dashPunk

At the end of the Taisho era in Japan, a small tea house draws patrons to Hiruko. He is a Baku-he or eater of dreams. It is said Hiruko can enter a nightmare and release the victim from suffering. He can put people to sleep with the wave of his cane and accompany them into the nightmare.

The stories in Nightmare Inspector are very odd and don’t seem to make much sense. In one case, a boy walks into the tea house and asks for help. It turns out he is a weather vane. I’m confused how a weather vane could walk into a tea shop and do weather vane’s have nightmares?

Another tale features a girl who always writes the same thing in her dream. She asks him to change it, but when they get to the part where he can, she ends up writing the same thing. There is a secondary character in the tea house who sometimes asks Hiruko what happened and his explanations don’t make much sense either.

There are also repetitive chapter beginnings which are common in mangas that were serialized in magazines.  I always think it is better for the editor to cut these out when composing the manga book.

I absolutely love the art in this manga. It’s a very interesting sort of steampunk/cosplay mix with long art deco kinds of lines. The styling of the Baku-he is awesome.

In back, there is a short letter from the author. The best thing in the whole book is a full page illustration/explanation of Hiruko’s cane by the friend of the author. It’s hilarious and informative. It makes me wonder what sort of manga would come from the author and best friend collaborating.

Check out this manga for the art. The story is not worth the read.

You can find this manga at Amazon.com.

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Missingis a story about a literary club where one of the members disappears. These students claim to be the smartest in school and attempt to show it off by having lengthy discussions about society, religion, love, etc… I have never, in all my manga-reading years, seen a story with more words in it.

The bubbles are practically bursting with conversation. At one point the font is so small (to get all the words in the bubble) that it becomes hard to read. This is a good thing for those of you looking to get more intellectual stimulation from a comic. For me, it was kinda exciting at first, then got tiresome, and just before it annoyed me, they got into the meat of the spooky tale. The reason for the overly wordy manga is because it’s an adaptation from the novel Missing by Gakuto Coda.

The character all us Gloom Cookies will like is named Kyoichi. He is tall, dark, handsome, and wears a long black cloak like a priest. He’s the type that sits in the corner reading while the others are going on about whatever nonsense they deem important. Sort of a modern-day Mr. Darcy, he scares people by merely pointing at them. A couple of the classmates worship him and call him “Your Majesty” or “Prince of Darkness”.

One day, a raven-haired beauty shows up outside and he is drawn to her. Soon he goes missing and the club members meet to speculate on where he has gone. My first thought was, if I was part of this club and they had to discuss every facet of my disappearance, I would be dead before they figured it out! They discuss Kyoichi’s fascination with death, the occult, ghosts, and the Kamikakushi which are “Stealers of Souls”.

A poem starts this manga, which I am not a fan of, and there is not much action. However, it does have a spooky element because of the kids investigating what could be the cause of Kyoichi’s disappearance.  They pull out reference books and start referring to especially spooky passages.

To read this review, you may think I didn’t like it, but In a strange sort of way, I did. This manga is like watching Dead Poet’s Society. It’s deep, makes you think, and might even cause you to shiver, but when you’re craving something fun, leave it on the shelf!

Extras: 4 pages from the author and an excerpt from the novel.

Interested in checking this out? Buy it now on Amazon.com.

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time only caught a passing interest from me.  Movies based on games tend to be a hit and miss venture.  Add that to Disneys involvement and this project had caution written all over it, that is until I watched the trailer above.

I’m now excited about Prince of Persia.  The effects looks good.  I like the use of a broader variety of weaponry especially the more exocitic ones.  The trailer does a nice job of setting up the back and forth between Dastan and Princess Tamina, even if a bit cliche.

Prince of Persia hits the theaters on May 28, 2010.

Pilot / Story:  Based on the game Prince Of Persia.  Dastan is a street urchin in 6th century Persia. Adopted by the king as his heir after showing valor in battle in hopes of keeping the king’s two sons from fighting over the throne.  Dastan teams up with Princess Tamina  to rescue the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that controls time, from the hands of the villainous nobleman, Nizam.

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The tale of supernatural horror provides an interesting field.  THE OLDEST and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.  It is the literature of cosmic fear in its purest sense.  There is here involved a psychological pattern or tradition as real and as deeply grounded in mental experience as any other pattern or tradition of mankind.

A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain.  The more completely and unifiedly a story conveys this atmosphere the better it is as a work of art in the given medium.

• The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow
• It demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from everyday life.
• Atmosphere is the all-important thing

Why is Supernatural Horror Effective

The thrill of the chimney-corner whisper or the lonely wood invades an obscure corner of the very hardest head; so that no amount of rationalization, reform, or Freudian analysis can quite annul the thrill.

This tendency, too, is naturally enhanced by the fact that uncertainty and danger are always closely allied; thus making any kind of an unknown world a world of peril and evil possibilities. When to this sense of fear and evil the inevitable fascination of wonder and curiosity is superadded, there is born a composite body of keen emotion and imaginative provocation.

Supernatural Horror Plays with

• fear of the unknown
• psychology
• the sensitive
• curious streak of fancy
• more maleficent side of cosmic mystery
• A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread

What Supernatural Horror is Not.

The literature of mere physical fear and the mundanely gruesome.  This type externally similar but psychologically widely different.  The true tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains.

Such writing, to be sure, has its place, as has the conventional or even whimsical or humorous ghost story where formalism or the author’s knowing wink removes the true sense of the morbidly unnatural.  These things are not the literature of cosmic fear in its purest sense.

For more read Supernatural Horror in Literature by H. P. Lovecraft

• Buy it here

Get you copy of Lovecraft's great works here

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The Sanctuary is a place of refuge, a safe haven, for those that are different from humans.  Known as Abnormals they are non-human intelligent creatures and humans with genetic variants.  They range from the cute to the extremely dangerous.

Dr. Helen Magnus, a 157-year-old English scientist, and her team of experts run the Sanctuary.  They try to help the Abnormals and learn from them.  Working toward a peaceful existence between the humans and the Abnormals.

The show follows the adventures of Dr. Magnus and her staff as they struggle to bring harmony between the world of the humans and that of the Abnormals.  This difficult task because of the more dangerous Abnormals like Vampires and Nubbins is complicated further when the Cabal goes on the move.  A shadow organization with desires to spark a war between the humans and Abnormals the Cabal desires to see the extinction of all Abnormals.

Sanctuary is a great contemporary fantasy show with a polder society full of a wonderful array of exotic creatures.  I loved the episode with the Yeti, their portrayal of vampires and werewolves.  Sanctuary is also not afraid to tackle those social issues which makes for great speculative fiction, never being afraid of asking what if and exploring it thoroughly.

Sanctuary was originally an independent production which used a web publication model.  After their first season became a big hit the show was bought up by Sci-Fi channel.  They did some re-writes did some new shots and aired what is now referred to as the first season.

Looking Forward at Sanctuary Season 2

• Finding out what happened to Ashley Magnus, who changed after being kidnapped by the Cabal at the end of the first season.
• Many more Abnormals including an oil rig extraction.
• The conflict between the Cabal and the Sanctuary heightens.
• The Tokyo Sanctuary.

For more read:  Looking Forward At Sanctuary Season 2

Sanctuary Season 2 Trailer 1

Cast

• Helen Magnus  Played by Amanda Tapping
• Will Zimmerman Played by Robin Dunne
• Henry Foss Played by Ryan Robbins
• Kate Freelander Played by Agam Darshi
• John Druitt aka Jack the Ripper Played by Christopher Heyerdahl
• Nikola Tesla Played by Jonathan Young
• Clara Griffin Played by Christine Chatelain
• Ashley Magnus  Played by Emilie Ullerup

More on the cast and picture here

Special appearance from

• Paul McGillion bringing Wexford back from the original web series but re-imagined.
• Michael Shanks who will play Jimmy who shares similar backgrounds with Kate.  For more read: Michael Shanks will be on Sanctuary!

Watch Sanctuary Streaming Online

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Overall Rating: 9.5

Ballard gets to play as a client of the Dollhouse.  He has Echo marry a British arms dealer to resolve one of his FBI cases.  Echo runs into touble as she is sporadically remembering her past imprints due to Alpha making her into Omega.  Watch the episode streaming online Below. 

What a great season opener.  Joss hits the ground running with Vows.  In the interview he said that he wanted this episode to explore the most messed up things possible and how did he ever.  We get to see many characters beyond Echo in messed up situations especially the conflict within Dr. Saunders.  I’m so glad the show is back.

Why do you think Ballard is at the Dollhouse?

For more detailed conversation check out “Playing In The Dollhouse” a Dollhouse podcast here.  Where we discuss and geek out on everything Dollhouse including episode reviews, news, and fun fan bits.

Likes

• Dr. Saunders v Topher conflict
• Tempura Joe was both funny and sick use of the Dollhouse
• Topher sleeping in the computer room makes so much sense, so geeky.  I love it.
• Amazing acting job from everyone especially:
  • Eliza Dushku as Echo she had to flip from one character to another within seconds and made each one believable.
  • Dichen Lachman as Sierra she did a great job as a W.A.S.P.
  • Jamie Bamber as Martin Klar he kept up the accent and made for a brilliant bond villain
• Joss’ subtle social commentary through Sierra’s scene on the unconscious raciest.
• Joss’ commentary on excuses was poignant and insightful.  They are blamed for keeping us from doing what we want and need to do but in the end they are just excuses.
• The tension in the conversation between Echo and Whiskey was so palatable.
• Introduction of first antagonist for the season.
• The scene where we get to see the art of reading someone.
• How the episode ends with a vow, putting a double meaning into the title.
• Topher and Whiskey’s long conversation.
• Whiskey’s fear of dying as a personality construct.
• We find out what Omega’s goals are.

Dislikes / Concerns

• None it was just awesome!!!

Favorite Quotes

• “Put the rats back into the maze topher before one of them bite you” – Whiskey
• “I’m justice I’m blind when I need to be blind” – Echo
• “You don’t know me… that’s the contract.  you don’t know me and I don’t know you not fully not ever.” – Topher

Each week we gather to discuss Joss Whedon's show The Dollhouse.

Get season 1 from: Amazon or

Get season 2 from:

Watch it streaming online on Hulu

Join the discussion at the Dollhouse Panel on Project: Shadow.

Next Week: Instinct
When Echo is imprinted as a mother with a new born baby, she takes to strongly to motherhood as a result of Topher’s modifications.  Meanwhile; Adelle pays November a visit, and Perrin ramps up his investigation into the Rossum Corporation.

Spoiler Alert

Image via Wikipedia

I loved the conflict between Dr. Saunders and Topher.  I love the use of the symbolism in showing the Bride of Frankenstein and telling Topher to get the rats back into the maze.

More support for Topher and Dr. Saunders being brother and sister

• Topher knows her from before to so deeply believe that she is better then him and to program her with questioning and fighting for her beliefs
• Topher being beyond uncomfortable by her sexual advances.
• They are not allowed to know each other being part of the contract.
• There is a sadness behind Topher when he is explaining that they aren’t allowed to know each other.
• His confusion on why Whiskey does not look into who she really is.

Do you think when echo said “I’m justice I’m blind when I need to be blind” that it was actually Caroline speaking?

What did you think about the tension in the conversation scene between Whiskey and Echo?  Knowing Joss would not have Whiskey go all Alpha with the knife I still felt the tension and in the moment genuinely believed she was going to cut Echo.

Do you think Boyd’s initial interest in Whiskey is to smooth over the conflict between her an Topher?

Discoveries

• Echo is up to 40 personalities after the vows engagement.
• Topher is scared of rats
• Echo has 3 years left on her contract
• Dewitt tolerates Echo to study her, though I suspect there is a deeper reason that will be revealed latter.  Dewitt’s interest started back with Caroline.
• Echo admits to being Omega, being all of her personalities yet none of them are her.
• Omega wants to find her real self and the real self for everyone in the Dollhouse
• Ballard swears a vow to help Omega in her quest.

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There are so many manga out, you may be asking, “How can I choose the manga that is right for me?”

First you need to know what part of the manga you enjoy most.
Do you love goth-loli art? A good story? Something with horror in it?
It’s rare to find all these things in one manga series. Believe me, I’ve tried!

Some of you may rely on reviews such as this one to lead your way, but for those of you who are trying to create your own manga hunting style, here are some tips.

Know what you like

I look for good art first, story second.

Seems kind of weird for someone to say that about a book, but  unlike fiction books, mangas need to capture your eyes as well as your mind.

Good manga authors are a skilled, rare breed that can somehow create a tale and put it down in art in such a delicate fashion, you hardly realize you are reading what is basically a cartoon.  What good is a tale in a manga book without interesting art? They might as well have written a novel, let the publisher worry about the cover art, and stick to word writin’!

Know what you don’t like

I am emphatically against talking animals in manga. I hate them. Bats and spiders are sometimes ok, but bunnies and doggies and 300-year-old kitties reincarnated from a once great vampire god? Don’t get me started! However, my best friend adores animals talking and absolutely loves the manga (that shall remain nameless) with the vampire kitty. My point?

Know your tastes and just because your best friend urges you to buy her favorite manga because it has vampires in it, don’t automatically assume you will in enjoy it.  There may be a wisecrackin’ bunny hidden in the pages, and we all know what that leads to!

Hone your skills

Here are some tips on how to narrow the competition down.

1. Go to a store with a large manga selection.  This shouldn’t be too hard as it seems manga is the only hot selling item in bookstores these days.
2. Stand back from the manga shelves and scan.  If any cover draws your notice from a few yards back, it’s worth a look.
3. Check out the front cover in full. Are you a chibi lover, or do you enjoy killer cyborgs with little chibi interference? Make sure the cover speaks to your taste. If you see one character you don’t like, put it in the maybe pile. There is a good chance that character is going to be throughout the book and will irritate you every time you turn the page and see them.
4. Once you have narrowed down a few of the great covers, glance over the description on the back. Don’t put too much stock in the description because they don’t usually relate very closely to the tale. I’ve found that often manga covers seem to be written about the whole series and not about the one volume you are purchasing. As long as there are no talking vampire kitties, you are safe to go on.
5. Flip through the book and check out the art. Is the detail inside as good as the cover art? Is it appealing to you? Is the printing bad, or is it crisp and clean? Do you stop every so often to let a “wow” or a “ooooohhhh” slip from your lips? If you realize it’s a steampunk fantasy once you get inside and you don’t like that sort of tale, please don’t buy it just because you like the cover. You will be disappointed.
6. Finally, the tale. Read at least the first four pages to make sure you like the story. Does the character cuss like a twelve-year-old boy trying to show off to his mates? Does the dialog not flow? Is there some sort of back story you just don’t like? Don’t buy it. It will not get better. Unfortunately, in some stores (especially in Japantown) they seal the books. In this case, you either take your chances, or get smart and browse them online first. Sites like Amazon and Toykopop allow you to read the first couple of pages before you buy.

I tell you all these things because, like you, I once was a manga investigator trainee. I still get caught buying a stinker once in awhile. It’s all about:

• Knowing what you want
• Believing in your first instinct and
• Sticking to it, no matter how much the commerce bug has got you itching!

For those of you who still can’t decide, I’ve made a list of my top five series. Check out the reviews, see if you might like them, and then put on your manga p.i. hat and get shopping!

1. God Child by Kaori Yuki
2. The Tarot Café by Sang Sung Park
3. Princess Ai by Courtney Love and DJ Milky
4. Death Note by Tsugumi Oba
5. Millennium Snow by Bisco Hatori

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Night’s Knights Book Release Party

Friday, October 30th
7:00 p.m.
Bay Books Concord

• Dress as your favorite vampire.
• Meet author and hostess of HorrorAddicts.net, Emerian Rich.
• Enjoy vampire-inspired snacks.
• Hear a live reading.
• Trick or Treat.
• Be one of the first 24 people to buy her book and get free dogtags to commemorate the event.
• With your Night’s Knights purchase, receive a free companion booklet with author notes, sketches, and fan works.

http://www.baybooks.us

Bay Books Concord
1669 Willow Pass Road
Concord, CA 94520

(925) 671-2245

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Yeah… it’s that good!
Awesome artist Christen Kojnok is behind the sexy new look.
You can find out about her and see her beautiful work at:
http://christenkojnok.com/

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I love getting things like this in the mail!  This is my 1st proof of my print novel Night’s Knights.

There are some adjustments I will be making, but for the most part I am thrilled beyond all common uses of the word.
All the fonts and pictures I used came out beautifully.  I really like the size and weight of the finished product and although I wanted to keep the price under ten dollars, the fact that it will be $13.00 does not bother me after seeing it.

It is quality paperback which major booksellers charge $15-$20 for and I am confident the finished product will be something vampire fans across the globe will have a hard time passing by.

One bit of news I have is, although the cover was locked in, I suddenly met someone who has the most beautiful picture that I would like to use for the cover. We are in talks about the details, but when I know for sure, I will give you links to her portfolio. Excellent stuff.  I am so excited to have met her and to have seen her artwork just in time.

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