True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You, the latest in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, wants you to lick their minds. This compilation of academic-style essays, edited by George A. Dunn and Rebecca Housel, digs deeply into the metaphysical and philosophical questions raised by True Blood and Southern Vampire Mysteries. Not for the faint of heart, this collection asks The Big Questions: Under what conditions is it moral to create another vampire, why is it essential for vampires to “dress up and play human,” are vampires capable of being good citizens, why have philosophers always considered humans “more” than other species, are vampires in fact superior to humans, the hypocrisy of the Fellowship of the Sun, is Sam still Sam when he shifts, what are the connections between coming out of the coffin and coming out of a closet, are vampires inherently evil, is Sookie a feminist? These issues and more are viewed through the filter of some of (human) history’s finest minds like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and John Rawls.
I openly admit to being a nerd, and I’ve happily spent hours discussing these very questions on the old HBO Boards, and now at Bill’s Wiki’d Women. A huge part of the appeal of True Blood, at least for me, is that while it’s a fun on the surface, there’s plenty going on underneath to sink my teeth into. This book identifies many issues and provides historical context for the discussion, but it ultimately asks more questions than gives answers, leaving the reader to come to his or her own conclusions. Not intended for a quick read-through, this collection is meant to be savored, read slowly and pondered and, ideally, discussed with fellow fan(g)s.
Entertainment Weekly, in their Special Characters Double Issue (available now), not only included a special three-page spread of the Season Three cast photo, they also called the Season Three Premiere the “Must Watch of the Week” and gave the episode an A-.
Ken Tucker wrote: “Picking up right where last season left off, Alan Ball’s wild ride puts the pedal to the metal: Bill (Stephen Moyer) is kidnapped, Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) making his entrance naked (I know – you’re not gonna bother reading the rest of this), Tara (Rutina Wesley) in dangerous grief over the death of Eggs, Jason (Ryan Kwanten) bedding two girls while secretly trying to become a “better man,” teen vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) trying and failing to control her adolescent hormones, and dear, sweet Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) recommending “tequila and Klonopin” as a surefire way of getting through hard times. Plus, the return of Evan Rachel Wood’s Queen and an increased role for Eric’s curvy underling Pam (Kristin Bauer). True Blood is, if anything, faster, sleeker, more vicious, more fun than it already was. Yum-yum.”
The wonderfully talented Melissa has reviewed NY-LON for all you Stephen Moyer addicts out there. We can’t give enough praise to all our creative Nesters who contribute to this site. Without you all we’d be nothing. I want to also thank photographer Thomas Butler for the superb photo he took of Stephen on set. Enjoy!
Here I am, again, in a desperate attempt to ease my ache from “True Blood” withdrawal and since paparazzi videos are disgusting (and there are not enough of them) I’ve been watching every movie and TV show where our beloved Stephen Moyer stars. Some of those experiences have been delightful, some of them have not. Today, my friends I bring you one of the good ones; today I’m going to tell you about NY-LON.
NY-LON is the flight connection between New York and London and this 7 episode series is a story about a Bohemian record store employee and night school teacher Edie Miller (played by the lovely Rashida Jones) from New York and the very driven stockbroker, overachiever and financial genius Michael Antonioni (played by our divine Stephen Moyer) from London.
Stephen on the set of NY-LON - Photo courtesy of photographer Thomas Butler
Michael is a successful London banker that works in this crazy office with much too many people and even more work stations per square feet/square meters, whose boss has the most thoughtless ways of firing people; he is refined, handsome, afraid of commitment, in control and he has the longest sideburns after Bill Compton. He takes care of his family and his friends but apparently is a dirty bastard when it comes to the ladies, because obviously nothing is perfect. Edie works at a record store (which I found kind of funny being that Rashida Jones is the daughter of Quincy Jones) and teaches at a night school for disadvantaged people… in New York. She is ridiculously loyal to the people she loves, and is recovering from a really bad breakup from the biggest douche bag since Jeff Spicolli; she also has the most annoying and needy friends ever! They meet in an awkward situation in a bar in London, after her bag is stolen and he lends her some money after selling her one cigarette. (?)
A pragmatic and an idealist can deal very well under the sheets
They end up having this amazing night of endless talking, heavy smoking and easy drinking and next thing we know she’s late for her morning flight back to New York. They are so different we almost don’t understand why they even like each other. She works in an old record store and he doesn’t even own a cd player – and that’s a mortal sin everywhere but especially for Edie who’s last boyfriend is a musician.
He works in a bank selling stocks to make rich people richer, which she hates since she’s a bit of an anarchist/socialist/communist, take your pick; he’s a Catholic who believes in the sanctity/insanity of marriage and she’s an agnostic that doesn’t trust any kind of institution (even though sometimes she needs to be institutionalized herself). His life revolves around his family and his work and the only family she believes in are her friends. He’s a pragmatic and she’s an idealist. But one way or another they like each other and somehow he ends up flying to New York to deliver an earring she left in his apartment and he does it in such a romantic way he makes us hate the idiot we have in our bed. Read More »
The fine ass women who bring you this website are a multinational bunch, being a Canuck, a Kiwi, a Spanish señorita and two American gals, so we were happy to add another exotic contributor to our ranks to review another of Stephen’s better films- Uprising. Melissa Bellais from Venezuela wrote us this snappy review of a bloody great film, and we have included some sexy screencaps (with bonus bad ass uniform action, y’all) to go with it.
Mucho thanks to Melissa for being such a sweetie and damn good with words. Enjoy everyone!
I have this condition, it’s not exactly a disease, it’s more of a syndrome, I call it Moyeuristic Disorder and it started in October when I discovered True Blood. It’s not such a bad thing, by far it is the most harmless of personality disorders and the main symptom that you develop is this urgent need to watch every little thing, every little movie, every little show, interview or video that has Stephen Moyer in it for even one fraction of a second.
So in order to ease the symptoms of my illness I’ve been forced to succumb to this need and in the process I’ve found that sometimes you lose two hours of your life watching a very, very young Stephen Moyer hidden under armor, making speeches so dull and corny that it makes your ears bleed, but sometimes you come across a precious gem like “Uprising”.
Our lovely, super talented friend latbfan went a bit mad on Amazon this Xmas and bought herself a few DVDs starring a certain moody vampire when he was playing characters that weren’t dead and fangy. Which means she was able to pick one of Stephen Moyer’s earlier adventures in television and review it for us in her usual classy style. Lilies was a British TV show from 2007 and it turns out, it’s really rather splendidly gritty. We have included a bunch of screencaps together with the review because they’re so very hot, I think I might fetch the swoon brandy and have a lie down. Enjoy ladies and random male visitors!
Stephen- awesome at charming the panties off innocent young ladies.
At risk of over-using adjectives, “Lilies” is an incredible, witty, heart-breaking, and grisly eight-part series set in post-WWI Liverpool. I bought “Lilies” (along with every other available title that Mr. Moyer is in) on a post-Christmas, late-night, wine-induced Stephen Moyer binge at Amazon.com, my account flush with other people’s money. To say that it was not what I was expecting is a vast understatement. This is not a film for the faint of heart (at times, the various accents/dialects are difficult to understand, and there are several graphically disturbing scenes), nor is it merely a sexiful romp with Stephen Moyer, who spends the film dashingly clad in period-clothes and drives a car that just screams for back-seat action (although how anyone managed to get laid wearing 50 pounds of underwear is beyond comprehension). “Lilies” is addictive and compelling, even though watching the series was an on-going train wreck of disaster and despair. There are moments of laugh-out-loud hilarity, and there is exquisite tenderness and devotion, but the realities of this world are often ironically cruel and, at times, nauseatingly gruesome.
Fellow Nesters, while we are waiting for Sookie to rescue Bill Compton in Season 3 (patience, just six months left), we are going to spend some time reviewing some of our fave cast filmography.
We started some months ago with Anna’s ‘Darkness’ and now it’s time to look into Stephen’s previous career. So without further ado, here begins our review for Restraint.
Restraint is a 2008 Australian thriller, directed by David Denneen and starring Stephen Moyer, Travis Fimmel (Ivory, The Beast) and Teresa Palmer (Bedtime stories). This movie was also released under the name, “Ravenswood.”
You won’t want to miss the chance to see this movie, especially if you ever have fancied yourself in ANY of these scenes with Mr. Moyer ;):
Tap dancing on him
Finding him in your tub
Lending him a towel
Searching into his pocket
First aid anyone? mouth to mouth
Talking about the weather
NOW SERIOUSLY, this was the first Stephen Moyer film I had seen after falling for him and his portrayal of Bill Compton. And, let me tell you, I was not let down. Strangely enough, it has also became my favourite so far, he looks awesome and the continuous close-ups of him and the intensity of his interpretation leaves you breathless. He creates a character from the ground up, an intense and accurate study of a man whose phobias – and probably his past – relegate him into a self inflicted confinement. His safe world turns upside down when he crosses paths with psycho Ron (Travis Fimmel) and his aimless girlfriend (Teresa Palmer).
Andrew (Stephen Moyer) suffers from agoraphobia (fear of public places and open spaces) and he lives confined in his luxurious mansion. He soon becomes Ron and Dale’s hostage after their escape from a petrol station where Ron has killed the manager. But surprise, surprise, they are already escaping from another crime; it seems that Dale’s boss is also dead. The lovers end up in Andrew’s mans, and decide to spend some time there. Andrew persuades Ron that he will be more valuable alive, promising them $40,000 from his trust fund if Dale pretends to be Andrew’s ex-girlfriend, Gabrielle. A perverse game then begins between the three of them. While they are isolated in the house, we witness Andrew’s metamorphosis from the weak to the devious. Will Andrew end up manipulating his captors?
"You are starting to become tedious Ron."
Restraint becomes a game where you can’t know for sure who is the cat and who is the mouse. Most of the self-proclaimed pshycologic thrillers end up being a joke for the viewer’s intelligence. This is not the case here; get ready to be on edge for the entire film.
What? Stephen for free? Yes he is, but only to those of you living in the UK. You can now see all 6 episodes of Ultraviolet for free on youtube via channel 4. Unfortunately for us in the US and Canada we can only see it if we buy the dvd.
Synopsis: The series stars Jack Davenport, Idris Elba and Stephen Moyer and depicts a clandestine war between a secretive government organization and vampires on the streets of Britain. The series goes to significant lengths to downplay the sillier parts of the myth, with greater attention paid to the scientific side of the concept. The series is notable for its fairly grim tone and the extreme ambiguity of the characters, with it not being entirely clear which side is in the ‘right’, with the vampires claiming to have suffered religious persecution for centuries for just being different whilst the agency claims that vampires are evil ‘leeches’. Of course, the agency is also funded by the Vatican…
For reasons never understood, series creator Joe Ahearne chose not to do any further series. Don’t get me wrong,Ultraviolet tells a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, but it also left the the door open for potential sequels.
And though he’s in but a tiny fraction of it, the sheer joie du mal that Steven Moyer brings to Jack makes any scene he’s in utterly riveting.
True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You, the latest in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, wants you to lick their minds. This compilation of academic-style essays, edited by George A. Dunn and Rebecca Housel, digs deeply into the metaphysical and philosophical questions raised by True Blood and Southern Vampire Mysteries. Not for the faint of heart, this collection asks The Big Questions: Under what conditions is it moral to create another vampire, why is it essential for vampires to “dress up and play human,” are vampires capable of being good citizens, why have philosophers always considered humans “more” than other species, are vampires in fact superior to humans, the hypocrisy of the Fellowship of the Sun, is Sam still Sam when he shifts, what are the connections between coming out of the coffin and coming out of a closet, are vampires inherently evil, is Sookie a feminist? These issues and more are viewed through the filter of some of (human) history’s finest minds like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and John Rawls.
Fellow Nesters, while we are waiting for Sookie to rescue Bill Compton in Season 3 (patience, just six months left), we are going to spend some time reviewing some of our fave cast filmography.
What? Stephen for free? Yes he is, but only to those of you living in the UK. You can now see all 6 episodes of Ultraviolet for free on youtube via channel 4. Unfortunately for us in the US and Canada we can only see it if we buy the dvd.
