Back when I was dating, I had a rule to avoid guys who were so into Ayn Rand that they mentioned it on the first date. Like it was fine if they read some of her books, but if they read them and ascribed to her philosophy so thoroughly that they were preaching to me about it, that was a deal breaker. This was after a hot guy tried to pick me up at a bar and then proceeded to spend the next 40 minutes telling me about Objectivism like he was doing me a favor. From then on, I considered a strong interest in Rand a warning sign that the guy was annoying, and that rule served me well a couple of times afterwards.

(Disclosure: I read half of Atlas Shrugged at one point, but found it interminable. This was years ago, and maybe I didn’t “get” it.) So it’s disappointing to me that “True Blood” hottie Joe Manganiello just has to mention in his “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me” profile that The Fountainhead is his absolute favorite book. Really? He’s never read a better book than that? I don’t care what kind of abs he has, I’m getting a flashback to my 21 year-old self, stuck in the bar with that dude who looked promising until he tried to convert me to Rand’s “amazing” philosophy. I think I was so bored my mouth was hanging open. Mangy’s other 24 things seem to be about his various accomplishments, and it’s less interesting than boasting. Is he one of those guys who talks endlessly about himself? Maybe that’s unfair given that he’s supposed to do that here. Still, I’m not impressed.

1. I am excellent at knife-throwing.
2. My eyes are so bad, they can’t be corrected by laser surgery.
3. I made the junior Olympic volleyball team when I was 16.
4. I worked as a roadie for the rock band Goldfinger.
5. I was an altar boy.
6. I once planned on playing college basketball and joining the FBI.
7. I love Disneyland.
8. I was asked to skip two grades in elementary school but chose not to.
9. I shaved my head twice and got my front teeth pulled out for stage roles in college.
10. I sang backup on one of The Used’s albums.
11. I love karaoke.
12. My favorite city is Venice, Italy.
13. My favorite movie is Fight Club.
14. My first concert was Pantera.
15. I won third place in a chess tournament when I was 6.
16. I got a 750 on the mat portion of the SATs.
17. I am a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
18. I trained as a boxer and was a sparring partner for an NHL player.
19. At age 16 I got paid to dress up like Captain Morgan at abrs.
20. My favorite play is A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennesse Williams.
21. Last summer, I caught a touchdown pass from Joe Montana in a charity game.
22. My favorite book is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.
23. I appeared full frontal nude in an off-Broadway play.
24. I have a bachelor of fine arts degree in classical theater.
25. When I was young, I prayed that God would turn me into a werewolf.

[From US Weekly, print edition, September 5, 2011]

The rest of the “25 Things” are mildly interesting. Like he seems like he’s had various interesting experiences. They sound braggy though, and I know that’s the nature of these lists but the posturing seems obvious to me. Maybe it’s the Rand connection, which that one guy ruined for me that fateful night. I hope he grew out of it. It strikes me that Manganiello hasn’t read much if that’s his favorite book of all time. Maybe Kaiser is right about him. Hot but dumb. I’m so team Eric now. I would still like to see full frontal pictures of the guy on stage though, if they exist.

Photo above is from from 8/23/11. He’s just not doing it for me anymore! (credit: Fame) He’s also show strategically trying to remove his sunglasses in London on 8/3/11. (credit: WENN) And shirtless from GQ

Some of the men of True Blood are featured on the cover of the new issue of TV Guide, with stars Alex Skarsgard (Eric), Stephen Moyer (Bill) and Joe Manganiello (Alcide) in a sexy photoshoot and joint interview inside. Contrary to some of the rumors we’ve heard about the male stars’ egos clashing on set, which they sort-of acknowledge, they seem to get along well and have a casual, joking camaraderie that comes through in print. I would have loved to have seen Ryan Kwanten (Jason), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayatte) and/or Sam Trammell (Sam) mixed in, but since they all play non-supes (with the exception of Sam) who aren’t interested in Sookie (again with the exception of Sam), it might have been too confusing to do more than the top three. This gets me thinking that all of the supes just want a piece of Sookie, which should be obvious to me from the books and series so far, but it seems like they’re hitting us over the head with it on the show.

Here’s some of their interview, with more at the source. There are major spoilers for the show here, but ones that are somewhat obvious to anyone who has read the books. It’s up to you of course whether you want to skip this.

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: What’s it like to play your characters now that they’re in such different circumstances this season?
STEPHEN: Bill had to let Sookie go. And in doing so, he’s become a better man and a better king. It’s been great as an actor having that sort of guiding light for him.
JOE: Alcide is wrestling with that beast inside him. I like moments where that thing inside him that he’s so afraid of is also this place of great strength.
ALEX: I love Eric’s vulnerability. But it’s tricky because even though he doesn’t know who he is, you can’t play it too flat. You can’t chop off his balls. Then there’s his inner struggle. If they break the spell, then Eric finds out about all the things he’s done in the past and who he really is, and that scares him. He’s like, “Hey, I’m kind of happy in this little house with Sookie.”
STEPHEN: Eric and Sookie are the tipping point of this season. The best stuff that’s in the show is their stuff.

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: Has it been awkward for you, Stephen, since Anna’s your wife?
STEPHEN: It could have been really difficult, but it’s about being professional. And we all really like each other. It’s tougher for Anna because she’s having to show emotion with somebody else, and it’s been the same people on our crew since she and I got together when the show first started.
ALEX: If it was awkward for us, that would spread to the crew. They see us being so relaxed with each other and it’s so obvious when the camera is rolling and when it’s not, you know? And Anna’s great. She’s a very generous actress, very professional. In fact, we shot a scene the other night and it was one of those where…
STEPHEN: It will get people talking!

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: What is Anna like when the cameras aren’t rolling?
STEPHEN: She’s merciless in her ridicule of everybody, and she expects the same back.
JOE: I spent half of last season dressed in what she refers to as “Giant Joe’s Giant Jumpsuit.” So Anna and Rutina [Wesley, who plays Tara] came up with a dance routine and a song that they would perform every time I wore the Giant Jumpsuit.
ALEX: [Singing] Joe and his giant jumpsuit…

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: Joe, when you came in on the third season, was there an initiation?
JOE: The new guy on a show can feel like an outsider. There can be egos and things like that. But Anna was completely friendly, welcoming. Still, the guys won’t let me make eye contact.
STEPHEN: I make him get on his knees so we’re eye-to-eye.
JOE: But I guess the initiation would be wearing the “sock” [a wardrobe item that protects an actor's modesty in a nude scene].
ALEX: I put it on him. [Laughs] Someone had to show him, you know?

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: You guys have to be [nude] a lot. Who works out the most?
STEPHEN: Joe’s insane.
JOE: Yeah. I work out twice a day, six days a week. I eat constantly.
STEPHEN: I do three days a week. I just don’t want to watch this show 20 years from now and look at myself and say, “Who is that white blob?”
ALEX: I do three days a week, too. But with Joe, it’s all about the pecs. He can make them dance.
JOE: Alex hasn’t looked me in the eye once. I’m like, “Up here, Alex. Up here.”

[From TV Guide]

Spoilers for past episodes and potentially future ones
I’ve been keeping up with True Blood and while there are some storylines that I enjoy and want to follow, there are also plenty that I would like to skip over, and that rub me the wrong way. I hate the Hotshot storyline, with Jason being tied up, tortured and raped by Crystal. Those people in Hotshot are outrageous Deliverance stereotypes and that situation could have been portrayed without being so offensive.

Sookie and Eric’s new dynamic is cute, and I love Eric as dependent on Sookie and vulnerable. I also like the twist where Eric killed Sookie’s fairy godmother. (If that’s what indeed happened and she didn’t just get sucked back to fairy or whatever.) In the books, Claudine is killed in some battle with two evil fairies. I disliked that part of the books and hope that this means that we won’t be subjected to that storyline on the show.

Bill’s romance with calculating Portia is nice to witness. I enjoy that he’s become ruthless and somewhat evil. He always seemed to have that in him and I never really cared for him and Sookie together.

Jessica and Hoyt’s relationship problems seem genuine and relatable. They remain my favorite couple on the show.

Overall, though, the show is kind of losing me this season and while I’ll watch all the episodes I won’t rush to see them the minute they come out. Maybe it’s inevitable that shows lose their focus after a few years. It must be hard to put out 12 hours of programming every year and keep it fresh.

TV Guide Cover and scans via TrueBlood-News.com

This is an amusing story in this week’s Star that I hope is overblown. I’d like to think of the True Blood men as a kind of brotherhood of hotties, joking around and slapping towels at each other’s asses in homoerotic scenes in the locker room. Star claims that they’re backbiting bitches to each other, though, and are competing for screen time and trying to see who can hook up with the most extras. Even if this story is complete bunk, and I hope it is, it’s nice to hear it about men for once. Stephen Moyer is supposedly above all this since he’s married, but they claim he still acts like an entitled diva. Now that I can believe.

“The cast is full of hot guys with huge egos, and they are all battling to be the breakout star of the show,” an insider tells Star. “They each want the best dialogue, the best story lines and the most camera time.” And for some of the leading men, the feuding goes beyond the screen. “Ryan Kwanten and Alex Skarsgard are constantly competing,” the source reveals. “even about who can lift more weight or do more crunches. They always have their shirts off, flexing their abs.”

And they’re competing over hot girls too. “Some of the guys are making their way through the female extras to see who can hook up with the most,” the insider says. While Stephen Moyer stays true to his wife, Anna Paquin, he is getting a bad rap for his above it all attitude. “Stephen walks around like he’s the big man on campus,” the insider dishes. “He feels like he and Anna deserve the most perks, which doesn’t sit well with the other actors.” The one-set rivalry has also “gotten to be a problem for the producers and a real headache for the rest of the cast and crew,” adds the insider.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, July 18, 2011]

They don’t mention Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Sam Trammell (Sam) or Joe Manganiello (Alcide), all of whom are in long term relationships. Ellis has been with his girlfriend since 1993 and they have a son together, Trammell’s girlfriend is expecting twin boys, and Manganiello is sadly engaged. So it’s hard to tell who Star is referring to when they say they’re competing to bang the women on set. That’s probably the point, though and this whole story is hopefully crap. (Apart from the detail that Ryan and Alex have sweaty workout sessions together in which they love showing each other their abs.)

As for the last episode of True Blood, without revealing any spoilers I have to say the show really picked up steam. Where the first episode this season was too slow and was focused on bringing us up to speed with the various characters a year later, this episode had a tighter plot and some promising twists. I can’t wait to see what happens with Eric! I love him like this, and that’s all I’ll say about it. What happened to the werewolves though? We need some brooding Alcide coming to the rescue. If the books are any indication, and that’s not always the case, he’ll come back soon. (From what I remember, right? A lot of it is a blur to me.)

Photos via True Blood Online

Entertainment Weekly has a series of three covers for their upcoming issue, out this Friday. They feature True Blood star Anna Paquin (Sookie) in American Gothic style poses with Alex Skarsgard (Eric), her real life husband Stephen Moyer (Bill) and potential werewolf love interest Joe Manganiello (Alcide). They’re very clever and amusing, with Paquin making slightly different expressions in each. There’s a lot of anticipation for this Sunday’s season four True Blood premiere, and I have to admit I’m getting anxious for it too. I just don’t want to get my hopes up too much, given the highly disappointing first eight minutes that HBO has put out. The (mild spoiler I guess) fairy fantasy fight sequence that was released was so reminiscent of campy Star Trek that I’m not expecting too much this year. Still, there will be plenty of hot guys, sex scenes, and bloody lusty moments and that’s usually more than enough for me. I love a good sex scene with some head twisting thrown in, and what other shows are doing that really?

The advance details on Entertainment Weekly’s website have Alex being incredibly gracious and grateful to his fans, as usual. I just hear his voice in my head when I read these delicious quotes and I melt a little.

Spoilers for this quoted text I guess, especially if you haven’t read the books yet:

Playing the smoking hot vampire Eric Northman is humbling, to say the least, for Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard. So to say that he’s used to the adoration from female fans of True Blood, the subject of this week’s Entertainment Weekly cover story, would be a bit of an understatement. (For proof, consider this little detail that EW dug up from Charlaine Harris, the author of the extremely popular Sookie Stackhouse novels that serve as the inspiration for True Blood: She says that fans often ask her to autograph the tomes to “Mrs. Alexander Skarsgard.”)

“I’ll never get used to that,” Skarsgard said of his googly-eyed fanbase. “It’s just very, very humbling and flattering. The character Eric means so much to me and I’m having so much fun playing him. Of course it means a lot when you meet fans and you can actually tell there are people out there who really do care about the character. It means something to you, then. That’s kind of why you do this whole thing.”

Eric fans could have plenty to salivate over this season, which begins June 26 on HBO. This year, True Blood is inspired by book four of the Stackhouse series, Dead to the World, which features a steamy shower scene between Sookie and the tall, light and handsome vamp. Unfortunately, Skargard isn’t in the mood to kiss and tell. He will say, however, that sex this year is, um, a little more down to earth. “I did some crazy stuff last year. I almost had sex with a Greek man and I was covered in his goo. Everything from here on is pretty childish. Everything’s quite innocent.”

For lots more about Eric and the other hot men in Sookie’s complicated life, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, June 24. And what’s that you say? You’re not a Skarsgard fan? No worries: We published two other collectible covers to satiate those who prefer Stephen Moyer and Joe Manganiello. No thank you necessary. It was our absolute pleasure.

[From EW.com]

So the “sex with a Greek man” quote threw me a little, but then I realized that he was talking about when his character seduced Talbot so he could kill him and get back at Russell. I loved that plot twist and while I’ve read all the books I couldn’t tell you if it was in there or not. This show is incredible and so many of us are waiting for it to come back on Sunday. As long as Eric will be there, so will we. I hope he’s misleading us about the “quite innocent” part for this season, though. That would be highly disappointing.

We’ve already seen the actor who plays werewolf Alcide on True Blood, Joe Manganiello, shirtless in several publications. The guy is smoking hot and he’ll tell you about his workout and diet plan. He isn’t conceited about how he achieved it, though, and he recently told GQ that it’s just part of his job to be fit. He didn’t seem shy about posing in a photoshoot for GQ that makes it look like he’s about to have a threesome with a topless blonde and a lithe brunette in Santorini, Greece. It’s all rather racy, but they did got to great lengths to set the scene, showing the trio all over beautiful island while Joe wears the hell out of some designer clothes. To accompany these gorgeous photos they just have a short interview with him online, which I’ve posted below. You can see the full slideshow here.

There’s no denying it: Joe Manganiello looks good without a shirt. This fact has not gone unnoticed by HBO, for whom he frequently flexes as an oft-nude werewolf on “True Blood.” Ask him about his physique, though, and he’ll insist he’s just following the script: “If Alcide was described as weighing 300 pounds with a comb-over and missing his front teeth, that’s what I would look like.” Luckily for Manganiello’s career, he’s not playing a guy with a gap-toothed smile. It’s his He-Man physique that helped turn a six-episode stint into a regular gig, raising his profile high enough to audition for Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot. “He and his wife are huge fans of ‘True Blood,’” Manganiello explains. While Snyder ultimately went another way, Manganiello, 34, isn’t complaining. A few short years ago, he was paying his bills working as a roadie and as a delivery man for a masonry company. As for the new season of “True Blood,” spoilers are as hard to come by as clothing on-set. So, any inhibitions left at all? “Once they yell action,” he says, “you’re a werewolf and you’re not thinking about it. But before, there’s a boom guy crouched behind you at ass level.” Who says werewolves don’t blush?

[From GQ]

It’s a shame that he’s not going to be in Superman, which ultimately went to Henry Cavill, but at least we’re still hearing about him. This reminds me that True Blood premieres this Sunday! I hope they vary enough from the preview we saw and we won’t be stuck in fairy land for most of the season. It’s so much nicer on earth with the gritty sweaty werewolves and the slippery fast vampires. Fairies are filler as far as I’m concerned.

Some of you ladies are big fans of Joe Manganiello. To me, he seems like dumb, interchangeable beefcake, and a dude who wears his shirts (blouses) much too tight. But I “get” why he’s appealing – he’s pretty, he seems nice, and he doesn’t seem too complicated. Michael Fassbender would be complicated – you would crush on him for a long time, and then finally he would invite you to dinner, and then he would screw you and write poetry for you and break your heart, and you would never be able to love again. Joe Manganiello is the dude you meet at a bar who smells like beer and Axe Body Spray, and when you get drunk enough, you fool around with him in the bathroom because you don’t even want to take him home with you. Just my thoughts.

Anyway, Joe is rumored to be taking over the most neutered of all superheroes, Superman. Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder have been searching for an actor for a long time to take over the cape, and they think they’ve found their Clack Kent in Joe.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a werewolf? As ‘Batman’ chief Christopher Nolan and ‘The 300′ director Zack Snyder look to produce a series reboot for the ‘Superman’ franchise, his team is looking for a new Man of Steel — and they may have one in ‘True Blood’ star Joe Manganiello.

Manganiello, who plays a werewolf on the show, is the hot name to play Superman in the film, according to the LA Times.

The actor spoke to Extra, saying, “It’s out there in the ether, we’ll see. I would be honored, I love Zack Snyder, I love Christopher Nolan, I’m a huge fan of both of them.”

He already has some experience with superhero films, having played Flash Thompson in the ‘Spiderman’ films.

Previously, Jon Hamm had been thought to be under consideration for the role, but said at the Golden Globes that he was too old for the part.

Manganiello is at least one person’s Superman: he got engaged to actress/model Audra Marie in September.

[From The Huffington Post]

Yes, I’ve heard that The Hamm was being “considered” as was Matt Bomer, best known as Neal from White Collar. Although I love both Hamm and Bomer, both of them would have sucked as Superman. Superman isn’t angst-y and deep like The Hamm. Nor is he too pretty for words and able to wear the hell out of a suit, like Bomer. No, I have to admit, Joe is the right actor for Clark Kent/Superman. Beefcake, good body, vague. Incapable of angst. Good pick!

Photos courtesy of Men’s Health, Italian Vanity Fair and WENN.

True Blood’s hottest werewolf, Joe Manganiello, is officially off the market. He’s engaged to his girlfriend, actress Audra Marie, after dating for over a year. It sounds like he’s head over heels for her too. He even proposed on a trip to Italy. Oh sigh.

While on vacation in Italy the True Blood heartthrob, 33, popped the question to his girlfriend, actress/model Audra Marie, his rep tells PEOPLE.

Manganiello, who plays werewolf Alcide Herveaux on the HBO drama, and Marie met at a 2009 Super Bowl party, but it was anything but love at first sight.

“She wouldn’t go out with me for six months,” Manganiello told PEOPLE in September. “We started dating a few months before I got cast [on True Blood].”

Manganiello says Marie is “a great dresser. She’s gorgeous, and she’s tall. And she’s sweet … nice. And she makes crazy English breakfasts.”

Marie, meanwhile, says her man’s most appealing qualities are his “sense of humor, his work ethic and how humble he is with everything that has gone on.”

The pair have not yet set a wedding date.

[From People]

I swear I read an interview with Manganiello where he admitted his girlfriend helps pick out his clothes. I can’t find it again, but it’s etched in my memory. Their matchy-matchy clothes on so many occasions suggest that’s the case anyway. They’re such a cute couple! While looking for that interview I watched and read some interviews with Manganiello and was struck by how gracious he is to his fans and grateful for the opportunities he’s been given. He seems like a great guy, and we know what an awe-inducing body he has. Audra is a lucky woman, and it’s clear Joe feels the same.

A couple of weeks ago, US Weekly ran a shirtless photo of hot up-and-coming actor Joe Manganiello. He plays Sookie on True Blood’s dreamy new bodyguard, werewolf Alcide Hervaux. People send me a lot of photos of gorgeous shirtless models and actors and it takes a lot to impress me. In this case I was so mesmerized by this guy’s abs and his sexy scruff that I definitely wanted to cover them (with my tongue as Kaiser would say), but sadly couldn’t find the photo online. Lucky for us he’s also shirtless in Muscle & Body magazine this month and TooFab has the photos. (above!)

This week on True Blood we were treated to a breathtaking scene of Hervaux shirtless as he was confronted by his crazy V-addicted ex fiance. I haven’t seen the full episode yet, but I’m not a fan of that story arc apart from the pure joy in staring at Mangeniello. True Blood is really pushing the limits lately and there’s just too much going on for my taste. I’ll keep watching it for sure, partly because of the man candy and the characters I’ve grown to love. I also want to see if Sookie and Eric will finally hook up and have hot non-dream sequence sex. It’s hard to explain but the show just doesn’t feel like True Blood and it’s like they’re cramming shocking scenes in that don’t add up to much. I agree with a couple recent reviews on Pajiba that it’s lost something. It’s gained hotties like Manganiello and the ugly-hot British actor James Frain (Franklin “Watch how fast I can type motherf*cker” Mott). That’s something.

Thanks to Too Fab and Muscle & Body magazine for the photos