Good morning, all! I’ve got a busy day ahead, but I wanted to point you to a review I posted last night, just barely making it in time for my self-imposed deadline (I love deadlines) in my Tokidoki Daylight column at Comics Should Be Good, for Viz Media’s Eisner-nominated manga solanin.

I really liked this manga, but you know reading over my review again this morning… well, I think I said a lot of things I don’t actually believe. Heh. Because the truth is, I still do believe in following wild dreams. I don’t think adulthood is about accepting mediocrity and resigning yourself to a lifetime of meaningless jobs. I think maybe the only difference between me and the twenty-somethings in solanin is that I know it isn’t that simple. I know you sometimes have to endure the job you hate (or maybe find one you hate just a little less) in order to do the work and take the time required to pursue larger dreams. I know that letting go of the dreams of my youth isn’t the same thing as letting go of dreams in general–it’s just making room for new ones. I think it’s possible for dreams that appear crazy or unrealistic on the surface to actually be completely feasible as long as you’re willing to put in the work. And I don’t believe that we only have one chance in life to get things right, but that these chances turn up over and over again, ready to help us fulfill new dreams.

I guess I still believe that greatness is possible, and that I suppose I’m still clinging to my youthful notion that I was meant to contribute something meaningful to this world. I suppose that could be unrealistic, but I’ve never regretting believing it.

In any case… solanin. It is a beautiful manga with a lot to say, and I’d recommend it to pretty much anyone, and particularly to fans of western comics who I think might find it more palatable than a lot of other manga. Also, since it was just nominated for an Eisner, it’s a great time to encourage folks to pick this up! Enjoy. :)

Just a couple of quick notes! First of all, I have a new review up at Tokidoki Daylight, for xxxHolic volume 13 which I loved very much. Oh Watanuki and Doumeki, I die. I die. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Also, I’ll be spending some of the next few days at Smith College’s ConBust, a local sci fi, gaming, and anime convention with a special focus on female fans and creators. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they have to offer!

A question to fellow Wordpress users: Have any of you noticed a lot more spam making its way past Akismet lately? Is it just me?

That’s all for the moment!

Thanks to Brigid Alverson’s recent interview with Matt Thorn, I got inspired to read some Moto Hagio, beginning with her short science fiction manga from 1975, They Were Eleven. Last night I wrote up a review, which you can find today at Tokidoki Daylight! I’m afraid my lack of background in manga shows terribly in this review, despite my ongoing quest to become more knowledgeable, so for further reading, I’d recommend going through Matt Thorn’s website, where he has many articles and resources chronicling the history of shojo manga, all of which are much smarter than anything I could write. My review, however, does include some nice images I scanned in from my copies of the manga so it’s worth checking out if you’ve never read it! They Were Eleven is unfortunately out of print here, but the Viz pamphlets can be picked up very reasonably on ebay, which is how I got them. Don’t even think about trying to get Four Shojo Stories, though, unless you’re a lot richer than I!

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be pretty much occupied at the New England Web Comics Weekend, which is conveniently located just a couple small towns over! My husband is a huge fan of webcomics, and I keep up on a number of them myself, so it should be an enjoyable event all around. There are quite a few interesting panels being presented, and you know I’ll be at the print vs. web discussion, right? :D I’ll try to report in at some point with any interesting news.

A million thanks to those who have chimed in with recommendations over at my Let’s Talk About Manhwa post! I’m so excited to find new things to read! Please stop by if you have anything further to add!

Hi hi, sorry for all the silence the past couple of days. I’d made a rule for myself that I wasn’t allowed to spend time on a blog post until I’d finished my Tokyo Babylon review, and I finally have! Check it out over at Comics Should Be Good’s Tokidoki Daylight! It’s pretty image-heavy and probably looks more like one of my persuasion posts than a typical review, but I thought I’d do something a little special for the full series. I’m a tad nervous about my new place over there, so if you have the time, please check out my review and let me know what you think!

Look for a real blog post later on. I have lots of thoughts swirling through my brain, and no time to write them down! Soon!

For now, I’ll just pass on one fun little thing that my husband and I were reminded of by the concert we attended recently. This is only funny if you are pretty familiar with the music of Fountains of Wayne, but if you are, it is seriously hilarious. Go to this page, and click on the little player near the bottom to play Robbie Fulks’ “Fountains of Wayne Hotline.” If you’re a fan, it will make you laugh.

It gives me pain to see those two titles listed together. Heh. So, I have two reviews out today. First, at Manga Recon I have a review in this week’s Manga Minis for DMP yaoi title Tricky Prince. You know, DMP has such pretty books–nice large size with a dust jacket and everything–but man… as I lamented to Michelle right after I read it, I think there was actually more character development in Hanky Panky. And that’s just sad.

Now I have a cool announcement. About a month ago, Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good (home of Danielle Leigh and sometimes host to Michelle Smith) asked me if I’d like to be an occasional contributor to the site, like Michelle. I jumped up and down in an undignified manner and said I would like to very much. Today my first contribution has been posted! Behold my review for Mushishi, volume 6 which will be a part of my new, occasional series, “Tokidoki Daylight” (meaning “sporadic daylight,” TokiDay for short). Many thanks to Michelle and Grace for helping me decide on the name. I’m pretty thrilled to have been offered this opportunity, as I’m sure you can imagine. So go on over and see! :D