New Sookie short story : "Death's Excellent Vacation" review - it's out tomorrow !!

A lotta loves reviews.....
What is it: Charlaine Harris, Katie MacAlister, Jeaniene Frost, Lilith Saintcrow, and more have worked together to create Death's Excellent Vacation, a new short-story collection filled with stories from the paranormal world. Similar to Wolfsbane and Mistletoe and Many Bloody Returns, the twelve original stories (including a brand-new Sookie Stackhouse story) in Death's Excellent Vacation are based along the same theme - vacations. 

My Take: I am a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and own every Sookie story that has been published so far. The Sookie story contained within Death's Excellent Vacation is not the best story in the Sookie-verse, but it's still a fun read. Pam and Sookie venture off on what appears to be a girl's getaway but is actually something else entirely (not much of a surprise). The story provides information that I suspect will be fleshed out further in the next Sookie novel. If you have a passion for Eric (like me) you may be disappointed to find that he is barely in this story. A shame.

Although, I was most excited about the Sookie story (as I'm sure many other people are), there are eleven other stories in this book as well. As with any compilation, some stories are better than others. I quite enjoyed Sarah Smith's The Boys Go Fishing, about a lonely immortal coming to grips with being the last of his kind, as well as Katie MacAlister's The Perils of Effrijim, about a demon whose vacation to Paris is ruined when he's banished to another reality.

Although the stories were all written by different authors, I found the entire book an easy, quick read. It's the kind of book that makes for good summer reading while at the beach, the cottage, or just traveling around. Of course, I read it sitting on my couch, and it was equally enjoyable there as well.

Death's Excellent Vacation is set to be released and available for purchase on August 3, 2010.

http://www.alotoflovesreviews.com/2010/08/deaths-excellent-vacation-by-charlaine.html

Go ask Dallas: What was that prayer that Lafayette said at Sookie's hospital bedside?

Dear Dallas

What was that prayer that Lafayette said at Sookie's hospital bedside? 

Thanks

DB

Dead DB 

Here is what Lafayette said

Prayer At Time Of Adversity
  An Inuit Indian Prayer

I think over again my small adventures.
My fears, Those small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things
I had to get and reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world.

prayer at 2:40

What did they say ? True Blood S3E07 " Hitting the ground " subtitles

Truebloods3e07subtitles

Favorite quotes:

* "I like you, Hoyt. I want to be your girlfriend. And I really want you to taste my biscuits." - Summer
* "How'd you know I was a Tiffany's girl?" - Pam
* "Love your place, love the vibe. We must talk franchising later." - Russell, on Fangtasia
* "You can dish it out but you sure can't take it, can you Magister?" - Pam
* "Let's see how this plays out, Pam. We can always taunt later." - Eric

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Welcome To the Mad House

True Blood: Welcome To the Mad House
ChemAttraction

Talk Blood Radio : True Blood Season 3.07 "Hitting the ground" LIVE TONIGHT!!!!

Live TONIGHT: Come and 'Talk Blood' right after True Blood episodes airs tonight.  We've got a whole night  of fun planned starting with the True Blood Season 3.07 "Hitting the ground"
I am, joined tonight by Team Talk Blood member,  Becca Wilcott National Post of Canada columnist and author of the fantastic new book, "Truly, Madly, Deadly: The Unofficial True Blood Companion" and the amazing BillOhBill my friend Mary Kay. Somehow--- I think after tonight's episode Bill will need some defending ;-)

Be sure to join us  tonight because we're going to talk True Blood on Talk Blood Radio  live on Blog Talk Radio.  I love hearing you comments and suggestions you can ALWAYS email me:
'Dallas' at truebloodindallas@gmail

• 9:15pm  CDT / 10:15pm EDT: Talk Blood after True Blood chatroom on Blog Talk  Radio opens. Join in the fun  here.
• 9:30pm CDT / 10:30pm EDT: Talk Blood  goes live! Join in the fun here or call in at 646.929.0825 and tell us what you thought of tonight's episode!

*PRIZES * We have some prizes to give away over the next few weeks and you can become eligible to win just by participating  You can email me with your comment or question ( put Talk Blood in subject area) , You can tweet me #TrueBloodDallas , you can tweet the hashtag #talkblood or of course you can call -in  during the show, or join in the fun in our chatroom.



Episode 307: “Hitting the Ground” (previously “Let The Bodies Hit the Floor”)
Premieres August 1
Imperiled by Lorena, Sookie goes to extremes in her attempt to save Bill – with unforeseen consequences. Sam infiltrates a dog-fighting ring to extricate Tommy from his parents’ greedy influence. Jason heads to jail to uncover the truth about Crystal; Summer makes a homecooked play for Hoyt’s affections; Debbie vows revenge on Alcide; Eric uses Hadley as bait to get information from Sophie-Anne; Russell turns his back on the Authority, and on the Magister. (Written by Brian Buckner; directed by John Dahl.)

'True Blood' Saturdays: 'Where do you think you are, lady? Red Lobster?'- LA Times

Everyone seemed pretty happy with last week's episode of "True Blood," considering the only major criticism of it in comments was the fact that it featured two men kissing. (And, honestly, if you can't handle seeing two men kissing, why the heck are you watching "True Blood"?) Scripted by series mastermind Alan Ball, the episode was equal parts funny, gory and heart-rending, and it probably was one of the best of the season, if not the series. So much stuff happened that it's hard to imagine just where the show is going to go from here, but I'm looking forward to seeing it try Sunday night.

But before all of that, let's see what you thought.

Cindy West e-mails me to say that my idea that the whole season is about the characters having to find ways to discover their true natures isn't it so much as things not always being what they seem and first appearances concealing something else, whether more sinister or more friendly. Although I don't disagree that that's what the season is about, in some ways, I think my reading also dovetails nicely with that idea. But so many of the characters are on voyages of self-discovery that I don't know how much first appearances play into that. Certainly the story of, say, Jason meeting up with the pretty girl is more about him getting past his first impressions, but the story of Sookie discovering her own power or Sam discovering his birth family don't seem to tie in as much to that. I think the proper answer is probably a combination of both ideas.

read on

NEW VIDEO preview !!!! Bill and Claudine and so much more ....

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Dear Agony

Breaking Benjamin Dear Agony and True Blood

Thanks, subbems

Klaveno makes bad look good as evil Lorena on 'True Blood'

Wow, what a, um, witch.

Well, in this case, a vampire, actually.

True Blood actress Mariana Klaveno plays one of the most despicable characters on television as the centuries-old Lorena, who has a thing for her undead progeny and some serious jealousy issues.

"She's not the most likable character," Klaveno concedes. But, "I'm not as evil as Lorena. I know some people have a hard time making that distinction between myself and the character. I get recognized everywhere I go, so I think that just is a testament to how popular the show is. But luckily, nobody has booed or hissed or come at me with a stake. Everyone has been very lovely and warm and excited to talk with somebody from the show." 

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MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE Shape Shifting Sam Trammell Is Full of Surprises

The down-home, all-American guy that everyone thinks they’ve come to know has a complexity beneath the surface that few would expect. Sam Trammell and his alter-ego, “True Blood”’s Sam Merlotte, have a lot in common in this regard. Merlotte manages to keep a low profile as the owner of the neighborhood saloon in the fictional Louisiana town of Bon Temps, closely guarding his true nature as a shape-shifter, a creature capable of transforming into any animal he sees. Trammell is a talented, charismatic television actor on a hit show, who surfs and plays guitar — and is also a classical pianist who graduated from Brown University with a degree in semiotics and spent a year in Paris studying French philosophy. “Strictly speaking, it’s the study of signification,” he explains of semiotics during our meeting at a West Hollywood cafe. “The process of how things represent other things. Signs. If you do a really pure semiotical study, it’s very linguistic; it’s a lot about language but it’s also interdisciplinary.” He discusses how Freud, psychoanalysis, Marx and Engels, and feminist and film theories are all tied in with this field, and he touches on concepts of physics that leave us compelled to google and reexamine Einstein’s theory of relativity. Trammell is full of surprises.

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BLOODlust: S:3 Ep:6 recap/review

Michele " MaryAnn "Forbes 'True Blood' hits DVD

Popular culture is loaded with socio-political meaning, intended or otherwise. When actress Michelle Forbes is involved, it is often intended -- for the better. With her keen intellect and passion about politics and society, Forbes responds with enthusiasm to roles that offer layers of meaning. Even when vampires and serial killers are involved.

"It is never," she says from her Los Angeles home, "just a TV show." Her favourite small-screen, big-idea credits range from Star Trek: The Next Generation through Battlestar Galactica to Homicide: Life on the Streets, In Treatment, True Blood and Durham County. "In this day and age, television and film has such a massive impact on us."

What kicks off our conversation is the recent DVD release of two of these potent TV series. Both feature the strikingly handsome, 45-year-old Forbes as a second-season guest star.

One is the American-made True Blood, Alan Ball's lurid cult hit starring Anna Paquin. Vampires rule the sultry, southern U.S. town of Bon Temps. Metaphors abound, as always in vampire lore. Warner Home Video released True Blood: The Complete Season Two on DVD and Blu-ray May 25.

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True Blood Music Video of the Day:

"Are you gonna be my girl?" [Tara/Franklin]

Thanks, ChemAttraction

Go Ask Dallas: What does True Blood's Alan Ball mean when he says they are breaking a script?

Dear Dallas
Alan Ball said in a recent interview that he and writers were breaking the scripts for season 4.
What the heck does that mean?

Thanks, R

Dear R
I love when we learn something in our True Blood fandom . Here is what wikipedia defines " breaking a script" I guess this means they a pretty far along with having the season ready for filming which I believe will start in November.
Great question
"Ball and his writing crew are currently breaking stories for season 4." From Comic Con

Breaking down the script
The process of breaking down the script occurs after the producer reads through the screenplay once. Then he or she goes back and marks certain elements that need to be taken care of before production, or even before pre-production can begin. 

Marking 1/8's
Each scene, as per slug line, is measured into 1/8's of a page by its number of inches. Most pages of a screenplay are eight inches, so each inch is an 1/8, even if a page exceeds eight inches. The number of 1/8's is then marked in the top left corner of the scene, and circled. If a scene lasts longer than eight 1/8's, it is converted to 1. So, a scene lasting twelve 1/8's is marked 1 4/8. 

Marking elements
To ease future production, an assistant director marks the elements found in each scene. This process repeats for each new scene. By the end, the producer will be able to see which scenes need which elements, and can begin to schedule accordingly. The film industry has a standard for color coding: 
Element color codes

Element	Shape or color	Description
Cast	Red	Any speaking actor
Extra (Atmosphere)	Green	Any extra or group of extras needed for the background.
Extra (Silent bits)	Yellow	Any extra needed to perform specifically, but has no lines.
Stunts	Orange	Any stunt that may require a stunt double, or stunt coordinator.
Special Effects	Blue	Any special effect required.
Props	Purple	All objects important to the script, or used by an actor.
Vehicles/Animals	Pink	Any vehicles, and all animals, especially if it requires an animal trainer.
Sound Effects/Music	Brown	Sounds or music requiring specific use on set. Not sounds added in during post.
Wardrobe	Circle	Specific costumes needed for production, and also for continuity if a costume gets ripped up, or dirtied throughout the movie.
Make-up/Hair	Asterisk	Any make-up or hair attention needed. Common for scars and blood.
Special Equipment	Box	If a scene requires the use of more uncommon equipment, (e.g. crane, underwater camera, etc.).
Production Notes	Underline	For all other questions about how a scene will go, or confusion about how something happens.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denis O'Hare - Exclusive AP-RED Interview with True Blood's "Russell"

'True Blood' star loves being 'Magister'

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The excellent and omnipresent actor Zeljko Ivanek certainly inspires fear as “the magister” on the vampire series True Blood.
“It’s fun to play power,” Ivanek said at the Television Critics Association tour.
“It’s just fun to walk into a situation where everyone has to kind of turn to you. And how that plays out in the end, it’s actually really cool.”
So when are fans of True Blood going to find out how the magister’s current story-line is going to “play out in the end”, as Ivanek put it?
“I think you’ll find out very, very soon, is all I can say about that,” Ivanek said. “I think (in the episodes that air) this week or next week, all that will be clarified.”
True Blood airs Sundays on HBO Canada.
Ivanek also will be starring the fall in the new series The Event on NBC and Citytv.

‘True Blood’s Denis O’Hare: ‘Things Start To Go Really Crazy’

King Russell is the diabolical, entertaining villain who is shaking up this season of ‘True Blood.’  So far Mississippi’s vampire king has managed to tear Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Sookie (Anna Paquin) apart, get Eric to do his bidding, and embarked on an ambitious plan to attack the human race with the help of a V-addicted pack of werewolves.  Denis O’Hare, an acclaimed theater actor who also plays Judge Abernathy on ‘The Good Wife,‘ is really sinking his teeth into the meaty role. He shared a secret about Russell’s opulent mansion, teases a scandalous upcoming sex scene and hints that soon the king’s reign will be challenged.
Is it good to be the king?
It’s good to be the king.  I can do whatever I want to.  I have a great house.  I get to order people around.  I eat who I want to. It’s fantastic.

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