I'll Take Great Satire for $500, Alex

So this little news story filled me with glee this morning.

Apparently Michael Starr, distinguished writer for the New York Post, wrote a diatribe attacking Ken Jennings (he of Jeopardy fame who pwned the game for so long) for a post on his blog supposedly attacking the very show that brought him fame and fortune. But, of course, the whole post was done toungue firmly in cheek, so the fact that Starr was so ruffled by it is not only baffling but downright silly.

I had been to Ken Jennings's site previously and had read a few of his blog entries. They are always witty and light-hearted, so I don't understand why Michael Starr was so confused at the post's intent.

And I think my extra interest in the article stems from personal reasons: one, I absolutely loved Jeopardy as a kid, watched it almost every night, so while I admire the show I can see how ripe it is for loving ridicule. Two, a girl I know from High School and who Elicia knows from the theater department has written some deliciously satirical letters to the editor for our own local paper, and the responses were priceless in their ignorance. It amazes me how satire can be so misconstrued. I myself have occasionally misinterpreted satire, but when done right, as Ken and this girl did impeccably, there should be no mistake as to the humor behind the message.

Here is a part of his blog entry, to give you an example of the satire in question, where he pokes fun at the categories used on Jeopardy:

::

First up, the categories. Maybe when Art Fleming was alive, America just couldn’t get enough clues about “Botany” and “Ballet” and “The Renaissance,” but come on. Does every freaking category have to be some effete left-coast crap nobody’s heard of, like “Opera,” or, um, “U.S. History” or whatever? I mean, wake me up when you come up with something that middle America actually cares about. I think it would rule if, just one time, Alex had to read off a board like:

* PlayStation
* The Arby’s 5-for-$5.95 Value Menu
* Reality TV
* Men’s Magazines
* Skanks from Reality TV Who Got Naked in Men’s Magazines
* Potpourri

::

I mean, come on, isn't that funny? "Left-coast crap like. . . U.S. History" is rather clever. And the comments about Trebbek as a robot/cyborg and the swarming bees made me laugh too. It's the same type of humor employed by Dave Barry (I miss your columns, Dave!), but doesn't have "Humor Column" stamped all over it. Aren't you supposed to be able to poke fun of the things you love best? If people at SNL can poke fun at Trebek, surely Ken, who loves the game, is allowed a shot.

Is this a reflection of our super-serius times, in which people must take offense at the drop of a hat and lose all sense of humor? I don't know, but really, Michael Starr should have seen this for what it is immediately. Unless his article is, in its own sly way, creating satire over a non issue?

No, no it is not.

I was hoping the New York Post would write a correction in their paper along these lines:

"Dear Readers, we apologize that Michael Starr has the sense of humor of a soiled paper bag. Ken Jenning's post was obviously satire, as we are sure our intelligent readers figured out if they bothered to read Mr Jennings' original post. Mr. Starr will be returning to school this fall to retake English 1010 and learn about this "satire" stuff that the kids are so into today."

But alas, no such luck. Instead we get a new letter from another Post writer, basically defending her colleague with the argument that Ken's sense of humor is so bizarre that it is easy to misunderstand.

Then she blasts him for poking fun at them for not getting his post. Oh New York Post staffers, just admit you obviously have no sense of humor, screwed up royally, and be done with it! Taking the high road for a mistake may be bitter, but it is the right and classy thing to do. A major publication should know better.

I got Ken's humor very well and thoroughly enjoyed it. But that could be for two reasons: 1) I am a woman who loves intelligent humor that makes you think, and 2) like Ken I am Mormon (yikes, can't believe I am admitting my religion on this blog), and as all Mormons know we have the wierdest, quirkiest sense of humor on the planet. So between the two Ken is my new hero.

::

Saw My Super Ex-Girlfriend over the weekend. I surprised myself by actually liking it, a lot. I thought the writing was smart and mostly funny (but again with the gratuitous sex jokes, sigh,) the plot moved along in a nice, sensical manner for such a bizarre storyline, and that the acting was great on all sides. Uma, Rainn and Eddie all made great characters that the straight actors played well against.

And as we learned in the Pirates of the Caribbean writing commentary (did anyone read that post? Anyone?), you have to take a great idea "lemon" and squeeze all the juice you can out of it. And I think, especially with the ending plot twists, that they did this rather well.

And the costumes of G-Girl are to die for; finally someone (Uma, I read) has taken into account that superheroine costumes can be classy yet stunningly lovely and somewhat reealistic for actual fighting. She is still wearing stupidly high heels, tsk. But I will concede that argument on account that high heels are a stubborn aesthetic staple of the superhero genre that refuses to die, and that the rest of the costume choices well made up for it.

My largest complaint about the movie centers around the underutilization of Eddie Izzard, one of my newly minted fave comedians. (Yes, Meliss, you did a good job in converting me!) His standup routine in which he is the king of the humorous yet intelligent ramble is superb. So the fact that he didn't get free reign to do his schtick as other (less funny) comedians get to do in their movies saddened me. (He did get some great lines in though; I am still laughing at the Switzerland one.) But perhaps he chose to reign it in himself to be true to the character he was playing; if so I admire him all the more.

Haven't seen Lady in the Water yet, because I am poor yet saw Pirates twice this month, and because have had little time to fit movies in my life. (Night, I still love you I promise!) But hope to see it soon, and Devil wears Prada before it exits the cheap theaters. Already missed seeing Tokyo Drift before it left, but am not too cut up about that.

My Work :: Part 13: AngstyBishy Princess Mononoke

Yay for finaly getting an AB up on time! I have felt like such a slacker these past few weeks; in spite of the crunch time I am facing at work right now, I really like doing these and feel bad when I miss a Friday.

Okay, enough about that. Mononoke was fun and realtively easy to sketch, since I had borrowed in on DVD and had good images to work from. I had done the sketch long ago, and it was just a matter of getting it polished to scan. But I had to make adjustments in Illustrator, and for some reason it was tough this week to make each part of her work together visually, unlike some of my previous AB's. Maybe I'm just rusty from not doing AB's regularly? But I liked how she turned out anyway. Lots of litle decisions to make during the process, like how furry to make her wolfskin and whether to include the jewel's shiny texture on her forehead, but I think everything worked out for the best.

I'm so proud to finally have a female AB up! I have meant to make my drawings an equal-opportunity medium for both sexes, since angst knows no gender. But there are admittedly fewer women in anime and manga, for whatever reason. I plan to eventually get up such female bishies as Soi Fon and Rukia from Bleach, Asuka from NGE, Juuri from Utena, and maybe even Buttercup from PPG, to name the ones on my list so far. I'll have to scour the anime world for more, but there are surely enough out there that I can't imagine the AB females being grossly outnumbered by the males.

::

On a side note, Elicia is now in London, and I miss her tons. Though I have managed to get her files from work to evaluate, proving that even from across the pond she can still assist her nee-chan. And because of her absence I am back to drawing nearly every day (not because she is gone so I am free to draw, but because she asked me to do this before she left. I sketch each night before going to bed and am beginning to remember how much fun sketching can be. Just practicing poses and proportions for now, but might try sketches of potential character designs for our stories soon.)

Her Sasuke doll is touring the sites with her and while looking jetlagged and grumpy, is very photogenic. But apparently on the tube today returning to the dorms she lost the pink nalgene bottle I gave her, which she was very unhappy at doing. Those crazy tubes; hopefully someone will be nice and turn it in.

Whitney from the Candy is at Comic-Con. And here I thought the 41,000 at Anime Expo was mind-boggling; they are expecting over 100,000 people at the C-C. Yikes! Sounds cool but do not plan on attending it any time in the near future, though would love to see all the Losties there.

Am brainstorming my next t-shirt designs, next AB's, and of course all my work projects whose deadlines are fast approaching. Not going to work on Monday, so unless post from friend's house will not post more stuff till Tuesday at the earliest.

HyWire Me Up, Baby

Okay, I'll admit that my real reason for including this is just because it is so freakin' cool I can't stand it. Watch the clip below.



Talk about sci-fi brought to life! The other hydrogen cars had fuel cells that required the hydrogen and oxygen in water to be separated by traditional means—ie coal, so not really saving the earth. If this uses a different process and is actualy fossil-fuel free as touted, that is really sweet.

I know I know, if "Who Killed the Electric Car" is to be believed this car will never, ever see the light of day. But a girl can dream can't she? This is very much the car for our generation: it drives like a game, had digital technology, and allows you to change its "skin" whenever you like. GM, I have my eye on you! Do not disappoint!

Link found via Geeks are Sexy.

Writing Manga:: Part 4: X Marks the Spot for Good Screenwriting

So I cannot get enough of Pirates of the Caribbean right now (I'm practically dizzy with delight at how fabulous the sequel turned out.) So of course I have been wearing out my DVD of the first one every chance I get. Usually I devour everything included on the "Special Features" section, but for some reason I had never listened to any of the commentaries. So I started up the writer's commentary on POC, and lo and behold it was practically a round tale discussion between the four writers of the movie. Woo Hoo! so I took copious notes throughout the movie.

I decided to post those here, because all of my stories could benefit from the nuggets of wisdom these men poured forth. I've divided them into two sections, my notes relating to writing the film and those that don't. I have to warn you, I was a paid notetaker in college, so when it comes to notes I am very thorough and long. But that is a skill that comes in mighty handy sometimes. Read on and be inspired; I know I certaintly was. If the notes seem incoherent, check out the original commentary to hear what was really said and in what context.

:: Notes from Pirates of the Caribbean: Writer's Commentary with Jay Wolpert, Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio ::


Elizabeth Swann is the "access" character for the film, as in actuality the main protagonist since her actions propel the other characters forward (being kidnappped, calling herself Turner, etc.)

Balance = action, comedy, character

good writing lets you know all you need to know about a character by their intro (ie Jack's stance while on the sinking boat)

all dialogue and action should play into the character

all love stories are about conflict: emphasize this conflict each time the characters are together

personality of character not come from what is written but from the actor's portrayal, ie Depp's version of Sparrow: "Exactly how we described, nothing like we anticipated"

Sparrow is like bugs bunny and pepe le pew, in that he is a trickster character who lives in his own version of reality, his world different than it really is, always one step ahead

use quick, smart actions to get to next scene

whole film is about a corset. =)

historically innacurate part: the p branded on pirates actualy done on forehead, not arm

weave in important elements of plot and character so are seamless: ie jack's compass, an important part of plot, is introduced by norrington as a joke

audiences die for something fun and original, and if childhood dreams given life (what kid not want to be pirate?)

character interaction interwoven into the action; as fight trade beliefs, not just insults. writing the action in—the moves and elements in the room—instead of just leaving the scene entirely up to a choreographer helps create emotion on the page

best action beats informing the audience of the character, as can demo plot and char within the actions

can look back at elements used at the beginning and reuse them at end

movement in scene in opposition to the principle action/fighting is nice, ie the wheels and swords moving around jack and will as they fought in the blacksmith shop

one central relationship, two people and their tensions, is important; plots come and go, but good characters stay and rise above the story; as they grow and learn they make the story enjoyable

love writing strong women; not get their strength in easy or obvious ways to get out of situations like men do; their strength comes in subtler ways

things change draft to draft; can be huge or small

pirate conventions; untruths about the pirate world the rest of the world knows of (no walking plank, little buried treasure as use on drink/women mostly)

3 categories of pirate film: swashbuckler (serious like dungeons, count of monte cristo), stylish adventure (mask of Zorro, less involved in characters but enjoy), and rollicking high adventure (POC making this new category, care about characters but have good time)

slow reveal: hint at supernatural elements early in film with umbrella in opening scene

sourround characters with events or other chars to bounce off of

sergio leone westerns: if add great chars who are mythical legends, the quarrels of gods belong to the gods

barbosa and jack: both tricksters, but one light and one dark

in action films make the villain the biggest, baddest person you can to heighten the drama and conflict, to pitch hero into impossible odds and make audience ask selves how will ever succeed, ie david and goliath; creates triumphant win and gets audience involved

use background chars to hide lynchpin moments, ie throwaway conversation of two soldiers and norrington pushes will to go see jack in prison, sets off plot for whole rest of movie

if must use exposition, tradeoff is to provide great dialogue

Character in the how, not the what: WHAT is jack/will steal a ship; jack's wiliness and intelligence is revealed in HOW he does it

get the audience to trust in the hero and invest the story or lose whole thing

if audience learns something let the hero learn it as well; makes the hero at least as smart as the audience

know your predesessors; stand on their shoulders and study them, ie in genre

worst thing in the world bring romantic leads together; destroys the walls of separation (class, money etc.) keeping them apart

have moments where people tell stories

put the woman in the middle of the action and see how she does

most interesting villains have contradictions—deep down there is a different side they do not reveal

larger than life characters that know more than the rest

POC is raiders of the lost ark on the high seas—loved that movie as a boy—real action/jeopardy/stakes, real bad guy, impossible odds

audiences only need a plausible explanation to satisfy them; ie bruckheimer really wanted to explain to audience why jack way he was; writers wrote in the marooning to satisfy producer; but in reality cannot pin down and explain jack properly

depp's research revealed that pirates were the rock stars of their day; bigest rock star in his mind was keith richards, so went with that to create jack

the sideshow characters make the story complete; create laughs, help polish off the world

mark davis main creator for park ride; looked at his original sketches

barbosa is the dark sidde of jack

providing great turns for your sideshow character actors is something in all big old hollywood productions but is sadly missing in movies today; pretended thy had great actors under contract when wrote characters. ie gibs was allen hale, guards were vaudevilians, had laurel and hardy in two pirates

set up chessmatch of minds and strategy between the mythical figs in story: the two gods (jack and barbossa) come together to battle and the rest can only watch

how ted and terry write: divide up scenes betweeen them and each write; then trade scenes and make notes; then read over the notes. Always have the scenes worked out before the first draft so know where fit into overall story before begin

save the kiss until the end: creates tension all the way through in the love story.

No kill the dog.

no bookends.

Ignore all these rules as you like

change the rythm of the dialogue as much as you do the actual words

the two gods in the story have similar concerns, think and act similar

WB cartoon moments in the story are moments of great bravado

POC was "writing on assignment": company hires you to do their movie idea

learn enought to use real things in situations for historical accuracy (ie oars on Pearl, facts about real pirates. But also hired historical advisor, rigging master, ship masters for help)

movie meant to be an accurate reflection of the romanticism of piracy going back to Lord Byron—not a movie about real pirates but a "pirate movie"

all good stories: for a minute you think the hero is dead and you have no one left to identify with

flashy performances (jack) require real performances (Will) to anchor their craziness

wanted to hit all the genre bits in a genre film, things the audiences expect and love (mute, parrot, walking the plank)

If movie is a three act play:
Act one: set up story, catalyst for actions, raise questions
Act two: tell the story
End of Act two: lowest moment in story, answer to questions are no, get audience as low as can
Act three: bing the audience up as high as can, keep involved and give great ride, wrap up and answer questions

be exposition lite: visually show the past if must, otherwise limit its importance in the present; add comedy or tension in, make charaters angry at each other as one explains, or use to inform audience of character if must use

do the best with what you can do; best complaint was frustration from crew at artificial limitations; ie shooting going on for a scene in the movie and the actors upset are not part of it, instead have to stay at hotel

constraints and rythms = viola in dialogue

elements of the supernatural never before in a pirate movie, but are in ride, so included overtly

allowing reality of the movie to enter into the realm of the supernatural brought stylization to the movie of a different world. in reality no accept walking planks, parrots unless tell as a ghost story. then accept the crazy things like jack sparrow

not naturalistic pirate movie, rather is a classical swashbuckling romance

overlapping conventions in horror and romance genres through the gothic elements it descends from—lots of overlapping—hide in reality, but allow to do romantic

Anthony Hope: "Romance genre gives 2 ambition balance, courage to the high moment, and to love the ideal object"

High climax encompasses several stories at once, wrapped up at once, fun, exciting, little explanation/expos necessary by that point

writers are now part of the Disney legacy, on screen fo the first time exciting and scary

knew making movie on ride could work if done right

how to lower scenes from R to PG-13: keep actions offscreen and out of frame, but still hear them

tough: having several lines of action, yet audience still can tell which is happening where

"Squeeze the lemon" = amazing premise that you do all you can with it; for them it was getting the most out of undead pirates—jumping in the light, etc—don't regret that you could've done more with that dea, do it; squeeze the lemon dry, get everything out of what you have set up; the good stories do this every time

every single CGI character was individualized based on original actor

pirate code as "basically guidelines" idea gets transferred from char to char, becomes a reoccuring line; first Barbossa say to Liz, she transfer to crew and they to jack; that line is what gets crew to return and rescue Jack at end

cheesy hero lines: can write typical hero lines but need to be good and deal with the story/char

the writers figured out the whole blood/coin mythology, worked out all on the page; so when jack steals still makes sense (though aparently lots of critics missed that entirely though was done as overtly as possible onscreen)

irony: Barbossa finally feels, only to feel his own death

tales from the crypt-type comedy: irony, just desserts, what you did comes back tenfold, you are destroyed by what you want

effectiveness of onscreen

comedic pairs meet finally: abbott and costello on acid with laurel and hardy (two soldiers and two pirate buddies)

not typical act 3 paradigm; usually story kills villain and thus ends whole thing; usually that type of villain does not work on such a personal level as barbossa does (his only goal to become mortal, not to destroy earth or something huge), but this is a char movie, so story not over till all the char stories over, even though barbossa, main villain, already dead

in the early 1700's they cracked down on piracy

romantic pirate: a rebel, outlaw wiht a noble cause; by the end Orlando is the only true movie pirate

hero: does something at the end of the movie would never do at the beginning; in the middle growth for the char comes to allow that change. Will would never rescue a pirate at the beg, but at end risks life to save jack; learns the difference between a pirate and a good man and that they can be the same

lesson learned: that not all pirates are bad; not necc true in reality but is in our romantic version

norrington a representation of the unbending law

can break the law because it is wrong; not when is in your own personal interst or just because you want to feel good

if do not set up the char change, then characterization no carry emotions with it

kiss delivered at very end

fun star (Jack) ends movie like this with a laugh ala james cameron

"Bring me that Horizon"—Johnny added that the same day as the shooting

writers had to approve any ad libs by the actors

in the credits:
screenplay by: means you were on the set, added the wording
story credit: means you influenced how the story took shape

all scripts go to a writing guild; the one most like the finished film get screen credit, meaning you put enough into shaping the final story's plot and words

not a butchered script of the three; all worked with the same goal, translated eventually to a great fun film

writers also figured out timeline of whole backstory of Jack's crew, bill turner, etc:
10 years eariler Jack in tortuga to get new crew and go after the aztec treasure, with the compass he learned the island's bearing; knew about the curse and told his crew, but none believe same as jack; bill was on jack's crew before barbossa and tortuga; they sail out and first day out barbossa says all get equal share in knowing bearings; jack tells them; jack is betrayed when barbossa violates the code and mutinies; jack is marooned; bill stays on board with the crew but wants to do whats right by jack and stick with code; crew goes to Muerta and takes treasure (even monkey takes some); crew learns curse is real; bill says they deserve to be cursed and mails piece of gold to his son; barboss mad at bill and drops him immortal down into davy jones locker (probably still alive but a puddle); crew learns have to put all gold back (maybe was written on the chest itself?) and pay blood

8 years prior: pirates destroy will's ship, liz crossing to jamaica; liz steals coin; jack escapes

over next a years: pirates looks for gold; gold around liz's neck in the water calls to the pirates and sets off movie; also learn that the boat jack sinks in the beginning of the movie was anamaria's boat

touch of the supernatural in the pearl but still was blown up (sequel?); lose in unnatural fog

fine clockwork—all is there; was an odd way to do the story but it all works

::

I shouls also mention that none of these coments wer mine; all come exclusively from the writers. So if you disagree with anything take it up with them. =) And thus ends the writing lesson for today.

I will add other Pirates of the Caribbean links to this blog in time; I've been saving them up and hope to post them soon.

Yodelay-hee-hooey?

Just when I thought Jewel was out of my life and I had moved on, here she is doing something appropriate to mention on my blog. Apparently she has a new kids' show on Nickelodeon premiering this fall called Punk Rock Angel Girl, in which she is the voice of the main character, a girl who uses her powers or righteous anger and yodeling to save the world from mindless media and popstar robots. (Nope, I'm serious.) Apparently she wrote the first episode and designed the main character herself. (I will forgive her, since she apparently was an art major so she has some legitimate background in art. And writing too, I suppose.)

In spite of everything I think the series would be interesting to watch, at least to see if she pulls it off. There are so many comics or animated shows based on or by musicians nowadays (Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, Princess Ai, and Hammerman come to mind), and it really is a crap shoot to see if they can be fun without turning insufferable. (Hi Hi? Cute and fun, though their bus' design scares me. Princess Ai? Too Courtney Love-esque for me; when she mentions the heart-shaped box I wanted to gag—leave your husband's legacy alone! Hammerman? An almost acid-trippy childhood memory best left forgotten.)

I still haven't forgiven Jewel for turning all slutty-pop with 0304 (she claims her Intuition video was a satire, but I don't buy it; you don't use a satirical song to hawk Schick razors, sweetie, it destroys your message.) But I do like the message of her show; with all the mindless young celebrity girls running around, and the odious Bratz culture thrust at little girls, we need all the positive female influences we can get.

And to be honest, I'm surprised that other pop stars haven't picked up on this idea and run off with it. I could see a cartoon Gwen Stefani fighting with her band of Harajuku Girls ala Kamikaze Girls meets Spice Girls, or Danger Mouse becoming an actual cartoon mouse! Think of the power of extending your music brand to kids and preteens. =( Um, on second thought, maybe it's for the best that pop stars leave the littlest ones alone; they will be exposed to the horrors of the mass branding and marketing of pop culture soon enough.

Credits for the article go, of course, to the Candy.

::

And I promise that once the craziness here dies down, I will get an AB up. I swear.

All Part of the Process

I'm not one to read "smut manga," my own personal name for it, or "yaoi" if you prefer the real Japanese name. But Elicia does, and especially likes downloading the doujinshi done by professional artists. (I still think it's incredible that in Japan you can make a living by doing manga as fanfiction; way to go for the laxer copyright laws!) Anyway, every now and then she will find a yaoi artist whose work really is incredible artistically, and will show me a page or two so I can get inspired.

I can't remember if I've seen this lady's work or not, but one of those artists, Ebine Yamaji, wrote an afterword in her manga about the journey she had to undertake to redisover her artistic process. I read it not long after starting up this blog, I believe, and always knew I would have to include it here at some point because what she said was just fabulous. It really spoke to why I made this stupid blog in the first place—so that I don't forget the emotions, research, inspirations, and processes Elicia and I undertake as we struggle to get our stories and thoughts onto the page. To have a record of the joy we feel doing this and the things helping us along the way.

Anyway, Yamaji's afterword is attached above. Read and enjoy.

A Lotta Booty to Replace the Bishie

After being so good last week and getting Light up on time, I feel like such a heel, as there will be no AB this week; the holiday and other things saw to that.

To make amends, I am posting awesome pirate links in honor of Pirates of the Caribbean coming out today!

I've already bought my tickets for a 6:30 pm showing tonight, and cannot wait! One of my coworkers is throwing a pirates party after work today, which she kindly invited me to, to my excitement. Maybe it's just a local thing, but her kids and my sister are dressing up for the movie; is anyone else around the country doing this? Elicia already has a pirate wench costume from the first movie, but she might change it a little. Any excuse to dress up for her. I will be borrowing her hello kitty piraqte shirt that says "it's all about the booty." So will be somewhat in the spirit of the evening. I have been eyeing a t-shirt at Hot Topic that has a POC emblem much like the theme park ride's illustrations, but may have to buy it online as is not in my size at the store. Too late to order it now, but I will wear it with pride when I see the third one.

Anyway, here are some choice links:

:: A guided tour of the new changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, complete with pics of Depp admiring his animatronic alter ego.

:: Nice large pics of movie stills at Rotten Tomatoes. (Click any of the pics on the page to get a slideshow of them all. Love the one of Kiera Knightley on the ground in her dishevelled wedding dress.)

:: Kiera Knightley's reaction about seeing hte film with Orlando Bloom for the first time (which struck me as really funny for some reason.)

:: Johnny Depp's comments about the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.

:: Movie Mom's review of the film, mostly because of her awesome pirate links at the end. (Also check out the pics and clips at Yahoo! while you are there)

:: Featurette on the movie from Apple's movie trailer site.

:: An interesting article by Brandweek on the movie tie-ins, and a link to the arresting Volvo marketing campaign.

:: IMDB's page for the film.

:: Last but not least, the movie's own home page.

Anything else of note I forgot to link to I'll post later.

I honestly think this movie will be the hit of the summer, but of course that remains to be seen. Even if it disappointing, just seeing Depp on the big screen for two and a half hours will be enjoyment in itself.

Deathnote Delectables: "Candy" Dish and Manga Fin

Woohoo! Great weekend for Deathnote stuff.

:: Deathnote at the Candy ::

On a whim I sent an e-mail asking Pop Candy's Whitney if she had heard any news about Deathnote coming to America, since she has much better contacts than I do. so imagine my surprise when my question makes her Mailbag! And she seems happy to answer it!

Here is the massage I posted and her response:

::

I don't know if you read manga as much as you do comics and graphic novels, but here's hoping you can help me on this one. I read that the live-action movie of the manga Death Note -- a modern supernatural detective thriller that I adore -- was No. 1 at the Japanese box office this week. Since it's doing well over there and is partly distributed by Warner Bros., is there any chance we will get to see it on the big screen in this country? -- Liz L.

I'm glad you asked this question, and thanks for being patient with my scattered updates. (Just took some time out to interview a comedian -- you'll be reading that soon.) Anyway, since you're such a big fan, you've probably already seen the trailer, but here it is, just in case. Death Note is actually a two-part movie, a la Kill Bill. I have a call out to Warner Bros. about a possible release date, but I think a DVD release is much more likely than something in U.S. theaters. Here's a good roundup of the latest Death Note news, and you mention Warner Japan, which you can learn more about here. I'll let you know if the company provides any new info.

::

Cool, huh? And the links she gave are pretty good, so I'm glad I got the courage to ask. And maybe I'm the first to ask a manga or Deathnote related question! I haven't been reading very long so am not sure, but would be cool if it was true. To read my actual post at the Candy, click here.

:: Death Note Fin ::

Elicia and I downloaded the remaining chapters of Deathnote this weekend, so we have now read the entire series! But since we were reading it together, and I read manga slower so as to savor the whole page, she kept getting annoyed with me. It reminded me of the feverish days we spent when in our naivete, we only bought one copy of Harry Potter 5 and were reading it at the same time. Not an experience I ever want to repeat. (We learned out lesson when HP6 came out, and each bought out own copies. Great except Elicia again got to read it faster than I did, and so kept dropping hints about how good it was and how I'd better hurry up. What we will be like when book 7 comes out I do not know.)

Anyways, I'm so going to talk about Deathnote, but only in the comments section of this post so that I don't spoil it for anyone. I just have to get my feelings out! Man, what a good series. Sad it's finished, but we always have the movies and discovering the author's real identity to look forward to.

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Happy hols tomorrow everyone! We get the day off from work, so I am so not posting anything. I'm seeing our local fireworks tonight with fam. Tomorrow I'm going to a scouts breakfast in the morning, helping my mom get the rest of her flowers planted, setting off sparklers and mini fireworks, and maybe going to a friend's house. Oh, and hopefully drawing, napping, and working on the diathesis for our first story. That should keep me busy, huh?

To celebrate the occasion, since I love learning bout history, I watched a play about Jefferson and Adam's correspondences and read Time's new article on Teddy Roosevelt; all are men I greatly esteem, so great stuff. Is it wierd to like US History so much? Maybe it's because modern politics depress me so much, it's nice to see things that remind me that politics, even with brilliant men at the helm, are always screwed up. Seriously, the more things change the more they really do stay the same. Yay for history.