'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.

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'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.

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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

Joe " Alcide" Manganiello in US WEEKLY

 

Joe Manganiello has told US WEEKLY that his sexy scenes with Anna Paquin on set, may be getting Stephen Moyer a little jealous:
We goof around a litlle bit. But there was one point where Steve put his fingers up to his eyes like, “Hey, I’m watching you, pal!”
He also confesses, for the delight of his growing fan base, that he felt a little nervous while getting naked while morphing into a wolf.

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rue Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard on EW's Summer Must List

True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard made the cut on our Summer Must List thanks to his devilishly delicious performance as uber-sexy vampire sheriff Eric (it also helped that Skarsgard handles the nude scenes on Blood with, uh, aplomb). Skarsgard talked to EW about acting in the buff, his storyline this season, and his opinion (or lack thereof) on Twilight.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What’s going on with Eric this season?
ALEXANDER SKARSGARD: I think it’s about vengeance. You find out pretty early on in the season that something happened centuries ago that Eric’s been carrying inside and suddenly he gets an opportunity to avenge someone. That’s kind of his arc during the season. This comes off something he’s been carrying, something we didn’t know before.

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Project Paranormal summer special: Charlaine Harris

Great Paranormal Summer Reads

This special summer episode of Project Paranormal catches up with #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, as she details her European book tour and fills fans in on a very special upcoming publication.... 

            

CBS Morning Show: Teen biting inspired by vampire shows and movies

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Vampire craze means good news for "The Vampire Diaries" author

The world's current fascination with all things vampire is good news for California author L.J. Smith, whose gothic output includes The Vampire Diaries and the Night World series of novels.

Where do you draw inspiration from ?
I'm not sure where I find inspiration for my characters, especially my bad boys. Maybe they come from a part of my unconscious. I love bad boys best, and Gabriel is a prime example. I wanted to do a vampire that didn't suck blood, but took energy directly. He was fun to write.

Have vampires changed over time?
Well, if you go back to the first vampire, Dracula by Bram Stoker, he was cruel and evil and not really very romantic. I think that over time vampires have become romanticized, and each writer adds little rules for their own special vampires.

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True Blood Music Video of the Day: Circus

Circus

Thanks, EricTheSheriff

BBC's "Being Human" returns with season 2 on BBC America July 24th

Being Human is a witty and extraordinary look into the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives - as a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost. They struggle to live normal lives, despite their strange and dark secrets.

After the death of vampire leader Herrick at the end of season one, the supernatural friends are hoping to get on with their lives, but an even greater danger is lurking in the very human world that they so badly want to be a part of. Unbeknownst to the trio, the mysterious Professor Jaggat and her cold-hearted colleague Kemp (Donald Sumpter) - religious zealots who have discovered their existence - are determined to carry out brutal experiments and ultimately destroy them.

While Professor Jaggat and Kemp plot behind the scenes, werewolf George (Russell Tovey) is coming to terms with the fact that he has Herrick's blood on his hands, and a girlfriend who knows his horrific secret. Turning down the door of death has implications for ghost Annie (Lenora Crichlow), but her confidence is at a peak and she's determined to stand up and be counted in the real world. And, with Herrick gone, Mitchell (Aidan Turner) must appease an out of control vampire world - can he find a way to lead by example?

more info here 

New Stills From 'True Blood' Released of "9 Crimes"

"True Blood" might have skipped 4th of July to avoid low rating intake but HBO was not going to leave its fans with nothing for a week straight. The network released a set of new stills which can be spoilery for the curious minds.

One of them shows Tara and Jason in a hospital but it is unclear who they are visiting. The rest capture a pissed Vampire Queen of Louisiana, Jessica and Sam by Merlotte's jukebox, Lafayette frowning at something and Lorena in a car as well as behind Bill while he makes a call, presumably to Sookie.

see them

The Solid Kind of Happy by Babyvamp

I've been wonderin' about my human family a lot lately. Not the pinin', missin' kind of wonderin', but the curious kind. I think it's 'cause my human birthday is coming up. I haven't told Bill or Sookie or anyone about it. Doesn't really matter anymore, I guess, it's not like I'm going to turn eighteen. But like, what's my mama wearin' today? That yellow cardigan she wears when there's a draft, or the blue turtleneck for when she's doin' housework, with a hole in the sleeve? And my daddy, is he watchin' the game? How many beers has he already had tonight? I guess I do start to feel, I don't know, something, when I think about Eden. She's stuck back there with those lame excuses for parents. Sure, she was a pain in the ass sometimes, what little sister ain't, but she didn't do nothin' wrong. She doesn't deserve the belt. It used to be daddy wouldn't beat her as much. He'd mostly just look at her like he wanted to, but then send her to her room without dinner instead. But now that I'm not there to take all the heat, I just hope she isn't getting it extra hard.

Parta me wants to go back there and kidnap her. I mean, I wouldn't turn her into a vampire, but maybe I could just show her there's a big world out there. Bigger than that house and that church and that idiotic little life. She could meet a boy, like I met Hoyt, and be happy. The real kinda happy. Not the passin' kind, but the solid kind. She deserves that, hell, all nine year olds do. She'll be ten next week, actually. Our birthdays were real close together. It's strange when you think about it, she'll be ten, then eleven, then twelve, pretty soon she'll be older than me. And I'll just be one of those memories to her, like dust particles floatin' through the room, gettin' caught in your throat or whatever. They're always there, but you can't see 'em all the time, only when they hit a shaft of light.

http://babyvamp-jessica.com/