True Blood

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Kate Beckinsale as Selene in "Underworld" was number four, I think, and Wesley Snipes in "Blade" was number three or something. Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman in "True Blood" was number two, and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen in "Twilight" was number one.

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) The edified Derek Tatum discusses remakes of films over at Mondo Vampire. "While I think that the remake thing is far out-of-hand to begin with, it does please me to hear that The Hunger is set for a reboot. Whitley Strieber's The Hunger is one of my favorite vampire novels, and I think that a ne...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) My online pals Derek Tatum at Mondo Vampire and Patricia Altner at Patricia's Vampire Notes are also having contests for this book, so visit them for more chances to win. Eerek reviewed the book and says, "While this book is mainly meant as a bit of a lark, Woerner's knowledge of the subject s...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Entertainment Weekly is having another of its stupid surveys about who is the best good vampire, and they've limited it to three TV characters: Bill Compton of "True Blood" as played by Stephen Moyers, Stefan of "Vampire Diaries" as played by Paul Westley, and Angel of "Buffy" as played b...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Which one are you going to choose? The one that makes you more miserable, or the one that has some hawt vampires kicking ass, or hawt vampire slayers kicking ass and cracking wise? You don't have to have a brain uneaten by zombies to figure this one out.

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Here's a summary of Keri's novel, the eighth in the Riley Jenson Guardian series: Here's an interesting mashup from PeanutButter88 of Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) of "True Blood" and Faith of "Buffy" (Eliza Dushku). And for those who like Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Eric Northman...k...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Have you seen "Paranormal Activity," the low-budget hit about, uh, paranormal activity? The Los Angeles Times disses on the suburban tackiness of the set. "Among the frights: A puffy bachelor pad black leather sofa, a faux Tuscan chandelier, the monstrous faux salvaged-from-a-churc...

By Marta(marta@martaacosta.com) Carolyn Cane is having a lively discussion at The Trillionth Page about Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series vs. "True Blood," directed by Alan Ball. "To Mark and me, Alan Ball deciding not to taint himself by watching Buffy is like a writer saying she wants to wri...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) You can read Lindsay's compare-and-contrast of Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire novels and HBO's "True Blood," which I'm incapable of watching. "Yes I am a slacker – but I don’t have HBO (let alone cable) so I have to mooch off the few (2 people) that I know have HBO… which isn’t easy. So th...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Here's part of the synopsis: You can find out more about this movie at the website, BloodJunky. You can learn more about Nicole and her historical vamp thriller on her blog. Here's a video for fans of Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) in "True Blood."

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Read an interview with Misha Collins, who plays the angel Castiel on "Supernatural." "Castiel is something of a fallen angel now. Having been fired from heaven, he teams with demon-hunting brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), but 'we're also being collec...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) MARTA: Paranormal stories, once a small niche, are now everywhere, especially with the success of “Twilight” and “True Blood.” Do you want to make any predictions about the genre? MARTA: Are you working on anything else, fangy or non-fangy?

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) MOVIES & TV You can watch more of these "True Blood" promos here. No, I still don't like Alan Ball's cheezoid series, but I would watch it if it had the same high production values and wryness of Raafi's promos. And if Ball wasn't involved.

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Tomorrow I'll have some promo videos for HBO's "True Blood" that were never aired. I know! Buddy TV has new promo photos of the CW's "The Vampire Diaries" series. I especially like this photo because it reminds me of the "Seinfeld" episode about "man-hands."

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) I once again tried to watch Alan Ball's series on HBO, "True Blood." I kinda hate it, sort of a lot. It's so dang hokey. Ball ran around bragging that he'd never watched "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." That's like an English major bragging that she'd never read Shakespeare, and all I've got to say is...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Read a review of HBO's new season of "True Blood." "One of the many excellent things about True Blood this season is the way it finds new uses for old characters. Last season, for instance, Andy was just another good/bad ol’ boy police officer, but now he’s like the official Bon Temps Voice of R...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Love Vampires is having a contest for my Casa Dracula books! Enter to win one set of the entire Casa Dracula series and five copies of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. Amanda says, "All the Casa Dracula books blend entertaining social comedy with witty romance and vampires – making them perfect r...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) The cover of Bloody Good is obviously inspired by the marvelous original covers for Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series. Too bad, the advertising geniuses behind "True Blood" think that a boring, cliche cover with a HBO promo sticker smack on the front is more appealing.

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead" Review I was very excited that the new season of "Doctor Who" was starting here in the US, and I set my DVR to record it "Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead." I expected it to be fab, as season openers should be. Instead... Not. Morning Glow said "vampire bowtie."

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Tomorrow I'm going to write about how much I hated, hated, hated the first episode of "Dr. Who: Season 4" (if you guessed "a lot," you'd be right) and how much I loved "Torchwood: Children of the Earth." Stephanie said "vampire thongs."

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Here's an article about HBO's "True Blood" filming in Louisiana. Now I read that the series was shot in Los Angeles, so I don't know if they're shooting some scenes here and some scenes there, and the article doesn't clarify, but does imply that the Southern shoot is new. "Cast and crew of the s...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Here's another "True Blood" recap. "Did not understand why Sookie now owes Eric a favor for helping save her and Lafayette. I mean, going to Dallas to hunt wayard vampires? Who does Eric think Sookie is, Buffy Summers?" (Entertainment Weekly)

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) If they had a clue what drives viewers to the show, they'd have websites dedicated to Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman and they'd pay tribute to wonderful Charlaine Harris, who inspired legions of devoted fans. Charlaine's name is nowhere to be found on their sites and marketing mate...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Is "New Moon" based on Stephanie Meyer's novel a little too similar to Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series, the basis of "True Blood"? And where does "Underworld" fit in? "Sookie Stackhouse, in season one, falls for tall, dark and undead Bill, and when he disappears she is left to...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie Stackhouse in "True Blood," balks at the comparison to "Twilight." "It wouldn't be appropriate for teenagers to be watching our show. I wouldn't have been allowed to." (E! Online) So moralizes 26-year-old Paquin, who dates her co-star, divorced, father of tw...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Amanda at Love Vampires reviews Keri Arthur's Chasing the Shadows. "The Nikki and Michael books are a four-part serial vampire romance that always features the same protagonists: Nikki (a psychic PI) and Michael (a 360 year old supernatural investigating vampire) so it is necessary to...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Here's an article on next season's "True Blood." "[Sookie Stackhouse] spends the first half of the season focusing on vampires and vampire politics in Dallas, as a sort of favor to Eric, and she spends the last half of the season cleaning up the mess that some new supernatural creatures hav...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) How does Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire books stack up against Alan Ball's "True Blood" series? "Both the book and TV series, set in a fictional Louisiana town, focus on an unlikely romance between a young woman, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), and vampire Bill Compton (Stephen...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Review of Season One of HBO's "True Blood," starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. "What's most interesting is that in a show about vampires living in society, it's the human characters who are most compelling. The vampires are mostly inaccessible, but the rest of the cast is wonderfully...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Review of "True Blood," episode 8, "The Fourth Man in the Fire." "Eric Northman, the thousand-year old Viking Vampire and sherriff of Area 5, however, wields much greater power over Bill—enough for him to drive Sookie to Fangtasia in Shreveport." (Paste Magazine)

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Interview with Anne Rice, author of The Vampire Lestat. "Rice says she has no interest in writing more about her vampires and witches. She is thinking, however, about a 'supernatural Christian series for younger readers.'" (Columbus Dispatch) Here's another new "True Blood" video.

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Overview of Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire books. "...author Charlaine Harris has vividly imagined telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse and her small-town Louisiana milieu where humans, vampires, shape-shifters and other sentient critters live, not always in harmony but ofte...

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Author Catherine Karp is taking nominations for your Favorite Vampire Author website. If you appreciate the links and info on this blog, (and if you ever want to see a Gratuitous Video of the Day again!) go vote for Vampire Wire! (Suburban Vampire)

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) Racial stereotypes in HBO's "True Blood." "An out-of-this-world plot line, dark wit, smouldering vampires, lots of sex and violence (It’s not TV. It’s HBO.), southern accents thick as honey, lots of Spanish moss–what’s not to like?" (Racialicious)

By marta@martaacosta.com (Marta) MOVIES & TV Review of "True Blood" episode "Mine." "Sookie learned that not all vampires are debonair and gentlemen-like toward humans..." (if Magazine) Here's a preview of "True Blood" episode 4, "Escape from Dragon House." (Ace Showbiz)

By Marta(marta@martaacosta.com) Vampire myths and the vampire world of "True Blood." "Eventually though, the vampire will become extremely irritated by the sunlight and will have to take cover." (The Frisky) In which we continue the "Supernatural"/Bon Jovi theme.

By Marta(marta@martaacosta.com) Review of "True Blood." "Based on Magnolia native Charlaine Harris’ Southern vampire series of novels, the show is a trash novel come to life. Characters are caricatures of old Southern types: The fiery barmaid. The over-sexed ne’er do-well." (Arkansas Times)

By Marta(marta@martaacosta.com) Review of "True Blood." "Set in a backwater Louisiana town called Bon Temps, the show features characters, events and dialogue that seem right out of a Tennessee Williams play -- provided the playwright had turned his pen to the paranormal. Call it 'Vamp on a Hot Tin Roof.'" (Chicago Sun-Tim...

By Marta Another review of "True Blood," starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. "Paquin is likable as Sookie, even though she plays her like a 14-year-old with a crush on a boy band member. Moyer looks appropriately pale and wannish. ...

By Marta(marta@martaacosta.com) Interview with Alan Ball, who is making the "True Blood" television series. "Fans of [Charlaine] Harris' novels will be pleased to know Ball is sticking closely to her vampire universe and mythology for most of the first season." (Wired)