· anna paquin

Ah, True Blood, How Tricky You Are

July 16, 2009 in anna paquin, television, television reviews, true blood | 7 comments

So here’s the first thing I really have to say about True Blood. Alan Ball is a genius at keeping me around. Because every episode, at some point, I think I can give up the show (this would generally be a part featuring Tara) and yet every cliff hanger-y ending has me going “AH!” and then “crap. I guess I’ll be tuning in next week.”

*slow clap* Well played Mr. Ball, well played.

So since I’m watching the show (sometimes against my will) I decided it was high time to do an actual review, especially since True Blood searches (er, I mean Anna Paquin naked boob searches) have sent my blog hits into the stratosphere more than a few times this past spring. So here it is. A True Blood Review.

The Good: This show is surprisingly good at turning me around on some things. At first I was not a Bill fan, I wasn’t feeling all swoon-y and I didn’t really get the appeal. But by episode three or four I was in love and couldn’t blame Sookie a bit. There’s always something about the good guy that gets me, and Stephen Moyer’s Bill, despite his vampiric ways, is defiintely a bonefide good guy.

I like Anna Paquin. I would watch Anna Paquin watch paint dry and probably be mightily entertained. I think she’s lovely and a talented actress. I don’t love the accent, but it’s better than a few others on the show and so I’m just deciding to accpet those accents as they are and be okay with it. The Sookie character is a bit annoying and preachy, but I don’t think that’s Paquin’s fault. I hope they’ll ease up on Sookie’s holier than thou attitude as it seems a little bratty and unlike the way she was originally portrayed.

Jessica. Oh Jessica, how you turned me around. At the end of Season 1 there was no plot I was dreading more (except anything involving Tara) than seeing more of the whiny Jessica. But she’s the absolute best thing Season 2 has going for it. It’s wonderful to see a new vampire go through the trials and tribulations of being a vampire and also being a teenager. I don’t know if it’s the writing or Deborah Ann Woll’s acting or a combination, but whatever it is I hope they keep it up. What an amazing turnaround.

[SPOILERS]

Lafayette. Nobody was happier to see Lafayette not be the dead body in the car at the end of Season 1 than me. Of course he was chained up in a basement and the other characters didn’t seem overly concerned about finding him, which seems odd in a place where people show up in cars with their hearts missing, but whatever. At least he’s alive. And now that he’s linked to Eric I suspect all sorts of great stuff is in store for us. Nelsan Ellis’ Lafayette is routinely the only actor/character that doesn’t let me down at some point or another. His performances are always dead on.

Sam Merlotte. Like Sookie I find Sam Tramwell’s Sam a bit whiny and brooding for my taste, but he’s a great character and I hope we’ll get to explore less of the brooding and more of the reality of Sam this year.

Michelle Forbes’ Maryann is a welcome addition this year and her arc is supremely interesting, except where it intersects with Tara, which unfortunately is constantly. Adam and I were sure she was going to be some Circe type character, but this last episode has her looking more like a Minotaur, which is even better if you ask me.

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100,000 Hit-o-versary

March 1, 2009 in anna paquin, anniversaries, cartoons, comics, dancing adam, lists, mila kunis, rabid lamb, whores, winona ryder | 8 comments

In honor of hitting 100,000 hits over here on 1979 Semi-Finalist I’m going to steal an idea from my friend Holly over at Beyond The Air. Holly did a great “Best Of Post” a little while ago that inspired me to revisit the comics I have really loved over Rabid Lamb’s brief year long-ish history, in honor of my 100,000 Hit-0-versary. As usual with lists I do it half in the hope it will re-inspire me to draw more comics and half just because I love me some lists. So here goes…the Top 15 Rabid Lamb Comics…as picked by yours truly. Below the jump, I also list the Top 5 Rabid Lamb Comics, based solely on hit numbers…it’s an interesting difference. And at the very bottom…1979 Semi-Finalist’s first ever POLL!

15. Rabid Lamb Comic #063. I hate the drawing in this one, but LOVE the gag. You see, it’s funny because it’s true.

Rabid Lamb Comic #063

14. Rabid Lamb Comic #155. This is the first comic in a short series about Adam with a deer head. Adam is largely responsible for this bit and it’s great.

Rabid Lamb Comic #155

13. Rabid Lamb Comic #156. The conclusion to #155 – great stuff!

Rabid Lamb Comic #156

12. Rabid Lamb Comics #157. A little riff on the previous “deer head” strip.

Rabid Lamb Comic #157

11. Rabid Lamb Comic #158. The end of that little “deer strip” – which was some of the most fun I had with Rabid Lamb – and which I don’t despise the drawing on…except panel two of this strip (just terrible!).

Rabid Lamb Comic #158

10. Rabid Lamb Comic #085. There’s something about the simplicity of this one that always loved…that and the fact that it’s an actual conversation…pretty much word for word. Those tend to be some of my favorites.

Rabid Lamb Comic #085

9. Rabid Lamb Comic # – Guest Artist Adam Greene. This probably deserves to be higher than #9 on the list…Adam’s cartooning is so far above mine it’s ridiculous. I will say that he took forever to draw this and at the time I was doing five strips a week…we can’t all be michaelfreakingangelo when posting five strips a week and working full time…can we Adam? But I LOVE everything about this.

Rabid Lamb Comic - Guest Artist Adam Greene

8. Rabid Lamb Comic #124. The only strip to make my list and the “Top 5 Readers List”. I loved drawing the Adam and Kelly stick figures, if only because it helped the creativity and allowed the strip to become something more than a journal comic….which when you live the boring life I do gets very old very fast. Panel #4 is one of my favorite panels of all time – the expression and dialogue are just dead on.

Rabid Lamb Comic #124

Click more to see the rest of the list…and to see the Top 5 Comics according to you the reader…there’s also a poll at the end…whee!…

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Um…You May Have Noticed Rabid Lamb Is On Hiatus Again…?

October 23, 2008 in anna paquin, anna paquin boobs!, art, artists, cartoons, comic of the day, comics, true blood | 4 comments

Yeah, sorry about that my lambs, but we’re officially on hiatus again. I have both legitimate and totally non-legitimate excuses, none of which I’m going to bore you with, but instead of force feeing you more inadequate comics and making us both miserable I’ve decided to take a break.

The bad news is that Rabid Lamb may not be coming back, at least not in a daily format. I did Rabid Lamb basically every day for about a year October 2007 to October 2008, which was the original goal and I learned a lot and hopefully entertained at least a little in the process, but I think Rabid Lamb may have run its course.

The good news is that it will be replaced with something much more interesting. A project I have loved for almost ten years and have always wanted to explore, and I think maybe now is the time and this is the format…well, for it to get its feet wet. So what kind of good news would that be without at least a teaser image? I present…THE JILTED LEAGUE (logo to follow!)

So there. Hopefully that will keep you guys coming back and checking in…although if Anna Paquin keeps showing her boobs on True Blood (yes, she did it again!) then I’m not going to need any of you! Bwahahaha! Seriously though, I’ll still be posting about all sorts of things, including updates on this new project as it comes to fruition, so don’t abandon ship just yet, okay?

Thanks for all the Rabid Lamb support over the last year…hopefully you’ll enjoy these new ventures equally as much…

#218 ~ Rabid Lamb Comics…NSFW?

October 14, 2008 in anna paquin, anna paquin boobs!, boobs, cartoons, comic of the day, comics, entertainment | 3 comments

Yes, thank YOU Anna Paquin. I had my biggest blog day ever thanks to you!

And by the way, I’d like to add, perhaps unnecessarily, that I commend Anna for showing her boobs. I’m not into the gratuitous nudity for no purpose but I actually find avoiding nudity for no purpose equally as annoying. These (boobs and other various body parts) are not precious perfect commodities to be sold to the highest bidders (Halle Berry, I’m speaking directly to you), they are just part of the human body, and if there’s a scene where it’s awkward and bizarre to hide them – you know – that scene where lovers suddenly cover up after the sex when it’s time to get a glass of water? – sure that’s how we all behave – personally, it completely takes me out of a scene when they throw in that awkward “cover up” moment because such and such actress doesn’t want to “give away the goods”.

Now, unfortunately we do see a disproportionate amount of lady parts to man parts and that should change…but that’s a whole other conversation, this is just to say not only “thank you” to Anna, but also, “You go girl. Your decision, as far as this viewer is concerned, was well-considered and appropriate for the show that you are currently on.”

Also, as a side note – you looked gorgeous.

#205 ~ Rabid Lamb Comics (and a mini-review of True Blood)

September 25, 2008 in anna paquin, cartoons, comic of the day, comics, entertainment, television, television reviews, true blood | 9 comments

That’s right Anna*, you rock that side ponytail. Sadly I could not find a picture on the interwebs of said side ponytail so you could see how awesome it is, but if you saw episode #2 of True Blood you KNOW what I’m talking about.

So what about True Blood? Is anybody watching it other than Adam and I? It doesn’t seem like it, yet it has already been renewed for a second season. I’m glad HBO is giving it a chance, but I’d gladly trade True Blood (season one or two) for a third season of Carnivale.

What can I say about True Blood? I guess I can say that I desperately WANT to like it, but that it continues to fail me, but not enough that I can actually write it off just yet. I will say that without Anna Paquin I would have checked out immediately, the one thing True Blood has done (other than teach me about Paquin’s ability to rock side ponytails) is that I’m even more smitten with Anna Paquin than ever. She’s just gorgeous. I don’t love the accent, but it’s passable and I could do with less wide-eyed acting, but otherwise she’s pretty much saving the show for me. The main vampire character Bill is slowly growing on me, but just when I feel like he’s reigned the character in we get another weird over the top scene that is pretty laughable.

The biggest problem for me with the show so far is that the characters are fairly stereotypical and the actors they have chosen for these stereotyped roles may lack the ability to add the necessary dimension to take them to the next level – right now they just appear to be overacting in every scene which makes everything laughable. Sookie’s (Paquin) best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Sookie’s brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten) are probably the worst over-acting offenders, other than the actors playing the other over the top vampires (that we’re kind of just getting introduced to now), but everyone is pretty guilt of it at this point, including at times Paquin. I know the overall style of the show is designed to be somewhat campy and over the top, but in its current form it’s making it difficult to take any of it seriously or connect with any of the characters.

[Spoiler]

The other problem for me is that so far, the only thing supernatural about the True Blood world is Vampires…oh, and that Sookie can read minds. Yeah. I have a problem with this. It needs to be explained, or more things in the True Blood world need to be revealed as “not what they seem”…you throw a werewolf in there, or a guy who changes into a dog (hint), or some other weird crap and suddenly I can buy that Sookie can read minds, but right now, with the world as is, it doesn’t work. At all.

I’ll hang in there for now (let’s call it 2.5 stars for now), but mostly just because there’s not much else on TV that I’m interested in (though I eagerly await the Pushing Daises premiere).

Here’s a photo of Sookie and Bill from True Blood:

Here’s a shot of Anna Paquin with the new blonde hair:

And here, because I’m totally smitten, is Anna looking absolutely GORGEOUS in some silly magazine:

* And yes, she’s naked in my comic at the top of the page – if only because it’s now officially a nice running gag.

#182 ~ Rabid Lamb Comics

July 31, 2008 in anna paquin, cartoons, comic of the day, comics, entertainment, movie reviews, movies, travel, vacation | 4 comments

Yep, you’re pretty much looking at what I did for six days.

I somehow managed to watch several movies, between the LONG plane trips and a day stuck in due to either a sun or chlorine allergy and I’ve done a “witty” one/two sentence summary of each below for your edification (I love the word edification…isn’t it great?)…anyway here they are:

Step Brothers: Funnier than Semi-Pro, less funny than some of the other Will Ferrel vehicles, it’s a bit lacking in plot, like all of ‘those movies’, but with some choice lines you’ll find yourself repeating probably for the rest of your life. A solid 3 Stars.

The Namesake: A beautiful and poignant film, with an ending that slightly let me down, and previews that kind of led me astray, and ultimately made me want to read the book, which I bet is at least ten times better. A good 3.5 stars.

Married Life: A lovely looking period piece about relationships, friendships, and marriage, with excellent performances by everyone except the bootleg Parker Posey (Rachael McAdams for the uninitiated), with the especially brilliant Patricia Clarkson driving the heart of the film, as always. 3.5 Stars.

Sidenote: McAdams wasn’t TERRIBLE, I’m just a little biased and she’s not good here, just acceptable.

Flawless: A hideous film that I never would have finished had I not been belted in at thirty thousand feet and coked up on too much caffeine to fall alseep easily, Demi Moore’s accent is atrocious, and while Michael Cane is pretty solid, as always, the plot and writing are dry and horrible, and the ending is atrocious. I don’t know why anyone would have thought this film could/should be made. 1 Star.

Blue State: An equally hideous little film, that I was tricked into watching by the beguiling Anna Paquin. Breckin Meyer is the lead, who I feel lukewarm about in general, but hated with a firey passion here where he is devoid of chemistry with Paquin (how can you be devoid of chemistry with Anna Paquin?! Even I would have chemistry with Paquin for christ’s sake!) and he is not aided at all by the horrible plot, script, and direction. Yay. 1 Star.

While not technically viewed on my trip, I watched my Netflix rental of Green Street Hooligans upon my return to New York. It was pretty good, and by that I mean that it was sometimes awful and sometimes pretty great in alternating turns. I did expect more from it and found it hard to become to emotionally attached to what was going on considering that the main characters were basically in gangs (called ‘firms’) based on local football (US=Soccer) alliances. Silly. I know it’s true and accurate that many people feel so passionate about sports, and particularly in Europe it has become a problem with violence and alcohol, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about the film The Wind That Shakes The Barley that I watched late last year, and which was so painfully about REAL war, war that can’t be avoided…I don’t know, it just seemed ridiculous to care to much that these kids (and adults) were so stupid to be killing over something so silly as sports loyalties. That said, how is Charlie Hunnam not a HUGE star by now? Gorgeous and very talented. Even standing next to the pretty much always solid Elijah Wood he was a powerhouse in the acting category. I was totally in love, with him, if nothing else. And based largely on that love, I’m giving it 3 Stars.

I also read two excellent books that I’ll be posting hopefully later this week…in case you’re looking for an excellent book

#138 ~ Rabid Lamb Comics

May 12, 2008 in anna paquin, cartoons, comic of the day, comics, craptastic, winona ryder, writing, x-men | 5 comments

Yes Anna Paquin, I know, I know. I’m just making the world a more horrible place, and sending more and more people that are just looking for gratuitous celebrity nudity to my blog (where they will ultimately be disappointed)…but what can a girl do? I’m desperate for a good strip these days…no pun intended.

My weekend was pretty much a bust. I got two important errands done on Saturday, and I managed to write about 2,500 words on Sunday (yes, took me ALL day to get my ass in the chair at 5pm and write 2,500 words) but I got nothing else done. I didn’t accomplish even a third of my to do list…which leaves me with a deadline to meet by Wednesday…that is going to be nigh impossible. But wish my lazy ass luck anyway. How about you guys? Good weekend? Bad? C’mon, make me feel better…

#27 Comic of the Day

November 30, 2007 in anna paquin, ass, breasts, comic of the day, comics, jennifer love hewitt, kim kardashian, lists, winona ryder | 8 comments

My first attempt at drawing anyone other than myself or Adam for this comic…not so successful. But there are big boobs, and even naked ones, so hopefully nobody is complaining. I shouldn’t be complaining about Adam’s list either…first of all Anna Paquin is a totally respectable person to have on your “List”, Winona Ryder and Jennifer Love Hewitt…less respectable, but still better than Lindsey Lohan, who was also on his list years ago (pre-weight loss and craziness). I guess the end result is that the other half of a couple will never find their partner’s “list” palatable…for many reasons. I know he doesn’t think very highly of mine (despite the fact that it rocks).

If you want to read another somewhat involved, but I think well worth the time, post about the idea of “The List”, check out one of my first blog postings ever, here.

anna paquin

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