Thursday, October 1, 2009

Calling the shots on Generation Kill

TV director Susanna White has swapped corsets for camouflage to helm Wire creator David Simon's Iraq war drama. Next stop: Hollywood

In some respects, Susanna White's experience at the 2009 Emmy awards was very similar to that of every other nominee. There was the time spent on hair and makeup, the mile-long tailback of limousines approaching the Nokia Theatre in LA, and the pleasant evening mingling with celebrities. However, she was the only woman present to have her own military escort.

White was nominated in the outstanding directing for a miniseries category for the David Simon-scripted Iraq war drama Generation Kill. As it turned out she didn't win. But if she was sanguine about her defeat, the marines who had worked closely as advisers on the show, and who accompanied her to the ceremony, were a little more reluctant to lose out to a Dickens adaptation. "The marines offered to go and take out the cast of Little Dorrit. But we restrained them . . ."

Such a pledge of loyalty, even a lighthearted one, is testament to how far White won the trust and admiration of all the personnel – marines and actors alike – who worked on Generation Kill. Essentially the story of the month Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright spent embedded with First Recon Marine at "the tip of the spear" of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it is densely populated with vivid characters and technical vocabulary, all spread across eight hours. White had done extended storytelling before, most notably on adaptations of Bleak House and Jane Eyre. More challenging was rigging and filming explosions, and directing a large male cast, all pumped up from a weeklong "boot camp" training session, for a shoot that would last eight months in Namibia, South Africa, and Mozambique.

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True Blood Panel @ MCM Expo in London Oct 24-26th

True Blood Panel @ MCM Expo


Nelsan Ellis confirmed for True Blood panel at MCM Expo. Nelsan plays Lafayette Reynolds in HBO's smash hit True Blood starring along side Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer.

Nelsan has also appeared in Without a Trace, Veronica Mars and most recently with Jamie Fox and Robert Downey JR in Dreamworks The Soloist.

Appearing both days @ MCM Expo.\

http://www.londonexpo.com/

Forget about vampires: Zombies are the new undead

Vampires are everywhere these days, biting at you from the covers of glossy magazines and haunting your multiplex and channel-surfing dreams. Surely, it won't be long before there's a vampire on "The Bachelor" or cooped up in the "Big Brother" house.

Nothing against vamps, but I prefer my undead a little less beautiful and media savvy, and a lot more bloodthirsty. In a word: zombies.

Now, it's not like zombies have been ignored. "Zombieland," starring Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, opens Friday. "World War Z" and "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," both based on bestselling books, are coming in 2010 and 2011, respectively. And director George Romero has made a 40-year career out of sequels to his groundbreaking 1968 flick, "Night of the Living Dead." His latest: "Survival of the Dead."

But, of late, zombies have been taking a back seat to the fang-boys, and it's time to put things right. Here are five reasons why zombies rule:

1. My undead can beat up your undead

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A close encounter with Bill Compton




Our friend Heather was eating in New Orleans in July and just happened to be sitting next to a certain someone ....

Who she noticed was photographing his plate of seafood creole ...

Stephen Moyer Drops More True Blood: Season 3 Hints


I would suggest right now that folks that are reporting on True Blood READ THE NOVELS !

While talking with CNN's The Marquee Blog, actor Stephen Moyer dropped some hints about the status of Bill and Sookie's relationship in next year's third season of True Blood.

"I love working with Anna–I don’t think we will be working together this season only because it’s very hard to make Bill and Sookie the couple just be Bill and Sookie the couple."

"Nobody wants to watch that forever–every single drama you’ve ever watched has that thing where now you’ve watched and now let’s put him over there and see how he works with her and how she works with him…so we’ll see!"


Personally, we haven't read the original Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, but we do know that the couple take a break in them, so this shouldn't be unexpected to fans of the series.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=12084

True Blood Recipe: Sookie's Christmas favorite - Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

Sookie eats this for breakfast in the short story 'Gift Wrap'

Ingredients:

¾ cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (1 ¼ pounds unpeeled bananas, about 4 medium)
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

BEAT butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

COMBINE flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8- x 4-inch loafpans.

BAKE at 350° for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan, shielding with aluminum foil last 15 minutes to prevent browning, if necessary. Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Topping
CINNAMON CRiSP-TOPPED CREAM CHEESE-BANANA-NUT BREAD: Prepare bread batter as directed, and spoon into desired pans. Stir together ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar; ½ cup chopped, toasted pecans; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon melted butter; and 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Bake and cool as directed.

MAKES 2 LOAVES
PREP: 15 MIN., BAKE: 1 HR., COOL: 40 MIN.

Invite Sookie Over for Halloween: Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris (Review & Give-Away)

Nice overview of the Sookie series from Mom Buzz and you can enter to win Sookie books. If you are trying to get someone to read the series send them this blog link

My sister and I have the same taste in books. But when she told me I had to read a series of books about a telepathic waitress who solves mysteries that envelop her in a world of vampires and other supernatural beings, I had to start wondering about her. But, since she is older and wiser - (right?)- I decided to take her word for it, visit the local bookstore, and picked up the first 3 books in the series, the Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris:

  • Dead Until Dark
  • Living Dead in Dallas
  • Club Dead
I finished those books, approximately 300 pages each, in three days. Without a doubt, I was hooked. And whenever someone my age (in my thirties here) starts talking about the Twilight series - you know the stories I am sure, with Edward, Jacob and Bella - I tell them they have to put down the kiddie books and pick up a novel for adults! Honestly, I much prefer following the story line of a 20-something year old telepathic waitress and her ties, whether they be romantic, friendships or simply tolerance, with the other characters in the book. Reading Twilight just makes my mind twist as Bella contemplates ending her human, high school life to be with a vampire boy. No-No-No!

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Fantastic Fest: Alexander Skarsgard and the Cloud of Estrogen

From Cinematical

When I went to see Metropia (and reviewed it) at Fantastic Fest on Saturday night, all I knew about Alexander Skarsgard was that he had a role in the film, and that he was the son of actor Stellan Skarsgard -- I hadn't seen him in anything. Metropia director Tarik Saleh had told me earlier in the day that Alexander Skarsgard was in Shreveport shooting Straw Dogs, but would drive down here for the screening, and I thought that was awfully nice of him. I hoped the screening would have a full house so the actor wouldn't feel like his efforts were wasted.

I don't watch the TV show True Blood, and had no idea that Skarsgard had such a following of female fans. The theater was packed, and many attendees were nicely dressed women. During the Q&A, more audience members than usual were snapping photos. Admittedly, Skarsgard is very easy on the eyes. But I was completely taken aback when, after the Q&A, a crowd of women mobbed the Alamo Drafthouse lobby to get photos taken with Skarsgard. As a friend of mine remarked, it was as though a cloud of estrogen had descended upon the film festival -- there are plenty of women at Fantastic Fest, but they aren't usually clamoring around a male movie star.

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Book Review: A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris


Robot and Vamps blog reviews 'Touch of Dead"

Touch of Dead I was so very excited when A Touch of Dead showed up on my doorstep! I have been looking forward to this book for quite some time now and it is always nice to get a Sookie fix between books. I don’t think I have made a secret of the fact that I love the Sookie Stackhouse series. It was one of the first series’ I read when I started reading avidly again.

A Touch of Dead consists of 5 short stories that Mrs. Harris has written over the years in different anthologies. It is nice to have them all in one place and to tell the truth I hadn’t read 3 of the 5 so it was mostly new to me.

Fairy Dust takes place early in the series just after Dead to the World and sheds some light on how Claudette was killed. Claudette is Claude and Claudine’s deceased sister. Sookie has had previous dealings with Claude and Claudine and they call upon her talent to help them find out who murdered their sister. Sort of a fairy “who done it”. Fairy Dust was originally published in Powers of Detection.

In the short story Dracula Night, Eric is all a fuss about having the perfect birthday party for the Prince of Darkness at Fangtasia. It is said that Vlad (Dracula) visits a different party every year on his birthday and Eric is just positive that it is his turn to host the Prince. Sookie is invited to the event and of course trouble ensues. Can poor Sookie go anywhere and not run into trouble? Dracula Night was published in Many Bloody Returns and occurs before Dead as a Doornail.

In One Word Answer we find out how Hadley (Sookie’s cousin) died. Sookie and Bubba (who is actually Elvis. Yes, the King.) are out raking leaves in the dark when a limo pulls up to Sookie’s house. Mr. Cataliades (supernatural attorney) has come to inform Sookie of Hadley’s death and also to inform her that she is the only heir to Hadley’s estate. But there is more to Hadley’s death than meets the eye and whether she wants to or not, Sookie will get to the bottom of it. The events in One Word

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True Blood Music Video of the Day: Battlefield by Jordin Sparks



Battlefield by Jordin Sparks LYRICS

Thanks, rgtmonmore