Friday, March 6, 2009

Armed to the teeth- True Blood review from the Sydney Herald


March 7, 2009

A daring, sexy import shows up the flaws in a home-grown drama, writes Ruth Ritchie.

Sexual tension … Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer star in True Blood.

THERE'S something reassuring about the black-and-white glow, the dissonant static hum of the HBO logo. It mostly heralds great things, or at least bold things. Sadly, that buzzing logo appears less on free-to-air television than it did in the early days of Sex And The City, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

So non-payers may wince at the mention of Alan Ball's (SFU) recent thrilling offering to the pigs who devour Showcase. True Blood is a witty, sexy, smartly written vampire show for people who really don't like vampire shows.

Set in Louisiana, in the modern parallel universe where Japanese synthetic blood has made it possible for vamps to "come out of the coffin", we are asked to see them as just another misunderstood, much-maligned minority. In this post-September 11, fear-fuelled society, True Blood's vampires are Muslims, homosexuals wanting to marry, or women running for president. They are a curiosity likely to divide a community.

This is yet another wonderful US production peopled by foreigners, including New Zealand's Anna Paquin (Golden Globe winner this year for her role here as Sookie Stackhouse), Britain's Stephen Moyer (hot as Bill Compton, with or without the fangs) and our very own Ryan Kwanten, a long way from Summer Bay, with a torso cut like GI Joe's.

There's plenty of sex and humour to break up the blood and, well, blood. Tiny details are perfection: we only glimpse in a wide shot a newspaper headline reading "Angelina Adopts Baby Vampire". Mostly we have the taut, believable sexual tension between telepathic Sookie and dead-since-the-Civil War Bill. Sookie finds Bill sexy, not just because he prowls like an alley cat but because he is the one person upon whose thoughts she cannot eavesdrop. I get that we all know what men are thinking all the time but to actively seek out the company of one who cannot be understood … well, that probably is fairly sexy.

I presumed this was teen fodder and then sat through four episodes in one session. True Blood is nearly as unpredictable as it is entertaining.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/armed-to-the-teeth/2009/03/06/1235842638130.html

Charlaine Harris's books: Pre -Order the next three today!

These are the next three Charlaine Harris ' book you can ore- order today!

Dead and Gone : Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse series Pre Order

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Ace Hardcover (May 5, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0441017150
  • ISBN-13: 978-0441017157
Strange Brew : Short story anthology Pre Order
  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (July 7, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312383363
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312383367
Charlaine on her blog, describedit as Pat Elrod's witch anthology. Short story collection about witches and witchcraft.STRANGE BREW, a witchly urban fantasy anthology with nine new stories by Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Karen Chance and others,

Must Love Hellhounds : SciFi novella Pre Order
  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley Trade (September 1, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0425229599
  • ISBN-13: 978-0425229590
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"

Sookie Stackhouse loves Car Talk and listens on Red River Radio, the local Public Radio Station

Yes, everyone got it right, it was Sookie who loves listening to Click and Clack on Car Talk radio.

What's also interesting to note is that she listens on Red River Radio which is REALLY the public radio station for the Bon Temps area. In Shreveport area, Sookie's radio is tuned to 89.9 FM.






From Book 6 -Definitely Dead

The birds were tweeting and chirping, the bugs were buzzing, and the pollen-heavy air was full of peace as if it were yet another plant emission. I was sitting on the front porch in my pink robe, sipping my coffee, listening to Car Talk on Red River Radio, and feeling really good, when a little Dodge Dart chugged up my driveway. I didn't recognize the car, but I did recognize the driver. All my peacefulness vanished in a puff of suspicion. Now that I knew about the proximity of a new Fellowship conclave, Tanya's inquisitive presence seemed even more suspicious. I was not happy to see her at my home.

Common courtesy forbade me from warning her off, with no more provocation than I'd had, but I wasn't giving her any welcoming smile when I lowered my feet to the porch and stood.
"Good morning, Sookie!" she called as she got out of her car.
"Tanya," I said, just to acknowledge the greeting.

Thanks TES , Rita, Naomi, Tracie.

The Red River Radio Network is a community-supported service of LSU-Shreveport and is the non-commercial source for NPR News, classical music, and more for East Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and parts of Mississippi
Support it HERE

New Charlaine Harris anthology Cover Art released - "Must Love Hellhounds" Anthology

Our friends at SciFiGuy.ca posted the cover art for Must love Hellhounds and gives us a shout out...

Cover Art - "Must Love Hellhounds" Anthology

Ilona Andrews posted on her blog this shiny new cover for Must Love Hellhounds featuring novellas by of course Ilona Andrews, Charlaine Harris , Nalini Singh and Meljean Brook. Due in the bookstores September 1, 2009.

At the Loving True Blood in Dallas blog they had this bit of news about the Charlaine Harris piece.

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"
Ilona Andrews had this to say abour her entry - "The novella Magic Mourns features Andrea and a big ass hell dog."

Meljean Brook had this on her story Blind Spot -
The job was simple: find her boss’s niece, bring her home safely, and hand out a whole lot of pain to whoever had abducted her. But Maggie hadn’t counted on her boss’s nephew, the hellhound who loved to make her life difficult, or her own past rearing its complicated and ugly head.
Nalini Singh's novella is titled Angels' Judgment.

http://www.scifiguy.ca/2009/03/cover-art-must-love-hellhounds.html

Blood Copy Episode 2: The Mysterious Yakonomo Corporation

We are revisiting the Blood Copy videos which were part of the HBO true Blood viral marketing campaign that helped introduce the True Blood television series in the summer of 2008. We will be doing a radio show on this topic soon.
Previously we have see the mysterious packages were being received, the gatekeeper awakened on a mysterious website, .... HERE

The blog and videos not only were a marketing ploy but they also served as a prologue to the series ...

Here is the blog entry for that time period HERE ( June 15 2008)

It's great to watch these videos but you also must read the blog entry for that day as well ...

Two more Sookie Book covers from the UK

What's new on the HBO True Blood wiki :Discussion: Dancers in the Dark - Charlaine Harris Sookieverse novella

We are having a great time in our discussion of this novella ..we have found that Sean seems to hold the key to some important Dead and Gone, Book 9 secrets ...

Dancers in the Dark - Charlaine Harris Sookieverse novella -...
True Blood Wiki, HBO, Alan Ball, New HBO Series - Dancers in the Dark - Charlaine Harris Sookieverse novella.
True Blood - What's New - http://truebloodwiki.hbo.com/whatsnew

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reunion on DVD

This just in from The Paley Center…

The Paley Center for Media announces the long-awaited DVD release of its 2008 PaleyFest Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion panel. The DVD captures the once-in-a-lifetime reunion event presented live on stage before a sold-out audience in Hollywood. [GMMR: I was there! Woo hoo!] A decade following the series premiere, creator Joss Whedon joins cast members Sarah Michelle Geller, Seth Green, Amber Benson, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, James Marsters, and Michelle Trachtenberg along with series writer/producers David Greenwalt and Marti Noxon for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at one of the most revered, iconic, and deconstructed television series of all time.

Priced at $19.95 each, the DVD is available now exclusively online at www.paleycenter.org and will also be available at the Cinerama Dome at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood for the duration of this year’s PaleyFest09 (April 10-23). This DVD features an introduction by show creator/executive producer Joss Whedon; behind-the-scenes anecdotes by Sarah Michelle Geller, Seth Green, James Marsters, and other participating cast members; fan questions to the participating panelists; and PaleyFest08 backstage photos and video. All proceeds from the sale of these DVDs benefit the Paley Center.

Even for someone who was as new to the world of BUFFY as I was at the time (I finished watching the series finale in a coffee shop across from the ArcLight while others waited in line to enter the BUFFY Reunion) knew that it was a special evening. Now you get to enjoy it too!

Ducky wrote up an account of the BUFFY Reunion Panel at Paley, so check it out here: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reunion Thoughts and Photos

Photos Courtesy of The Paley Center for Media

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Angels On The Moon by Thriving Ivory



Angels On The Moon by Thriving Ivory LYRICS
Thanks candece