The Carver's House

I've always wanted to go into some kind of business but, unfortunately, business savvy is something I sorely lack in. I'm the kind of guy who'll readily give discounts to most any friend or family member (if not for free), unless of course I get the biting feeling that some kind of abuse is going on. But I still dream of having my own business, something not directly related to making comics. I've entertained ideas for food cart businesses. While there are a lot of cheap franchises out there in which I can get my feet wet, I still have hesitations over running something that isn't an idea I can fall in love with. Unless, of course, I fall in love with the basic need to earn more money and experience. Business ideas are a dime a dozen, and a lot of them are deceptively simple. King of Balls comes to mind, with their oh-s0-deliciously-sweet red gulaman, the closest to a cheap and addicting sugar bomb I'll ever get. But here are a few of business ideas I've run...

TOKYO (AFP) – A Japanese man has enlisted hundreds of people in a campaign to allow marriages between humans and cartoon characters , saying he feels more at ease in the "two-dimensional world." Comic books are immensely popular in Japan , with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols. Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners . Taichi Takashita launched an online petition aiming for one million signatures to present to the government to establish a law on marriages with cartoon characters. For the full article, visit Yahoo! News Thanks to Erica for the link.

Shizuku Kanzaki races against time to become a wine connoisseur in the four year-old manga series "The Drops of the Gods." What creators Yuko and Shin Kibayashi (under the pseudonym Tadashi Agi) didn't expect was the impact their work would have on the local wine market. From a New York Times article: "In Japan, wine sellers grab copies of the magazine as soon as it comes out on Thursdays, quickly showcasing a featured wine in their stores or on their Web sites. According to Enoteca, a large chain, men in their 30s to 50s tend to ask for wines from the magazine, especially those priced around $30." The wave of interest in wine because of the manga series has swept over South Korea as well, where the Kibayashis were treated like stars. From the same article, "...there was so little demand for Burgundy that even top hotels did not bother stocking it. But after the comic extolled Burgundy’s virtues, stores and hotels scrambled to secure stocks, which immediate...