Tag Archives: bite

Write an Incentive Post to Kick-start Your Writing Goals

Black Hole

Where did the time go?




Something a little more drastic must be done.

Continue reading

Do You Need To Change The World?

I’ve been listening to two stellar podcasts lately: Planetary Radio and Are We Alone? Each time I listen to these shows, the scientist inside of me is rekindled, and I feel like society is taking a turn for the better because of the science happening on this planet and elsewhere in the universe.

After listening to Planetary Radio, I got to thinking (dangerous, I know) about what I am doing, and how it’s far from changing the world. I write this blog, work part-time as a web developer and write fiction in my spare time. Aside from being a father and a husband, is there anything that makes an impact on other people?

So here is the question: do you need to change the world in order to make a difference and stay happy?
Continue reading

Entertainment: TV Shows – True Blood

We didn’t get to go to the theatre last night, so I’m going to throw a TV Review in today.

So, my sister-in-law came to us and said that we would definitely not like True Blood. The acting was bad, the storyline was stupid, and we would just overall not enjoy watching it. In fact, she and her boyfriend laughed through out it, and could not understand why their friends enjoyed watching it.

Now, at this time, three episodes had already aired, and we had them saved on our DVR. Well, we haven’t had much free time lately for entertainment purposes, and so the episodes built up until we have five sitting and waiting for us.

My wife told me to go ahead and watch an episode and see if it was as bad as her sister claimed it to be, and whether or not I thought she (my wife) would like it. I have a good bit more free time than she, as I’m just a student, and she’s supporting our family by working full time. So, I said I’d give it a whirl.

Now, I’m a sucker for a good piece of vampire fiction. I loved Angel, read The Vampire Chronicles, and enjoyed their film adaptations to a certain extent. Also, the The X-Files always had me interested when the episodes involved the monster of the day, rather than the overall story arc of the invaders.

So, I sat down, and began watching the pilot of True Blood. True Blood takes place in a parallel reality with ours, where vampires no longer have to live in the shadows. Scientists have created a synthetic human blood replacement called True Blood. This allows vampires to live among humans, while not doing anyone harm.

Of course, this is all analogous to the freeing of the slaves, and also to the coming out of gays and lesbians in modern society. The vampires “came out of the coffin”, and are now trying to become full citizens of the US, with voting rights and an amendment to the constitution to grant them all of the freedoms that humans enjoy.

There are a few different groups of people, generally speaking, in this universe.

  1. Human vampire haters. Akin to redneck white people (most of them are, in fact, white), they hate without discrimination. Also, because vampire blood is an illegal drug, the haters tend to enjoy draining a vampire for all he is worth, in order to make a quick buck.
  2. Vampire lovers. Now this sounds strange, but I actually do mean lovers. There are people who worship the vampires, and desire to have sex with them. There are also the lovers who allow the vampires to drink from them, just for the sheer pleasure of it.
  3. Good vampires. These are the vampires who have gone “mainstream” and are no longer drinking from humans. Generally, these vampires do no harm, and are fighting for vampire rights in our communities.
  4. Bad vampires. These vampires still feed on humans, and want no part of human culture or law. They refuse to drink the synthetic blood.
  5. Plain ol’ normal folk. There are some normal humans in all of this. Some are a bit afraid of vampires, but don’t hate them. And some are quite fond of vampires, as they would be of their own human neighbors.

So, now after explaining the universe in which this takes place, let’s move on to the two main characters.

Sookie (helmed by Anna Paquin) is a telepathic twenty-something who works as a waitress in a bar. Her small family is the main set of characters in this show. She can read other people’s thoughts, but comes to find out that she cannot read vampires’ thoughts, as they are not living. Her performance is really not that bad, and this is saying a lot, as I really, really tend to think she ruins movies.

Next, we’ll touch on love interest vampire, Bill (played by Stephen Moyer). Bill is a Civil War veteran, who has returned to the small Louisiana town to reclaim his family’s property. He is a “mainstream” vampire who is facinated by Sookie, and so spends a lot of time with her. Bill is a really cool character, who just oozes charisma, as you would hope any fictional vampire would.

There are quite a few more characters involved, but these are the main two, around which the story revolves.

I am going to say that I am completely addicted to this show, and will most definitely be watching it in the future. So, if you’re looking for something to do, and you haven’t passed judgement on this show yet, check it out.