Forgot to mention last week my attending the opera to see Madama Butterfly. A terrific performance all around, even if a bit heavy on the kabuki. Tatiana Borodina was a powerful Cio-Cio-San right to the end while Carlo Ventre capably handled the role of Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton. Just a few other observations:

1. The premiere of Madama Butterfly in 1904 was a catastrophe. The audience actually booed, hissed, and laughed. Puccini subsequently reworked it into a smash hit.

2. Madama Butterfly is supposed to have inspired Miss Saigon. If so, where’s the helicopter?

3. The story could not work today as Cio-Cio-San admits to being 15 years old, making her American husband a pedophile. It would have to take place in Bangkok.

The noun, not the verb.

Has anyone else out there caught the new Franck Muller Aeternitas? Here’s a quick look:

If you’re at all into mechanical watches, here’s the rub: This monster has a perpetual calender based on a 1,000 year cycle. And it has, by my count, ten complications. Very nearly worth the [pause, lift pinky to corner of mouth] One meeelllion dollars!

I first came across the Aeternitas in the NYT’s October annual watch supplement to their Sunday magazine, which is so pornographic that it should probably be illegal. It’s one of the few bits of casual reading that can make you look down on a Patek Philippe (Precise!). But my favorite part of this year’s issue is the back page, which cautions people against the evils of counterfeit watches. What makes it interesting, is how they try to reach readers.

The essay opens with a cautionary tale:

The woman was in tears, standing in the Cartier boutique. She had brought her prized Cartier watch in for service only to be told it couldn’t be repaired. No, it wasn’t broken beyond repair. It was counterfeit.

Aha! Imagine the shame of having been exposed–right there in the middle of Cartier–as having bought a fake? Of not having enough money to buy a real Cartier! The embarrassment! The humiliation! How could you ever again show your face in Nieman’s?

A few paragraphs later, the author cautions:

Bottom line, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Walk away. We buy watches for a number of reasons–for how they feel on our wrists, how they make us feel and for the statement they make to other people. If you buy a counterfeit watch, what does that say about you?

It’s like a Bobo version of the ’50s film reels on social diseases. Only grosser.

Makes me wish I could buy a fake Aeternitas.

No, not that George Michael. Not the Bluth, either. But rather, the George Michael of Sports Machine fame. The Post‘s very excellent John Maynard reports that Michael, who’s been a sports anchor in DC since 1980, is leaving his job at the local NBC affiliate. Why?

Michael said he rejected a new contract after he learned that some of his staff members would be laid off as part of larger moves by parent company NBC Universal.

George Michael has been with Channel 4 since 1980. He cited layoffs of some of his staff members as his reason for leaving the anchor desk.
George Michael has been with Channel 4 since 1980. He cited layoffs of some of his staff members as his reason for leaving the anchor desk.

“NBC made me an extremely, extremely beyond-my-wildest-dreams offer to stay and sign a new deal,” Michael, 67, said by phone yesterday. But he added: “If I have to lay somebody off . . . I have to take the first bullet. It’s that simple.”

Someone should give him a medal.

Galley Reader J.H. sends along this link to video that claims to be police tasering a student at the UCLA library. The video isn’t as hot as you might think, but the comments from the students in the peanut gallery–“I want your badge numbers”; “Here’s your Patriot Act”–are pretty awesome. There’s an LA Times story on it, too.

I’ll be honest, I’ve got very little sympathy, because that’s how we rolled at the Hop. Only it was students tasering each other, there was no political aspect to the violence, and the library was built six levels underground. No sunlight. No escape.

True story.

1 Shot in Conn. Playstation Waiting Line.

Expect to see more stories like this today, particularly since many stores aren’t even able to fill the pre-orders they took months ago.

The geniuses at Pajiba send us to this video of a guy named Aries Spears. He does rap impersonations which are, as my homegirl T-Dub would say, redonkulous. He goes from LL Cool J to Snoop to DMX to Jay-Z–really, you’ve got to watch it to believe it.

Totally safe for work.

Greatest News Ever:

Last night CNN’s Larry King confessed to Roseanne Barr that he’s never used the Internet. King expressed doubt that the Internet was a viable political medium because “there’s 80 billion things on it.” When Barr said she liked the Internet, King acknowledged that “I’ve never done it, never gone searching.”

Barr said King would love the internet if he tried it. King replied, “I wouldn’t love it. What do you punch little buttons and things?”

Last Boss looks at the PS3 flagship launch title, Ridge Racer 7. Turns out that the game was released last year for the Xbox 360 as Ridge Racer 6. Last Boss puts frames from the two games side by side:

Ridge Racer 6 was released about a year ago for the Xbox 360, and Ridge Racer 7 was released just days ago for the PlayStation 3, but guesssss what game looks better? 360 FTW! Both games maintain a framerate of 60 frames per second, and yes, Ridge Racer 6 only runs at a resolution of 720p, while Ridge Racer 7 runs at 1080p, but check out the picture above. Notice how the 360’s graphics are not only better, but entire pieces of the game have been left out of the PS3 version. It’s not just one place in the game either, there’s plenty more pictures to prove it.

Yikes.