Chico Marx played 88 keys like no other. His showy technique was visual enough to play to the back of a packed broadway theater, and was as much of a joy to watch as to hear. In the video above actor/comedian/corrector of common mispronunciations Wayne Federman deconstructs Mr. Marx’s phalangeal choreography.
To complete the lesson, be sure to check out Chico’s masterful 1935 performance of All I Do is Dream of You from A Night at the Opera 
This conspicouisly cloaked construction site in Houston conceals Apple’s next big things. Big in this case refers to about 3,100 square feet of retail space scheduled to open in January 2012. The Highland Village Apple store is unique in that it will be the second to feature their unique glass ceiling design, and the first of an upcoming reimagining of Apple architecture.
During the day, it is difficult to tell what secrets are behind the curtain. At night however, interior work lights transform the glass walls and ceiling into a glowing shape two stories tall, revealing the unmistakable curve of Apple’s patented store design.
Two other stores (that we know of) have been proposed based on this scaled down version of the revered Upper West Side NYC design. One in Santa Monica, and one in Palo Alto, CA, though neither have begun construction to date.
The photo gallery below shows a detail of the glass roof as glimpsed through a wind-blown separation in the the black cloak that covers the worksite, the NY store and renderings of the proposed California stores. And be sure to check out Gary Allen’s photo comparison of the UWS store ceiling with one of my pics at ifoAppleStore.com.
The contest at Theatrics is really starting to heat up. We are nearing the end of round one, so there are just a few more days to enter that round.
Six winners from round one will receive $200 and enter into the finals for the grand prize – $10,000 and a trip to Hollywood! Don’t worry if you miss this round. There are two more to come. But be sure to sign up and enter before January 21st.
As the glowing yellow sign recedes in my rearview mirror, I hurry through other yellow lights traveling from the world of best buys to the world of the Elder Scrolls – Skyrim.
I only have an hour or so tonight to explore this realms, so as I remove the plastic wrapper I say a silent thank you to Sony for not covering three sides of the box with crumbly “security” celluloid. Of course if I were really in a hurry, would have purchased at GameStop since their games are seldom sold sealed.
Popping this prized possession into my PS3, I’m greeted by the the all too typical PlayStation experience; a buzz-killing need for a software update. Downloading System 4.0. Point Oh! Uh oh.
The update chugs along and completes without a hitch. Next comes a 95-MEG game update, followed by a final delay for installation. So far, half of my budgeted hour of gameplay has consistent of crawling progress bars.
As I resist the urge to warble in a grandpa voice about how “in my day” software had to ship finished, As I ponder the reasons (sloppy coding, tighter deadlines, vaster complexity) I decide to be thankful rather than complain, that authors and artists have the opportunity to fix problems as they are discovered. And I thank all the players before me who found issues that now I don’t have to deal with.
It has been said many times that no work of art is ever complete, merely abandoned. Software in the internet age is similar – never finished, merely end-of-lifed.
I hope hour 2 involves some actual game play.
A new Apple Store opening in Houston next year appears to be inspired by the patented design of the Upper West Side store in New York. Two giant stone slabs bookend a open glass-enclosed space. The sketch above shows my best guess at what the corner location will look like when it opens in January 2012
Unlike the NYC store, this one has glass on both the front and back walls, with entrances at both ends. A curving glass ceiling caps the structure. The building also has a second floor of retail, reached via a glass staircase.
I shot the photo from the street, through an open gate right before workers closed it. It shows a small glass canopy over the back door entrance, similar to the front door of the New York store. The top of the canopy is covered in white paper. Close inspection of the full resolution image (click to enlarge) shows single glass panels from ground to roofline. They appear to be narrower that the panels recently used to rebuild the Fifth Avenue glass cube. Paper covering the corner of the structure suggests that glass on this back side of the store will extend out from the side slabs, like the front of the Upper West Side store. This does not seem to be the case with the front of the store, as shown in the drawing above.
Many thanks to my friend Jeffrey for sketching the store from my description.
CORRECTION – 8:22 PM
After a followup visit to the site tonight, I see that there is no second floor. I was confused by some scaffolding that has since been removed. I was also incorrect about the glass inset at the front of the store. It does protrude from the front surface of the slabs by about 4 feet. Look for a revised sketch to come soon.
MORE PHOTOS HERE – Highland Village Apple Store Glass Ceiling Spy Shot – DEC 6, 2012
Last night I had dinner with Eddie, my friend of many years. If our dinner conversation had been a podcast, these would be the show notes:
Jonathan Frakes joins the cast of Beckinfield and the $10,000 contest at Theatrics (see the video above)
Learning jazz guitar on iPad
A recent study on how doorways effect short term memory
Faster than light particles and dorky jokes about them.
The South Park episode
about George Lucas titled Free Hat
I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see.
– Jimi Hendrix
This Special Edition now has an exciting new ending. I couldn’t help going back and Lucasing the original version a bit.
The cool part about this silly little short is that I shot it (the original version), edited it and uploaded it to YouTube all on an iPhone 4s in about 15 minutes. While iMovie on iPhone may frustrate the editor and animator within me, the story teller inside me has never had so much freedom and power available, and with me at all times inside my phone.
Notes on the special edition: This movie depects scenes of poultry thanatology that young viewers and culinary experts may find disturbing. One turkey was harmed during the filming of this production. (Smoked turkeys may look horrendous on the outside, but they taste great on the inside.)
This is a 45-second documentary on smoking the Thanksgiving turkey. This film purposely has no ending to symbolize the seemingly never ending 8 1/2 hour process of smoking a turkey.
My daughter has talked for years about wanting her first car to be painted in a zebra pattern. Today she saw her dream car.
The return addressed box arrived today. Nice job on the return instructions, and the custom fitted foam.
