Monday, July 18, 2011

Loving True Blood Blog and Talk Blood Radio show/ podcast raffle and fundraiser

Please buy a $20 raffle ticket (each ) and help us pay the costs of running the blog and producing the radio show this year. I have created a very sensible budget for this year and am raising the money through Talk Blood episode sponsorships and the raffle. It is the only way I can keep this all going, we ain't there yet so please help...

Your chances of receiving a prize are astoundingly good and we have wonderful items like:  autographed Sookie books by Charlaine Harris, True Blood collectors grab bags, an original signed Andy Swist ( Yes, as in the True Blood paper dolls ) wonderful portrait of Eric & Sookie, True Blood collectors poster ( one of a kind !) more books, and various other gift certificates and other goodies from some of our sponsors!

But best of all you know you helped keep your favorite True Blood Blog or radio show going for another year!

Thanks, Dallas

Also if you have a prize you'd like to donate email me truebloodindallas@gmail.com
Sponsor an episode $50 , you can promote your business etc on the show and on the blog. Email me for more info.

I have a few epsiodes open I'd love to help you promote your business.




“True Blood” Sucker Punch: Season 4, Ep. 4 by Mark Blankenship

Mark's great Sucker Punch is up - he even quotes are great discussion we had on Talk Blood about the Jason rape storyline ..last night was a really good show .. make sure you listen to the podcast !

Before we get started on this week’s installment, “I’m Alive and On Fire,” I have to revisit last week. In our discussion, some of you pointed out that HBO posted a featurette on the episode in which director David Petrarca and writer-series creator Alan Ball discuss the werepanthers’ plot to breed Jason against his will. “He kind of gets his comeuppance here,” says Petrarca. “The thing that he’s most been proud of becomes the thing that could most possibly endanger him.” Ball adds, “It’s kind of interesting to see the kind of guy who really gets his sense of worth from his sexual prowess to all of a sudden be kind of objectified and sort of used against his will.”

This really disturbs me. As “I’m Alive and On Fire” makes even clearer, the werepanthers aren’t just “objectifying” Jason. They’re raping him. They’ve kidnapped him and now they’re raping him. This week, Jason at least uses that word, but still, Ryan Kwanten delivers it with his slightly comic “pretty boy” inflection, so it almost becomes a laugh line.
Think how these scenes would play if a female character were tied to the bed as man after man came into to rape her. Would we be amused? If the woman slept around, would Petrarca and Ball call the repeated rapes her “comeuppance?” I appeared on a True Blood radio show last night, and the host pointed out that by saying Jason’s promiscuity justifies the rapes, Petrarca and Ball are close to saying a woman “has it coming” when she wears a short skirt. I’m startled Petrarca and Ball could be so tone-deaf.  There’s no justification for treating Jason’s ordeal like retribution or entertainment. It’s horrible, and it has resulted in the most stomach-churning arc in the history of the series.

read on 

What do you all think ? Listen below to show



Listen to internet radio with True Blood in Dallas on Blog Talk Radio

True Blood August Episodes

Episode #43:  “Cold Grey Light of Dawn”
Debut:  SUNDAY, AUG. 7 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates:  Aug. 7 (11:00 p.m.), 9 (11:30 p.m.), 10 (9:00 p.m.), 13 (10:00 p.m.) and 26 (8:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates:  Aug. 8 (9:00 p.m.), 11 (10:00 p.m.), 12 (midnight) and 14 (5:00 p.m.)
With Marnie (Fiona Shaw) empowered by spirits of the dead, Bill (Stephen Moyer) issues an unpopular order to save vampires from the light.  Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) embraces his amnesia; Luna (Janina Gavankar) discovers Sam (Sam Trammell) is not the man she thought he was; Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) expands his consciousness; Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) gets a body peel; Andy’s (Chris Bauer) date with Holly (Lauren Bowles) doesn’t go as planned; Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) has doubts about her future with Hoyt (Jim Parrack); Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and Debbie (Brit Morgan) join a new pack.
Written by Alexander Woo; directed by Michael Ruscio.

Episode #44:  “Spellbound?”
Debut:  SUNDAY, AUG. 14 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Other HBO playdates: Aug. 14 (11:00 p.m.), 16 (11:30 p.m.), 17 (9:00 p.m.), 20 (9:45 p.m.) and 26 (9:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates:  Aug. 15 (9:00 p.m.), 18 (10:00 p.m.), 19 (1:15 a.m.) and 21 (5:00 p.m.)
As Bill and Marnie brace for a dangerous midnight faceoff, Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Eric pledge their allegiance to the King.  Jason (Ryan Kwanten) is torn between friendship and passion, and Jessica is spurned from two homes; Lafayette becomes the pawn of a tormented spirit; Tommy (Marshall Allman) takes a walk in someone else’s shoes; Sam contends with yet another adversary in Marcus (Dan Buran), Luna’s ex and the leader of Alcide’s new pack.
Written by Alan Ball; directed by Daniel Minahan.

Episode #45:  “Run”
Debut:  SUNDAY, AUG. 21 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Other HBO playdates:  Aug. 21 (11:00 p.m.), 23 (11:30 p.m.), 24 (9:00 p.m.), 26 (10:00 p.m.) and 27 (2:00 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates:  Aug. 22 (9:00 p.m.), 25 (10:00 p.m.), 26 (1:15 a.m.), and 28 (4:30 p.m.)
Convalescing after her latest near-death trauma, Sookie envisions a world where there’s room for both Bill and Eric.  Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) tries to purge The Restless spirit out of Lafayette; Marcus enlists Alcide to help him deal with the Sam situation; Bill and Nan Flanagan (Jessica Tuck) clash over their agendas; Hoyt asks Jason to make a delivery to Jessica; despite Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Holly’s misgivings, Marnie plots her next move against the vampires, during a “Festival of Tolerance” event at Shreveport.
Written by Brian Buckner; directed by Romeo Tirone.

Episode #46:  “Burning Down the House
Debut:  SUNDAY, AUG. 28 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
HBO playdates:  Aug. 28 (11:00 p.m.), 30 (11:30 p.m.) and 31 (9:00 p.m.), and Sept. 3 (1:30 a.m.) and 7 (8:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate:  Aug. 29 (10:00 p.m.)
As all hell breaks loose in Shreveport, Sookie summons her most potent powers yet to save Bill, in the process breaking a spell and leading Marnie/Antonia to re-evaluate her mission.  Jason urges Jessica to glamour him for Hoyt’s sake; Terry (Todd Lowe) drags Andy to “Fort Bellefleur” for an intervention; Alcide reconsiders his allegiances after Marcus’ fight with Tommy; Jesus, accompanied by Sookie, Lafayette and Jason, tries to breach the Moongoddess Emporium’s defenses to liberate Tara and Holly, while Bill leads a brigade of vampires committed to blowing the place to kingdom come.
Written by Nancy Oliver; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
TRUE BLOOD was created by Alan Ball; based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris; executive producers, Alan Ball and Gregg Fienberg; co-executive producers, Brian Buckner, Mark Hudis, Raelle Tucker, Nancy Oliver and Alexander Woo; associate producer, Christina Jokanovich

'True Blood' Recap: Eric Samples Daylight, Jason Escapes Hot Shot and Bill is Conflicted

true blood season 4 recap episode 4 jessica eric northman bill pam vampiresWhile the title of this week's episode, "I'm Alive and On Fire," literally refers to the effects the sun has on Eric's skin after he gets drunk on fairy blood and tries to stay awake during the sunlight hours, it's also a metaphor for the many relationships beginning to burn up — or simmer down — among the supernaturals.
Vampires:
Immediately after apologizing for killing Sookie's fairy godmother, Eric passes out from drinking the fairy blood, then wakes up, drunk and hungry for Sookie's blood, giggling and pinching her "beautiful butt" en route back to their house. Let's just stop right here and give Alexander Skarsgard an Emmy nomination, OK? OK. His puppy-eyed amnesia vamp is a whole other level of appeal and acting that somehow makes us giggle like a schoolgirl more than his seductive airs normally do. And, let's face it, we'd all watch a straight hour of Amnesia Eric if that's how Alan Ball decided to craft the show.

read on Rolling Stone

'True Blood': Minor Characters Take Center Stage

Though the main characters were as entertaining and good-looking as ever on True Blood this week, some of the newer characters were up to especially strange antics. Rather than the laughably unhealthy relationships everyone else in the show was dealing with, these new characters were dealing with a different type of possessiveness altogether.

Marnie keeps getting more interesting—she seems to have been more or less a screw-up her whole life, spread across two worlds, and looking for some sort of destiny based on that inability to fit in one place in particular. Maybe if Sookie ever had time to get bored, instead of always being attacked by some creature or another, she'd fall into a similar identity crisis and start experimenting with the hard witchery the way Marnie is doing. In the past few episodes, Marnie came across as an immature and rebellious teenager (complete with self-cutting!) who'd never quite grown up, and I feared she would maintain this one-dimensional line of irritating obtuseness to her death. With some persuasion, however, she seems to regain common sense, starts poring through various texts to solve her little vampire death threat problem, and her frustrated up-close-and-personal call to the "spirits, for the THOUSANDTH TIME" is a pleasant reversal from her earlier obsequiousness towards the spirit world. It gives her some refreshing complexity.

read on

Tv Guide Ask Matt Season 4 goodies

Question: I just re-read your column on the return of True Blood a few weeks ago and I think you zeroed in on exactly what is most appealing about the show, most notably, the dynamic between Sookie and Eric and the introduction of witches into Bon Temps' supernatural milieu (which seems to be bubbling over like the cauldron I have to believe will be in an upcoming episode). The season is only three episodes in and I must say I'm already more enthralled by witches than I ever was with werewolves. From what I've heard from devotees of the book series, the amnesiac Eric storyline is one of the very best and from what I've seen so far, I can see why. Alexander Skarsgard's performance is hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, delivered in a surprisingly subtle and effective way. As with previous seasons, the interactions between the human world and the vampires is the true heart of the show for me and is far and away the most captivating aspect. Even Bill, who has long played the lovesick puppy, finally has a storyline that has drawn me in and injected him into the action in a more interesting way.



Bearing that in mind, over the course of last season, I began to realize that not only do I find the vampire/human interaction the most enthralling part of this delectable guilty pleasure, but more and more, this interest is to the exclusion of other storylines on the show. Whereas the first two seasons had a central storyline to tie all the characters together in a cohesive way (a season-long "big bad"), seasons three and four (so far) seem disjointed and sprawling. With so many characters engaged in so many disparate arcs, I find myself losing interest in the periphery. Characters that I once loved and who seemed pivotal to the show now seem inconsequential, and at times, boring. I keep assuming they'll be re-integrated into the meat of the show at some point, but it never seems to come. As I watched the last couple of episodes, I found myself desperate to watch the brewing battle between the witches and vampires, but was instead pulled away by Andy's addiction to V, Jason's were-panther problems, Sam's new shifter social circle, Tara in general, Tommy's induction into the Fortenberry clan, Arlene's demon baby, the reintroduction of werewolves and Jessica and Hoyt's relationship woes. While some of these storylines are working better than others, at the end of the day they all seem so distant from the rest of the action that I'm having a hard time really investing. 


I think the show could learn a few things from The Vampire Diaries. Rather than allowing the cast to swell and the storylines to spiral out of control in every direction, I think True Blood would be well-served by a willingness to kill off characters. It seems ridiculous to accuse True Blood of being gun-shy about killing people, but in terms of the principal cast, there have been surprisingly few deaths and an alarming number of additions. Paring down the cast would make for a more cohesive narrative and it would raise the stakes, so to speak. For all the insanity that happens on this show, I'm never all that worried that someone I love might get killed. One of the most compelling aspects of The Vampire Diaries is that viewers genuinely don't know who might die at a moment's notice. It keeps the cast at a manageable level and keeps the audience on their toes. Do you find yourself losing interest in various aspects/storylines of the show? Does it still have the same bite it once did? Is the best yet to come and I'm just being impatient? — Lacy
Matt Roush: I'm enjoying this season much more than last year, and a lot of that has to do with how marvelously Alexander Skarsgard is playing the vulnerable amnesiac Eric. Sunday night's drunk scene was a new high of feisty hilarity, and his hissing match with Alcide in the water was a riot, but then after his sunburn, watching him submit to Sookie's ministrations was awfully touching. Loving it. The witch storyline is fairly strong as well, and the great Fiona Shaw is killing it as Marnie. I agree that the Sam/Tommy subplot dragged down much of last season and feels tacked on again this year — but that's the only part that feels off to me right now. Andy's V addiction, Jason's gory misadventures with the were-panthers in Hotshot, Alcide and Debbie Pelt, Arlene's demon baby (those scenes crack me up, and they're not overdone yet) and anything involving Hoyt and Jessica all feel germane to me as this sprawling cast of characters continues to deal with the supernatural in their midst. As long as the focus stays primarily on Sookie, which the Eric storyline should ensure, I'm at peace with it. You make a good point about Vampire Diaries' ruthlessness when it comes to sacrificing characters and I marvel at the way that show burns through story, but I have to say that True Blood does a better job for me at conveying a milieu, which is to say I believe in Bon Temps and feel transported there in a way I don't where the phonier Mystic Falls is concerned.

Question: On True Blood, I felt a little robbed not seeing the fight scene between Bill and Sophie Anne play out on screen. Do you think this was done to convey how Sookie must have felt losing a year of her life? I do think it is exciting that they found a way to move ahead a year. Now all the characters are different from when we saw them the last time. My only problem is that all the characters are scattered out doing different things, which means less screen time for my favorites. I know everybody has their own favorites but I really hope they do not waste much time on Tommy or Arlene. Do you like those characters? It seems like each year brings more and more characters, which leaves less time for the core group. For me the core group includes Pam, and I would love it if they could flesh out her character more. What do you think? — Susan
Matt Roush: I think Pam got a pretty good (though devastating) scene this week with the witches, but otherwise, the complaint about True Blood servicing too many characters at the expense of the "core group" is a fair one, although as noted above, I felt it was more problematic last season. I was actually delighted by the Bill-Sophie Anne flashback, because it was such a surprising and brutally quick end to that conflict. And from what I could tell from the feedback last season, Sophie Anne was one of those characters that viewers didn't have much use for, so this seemed a suitably nasty way to send her out. I like your theory that some of this shorthand has to do with Sookie losing a year of her life in FairyLand. It should feel disorienting to her, and to us.

Question: I'm still confused by the portrayal of the fairies in the season 4 premiere of True Blood. I am a huge fan of both the books and the show, and have been equally delighted by Alan Ball's loyalties to and departures from the source material over the first three seasons, but I'm very confused about the way he has decided to portray the fae. Yes, in later books, we certainly see a vicious side to the fae underneath their beautiful and helpful facade but nothing quite so sinister as what we saw in the season premiere. I'm hoping you have some insight (or insider knowledge) into this story arc that can help me understand Ball's portrayal. — Jolene
Matt Roush: I guess we'll have to see how it plays out, but I'm thinking the less time we spend with the fae the better. At least for now. I know I wasn't the only one who was shocked when Eric killed Claudine so suddenly, given the role she played later on in the book series. I love how Alan Ball is using the books as a template but not as a bible, which guarantees surprises for those of us who are hooked on both versions of Sookie's story. Given the "meh" quality of some of the more recent novels, I encourage Ball to keep going his own way. The more out there, the better.

read on

See an article on the blog that you want to share ? Tweet , Facebook and Google +1 it

OK - we've got new "share buttons" on every post !

You can now easily share any article you like by email , Twitter,  Facebook, post onto your blog and you can Google+1 it...

Thanks and share away!

True Blood: Drunken Vampires & Danko Jones by Jefwithonef Houston Press

Make sure you listen to Talk Blood Radio podcast from last night Jef was great!

Gothtopia first read Dracula at age 8, and Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire not long after that. Suffice to say that over the last 20 years or so, we've seen a few vampires. Aside from one time in the Preacher comics, we've never seen a vampire drunk before. That was also the first time we'd seen a vampire moon anyone.
Well, now we can add True Blood to the short list of drunken buffoonery perpetrated by the undead. When we signed off last week, the faerie Claudine was being drained to the point of going poof by an amnesiac Eric. Last season established that faerie blood allowed vampires to briefly walk in the sunlight . Well, apparently, if you completely drain a full-blooded faerie, it's like taking a whole bunch of tequila shots.

Watching Eric using super-speed to repeatedly pinch Sookie's butt before running off into the woods to taunt alligators in the water is one of the funniest things we have ever seen, as was when the blood started to wear off and the sun began baking tall, pale, and stupid.

read on

Bill looks everywhere for Eric ???

I was intrigued with the line from last night's episode - when Bill comes to search Sookie's house looking for Eric ....

Don't you think Bill knew Eric was there ? I sure do ...

Bill says "We searched his farm in Oland, and, and his apartment in Paris,and the plantation in Barbados."

I can see the Oland farm but Paris and Barbados ? hmmm


**Öland-is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland.



True Blood S4 Episode 5 "Me and the Devil" Preview (video )

Season 4, Episode 5: Me and the Devil
Original Air Date—24 July 2011

Sookie nurtures Eric; Bill gets involved personally in the necromancy crisis; Pam takes the veil; Sam becomes Tommy's accomplice; Arlene and Terry look to religion to solve their problem; Jesus and Lafayette head to Mexico to harness a shaman's power; Jason convalesces.


'True Blood': Witches Can Really Hold a Grudge (Video)

In Episode 4, we learn more about what makes the witches so dangerous.
[Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen Sunday’s "I'm Alive and on Fire" episode.]

After months of marketing about this being the season of the witches on HBO's True Blood, we wondered what more they had up their sleeves after taking Eric’s (Alexander Skarsgard) memory away. Well, now we know. They can make a vampire’s skin crawl. Poor Pam

We learned that Marnie (Fiona Shaw) drew her power from a ghostly figure of a woman last week. Now, we know that the woman was burned at the stake back in the day and the vampires had something to do with it.

read on


'True Blood' Star Joe Manganiello Talks Wolves, Nudity

Filming Sunday's episode was comfortable considering 'we're naked with a wild animal,' actor tells MTV News.
One of the many reasons to love HBO's racy Southern vampy soap "True Blood" is for the many ways in which the show's characters find themselves in uncomfortable situations. Naked.


Case in point: the wonderfully entertaining scene from Sunday night's new episode in which Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is put in the middle of a confrontation between two naked men, currently confused vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) and brawny werewolf Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello). MTV News was lucky enough to consult Manganiello for his thoughts on the nuts and bolts (no pun intended) behind the filming of that scene

read on

True Blood Season 4 Ep 04 subtitles ! What did they say ???

True Blood S4E4subtitle                                                                                                   

Talk Blood podcast from last night is up ! We talk Season 4 Episode 4 " I'm Alive and on Fire"



Podcast from last night's show is up !We discussed True Blood Season 4 premier, Episode 4 " I'm Alive and on Fire"

My co-host tonight were Mark Blankenship from Huffington Post and NPR and Jefwithonef from Houston Post.  Our sponsor  tonight is also the wonderful Mark Blankenship.

 I love hearing you comments and suggestions you can ALWAYS email me: 'Dallas' at truebloodindallas@gmail

PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW CONSIDER SPONSORING AN EPISODE AND / OR BUY RAFFLE TICKET. 

http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/2011/07/loving-true-blood-blog-and-talk-blood_16.html



Listen to internet radio with True Blood in Dallas on Blog Talk Radio


Chatroom log

s4e4chatlog                                                                                                   

True Blood Music Episode 4.04 - I’m Alive and on Fire

“Calling the Shots” by Misisipi Mike Wolf (playing in Sam’s truck)

“Do You Remember” by La Luna (Sam shows up at Luna’s house and meets her daughter)

“Butt Me Buster” by Helmut Reinhardt (Bill meets Portia’s grandmother)

“Tighten Up” by The Watson Twins (Alcide comes home after helping Sookie and tells Debi what he did)

“Moonlight Remembers” by APM

“Twisting Wind” by Helen Henderson (Jason drags himself to the side of the road where Jessica & Hoyt find him)

“I’m Alive and On Fire” by Danko Jones (closing credits)

 



True Blood Review: "I’m Alive and on Fire" (Episode 4.04)

Pam's dess was great!!!

“Aw, poor Bill, power is so hard.” Season four of True Blood is about change and rebirth. Bill, the compassionate vampire that swept Sookie off her feet in season one, is now the King of Louisiana, ruling with an iron fist. Having just sent a vampire to his True Death for feeding on a human that willingly wanted to be fed on, he sarcastically tells Nan Flanagan of the A.V.L that the execution went “smooth”, “totally justified”. We’ve seen his new transformation take place in the first three episodes of this season. Bill is more cunning, ruthless and do I dare even say villainous? The question to then ask is, is this the real Bill? Is he only acting this way because of pressure from the authority? Bill acting on his own did try to kill Eric at the end of season three. And we know that his past has been filled with both good and evil moments. As season four progresses, the characters of True Blood are having to face who they really are

read on