MangaBlog

An exhibit at the Israel Museum examines the relationship between Japanese and Israeli art. Here’s the curator, Mira Lapidot:

“While the majority of these artists do not have intimate knowledge of Japan, the culture has come to represent a kind of fantasy world, distant from their present reality in Israel. This can either be seen as a form of escapism or – by adopting Japanese aesthetics – offer a softening “filter” to look at the demanding and political reality in Israel.”

I’d say that’s true of the U.S. as well.

Didn’t have time to get your nomination in for the MangaCast Awards? Good news: Ed has extended the deadline to Sunday, May 28. Hurry up and send in your favorites!

The Broccoli Books Blog has more info on their two new titles, Disgaea and Yoki Koto Kiku.

Anime News Network is loading slow right now because of a hardware problem, but I pulled this off their RSS feed:

Central Park Media laid off the majority of its staff today, maintaining only a small number to deal with “loose ends.” We have been informed that “issues with creditors” arose last week, and the company is expected to file for bankruptcy next week. No further details about the creditor issues or bankruptcy filing are available.

Nothing about this at the CPM site, but I did note this press release saying they have just signed on with a new distributor as of June 1, and adding

Central Park Media plans an extensive slate of new book releases and maintains an active backlist of top-selling graphic novels.

Well, not any more.

Starving in a garret? Not Queenie Chan, one of several successful Australian artists and writers profiled by The Australian.

She said faster global communications helped make it possible for her to team up with Los Angeles-based Tokyopop, one of the largest producers and distributors of manga in the west.

“I got my job because of a computer and a fast cable modem connection – I upload my finished pages directly to the Tokyopop servers, whereas something like that would have been unthinkable five years ago,” she said .

She seems to have a realistic outlook:

“You shouldn’t become an artist if you want to become a millionaire,” Ms Chan said.

Of course, getting your book picked up by Scholastic doesn’t hurt, but unless you’re Dan Brown, writing is not really the road to riches.

“It’s important you’re able to support yourself when you’re doing an ordinary amount of work, because sometimes there will be more work than you can handle, while other times there will be much less work than needed to make ends meet.

(Via Irresponsible Pictures.)

I know this sounds weird, but I didn’t get around to reading Death Note until yesterday. I picked up the first volume a while ago, but my husband got to it first and was rather lukewarm about it. And then it always seemed like there was something else to read first, so it just sat on the stack.

Last night my daughter was ordering some books online from Barnes & Noble and she needed to spend a few more dollars to get free shipping. How’s that for a good reason to buy a book? Death Note is pretty cheap, at $7.19 a volume for B&N members, but I didn’t want to buy vol. 2 without reading vol. 1, so I sat down and devoured it in about half an hour.

The story completely dragged me in. The entire premise, high school kid plays God, is fascinating, and I love the writing and the artwork. Now I understand what the fuss is about, and I’ll be glancing out the window frequently until the FedEx truck arrives.

Over at Hige Vs. Otaku, Hige had a similar reaction, and he likes Love Roma too.