I just got off the phone with Alan Ball, and have I got some good stuff for all you True Blood fans! Look for that interview on TV Squad in the next day or so. I'm trying to wrap my head around all the fun stuff Alan told me about season three.

Until then, I offer you this eye candy: Eric Northman as Mr. January on the Fangtasia calendar. I couldn't find an actual Fangtasia calendar on the official True Blood site, so let me know if you know where to get this. I believe this is fan art by "Bloody Mistress" from the True Blood Wiki. If you want to look at Eric while listening to the True Blood theme song, check it out on Cast TV.

And here's a tiny teaser of my conversation with Alan: I told him that a lot of us were really, really hoping that Eric would grow his hair back. But Alan said they all thought the long hair looked ridiculous, so they cut it off this season, which allowed Eric to blossom as a character.

Ok, while I don't know if I can glom onto that notion (he was a great character before the haircut), after seeing this poster, clearly, it doesn't matter what length his hair is.