The Taste of True Blood

And the taste reviews are in. What's True Blood taste like? Click here to find out.

~Lily

Vampires and Advertising: The Next Big Thing?

Vampire books. Vampire movies. Vampire television shows. With vampire themed media raking in the bug bucks, it was only a matter of time before advertisers started looking for their piece of the vamp-pie.

To advertise the second season of True Blood, a fake advertising campaign was launched. The first adds touted the product that shares it's name with the title of the show; True Blood, the beverage choice of mainstream vamps everywhere.


But the ads didn't end with the synthetic blood substitute. Faux ads targeting vampire enthusiasts with everything from Marc Ecko cologne to Gillette razors to Harleys and Mazdas are cropping up around the country. Several big name brands are throwing in with HBO to create these adds, and it looks as though the response is a favorable one.

Take this ad, featuring Harley Davidson:


Or this one, from Marc Ecko:


Or this one, from Gillette:


Ok, so the current campaigns are only stunt campaigns, but they are attracting attention and could be indicative of a potential market. If so, this likely isn't the last we'll see of vampire advertising.

For some articles on the faux vamp advertisements, please click here and here.

~Lily

Bandwagon, This Way. All Aboard!

Earlier this month, the New York Times featured an article titled A Trend with Teeth (see this previous blog entry). It looks like the Times isn't the only publication to jump of the "let's document the vamp-craze" bandwagon. On July 16, Newsweek featured a vamp themed article titled, cutely enough, Bite Me! Why We Love Vampires.


This is a fascinating article. It covers some of the vampire trends in pop culture, the history of the mythos, the more popular (and reoccurring) fantasies, and even the psychology behind the intense sexuality that so many seem to associate with vampires.

For a slideshow of some well known and well loved vamps, courtesy of Newsweek, please click here.


~Lily

"It's not you...ok, it totally is"

A month or so ago, there was an entry at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about Breaking Up With A Series. This struck me as interesting because I've recently been thinking about a once-loved series that I just don't care enough to read anymore. Now, I fully admit that I'm a series addict. If a character and world truly grabs my attention, I want continuing stories of the characters and their lives. I will hold on to a series when even the rats are jumping ship. But sometimes a series just...fizzles, so badly that you have to let it go before it takes you down with it. And with the fizzle comes a certain amount of disappointment, like a trusted friend letting you down.

That said, I was very surprised by some of the series and authors discussed on the SBTB blog. The most notable authors/series named were JR Ward and the Brotherhood Series, Sherrilyn Kenyon and the Dark-Hunter Series, Laurell K. Hamilton and the Anita Blake Series, Christine Feehan's Carpathian Series, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse Series, and Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series. (Damn, that's a lot of links).

Some of these shocked me. Tired of JR Ward? Perish the thought. The woman could sneeze on paper, have it published, and I'd probably spend hours trying to decipher the meaning of the water marks on the page. Likewise, I'm still deeply in love with Harris's Sookie series, and not just because of True Blood. I feel like the world Harris has built is just really starting to be explained. While I don't like the increasingly darkening mood the series has taken, I still consider it a must read.

I've never read any of the Anita Blake books. Same goes for the Carpathian novels and, from what I hear from Helena (and I trust her implicitly...where books are concerned), I'm not in a great hurry to break the binding of a Feehan novel anytime soon. I haven't read enough of Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series to pass fair judgment. As for Evanovich's Stephenie Plum series, I'm praying I stay interested. I only picked up this series (now 15 deep) about a week ago. I've finished the first two and I'm infatuated. It's quirky, it's smart, it's sassy, and it's completely relatable on a very basic woman-cursed-by-Murphey's-law type way.

Now, there are series that I'm ready to have "the talk" with. You know the talk, the one that begins with "It's not you, it's me..." and ends with me eating a pint of extra creamy mint chocolate chip ice cream and wishing I'd started the convo weeks (months, years) earlier.

Men and books. Both can lead you to mainline Häagen-Dazs.

Yes, that totally deserved its own link.

The first series on my list, and it pains me to say this, is Lynsay Sands' Argeneau Series. Looking back, we've had a rockier relationship than I'd like to admit, the Argeneau's and I. The first two books hooked me, they really did. The next few seemed a bit long, but only because the out of order sequencing and release of the titles lead to a great deal of repetition. At least that's what I told myself.

But things did get better for a while. The novels eventually straightened themselves out and the story lines started getting stronger. I had such high hopes. Then the nagging feeling that I'd read this all before started to settle in. The world is fascinating, like no other vampire world I've read before, but the main characters are all so similar. Still, the situations and world building of the series kept me interested...all the way to the ninth (and in my opinion strongest) book.

Vampire, Interrupted really is a worthwhile read. Unfortunately it is also the last worthwhile read in a series that has passed its prime. The last two installments, so forgettable I can't remember their titles and don't care enough to look them up, were a collection of recycled characters and themes so bland that I jumped ahead pages at a time just to make the reading go faster. Then, when I finally got to the end of the last, I realized I simply didn't care. I didn't like the main characters, I didn't feel any chemistry between them, and even though the story ended on a cliffhanger, I have no real interest in seeing the matter resolved. I've reached the end of the Argeneau series, whether the series continues or not.

You just aren't meeting my needs, Argeneaus. I'm sorry. I'll always look back on the good times.



So, what series do you think have passed their prime?

~Lily

Review - House of Night series by PC Cast and Kristin Cast

From the Casts' website:
"After she is Marked, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx...Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny— with a little help from her vampyre friends."

The Cast mother-daughter duo work together to create this interesting vampire lore spin in a young adult format. I know the House of Night series is considered to be teenie bopper lit; however, its contribution to the diversity of the vampire stereotype can not be ignored. Vampires, or vampyres as the Casts call them, are "marked" at the age of 16. A devote follower of the Goddess Nyx visits the chosen teenagers and touches their foreheads, imprinting the outline of a blue crescent moon tattoo. Once the tattoo appears, the teen must journey to the House of Night boarding school post haste, or death will quickly ensue.

Zoey Redbird, shortly after being marked, escapes from her family home and makes her way eventually to the school, but not before having a vivid vision of the Goddess Nyx. All vampyres young and old pay homage to Nyx through ceremonies and complete devotion. Nyx tells Zoey that she is to be her eyes and ears and specially marks her. Everytime Zoey completes a particularly harrowing task, aka saving her friends/her life, she is blessed with more ancient tattooing courtesy of the goddess. Casts' vampyres worship the night as well as the earth bound elements. Zoey is the first vampyre to possess an affinity for all five elements: air, fire, earth, water, and spirit.

Neferet, the high priestess and headmistress, has the ability to read minds; therefore, the students dare not step out of line during their school years. If the fledgling survives, yes some of their bodies revolt against the change, the tattoo on their forehead will fill in and extra tattooing around the moon will determine what their calling profession-wise will be. Zoey is the only fledgling to already have a filled in crescent moon. For all these reasons, Zoey is considered the next super vamp, and as a result garners a lot of attention both friend, foe, and lover in nature. Suprises are consistently around every page, a completely new type of vampyre shows up later in the series and Neferet is definitely not what she seems.

The House of Night series is a mixture of JK Rowling's Harry Potter, Stephanie Meyers' Twilight, and a good dose of Wiccan ideology, all portrayed through the dialogue and normal teenage angst of the present day. The relationship drama can get a tad old and petty; but the action and ordeals propel the plot forward. The element summonings/ceremonies are a little too numerous and tedious, but overall feed well into the original Cast ideal of vampyres.

All of the five novels in this series are serious page-turners: Marked(2007), Betrayed(2007), Chosen(2008), Untamed(2008), and Hunted(2009). On October 27th of this year, the sixth book: Tempted will be in stores. If you are in the mood for a young adult series with an addictive plot and charming characters, start on the House of Night series. You will not be disappointed.

Rating: 4/5

~Helena

Anne Rice declares an end to the Vampire Chronicles

On July 10, 2009, Anne Rice made the following declaration on her webpage:

“I completed the Vampire Chronicles in 2002 with the writing of Blood Canticle. This novel marks the end of my journey with Lestat and his friends. It also marks the end of my journey with the Mayfair Witches and the Taltos. The novel does not attempt an artificial finale, or wrap up, but presents Lestat and others as moving on in time. The novel also reflects a profound moral change in Lestat.

In 2002, I experienced a new spiritual beginning, and my writing inevitably changed. New challenges presented themselves and new novels were the result.

“I remain proud of the Vampire Chronicles and the stories of the Mayfair Witches, and I remain close to the readers of these books. But I have no more stories to tell with the Vampires or the Mayfair Witches, and cannot write about these characters anymore. To attempt to do so would be dishonest. I think the eleven novels of the Vampire Chronicles are best enjoyed as a complete and finished work.

I am very hopeful that high quality films will be made in the future based on the Vampire Chronicles and books about the Mayfair Witches, and my agents are actively working on possible projects.”

-- Anne Rice

The Vampire Chronicles are composed of the following novels: Interview with the Vampire(1976), The Vampire Lestat(1985), Queen of the Damned(1988), The Tale of the Body Thief(1992), Memnoch the Devil(1995), The Vampire Armand(1998), Merrick(2000), Blood and Gold(2001), Blackwood Farm(2002), and Blood Canticle(2003).

New Tales of the Vampires include: Pandora(1998) and Vittorio the Vampire(1999).

The Mayfair Witches series comprises: The Witching Hour(1990), Lasher(1993), and Taltos(1994). Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle are crossovers involving both the vampires and the witches.

I just recently began to read the Vampire Chronicles and have enjoyed it immensely so far. I am sad to know that the end has come for this series; however, since Anne Rice has not visited this world in 6 years and is now focused on her Christ the Lord trilogy, I am not overly suprised.

~Helena

Review - Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel by Ronda Thompson

From Ronda Thompson's website:
"Supermodel Lou Kipinski seems to have it all. But beauty is only skin deep—and sometimes Lou's porcelain complexion can get a bit hairy. The only thing worse than a furry fashion faux-pas? Fangs in her million-dollar smile. That's what happened six months ago, when Lou had her first outbreak. But now that she's at the height of her career she absolutely must find a cure…So what's a single werewolf gotta do?"

"Most women find the bloating, cramping, and bitchiness of PMS bothersome at worst. I turn into a monster a week before my period...literally" So starts the first novel in a new series by Ronda Thompson. Sadly, this will be the only installment, since the author passed away due to pancreatic cancer in 2007.

Lou Kipinski was not always supermodel material. Her transformation to striking good looks coincided with another, of a canine persuasion. After seven years of attempting to forget her past life, Lou is on a mission to locate her birth parents and the answers for all of her werewolf questions. While digging for information, Lou is plagued by nightmares of a werewolf serial killer, whose victim profile just happens to fit Lou completely. On top of investigating her own past, Lou finds herself caught up with a hunky police officer in charge of the murder cases. It is a race against time to figure out who she is and save her own tail from being chomped by a killer that gets closer every day.

Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel is a light and fun read. The characters are entertaining and the suspense continues at a gradual climb until the final few chapters where it sky rockets. At times, the story seems to put too much emphasis on Lou's possible bedmates, but the plot picks right up a few pages later. Along with many others, I am sad that there will not be other installments in the series. I would have thoroughly enjoyed uncovering Lou's past with her.

If you are looking for a fun, humor filled page turner concerning supermodels, werewolves, hot men, and a sprinkling of vamps for good measure, spend a few afternoons with Ronda Thompson.

Rating: 4/5

~Helena

Twilight Cartoon

As long as I'm talking up other people's work (c'mon, what the hell else would we do on a review blog), I wanted to include this cartoon.

This rendering is not mine. I am in no way this talented. It is the work of Shinga who is, well, quite gifted, as you can obviously see. Shinga is the artist behind the Head Trip comic strip. Funny stuff if you're interested in checking it out. It's on hiatus at the moment, but plenty of back comics to read.

Anyway, the following is Shinga's recap of Twilight. Oh Twilight, I love you in spite of reason, but I still find this damn funny.



If you can't get the text to enlarge enough to read it here, follow this link to the original.

If you enjoyed this, check out Shinga's other work. Giving credit where credit is due, people.

~Lily

More Movies in 15 Minutes

In previous posts, I mentioned how much I adore Cleolinda Jones (in general) and her hilarious Movies in Fifteen Minutes parodies (in specific). Last time, I pimped Twilight in 15 Minutes, so it's high time that I mention another of her vampire parodies.

Without further ado, here are a few of the highlights from Cleo's Van Helsing in 15 Minutes:

"Mr. Hyde has escaped from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He plunges to his death and everyone blames Van Helsing. The French gendarme yells at Van Helsing in a German accent."

~*~

"Van Helsing goes to confessional. Some cardinal bitches at him. "Why won't you tell them I work for you?" whines Van Helsing, totally sounding like some married guy's girlfriend whining that he won't take her out in public."

~*~

"Anna weeps as her hot beloved brother turns into a badly computer-generated werewolf before her eyes.
...
VAN HELSING: He's not your brother anymore! He's just a bunch of pixels!"


Again, funnier in context than out. The movie was, at best, laughable. The parody makes it more so. Check out the full Van Helsing in 15 Mintues parody here.


~Lily

First Cats, Now Squirrels!

The vampire epidemic spreads! Squirrels are, apparently, more flamboyant in their displays of vampirism. Note the cape.


He's so adorably evil! Look at the sunflower seeds he's already drained. Gives new meaning to the whole "vegetarian vamp" craze. Take that, Cullens.

~Lily