This weekend I finished off the Wonderfalls DVD. Be careful with the last disc — those last four episodes are hard to turn away from, making for a very late night. What a Wonderful series! I remember how much I’d look forward to the next week’s episode and the joy of this show is still found in the DVDs.

As a story-arc reaching over a season, Wonderfalls succeeds. Over thirteen episodes, Jaye Tyler grows incrementally from episode to episode and her transformation from misanthropic slacker to accepting (what seems to be) her inevitable future as a modern-day shaman is convincing. This is the happy, feel-good show for the cynical, jaded viewer tired of those cliched happy endings. The show works so hard to give these characters their happy ending that it’s hard to feel like its undeserved.

One other thing that’s quite remarkable about this show is that it manages to maintain the high standard that it sets for itself. As much as I adore Bryan Fuller’s other show, Dead Like Me, it never matched the sheer nonstop brilliance of the pilot, a feat that Wonderfalls accomplishes heartily.

Still feeling the glow of having watched Wonderfalls, I was happy to see that the DVD is off to a strong start:

“It’s part of a growing trend that will likely grow further, where we’ll see good quality programming getting a second life that didn’t have it in all the years before DVD,” Virgin DVD product manager Chris Anstey said. “The strange thing about Wonderfalls is that when we were first solicited, it wasn’t immediately recognizable. But I asked around the office and people said they really loved the show. That gave me some good info.”

I’m pleasantly surprised, here. The show’s a tough sell, every time I’ve talked up the show, I see eyes glazing over once I mention inanimate objects talking to the protagonist. (I usually say a few words of praise first.) I was expecting Wonderfalls‘ DVD sales to be a slow build where fans would sell the series by forcing people to sit down for an episode and getting them hooked.

As someone who actually wrote letters to Fox and Recency, I was just happy to get the DVDs. All I wanted was the chance to watch the unaired episodes. However, it gets even better:

New Regency Prod., a sister movie unit to Wonderfalls’ Regency Television production company, hopes to develop a Wonderfalls feature film with Fuller and co-creator/co-executive producer Todd Holland. But it’s unlikely there will be fresh TV episodes a la Family Guy, as contractual differences between actors and voice talent make reunifications trickier with live-action series.

I’ve wondered in the past how DVD will affect television. Will it be incorporated into the current business models — perhaps the next Wonderfalls or Action will be spared because money lost on airing the series could be remade on DVD sales?

I think we’ve seen our first success with 24, which was on the bubble throughout its first season but suddenly became a hit in the second season, success which was partially due to a summer DVD release. The DVD gave people a change to see the show, become hooked to the season-long story arc and get excited at the thought at more 24.

If a Wonderfalls movie does happen, I think Serenity’s performance will be a major factor… If Serenity succeeds on the big screen, that could also be an interesting business model where a poorly performing but critically acclaimed series could end up as a movie franchise. It makes sense — IIRC, Wonderfalls got about four million viewers a week. That’s not huge in television, but if half of those viewers bought a movie ticket, you’ve got a decent opening weekend, a good size for a genre like Wonderfalls.

• Overall, Chris Rock made a great host. Nice opening monologue… I was kinda worried after seeing his last cable special (which left me underwhelmed) but he really started this one off nicely. Rock also put together some great intros, too.
• The changes to the presentation were a mixed bag, bringing nominees on stage didn’t work, tho I see how it could. Giving the trophy from the audience did bring a nice amount of intimacy.
• That big "curtain" was really cool tho.
• And, one of the people at my party noted… at least if you know you’re going to have to stand on stage, win or lose, you have a justification for spending money on a nice dress.
• Tacky, tacky, tacky choice to not have the recording artists perform their songs, especially when three of those five performances used the same performer.
• That said, Ms Knowels looked good in each of her performing outfits. I only liked the first performance, tho.
• Y’know, when Salma Hayek says something… anything is the "most beautiful" she just has me nodding in agreement robotically. She could probably get me to agree that Rob Leifeld’s Avengers features the most beautiful art.
• Yikes. Who’s pushing the idea that a heavy application of black eyeliner can emphasize any woman’s beauty? So many women looked amazing… except for the black eyeliner.
• Favorite speech: Jorge Drexler
• Damn, I’ve really got to see White Chicks. It sounds good.
• Jake Gyllenhaal looks so cute with the shaved head. Maggie looks great with the new ‘do as well.
• Surprisingly, I won the winner prediction contest at the Oscar party I attended. I was wrong on the Million Dollar Baby/Aviator split I predicted… I expected Aviator for Picture, MDB for Director.

Within New York’s Chinatown, there is a pet shop run by the enigmatic Count D. Strange, exotic pets are sold there and customers are required to sign a contract specifying the details of caring for their purchase with a warning not to stray from the directions. When Detective Leon Orcut discovers Count D’s shop, he suspects Count D is behind something nefarious and illegal. However, as determined as he may be to find evidence against Count D, Leon finds something compelling about him.

Pet Shop of Horrors is essentially a horror anthology series with Count D playing the occasionally-participating host, similar to the format of the Doorway to Nightmare issues I’ve picked up. Count D’s pets usually have some kind of human appearance, making them more like trickster animals of myth. The animals usually relate to some sort of deep desire of the customer — sometimes forcing the customer to face their inner demons, sometimes helping the customer overcome a crippling loss. Some of the animals have instincts that conflict with human societal norms, others strive to receive human love.

In many ways, Pet Shop of Horrors reminds me of Night Gallery. Often the truth of the animals is kept vague in each story, held back for a late reveal. The point of the twist is usually to explore the focal character and how their new pet affects their path. Some of the endings are warm and fuzzy, others dark and tragic, a few are darkly optimistic. I’ve been saying "some… other" sentences a lot in this review, which I guess says the series is well balanced. Every time I thought I found a formula to the series, the next story would turn that idea on its head.

Despite the "Horror" in the title, the series isn’t very creepy or scary. There is occasional mild gore, but the stories’ tone is closer the the cautionary tales of Rod Serling and his many imitators.

The series one major failing comes when it tries to develop its lead characters. Count D works well as manga’s Madame Xanadu, but when series creator Matsuri Akino tries to explain his history, it quickly falls into cliche-ridden territory. Similarly, Leon makes an interesting story catalyst, but the slowly-building romance between him and Count D lacks in chemistry and falls flat. The series works best as an episodic character study and falls flat when it tries to create a continuity. Thankfully, in the first five volumes, the series focuses on what it does best.

Bweahahahaha… or, ew. I’m not sure.

Started here, tho the thought isn’t as much funny as it is sad, considering the wonder of Two Buck Chuck.

Hal Jordan vs. Kyle Rayner

Wonder Woman vs. Batman

Diana Prince vs. Bruce Wayne

Marvel Girl vs. Saturn Girl

Chocolate vs Peanut Butter

Grant Morrison vs. Mark Millar

Christiano Ronaldo vs. David Beckham

Sophile Ellis-Bextor vs Kylie Minoque (Whoops… corrected link.)

This could get additive fast. (Found via)

In the latest Cooking Light magazine, I finally found a good recipe for my favorite Chinese dish, Ma Po Tofu. Ever since I mistakenly ordered this during my vegetarian days, this spicy dish has been one of my "usual" picks, even in my vegetarian days when I’d eat around the ground pork. Unfortunately, when I’ve found recipes for Ma Po Tofu they often included ketchup. They tasted okay, but the culinary snob on my shoulder would chide me for using ketchup in making Chinese food. I’ve also tried recipes that poached the tofu before stir-frying it. Personally, my taste for tofu leans more towards the extra-firm than silken, so that extra step turned out to be a rewardless effort.

(more…)

I really should read Brian Hibbs’ Tilting At Windmills column more often, but I just don’t get to it. However, his latest column is getting linked about, which reminds me to check it out. I was especially intrigued by a bit David quotes:

Last year I opined
that my experience was that Manga sold more akin to a periodical than a perennial – that is to say that sales were front loaded in the first few weeks of release, then drastically dropped
off from there. This does not appear to be case when comparing BookScan 2003 to 2004. In fact, if I counted right, there are 123 Manga titles (of 751 total<) which appeared on both year’s lists. That means nearly 20% of the total manga titles appear to be perennials….
I truly don’t understand
why we’re seeing such drastically different results in the DM than in the bookstores with manga. The other places on the list where BookScan shows great sales, I’m doing well with that work
– but not manga. I can barely give manga away. Sales are compressed in the first weeks, then I never sell another copy again. I’m stuck with a disproportionate amount of unsalable
stock, and more product is being released than I could possibly rack, even if the sales were there. This perplexes me.

Having shopped at Brian’s store and being a comic buyer in his retail arena, I’ve got a few theories behind Brian’s puzzle. Personally, Comix Experience is a special trip store for me. I’ve only once lived close to it and even then the bus lines that go by the store were inconvenient for me. It is a worthwhile special trip because Comix Experience has a great selection of indies and TPBs, tho it does take a special effort for me to stop by.

In the many times I’ve been there, I always look at the manga but only bought manga once. The big problem is the usual stocking problem with manga — the volume I want is never in stock. Sometimes I’m looking for volume one, sometimes I’m looking for wherever I left off, but when I see a title I like the volume I want isn’t there. Truthfully, that’s one of the biggest challenges with manga — there’s so much stock to track. Quite honestly, I don’t see room at Comix Experience for more manga to be stocked (and last time I was there one shelf was packed so tightly I couldn’t get a book out to peek at it), not without displacing the non-manga books that I presume are selling well.

One other factor to consider is that Comix Experience has a major competitor nearby. The Kinokuniya Bookstore in Japantown isn’t going to steal away Comix Experience’s primary customers, but it is a far better shop for manga. If I were specifically looking for a manga title (and no non-manga comics) I wouldn’t go to Comix Experience, I’d go to Kinokuniya. I think this may be the biggest factor for the frontloaded sales that Hibbs mentions — with Kinokuniya’s selection, I automatically go there if there’s a manga title I’m having a hard time finding. That leaves me to presume if the manga Comix Experience sells are being purchased by people who go there for their regular comic purchases, not the occasional ’special trip’ customers like me… regular customers who are more likely to buy something soon after release.

My presumption here is that there are two types of comic shop customers — regulars and special trip customers. The regulars come in frequently and have incorporated a visit to the shop into a comfortable schedule. They’re likely to buy a manga title close to when it comes out, either because they’ve been waiting for the release or they’ve been thinking about buying a title since it first appeared in the store. The special trip customer is a regular elsewhere and is looking for something that cannot be found at the regular shop. A special trip customer looking for a copy of From Hell or Superman in the 70’s has good reason to visit Comix Experience. One looking for Tomie or Fake, however, wouldn’t find much… with that in mind, I suspect that any manga at Comix Experience, once their chance to sell to regular customers has expired, only can sell by chance (that is, if a special trip customer happens to be looking for what happens to be in stock). Since Comix Experience isn’t a manga destination like how it is a TPB destination, whatever isn’t new has a hard time selling.

Of course I’m  just playing armchair retailer, here. It’s easy to theorize. Hibbs actually does it.

Perhaps, tho, Comix Experience can use its reputation to sell manga? One of the store’s characteristic qualities are the writer shelves where works by writers like Alan Moore and Grant Morrison are put together on their own shelf. I wonder how a shelf highlighting masters of manga would do, perhaps with a shelf for Osamu Tezuka, Junji Ito, Yuu Wayatase and Rumiko Takahashi? Comix Experience is known as a store run by people that appreciate a wide-range of high-quality comics, a place where regardless of your interests you can find ‘the good stuff’… except that I feel that’s rather lacking when it comes to their manga offerings. Perhaps that’s where the opportunity lies.

Dorian’s remix of the ‘100 Things I love about comics’ meme is great… "100 Things That Actually Sort-Of Annoy Me About Comics." There’s some sharp insight, as usual, mixed with a healthy amount of snark.

Over at Polite Dissent, Scott suggests ratings Marvel should consider. I know I’d appreciate the I and JG ratings, myself.

Seriously tho, while I like the idea of making ratings easier to understand, I prefer content-specific ratings than arbitrarily deciding that something is appropriate for an age group. Instead of leaving people frustrated when bare breasts are deemed to be more "mature" content than gory violence, just say what’s in there and allow people to decide for themselves.

And I say there should be some gay-specific ratings ones. I realize that one guy giving another guy a heart-shaped box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day is mature sexual content to some people*, so why not just label it as same sex dating rather than mature sexual content. Let people know the content and let them decide for themselves which age they deem it appropriate.

* Not said facetiously, I realize that for some people think that seeing a gay couple requires a premature talk about the birds and the bees. I totally disagree, but I understand that some people see things that way.

A preview of City of Heroes’ PVP play has been posted. There are some interesting tweaks to gameplay. My favorite touch is that invisible heroes will actually be invisible, though environmental interaction will betray their presence. I’ve always thought it would be interesting if you had to be careful not to make any sounds when invisible.

Sometimes you’ve got to post a recipe just because it worked…

Chocolate Sorbet

¾ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon chipotle chili powder (optional)
2 cups water
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 bananas, pureed
¼ cup honey
3 bananas, pureed
2 oz Irish Cream Liqueur

1. Mix the cocoa, sugar, cinnamon and chili powder (if using) in a medium sized pot. Add the water in small batches, mixing after each addition and stopping as soon as all the powder has been absorbed and the liquid thins to the consistency of heavy cream. Set aside the remaining water.
2. Put the pot onto medium heat and add the unsweetened chocolate, the honey and the bananas. Stir frequently until the powder has completely mixed and the chocolate has melted.
3. Transfer the mixture to a container. Mix in the remaining water and put in refrigerator until the mixture has fully chilled.
4. After it has cooled, freeze the sorbet in an ice cream maker. Just before the sorbet is fully frozen, add the Irish Cream Liquor and allow it to mix fully.
5. Transfer the frozen sorbet from the ice cream maker to the freezer.

The chili powder adds a tiny kick. One you notice but one you wouldn’t attribute to chili peppers.

IMO the biggest challenge with sorbet is the texture. It’s hard to get sorbet to get to that density that isn’t too hard. but still feels like sorbet. The honey and the alcohol help deal with this… honey resists fully freezing and can be used in recipes where you done want a full freeze. Alcohol also helps prevent the sorbet from fully freezing.

Quite honestly, the bananas didn’t make a notable flavor in the final product, but since I got a really nice texture with this recipe, I’m thinking it’s not worth tampering with.