For the past three years, a new Moomin book has been released each year during the start of the Christmas season, but this year it looks like Christmas has come early to Moominland.  Also, for some reason we got it into our head that the complete collected Moomin was only going to run four volumes, but we were, evidently, mistaken, as Drawn and Quarterly has already announced the fifth volume.  So now we can all relax and enjoy this new release, free from the angst that would have accompanied the experience had this indeed been the end of the line for Moomin comics.  Here's a brief preview.

And seeing as we're on the subject of Japan, now's a good time to point out that this clever, sexy and artistically adventurous graphic novel -- which is credited with initiating "nouvelle manga," a sort of hybrid of French Bande Dessinne and Japanese Manga, when it was initially released in 2001 -- is back in print and once again on our shelves.Regardless of whether or not there is such a thing as "nouvelle manga," Yukiko's Spinach is an original, engaging and rewarding work that, while somewhat scopophilic and objectifying in its visual representation of women, and echoing anachronistic imperial attitudes that smack of orientalism, nevertheless captures a certain je ne sais quoi about our global village at the millenium.

This is a pretty fab box set.  It consists of 3 CDs containing 42 tracks that total close to four hours of material that charts the origin and development of electronic music through its first four decades; and a 2 1/2 hour DVD that contains 20 tracks presenting short pieces, excerpts, performances and interviews, all of which serve to supplement the documention of the early history of electronic music; plus a 112 page, photo-packed booklet that discusses each work and comes with a forward by none other than Brian Eno.  This is going to be pretty hard to pass up at the super special price below.  Needless to say, but, of course, we will:  this is a one time offer and the supply is limited (and now it's almost depleted).  A complete listing of its contents may be had in the full page listing.

This DVD that brings back into print (and that is a vast improvement over the previous edition) the late-noir classic that was the breakthrough film for the director of Double Suicide is also among this month's new releases from Criterion.  Originally released in 1964, Pale Flower is a gangster romance noir that is shot in black and white (natch!) and features a soundtrack by the world renowned composer Toru Takemitsu.  It tells the tale of a yakuza just out of prision who falls hard for a femme fatale; what looks good gets bad (and so, as film noir, gets better).  Features include: new high-definition digital transfer; new and improved subtitle translation; new video interview with Shinoda; booklet with essay by Chuck Stephens.