2718 Grams.

3 Entertainment Weeklies, 2 Communication Arts, 2 Dwell, and 1 HOW magazine were set aside during the last month while I tended to my final projects and the end of the second quarter. 2,718 grams of intellectual and entertaining bliss sat there, neglected. Now that my two week break has come, it's time to catch up and not just on those mags. Between forward-thinking education at Portfolio Center and working part-time at Borders (NYSE: BGP) my interest in books and reading has serviced a major overhaul. I used to only read my email and Totino's cooking instructions, now I find a new book everyday at work. Some of which I should have read in high school, like "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." The movie comes out in May, the preview looks so fantastic, and I want to read it before I see it. Any other time before last fall, and you would have never heard me say that. Why ruin a good movie by reading the book first? My first experiment, "Sideways" by Rex Pickett. I read it at work a few weeks before I saw the film. Absolutely hilarious! Couldn't believe I enjoyed it so much. Saw the movie trying to forget I read the book. Enjoyed it very much too, outstanding characters, great story; but part of me was disappointed that some great moments from the book were not in the movie. I had become literate, and understood what my peers and English professors constantly mentioned with every film adaptation. Thankfully I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy after I saw the films...not disappointed in those, but they followed the books rather well.

Last week I finished the 3 graphic novels used in Frank Miller's "Sin City", a new film by Robert Rodriguez with a plethora of great actors. Very, very cool stories, lots of great moments, and Rodriguez is codirecting with Frank Miller to shoot the film practically panel for panel from the comic. It looks amazing and I simply cannot wait to see. 2 other books I'm trying to finish during the break: "blink" by Malcolm Gladwell about thinking and decision making controlled by our unconscious and "The Substance of Style" by Virginia Postrel discussing how the rise of aesthetic value is remaking culture and the marketplace. Anyone else have a suggestion? Maybe I'll get to it during the next break. Oh and out of those 8 mags, I have 3 left to finish.