In vampire world, the rules keep changing

From USA today

Before folks swear off sunlight, they should know the basics, which would be easier if the rules didn't change in every film, book and TV show.

By Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY
On HBO's True Blood (Sundays, 9 ET/PT), Lafayette asked vampire sheriff Eric to turn him. And Twilight found Bella Swan begging immortal beloved Edward Cullen to make her a vampire.

Before folks swear off sunlight, they should know the basics, which would be easier if the rules didn't change in every film, book and TV show.

USA TODAY offers a guide to life (and after).

'True Blood' 'Twilight' 'Angel'

see chart here

True Blood: A Trend With Teeth

From New York Times

THE symptoms are unnerving: a taste for fresh meat — rare, if you please; an aversion to sunlight; and a passion for spectral-looking, fine-boned rakes. All are indications that the sufferer has been bitten by the vampire bug.

Sookie Stackhouse, the feisty young heroine of “True Blood” on HBO, risks doom whenever she visits with her otherworldly beau. And Oskar, the adolescent misfit of the Swedish art film “Let the Right One In,” a favorite in fashion circles, courts extinction each time he ventures out with Eli, the eerily ageless shape-shifter he befriends.

Sookie and Oskar are in the throes of vampire lust, a pop-culture contagion being spread via television, films and fiction. What began with the Twilight Saga, the luridly romantic young-adult series by Stephenie Meyer, followed by “Twilight,” the movie, has become a pandemic of unholy proportions.

Is it a wonder?

Rarely have monsters looked so sultry — or so camera-ready. No small part of this latest vampire mania seems to stem from the ethereal cool and youthful sexiness with which the demons are portrayed. Bela Lugosi they are not.

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HBO’s True Blood team kindly answers our “Bird Lady” questions!

From Brooklyn Museum-you can buy a similar one here

Many thanks are due to our faithful community. Their tweets helped us get in touch with @TrueBloodHBO, the official True Blood twitter feed and they set up a coast-to-coast conference call Tuesday evening between Suzuki Ingerslev, Production Designer for the show, Shelley (who has seen every episode), and me (who has read the books and will now go out and rent Season 1).

Getting to ask Suzuki our questions directly was incredibly exciting and the answers we got were pretty thrilling too! How cool is this…

How True Blood found the “Bird Lady”

The script for Episode 1 of Season 2 called for “a primitive piece of art; like a dancing girl” to be placed on the character Maryann’s coffee table. Suzuki and Cat Smith, Art Director, went to Google to look for images that fit these requirements, hoping to find something that inspired them. They looked at many different types of ancient images including Mycenaean, Etruscan, and Minoan examples. Entering search terms something like “Egyptian female statues,” they came across our very own “Bird Lady.” They printed out a selection of appropriate images and presented them to Alan Ball, the show’s creator.

He was immediately drawn to the “Bird Lady,” seeing something so elegant, beautiful and perfect in her form that she became the obvious choice. As Suzuki pointed out, though she is not the first to do so, this ancient figure looks both modern and primitive at the same time. In terms of the show, she said using it helped to emphasize that Maryann’s character is timeless.

HBO’s version of “Bird Lady” made for the series True Blood by artist Cindy Jackson from a mold she created and casting plaster. Images courtesy Suzuki Ingerslev.

Lastly, a few final bits of “Bird Lady” and True Blood trivia.

One of the characters refers to the statue as “Mycenean or something.” Maryann intentionally raises her arms in the same pose during the episode; this gesture was directly inspired by the choice of the “Bird Lady” for the statue. And yes, the “Bird Lady” can be read as a clue to Maryann’s eternal nature, but no, there is not necessarily any further connection.

Many thanks to HBO’s True Blood team for responding so quickly and warmly to our questions. We are glad you love the “Bird Lady” as much as we do

more here

Alexander Skarsgard: Ex-child actor plays vampire and soldier

MANILA, Philippines—At 13, Alexander Skarsgard was a child actor in Sweden who wasn’t comfortable with the limelight. So the son of veteran character actor Stellan Skarsgard quit and spent seven years as a “normal” youngster. But he missed acting, so he eventually moved to New York for theater studies.

Alexander recently appeared as Sgt. Brad “Iceman” Colbert in the HBO miniseries “Generation Kill” and as enigmatic vampire Eric Northman in HBO’s ongoing series “True Blood.” Following are excerpts from a roundtable phone interview with the actor, arranged by HBO Asia.

How open to interpretation is your vampire character? Did you look at screen vampires for inspiration?

Yeah, when I did my research, I re-watched movies that I’ve seen, like the old “Nosferatu” with Max Schreck from the ’20s, Bela Lugosi’s “Dracula,” and Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu” from the ’70s. Obviously, Eric Northman’s quite a different character. But diving into that old culture of vampirism was to get my creativity and inspiration going, basically. When you create a world with vampires, it’s up to you if you wanna do the whole thing with crosses or garlic or what happens when a vampire meets the sun. We hung on to a couple of those, but some of them we just dismissed. So it’s very open to interpretation …

How much did playing “Iceman” Colbert affect the way you looked at war and the US Marines?

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True Blood S02E02 – “Keep This Party Going”

Thanks again to the wonderful Boadicea

True Blood S02E02 - "Keep This Party Going"
Music Review
By Boadicea

The most obvious of the songs that should have been the standout in Episode
2 was The B-52's "Keep This Party Going". It covered everything that Maryanne's presence instigated . sexual lust, lack of inhibitions, gluttony, and drunkenness.
But the snarkiest of the songs that had aspects of both sexual lust and bloodlust was "Deeper Into You" by Johhny Hazzard played during the last scene - Lafayette begs Eric to be turned, not killed.
I think I like the evening best, When I'm all alone in my room.
In fact I know I like it best, When everything's all about you.
I just have to imagine you, Above, below or by my side.
Then I start to touch myself, Cause baby, you just blow my mind.
My heart starts racin', My hands starts sweatin', Whenever I think about you.
My head starts achin', I feel so naked, Cause I fall deeper and deeper .
Into you
I wish that I could get the nerve, To show you what you do to me.
I wanna a taste of somethin' real, Somethin' more than a sweet fantasy.
Just the very sight of you, Gets me a 'ummmm' for a high.
But everytime I get my chance, I start to stammer 'cause I get so shy.
My heart starts racin', My hands starts sweatin', Whenever I think about you.
My head starts achin', I feel so naked, Cause I fall deeper and deeper .
Into you
Stay still ... Don't move ...
You have no idea what you do to me, Or what I'll do to you.
My heart starts racin', My hands starts sweatin', Whenever I think about you.
My head starts achin', I feel so naked, Cause I fall deeper and deeper .
Into you



After viewing the video, you'll be reminded of Jason dancing for Lafayette.
Then you'll wonder . Who is this Johnny Hazzard? Hmmm? How about a gay/bisexual pornographic star. Again, perfectly reminiscent of Lafayette's thriving online business.
I'm sure the HBO people are still slapping each other on the back for choosing "Deeper Into You" by Johnny Hazzard.
Stay still ... Don't move ...
You have no idea what you do to me, Or what I'll do to you.
Hah!
Boadicea
This song and others can be listened to: http://www.imeem.com/boadicea

Happy Birthday, Sookie Stackhouse !

Yes, July 1st is the character Sookie Stackhouse's birthday. I believe in the books her birth year was 1979.

Charlaine has set the birth dates of many of the characters in the Sookieverse to real birth dates in her own family.

I believe July 1st is her oldest son's bday and she and Bill Compton share November 25th.

Soo Happy BDay Sook !

Anyone else having a birthday today ?

True Blood's Stephen Moyer on Anna Paquin: 'My Girl is Hardcore!'

From People Mag

A couple that boxes together, stays together?

At least, according to True Blood's Stephen Moyer – the brooding Brit who plays Southern vampire Bill Compton and throws punches with costar and real-life love Anna Paquin.

"When I was a boy I loved boxing," he tells Access DirecTV magazine in its July issue of his off-screen pastime. "And I've got Anna into it."

Of their love for the brutal hobby, Moyer adds, "I like the sport and she likes the blood. I'm like, 'Stop the fight, people are getting hurt, I can't bear it!' and she's going, 'Go on, hit 'em!' She loves it. She boxes too."

But can chivalrous vampire Bill beat telepathic cutie Suki in the ring?

"No way!" he says. "She won't stop until she's gnawed your stumps off. I tell you, my girl is hardcore."

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True Blood: Michelle Forbes stays ‘True’ to rebellious nature as mysterious Maryann

From Boston Globe

Michelle Forbes isn’t playing a villain on “True Blood.”

At least, that’s what she says.

Forbes joined the cast of the HBO vampire drama (Sunday at 9 p.m.) at the end of last season as the mysterious Maryann Forrester. This season, Maryann is poised to wreak some serious havoc.

“She is a woman who is all about appetite,” Forbes said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles.

“She’s not human. She has a definite myopic quest that she is on. And she is going to have one hell of a time achieving that quest. Maryann is definitely a character that’s about perspective in the sense that she sees her goal as beautiful and blissful and of the divine and pure, so she doesn’t consider what she is doing as being bad at all. It’s quite a beautiful thing, and she’s graciously allowing everyone to come with her. I don’t perceive her as a villain.”

Forbes admitted she first was perplexed by the character.

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True Blood Ryan Kwanten- where are they now ?

From ABC Australia
Weakest Link ? Really hahha ?

Where are they now?

Ryan Kwanten kicked off his career starring in A Country Practice and Hey Dad...!, before scoring a role in the creme de la creme of Australian telly Home and Away.

He won our hearts playing Vinnie Patterson, affable lifesaver and one-time boyfriend of Sally Fletcher, who battled testicular cancer and a stint in prison.

He also starred in an episode The Weakest Link.

These days, Ryan adopts a deep south drawl and regularly gets his kit off to play Jason Stackhouse in the TV series TruBlood, alongside Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer.

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True Blood: Coexistence

This is from the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ( I'm not kidding ) Ben is an intern now but it's great that True Blood is making folks think -and I'm mean, think! Yes, about more that Eric's hair ;-)

[Contains spoilers] True Blood is a fascinating HBO series about vampires living with humans, now in its second season. It follows Sookie Stackhouse, a human that has fallen in love with the vampire Bill Compton. While the vampires’ fight for marriage rights and the intense religious opposition reflects the gay rights struggle, True Blood’s depiction of an ageless species with several enhanced powers also provides an exploration of how society might deal with transhumans, and perhaps more importantly how society views such possibilities.

The darker side of human-vampire relations has really come into play this season. Even while Sookie gets deeper into her relationship with Bill, her brother Jason Stackhouse has become a passionate member of the vampire-hating Fellowship of the Sun and lies to her about attending their Light of Day Institute leadership conference. Vampire blood dealer Lafayette was tortured in a basement for his crimes against vampires, and even some of the most powerful vampires have gone missing, presumably taken by humans who do not want to live or work alongside vampires.

The Fellowship of the Sun has strong anti-immortality rhetoric, saying that “one of the most difficult truths for humans to accept is that our time in this world is limited,” and “extremism in confronting eternal darkness is no vice.”

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True Blood Music Video of the Day:Get out Alive by Three Days Grace

Get out Alive by Three Days Grace LYRICS
Thanks smvgrey74

Some spoilers for Episode 4

From Kristen @ E!

Kelly in Amsterdam, Netherlands: Please give us some scoop on Alexander Skarsgård from True Blood!
Not only is Alex the show's leading eye candy, but he also serves as the show's official Swedish-English translator. Costar Kristin Bauer, who plays Eric's "serial killer baby" Pam, tells us, "They keep writing me lines [to read in] Swedish, and Alexander calls and says the Swedish on my phone. Hopefully he's not lying to me about what I'm saying. That's what my boyfriend does—he's from Africa, and he's teaching me Afrikaans, and I don't know what I'm saying, but he laughs."

Jerry in New Orleans: What's coming up on True Blood?
In the next episode, Sookie (Anna Paquin), Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) encounter trouble when they arrive in Dallas and find out that someone from the Fellowship of the Sun was sent to abduct Sookie. The plan fails. And believe it or not, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) invites Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) into his home and feeds off his blood to recover from the wounds suffered when Eric abducted him. Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Andy Swist shares his favorite True Blood couple art

I hope NO ONE missed last night Blogtalk radio with Brian and Andy ...

Andy was talking about his artwork and promised to share a new piece with us ...

Well, here it is and it is lovely

More of Andy's cool stuff here :

http://andyswist.com/

click and look at it BIG ...

True Blood is biting into the Buffy effect

from the Guardian UK

It's six years since the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was first transmitted. That, you might have thought, was that. After seven seasons, we'd surely had enough of bloodsuckers.

With its sanguine exploration of teen and twentysomething sexuality, the urban fantasy genre is going from strength to strength – a certain cheerleader would be proud

Except it hasn't turned out that way. It's not just that, in 2007, Dark Horse Comics unleashed "season eight" of Buffy, a direct continuation from the series, partly written by Buffy's creator, Joss Whedon. Now vamps, vamp companions and eldritch folk in general are suddenly everywhere.

In July, F/X will screen True Blood, an HBO series produced by Alan Ball. Instead of residing Six Feet Under, this time a sizeable percentage of its characters are the walking undead, vampires who have revealed themselves to humans and apparently want to join our wider community. Anna Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress attracted to bloodsucker Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) in part because she can't hear his thoughts.

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Which 'True Blood' Couple Are You?

From Your Tango

The vampire series is more than just sex and blood—it also reveals the human side of love.

We all know that vampires, and the people who love them, continue to be one of the hottest trends in entertainment. The undead have left their (fang) marks on TV, books and movies, proving that blood sells. Especially when it's mixed in with a whole lot of sex. The second season of True Blood, the TV series based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, is no exception. Read: True Blood's Vampire Romance

Created by Alan Ball, and airing on HBO, True Blood is violent, sexual and mysterious, especially with the eerie backdrop of the always-hazy Louisiana bayou. But the essence of the murderous series is a show about love and desire between those—human and otherwise—who are different. The characters all struggle with inner turmoil in their approach to relationships.

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Live chat: 'True Blood' star Anna Paquin today 6 cst

From LA Times
We're chatting live with past Oscar champ ("The Piano") and current Emmy contender ("True Blood," "Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler") Anna Paquin on Tuesday at 4 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. EDT. Here's your big chance to ask her your most interesting and exciting questions. I'm dying to ask what I've written about at length here at Gold Derby in the past: Do you think you can survive the curse against vampires at the Emmys? What do Hollywood award voters have against the walking dead anyway?


here

Sex and Candy: Life, Death, and Dating on "True Blood"

I too loved the Sex and candy entrance ! from Televisionary blog

"And then there she was/Like double cherry pie..."

I had the opportunity to watch the first four episodes of Season Two of True Blood a few weeks back but I've been rewatching the episodes as they're airing on HBO so that I don't forget any of the plot twists.

I don't know about you but I thought that last night's episode of True Blood ("Scratches"), written by Raelle Tucker and directed by Scott Winant, was the best of the season so far.

It's a good thing I did tune in again as it contained one of my favorite scenes of the first four episodes, the sultry entrance of Jessica (the intoxicating Deborah Ann Woll) at Merlotte's to the delicious tune of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy," one of the most seductive and memorable sequences to unfold on the series to date.

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