diff --git a/src/bin/demo.c b/src/bin/demo.c
index 6cd79bd23..a3628df5b 100644
--- a/src/bin/demo.c
+++ b/src/bin/demo.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include <wchar.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <locale.h>
@@ -150,11 +151,15 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv){
   if(ncplane_putstr(ncp, str) != (int)strlen(str)){
     goto err;
   }
-  const char bstr[] = "▏▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂ ▁▕";
-  if(ncplane_cursor_move_yx(ncp, rows / 2 - 5, (cols - strlen(bstr) + 4) / 2)){
+  const wchar_t wstr[] = L"▏▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂ ▁▕";
+  char mbstr[128];
+  if(wcstombs(mbstr, wstr, sizeof(mbstr)) <= 0){
     goto err;
   }
-  if(ncplane_putstr(ncp, bstr) != (int)strlen(bstr)){
+  if(ncplane_cursor_move_yx(ncp, rows / 2 - 5, (cols - wcslen(wstr) + 4) / 2)){
+    goto err;
+  }
+  if(ncplane_putstr(ncp, mbstr) != (int)strlen(mbstr)){
     goto err;
   }
   if(notcurses_render(nc)){
diff --git a/src/bin/unicodeblocks.c b/src/bin/unicodeblocks.c
index 8b0a38fa2..4e9cba5a4 100644
--- a/src/bin/unicodeblocks.c
+++ b/src/bin/unicodeblocks.c
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ int unicodeblocks_demo(struct notcurses* nc){
       return -1;
     }
     ncplane_fg_rgb8(n, 0xad, 0xd8, 0xe6);
-    ncplane_bg_rgb8(n, 0, 0, 0);
     if(ncplane_printf(n, "Unicode points %04x–%04x", blockstart, blockstart + BLOCKSIZE) <= 0){
       return -1;
     }
@@ -87,6 +86,7 @@ int unicodeblocks_demo(struct notcurses* nc){
         memset(&ps, 0, sizeof(ps));
         wchar_t w = blockstart + chunk * CHUNKSIZE + z;
         char utf8arr[MB_CUR_MAX + 1];
+        // FIXME we can print wide ones here, just add an extra line
         if(wcwidth(w) == 1 && iswprint(w)){
           int bwc = wcrtomb(utf8arr, w, &ps);
           if(bwc < 0){