True Blood!

[EstelSeren]

There's a real True Blood drink?
Um, yuck?

Yeah, you can get it on the website. It's blood orange flavour, not just blood flavour!! From what the guy who plays Bill was saying in an interview it's similar to what they actually use on set and is really nice and fruit flavoured. He had the A- one though, not the O+ that's currently on sale. You can get it here: https://www.trubeverage.com/ but it's only available in the US and Canada. Quite expensive though at $16 for a 4 pack!

Beca :wave:

 

[jms895]

YUCK!!

 

[EstelSeren]

Sorry, I don't understand the 'yuck' response to the TruBlood drink! Might just be me being dense or weird but I don't have a problem with it. It's a fruit flavoured drink in novelty packaging which would have been amazing for a Halloween party! Apparently it tastes really nice. Is it a psychological thing- you associate it with a blood replacement drink so it's disgusting for you by association?? Don't mean to come across as funny about it, I'm honestly just curious as I don't understand!

Beca :wave:

 

[HannahGraceee]

Wow id love that, its pricey tho lol

 

[PeanutBean]

So I want to ask something that I don't want to come out wrong. In watching the first series and having now read the first book I query the way race is depicted. Maybe I'm just wrong but I feel like the series has really broadened the diversity of the story where perhaps the book was lacking. I was chatting with DH about this (as he is a writer) and about whether or not it's a good thing to try and promote diversity and counteract prejudices in one's work. On the one hand if you are writing about a specific setting then it makes sense to write true to it whether that means there are or aren't people of different ethnic origin. On the other, maybe it's a good idea to try and actively be inclusive in your writing, I guess as long as it doesn't come across as mindless tokenism doing more harm than good. Having not been to Louisiana I can't comment on what it is actually like to live there but comparing the series to the book there seems to be a significant difference. I just get a little bit of a negative feeling about the book. Don't know if this is making any sense!

And on the second book,

Spoiler

I can't believe it opens with Lafayette dying! I liked him!

 

[jms895]

Jason makes me laugh so much

 

[Farie]

I think CH chose Louisiana for a very deliberate reason, and similarly in the books keeps things a little narrow/negative to reflect the narrow and negative attitudes to vamps
It is set in a very biblical religious area and she uses the background and implied attitudes to help set the scene

Just my opinion

As for the 2nd book ... I know - gutted!!!

 

[NickyT75]

Just ordered a couple of the books from Amazon... hope they are as good as the TV show! xx

 

[AppleBlossom]

I just finished the 2nd book

 

[PeanutBean]

I've got to admit I'm finding the second book much worse than the first. I'm half way through and nothing has happened yet. I'm finding Sookie irritating too, it's all sex and arguments with her!

 

[Tiff]

It was all sex and arguments with her in the series too! It was my main thing that irritated me about her. She be all "I hate you Bill Compton" then two seconds later they're going at it either in his bed, or after he crawls out of the ground, blah blah blah.

Is it a psychological thing- you associate it with a blood replacement drink so it's disgusting for you by association?? Don't mean to come across as funny about it, I'm honestly just curious as I don't understand!

I imagine. Kind of like how people are grossed out by "kidney" beans. My OH has always maintained that he wants to get a brand new toilet, and put punch in it, and see if anyone will drink it.

Totally would mess with people!

 

[Princess mama]

I love the show, think only 20% of that has to do with the storyline the rest is all about Jason Stackhouse, yum yum! send him and his libido round my way anytime lol

 

[nievesmama]

I really want to watch this from the beginning, ive seen the odd one, but keep missing it. I love the theme song..
Im going to get the dvd when i see it next xx

 

[Princess mama]

I really want to watch this from the beginning, ive seen the odd one, but keep missing it. I love the theme song..
Im going to get the dvd when i see it next xx

The theme song is bad things by jace everett i believe. I brought the first season and asked for season 2 dvd for xmas, think its only available from america so thats given my oh a mission! lol

 

[PeanutBean]

I love the show, think only 20% of that has to do with the storyline the rest is all about Jason Stackhouse, yum yum! send him and his libido round my way anytime lol

Ugh! I always marvel at how unattractive absolutely everyone is in the show!

nievesmama - I think the opening credits won a big award as they are so cool!

 

[EstelSeren]

Eric takes my breath away! I don't think it's so much his appearance as his presence on screen that attracts me. I don't want to know who the actor is and search for him as I'm scared it's the character and not the actor I find attractive!

Beca :wave:

 

[PeanutBean]

I'm scared it's the character and not the actor I find attractive!

Sadly this is often the case I find. Except with Jonny Depp who is gorgeous in everything, even now when he's getting on a bit.

I've just finished book two. Is there a yawn smilie somewhere? I had high hope as book one was ok but two seemed to be two unrelated stories, one inserted into the middle of another, presumably to make it long enough to be published as a book. Also I was really beginning to hate Sookie. I think I'll leave off the books as the TV series is just so much better. After this book I am even looking upon Twilight with fondness!

 

[Sarahkka]

Poor PB!
I said they were pretty light reading!
I don't mind the setting and Sookie's narrative. I like the northern Louisiana vernacular, myself. What gets to me is the sloppiness of Harris' writing. I went through a phase of listening to the books on tape. The actress who read them was quite good and it was just really relaxing/escapist stuff to listen to as I was falling asleep, playing a computer game, etc. But then I started to notice how many glaring errors and contradictions there are in the books and it's kind of annoying me.
Sookie doesn't annoy me so much, although I agree that she is a bit formulaic. I take the whole genre with a grain of salt and I do enjoy the satire of the racism against the supes.
But sloppy writing starts to irritate me. I can't help it. I am anal about that kind of stuff. It just seems really lazy and unprofessional. Keep track of your plotlines and your characters! That's your job!!!
Anyway, I still think the series is fun. Deeply flawed. But still fun. Chalk it up to a guilty pleasure for me.
But the TV show is much better writing.

 

[angydebraband]

I hope they dont make it too campy for the next season

 

[EstelSeren]

PeanutBean- Having just read books 1-9, the Sookie short stories and the first chapter of book 10, I have to urge you to try to stick with it as they do get better and more interesting! You have to take the writing style in your stride, though I'm afraid. I wouldn't say that CH is the most competent writer in this style and in some places later on she is definitely in desperate need of a proof reader/ beta writer to help her keep on top of events. I think I manage to separate it from what makes good, well written literature by keeping in mind that it's written from Sookie's point of view. It's what's going on in her head and things get a bit muddled in people's heads all the time! I'm used to the first person train of consciousness style, which probably helps but I do think that Living Dead in Dallas would be more rounded if it it was written in 3rd person omniscient or at least in a pov share format as then we would have more information about what was happening in Bon Temps and indeed at Fangtasia. I found that Sookie actually gets more likeable the further into the series I went, in fact it correlated with an increase in the amount of time Eric was featured!!

I'm incredibly frustrated with True Blood series 2 (I'm half way through at the moment) as it's so far from the books that it might as well be completely unrelated altogether. It's sickeningly overly pro-Bill for my liking and poor Alex Skarsgard seems to have been completely shafted by the script as Eric's character is only barely distinguishable as Eric once you've read the books. I'm sure it's great if you don't know how things should go and I know that I would've been able to forgive small discrepancy as I knew that they weren't going to keep entirely to canon! I've also made the dreadful mistake of reading season 3 spoilers and I'm dreading it now!!

On the plus side, if you live in London there's now a Fangtasia club night happening monthly (search Fangtasia London on Facebook) and there's soon to be a Fangtasia Bristol too (search Fangtasia Bristol on Facebook)!! From what I could tell from the Facebook groups, it looks like it'll be a fabulous night out!

There's also set to be a True Blood convention in London in the 2nd weekend of August. The actor who plays Sam and the actress who plays Pam are currently set to attend. Just in case someone's interested!

Beca :wave: