Gavin Rossdale was a vamp on last night’s Criminal Minds

“He may or may not be [a killer]. He plays a vampiric sort of rock star who may or may not be killing people to hype his album,” said Gubler, who plays FBI profiler and psychologist Dr. Spencer Reid. “I’ll be honest: I’ve noticed that [vampire] craze as well and no [we're not trying to cash in]. The thing is that [vampirism] is actually a pretty common delusion.”

He went on to note that since rock stars and vampires seem to have pretty similar schedules (minus the whole blood-sucking thing), it makes sense for Gavin to try the role on for size. “So if you’re going to pick something to fit a rock star, I think we went more with what are the odds of what he would be that cinematically interesting to watch and rather them him being a pedophile,” he explained. “They went with rock star.”

Source

Bradbury eyes miniseries to showcase short stories

Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury is preparing to shop a six-hour miniseries to television networks that will feature a half-dozen of his classic short stories, each directed by a different person.

Bradbury, 89, is the author of “Fahrenheit 451″ and “Something Wicked This Way Comes.”

The miniseries directors will get to select their favorite titles for the project, is part of a new production agreement with newly formed company White Oak Films.

More here

Serious work on Dr. Horrible sequel could start soon

Ever since we first reported in January that Joss Whedon and company were planning a sequel to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, we’ve been awaiting news. And now we have some, courtesy of MTV.com.

First, star Nathan Fillion told the site that the project has a name—which he won’t divulge—and that Whedon’s already written a couple of songs.

Now, Whedon’s brother and co-writer Zack Whedon tells MTV that the sequel will get seriously underway once Joss’ just-canceled Fox series Dollhouse wraps for the season.

“They finish up ‘Dollhouse’ in the winter—at least what they’ve scheduled to shoot thus far—so hopefully when that’s done, we’ll all be able to get together more frequently and grind it out,” he explained. “There are a couple of songs written. It’s very promising. We’re all very excited about where it goes.”

He also confirmed that the sequel will feature Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) and Captain Hammer (Fillion). Duh.

More here

Sneak Peek at Supernatural 5.09 The Real Ghostbusters

This week you can bet the Winchester boys are wishing they were back in TVland or at the most had their sunglasses to hide behind as they get tricked by Sam’s obsessed fan Becky into attending a Supernatural convention and of course this episode is airing right before Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins, along with Jim Beaver, Traci Dinwiddie and other past guest stars are set to appear in Chicago IL at the Creation Convention Salute to Supernatural.

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‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer?’ Hell Yeah!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer brought a new dimension to the vampire oeuvre. Based on the campy feature film of the same name, the Buffy television series managed to maintain the humorous aspects while still offering a satisfying “bite.” The vampires in the show were humanized. They were full-formed characters who had interests outside of sucking blood and listening to Bauhaus.

The most well-known Buffy vampire was Angel. In the Buffyverse, vampires had no souls, which was what made them able to rip apart innocent humans without care. But Angel had a soul, which made him all sensitive and brooding, far before Twilight was in vogue. Personally, I found Angel far more interesting when he reverted into Angelus, which is evil Angel without a soul.

More here

Damn! I missed Gavin on Criminal Minds. I bet he was a great vamp! Did you see his performance? If so, was he believable?

It sucks that Dollhouse got cancelled, but it sounds like Joss Whedon will be quickly moving on to other projects, which is good for Dr. Horrible.

I really miss Buffy, it was one of my all time faves.

CREEPY VAMPIRE TEETH PACIFIER

 www.geekologie.com: As if babies aren’t scary enough already, now you can get $7 vampire teeth pacifiers that make them look like they’re gonna suck blood instead of breast milk. No way — not from this teat!

Billy Bob pacifiers for babies with personality. You will receive this hilarious, Lil’ Vampire Billy Bob pacifier. It is brand new in manufacturers’ packaging.

More here.

OK, that is just plain frightening! Would you buy this as a gag gift for a preggers friend?

Has Vampire merchandise officially gone too far?

 CELEBRATING ANGEL’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY

www.sequentialtart.com: This column is dedicated to the memory of Andy Hallett (the actor behind the demon Lorne), who passed away earlier this year (and was only two weeks older than me — scary!). As column editor, I’ll start off our discussion ….

 But where do the hell do I start? There’s so many things that made this series one of the best to ever grace the small screen: a highly imaginative concept; intricately-woven stories with twists upon twists; deeply complicated characters; snappy and insightful dialogue; sets with character all their own (the hotel; demon karaoke club Caritas; the offices of Wolfram and Hart); well-crafted make-up and props; stunning special effects; brilliant acting … and to think I almost missed it all!

More here.

ZOMBIE WALK THE STREETS IN MICHIGAN AND MARYLAND!

www.delsquacho.com:  The fine folks at Zombie Walk Detroit figured out that, to motivate that apathetic, they’d need a hook. That hook: the walking dead. That’s right, they use the unholy power of necromancy for charity, which is pretty cool if you ask me.

This was the second zombie walk I’ve participated in. The first claimed over two hundred zombies, and raised enough money for over six thousand meals.

More here.

www.carrollcountytimes.com: Down Main Street they went, covered in fake blood and roaring at any inquisitive bystanders or passing cars.

 The third annual zombie walk was organized by Ruckus Productions, an independent horror film company that started in 2007. Zombies marched from the 140 Village Shopping Center to the Carroll Arts Center, finishing the day with a free screening of “Night of the Living Dead.”www.ruckusproductions.com, almost immediately and he hoped to have the film of this year’s walk up by Halloween.

Ruckus said pictures of the event would be up on their Web site,

And in addition to creating the film, this year Ruckus set up a canned food drive benefitting Carroll County Food Sunday.

More here.

These events look like a lot of fun!

Did you go to either event? Would you go?

No matter what kind of vampire you like (evil or sparkly) we have stuff for you!

From John Lamb at the Fargo Forum

Different takes on the vampire

“ ‘Twilight’ stuff is getting the press, but there are a lot of different types of vampire stuff going on,” says Jamieson Ridenhour, chairman of the Division of Humanities at the University of Mary in Bismarck, and scholar of gothic fiction.

Some of his favorites [more at the link]:

“30 Days of Night” – Forget romantic notions of vampires. The monsters in this movie descend on an Alaskan town during a month without sun for a feeding frenzy.

“Let the Right One In” – “The best vampire anything I’ve seen in the last 10 years is (this) Swedish film,” Ridenhour says of this story of two 12-year-olds. “It is a good example of a romance, but it is absolutely a horror film.”

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” – Ridenhour calls the seven-season TV series “the smartest” use of the vampire as a metaphor in contemporary storytelling

Vampires have heart, but are they losing their bite?

Karen Kohoutek misses the good old days.

As organizer of the Fargo Public Library’s annual October ghost stories for grown-ups program and author of the horror movie blog “Haunted Vinyl” on http://areavoices.com/, she knows her horror history and misses the traditional depictions of vampires as suave but scary blood suckers.

But with kids today more interested in gloomy mortal Bella locking lips with the moody and misunderstood vampire Edward in the “Twilight” books and movies, vampires are no longer slumbering in coffins. Today, they’re big business, starring in scores of new books, movies, TV shows and even inspiring fashions – all marketed toward adolescents. And the hottest trend is the forbidden, but always tempting, love between humans and the eternally desirable demons. Vamp-purists, however, feel this fictional new blood-thirsty brood is, well, a little anemic.

“It’s strange to see them come back in this new form,” says Kohoutek. “Now it’s all about teenage girls lusting after vampires.”

While she’s not a fan of the vampire oeuvre, she appreciates the fact that the “Twilight” books have “gotten a lot of reluctant people to pick up a book.”

From Raelynn Coombs at the Examiner: Vampirism-what is it really? (Part 1)

Do you believe in vampires, not just in the movies, but in the real world? Vampirism is the belief in the existence of vampires and/or the actions or practices of a vampire. But, do vampires truly exist?  Through my recent adventures of becoming intrigued by the vampire craze in the media, I have stumbled upon many disturbing and fascinating details. Does being a vampire imply that you just dress a certain way, belong to a religious cult, or have a medical condition? According to numerous sites and articles, all of these could be the case, but real vampires do exist. At least in their eyes they do.

The Legend
According to legend, vampires were creatures who fed on the souls of living beings by drinking their blood. Most commonly referred to as the undead, there were times when people believed vampires were living humans and stories about these vampires have been around for thousands of years.  Ancient Greeks and Romans told of demonic beings and blood thirsty spirits who appear to be the originator of the vampires we know today. But the entity we have all come to know as the vampire of present began in 18th-century Europe. From this time period, people first believed that vampires were spirits of wicked individuals who had returned from death. This belief became so widespread that public executions were performed on those who were thought to be vampires.

Read More here

via Kate Youde at the UK Independent: All these vampires on the box could suck the genre dry

When the US vampire drama True Blood hits terrestrial TV on Wednesday it will be the latest in a rash of books and films injecting new blood into the genre.

But while aficionados are enjoying the genre’s popularity, the first signs of a backlash are beginning: it is only a matter of time before we have had our fill.

But Dr Helen Wheatley, senior lecturer in film and television studies at the University of Warwick and author of Gothic Television, said interest in vampires “comes and goes”. She explained the first “glut” of TV programmes appeared in the 1970s, following the BBC’s choice of vampire story Late Night Horror in 1968 as its first drama in colour “precisely because of the profusion of blood and gore”. She added: “For me, it’s not a new thing and it won’t last forever and it’ll come again.”

Read More here

Honestly, 30 Days of Night scared the crap out of me, but that was the point. There are two very different kinds of vampire stories out there: the romantic Twilight/Vampire Diaries kind, and the terrifying, eating people kind. I truly love vampires, and have for years.  I enjoy both types of stories, so I’m all for the proliferation of them. I majored in history in college, so I enjoy the myths that brought about the stories just as much as the stories themselves. As for the trend coming and going, that is true with everything. There are only so many things in the world, so they keep coming back, re-invented or re-made, with each new generation learning about them for the first time. And what’s so bad about that?

Which type of vampire do you like? What got you into vampire lit?

by Vaneta Rogers at NBC

As female fans stake their claim as a growing part of the “geek” audience, the previously male-dominated world of fan culture is struggling to get used to the idea.

While the differences between the sexes have been argued for years in barrooms and kitchens the world over, now it’s fandom that is dealing with the issue. As women are becoming more interested in sci-fi and fantasy media, the idea that there might — or might not — be differences between how men and women approach fandom is a concept that everyone from Hollywood filmmakers to comic book fans are trying to understand.

Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” has ushered in a surprisingly large female audience for “Buffy” and other sci-fi projects like “Firefly,” “Serenity” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” Yet, despite his stories appealing to women, he sees no difference between his male and female fans.

“There’s not a difference. I do not think there’s a difference,” Whedon said. “What? Female fans are more nurturing? People are crazy, and fans are the best kind of crazy. And I speak as one of them. And I’ve never seen a difference in the way the men and women respond to things.”

Read More here

Great article. I think this has been happening for years, especially when movies are made out of comic books. Between that and affordable technology, being a geek has become almost cool. It isn’t just stereotypical guys hanging out in their basement anymore; the internet has allowed everyone access and people realize how much is out there.  And I would rather have producers not aim for girl audiences, I like the way the shows are now. When they try to attract girls everything gets very pink very quickly.

What do you think about all of this? What is it that attracts you to Sci Fi or Fantasy?

ew.com has exclusive news about Supernatural:

Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is sticking by his word that his CW thriller will bow out next May after five seasons. Sort of.

“I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline,” the exec maintains. “Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we’re in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down.”

Relax, Supe Nazis. Here’s that catch I promised you…“That having been said,” Kripke continues, “I’m looking at this season as the last chapter in this particular story. That doesn’t mean there can’t be a new story. Buffy did it. The X-Files did it. You close a chapter on a big mythology storyline and then you begin a new one.

More here

Wow! For fans of Supernatural, does this news upset you? Or would you like to see it go in a new direction?

As CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports, people are always thirsty for new trends, and now these legendary monsters may be satisfying their taste buds.

Once, Count Dracula ruled as the baddest bloodsucker of them all. But in the 1980s, that dark, evil image became younger and hotter in “The Lost Boys.”

And vampires grew a conscience in the 1990s after an interview with one, and slayed audiences with “Buffy’s” “love ‘em but hate ‘em” routine.

Now the new night stalkers are giving the other vamps a run for the title: they’re are all the rage, in books, movies and on TV.

“There’s always been a fascination with lusting after what you can’t have,” explains Carissa Rosenberg, Seventeen magazine’s entertainment editor. “They’ve just made it a lot cooler.”

You can blame the “Twilight” book series and its big screen namesake.

Kristen Stewart says the story’s simply irresistible. “It’s about two people that are dysfunctionally devoted to each other and how it screws with everything else in their life.”

For more of this story, please visit here.

Even though vampire love, for some is a new trend, it has always been an passion for some. Are you a newly converted vampire fan? When did you first become transfixed by these dark beings? Do you attribute your adoration to the current films and TV series that have brought vampires back into vogue?