I’m so glad Television Without Pity is recapping Top Chef. Keckler, the recapper, seems to have contempt for exactly the same people I did as I watched it, which is always a good sign. It’s a nice way to pad out their offerings during the slower summer months and give me something to read between episodes of Project Runway and that utter train derailment, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. (I know I should try and better myself and rise above entertainments that basically just point the camera at the crazy person, but have you seen her?)

Speaking of Project Runway, I think it’s off to a good start. Michael Kors seems to be taking a somewhat higher dosage of anti-depressants than usual, which is unnerving, but Nina Garcia fails to conceal a smirk better than anyone else on television, Tim Gunn is adorable, and there’s something inexplicably delightful about watching Heidi Klum having the time of her life. Oh, and the contestants are okay, but I’m really just in it for the hosts and judges.

(On Klum: does anyone else suspect that she has a line tattooed on her thighs that only appears under ultraviolet light but lets designers and tailors know exactly where her hem should fall? Because it’s always the same, whether it’s a skirt or a top over slacks, and it’s always at an impeccably becoming length. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Michael, but please just use the light as you pin the hem, okay?”)

Okay, now to the real reason behind this post. I made some really good pesto the other weekend, and I want to make it again (because we have tons of basil), but I want incorporate it into risotto this time. I’m thinking that I should just mix it in at the last minute when I would have added the grated parmesan, as it probably wouldn’t do too much for the basil to actually cook it. Has anyone out there made pesto risotto, and can you offer any suggestions as to timing or proportions?

David Taylor contemplates some thoughts from Queenie (The Dreaming) Chan on just what the hell shôjo means anyways. Or at least what shôjo means outside of its original context, as a way to identify itself to its target audience.

Both note that the shôjo-shônen categorizations aren’t especially useful, as there’s considerable crossover in terms of audience as books are licensed and translated. Queenie cites Naruto as an example of a theoretically shônen title that seems to have about a 50-50 male-female ratio in its audience. (She could just have easily used Fullmetal Alchemist or Fruits Basket, which certainly can’t sell as well as they do by only appealing to one gender.)

Chan raises an excellent question in response to all of the recent examination of feminist (or anti-feminist) principles in shôjo manga:

“My point is: are you sure it’s a ‘shoujo’ thing, and not a ‘genre’ thing? In my experience, most romance stories aren’t teeming with strong role models, male OR female. I’ve read both shounen and shoujo romance, told for both male and female audiences, and I’ve NEVER felt like imitating any of the people in most of them them. A typical romance story is a fantasy in itself – it’s not meant to simulate real-life relationship issues. A story that simulates real-life relationship issues isn’t a ‘romance’ story; it’s in another genre altogether. Most teenage girls are aware of this.”

It’s a nice echo of Dirk Deppey’s description of manga (and by extension shôjo) as a meta-category, though I don’t think the selection of shôjo available in English nearly reflects the diversity that apparently already exists in Japan. It would be great if it did, obviously, because “shôjo” need not be synonymous with “romance,” as Queenie suggests.

I put together a poll for MangaTrade the other day, asking responders what categories of manga they’d like to see more of now that shônen and shôjo already have such well-established footholds. Looking back on the options, I see a lot of room for improvement, as I muddled genre and target demographic together as choices. Because just as there are mysteries and adventures and romance stories, there are josei, seinen, shônen and shôjo variations on all of those genres as well. And asking people if they want, say, more josei titles doesn’t really indicate what kind of stories they want to read. I’ll be more specific next time.

And this, I guess, brings me to the part of the lunar cycle where I ramble on about shelving by genre instead of demographic and integrating graphic novels in with prose. As David T. puts it:

“Am I the only one that thinks selling books by genre, you know historical, fantasy, comedy, rather then girls books and boys books makes more sense. You know the idea that we can read a story because we happen to like the topic without the false idea that it should be targeted at the opposite sex.”

I find that to be absolutely true. I also like the idea of graphic novels filtering in with the genre-sorted prose books so that you can find Kindaichi Case Files with the mysteries and Fun Home with the autobiographies and Castle Waiting in fantasy and so on. It’s already happening to a limited extent, particularly in the young adult category, and I fully expect the practice to expand over time.

But I would be lying if I said I wanted to see an end to the graphic novel sections of bookstores, because it’s so convenient for a manga omnivore. I like seeing Absolute Boyfriend next to Antique Bakery, Nana next to Naruto, and Bambi and Her Pink Gun near Boogiepop. It’s at least partly a result of my own laziness, but I also find a certain democracy to the genre-blind, alphabetical system. There’s a cumulative effect to seeing all of those different kinds of books side by side, and I find it pleasing.

Yesterday’s trip to the comic shop led to coincidental purchases that got me thinking about Reese’s Cups, of all things. I bought the new issue of Hero Squared (written by Keith Giffen) and the The Cryptics (drawn by Ben Roman). I enjoyed both, but it occurred to me that Giffen and Roman might be two great tastes that taste great separately.

You see, I really didn’t like I Luv Halloween (Tokyopop). Both Giffen and Roman are tremendously talented, and I think it depressed me to see their talents serving a story that I found so excessively violent, crude, and mean-spirited. I know there’s an audience for it, as it’s one of the better-selling OGM titles, but wow, that audience did not include me.

So from an entirely selfish perspective, I’m glad to see them working on projects that are more to my liking.

Hero Squared #2 is a lot of fun, and I’m always a sucker for stories that bring psychiatrists into the realm of super-heroes. (My all-time favorite would have to be Doc Samson’s visit to X-Factor in issue #87.) Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis write some of the densest scripts in comics, funny and satirical but still maintaining a reasonable grasp on character and plot. There were a few moments when the script came dangerously close to “Who’s on first” territory, but it never succumbed entirely. I particularly liked the dignified neutrality of the shrink in the face of complete absurdity.

The Cryptics follows the suburban misadventures of a bunch of grade-school-aged monsters. It’s not the most original idea, but Roman and writer Steve Niles execute it with plenty of charm. And Roman is a seriously funny illustrator. His designs are hilarious but not so highly stylized that they keep the cast from being proper characters. He infuses his panel composition and body language with comedy as well, drawing chuckles out of even mundane moments. It’s great stuff.

I’m generally not a big fan of post-apocalypse fiction, but I found a lot to like in the preview of Wasteland that Oni sent my way. Antony Johnston has done some creative world-building, and Chris Mitten is proving to be a very talented and versatile illustrator. I really liked his work on Past Lies as well.

(If dystopian adventure isn’t your thing either, Oni gives you another chance to get a copy of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s really splendid Lost at Sea. And yes, I will mention this book every time it’s solicited, and probably on several occasions when it isn’t, because it’s just that good.)

The first issue of Mouse Guard (Archaia Studios) goes into its third printing, and it’s kind of thrilling that a really excellent, unusual book can attract this much attention. Never underestimate the appeal of mice in capes with swords.

It’s a big week for Digital Manga. The final volume of the lovely Antique Bakery arrives, which is almost certain to leave me smiling wistfully and wanting a piece of cake. No one would ever put Café Kichijouji De at the same level, but it’s slight, silly fun. Have you ever wondered about the secret origin of Cup Noodle? Wonder no more thanks to the latest installment of the Project X series. Only the Ring Finger Knows was easily one of the best shônen-ai titles to come out of DMP, so I’m curious about the novels that tie into the series. And since I’m a complete sucker for works by You Higuri, you could say that I’m not indifferent to the arrival of Gorgeous Carat Galaxy. Pace yourself, DMP, I beg you.

I was really taken with the Free Comic Book Day offering from Drawn & Quarterly, but I wish it had come out before Get a Life was solicited so I could have pre-ordered a copy. Ah, well. That’s what Amazon is for.

Tokyopop’s offerings for the week seem to be missing from the New Releases List, but two eagerly-awaited OGM titles are due to drop in bookstores this week: Mail Order Ninja and Fool’s Gold. David Taylor is particularly excited about the latter, which is always a good sign. There are threads on The Engine for each title.

(Edited to correct the spelling of Mr. Johnston’s first name.)

At Blog@Newsarama, Michael May pegs Jodi Picoult as a Hero of the Week for signing on for a short stint writing Wonder Woman. It’s unlikely that I’ll be picking up WW any time soon, as I’ve successfully purged just about everything from Marvel and DC from my shopping list, but I’m extremely suggestible when it comes to authors.

So when Picoult’s run was announced, her name went on the list of “authors to sample.” Conveniently enough, there was an audio version of My Sister’s Keeper at the library. The book is built around an interesting emotional dilemma. Parents of a desperately ill child have another to provide a source of transfusion and transplant material to keep their older child alive. The younger daughter, who has been harvested for stem cells, marrow, and platelets roughly since birth, decides enough is enough when it looks like she’ll have to give up a kidney. She sues her parents for medical emancipation.

Picoult tells the story from a variety of perspectives – the spare-parts daughter, her parents, her alienated older brother, her lawyer. The idea is to create a complex moral landscape where everyone’s point of view is understandable if not entirely sympathetic, depending on your personal beliefs. But aside from the topicality of the plot, there’s not much to distinguish Picoult’s writing from a John Grisham or a Mary Higgins Clark. (If it helps, Stephen King listed her among the Academy of the Underappreciated he praised in his acceptance speech for – choke – his Distinguished Contribution to American Letters recognition at the National Book Awards.)

Picoult is given to flat pronouncements and tortured analogies, and she fails spectacularly in making some characters even remotely sympathetic. Her idea of moral complexity isn’t dissimilar to Brad Meltzer’s, another best-selling author snapped up by DC to write some comics. Instead of weighing between competing (and hopefully equally compelling) ethical perspectives, the reader is left to weed through them to find the least objectionable, if they can be bothered. (I’m a lot more tolerant of audio books than paper versions, so I’ll probably stick it out.) It’s potboiler stuff that carries the sheen of respectability because of the controversy of the subject matter.

Does that make her an unsuitable writer for WW? No, not really, and she certainly fits in with the editorial direction the company had been taking the last time I looked. Still, it’s always a little depressing to see another writer invested with quasi-legitimacy because they write books, whether or not the books are any good.

Kevin Melrose of Blog@Newsarama points to the best Manga 101 article ever. It’s written by Brigid Alverson of MangaBlog fame, so it’s no surprise that the piece is excellent. She hits all of the highlights in an entertaining, well-organized fashion, and she gets some great quotes from her wide variety of sources. My favorite is from a young fan on her personal ethics for fan fiction:

“When a manga is really, really good I’ll refuse to write or read fan fiction on it, because I’m afraid it will ruin it, but ’Naruto’ is not very good.”

It’s wonderful work by Brigid, who manages to cover a lot of territory thoroughly and engagingly.

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Just in time for the fourth volume to come out in comics shops, Greg McElhatton reviews the wonderful Antique Bakery over at iComics.

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And in this week’s Flipped, I take a moment to talk about some of my favorite shôjo heroines. And yes, some of them are clumsy, boy-crazy schoolgirls.

Bill Flanagan, organizer of the Lost in Translation panel at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, gives a wonderfully thorough behind-the-scenes account of how the panel is assembled over at his blog at The Translation Dojo. (Looking back, the remark that prompted the explanation could be said to fall into the “needlessly snarky” category. Try and contain your shock.)

Speaking of Nerd Vegas, I’m working on a Flipped column that tries to highlight all of the manga action at this year’s con. I used SDCC’s exhibitor list as a starting point for contacts, but if your company isn’t listed or if you’re taking part in a panel or setting up shop in artists’ alley, drop me a line at DavidPWelsh at yahoo dot com by Friday, July 14, and I’ll do my best to make sure you’re included.

Brigid has done a terrific job tracking Anime Expo wrap-ups at MangaBlog. One of my favorites has to be Steven Grant’s latest Permanent Damage column at Comic Book Resources. Grant measures the mood of the crowd:

“I noted this when I last attended, a couple of years ago. It has only amplified. If one element overwhelms you at Anime Expo, it’s the sense of community, and union. Fan and professional alike go there with the same attitude, and often the same obsessions: while companies hawk their specific wares with gusto, there’s also an underlying promotion of anime and manga across the board. The convention isn’t simply about selling, but about bonding.”

Given how closely they fall to each other on the calendar, comparisons with the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con are probably inevitable. Grant notes that Anime Expo’s current vibe is not unlike SDCC’s was before it became what Tom Spurgeon delightfully calls “Nerd Vegas.” But what about San Diego now?

“It’s still the place to go each summer if you love comics, but there’s no longer a broad sense of community permeating the place. It’s factionalized, fragmented, serving many masters. But beyond the question of whether Hollywood or gaming or whatever is now too dominant a presence, what the big companies at Anime Expo seemed to share was a view that their fans … were valued allies, not marks, and that attitude hasn’t been widely seen among American comics publishers since the early ’90s.”

The tendency to compare and contrast the two events made me want to take a look at SDCC’s schedule of events. Broccoli, CMX, and Del Rey have panels planned, and Tokyopop is participating in a session on mobile comics. The daunting list of exhibitors is filled with manga publishers, artists, and anime outlets as well. Interestingly enough, Viz seems to be concentrating on screenings of live-action and animated films at the con, including the much-discussed Train Man: Denasha Otoko.

(Speaking of Train Man, Kai-Ming Cha provides a very lucid overview of the phenomenon over at Publishers Weekly Comics Week. I tend to share the optimism of the various publishers who are angling for a piece of the Train Man pie. Manga fans seem more than happy to embrace different portrayals of their favorite stories and characters, from comics to anime to live-action movies to novels. If the three versions on the schedule are distinct enough, they should make for interesting side-by-side reading.)

I can’t find it on the con’s official schedule, but Bill Flanagan mentions a “Lost in Translation” panel over at The Engine that will feature Flanagan (who works on XxxHOLic for Del Rey), Jonathan Tarbox, and Jake Forbes, among others. (No women though, which strikes me as odd. Based on a quick scan of the titles on my shelves, at least half of the translators working in manga are women. Maybe they all devoted their travel budget to Anime Expo? Tarbox and Forbes should guarantee a lively hour, though.)

I doubt that much new in the way of manga announcements will come out of SDCC, though some publishers probably saved a few nuggets. As Grant notes, the con is huge and serves many masters, one of which is undoubtedly manga.

Sure, rave reviews in The New York Times are nice, and cracking the BookScan list is always a good sign, but I’ve got incontrovertible evidence that Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Houghton Mifflin) has achieved cultural critical mass.

My partner mentioned it to me.

He was driving home from Ohio and heard an interview with Bechdel on NPR, and he wanted to make sure I knew about it, which was sweet. His usual response to graphic novels is to stack them neatly somewhere out of sight or resignedly suggest that we need more bookshelves. I felt kind of guilty that I’d already ordered it, and since it was due to arrive in less than 24 hours, I really couldn’t pretend that this was the first I’d heard of it.

But seriously, that’s some impressive saturation. And it’s a really good book, too.

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We went to see The Devil Wears Prada yesterday, and it was worth it for Meryl Streep’s performance. It’s kind of an icky downward-mobility comedy, where real-life glamorous, wealthy celebrities ridicule fictional (or mostly fictional) glamorous, wealthy celebrities. A.O. Scott at The New York Times has it exactly right when he notes that Streep’s Miranda isn’t anything near a cartoon monster:

“With her silver hair and pale skin, her whispery diction as perfect as her posture, Ms. Streep’s Miranda inspires both terror and a measure of awe. No longer simply the incarnation of evil, she is now a vision of aristocratic, purposeful and surprisingly human grace.”

Anne Hathaway is fine, but she doesn’t really have any choice but to cede the movie not only to Streep but to Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt as well. She does so with good grace, and she at least gets to outshine the poor, stranded actors who have to play her love interests.

There’s just something really likeable about Hathaway. She seems smart, has good comic timing and goofy charm, and is probably one of only a handful of actresses who could make this character appealing. (Picture it with Kate Hudson. I dare you.)

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Like everyone else, I’m relying on Pata at Irresponsible Pictures for reports from Anime Expo. But I’m also enjoying comments on the announcements from David Taylor at Love Manga and Brigid at MangaBlog.

The highlight for me so far has been the announcement of Go! Comi’s new titles, if only because I know they’ll do such a good job producing and packaging the translations. The publisher seems to be expanding into new genre areas.

And yay! A Paradise Kiss anime is on the way from Geneon Entertainment!

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Do new comics arrive today or tomorrow? I’m confused. I’m even more confused because most of the stuff slated to show up this week actually arrived here last Wednesday. Anyway, regardless of when it gets here, there’s plenty of good stuff:

Someday I’m going to have to catch up with the Flight anthologies. The third comes from Ballantine this week. I enjoyed Paul Sizer’s Moped Army, which probably means I should give the Little White Mouse Omnibus Edition (Café Digital Press) a look.

The third volume of Love Roma (Del Rey) is delightful, and I’m not going to complain about it arriving early. A new offering from Fanfare/Ponent Mon is always worth considering, though as usual, the price point on Oda Hideji’s A Patch of Dreams is a little daunting at $22.99. (And when is The Building Opposite ever going to show up? It feels like it’s about a year late.)

Tokyopop rolls out a Gravitation novel. Viz has new volumes of Death Note and Hikaru No Go.

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Last but not least, it’s been a while since I plugged the MangaTrade Yahoo Group, so consider it plugged. There’s been a nice flurry of activity there lately, and I’ve really got to hit the post office today to ship off some books.

I finally got around to watching Kinsey, and it’s a pretty good movie. It frequently feels like it was directed by several different people, but it’s never bad, and it’s often inspired.

And it’s also a chance to see Laura Linney give another brilliant performance. Her role as Clara McMillen Kinsey seems underwritten, but Linney invests it with so much intelligence and wit and warmth that it’s rescued from the kind of supportive wife hell that might have resulted with a lesser actor.

I have no idea why Linney isn’t a huge star. If there was any justice in the world, she would have won an Academy Award for You Can Count on Me, but she didn’t. (At least she was nominated.) Mystic River was terrible (another example of Clint Eastwood stomping all over an entertaining novel), and it’s a testament to Linney’s abilities that she was nominated for an Oscar for a role that one could kindly call inconsistent.

Now she seems to be in some kind of supporting actor limbo, where she can get a juicy role in a small film like The Squid and the Whale or try and elevate something that will probably awful, like the upcoming Nanny Diaries, where she gets to play a horrible, rich-bitch mother. Her stage career, which runs concurrently with her film work, is probably a lot more rewarding, and New Yorkers seem to greet her performances with the kind of delight and reverence they no doubt deserve. But I don’t live in or near New York, so I’m stuck filtering through her movie career.

She really needs to do an intelligent, low-budget comedy that suits her skills. She seems like one of the smartest actresses currently working, and I’d particularly like to see her co-star with Lauren Graham, another marvelous actress whose film career has been much more dire than her talent seems to merit.

Back to Kinsey, though. It’s nice to watch Peter Sarsgaard‘s career evolve. He and Linney seem to have a lot of the same resources as performers — intelligence, an ability to commit to a character, and a sly sense of humor. He was really great in Shattered Glass, and he’s almost as good as Linney in Kinsey. The upcoming Mysteries of Pittsburgh should be interesting; he seems like a natural fit for a Michael Chabon character, like he could fall into the tone of Chabon’s works with no difficulty at all.

As for the rest of the cast, well, Liam Neeson is weirdly mesmerizing, though not as arresting as Linney or Sarsgaard. (Their characters seem like they’re laughing behind Kinsey’s back during their wonderful scenes together.) John Lithgow, Oliver Platt and Tim Curry are like a Honeybaked trifecta, chewing whatever piece of scenery is closest to mouth. And Chris O’Donnell always feels like he should have “as Himself” included every time his name appears in credits. It’s weird how he can be inoffensive and bland but still prove to be a jarring presence at the same time.