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A blog wherein a literary agent will sometimes discuss his business, sometimes discuss the movies he sees, the tennis he watches, or the world around him. In which he will often wish he could say more, but will be obliged by business necessity and basic politeness and simple civility to hold his tongue. Rankings are done on a scale of one to five Slithy Toads, where a 0 is a complete waste of time, a 2 is a completely innocuous way to spend your time, and a 4 is intended as a geas compelling you to make the time.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

True Blood, True Life

One of my pet peeves in movies and TV shows has to do with funeral scenes.  I don't have a "funeral suit" in my closet, some black suit with a black tie and a white shirt that I can drag out on a day's notice in the unfortunate and unwanted event that I need to mark someone's passing. Do you?  Yet it's this awful cliche in Hollywood that the real world is full of people young and old who either have that special suit in their closet or run out and buy.  You look at a group of mourners, and they're all there in a funeral suit.  I'm not going to go to a funeral in my gaudiest ensemble, but nor am I going to go in a black suit with a white shirt and a black tie.

So three cheers for Episode #6 of True Blood.  There's a funeral in this episode, and the characters are dressed like actual real people at most of the actual funerals of real people I've attended in my life.  One of the relatives is in a suit, but it's a blue suit with a loose tie.  A friend of the family is in an ensemble that looks like the kind of thing the character might actually have had in his closet.  Some of the people aren't wearing ties at all.  They're dressed respectfully,appropriately, but not like a lazy falsified version of the real world.  

And I'm a little bit biased about True Blood, obviously .

As an aside, and in response to a commenter from last week, yes, Borders does have an endcap for Charlaine Harris now, running thru the end of November, and has ordered lots and lots of books and even put in lots and lots of reorders as books sold over the first few days of the promotion; Barnes & Noble stores have gotten six-packs of the backlist and some may have a floor riser, but for a lot of these stores that might be only a one-week supply and after that I'm not so sure.  A Sookie box set will be out for the holidays!

Biased, but easy enough just to blog about other things and ignore if not for the fact that I'm really liking the show.  Charlaine had gotten a DVD of the first five episodes and told me the show got better with each one, and ya know, she's right.  Episode #4 had some squirmy funny business going on with Jason that I couldn't bare to watch and yet couldn't avoid enjoying.  Episode #5 was a tight rope act with some scenes that were really funny mixed with some scenes that had very strong emotional pull to them and the balance was just right.  Episode #6 was more tightly focused on the immediate ramifications of the death that cliff-hung at the end of the prior episode, but suffice to say that the funeral dress is far from the only thing worth praising.  We're seeing more and more of Jason's darker side so I'm loving him less than I was at the start, but that's a reflection of the approach to the character.  Anna Paquin has been superlative and continues to be spot-on.  Bill is growing on me.  

Six more episodes to go, the season finale slated for Nov. 23, and if things continue on this level I'll have a lot to give thanks for come Nov. 27.

10 comments:

Tim Akers said...

Seeing as how I was raised as a Presbyterian, yes, I have a funeral suit. For a long time, it was the only suit I had.

Maria said...

The show is being talked about on one of my book groups. People that have read the books and some that haven't have been checking out the show and have had positive things to say about it. (I haven't seen it myself as I don't have access to it.) Having read most of the books, I'm glad the show is going over well!!!

David said...

I like Jason more as a character after the most recent episode, in spite of the nastier side we've seen. He's become much more interesting and three-dimensional, as opposed to the comic-relief horndog he's mostly been up to now.

Anonymous said...

Anna Paquin nude:

Thank you Alan Ball. Thank you Alan Ball. Thank you Alan Ball.

Bill Swears said...

I'm loving True Blood. It has me rereading my 2001 copy of Dead Until Dark (which I truly, deeply enjoyed). I'll probably have to buy the last few, since I went off vampire novels about four years ago.

Bill

The Brillig Blogger said...

So I need to know more Presbyterians, or Hollywood has been taken over by them...

Bill Swears said...

Brillig said:
So I need to know more Presbyterians, or Hollywood has been taken over by them...

***

I either take with me, or borrow, a suit when I attend a funeral. My wife's grandmother was Catholic, and almost every man at the funeral wore a suit of some kind, even though it was a very hot summer day, and nobody in that Boise family ever wears a dress jacket.

I think the suits to funerals thing is regional, as well as denominational.

Bill

Lisa Iriarte said...

When we held the funeral for my grandmother who passed a week before her 97th birthday, I came up with the idea for everyone to wear something red. It was her favorite color. She was buried in her favorite red outfit. I wore a red dress (tastefully cut) and Dad wore a red tie, and so forth. I think Grandma would have heartily approved. She was a "break the rules" kind of lady.

Anonymous said...

I am thoroughly enjoying True Blood. As yet, I have not read the books, but I was sorry to lose the grandmother so soon. I really liked her. I was hoping Sookie would have Bill turn her into a vampire. But at the end, the unexpected (to me) happened. I guess it was inevitable. Sookie surrendering to Bill. :)

AnnNoE

Charlaine Harris said...

Sookie's funeral dress was completely right, and Tara's was obviously too hot for the weather; but it was the only dress she had, so that's what she wore. Amazingly good choices. Thanks, True Blood staff.