I’ve got two or three meaty Asian-American Heritage Month posts that have been festering in my mind ever since I was reminded of it a couple weeks ago, but here’s a remainder thought:

I’ve long been fascinated with the idea of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu, ever since I first read about her in a Dungeons & Dragons book, especially since she’s an unusual woman of myth. Not only is she the rare sun goddess, but she’s also one of the few (if any?) goddesses considered to be the head of her pantheon.

I’ve looked in the past for a good book on the Shinto pantheon but have had a hard time finding anything that looked comprable to the books on Greek and Roman mythology that I enjoyed in the past. I’ve often wondered why I haven’t seen Ameterasu get more notice because of her unusual position. I would have expected the goddess to inspire more than a little curiosity (leading to a footnote in the pop culture zeitgeist) amongst feminist geeks. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places.

Then again, I’m often surprised that Madame Pele isn’t fictionalized more often, either (not counting that awful Ron Marz story in Superboy). Growing up in Hawai’i, she always seemed like such a compeling instance of the islands’ folklkore and culture (she is the one member of the Hawaiian pantheon is widely acknowledged and respected) but I’ve yet to see those rich story possibilities mined.

Plus, some geeky confessionals inspired by the quiz:

• I once devised a Dewy Decimal-inspired system for sorting my comics. Superheroes were got the 600 series, mostly because that was the busiest and largest sections at the libraries I worked.
• Whenever my computer crashes at work (a frequent problem for me and my neighbor, we suspect bad electricity), the first thing I do on my loaner and replacement machines is to set up shortcuts and toolbars.
• I’ve had long conversations to bitch about inconsistency within the Microsoft Office family of applications.
• I roll my eyes (most of the time) I hear someone gush about Apple. I’m not on either side of the PC/Mac divide, but the ramble about how Mac users are such unique and creative individuals sounds exactly the same from many different people.
• I’ve had to struggle when two classes with after school lab sessions conflicted… worse, those two classes were a drama class and Asian Arts.
• I didn’t take any AP courses, but my school did have the International Baccalaureate program, which I picked over AP because it sounded cooler.
• I can look at TV ratings and be able to tell (roughly) if those numbers are good or not without additional research.
• I’ve never argued about which Trek is the best, but I have argued about Futurama vs. The Simpsons and have been in very heated discussions about which Legion is the best.
• I’m incredulous that anyone could be unfamiliar with the more famous Twilight Zone episodes.
• My intense pre-marriage crush on the guy at the coffee shop became more intense when I walked in on him explaining to a co-worker the feminism of Pride and Prejudice
• I have spelt Microsoft with a dollar sign replacing the ’s’
• I once ran OS/2 Warp on my machine
• I learned how to make Sims skins because the game didn’t include enough cute guys
• I seem to be the only person in the world who hates Adam Sandler films and yet remembers his Remote Control appearances
• Since the ogling section is a bit out of date, I’d add the following crushes:

• Bridget Jones’ poofy friend, the one that looks like Gaius Baltar without the arrogance or sense of self-importance
• Lee “Apollo” Adama
• Xander
• Adrian Pasdar (but not Jim Profit)
• Jaye Tyler’s boyfriend from Wonderfalls

• being able to recognize Larry Poindexter, who played various “miscellaneous cute guy” roles on Just Say Julie, even when he appears in a Skinemax movie
• mentioning that Mary McDonnell played a drunk and carefree publisher in an AbFab ripoff whenever President Laura Roslyn has that weary, sad look on her face
• knowing who Larry was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• having wished someone would translate Hunks Workshop into english
• knowing who Ioan Gruffudd was before Fantastic Four
• secretly loving Tori Spelling (and frequently being disappointed in her) after House of Yes

(Found via Eddie Mitchell)

I can’t wait!

I just hope I get to see Kathy Najimy play Plinko… or Leslie Neilsen play Cliff Hangers.

Bah-dah-bah-dum. Bah-dah-bah-dum. Bah-dah-bah-dah-dah-dah….

Part of our Memorial Day weekend plans included a trip to the Russian River Valley with some friends to visit some of the area’s wineries. Instead of trying to include area restaurants to the pre-trip research, I figured it’d be nice to pack a picnic.

The main entree is inspired by a sandwich served at a shop near my office, with brie, proscuitto and olive tapenade. The brie is the most prominent flavor, the other two ingredients are applied sparingly. These sandwiches turned out to be simple to make since the brie is added to the sandwich as whole slices that include the rind.

From there, I tried to look to French flavors to inspire the dishes that would accompany the brie sandwiches, eventually setting on the following menu:

• Grape Tomatoes Stuffed with Pistou de Provence
• Pickled Crudites
• Prosciutto Sandwiches with Brie and Olive Tapenade
• Strawberry and Creme Squares

My “pistou” wasn’t a traditional pistou (a French pesto) since I used nuts, but I didn’t like the sound of “Herbes de Provence Pesto”.

Both of the side dishes made for very nice accompaniments. The pickled crudites turned out exactly how I hoped — flavorful but still crisp and vividly hued. I wanted them to recall a crudite plate with dip without having to carry any sort of dip. The cherry tomatoes were quite tasty and created a greater impression than I expected.

The dessert, unfortunately, didn’t come out as I hoped. I overestimated the amount of gelatin I’d need and the flavors mostly faded away, leaving only a creamy taste with only slight hints of lavender, lemon, honey and sour cream. Ah well, back to the drawing board.

(more…)

• Chris makes a good case for the unintentional brilliance of the U.S. 1 comic.

• I’m sorry, but I can’t stop myself from snarking about this. So, the publisher of Victoria’s Secret Service counts as a “family-frendly” and “Christian” comics publisher? Uhm, okay.

• The sight of Oprah Winfrey smiling next to a message promoting an episode where the talk show host tours Auschwitz serves a good warning about ads that allow for customized messages.

• When a list of “The Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs of All Time” misses the context and intent of most of its list, that’s just gotta lead to some hilarious snark. Then again, the list is pretty funny on its own.

• Yadda DESCRIPTION yadda

Supplemental tags: TAG,

My assessment of the upcoming fall TV season continues:

Predictions: Considering how NCIS went from mild success to smash hit this year (and was able to bring those viewers to The Unit) this should continue to be a strong night for CBS. I’m mixed on the chances for Smith, however. In concept, a heist series sounds a little too far out of the CBS procedurals box. If it survives, the success will be mild.

I don’t see anything pulling viewers away from House, though new series Standoff will not benefit from a strong lead-in, though I can see Fox trying to overcome that with aggressive promotion for an early premiere.

Tuesdays have been a challenging night for ABC, this year they managed snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with the way Commander-in-Chief was handled. However, the new line up looks promising. Dancing with the Stars should continue to do well, but will viewers stick around for the hipper-sounding Let’s Rob Mick Jagger? (I’m still refusing to acknowledge the new, less cool name.) I’m not sure, even though I remain hopeful.

I’m doubtful that NBC will see any gains on Tuesday nights. Newcomer Friday Night Lights faces stiff competition from Gilmore Girls, NCIS and Dancing with the Stars while the transplanted Law & Order: Criminal Intent faces younger and hipper procedurals shows in The Unit and House. Only SVU will hold strong.

The most uncertain show for me to predict is Veronica Mars. It now has a stronger lead-in (while Top Model was a popular UPN show that appealed to women, Veronica has more in common with Gilmore Girls) but will that bring more viewers? In the short term, I think so, but this season Veronica wasn’t able to hold onto the new viewers that tuned in to the second season premiere. The third season’s debut will have to hit all the right notes to succeed.

Picks: Oh, hell, I’ll admit it — a co-worker got me addicted to America’s Next Top Model this season and after “I’m a Cover Girl, mommy!” I am so not missing Danielle’s upcoming series of commercials.

I’m also looking forward to another season of Boston Legal, which finally found its voice this season. I really hope Parker Posey returns next season, as much as it bothered me that her character made me think of Lara Fynn Boyle, she added some real spark to the show. With Candice Bergen’s character mostly cleaning after Denny Crane’s messes, the show needs some strong women.

New series Standoff and Lets Rob Mick Jagger sound promising and the preview clips of Help Me Help You convinced me that this one is worth a trial.

I’ve forgotten already — is Standoff the one with Ron Livingston and Gina Torres or the one with Rebecca Gayheart, Ming-Na and Gale Harrold?

• It’s good to see Comics Should Be Good join in the legion of WordPress users in its new home. One of us! One of us!
  

• Heh, after years of seeing “Who’d win” discussions I think it’s about time we see who’s more slashable debates in superhero fandom.
  

• Learning that Drop Bears appear in Nextwave (also called Death Bears) pushes up the urgency to find a copy in the comic shop. Don’t hurt them, they’re so cute when they’re ferocious!
  

• Y’know what’s frustrating about comics? Good advice has to be repeated again and again, because it doesn’t sink in, much like how the Friends of Lulu book for retailers continues to have
  

• I think the silver lining to take away is that, evidently, there’s far more competition to be Google’s favorite Katee Sackhoff resource. You’ve just got to step up the Starbuck love, Kevin.

I know my specialty is “the outer reaches of pop culture” but if my search page results are any indication, there’s more interest in Betty the Ugly and The Jake Effect than I would’ve predicted. Ever since I wrote about these two shows, the bulk of my search engine hits have concerned these shows.

Of course, it could be that I’m one of the few people out there writing about these two.

My overview of the fall TV schedule continues.

The wild card on weeknights is My Network TV (the “Network” will likely be changed to match your affiliate’s region or channel number, like My Bay Area TV) and their lineup of telenovelas (I’m not calling it by that mouthful Roger Ailes is trying to push, they’re fracking telenovelas). Will the daily format work against other networks’ offerings, or will viewers feel free to drop in-and-out of these shows? (I know I’m not ready to commit five or ten hours a week to my DVR without good reason… Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert already have nine hours reserved… then again the nice thing about the DVR is the ease of speeding through the bad parts.) For now, I suspect these shows will only be a minor blip on the radar. However, since they’re set to run new episodes for a full year (four different series will run) the network will have time to build word-of-mouth if the shows are sensational enough.

As for the other five networks, The show I think is in the most worrisome position is How I Met Your Mother. The show does well with the desired younger viewers, but the season finale was down 24% from its premiere in total viewers. Getting the kick-off time slot puts this show under a lot of pressure to perform. CSI: Miami has also been losing steam, so this may be the most challenging night for the dominant net, especially since NBC is launching its most talked about show against it. Mondays will be a tough night for ABC, as well. Wife Swap is a reliable performer, but The Bachelor has been fading and bringing viewers to What about Brian will be an uphill battle.

I expect Fox and The CW to have the brightest outlooks on Monday, with some hope for NBC. 7th Heaven will probably hold steady, despite losing viewers this year, which will keep it as the network’s top show. Runaway sounds like a good match that should at least get Everwood-sized numbers. With a stronger lead-in than Surface, a more unique premise (as the only new superhero show this season, versus being one of three Lost-inspired shows about aliens as Surface was) and a cast filled with actors that cult-tv audiences love (Adrian Pasdar, Ali Larter and, the biggest draw, Greg Grunberg), Heroes should get a strong debut. It’s survival will depend on holding that audience, though I’m not certain that the Heroes/Studio 60 combo will work. Finally, at Fox, Vanished sounds (on paper, at least) like a good match for Prison Break, building on the hit’s success.

Picks: I plan to keep up with How I Met Your Mother and The Class might get a tryout, if only to see if it overcomes the terrible concept (and to see hottie Brit Sean Maguire play a gay character). At nine o’clock, I’ll check out new series Heroes and Vanished and see which one draws me back.

I’ve bothered Comic-Con International exhibitors with requests that seemed to be a futile dream, but I finally found it!

A collection of the Lilo & Stitch comic strips from Disney Adventures and Comic Zone magazines.

Lilo & Stich was the only animated Disney movie to have a lasting impression on me in years, largely because of the titular characters. Lilo remains a fairly unique Disney heroine, an ethnic minority from a family that struggles to pay the bills and to stay together. Lilo also displays some dark emotions and deep insecurity, along with un-girly interests in monsters and theatrical violence. She feels human in a way that sharply contrasts her to Disney’s princesses. Her companion, Stitch, is a mischievous id who borders between cute and disgusting who is sometimes seen fighting his instinctual destructive tendencies and his emotional desire to form affectionate bonds and form a family of his own.

The Disney Adventures comic strip often managed to invoke the film’s accomplishments with Stitich causing wacky chaos or Lilo’s wild imagination leading her to do unusual things. I’ll sometimes thumb through an issue of Disney Adventures at the supermarket check out counter to see if there’s a Lilo & Stitch strip, but it’s nice to have a package that’s just the strips