Lo Fi has arrived at Chang Shao Trading Co.

I'm proud to say that I've been friends with Glenn Chadbourne for a few years now. For those of you who don't know Glenn, he has been responsible for some of the most amazing art anywhere. (You can find his Web site linked to the left under "Friends" or  just click www.glennchadbourne.com.) His graphic adaptations of Stephen King stories (the "Secretary of Dreams" books from Cemetery Dance publications) are incredible.So when I had an idea for a "mascot" to represent Chang Shao Trading Co., I knew Glenn was the right man for the job. I didn't know how right I was. Our mascot's name is "Lo Fi," and he is what is known as a "jiang shi," which literally means "stiff corpse" and it feeds, not on blood, but on the "chi" or life-force of still-living humans. They have lots of other powers and they can be stopped by a variety of methods, the most common of which is the application of a talisman (called a "fu") to the forehead. This freezes the "jiang shi," rendering it powerless. A whole series of movies (the core of which are the "Mr. Vampire" films) has blurred this definition to the point where most people think of a "jiang shi" simply as a "hopping vampire." That's fine. Lo Fi is all of this and more. Glenn has created an amazing portrait of Lo Fi for us and now you can buy buttons and shirts featuring both Lo Fi and the Chang Shao Trading Co. logo. Just click the button with the "$" on it on the front page at www.changshaotrading.com.