants and rapid dance rhythms."




OK, OK the song is probably really the lovely song below but this was fun...

男女主角假 : I think that means, Breaking news, Anna and Stephen are dating in Chinese!

Sookie and Bill a couple in real life ...huge news in Beijing, China. Hey, did anyone in the media have time to listen to Obama last night ??


HBO劇集《真愛如血》(True Blood)的男女主角安娜-帕昆(Anna Paquin)與斯蒂芬-莫耶(Stephen Moyer)假戲真做,在片場外也談起了戀愛“我們在一起了。”斯蒂芬-莫耶向《電視指南》雜志証實。在《真愛如血》中,斯蒂芬-莫耶扮演一名173歲的吸血鬼Bill Compton ,與能夠接受自己身份的Sookie(安娜-帕昆飾演)發展了一段羅曼史。斯蒂芬-莫耶坦言兩人在第一次為《真愛如血》試鏡時就彼此吸引,但兩人當時都決 定暫時不公開戀情 斯蒂芬-莫耶與前妻有兩個孩子,現在的他頻頻往返于自己在倫敦的家以及安娜-帕昆在洛杉磯的家










They kept things under wraps ...really ?

We had no idea......

They have been dating for about two years, if he fell for her at the audition. He was one of (maybe the last ) major character cast for True Blood and the writer's strike delayed the shooting that season so that means they would have met in March 2007.

Sam and Sookie kissing, humph !
Wait until Bill gets a whiff of Sookie and Eric's smoldering attraction, which we will get some of this season...

I guess Anna will just have to tell Stephen to stay off the set that day ...

Ryan Kwanten talks True Blood : A new-fangled take on blood suckers


VAMPIRES may not like the sun, but they certainly have no aversion to the limelight. The cultural phenomenon that stretches back to Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula has resurfaced in umpteen guises since. Lately, teens who like their vamps glitter-skinned and their heroines breathless have turned to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels and film. Those looking for something meatier, however, can sink their teeth into Alan Ball's new series, True Blood.

Yes, it has a vampire romance but this is no Mills & Boon with fangs: the violence is brutal, the sex sweaty, the dialogue salty and the humour dry. As with Twilight, it has its origins in a series of novels. Ball (Six Feet Under) stumbled across one of Charlaine Harris' books and became hooked on the sultry supernatural world set in the Louisiana bayous.

The first book focuses on telepath Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin, who won a Golden Globe for her performance), her romance with a vampire, Bill Compton, and a serial-killer mystery. But after the first two episodes, Ball began developing new storylines for other members of the ensemble.

"I think Alan's very clever like that," says Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill. "He knows that it can't just be (a romance). I think that it ultimately is a love story, but it doesn't mean it can't be 20 other things as well. When I read the script, I couldn't believe how much he'd packed into it."

One beneficiary of Ball's approach is Australian actor Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie's brother, Jason. Once a Home & Away regular, Kwanten now lives in Los Angeles and was sought out by Ball.

"He'd seen a film of mine and saw characteristics of Jason Stackhouse in the character I was playing," Kwanten says. "Next thing you know, I was hired."

Ball expanded the character of Jason, giving him his own storyline and an hilarious episode involving a severe case of priapism. Kwanten, 32, has the task of making the self-centred, womanising Jason not seem like a lost cause.

"I threw away the textbook on everything I thought I knew about acting and just flew by the seat of my pants, because that's exactly how this guy operates," he says. "It's really liberating to play a character like that, because a lot of characters tend to be very brooding."

The brooding territory in True Blood is pretty much covered by Civil War vampire Bill, whom Moyer describes as "completely angst-ridden … your classic tortured hero".

From the Age Australia

Read on