I want you guys to be the first to know that vampires are totally, totally the new black. For proof, look no further than the latest in a string of Dracula-referencing additions to the pop culture stew (which already includes the band Vampire Weekend, the Facebook vampire function and a little movie called Twilight). I'm talking of course about the new Alan Ball-helmed HBO series True Blood, based on the cult book series Southern Vampire by Charlaine Harris, which tells the tale of a clairvoyant waitress (played by the button-cute Anna Paquin) who befriends a Victorian-era vampire named Bill (sexy-hot Brit Stephen Moyer) in a backwoods Louisiana town. The show's back story -- since the creation of synthetic blood, vampires have 'come out' in society and are in the process of assimilating, facing prejudice and adulation (via vampire groupies dubbed 'fang bangers') in equal measure -- has been months in the making thanks to a slew of viral microsites devoted to the propagation of the True Blood mythology.

Tags: Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Charlaine Harris, Dark Shadows, HBO, Six Feet Under, Southern Vampire, Stephen Moyer, Towelhead, True Blood, Twilight