Saturday, January 31, 2009

Ask Dallas: What is that big star on the wall in Merlotte's ?

I love getting email and some of the most fun I've had has been trying to solve mysteries proposed by readers ...you might remember one of my favorites. Someone asked " Who is the Canine actor that plays Dean ( Sam's alter ego ) ?'

If you missed it the answer is HERE

OD has been on me to solve another question -it's the big star on the wall at one end of Merlotte's bar - you can see it behind Bill in the big "Bill walks back into the bar scene" but we could never make it out...

It is of course, a John Deere sign now the big stamped metal star makes me think it may have once been from a Texas John Deere Tractor dealership but you can see it clearly in this shot ...

Email: True Blood in Dallas

True Blood Behind the Scenes : Food Stylist

Very amazing post from starfoodstylist about all the work that goes into creating the food being served and the kitchen scenes in True Blood, Bonus Cajun recipe!

True Blood" Makes a Splash

So did you watch the premiere of True Blood on HBO created by Allan Ball on Sunday night? Wasn’t it wonderful?! It was everything from fabulous and clever to creepy and bizarre. And I loved every minute of it! If you didn’t get a chance to watch the series premiere, it follows Sookie Sackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, who is a telepathic waitress in post-Katrina Louisiana. Meanwhile, a Japanese company has created and marketed synthetic blood that now allows vampires to come out from the shadows and mix and mingle with regular folk. Everything is hunky-dory in Sookie’s life until a vampire walks into her restaurant and she begins to delve into his world.

So where do I come in? Well, I do all of the food in Sookie’s diner and at Sookie’s home of course! If you watch the premiere, you can see several great “hero” shots of the food as waitresses walk by carrying some down home cooking. In the first episode we mainly prepared diner food like burgers and fries an

d we also dressed the kitchen with a lot of food so it looked beautiful. But, just wait for some of the episodes to come! I’ve designed and created some elegant buffets fit for royalty as well as a huge outdoor BBQ scene. YUM!
Here are a couple of great pictures on the set at Melotte’s Diner:
And there’s even a little kitchen-area at the studio where we can set up all of our stuff:
And here is a glimpse at the kitchen set of Merlotte's:
Here’s a super simple and great Cajun-style recipe that I like to make at home when I want to mix things up a bit:

Crabmeat Au Gratin:

½ yellow onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, peeled and chopped
8 tbsp. butter
½ cup flour
1 can evaporated milk (13 oz)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp red pepper
1 lb. crabmeat
½ pound cheddar cheese, finely grated
salt, pepper

1) In a large sauté pan, melt butter and then add onions and celery. Sauté until wilted.
2) Add flower and slowly pour in condensed milk, continually stirring. Add yolks, salt, and pepper and stir continually and let cook for about five minutes until the flour is cooked.
3) Add the crabmeat to the mixture and then pour into a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
4) Bake at 375ºF for 10-15 minutes until golden brown in color.

This scene shows the kitchen



http://starfoodstylist.blogspot.com/

The Making of an Urban Fantasy Cover: Part I

How cool is this? .... how do they create book covers like this ? Man, talk about behind the scenes...

The Art Department of a book publisher is a mysterious thing to a lot of people. Sure, you know what we do, we’re the ones who make the pretty bookcovers. But friends and family are always kind of mystified about the process of designing a cover. How do we find art? Who decides what the cover is going to look like? How can you possibly have memorized 5,000 fonts and yet still bemoan that you just can’t find the right one? (This is not unlike a teenager looking into a full fridge and complaining that there’s nothing to eat). So I thought I’d take you, loyal readers, through the process of a cover, start to finish.

http://www.orbitbooks.net/2009/01/28/the-making-of-an-urban-fantasy-cover-part-i/#more-1286

Tweet , Tweet , Tweet we are all a twitter !


I'm seeing lots more folks twittering about True Blood and about the Sookie books !

The 'character bloggers' or folks that twitter as a True Blood character can be also be found on twitter. There is the amazing @SookieBonTemps and we interviewed her ( wait, we 'twinterviewed')'here on our radio show last week and here is a great article about character blogging.

Some of Sookies other friends are :
@merlottesbar @ericnorthman @claudine_claude @ameliabroadway @alcideherveaux @jessicahamby @quinnthetiger @vampirebill

and of course you can find us here
@trueblooddallas

If you twitter about True Blood post you twitter name in the comments.

Vanity Plates seen in Bon Temp











Jessica - WNT2KIL
Pam - VAULT
Sam - NEKKID
Mary Ann - WILGETU
Colonel Flood PAKMSTR
Claudine FARYDST



Who has been here ?

Things we know about Anubis Airlines


They fly to DFW from Shreveport

They fly to Jackson, MS from Shreveport

They fly to Rhodes from Shreveport ( 3 hour flight )

The planes have a black Jackal's head design on tail.

Employees wear black and silver jumpsuits with jackal heads on left breast

Sookie doesn't fly Anubis to Dallas , she flies a commercial plane.

They have been infiltrated by FotS, at least at DFW airport.

Someone started a fire under one of the planes and infiltrated Anubis security and stole Bill's coffin from the airport in Jackson (working for Lorena ?)

You can charter a special flight as Eric does.

Delta and Northwest have very lax security for vampire passengers and have allowed fanatics access to vampire coffins which has resulted in some being hacked open with axes.

Sookie does fly on Anubis Air to Rhodes.

They have flight attendants and the do provide snacks and drinks during flights.

The front section of the plane seats 15 (humans, those in human form or others ...) it has 3 rows of seats, 3 on the right 2 on the left.

In the rear it has coffin bays along the windows and the plane can hold at least 7 coffins

Anubis airline also provide secure transportation to and from the airport as well as delivery to vamp hotels which is guaranteed within 3 hours or you are given a free flight.

I will be posting more the next few days ....

True Blood Crossword: Season 1 Episode 2 ' The First Taste'

LTB in Dallas Crossword Ep 2




Answer key is here

Anubis really did come to DFW airport ...

OK , sorry - I was teasing you guys a little bit ... ( except Keyse) with the plane image and the clue that it was a tease was that THERE IS NO Dallas International Airport. You guys all know it's DFW or Dallas/ Ft. Worth airport!

I may have been kidding you about that Anubis ( Egyptian God of the Dead, and guide to the afterlife) coming to the airport but one really has come ...

They have erected a huge 26 foot Anubis statue at the airport, it is part of the exhibit, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."at the Dallas Museum of art.

I just thought it was so strange that there was really an Anubis at DFW ! (I think it's now moved to the next city but you can read some more here or watch a video ) Read here

Weird video of Santa Claus and elves with Anubis from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram....remember, this is Texas !

True Blood Music Video of the Day



Sex Bomb ( I remember Tom Jones singing this song but who is singing this version ?)