Today I’m bringing you my review of the first few episodes of the new anime series Usagi Drop, which currently airs for viewers outside of Japan on Crunchyroll each week (simulcast with Japan).

The Usagi Drop manga started in 2005 and has recently been nominated for the 2011 Eisner Award in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia category. Not only has this manga made its way into anime form after only about five years – it has also been made into a live action film that is set to release in Japan on August 20th.

Here is my review of the first four episodes of the anime (please keep in mind that I have not yet read the manga, so this is just a review of the anime itself).

The story: Japanese salaryman Daikichi’s grandfather passes away and he heads to his family’s homestead in the countryside to pay his respects. Upon arrival, Daikichi learns that his grandfather had an illegitimate child (yes that’s right, child), a little girl named Rin. Unfortunately, Rin has no one to care for her now that her rather has passed away and her mother has run off and disappeared. All the family members firmly state that they do not have the time or resources to care for her, and Daikichi seems to be the only one in the family not alienated by the fact that she is an “illegitimate child.” Daikichi appears to be drawn to Rin’s innocence and her surprising ability to continue onward even with all the hardship and negative feelings around her. He offers to take Rin in and care for her despite being a single man working at a huge corporation with absolutely no frame of reference as to how to raise a kindergarten-age child.

Unlike so many other anime stories where the locations, characters and plot are often exaggerated to a large extent, this story comes off as honest and average. For me as a viewer, it’s refreshing that this well crafted story is grounded in true-to-life locations with realistic characters and events (I even pictured myself back in Tokyo a few times while seeing these artistically accurate portrayals of train stations, the city, and the countryside). The writers have given us a pretty honest depiction of some aspects of Japanese culture and society – especially in its portrayal of Daikichi and the difficulties that he must face as a salaryman (Japanese business man) raising a little girl in the city while working long hours for a large corporation. Even little things like Daikichi’s long daily commute on the trains and the Japanese system of “Emergency Daycare/Nursery School” are addressed with a remarkable amount of accuracy and straight-forwardness.

The relationship between Rin and Daikichi as a family is touching, and the interactions of all the characters are carried quite effectively through life-like exchanges. Usagi Drop has really exceeded my expectations in this regard. For example – the two little girls in the first episode behave as truly life-like polar opposites – the abandoned Rin is quiet, smart and collected, while another family member’s daughter – Reina – is loud, badly behaved, and lacking any sort of manners.

The animation is beautiful – dripping watercolors and crisp lines that look a bit more like colored pencil rather than a digital pen. This toned-down art style stands out in today’s digitally dominated market of ultra-shiny, brightly colored anime. Admittedly, I don’t really like the intro sequence at all. It’s cute but to me it doesn’t seem to fit with the mood or style of the rest of the show. And yeah, the opening sequences for a lot of anime series don’t necessarily fit their show counterparts…but to me this one really could have been improved.

My final thoughts – Usagi Drop will be one of the best anime this year, and I’m willing to bet it will become a huge success given the quality of the work and the press that the manga has already received. I love the story and I think it will do very well in the international market. You can watch Usagi Drop on Crunchyroll as it airs and give it the support it needs to be picked up by an import company.

Seen Usagi Drop? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Imagine all the classic movie monsters (The Wolfman, Invisible Man, the Blob, etc.) living in Hollywood and actually starring in those classic monster movies. Now imagine these same monsters still living in Hollywood in the age of CG and green screens. Bummer. Their heydays are over and they are all trying to make ends meet. From bussing tables at restaurants to working as amusement park attractions to even, of course, the convention circuit, they are just trying to make it.

The story begins with the character named Devil Fish (basically he is the Creature from the Black Lagoon) having a party at his house in the valley. He dives into a swimming pool mixed with heavy amounts of cocaine and then OD’s. It then cuts to Fantasyscapecon!

Day 1 – The monsters of Screamland are gearing up for the convention when the Invisible Man decides to make a big announcement at his booth. It turns out years ago all the monsters had a crazy drug fuelled sex orgy and Devil Fish filmed the whole thing; he called it Phantasmagorgya. Devil Fish locked it away as an ‘insurance policy’ if it turned out he needed it down the road. The Invisible Man states he got his hands on the film and plans on screening it opening night of the Con – 10 PM sharp! Carl, the Wolfman, is none too happy about this. He enlists the rest of the monsters to go to Invisible Man’s booth and confront him. Some do not seem to care and others are a bit worried, but they all decide to have a talk with the Invisible Man anyways.

When they arrive at his booth for the confrontation, they discover that the Invisible Man has been murdered. The police are called, but they think it is a prank. This is when Carl and Travis, a Scotty type character from a Star Trek like show, decide they are going to play detective to figure out who committed the dastardly crime.

I have to say, I really liked Screamland, written by Harold Sipe and Christopher Sebela and drawn by Lee Leslie. Each issue of the comic has a backup story focusing on one particular character, which brings a lot more to the story itself. I am excited to see where the 3rd issue of this new ongoing series, hitting the shelves soon, is going to reveal next. Whodunit? Who knows? Surely, it will not be the two inept monsters trying to solve the crime, right? For those people who love Sci-Fi, Classic movie monsters; those who try to watch The Blob while trying to have a three-way; and/or individuals who just enjoy a lot of other plain craziness, this book is for you.

A few weeks back I talked about a kickstarter.com page that had a great idea for a camera holster. Well I got mine in the mail yesterday and I’m so happy I backed the product. 

The Capture is a solid piece of equipment and I dropped it less than 5 minutes after opening and quickly learned it was pretty solid. It has a solid metal construction and a lifetime guarantee so I’m not worried about punishing it. I spent some time trying it on different bags that I have and in different positions to see how it would feel and in most applications it worked pretty well. I think it might get a tad uncomfortable on long hikes but that could be fixed by sliding some foam behind it.

The build quality is great, everything works really well and they have even included a tripod mount so that you don’t need to remove the mount from your camera. The piece that mounts to your camera also includes 4 points for a camera strap, with a small scoop on one side to allow for the webbing from the strap. I couldn’t get it to work every time, however if you read the comments on this article you will see that the creator has put time into testing this to try and make it work. Those of you with larger cameras (I have a Canon T2i) probably will not have an issue with this.

The units are backordered right now, which isn’t surprising as this product became one of the highest funded projects ever on kickstarer.com and they are already planning a few accessories. Right now you can order them for $79.99 at http://peakdesignltd.com/home.htm

I’ll be the first to admit that I generally think people who wear Bluetooth headsets in public look like tools. It’s not a fashion statement and it looks quite rude. I mean, really, you’re so in demand you have to have your phone plugged into your ear at all times? I swore I’d never wear one if my life depended on it.

And then they made Star Wars ones.

I know, I know. But when the people at Earloomz offered me a chance to check one out I figured, “What the hell, right?”

Earloomz makes them in 10 different varieties. I chose “The Dark Duel” to try out.

Syncing the device was easy. It was as simple as turning it on the device and flipping a switch marked “Bluetooth” on my iPhone. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as sound and microphone quality and so when I finally slipped it into my ear I was a little surprised. For one, it was comfortable (and it came with different sized ear-pieces in case it wasn’t) and it didn’t really feel like I was wearing anything. Aside from the fact that I could barely hear the outside world from my dominant ear, I couldn’t really tell it was there. It’s no wonder people wear them all the time.

The sound quality was as good as my phone and testing it out, the mic didn’t sound noticeably different than if I were using my phone normally.

I tried playing with a few things and was a bit dismayed that I couldn’t find a way to listen to my iPod on the Bluetooth, but I don’t know if that’s a problem with the device, my phone, or if it’s just not something any Bluetooth is designed to do.

I was very impressed with the range on the thing. I was able to plug my phone in in my bedroom and I could wear the device and clearly pick up calls from anywhere inside my house and my front yard. From my living room, I could take calls in my back yard, which is where I could see myself actually using this headset on a regular basis.

It was also a lot easier to deal with in the car than my headphones. The problem with my headphones is the cord getting tangled everywhere and that’s obviously not an issue here. And I’ll be honest, I’d leave this in my car to replace my headphones completely if it played music since the radio in my car doesn’t work.

As far as the battery life, I was using it moderately for a day and a half before felt like charging it, but I’m not sure I needed to yet.

Overall, this really converted me. I still think people who wear these constantly look kind of stupid, but I can see situations where I will actually be using this and it will be useful to me. And since it’s emblazoned with the climactic lightsaber battle from The Empire Strikes Back, I won’t like a complete idiot doing it.

For car trips and conference calls where I’m doing lots of pacing this will come quite in handy. For any Star Wars fan looking to get into a Bluetooth headset, these are affordable and of high quality. For any current Bluetooth user and Star Wars fan, do yourself a favor and convert to these Earloomz, because let’s be honest: you’ll look a whole lot cooler this way.

You can pick them up on the Earloomz website.

This Week: Bandai is bringing Star Driver to Hulu and more shows are finding their way to Netflix streaming.

Aniplex (in partnership with Bandai) announced at their Otakon panel yesterday that they will be streaming Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto on Hulu starting August 17^th. Crunchyroll will also be hosting the series, and both websites will stream with official English subtitles (no word on the dub yet).

https://youtu.be/-Z5HhK0fTsI

This 25 episode series from 2010 takes place on fictional Southern Cross Isle. As it happens on your typical mysterious island, a boy washes up on shore one starry night and, luckily for him, there is a cute girl nearby who senses his presence and gives him CPR. A rich local student takes him in for the night and (due to obvious anime plot reasons) enrolls Takuto at the local high school (and what kind of anime high school would this be if nothing unusual was going on?)… In fact, there are mobile suits (called “Cybodies”) hidden underneath the island that possess immense power and can be controlled by humans. An evil organization, Glittering Crux, is plotting to steal these suits and only Takuto and his friends can stop them.

The show suffers from some seriously overused anime plot points (an insanely rich kid with moe-inspired maids, a super mysterious guy with an unknown past that will turn out to be the hero, and a girl that I can almost guarantee will fall in love with him by the series’ end…) but overall it’s a decent watch. The interpretations of time and “zero time” are pretty cool and the Cybodies are interesting in that they somehow manage to be both mech suits and magical-girl / magical-boy transformation driven power suits.

…and while we’re talking about streaming, have you been keeping your eyes on Netflix lately? Part Three of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood has just been made available (until now you had to get the disks). Other great shows on streaming right now include Mushi-Shi, Nana, Speed Grapher, Hetalia, Monster, Excel Saga and 109 episodes of Bleach. I have to fully recommend Excel Saga to anyone that’s been watching anime a long time. It’s an over the top, ridiculous spoof of anime and television and is highly rated by anime fans.

Alongside the new subscription options debuting in September I’m hoping a few more shows will continue to make their way to Netflix streaming. I keep requesting Irresponsible Captain Tylor, but maybe I’m in the minority in actually remembering that awesome show…

I leave you this week with another obscure piece of video from Japan’s youtube. It’s a political satire miniseries (based on the original manga) called The Legend of Koizumi. Very entertaining if you have read up on Japanese politics, and still rather amusing even if you haven’t. The premise of the miniseries is that international diplomacy is settled at the mahjong table, with real-life politicians depicted as masters of mahjong:

This first appeared on The Huffington Post.

With the release of the incredibly well-put together, amazing, thrilling Captain America movie, I think it’s time to take a look at one of the unsung heroes of the character. Joe Simon created Captain America (along with Jack Kirby) and he’s a living legend. Not many people remember his name since it was Stan Lee (another living legend) who revitalized the character in the 60s, again with Jack Kirby.

He released his autobiography this year (Joe Simon: My Life in Comics) and I have to say after reading it you get the feeling that comics today would not be the same without Joe Simon.

Penned without the aid of an assistant or ghostwriter and looking back on a long, eventful life, Simon’s memory is lucid and his writing is crisp and engaging. He starts at the beginning, working in newsrooms for Hearst papers, learning the skills that would make him a legend as a writer, designer, and illustrator. The book reads very much like a non-fiction version of Michael Chabon’s masterpiece The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It has wonderful anecdotes about working in newsrooms of the era, and even then they were expecting imminent doom for the newspaper industry, wondering how much longer it could possibly last.

Captain America is probably his best known creation, though he revolutionized comics in every genre, having his biggest successes at the time with romance and satire comics. In an interview for Big Shiny Robot!, Simon talked of his time creating the most successful comics ever made:

I’m especially proud of having created the romance comics, the most successful line of comics ever produced-each issue of Young Romance and Young Love sold a million copies and up. Those titles took a smaller publisher, Prize Comics, and gave them a huge hit. We were sitting on top with the big boys inside of a year, and they were stealing our ideas in an attempt to copy our success. Jack and I were on the way to see my wife in the hospital, where she had just given birth to our first child. We stopped in a candy store to pick up a card and saw a cluster of girls crowding around the comic book rack for the very first issue of Young Romance. That was when we knew we had a hit. We loved all of the different genres in which we worked, but the romance books hold a special place for me. It’s a shame that so much of the diversity we once had in comics has practically disappeared.

The book takes you through all of the highs and lows — through his storied career with hilarious and heartwarming anecdotes all the way through. It’s almost bizarre reading a book about comics before Stan Lee’s time, and to see stories told of him as this snot-nosed kid who came into the office because of a relative of someone who worked there, and Joe Simon gave him his first writing job. The book flows naturally from the dawn of comics, through the golden age and silver age. Anyone who loves the medium of comics would do well to read this tome, it should be listed as one of the definitive history books on the subject.

As a creative professional, Simon’s life is incredibly inspiring. He spent his life doing what he wanted, plying his art, and making a business out of it. He worked tirelessly, even in the old days, for the rights of creators, even if it bit him in the ass sometimes. And you’ll love reading about his misadventures during World War II.

If you enjoyed the Captain America film then you owe it to yourself to learn more about the man behind it, and Joe Simon is about as fascinating as they come. And the easiest way to do it is to read about it in his own words, do yourself a favor and pick up Joe Simon: My Life in Comics. You won’t regret it.

Bryan Young is the editor of the geek news site Big Shiny Robot! and author of Lost at the Con.

By Jerk-bot

KIRBY KRACKLE; “Super Powered Love” (Kirby Krackle Music)
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos (words and music)

The third time, as they say, is the charm. But for Kirby Krackle … the nerd-rock project for Seattle-based musician Kyle Stevens and comics shop owner/conventioneer Jim Demonakos … the third go-round offers proof that KK is not just a whimsy.

The duo’s third, full-length album is titled “Super Powered Love.” It’s the best of the bunch by far, both in terms of songwriting and performance. Stevens, who sings and plays guitar (as well as occasional ukulele) is backed by an actual band: bass guitarist Scott Andrew, keyboardist Bryce Francis and drummer Nelson Estes. (Rappers Adam WarRock and GMK the Great, as well as vocalist Kristina Horner, also chip in on a couple of songs.)

While the initial efforts (a self-titled 2009 release, and 2010’s “E for Everyone”) suffered a bit from their thin sound, “Super Powered Love” has a fuller, richer one. You can really hear how well this approach works with the rousing album closer, the pop-punkish “I Wanna Live in a World Full of Heroes.” A solid rhythm section only makes Stevens’ Ramones-like riffing sound more muscular. A quick plea to radio programmers: Give this winning song some well-deserved airplay.

Elsewhere, there’s expected Kirby Krackle silliness. “Booty do Math” fuses pop with hip-hop, “Hunt ‘em All Down” and “Bite of Another” freshen up overdone subject matter (the Transformers and vampires, respectively), and the title track crackles … excuse the pun … with electricity.

There are still a couple of stripped-down moments, too, though. Stevens busts out that aforementioned ukulele on “In Another Castle,” an earnest love song/plea that again touches on one of the pair’s favorite subjects, Nintendo’s best-selling series of Mario video games.

This is easily the most complete collection of songs. There are no duds here. And again, “World of Heroes” rivals any pop-punk being churned out by major-label act for sheer hooks and catchiness.

As has been done in the past, “Super Powered Love” is self-released. It’s available digitally (through iTunes and other sites, check www.kirbykracklemusic.com for more information), and in “hard-copy” form for old-schoolers like yours truly. (CD and booklet art by comics artists Jim Mahfood and Katie Cook make this purchase pretty irresistible.) KK also previewed several of the tracks on YouTube, so if you are not convinced yet, you should at least give these ones a listen. You’ll be hooked!

Another nice thing about “Super Powered Love”: The duo has had a semi-annoying habit of placing “secret tracks,” which appear after the album seems to end. (“Tony Stark” wound up being one of the best songs on their eponymous debut, if you listened long enough to find it.) Refreshingly, that’s not the case here. The bakers’ dozen tracks are it. And that’s more than enough.

Jerk-Bot is the robotic nom de plume of Utah-based movie reviewer and writer Jeff Michael Vice, who invites you to enjoy his other endeavors, for Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off review program, MSN’s Parallel Universe and MSN Movies, IN This Week magazine, X-96′s Radio From Hell, Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show.

Hey kids! I’m back! Sorry for leaving you all high and dry for the past couple of weeks, but I had one of those baby things, so I’m just getting back into having a life again. Over the last two episodes of “True Blood” a few things have happened. Things of interest being:

* Jason gets raped by a bunch of Hot Shot hillbillies

* Eric loses his memory

* Alcide is back (yay!), but so is Debbie (boo) who has apparently kicked the drugs for good

* Jason escapes his captors in Hot Shot, hides in a tree and kills Felton

* Joe Lee is still a piece of shit, and so is Tommy’s mom

* Marnie ‘effs up Pam’s face, and I’m hoping that comes with HUGE consequences for Marnie

* Eric killed Sookie’s fairy godmother

* Bill totally banged his great great great great granddaughter

* Arlene’s baby is still totally creepy, and apparently can write on the walls?

That’s about it for the highlights, so on to this week’s show!

We begin this week where we left off last week. Joe Lee has a chain around Tommy’s neck in an effort to make him obey. Tommy’s dumb mother just keeps screaming shit like “You’re going to kill him!” and “We missed you, that’s why we’re doing this!”. These people are awful. I don’t even know why this is a story line, because I could literally care less.

And then things take an interesting turn… Tommy pretends to get choked out by Joe Lee, then throws down by wrapping the chain around Jo Lee’s neck and beating him to death. In an effort to save her husbands life, Tommy’s mom becomes a casualty as well. Finally, things have gotten interesting in the Mickens household. Five dollars says he goes running to Sam.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the woods, in another storyline I don’t care about, Marnie is passed out with Jesus, Lafayette and Tara. When she wakes up she starts babbling about the spirit and how she was overtaken by the spirit, blah, blah, blah. Lafayette once again explains to Marnie that it’s not good to piss off vampires and calls her a hooker. J, L and T then leave Marnie in the woods.

At Arlene’s house, she and Terry decide to ask God for help to “shoo the evil away” by getting a reverend in the house to cleanse it. Love Arlene and Terry, but again, could not care less about this story line.

Things are getting sexy at Sookie’s house, as a seemingly naked Eric peeks in on her sleeping. Suddenly Godric appears (yay!), and tries to convince Eric to eat Sookie (boo!) so that the two of them can walk in the sun together. They begin to chow down, when we realize that it’s just a dream.

The dream freaks out Eric so much that he decides to take the totally creepy approach and sneak quietly up to Sook’s room and stare at her with his fangs out. She wakes up (and is sporting the sexiest night gown you’ve ever seen), and Eric asks if he can sleep with her until sunrise. She agrees, so long as he doesn’t try any sexy-bitey things on her. The new Eric is adorable, but I’m really starting to miss super sarcastic, kind-of an asshole Eric.

Jessica and Hoyt get Jason back to his house, and he seems to be healing after the blood Jessica gave him in the previous episode. After they tuck Jason in, Jessica big time avoids a kiss from Hoyt. Things are not going well for these two, and that makes me sad.

At King Bill’s house, his great great great great granddaughter makes the entire viewing audience completely uncomfortable by trying to explain to granddaddy that incest is okay. Incest is not okay. Even if you can’t procreate with the other party. Gross. Thanks for taking us to new levels of weird there Portia…

Thankfully, Bill is as grossed out by this as I am. He compels her to stay away from him, even going so far as to make her terrified of him, and run away screaming when she sees him. This makes me happy, because hopefully it means less Portia.

Pam goes to King Bill to ask his permission to kill the “uppity wiccan cunt” (possibly the best line in any television show ever), because nobody fucks with Pam’s face. Dumb Bill tells her he cannot permit that because the AVL does not permit any vampire on human attacks. Bill says that the situation would be resolved, and that perhaps there might be a cosmetic solution to Pam’s problem, maybe more lipstick. Ever so sarcastic, Pam peels a hunk of her face off, flicks it at Bills floor and said that she’s already tried that. God, I f’n love Pam.

Jesus and Lafayette are going on a road trip (yay!) to Mexico (boo!) to visit Jesus’ grandfather to get help. Fun fact! One time, when it was Jesus’ birthday, he thought his grandfather was giving him a pet goat. That was, until his grandfather made his stab the goat to death, and Jesus hasn’t seen him since. Do I smell a new racial stereotype?

Tara decides not to go to Mexico with the boys, and after she finishes smoking a cigarette (which is totally bad for you, ESPECIALLY when cage fighting), calls her girlfriend. But things are not well on that front, as her clearly irritated gf asks her “Who the fuck is Tara Thorton?”. Bum bum buuuuuuuummmmm (dramatic music)

Wonderbot’s premonition comes true when Tommy busts into Sam’s house asking for help, and showing his the dead bodies of Joe Lee and his mom in his van. Tommy asks “What are we going to do?!”, and at that point, I just wanted Sam to look at him sarcastically, and say “Um, don’t you mean what are YOU going to do?”. But being the good guy Sam is, of course he’s going to help Tommy get rid of the bodies.

At Merlotte’s, Sookie turns on the charm with Holly to get the information about the location of the witch’s den. After she (psychically) gets the info, it’s off to the Moon Goddess Emporium! Sookie turns on that classic Soookie charm and convinces Marnie to give her a reading. When she does, Gran comes through and tells Sookie to stay away from Marnie, and to run. When Gran says run, Sookie runs, so she got the heck out of there.

Reverend Reynolds and Lettie Mae (Tara’s crazy assed mother who is now MRS. Reynolds) show up at Arlene’s house to get the devil out by burning sage and singing crazy Baptist church hymns. My oh my, how I have missed Lettie Mae’s craziness.

Sam and Tommy are trying to find a good place to hide a body, when Sheriff Belfleur decides it’s a good day to pull somebody over. When Andy finds blood on the van door, he figures that’s enough probable cause for a search, and tells Sam to open the doors to the van. Tommy is hiding in the back of the van with the dead bodies and a shovel, ready to strike if needed. Come to find out, turning one’s self into an alligator saves you the trouble of having to smash someone in the head with a shovel. Andy is sufficiently freaked out and lets Sam go.

Bill’s witch spy goes to speak with Marnie, and Marnie is promptly taken into custody by the AVL.

Ugh. Then it’s back to Tara and Sookie eating ice cream and talking about being a lesbian and we have the same “Whoa is Tara” conversation we have all the time. Tara either needs to change her situation and stay away from Bon Tomps once and for all or kill herself. Whichever one gives her less time on the show, I’m totally good with. Also, with the amount of ice cream these bitches eat, it’s a miracle they’re not 700 lbs.

Blah, blah, blah… Uninteresting witch flashback to the Spanish Inquisition… The witch thing needs to get significantly better or be over with as soon as possible.

Uggggghhhhhhh… Eric wakes up, and Tara (who is still at Sookie’s) freaks out. This is when I really start to hope that Eric kills her once and for all. Tara gives me a headache.

Bill and Marnie have a discussion about Eric’s whereabouts and reversing the spell put on Pam. Marnie basically pleads the fifth, and Bill decides to glamor her to see if she’s telling the truth about what she’s told them. Turns out, she totally is.

As Jesus and Lafayette make the shortest trip to Mexico, they are approached by Jesus’ grandpappy who says he’s been expecting them.

Alcide it visited by a dirty biker who explains that he is not a happy camper because Alcide has been living in Shreveport for four months and has not registered with the local pack master. There is a showdown between the dirty biker and Alcide when he tells the dirty biker that he’s basically a free agent at the moment. The dirty biker leaves, and I have a feeling this is not the last we’ll see of him.

Back in good ol’ Bon Tomps, Tommy and Sam dispose of the bodies in a pond. This pond doesn’t look very big, and has a dock, so I’m guessing it won’t take much to find the bodies. That is until the alligators eat them. Ew. Sam tells Tommy it was alright to kill Joe Lee and his mom because he was at war with them. Not really the best advice.

After taking Jessica’s blood, Jason dreams about sticking it to Jessica. In the dream, Jess talks about all the stuff Hoyt likes in bed. Then Hoyt enters the dream, and it gets infinitely more hilarious.

Sookie and Eric are discussing all of the shitty things Eric did as his former self, then they make out. After all of the sugar coated words by Eric, I’m totally ready for him to go back to being a total douche. He and Pam are the dream team of sarcasm.

We round out the episode with a meeting at King Bill’s place. In the closing minutes of this episode we learn that Marnie’s goddess’ name is Antonia and in the 1600’s, as she was being burned alive, she used the necroman (sp?) spell to pull all of the vamps within a 20 mile radius from their beds, into the daylight to their true death. Pam accidentally narcs out Sookie, by telling Bill that’s where Eric is hiding. This displeases Bill, and we end the episode with Bill leaving.

Okay, so this episode still featured a whole lot of shit that I don’t particularly care about, but they have at least progresses the plot line, which makes me super happy. There was a sizzle reel for the rest of the season that premiered at SDCC, and it seems like the second half of the season is going to pick up bigtime. I’m sincerely hoping that is the case, because this season has been less than awesome to me. They have managed to introduce WAY too many characters, and I’m really hoping that they’re not approaching “jump the shark” territory. I love the show, I love the books, and I’m hoping that this season can still redeem itself.

To view the “True Blood” season 4 sizzle reel, click