Although they sell vegetables, milk packets, and cigarettes; owners of small roadside grocery shops in southern India might be described as in the business of time-travel. Shopkeepers’ survival depends on their ability to successfully shift objects and obligations between multiple and conflicting temporal systems. Drawing on recordings of interactions gathered between 2005-08, Brown traces how shopkeepers use refrigeration, accounts of debt, and conversations with customers to negotiate and profit from temporal troubles.

The personal wealth of state office holders and their associates has exploded during the three decades of China’s revived market economy. This is seen in such varied phenomena as the recent reports on the $2.7 billion in assets of Premier Wen Jiabao and family, and the high number and rank of state officials linked to a private firm in the Yuanhua smuggling scandal. How can corruption of this magnitude be explained?

Do you know how to prove how well you speak Japanese, Chinese or Korean? Come learn about the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), one of the most recognized proficiency tests in the U.S., and how to show off your abilities for scholarships, jobs and more! Hear from Pitt instructors and students who have taken the OPI and see a sample interview in Japanese and Chinese.

Gap year before grad schoo? Need to gain "real world" experience? Learn about working overseas after graduation! This workshop features real life experiences from Pitt alumni teaching in China, Chile, Japan and France. Learn how to prepare for ESL experiences at Pitt and where to look for jobs.

Akira (1988) original film production art and screening at the Toonseum with Akira expert Joe Peacock. Free with $5 museum admission! Check out www.toonseum.org for details.

Special lecture and reception. Light refreshments will be served!

The final film in the Pittsburgh Film Series is Summer Wars (2009), directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Although math whiz Kenji Koiso is a social zero, his avatar flourishes in the online space of Oz -- until he accepts an e-mail request to solve a thorny equation, creating a conduit between the real and virtual worlds that may destroy both.

All films are free and open to the public! Screened in Japanese with English subtitles. More info, including maps and film trailers, at www.tinyurl.com/animepgh

The Pittsburgh Anime Film Series continues with Memories (1995), directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. Memories is made up of three separate science-fiction stories. In the first, "Magnetic Rose," four space travelers are drawn into an abandoned spaceship that contains a world created by one woman's memories. In "Stink Bomb," a young lab assistant accidentally transforms himself into a human biological weapon set on a direct course for Tokyo. The final episode, "Cannon Fodder," depicts a day in the life of a city whose entire purpose is the firing of cannons at an unseen enemy.

Returning to Pittsburgh is the "Pittsburgh Anime Film Series," this year featuring theatrical films from Japan. The series kicks off with 5 Centimeters Per Second, directed by Makoto Shinkai (2007). Told in three interconnected segments, we follow a young man named Takaki through his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.

This seminar will be the second of four programs during the winter and spring of 2012-2013. We will begin with a brief presentation by the speaker to be followed by open discussion based on the questions of the participants. Therefore, it is essential that attendees read and prepare questions based on the reading which will be sent to all those who register. You do not need to participate in all of the seminars to attend an individual session. This seminar series is only for NCTA alumni and associates.