First Word

In an unevenly paced and poorly written season, one of my favorite series came to an end -- True Blood created by Alan Ball. I was completely disappointed in the finale. It dragged, lacked any action, and the closure was disappointing. We got a sappy happy ending for one of the campiest, funniest shows around that produced such great lines as "Sookie's precious fairy vagina." The show established Bill as Sookie's true love (huh? She had way more chemistry and emotional resonance with Eric), and then showed how he really "loved" her to want to set her free and give her a vampire-free life. They had "kind of" tied up the feelings with Eric in the previous show, but instead of letting the two characters truly wrap it up when Eric saves her one more time they just skipped it. What happened to the love triangle and Sookie loving them both? Those loves scenes from Season 4 all went for not. In the books, Eric and Sookie had the passionate love affair....

Well! Finally something to get excited about -- Eric and Sookie reunited in the Season 7. I bet over at MyFutureLover on YouTube the videographer had a party LOL. She finally had a reason to "Ship Sookie and Eric" after like three seasons. Let's face it boys and girls, vampire fans ... Eric and Sookie as played by the wonderful Alexander Skarsgard and Anna Paquin have all the chemistry. The tenderness and connection between these two was evident. You don't feel the same sparks when Sookie and Bill are together -- sorry you just don't feel it. I don't care if they're married in real life. They don't ignite the screen the way Eric and Sookie do. It was the first time in many episodes you were able to see the real love beneath the surface as they had thrown these two characters in separate directions for quite some time. Now we have Eric on the verge of death with Hep V, and with the season winding to a close, I'm not thinking anything wonderful will...

Where are we going with this? Is the idea to kill off every character before the final episode? I'm beginning to think so. (Spoiler Alert) The demise of Alcide was anti-climatic and downright boring. Alcide, our beloved burly werewolf, finally met his end with a few quick gunshots and then bam! Dead! Well, except for one brief moment of Sookie having learned her lesson about sanctioning the creation of new vampires. The very first episode saw the demise of long-time character Tara who went through so much only to end up dead after all. Other long-time characters are biting it, too. What did we learn in this episode? Alcide loved Sookie more -- and that made her feel bad. Okay ... Sam had a gay vampire escort who got immediately shot down (we didn't have any investment anyway) so all right. Eric has Hep V and was ready (a la Godric) to just go on his 1,000-year-old way. Note: How many times do we have to see the retread scene of Pam begging Eric not to die? She loves him! Blah...

All right I'm going to protest because frankly this episode's opening of Jason and Eric hooking up (sorry for spoiler) was just plain ole gratuitous! It was the chance to get hunk no. #1 and hunk no. #2 naked, and it offered no other value to the story line. Why (and maybe they will explain later) they had the vamp sex connection with a vampire in which if my memory serves me at all they never exchanged V ... no clue and really turned off. I don't mind sex in context. I do MIND when it's just a sex scene to serve nothing apparent. That said, the teacher (again sorry for spoiler) literally disintegrating between Arlene's thighs was almost too priceless and a great campy scene a la classic True Blood . Shall we take that as one massive and bloody menstrual cycle (wink from the writers maybe)? And did Eric have the disease or not? I was a little confused but I think he did ... which for the final season explains where Eric is headed or not headed; but I would still...

True Blood -- Season 7 Episode 1: Vulture I was hugely disappointed last season with the show's declining writing after creator Alan Ball changed directions and left the series in the hands of the other directors and writers. As this season opened I was also a little apprehensive with the prospects of the "zombie-vamp" mutation story. But as the show began with an explosive slaughter of humans, and the fates of some show favorites like Arlene and Holly on the line, I was quickly absorbed into it. I liked the way they got back to basics with Sookie being able to read the entire "accusing" citizens' minds as they blamed the "vampire whore" for inviting this havoc upon them. The show had deviated so far off her fairy powers in connection to citizens in recent years it lost a little of its humanity. The intensity of the opening scene though immediately invited you in for an absorbing episode where we find Andy and Vampire Bill on the hunt to fin...

Welcome back my campy True Blood characters as June 22nd marks the beginning of the end of this truly unique vampire show that even from a non-vampire lover such as I managed to be absorbed  season after season. I have read that the sexy Viking vamp Eric Northman as played by the red-hot Alexander Skarsgard (my future daughter-in-law and I had quite a conversation about sexy men, and we had a mutual meeting of the minds that Skarsgard AKA Skarscandy wins! Well, she did have an admiration for Tatum Channing, which I can feel her on). I did ask Kirk for a hall pass should I run into Skarsgard and his eyes narrowed and he scoffed, "No! You're too pretty! He would probably go for it." LMAO ... maybe ... ;). Last season sadly went down the tubes as creator and executive producer (and master storyteller) Alan Ball stepped down and his directing team and head writers stepped up. The story line took on this discriminatory hate theme that ended with our favorite vamps locked aw...

As many of my followers know, I love the HBO series  True Blood ; but many of you may have noticed I am not doing episode reviews this season. A friend of mine was watching an episode with me and made a comment that completely cemented why the show hasn't captivated my interest as much this season -- Sookie. He said, "Isn't the show supposed to revolve around her? It's all about vampires." I affirmed, "Yes, it's supposed to center on her." In the beginning, the show did, in fact, center on Sookie. After about the fourth season, it lost its focus. This season's storyline with Warlow was intriguing with the fairy/vampire hybrid and ability to walk in the sun. The Sookie/Warlow romance became just about 1/4 of the show and took a backseat to the Vampire "Internment Camp" story line that became the primary story that affected everything else. In fact, we saw more of Bill and the internment camp scenarios than anything else. When Sookie a...

You can count on my Monday morning reviews of True Blood to start. The 6th season got off to an interesting start in rapid-fire pacing and action. Sookie and Eric in the 5th season finale watched as vampire Bill melted and re-emerged as something else. Judging from the show's theme, we are going to find out this season what that something else is. Other story lines continuing included Alcide's initiation as pack master and Andy Balfour having to face the results of his unprotected sex with a fairy. Now we have Alan Ball out as head writer (I noticed he retained the title as executive producer) and Raelle Tucker in his place. I thought the storytelling was a little more focused. We stayed on the action longer with Sookie, Eric and the gang as they escaped a major explosion and headed for the ocean where some emotional confrontations went down. Now the big question in the air: What is Bill? Is he Bill Compton or Bill-ilth? Eric signed back Sookie's house, and a tenderness wa...

It's Valentine's Day ... love day! In honor of all great lovers, I thought I would pick my favorite lovers in literature and/or film and television to tell you why they are fabulous -- or more like they have that all-elusive "chemistry," which my boyfriend and I have actually tried to put definition on. We finally concluded "chemistry" is simply something magical and undefinable that exists between two people and not just between the sheets. So, let's begin with my all-time favorite vampire and the fairy. Eric and Sookie (True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse Series) The two blonds -- you can't beat that they look great together. Eric as portrayed by the Swedish sexiest man alive Alexander Skarsgard is tall, blue-eyed, sex-on-a-stick and just delicious to gaze upon. Sookie is pretty and feisty (although this season Anna Panquin's pregnancy seemed to dampen her down a bit). In Season 4 we got to watch our lovers go for it all full blast complete...

This week's episode finds the citizens of Bontemps all merging together in their story lines toward the Vampire Authority and the imminent Lilith Apocalypse. We have Sam and Luna as two white mice scurrying around the Authority to find Emma. We have Jessica being hauled off to turn Jason (as there is an edict to make as many vampires as possible). We Sookie's realization she's "betrothed" to some vampire spirit. Then we have Russell and Steve Newlin wreaking havoc all over the place and on a mission to find a faery. The convergence of the story lines was rather unexpected but a nice twist on the season that in some ways appeared to have each story locked in bubbles. The entire Authority story seemed to me to drag on much too long, with my favorite vamps all stuck in this government-like, sacred complex. Sticking Eric Northman in one place for too many episodes seemed much too boring to me. I wanted to see him do more this season. He is now finally on the loose wit...

Ah, HBO is whetting our appetites for more True Blood , and yesterday they released a new trailer with ... egad the actors in it ( click here ). Yes, of course, I watched it. And I've read the books, too. So I could sort of tell between the spoilers and books what might be going on this fine season. If you hate spoilers, stop here. All right so we have some digging going on! Let's bet on one of two things. Tara is getting turned OR they are burying Debbie Pelt's body OR both. Remember in the books, they bury Debbie's body on Sookie's property. I would imagine we might have a little of that going on. I do thinking turning Tara is the most obvious choice, so I'm sure the writers are more imaginative than to take the most in-your-face road with that storyline ... or I could be wrong. Sometimes the obvious choice is great when you have plenty of exciting storyline to explore from it. Watching the ultra-angry Tara act on her "nature" might be extremely int...

So, I promised I would give a review of my birthday present True Blood and Philosophy ... well, I have to tell you. If you really want a deconstructed insider "revelation" about the show, go to Love True Blood and forget the book. This book takes on a very conventional deconstruction based on historical philosophy and modern feminism. I always hope for a deeper look at a piece of work that pulls back the veil between me and the storyteller to help engender a greater understanding of the story -- whether it's on TV or a book. The website really accomplishes that goal while the book is just too, well, boring. It didn't give me a deeper meaning to the characters. I wasn't at all enlightened and frankly mostly bored by it. Now the website written by very literate fans of the show is much more intriguing and revealing. Also, there is a mention on the Love True Blood site today about how Charlaine Harris doesn't map out her books and focuses primarily on one bo...

If you are a fan of the HBO series True Blood (Season 5 is slated to begin June 24) then you should check out this site titled Love True Blood . From what I've been told by the site leaders and from what I've read, it's absolutely the best fan site written by fantastic writers who display their literary backgrounds with great ease and reveal all sorts of layers to this show one would never imagine. You think True Blood is all about "vampire porn" (as one friend called) then you are not really watching it from a storytelling point of view with all its metaphors, foreshadowing and juxtapositions. Read this fan site and you will have all the confidence that Alan Ball is NOT going to put Sookie and Bill back together. Not if you peel back the layers of the onion the way these literate fans have done. I've emphatically said that Eric and Sookie are soul lovers, and if you read this site and all the great information under the season redux you will notice how they...

The incomparable Alexander Skarsgard in the famous sweater. See that "turquoise" sweater Eric Northman wears throughout at least three episodes on True Blood ? A single reference to that sweater caused a firestorm of hits on this blog. A sweater shot my friends! A reference to the steamy list of butt shots also caused a slight flurry, but it was that sweater that tipped it. I had no idea that Mr. Sweater was so popular. An argument event erupted over whether or not it was blue or turquois. Truth is, on the commentary on Season 3, Alexander called it "blue" and then changes it to "turquoise". I will bow to the idea that the man who actually physically saw and wore it knows what color it really was. By the end of the sweater's guest starring role, it was ruined and covered in fake blood. I'm thinking whoever actually owns the sweater now could sell the thing on eBay or an auction house for a pretty good sum of money. Fans love that sweater, and o...

All right here is the last word on sex and nudity (love my fierce passion, here or what). No one ever again gets to complain to me about the "written sex" scenes in my book California Girl Chronicles when we live in a media-saturated world where Vampire Diaries and True Blood compete for " best nude" covers !!! I mean come on folks! I've had a couple of mainstream reviewers flip over the sex in my book yet I routinely get stuff like this sent in my Google Alerts where the stars of major TV shows have stripped for mass consumption. Seriously! You can't possibly whine to me about written tasteful sex and then secretly go view what is nothing more than "sanctioned" mainstream porn. Look, I'm okay with the nude cover wars. You know gorgeous people naked never hurt anyone. All I'm saying is why get all uptight about written sex scenes done so tastefully and refuse to review the book, that's all. If we can compete to see which star looks b...

Okay, I'm going to be all "Oprah-like" (without the free giveaways LOL) and share my favorite things so maybe they will become your favorite things. Here we go. Pandora Radio -- I adore Pandora. I pay the extra $30 a year for unlimited listening. I have my channels, and I listen to it almost all day long on my computer while I work. You customize specific channels by artist, and then the "music genome" project sorts by style and creates a channel loaded with similar music. It also connects to artist information and background and tells you albums, lyrics and titles so you can link over to Amazon to buy your favorites. You don't have to pay anything if you don't want to. It's FREE, but if you listen for FREE you are limited in time you are allowed to listen each month. My True Blood DVD Collection, Season 1, 2 and 3 -- I am sure you wouldn't be surprised I own all of the box sets of my favorite show. I listen to show commentaries and enjoy t...

In my insomniac hours, I like to surf around and use my Apple TV to find random and fun things to watch. I have discovered numerous fan videos of my two favorite characters Eric Northman and Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood . Here are those two video links. Out of literally dozens, there are just fun and sexy. Eric and Sookie -- Let's Go Straight to No. #1 We all like no. #1 ;). Eric and Sookie -- Devotion Well, this one is romantic and very hot and sexy. I have to be honest, I really like the song! Of course, I like the scenes, too. I (squee) like the romance, too. What can I say. I am a romantic at heart.

You have to love Cheryl Mullick and Tre Bella Spa! Check them brows! If I had a picture of the original state of the brows, you would really catch my thrill over what she does with "the frame to your face." It's Friday! And like Sunday, I don't feel like posting a serious blog. Besides, have you ever gotten so behind on your projects that you just have to shrug? What are you going to do? There are only so many hours in day, right? So today rather than rant and rave and go off on some tangent, I thought I would focus on nothing important at all. Like I said, it's Friday. Soon, I will also galavant off to Tre Bella Spa owned and operated by my dear friend Cheryl Mullick, who gave me the infamous "dirty girl" quote on the cover of California Girl Chronicles , enjoy Rain Drop therapy and get some eyebrow landscaping done. And you know what else, just because I love Cheryl's ability to take what originally looks like a caterpillar and turn it into a...

Now I have covered the male characters I loved in 2011, and I thought now I would cover the girls. Girl power is big in Hollywood right now. The Carrie Diaries is being developed by the CW Network and HBO has a new girl-driven series coming this spring titled Girls . Now I am honestly not intrigued with Carrie Bradshaw's teen and young adults years, so I will be passing up that show. Girls looks like it might be somewhat interesting, sardonic and sarcastic. And with all of this current and upcoming girl power, we have some great female characters to cover. So, here we go. Sookie Stackhouse (the book version): I love Sookie. She's fun, sexy, courageous, and human even if she's "fae". The TV version, I have some qualms about her on True Blood . She has vacillated quite a bit and changed and "rearranged" so to speak. She can be bad-ass, but the writers, while I know are trying to reset the story for 2012, had her say and do some things that, while I...

True Blood Season Five spoilers are starting to drop. And so it seems that my favorite Viking Eric Northman will share a hinted at "bromance" time with our "southern comfort" vampire Bill (see article ). Ugh! Who wants to see that? Not me. Bring on the great "shipping" of Eric and Sookie and forget "bromancing the bill". All right Truebies, you all raise your hands if this is what you want to see in Season Five? As my friend Sonya cites as her favorite Michelle phrase, "Hell to the no!" So not interested in this "dynamic duo". I fear we'll be put on hold minimally another 12 episodes before we see our Viking God reunited with his fairy princess. Doesn't the True Blood writing team know that we all can't get enough of Sookie and Eric? Can't we at least get a single season of how they would be as a real couple with our vampire's memory actually functioning? I mean come on, we had to spend two agonizing seaso...