Yeah, Joe still got it.

Joe Jackson performing live, May 14, 2008 on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Jesse James and the bawdy bootjack

I am currently reading The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford and on page 144 of the paperback edition the following passage grabbed my attention:

Jesse ripped off the paper and the box flap and with childish astonishment withdrew a black, ironworked model of a salacious naked woman, her arms crossed beneath her head, her legs lewdly cloven and lifted.

"It's a bawdy bootjack," Bob said.
"I wished I owned one a thousand times."

"Well. Now you do."

Jesse stroked the woman's round breasts with his thumb and blushed as he smiled. "I love Christmas."

"I can see that."

He imitated shame. "But I don't have anything for you! I never dreamed-"

"Your friendship is plenty."

Charley slunk in from the kitchen and then warily approached Jesse to examine the articulation of the ironwork. He asked his brother, "What is it?"

"It's a bawdy bootjack," he said.

"It's something I'll cherish always," said Jesse.

"Then we both have something to cherish," said Bob.

I understand what "bawdy" means and I know what a "bootjack" is, yet the association of both words stroke me as funny and funny it was because a Google search turned up nothing. After doing a little research, a friend of mine, James, pointed me in the direction of Naughty Nellie and although the item seemed to perfectly match the description from the book there was only one problem, she wasn't naked.

Now call me crazy, but I was really obsessing on the problem and decided to email the author Ron Hansen:

This might come out of left field but on page 144 of the paperback edition of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" you are referring to a bawdy bootjack and how Jesse wished he "owned one a thousand times"

Your description looks very similar to a Naughty Nellie so my question is this, and I know it might seem a little strange and I feel weird asking but do you mean a bootjack that's like a Naughty Nellie but actually naked or is it one of those iron cast Naughty Nellie without paint that could possibly pass as naked?

A day later I received the following:

Dear Vince,

I saw it in a museum ages ago. An iron, naked, female figurine with her legs spread and painted black that was used to grip the heels of boots and was in fact called by the museum a "bawdy bootjack." Naughty Nellie sounds like a variation on same.

Good reading!

Ron Hansen

Now, I've been doing some further research and a little bit of thinking. Naughty Nellie was extremely popular throughout the 19 century and I was even able to find a photo of a nude version on an auction site:

Which leads me to believe that one, the expression "bawdy bootjack" was "made up" by the museum Ron Hansen visited and two that it was indeed a naked version of Naughty Nellie.

If you stumbled on this post, the odds are you've been reading The Assassination of Jesse James and were wondering the same thing. Then I don't feel so crazy.

Why can't I find a weighted companion cube?

So I've been playing Portal... Like a lot and all I want on my desk next to my monitor is a weighted companion cube. Is that too much to ask? Well apparently it is, because the only licensed product from valve is a crappy plush or there's also a pretty neat papercraft version but that's not what I want. I want the real deal.

Yes, I've searched Ebay. No dice (dice, cube.. get it?).

So if you're a Dremel God and you are reading this, will you make one for me? I'm willing to pay.

Yesterday was a good day

That's right, I scored a Scout Trooper from Kotobukiya (list price $99.99) and a Stormtrooper Animated from Gentle Giant (list price $69.99) for $100 at the New York Comic Con. Life is good.

PS: I was agonizing for about an hour over a Kotobukiya Luke vs Vader Mc Quarrie for $110 but it's a huge piece and I don't think I had room anywhere to put it on display.

What are they smoking? (CNN Shirt Edition)

As I am compulsively refreshing the CNN homepage like I do every day, I suddenly notice there's a new icon next to some headlines in the "Latest News" section (it's the one to the right of the headline).

It looks like the letter T but upon closer inspection more like a T Shirt. Why would a T Shirt icon sit next to selective headlines at cnn.com? For CNN headline shirts of course!

At that point I distinctly remember hearing the exclamation "Brilliant!" from that Guinness commercial. I mean seriously CNN headline T Shirts? Who would want to wear that?

Let me just give you a concrete example to get an understanding of how bad it is. The first shirt available was "DUI Gizmo might've been wrong 2 years" and here is what it looks like

The next is "Principal sets up drug sting on student"... WTF! So now here I am, obsessively refreshing the T shirt's homepage to see how low this can possibly go. Nothing too appalling so far, but on the other hand nothing I would even remotely consider wearing.

Since I had questions, well I'm not sure I had actual questions but I was puzzled I went to the FAQs section and was pleased to find answers to such pressing questions as"How can I share my shirts on Facebook?" or "I took my CNN shirt on vacation and I have great pictures. Where can I send them?" Since I don't expect that part of the CNN site to be up for very much longer, I'll go ahead and post the whole thing:

---

Frequently Asked Questions about CNN Shirts.

Thank you for your interest in CNN Shirts. With CNN Shirts you can wear the news. If you have any issues or questions regarding CNN Shirts please read the answers to the frequently asked questions below.

TECHNICAL HELP:

What are the minimum computer specifications required to use CNN Shirts?

Windows

• Microsoft Windows®: 98SE, 2000, Millennium Edition, XP Home Edition, or XP Professional
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, Netscape Navigator 7, Firefox 1 or Opera 7.51
• 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM
• Broadband Internet connection or access to a high-speed network
• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution

Macintosh

• Mac OSX
• Safari 1.2, Firefox 1 or Opera 7.51
• 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM
• Broadband Internet connection or access to a high-speed network
• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution

How do I get a CNN Shirt?

To get your own CNN Shirt please visit CNN.com. In the latest news section you will see a series of headlines with little t-shirt icons next to them. Click the icon that accompanies your desired headline. You will then be able to preview your shirt and proceed to checkout.

How long are headlines available for?

Headlines that can bought as shirts are only available as long as the headline stays in the latest news section.

How can I share my shirts on Facebook?

When you purchase shirts from the CNN Shirt store you will see "Share on Facebook" links that accompany all purchased headlines in your receipt page. When you click the share button the headline you purchased shows up in your news and mini feed.

What kind of shirts are headlines printed on?

CNN Shirt uses high quality American Apparel t-shirts. Please visit americanapparel.net for more information.

CONTENT:

What colors are CNN Shirts available in?

Currently CNN Shirts come in gray, white, or black.

What is the little timestamp on my shirt?

The little timestamp on your shirt is denotes the date and time your headline was created.
I took my CNN shirt on vacation and I have great pictures. Where can I send them?

Please upload any photos of you wearing a CNN Shirt to www.ireport.com/tshirt. Your photo will be considered for future contests, and our CNN Shirt photo archive.

CNN Shirt Store:

My CNN Shirt has not arrived yet. Who can I talk to?

Please take up any billing or shipping inquiries with Spreadshirt, our vendor partner. Please use their provided contact form and be sure to include your order confirmation number.

How much is a CNN Shirt?

Currently CNN Shirts are priced at $15.00 US. This price does not include tax or shipping costs.

Where can I redeem a coupon for a CNN Shirt?

If you have a coupon for CNN Shirts, redeem it for discounts and free shirts at the CNN Shirt store. Pick a headline that you want to purchase from CNN.com, customize it and proceed to checkout. In the checkout phase there is a coupon code field that you can enter your code into. Your coupon code is printed on your discount card, or in your discount email. Please remember that all codes expire on 12/31/08 at 12:00 am EST.

How can I track my CNN Shirt order?

All order tracking is done through Spreadshirt, our vendor partner. Orders can be tracked by logging into Spreadshirt and using the order tracking system, or by following the order confirmation links in your purchase confirmation email. For any other inquiries please contact spreadshirt directly

---

I might eat my words but I'll make a prediction. Two things will either happen with this:

1. Someone at CNN will realize how terrible an idea this is and shut down the service but if it stays long enough I predict

2. We will get a T Shirt along the lines of "20 bodies found floating near Bahamas" and then CNN will shut down the service.

This is not going to work

I Love Gamefly. I'm a level 3 member, which means I've been with them for over a year and get 10% off purchases and 5 Gamefly dollars every 3 months.

It's on one hand a great video game rental service but I also love having the option of keeping the games I am renting at prices nothing short of amazing. Take a game like "Eternal Sonata" for the 360 for example: $54.99 used at Gamestop, $29.69 at Gamefly!

When I received an email from them on Tuesday inviting me to Beta test their new trade-in program, I had mixed feelings because although it seemed logical they would try to take market shares to Gamestop, I just couldn't see, considering their store or "keep it" prices, how they could offer a competitive trade-in value.

The interface on the site is pretty much what's to be expected of Gamefly. It's intuitive, easy to use and self explanatory.

You enter the UPC code of the game you want to trade-in, you get a price quote, you then confirm your cart and check out, print your mailing label and packing slip and finally pack and ship your game.

The system however massively fails on two points.

1. The trade-in value. My first attempt was with "Red Steel" for the Wii and I was offered an insulting $8.28. Just to make sure it wasn't the exception I did some price comparison with Gamestop on other titles.

Super Mario Galaxy: GF $25.30, GS $30.00
Mario Party 8: GF $18.40, GS $25.00
Call of Duty 4 and Assasin's Creed: Both GF $28.75, GS $30.00

I could go on and on, Gamestop offers a better trade-in value every single time.

2. Shipping and packaging costs. You're getting free shipping on your rental and purchases but trade-ins are on you, It might not seem like a big deal but for a game like "Red Steel" shipped regular mail, it brings down the trade-in value to $6.80 and "Mario Party 8" under $17.

So, although it seems like an interesting idea, I think it's broken and I don't see how Gamefly can fix it. Let me take that back, I know exactly how they can fix it: The only way they can resolve this, is by raising their store and "keep it" prices.

I'll be lighting a candle every day, hoping they don't.

Trade-in program details.
Trade-in program terms of use.

The Power of Mints

I was out Christmas shopping yesterday and because I live in New York but am originally from France, I was looking for gift ideas for friends and family from the other side of the pond in tourists stores on Times Square when I stumbled on this:

My first question was what is it doing in this store? Do they think that some random tourist is going to walk in and say "Hey, nothing says New York City like a box of Nintendo Power Mints!" and second why would Nintendo even license such a product?

Anyway, I love them but it seems so improbable and made for such a tiny niche market, you can't help but wondering.

The NES pad is just a regular mint not even that strong and the blue Shroom contains blue raspberry sours but not that sour either.

What are they smoking?

Don't get me wrong, I like nerdy news just like the next nerd but that's not what I go to CNN.com for. So imagine my surprise when this made the headline for a good couple of hours today:

Commodore 64? To quote Jimmy Kimmel "How is this news?" Wasn't there anything else going on? Any update on the bombing in Paris yesterday? The CIA destroying tapes of interrogations back in '05?

That's when I directed my attention to to the "latest news" section on the right hand side.

Clinton dumps Celine for Big Head Todd? Video
Bio-fuels send German beer prices rising Video
Ideal stocking stuffer: rhino poop
Freud hanging from building spurs 911 calls Video

And lets not forget "Canoe Man reportedly tried to buy Catamaran". What's next? "Hang glider Man tried to buy 747"?

What the hell is going on over there?

I don't believe in online tests

But I'll make an exception with "the blog readability test". I'm awesome!

1000 points in 2 minutes

Some video game publishers still don't understand the concept of achievements on the 360 as brilliantly demonstrated by THQ with "Avatar The Last Airbender, The Burning Earth". The game might have been panned by most reviewers, it's a hit in rentals and to be totally honest it's in my Gamefly queue.

These are few of my favourite things

The next 48 hours at work are going to suck ass and a bunch of people will think I'm an asshole, a douche bag, the devil's spawn, you name it.

Commuting home, I felt the doom and gloom setting down as I was selecting all the sad songs on my iPod. I decided to turn it off and finished chapter 7 of Alamut. I was briefly transported to 11th century Persia and it helped me forget my impending problems. Which brought the question: what makes me happy?

This definitely help make my day today. I played it 3 times so far and it made me laugh out loud every single time.

I especially felt vindicated on that one because I received my first sells call on my cell yesterday and I naively thought it was one space where I still had some privacy. I guess not.

I've had a few Orange Grand-Marnier now (2/3 orange juice, 1/3 Grand Marnier) and I'm watching The Thing in HD on my XBox 360, blogging on my laptop and checking message boards.

You know what? It's turning into one fine evening.

Curse you 2K!

How many times do I have to finish Bioshock? I already completed the game 4 times to get 49 achievements out of 50. Now 2K released a patch on XBox live fixing the widescreen issues. I didn't think it was much of a problem but looking at the screen grabs i's worth playing a couple of levels.


The patch comes also with a bunch of new features:

● Sonic Boom: Hurls creatures and objects back with a blast of force
● EVE saver: Enables Plasmids to use less
● EVE Vending Expert: Reduces prices in the vending machines
● Machine Buster: Increases the amount of damage players deal to cameras, bots and turrets

They've also added a 51st achievement for beating the game on hard without dying.

*sigh* Thank you 2K

La sequence du spectateur

I've been trying to remember the name of this show since yesterday and now that I finally did over lunch today, I can't get the music out of my head.

Will I have to rollback on every Microsoft product?

I use Excel on a daily basis and have been rather pleased with the release of Office 2007. That was until I discovered thanks to Excel 2007 new math that 850 x 77.1 = 100,000

So first I gave up on Vista now I'm going to have to go back to Office 2003?

It's here! It's here!

Look at what FedEx brought me this morning!

What a Weekend!

I feel like Friday's open rehearsal was 6 months ago and I'm having a tough time focusing at work But if lovely wonderful thoughts lift you up in the air then I can fly!

Why do all good things must come to an end? Thank you John Williams.

John Williams & The New York Philharmonic

Notes on the program can be found HERE.

Last night was the first of a series of three concerts by John Williams with the New York Philharmonic returning to Avery Fisher Hall after last year’s great success.

Fun was the keyword and it was fairly obvious early on that everybody was just having a good time. By everybody I mean John Williams, the musicians of the New York Philharmonic, special guest Stanley Donen but also us the audience and what a great audience it was, a bit on the noisy side but very reactive yet considerate.

The first half of the concert was all Williams and immediately after walking on stage and briefly greeting the crowd the Maestro starts with Sound the Bells!

A classic concert opener and a crowd pleaser it’s a piece well suited for the acoustic of Avery Fisher Hall which, as pointed by pi, tends to favor brass and percussions. It sounded to me very similar to the album version heard on “Call of the Champions”. Williams then briefly turned around to acknowledge the applause and then went right into Flight to Neverland.

It was my first time hearing this piece in concert (well second if I count the rehearsal this morning) and it was absolutely wonderful. I don’t particularly care for the movie but I do love the score (I have the Concorde 2 CDs version… Can I say that?) and it was beautifully executed by the New York Philharmonic. After much applause and cheers from the audience John Williams picked up the microphone and started talking about the Brontë sisters, their influence on literature and how pleased he was to have been involved with the made for TV movie 1970 version of Jane Eyre. He indicated it would be three separate compositions from the score.

This was really a revelation. I admit I’m not excessively familiar with this particular work (I promise to work on that next week) and this was easily the high point of the concert for me. That’s also where the audience showed consideration because you could hear a pin drop during the brief moments of silence between the three pieces. Out of 2,700 people not even one attempted a clap of hand. Magical.

Speaking of Magic, I always get the giggles when John Williams speaks geek and he gladly does for two franchises, Star Wars and Harry Potter. To see him on stage very seriously talk about Moguls, wizards, Hogwarts and the likes, always seem to me odd and funny at the same time. I was really having cold sweats on that one because during the rehearsal this was by far where Williams went back to work the most with the Philharmonic and for good reasons. Besides “Aunt Marge’s Waltz” feeling a little rush towards the end I thought it went a lot better than in the morning.

After waiting for the roar of the audience to calm down he started to talk about his involvement in Fiddler on the Roof and his work with Jerry Bock’s composition, started to reminisce about his life as a piano player in the 1950s and how his best friend at the Los Angeles Philharmonic was Harold Dicterow, Glenn Dicterow’s father.

On a side note: Williams last year never mentioned he knew Glenn Dicterow since the 50s, just that he played violin on the studio recording of Jaws.

I thought it went great but then again I didn’t have any significant problems during the rehearsal in the morning either, so I’ll let others be the judge of that. It’s a rollercoaster of a piece and Avery Fisher Hall might not be the best venue for it, because of its quick switches between full orchestra and quiet strings but it’s quick joyful and entertaining and a great way to conclude the first part.

Intermission

The projection screen rolls down during the intermission and just like for the first part, John Williams walks back on stage, salutes the audience and goes right into Hooray for Hollywood. Again a crowd pleaser, great way to start and put everyone in the mood for a tribute to the Films of Stanley Donen. I could swear it sounded exactly and I mean exactly like the “Salute to Hollywood” version.

After another round of applause the Maestro picks up the mic and introduces special guest, Director of many of the greatest musicals of all times, Stanley Donen who turned out to be an incredibly entertaining guest. I went through the whole thing during the rehearsal but he was even funnier this time around.

Donen: “No, you’re the genius John. I’m just here to try to help you the best I can”.

The first piece is You’re All the World to Me from Royal Wedding, where Fred Astaire dances from the floor to the walls and then to the ceiling. Donen goes on to explain with the help of a crude 3D animation (laughter from the crowd) how they built the room in a cylinder and the camera was rotating at the same time as the room.

The number starts with the audio from the movie then as we get into the dance part the orchestra picks up. The challenge here is to remain in sync with the movie but after E.T. last year, I believe Williams can keep the Philharmonic in sync with just about anything.

Donen introduces next Bless Your Beautiful Hide from “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” known for this concert thanks to the horrible pan and scan version that was shown as “Four Brides for Four Brothers”. He goes into a colorful story of how the producer of the movie didn’t want dancers (+ expletives) to play outdoorsmen and how he (Donen) asked Deutsch who was doing the orchestration to make DePaul’s score sound like Copeland.

Next is I Like Myself from “It’s Always Fair Weather”. Donen starts a fairly long story of how Gene Kelly was such a great roller skater and he always wanted to do a dance number with him on skates. All of a sudden in the middle of the story he says “but I’d better move on because I think we’re running a little long”, Williams reassures him “no it’s quite alright Stanley”.

During the introduction of The Worry Song from Anchors Aweigh at the rehearsal I really thought Donen had lost his marbles, because he goes into that whole story about Singin’ in the Rain (the next number) and how it was all about rehearsing preparing and precision and to go back to his original point this dance number with Gene Kelly and Jerry the mouse (an animated character) was all about preparation. He had also a great story on how his original idea was for Kelly to dance with Mickey Mouse and Disney told him in a meeting that Mickey didn’t work for MGM.

Finally Singin’ in the Rain. More funny stories about his brilliant idea to have Gene Kelly singing… in the rain. Priceless.

All and all this tribute from a musical standpoint might not have been totally satisfying (long introductions and short sets) but the interaction between Williams and Donen made it all worth it and how many more opportunities am I going to have to see Stanley Donen in person? Come on give the man a hug.

Now back to Williams work. Sayuri’s Theme from Memoirs of a Geisha. I think the score for Geisha is just OK. I don’t dislike it but I won’t go out of my way to listen to it. As a concert piece I thought it was great I especially liked the intro by Carter Brey going Cello solo.

Finally: A Tribute to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg: A musical montage that includes Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders and E.T. It’s fun very dynamic and gets the audience excited and a fine way to end the second part of this concert.

After coming back on stage a couple of times due to a bad case of standing ovation we get into the encores

First was Sugarland Express very laid back jazzy piece great for calming things down. This was the only encore that was rehearsed in the morning. No harmonica however substituted by a flute but it works just great.

Olympic Spirit came second. I thought it was a little pretentious to have an encore with a video montage. Considering the logistics it’s like saying “yes we knew there would be a second encore” but what the hell, he’s John Williams!

Finally The Mission Theme. The classic ending to most John Williams concerts with the classic joke “just in case you don’t make it on time for the evening news”

It was yet another great evening with the Maestro. I can’t believe I’m going back tonight… And tomorrow!

Waiting for John Williams

[8:17 am] On the number 7 bus on my way to Avery Fisher Hall.

[8:22 am] Grabbing a cup of coffee.

[8:27 am] Just got there. They added a sticker to the poster reading 'Sold Out'.

[8:50 am] A small line is forming inside.

[9:05 am] Talking Star Wars. They just announced we're getting in, in 5 mn. I'm psyched.

[9:09 am] They checked the bags. My camera's in. :)

[9:15 am] We're talking 6th gen iPods. We're still not in.

[9:25 am] We're in! The lady checking the tickets was saying 'What a crowd, this must be a good program this morning. This must be something special'. You got that right.

[9:40 am] The orchestra is warming up. Some 'Ring the Bells', some 'Hook'.

[9:41 am] We should be about to start. Signing out.

1000

Hitman: Blood Money will forever be the first 360 game on which I got all the achievements. 1000 gamers points. And now on to Lego Star Wars II.

John Williams & the NYPhil promo video

I almost fell off my chair this morning. Am I the only one who didn't notice there was a video at the bottom of the concert page?