Thursday, July 8, 2010

'True Blood' breaks the Emmy vampire curse - LA Times

One of the biggest shocks among Emmy nominations was the breakthrough bid by "True Blood" for best drama series.

TV academy members — like all Hollywood award voters — usually refuse to be seduced by vampires. Back in the 1990s, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was acclaimed by critics and millions of fans, but it never reaped an Emmy nomination in a lead category. Year after year, there was deafening media outrage over its failure to make the Emmy list, but the snubs continued like stakes through the heart. Finally, after the show went off the air in 2003, the TV academy aimed to make things up to its cast and crew by staging a tribute event at its headquarters in North Hollywood, but Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, didn't show up.

At last year's Emmys, some pundits dared to hope that the newest hit vampire series, "True Blood," might break through based on the usual Emmy muscle of HBO plus the Oscar pedigree of its star (Anna Paquin won best supporting actress for "The Piano" in 1993), but it only earned a few minor nominations in crafts categories.

This year, it scored four nominations in the crafts categories in addition to its bid for best drama series: art direction, casting, makeup and editing. However, Paquin wasn't nominated for best drama actress. That's odd. It's not as if voters have anything against her. She was nominated for the miniseries "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" in 2007. And it's not as if her role on "True Blood" hasn't been acknowledged in the past as being award worthy. She won best drama actress in 2009 at the Golden Globes and was nominated again this year.

True Blood Emmy Nominations Announced !

* Outstanding Drama Series
* Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series: “Never Let Me Go”, “I Will Rise Up”, “Frenzy” - Suzuki Ingerslev, Production Designer; Cat Smith, Art Director; Laura Richarz, Set Decorator
* Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series: Junie Lowry Johnson, CSA, Casting Director; Libby Goldstein, Casting Director
* Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special: “Scratches” - Brigette Ellis, Department Head Makeup Artist; Ned Neidhardt, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Bernhard Eichholz, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Anthony Barlow, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Sam Polin, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Danielle Noe, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Todd Masters, Prosthetic Designer, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Dan Rebert, Prosthetic Designer
* Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series: “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” – John Benson, Supervising Sound Editor; Jason Krane, Dialogue/ADR Editor; Stuart Martin, Sound Effects Editor; Brian Thomas Nist, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor; Bruno Coon, Music Editor; Zane Bruce, Foley Artist; Jeff Gunn, Foley Artist

Full List here
62ndemmys_noms

Get ready for Eyecon 2010 by listening to Alan " Godric" interview from last years event



see also Ashley and Todd interviews here

True Blood: Season 3 - Truebies & Newbies: Jason & Crystal

True Blood: Season 3 - Mythological Creatures: Shape-Shifters

Sink teeth into vampire lit

Bearing little resemblance to Bram Stoker’s classic portrayal of the undead, the vampires of the “Twilight” series have infiltrated pop culture, stealing young girls’ hearts rather than inciting fear while they sparkle in the sunlight where their predecessors would have perished.
Sporting a “Team Dracula” T-shirt in playful protest of the “Team Edward” vs. “Team Jacob” debate between “Twilight” fans, LuAnn Salz, along with fellow Princeton Public Library staff member Lark Fisher, outlined the evolution of vampires in literature during a special program Tuesday related to the library’s summer reading program “Scare Up a Good Book.”
Vampire lore reaches further through history than Stoker’s “Dracula” in 1897, all the way back to the 1400s and Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia in present-day Romania, Salz said. Called Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Tepes Dracula — Dracula meant “son of the dragon,” in reference to Satan — was known for his extreme methods of torture, including impaling, roasting, burning, skinning, feeding people the flesh of their friends and relatives and cutting off limbs.
“Of course, legend has it he drank their blood. Legend has it he ate their flesh. If he did all those other things, he very likely might have done that as well,” Salz said.

read on

'Vampire' novelist, Charlaine Harris, is returning to her roots

In her best-selling series of novels, the "The Southern Vampire Mysteries," author Charlaine Harris has created a rich fantasy world where humans freely interact with not just vampires, but also with all manner of mythical creatures, including werewolves, shape shifters, witches, goblins and fairies. The books -- also known as the Sookie Stackhouse series, for its main character, a telepathic waitress -- are set in a very gothic version of northern Louisiana, but their roots are right here in the Mid-South, where the writer, 58, was born and raised.
CharlaineHarris

CharlaineHarris

Harris, whose books are the source material for the popular HBO television series "True Blood," which just started its third season, returns to this area for appearances Sunday and Monday at the Tunica Museum and Hernando Public Library. She will be reading from her new book "Dead In the Family," the 10th entry in the Stackhouse series.

"We're very excited to have her here," says Hernando head librarian Heather Lawson, who is expecting a large crowd. "It's always special when you have a local author, and when one is as popular as (Harris) is now, it just makes it more so. Getting a show on HBO can sure turn your life around."

For Harris, who lives in southwest Arkansas, just across the state line from where her vampire books are set, the return home is really about family, in particular, visiting her mother who helped start her on the road to being a writer.

read on

see Charlaine
Appearances

Charlaine Harris reads and signs copies of "Dead In the Family" at the Tunica Museum, 2-5 p.m. Sunday, 4063 U.S. 61, Tunica. Free. Copies of the book will be for sale in the museum gift shop.

Harris reads and signs copies of "Dead In the Family" at the Hernando Public Library, 7-8 p.m. Monday, First Regional Library, 370 West Commerce St., in Hernando. Free. Copies of the book will be for sale on premises from Square Books.

True Blood Music Video of the Day: It's Gonna Be Me



It's Gonna Be Me
EricTheSheriff