I apologize to regular listeners of this site for not posting as frequently as I once did.  I'm now employed!  By Borders Bookstore in La Habra, California which is slated to open on September 7th.  They've put us to work unpacking, sorting and shelving books from 8:30am to 6:30pm every day, which get exhausting.  I am also simultaneously preparing to apply to graduate school.  As a result, I have less time to read articles and comment on them, not to mention less energy.

One ultra-cool feature of the new Borders that I ought to mention is that the music listening stations are completely digital.  The music is served in 20-25 second snippets from a server in the back room, and are accessed by swiping the CD you want to hear under a barcode reader.  Also, this Borders location sells DVD movies.  When you swipe a DVD barcode, a small LCD screen shows a trailer for the movie.  Is that cool or what?

In my breaks, I've been inspired by <a href="http://www.whatdoiknow.org">Tod Dominey</a> to begin reading <a href="http://www.kokogiak.com/amazon/detpage.asp?asin=0823013472">Designing with Type: A Basic Course in Typography</a> by James Craig, William Bevington, Susan E. Meyer, one of the books I unpacked today.  It's a very cool book; so far the first few chapters have covered the font families, leading  and kerning, stuff that I've heard about off-hand but never studied formally.  Borders gives full-time staff a US$30 monthly stipend for books and music, and a 25% discount beyond that.  Besides that, they allow employees to take books home on loan.  I'm looking forward to that.

Two links on Janet Reno:  <a href="http://JanetRenoShowerCam.com/">Janet Reno Shower Cam</a> (funny because it exists), and <a href="http://www.mtv.com/onair/trl/flipbooks/photobooth/topflip.jhtml?c=338&amp;pf=/onair/trl/flipbooks/photobooth/">Janet Reno on TRL flippin' you off</a>.

<a href="http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/asianfilm/china/wolf.html">"THE WOLF AT THE DOOR:"</a> HOLLYWOOD AND THE FILM MARKET IN CHINA FROM 1994-2000, by Stanley Rosen.  <a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/polsci/faculty/rosen.htm">Dr. Rosen</a> is a professor of political science at USC, and a chaperone for my uncle Ted Erskin when he went to China on a Fulbright scholarship.  Jianying Zha, the author of <a href="http://www.kokogiak.com/amazon/detpage.asp?asin=1565842499">China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Bestsellers Are Transforming a Culture</a>, was a graduate student under him.  I would be honored to study under him some day.