Amazon Daily

Watching "John Adams" but thinking about "1776"

By coincidence, today, Independence Day, I'm midway through HBO's John Adams. But I'm unable to watch scenes of the Congressional Congress without expecting them to break into song. That's because my introduction to the signing of the Declaration of Independence was watching 1776 as a kid many years ago, and back in the days of limited network channels somehow this movie and The Music Man would always be broadcast on July 4. (Where is either movie on Blu-ray, or 1776's soundtrack CD?) 1776 can feel like a history lesson at times, but I like it a lot: it's funny, William Daniels gives a tour-de-force performance as John Adams, and as an American I find it quite moving. Watch a clip of the opening number below or on YouTube. Happy Fourth of July! --David

Two Tarts Bakery is a Sweet Success

One of the most interesting aspects of the Portland Farmers Market is its influence as a business incubator, offering the opportunity for ordinary people to go after their dream and see where it takes them.

Two Tarts Bakery, which produces beautiful bite-sized cookies, was one of those ideas that took off. Now the market stand has morphed into a stand-alone bakery, open since September of 2008.

If you can't make it to the Farmers Market on Saturday, you can satisfy your craving for their miniature creations, their Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chips, Cappuccino Creams, Honey Graham Crackers, Hazelnut Baci, and Lil' Mama's, all pictured here, at their shop just off NW 23rd. Thanks to their new store, you could say that purchasing their delicious cookies is as easy as pie. Don't miss them.

--Tracy Schneider

Comics in Translation: A Conversation with Kim Thompson of Fantagraphics Books

Norwegian-born Jason has written comics and graphic novels for years in both his native Norwegian and in French. Fantagraphics first published his graphic novella Hey, Wait... in 2001, and he's been building a steady base of U.S. fans ever since.

His latest collection, Low Moon (including the chess-battle Western "Low Moon" serialized in the New York Times Magazine in 2008), has filmic moments and comic pathos that have set a new standard for me for short fiction.

None of us would ever get to enjoy the wry dialogue of Low Moon or I Killed Adolf Hitler or The Left Bank Gang without the efforts of Fantagraphics' co-publisher and translator, Kim Thompson. Jason is just one of many cartoonists that Thompson has translated for Fantagraphics Books. In fact, he says that translations represent about 10 to 15 percent of what they publish every year.

Thompson graciously agreed to answer my translation and Jason questions:

Amazon.com: How did you first encounter Jason's work, and how did Fantagraphics decide to publish it?

Kim Thompson: To be honest, I'm not sure if his Norwegian publisher sent me copies or I saw the French edition of Hey, Wait..., but I do know that the minute I laid eyes on it I knew we wanted to publish it. Love at first sight!

Amazon.com: Was he the first comic artist you translated? What others do you translate now?

KT: No, no, not by a wide margin. I was translating Freddy Milton (Danish), Franquin and Hermann (French) and others way back in the 1980s, twenty years ago.

I translate pretty much every European foreign-language cartoonist we publish except for Matti Hagelberg who is Finnish (Finnish is well outside of my area of expertise) and a couple who do their own translations, such as Max Andersson. A more or less complete list of cartoonists whose comics I've worked on in the last couple years would be Nikoline Werdelin (Danish); Joost Swarte (Dutch); David B., Emile Bravo, Killoffer, Jacques Tardi, and Lewis Trondheim (French); Nicolas Mahler (German); Gabriella Giandelli, Igort, Leila Marzocchi, and Sergio Ponchione (Italian); Jason (Norwegian or French); Max (Spanish); and Martin Kellerman (Swedish). I also translated a bunch of captions from many of those languages in our upcoming book of ANTI-WAR CARTOONS.

In case you're wondering, I don't actually SPEAK all of those languages, but I can read them, more or less in some cases. My mother is Danish so Danish is my native language. Swedish and Norwegian are so close to Danish (they're basically almost dialects of one another -- in fact Norwegian and Danish were the same language not too long ago) that with a little work any Dane can read them pretty well, as I do. I learned Spanish in high school and kept up with it. I lived for six years in Germany and also studied German in high school, so that stuck with me too. I lived for three years in Holland. Italian is my weakest language, I sort of plow my way through that thanks to French and Spanish and use of a dictionary -- but all my Italian translations I always check with the authors anyway.

Amazon.com: Translation is such an immersive experience, even more than editing, and I wonder, do you feel differently attached or connected to the works you translate than to other works you publish?

KT: Yes, at times I feel almost like a co-creator. Which is arrogantly excessive, and the feeling fades soon enough! But I'm also more invested in these books because I work so hard on them, and in many cases, of course, such as Tardi, I'm literally fulfilling a childhood dream by translating them.

Amazon.com: What is the actual process of the Jason translations? Does he send you rough sketches with words, so you can translate them before they are typeset? Does he send you phrases that he wants translated? Does he write in English at all?

KT: Jason creates the entire story in French, draws and letters it, sends me the finished French version. (I think he sometimes actually does a draft for himself in English first from which he derives the French version, but I don't see that.) Then I translate that: We delete the French lettering in Photoshop and replace it with my translation, usually using an English Jason font. (Jason's original is hand lettered, of course.)

Jason did hand letter the English language version of Hey, Wait... himself before we developed the font, and he did hand letter the Low Moon book because the "Low Moon" story itself was done in English to begin with (since it was done for the New York Times) and he wanted a consistent look for the book. Hand lettering is always preferable but it's rare that you have a cartoonist willing to re-do all that work -- although Jason's comics are often not very wordy, so it's easier for him. We do have an excellent font, I think, which we've used on all the other four-color and two-color books we've done, as well as the anthologies Pocket Full of Rain and Meow, Baby!

Amazon.com: Jason's work is so influenced by American pop culture and films. Does that make them easier or harder to translate? (i.e., easy b/c he can communicate a lot with a familiar genre, like the Western in "Low Moon," and hard because he sometimes jokes about specific pop cultural references, although I'd say that happens more in his early work. But that must have been a challenge in putting together Pocket Full of Rain.)

KT: I have a lot more difficulty with pop-culture reference in something like Rocky, since Martin Kellerman uses a lot of Swedish references. You try translating a joke about a Swedish rapper! (Even worse, Kellerman has a lot of STOCKHOLM-specific references.) Jason's references are almost never to Norwegian pop culture, and the references to French pop culture are usually internationally well-known enough that it's no problem. In the next book he's doing there's a sequence where they discuss female French movie stars, but everyone knows Brigitte Bardot and Juliette Binoche.

As you point out some of his earlier books have references to Norwegian pop culture, but he and I worked on finding international equivalents. It was fine.

He's also cognizant that his work is being translated internationally now, so I'm guessing he'll avoid any too specific French references. But his cultural tastes are really very American, or for international work that is known in America. It's totally not a problem.

Amazon.com: Jason's comedy is pretty visual, with the deadpan two-shots and other moments of inaction that totally crack me up. But in some stories it's the dialogue that kills--for example, in Low Moon, "Early Film Noir", where the dead/resurrected husband keeps coming back with the same line again and again, or the awkward sexuality of "Emily Says Hello." I guess my question is, do those types of jokes translate pretty directly, or do they require some cultural tweaking and back-and-forth?

KT: It's pretty direct. Jason's dialogue is very straightforward (probably also because he's a native Norwegian working in French) so it's just a matter of finding a suitably deadpan equivalent in English. Any tweaking back and forth is usually finding the exact right tone, almost never with any confusion about cultural equivalents.

Amazon.com: Do you have a favorite story in Low Moon, and why is it your favorite?

KT: Each story has different qualities that I appreciate. I think the funniest moment in the book is in "&," the fat character's decision to kill one of his rivals as signaled by a microscopic, typically deadpan shift in his eyeline toward the roof above them from which he will soon dispatch a lethal projectile. Kind of Chuck Jones Wile E. Coyote moment. (See? Another U.S. reference!)

Thanks, Kim. Low Moon is on sale now.--Heidi

Homme, Grohl and JPJ in New Supergroup?

Queens of the Stone Age bandleader Josh Homme and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl are no strangers to collaboration, pooling their talents on several occasions, most notably on QOTSA’s 2004 album Songs for the Deaf. Now, Homme’s wife and ex-Distiller Brody Dalle (busy promoting her new outfit Spinnerette) has let the cat out of the bag on their most newsworthy venture yet – a trio comprising of Homme, Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Dalle revealed to Antiquiet.com that “[the project] is pretty amazing. Just beats and sounds like you’ve never heard before.” This star-studded collaboration has been on the cards for years, but now Homme and Grohl are taking a break from their respective day jobs and Led Zeppelin have shelved their plans to reunite, it has time to develop. The three main players are remaining tight-lipped, and very few people are thought to have heard the sessions. Back in 2005, however, Grohl told MOJO magazine that “the next project that I’m trying to initiate involves me on drums, Josh Homme on guitar, and John Paul Jones playing bass. That’s the next album. That wouldn’t suck." If this album ever does surface, there’s no question it'll be one of the most hotly anticipated releases in rock.

Here's a video of QOTSA performing at Glastonbury 2002, with Dave Grohl on drums:

--Gillian @ SoundUnwound

SoundUnwound's editorial team write about the latest big music news and quirky stories which catch the eye. We'll be posting a selection of these news stories on Chordstrike every week; for much, much more, visit SoundUnwound.com, the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.

Graphic Novel Friday: Moomin, Book Four of the Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip

(From the fourth Moomin volume, recontextualized as Steampunk invention here.)

Drawn & Quarterly has been doing the world a great public service by reprinting the entirety of Tove Jansson's Moomin comics in oversized hardcover books. These comics haven't been available in English since their debut in the London Evening News in the 1950s. D&Q has just released book four, and it demonstrates the depth of Jansson's talent that this volume is just as entertaining and imaginative as the previous three volumes.

Jansson was Finnish, and her Moomins are benign hippo-looking troll creatures. The Moomins are a family unit, accompanied by a cast of revolving secondary characters including, erm, Snorkmaiden. The sense of family is strong in these comic strips, even when they argue. Also strong is the sense of humor, which varies from slapstick to a more subtle undercurrent of wry amusement about the world. Absurdity also plays a part, as when Moominpapa tries to reassemble two broken household appliances and winds up building a time machine instead. What makes the whole world of the Moomins work, however, is something kind of old-fashioned and yet sincere: love and affection not only for each other but for the world. Although conflict and plot complication based on conflict exist in Jansson's universe, she also manages to make the stories work because of themes like friendship and working together to solve problems. This sounds like it could be preachy or didactic, but it isn't--it's just hardwired into the subtext.

Because of these qualities, there's a pleasure in reading Moomin that's somewhat unique. We're battered all day by various types of white noise and by all kinds of blaring media, from television to video games. Moomin has a restorative, calming effect while never being maudlin, sentimental, or boring. (Indeed, Jansson's eye for satire can be sharp and unforgiving, within the context of her beloved characters.)

The specific adventures set out in book four are: Moomin Goes Wild West, Snorkelmaiden Goes Rococo, The Conscientious Moomin, Moomin and the Comet, and Moomin and the Golden Tail. From time travel to, well, Moomin growing a golden tail, these stories seem timeless and of universal interest. Kids will love them, but parents will get distinct enjoyment out of them as well.

I was particularly amused by the Wild West and Rococo stories, in part because they spoof and play with such differing styles. The Wild West adventure has hilarious set-pieces with lassoes, water pistols, camping, and saloons. I don't know the source of Janssen's inspiration here, but her kind-hearted parody is spot-on. Moomin Papa going into the saloon and saying "I'm two-gun Moomin. I want a room." only to have the bartender say "Oh yes. Shall we register you as Moomin Papa and family?" totally undercutting Moomin Papa's bravado, and forcing him to ask for "A small shot of 'coyote's death'" exemplifies the little touches that make me like this comic strip so much. In the Rococo story, the brash send-ups of Wild West toughness are replaced by raucous jabs at false romanticism, full of powdered wigs and fancy dress balls. Here, Jansson shows herself equally at home with the conventions of a totally different era. In both cases, she does play off of cliches, but to great effect. (Granted, when it comes to Native Americans in the Wild West strip, she's not quite able to cast off stereotyping...)

In her native Finland, Jansson's creation is the equivalent of Mickey Mouse here or Bugs Bunny in the United States--beloved and a national institution. It's wonderful that English-language readers can now collect the entire comic strip in such attractive editions.

Have a Happy Fourth

On behalf of everyone at Wag Reflex, have a great Fourth of July weekend.

Photo from Somethin' Else's photostream.

--Spanno

Mollie Sugden, 1922-2009

British actress Mollie Sugden, who played "Mrs. Slocombe" in the classic sitcom Are You Being Served, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 86. Her blue-haired character was one of the cornerstones of the Grace Brothers department store alongside John Inman's "Mr. Humphries." Watch a clip from the show below or on YouTube, or you can read the Telegraph story. --David

Friday Foodie Links Worth a Click--4th of July Edition!

It's Friday again! And this time we've got the whole long weekend ahead of us. As we all planned our 4th of July festivities, a lot of the focus was around food (of course). Here are a few patriotic AND tasty links the Al Dente editors obsessed about this week:

Wilton's fabulously firework-y cupcake is reason enough to celebrate.
More cupcake genius: 4th of July cupcakes with built-in ice cream cones!
Turn to Gourmet's Red, White, and Blue Showcase for 16 colorful recipes.
We're still not getting over the beauty of this red, white, and blue berry tart--plus, white balsamic custard?!
Start a tradition of "Food Independence Day."
Sweet! Red, white, and blue parfaits!
A little patriotic pousse-café...but how does it taste?
To fill the weekly Jell-O link quota: stained-glass Jell-O stars!
Just call us when the fire's hot: Whiskey grilled baby back ribs.
For those who prefer the oven to the grill: Sticky Hoisin roast chicken wings.
Let's Bake Some Cake has some 4th of July Fondant Fun with these amazing cupcakes:

Photos courtesy of Let's Bake Some Cake.

While you're out and about, reading up on food news, don't miss our top picks for 4th of July kitchen essentials:

Did I miss a not-to-be-missed foodie link from this past week? Add a comment or tweet at me!

Have a great 4th!

--KitchenMaus

Land of the Free (Music)!

In honor of Independence Day, Amazon MP3 is offering a sharable code to download a free copy of any version of America's national anthem, "Star Spangled Banner" -- and there are a lot of them. I went digging through the list of songs and found everything from Jimi Hendrix's classic Woodstock rendition to Molly Ringwald's Mickey Mouse Club version. There are over 600 to choose from!

But before you go perusing, browsing, and downloading, make sure you enter the code (JULY4MP3) into your account (that's the part that makes it free). You can find simple instructions on how to do that here. But do it quick--it all goes away, much like the fireworks, BBQ stains, and sleeping in, on July 6th (ok, so maybe the BBQ stains will stick around a bit longer).

It's limited to one per customer, but if you want to share the FREEdom with someone else, send them to Amazon MP3where they can download their own favorite version, as well.

Have a safe and fantastic 4th of July, and happy birthday, America!

--Alan Wiley

Great Regional Fare: Eating Whoopie Pies in Lancaster County

When Al Dente blog reader Pat Hawn recently shared her inexpensive regional foodie finds, I was thrilled to learn that one of them, Whoopie Pies, originated in Pennsylvania Dutch country, an area I was planning on visiting this summer.

I stopped in at the Lancaster County Farmers Market just a few days ago, eager to scout out regional delicacies including the famed Whoopie Pie. And I found that homespun treat at J & R Baked Goods.

The chocolate pies had been snapped up earlier in the day, so I settled for the pumpkin, an option I might have considered out-of-the-ordinary, had I not just read Micheline Maynard's New York Time's article "Whoopie! Cookie, Pie or Cake, It's Having It's Moment". In it Maynard tracks the recent migration of Whoopie Pies from a regional Amish delicacy (it's also native to Maine, go figure) to bakeries across America, singling out several of these newer purveyors including Chicago's Fraiche Bakery Café, where the two most popular flavors are chocolate and pumpkin.

One look at a Whoopie Pie and you know right off the bat that it's not a pie at all. It is, rather, two rounds of cake with a fluffy, gooey filling that's eaten in-hand like a cookie. And my pumpkin Whoopie Pie was yummy. If your neighborhood bakery hasn't discovered the Whoopie Pie, you can find them online at specialty food stores including Dean & Deluca or Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company.

Thanks again, Pat, for passing this tip along. If anyone knows of other cheap and fun foodie souvenirs from the farmers market or the grocery store, let me know.

--Tracy Schneider

YA on Thursday: Cut-outs and "Other Matters Odd and Magical"

Maggie Stiefvater, who you may know from last year's Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (a YA Wednesday favorite!) shows off her many talents in this book trailer for her upcoming novel, Shiver. The multi-talented Stiefvater not only made the cut-outs, she collaborated on the music:

For more details about the trailer and its related contest, see her blog.

(Thanks, The Book Girl Reviews!)

Favorite summer reads... Sideshow
This week, thankfully, I was handed a copy of Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical, a book of short stories for young adults that had weirdly been off my radar. It's everything that a YA book should be--funny, heartbreaking, attuned to the plight of the outsider. Each of these stories features a different aspect of the old-time circus sideshow, and that gives the authors a chance to play around with isolation, fear, and identity in interesting ways. Plus, it's a scary amazing line-up of fiction writers and graphic novelists. Aimee Bender's "The Bearded Girl" and Shawn Cheng's graphic story of a tricky shadow puppet troupe were stand-out favorites for me.

Quick links...
Finding Wonderland discusses Brit author Malorie Blackman, providing a nice intro to her work, especially Dead Gorgeous.

School Library Journal interviews Rebecca Stead, author of another stellar summer book, When You Reach Me, a comedy/SciFi/tween drama that defies the standard YA/middle grade formulas.

Siobhan Dowd posthumously wins the Carnegie Medal for Bog Child.

Good Morning America plugs "Hot Summer Reads", including Fragile Eternity, Along for the Ride, Surface Tension, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, and The Girls' Guide to Rocking.

Little Willow suggests So Punk Rock: And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother, and Paul (that's our Paul) reviews The Ask and the Answer, the much-awaited sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Happy reading.--Heidi

"Watchmen" on Blu-ray: Maximum Movie Mode

One of the cool things about the Sin City Blu-ray disc is a feature they call Cine-Explore, which plays the theatrical cut accompanied by the Robert Rodriguez-Frank Miller commentary track and drops in picture-in-picture panels of either the original graphic novel, the green-screen shots before the special effects were added, or both. When the director is trying to re-create something on the page, this is a really interesting comparison. Looks like Watchmen is going to do something similar on Blu-ray, called Maximum Movie Mode. Watch the preview below or in our Watchmen store, where you can also learn about our Digital Bundle: pre-order the Blu-ray or two-disc DVD and watch the movie instantly on release day through Amazon Video On Demand. --David

Battle of the Toys - Who Glamps Best?

I am beginning a new series of post pitting similar toys against each other in a kind of toy death match per-se.
Today we are looking at a new word that seems to be all over the news, "Glamping". That would be, Glamor+Camping="Glamping". That's right people, last year's "staycation" is this year's "glamping".

So who out there is glamping best in the world of toys? Let's check out the competitors:

Contestant #1: First the very un-glamorous camping with the weebles.
Weebles Weegoaway Camper

Wobbling is not glam, and it certainly is not safe around a campfire.

Contestant #2-
The very "Euro" camping experiance, the Playmobil Family Camper

While it is very cute, I think it is more "Family" than Glam-ory.

Contestant #3- Camping on the "square":
The Lego City Camper

Well, he DOES have his surf board, that is a little cool and edgy, but I wouldn't say that it is "glamping"-worthy. We are edging ever closer to the real glamp of it all.

Contestant #4
Well, it is pink, and it talks...but is it glamourous?
The Caring Corners - Happy Camper Talking RV

ok, so it has eyes, but it does fold out and some features include:

Honk the horn to discover more than 100 activities, sounds, words, and songs about the outdoors
Swings open to reveal a bedroom, cab sleeper, bathroom, and fully equipped kitchen
Includes lots of surprises: a hidden doggy bed, detachable slide, removable captains chairs, fold-down TV and a grill that opens to barbeque
Reinforces positive messages with the kitchen recycling area and bumper stickers that reward real-life good deeds
Offers ideas for kids and families to explore nature with enclosed adventure passport

Now, this is closer but let's see what our last contestant has to offer...

Contestant #5
The Glamping winner, and still the heavyweight champion of all things "glam":
Barbie's Pink Glamour Camper

Was there ever any doubt really? Who would win this competition but the Princess of Pink herself? Barbie is so hot this year, you could fry a tiny little egg on her plastic, crazily arched feet. The camper she had in the 70s is no more, but she has returned with a pink palace on wheels. I mean, just take a gander at that toilet! Features include:

Signature details like a pink pop-out tent with glam chandelier
Sleep under the stars in the super-cool sleeping bag and fold-out bed
Sound features include music, sizzling cooking, flushing toilet and chirping crickets.
Camper moves on four wheels, folds out for fun and folds up for self-contained play!

because what you really need when camping is a chandelier! Duh!

Have a happy 4th of July and Toy Whimsy will return on Monday the 8th with even more great toy news, ideas, and features!

--Laura McMullan

Omni Daily Crush: "The Jewel Box Garden"

In my very first Omnivoracious post (“Best Way to Make a Garden? Make a Garden Library”), I talked about how I'd populated my garden with plants I'd fallen in love with in books. Truthfully, it was more lust than love that drove me to plant a lot of what now greets me at home, and many of them first gave me sweaty palms in Thomas Hobbs's Jewel Box Garden, his follow-up to Shocking Beauty. (In fact, I'd wager a lot of gardeners first gasped over echeverias--those dazzlingly architectural tender succulents that come in a rainbow of pastels--when they got a look at his Vancouver, B.C., garden's exquisite succulent wall).

Hobbs is a hoot. He characterizes his relationship with plants thus: "Unknowingly, I allowed plants to enslave me as their spokesperson, caretaker and pimp." When I ran into him at a gardening conference last year and mentioned--not quite as casually as I'd planned--that I considered The Jewel Box Garden to be the single biggest influence on my gardening style, he laughed, slung his arm over my shoulders, and declared, "We should live together!"

Sadly, it didn't work out (seems he was kidding--drat!), but I still love to virtually visit his world, particularly the Jewel Box, which hasn't left my bedside bookshelf since the book arrived in early '06. Sometimes--especially if I'm drifting off to sleep and trying to trade visions of spreadsheets and XML for some fantastic plantiness--I just soak in the pictures. Hobbs's flair for garden drama still gives this failed actress shivers. He's passionate about the value of making our wildest imagined worlds real, and his Jewel Box opens with a chapter called "Life, as we dream it could be."

He approaches the entire act of garden-making from the point of view of an artist ("Think of your garden, no matter how small, as an exhibition space"). But for Hobbs, it's not about just decorating. It even goes beyond creating gardens as a restorative oasis from the craziness of our larger lives. He dares us to "look deeper and find the door to your well of creativity. Access the scary side of your personality." He delivers his most practical advice on setting the stage through hardscaping, livening up your soil, and keeping your plants healthy with an aura of magic ("Stop thinking of yourself as a gardener and become an artistic, psychic liaison between plant and animal"). This sentence in particular resonated in my gut like a gong: "As I putter around in the garden, I like to envision one current going out of me and a different current coming in. I deliberately try to connect to something, and that is why my garden stops traffic."

Rereading this marvelous book last night, I realized that Hobbs had not only had a profound influence on my gardening style, but on my entire philosophy of gardening as creative, spiritually significant play with plants. When I'm grooving in the garden, I'm in that state of flow, and I can feel the plants flowing right back. (I have no doubt that's major factor for why my garden not only feels wonderful and keeps me sane, but has started to attract some exciting attention from some of the very authors and photographers whose work has inspired me.)

The Jewel Box Garden is published by Timber Press, a jewel of a publisher based in Portland, Oregon, devoted entirely to marvelous, information-rich books about plants. In the coming weeks, you're going to be hearing a lot more about Timber from me, as I revive my garden library series with a slew of profiles from many of my favorite Timber authors. Lots more fodder for those leafy dreams. --Mari Malcolm

Don't Ingnore Insect Bites

Recently, readers received a reminder from Dr.Hinson about the dangers of summer heat. When dealing with the summer, there is another common seasonal problem for pets--insect bites. While usually not fatal, insect bites can have serious consequences. Most often, dogs, and to a lesser extent cats, are bitten or stung on the face by insects (such as bees) that they were trying to bite. When this happens, your pet may initially yelp. Most of the time, a very small sting or bite is barely noticed on their face or neck due to its small size and most owners think nothing of it. However, within an hour the pets face may become greatly swollen, to the point where they can hardly open their eyes. In some cases they may even have difficulty breathing.

A common challenge in evaluating pets with a “suddenly swollen face” is determining if the problem is truly caused by an insect bite or a snake bite. Locating two puncture sites would be more consistent with a snake bite; however, this is not always an easy task. Most dogs have a lot of fur and the swelling at the site of the bite complicates the evaluation a bit. In some cases, the cause of swelling cannot be determined and a diagnosis has to be made on response to symptomatic treatment and blood work abnormalities.

If you ever find that your pet suddenly has a swollen face contact your veterinarian immediately. In most cases they will see you right away because of the urgent nature of the problem. Some pets may need to spend the day for observation, while others will need longer care at your veterinarians.

Photo from Mad Mag's photostream.

--Dr. Hamilton
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Dr. Hamilton is an oncology resident at Michigan State's Animal Cancer Care Clinic and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.

Disclaimer Regarding Veterinary Information

Have a Red, White, and Green Holiday with Pretty Party Pinwheels

I think it’s un-American to have a Fourth of July weekend shindig without good snacks. And sorta sad, too. Especially when the below recipe for Pretty Party Pinwheels (from Party Snacks, 2008, Harvard Common Press) is darn easy to make, scrumptious, and colorful, with its combination of cream cheese, spinach, tomatoes, and some spices to ensure your party isn’t tasteless. Of course, it does flip in green for blue in the traditional fourth color scheme, but maybe you can serve it on a blue patter? One thing that’s for sure--your guests will love these, and you don’t have to stress out much when making them. That’s a step on the road to party success on any weekend.

Pretty Party Pinwheels
Makes about 70 pinwheels

Ingredients:
2 jalapeño chilies, quartered (leave the seeds in if you like it hotter)
4 green onions, coarsely chopped
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 of a 0.4-ounce package ranch dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
10 large flour tortillas
5 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, washed and dried
5 to 7 Roma tomatoes, seeded and very thinly sliced
Salsa or Louisiana-style hot sauce, for serving

Directions:
1. Put the jalapeño and onions in a food processor, and process for 3 to 5 seconds, until well chopped. Add the cream cheese, dressing mix, and pepper, and process again until all is well mixed.

2. Using a spatula or butter knife, spread the mixture evenly over one side of each flour tortilla. Add 1/2 cup spinach and a few tomato slices on top of the mixture on each tortilla.

3. Roll up each tortilla, making a tight roll. Once all are rolled and stacked on a plate, cover with plastic wrap or foil and put them in the fridge to chill for about an hour.

4. Using a sharp chef’s knife, slice each rolled tortilla into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Arrange attractively on a platter. Serve with salsa or a bottle of Louisiana-style hot sauce on the side.

--A.J. Rathbun

Fashion is War: Finding Style Inspiration in Public Enemies

A year ago, I applied to a Craigslist want ad and got the call: “Will you accept playing the part of a young Depression-era housewife in the Johnny Depp gangster melodrama Public Enemies?” Will I accept? “How much can I pay you?” was more the question. And so my experience as a background starlet, er, extra in this summer’s blockbuster began.

Left: In costume on the Public Enemies set. Right: At a premiere party for the film.
Photos by Chris Kaphaem and Eric Tadsen.

That’s me up there on the Public Enemies set just after my hair was sculpted into a finger-wave coif, my lips stained scarlet red, and the wardrobe department dressed me hat to heel in authentic 1930s garb personally selected by Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha). On the right, I’m hamming it up next to some vintage autos at a premiere party. I decided to honor the retro look (ringlet hair, flapper-like tiers) but inject a 2009 update (chain fringe earrings, ankle-wrap pumps, and what looks like a dress but is actually a romper). Questions of the night included: Did you meet Johnny? (He was not in my scene, but I did get a sly grin flashed my way from Christian Bale.), And where did you get those impossibly smoldering shoes? (Loeffler Randall from shopbop, of course!)

Wartime-inspired looks from the fall 2009 runways.

Although my guy friends were digging the rat-a-tat shoot-outs, as a fashion writer, I was dissecting the clothes. It was an era when no-nonsense gents wore slick suits, cocked fedoras, and smoked cigars, while their dames were everyday elegant in dainty felt hats, fur-trimmed coats (mine had copper fox tails swirling around the forearms), gloves, intricate clutch purses, and T-strap pumps. Listening to the evening radio show while wearing back-seam stockings was de rigueur.

The movie's romanticized fashions reminded me of one of our biggest fall trends: ’30s and ’40s wartime looks inspired by the men who went away and the loves they came home to. The key for Fashion Forwards is not to interpret this period verbatim, but instead seamlessly mix in elements of now. Channel the spirit of Public Enemies leading lady Marion Cotillard, a French bombshell who always manages to bring an Old Hollywood aura to her couture. (Love this pic of her with designer John Galliano at the Met gala.) Toughen up the look by pairing an androgynous military coat or leather bomber jacket with a tank and a flowy silk skirt. Bonus points for feather, faux fur, or medallion accents. Brands like DSquared2 (coming to the Designer Boutique very soon), Charlotte Ronson, and Chris Benz (all pictured) do a brilliant job of merging modern insouciance and masculine elements with the golden age of glamour.

--Suzanne
Shopbop

Tom Douglas's Recipe for Whole Salmon on the Grill

Barbecuing a whole salmon on the grill is a Seattle tradition, especially when celebrating any significant event or holiday from the Fourth of July to Christmas. Try cooking a whole fish once in a while. It will be infinitely more satisfying than boned fillets, and it’s probably a lot quicker and easier than you think. Jackie spent 10 minutes getting this salmon ready to go on the grill, then only about 30 minutes grilling it. Believe me, it will make a huge impression on your guests when you carry this gorgeous, slightly charred, sizzling hot salmon to the table.

Some people don’t like to eat the salmon skin, but if you do want to eat it be sure to remove the scales, or ask your fishmonger to do it for you. A small sharp knife or a boning knife works well for scraping the scales off, though Jackie likes to use our Italian cheese knife, which does the job perfectly. I lightly dust the skin with flour and brush with olive oil before grilling, to keep the fish skin from sticking to the grill. I like to use an instant-read meat thermometer to check when the fish is done, just like I would check a roast.

Try to get a wild salmon for this recipe, rather than a farmed salmon, because a fish with a nice firm texture is best. A 3-1/2- to 4-pound fish is the perfect size for grilling. You can grill the salmon with the head and tail on, or you can ask your fishmonger to remove them. Instead of salmon, you could substitute a steelhead, a large trout, a striped bass, or a red snapper.

Whole Salmon on the Grill Stuffed with Sea Salt, Lemon, and Onion
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
1 whole salmon, about 4 pounds, gutted, rinsed, and patted dry
Sea salt
1/2 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
1 small bunch fennel fronds or fresh dill
Olive oil, for brushing
Flour, for dusting

Sweet Fennel Butter, softened (see recipe below)
Lemon wedges and fennel fronds or fresh dill, for garnish

Directions:
1. Fire up the grill, with the coals lined up for direct heat about 5 to 6 inches below the fish. Sprinkle sea salt generously in the cavity of the fish and over the skin, then stuff the cavity with the onion, lemon, and fennel fronds. Tie kitchen string around the fish in three or four places to hold the stuffing in. In between the string, make deep incisions with your knife through the thickest part of the fish on both sides, all the way down to the spine, so the fish will cook more quickly, and the smoke flavor will get inside the fish better. Lightly dust one side of the fish with flour. Brush both the floured side of the fish and the grate with oil, then place the salmon on the grill, floured side down. Once the salmon is on the grill, lightly dust the other side of the fish with flour and brush it with oil.

2. Grill the salmon over medium-hot direct heat, with the lid on and the vents open. If your grill has a thermometer, maintain the heat at 300 to 350 degrees F. When the skin side facing the grill is nicely browned, after about 20 minutes, use two large grill spatulas to flip the fish to the other side. Slide your spatula under the fish in several places first, to help detach the skin from the grill. Then continue to grill until the fish is just cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of fish reads 125 degrees to 135 degrees F, about 10 to 20 minutes longer, for a total grilling time of 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the fish from the grill, place it on a large platter, cut off the string, and let rest for 10 minutes.

On the Plate
Garnish the salmon with lemon wedges and fennel fronds. Put the fennel butter in a small bowl and serve on the side.

If you like, you can peel off the skin so your guests can more easily help themselves to the salmon. Use a paring knife to make an incision at the head end of the fish, then peel off the skin. Sprinkle a little sea salt directly over the flesh of the fish. Use a metal serving spatula to lift each serving of salmon up off the backbone of the fish. When all the fish has been served from one side, flip the fish over and repeat with the other side.

A Step Ahead
You can stuff and tie the salmon early in the day and keep refrigerated.

For the Sweet Fennel Butter:
This soft butter will start melting as soon as it’s spooned over a piece of warm salmon, creating a simple sauce. Recipe makes about 1 cup

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons chopped fresh fennel fronds, or substitute fresh dill
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix together the butter, fennel, juice, zest, and honey until smooth, either in a food processor, electric mixer, or by hand. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Scrape the butter into a small decorative bowl and serve.

A Step Ahead
You can make the butter up to 3 days ahead and store it, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator. Remove it to room temperature to warm up and soften for a few hours before you plan to serve it.

Recipes from Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen (Morrow, 2001)

--Tom Douglas

Tom Douglas is currently working with Amazon.com on the exclusive line of kitchen and dining products, Tom Douglas by Pinzon, aimed at building confidence in the kitchen.

Tom Douglas's Recipe for Crab and Pork Shao Mai

Shao mai or gyoza wrappers, available in Asian groceries, are 3-inch diameter rounds that are very thin. If you buy square wrappers, it’s easy to stack the wrappers in groups of 10 or so and shave the corners with a pair of kitchen shears to make rounds.

For steaming the shao mai, a multi-tiered Chinese bamboo steamer with two steaming baskets works best. Set your bamboo steamer over a wok or a large saucepan partially filled with boiling water. If you don’t have a multi-tiered bamboo steamer, divide the dumplings between two pots with steamer baskets. (If you use metal steamer baskets instead of bamboo, lightly oil them first so the shao mai don’t stick.)

If you like, you can make these ahead, chill, and reheat in the steamer baskets for about 5 minutes.

Crab and Pork Shao Mai

Ingredients:
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon sake
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch, plus a little more for dusting the plate
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced scallions, white and green parts
2 teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup drained, canned water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup peeled and grated carrot
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound crab meat, drained, picked clean of shell, and lightly squeezed of excess moisture if wet
About 24 raw green peas, fresh or frozen
1 package shao mai or gyoza wrappers

For serving:
Chili oil or Chinese hot chili paste

Directions:
1. In a bowl, lightly whisk together the egg white, sake, soy, sesame oil, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add the scallion, ginger, cilantro, water chestnuts, and carrot and stir. Add the pork and crab meat and mix with a rubber spatula until well combined.

2. Set a shao mai wrapper on a work surface and place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center. Then gather up the edges of the wrapper, pleating it around the filling. Hold the dumpling between your thumb and index finger, squeezing it to form a “waist,” while flattening the bottom of the dumpling with your other hand. The dumpling will be open on top, leaving the top of the filling exposed. Press one pea into the center of the exposed filling. Set the dumpling on a large plate lightly dusted with cornstarch. Repeat until all the crab-pork mixture is used. You should have about 24 dumplings.

3. Fill a large saucepan or wok about halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat.

4. Divide the shao mai between two bamboo steamer baskets. Stack the baskets, cover with the lid, and place over the saucepan or wok. Steam until the shao mai are cooked through, about 15 minutes, reversing the baskets about halfway through the steaming time.

5. Remove the shao mai from the baskets, transfer to plates and serve with ramekins of chili oil or chili paste.

Makes 6 appetizer servings

Recipe from I Love Crab Cakes (Morrow, 2006)
Photo by Robin Layton

--Tom Douglas

Tom Douglas is currently working with Amazon.com on the exclusive line of kitchen and dining products, Tom Douglas by Pinzon, aimed at building confidence in the kitchen.

Omni Daily News

Catcher in the Rye Sequel Blocked
Guess Holden Caufield will remain a callow youth for a while longer--at least in the U.S. A federal judge ruled late yesterday that the J.D. Salinger offensive was “likely to succeed on the merits of its copyright case" against Fredrik Colting, author of 60 Years Later--a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. Colting plans to appeal the decision. His book will be released in Europe later this summer. [PW]

Governor's Book on Ice
The Observer reports that the scandal-ridden South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been given the heave-ho by publisher Sentinel. The right-leaning imprint owned by Penguin had planned to publish the Governor's book on fiscal conservatism in spring of 2010. He has been released from his contract. [The New York Observer]

Everything Matters When the Clock Is Ticking
Author and Daily Beast critic Taylor Antrim takes a closer look at Ron Currie Jr.'s new novel Everything Matters! and the burgeoning literary genre of "pre-apocalyptic" novels.

"Deploying a lightly experimental structure, and an anything-goes approach to plotting, Currie, Jr. poses the question: What would you do if faced with the knowledge that the world is going to end with a comet hitting Earth on June 15, 2010, at 3:44 p.m. EST?"

Listen to Currie's thoughts on the "multiverse", "borrowing" from favorite authors, and more in our Omni podcast. And in case you missed it earlier, check out our own Daphne Durham's take on the novelvs. Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's The Strain. [The Daily Beast]

--Lauren