On Turq's recommendation, a week ago when HBO had their "free weekend" I watched the first episode of season two of "True Blood." That was it. I was hooked so it was off to the local Hollywood Video to begin renting the Blu-Rays of season one. This has to be one of the best series I've ever seen made for TV. Not everyone's cup of tea and probably way too much sex for folks here. I just finished episode 7 last night and have also been watching the episodes with commentary and "Enhanced Play" which consists of a few text comments that pop up about vampire lore.
For those who have not seen this series it is not about your usual very dark Bela Lugosi style vampires. The idea is that the Japanese invention of synthetic blood allowed vampires to come "out of the casket" so to speak and join society since they would no longer need to kill people to get their nourishment. They even refer to them as "Vampire Americans." One of the commentaries mentions that during filming foreign news services reported synthetic blood (universal donor type 0 negative) had been developed. The series is about a southern community getting used to the presence of vampires there, particularly one who had a home there before the Civil War and returns to take up residence in the property. What struck me about the way that vampires are portrayed is their "other worldliness" which is characterized very well in the series and the effects on ordinary people who buy vampire blood for a recreational high which gives them supernatural abilities. This "other worldliness" reminds me so much of the effect of practicing tantric techniques and probably one of the best representations I can thing of. My teacher even mentioned this before I took initiation. And it is a very cool experience and very mind blowing at times. And no I don't drink synthetic blood (nor real either). ;-)
