merlottesbar's posterous

OOC: Twitter Silence

I'm sure y'all have noticed that recently several of the original TB Twitter accounts have gotten locked and inactivated, basically.  While the reasons for these decisions are the business of the players and not something I'd speak to even if I knew, I will note that I am also going Twitter Silent.

Bear with me while I ramble for a moment.

The reality is that Twitter has changed quite a bit since I noticed there was no Sam.  The TB group was once quite small, small enough that we could hire waitresses (with the shelf life of Spinal Tap Drummers) and have real conversations with people like @smeykunz, @BillohBill, @SheiroQ, and @FranciscoIV.  There are now multiple RP groups, all with their own threads and worlds.

The players' lives have also changed, though again, that is the business of the players and not something I'll speak to.  No one's life is static, and in three years, people can marry, divorce, have a child, graduate from university, buy a house, lose a job, and any number of other events.  All of these things change the interest level they may have in pretending to be someone on the Internet.

And finally, the show has changed.   Mr. Ball and the creative team have built a great show, a show that has captivated fans around the world, but as they build the True Blood universe, they shift from the book world created by Ms. Harris.  That is a good thing, a bad thing, or a neutral thing depending on your perspective, but it certainly affects the way a character is played.

Perhaps it's time for me to put down the bar towel permanently.  At this point, it would be appropriately dramatic for me to storm out or reveal that I'm secretly working for HBO or something, but that's not me, and that's not Sam, so I'll fold my bar towel and quietly walk out of the bar instead.  Being part of this fandom has been one of the most fun things I've ever done, RP-wise. 

Thank you all for following me and best wishes to you all.

OOC: Putting down the bar towel

I'm sure you have all noticed that Sam has not been around much in the past few weeks.  I've been questioned about it a few times and never really had a good answer to give, but I do now.

Sam and I will be taking a vacation from Twitter after the Season Finale this Sunday. The length of my vacation is yet to be determined and may be permanent.  I am having serious issues reconciling the new character background from the end of Season 3 and I'm not sure I want to be able to do so.  I respect Mr. Ball for creating this world and HBO for letting us as fans play in it, but I started with the books and my portrayal of Sam has always been as book-oriented as possible while not contradicting the episodes.  That's less and less possible, especially if, as Mr. Trammell has stated in interviews, this particular character progression is going to continue in Season 4.

There's always the alternative of going back to the books after each season of the show ends, but that can be confusing, and the last thing I wish to do is alienate or confuse my followers.  I appreciate your feedback, even the negative feedback, and I am grateful to you all for following me and the other Twitter players.

--"Sam"

OOC: Musings on Sam

This started out as a comment to this post, but then it got a little long, so I thought I'd put it up here. 

"In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" - Desiderius Erasmus

Sam Trammell has said several times that Sam Merlotte is the bedrock of Bon Temps.  He almost always knows more than others, either because he's a supe or because people tend to talk too much when they drink.  He deals with it all while being friendly and likable, as a small-town bartender must be.  When the shit goes down, he's there, trying to help in whatever way he can, but he would really rather there not be any shit to start with, all things considered.   I chose Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" (lyrics) as Sam's theme song several months ago because it describes very well what Sam would prefer his life to be like as expressed in all nine books and both seasons of the show.   He's aware that it's probably not going to happen for various reasons that may have nothing to do with being small dark and fuzzy three nights out of the month, but it's what he wants out of life.  

When that becomes unavailable, as it always does, Sam is completely selfless.  He thinks of others way above himself and even makes us wonder if he's thinking things through because of that.  Using examples from the show only (Warning: spoilers for all episodes including Sunday's), this season he's:

a) offered Maryann ALL of her money back to get her to go away
b) asked Daphne if sacrificing himself would help 
c) tried to leave town in the hopes that trouble would follow him away
d) gone to Merlotte's after Arlene called him ostensibly in need of help  
e) argued that they couldn't kill the townspeople because they were friends 
f) willingly given himself up to the mob to give Jason and Andy a chance to get away
g) grabbed an apron and started cleaning up the flares, even though he was safer while shifted

And judging from the previews for next week, he's going to approach an unlikely source of assistance because it might work to save Bon Temps and that's the most important part.  The help he's seeking might cost him personally, but so what?  His bar, his people, his town - all of them will have a better chance of survival if he gets the help he wants.  They'll probably never know how or why he did it, but he's not doing it for recognition. He's doing it because it's the right thing to do.

Sam's certainly not perfect and I would never say he is, but among the vast assemblage in the Sookieverse, he's one of the most consistently "white hat" characters.  There's something you've got to admire about someone who is so completely selfless and kind and, when it comes down to it, just plain good.   Maybe he's not as exciting as the vampires, but he doesn't want to be.  He wants to run his bar and live his life and not have to deal with supernatural politics, despite being a supe himself.  

I just hope he survives long enough to have the chance.

OOC: Holy Kilofollowers, Batman!

I just noticed that I have 1000 followers.  It completely boggles my mind that there are 1000 of you that want to watch the tweets of a simple bar owner from Louisiana.  Thank you all for following and playing and bearing with me while I learned a new way to RP.   I had no idea this would get so big when I created a journal on a whim, but I'm enjoying the ride.  Stay tuned for more mischief, mayhem, and vampires as we start navigating our way through Season 2.

-"Sam"

Email from my blood distributor

Just got an e-mail from Blood Supply about my prize - it's pretty interesting, I think, for reasons that will become plain.


From:  dan.arthur @ bloodsupply.com
To:      merlotte @ merlottesbarandgrill.com
Date:   March 22, 2009 14:21
Subject:    More info on your prize

Hi Sam,

I said I'd get back to you about your prize and the answer is...  Blood Supply is sending you to Vegas!  Normally, they'd send you and a guest, but with the current retail climate, they're only sending you.  Not like you have anyone you'd take anyway, right? 

Anyway, the trip is April 2 through the 6th, and it's all set up with the tickets and hotel and everything.  I'm mailing them to you tomorrow. 

Have fun in Vegas!  Don't do anything I wouldn't do and let me know if you need any more extra blood.

Dan Arthur
Blood Supply - Your Local Source of Blood
Monroe, LA


So they wanna send me to Vegas, and it looks like I don't have too much of a choice since they already got it all set up.  Unfortunately, I have a prior commitment the nights of the 7-10 of April, which means I'd be pretty much out of the bar at night for over a week.  I just don't know if that's a good idea.  I trust my staff, but this is Bon Temps.  "Weird Shit Happens Here" oughta be the town motto.

It's a dilemma.

 

OOC: As I'm sure most of you have surmised already, Sam is going to be out of town the 2-6th because his player is going to be out of town and not consistently near a computer during that time period.   Please don't let the bar get burnt down.

E-mail to @SookieBonTemps: Dean's report

Sookie,

I was gonna send this to you in a text message, but it looks like it's gonna take more than 140 characters, so I decided maybe an e-mail would be better and easier.

There was a clearing down that dirt road Dean thought was so interesting, but no buildings or anything.  The rain made it harder and Dean wasn't the right breed to be tracking things real well, but he sniffed out 6 creatures, 4 of whom were human.  The other two were canine shifters, but not Weres.  Dobermans, maybe?  Breed distinctions are kinda hard in the rain. Jessica was definitely there too and he smelled human and vampire blood.

He smelled the same humans around Merlotte's, which isn't too surprising given the recent unfortunate (and property-damaging) events, but one trail was real strong, so one of them has been there recently.   He also sniffed out a real faint trace of one of them around Lafayette's car at Tara's house - maybe from one of Lafayette's friends? Or a friend of a friend?   He didn't really smell any of the humans around your house or the old Compton place. 

Oh, and you have a fox den with 6 kits about 250 ft away from your house. 

See you tonight,
Sam

Can't sleep

I can't sleep.  Got thoughts running around in my head like, I don't know, something running really fast. 

Today was both a good one and a bad one.  Good because I got my porch roof repaired and it was great weather for it, bad for other reasons.  It was real slow at the bar tonight, which always makes me worried.  I don't remember the last time I closed early on a Friday. 

Other bad things were a conversation I had with Nicole regarding some things she found in my office desk drawer.  Now, I freely admit I probably ought not to keep that kind of thing in my office since all the staff stores their stuff in it (and you better believe I've moved those letters now), but at the same time, I don't think anyone would be too pleased to have their mail read, especially mail that was of a personal nature, which this was.   She wanted an explanation for the contents, and I said I'd tell her sometime, but I wasn't feeling like sharing at that time, so I didn't.

Plus, Sookie didn't call and didn't show tonight.  I was worried she was hurt till I found out she was probably with Eric.  I started out happy she was okay but now I'm pretty damn annoyed, and while I know it's partially other stuff leaking over into this situation, I don't need waitresses that are unreliable.  Not even waitresses I like a lot and trust and consider to be one of my closest friends.  If you don't call and don't show up at other jobs, you get fired. I'm not sayin I'm gonna do that, but that's how it works at most places.  I'm talking to her tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.

Okay.  Got that outta my head.  I'm gonna try to sleep again.