Was chatting this morning with my favourite non-friend Steppi, who was a little down for the usual unfathomable but very chic reasons when the conversation turned to stats, as it often does between us.

Because we’re not competitive, you see.

I’ve never made a secret of how much I love comments, and I’m rather proud of the fact that I do my best to answer each and every one, including by email most of the time, but Steppi had an interesting insight to offer: I may be stiffling my comments by being so attentive, or aggressive, in my response.

In particular, by always being the first to react to any comment, I may be preventing cross-talk between you. That was a sad thought.

So here’s the assignment, class :

Discuss the relative merits of dense or sparse author-commenting, with particular reference to your personal preference or experience. There will be extra points for reacting to each other’s comments.

The author will only comment every five reader comments or so… if we get that many .

Yesterday the Princess had a stroke of genius, rather than her run-of-the-mill brilliance, and with her usual efficiency she secured a ring-side table at Shanghai Jazz faster than I could have decided whether to rent or channel surf.

There is no cover charge, but you’re expected to chow down some of their great Dim Sum or knock back a few cocktails while the band plays. The pig-tailed bartender is a mind-reader, at your elbow as soon as you’re ready for the next one, and able to sell you on one of her confections in five words or less. In my case it was the Hemingway Martini, ‘a bite of Key Lime Pie’, altho I would ask her to cut the Stoli Vanil with some of the straight stuff next time. But that’s just me.

Hadn’t been in a Jazz Club in a while, and I suddenly remembered why I love them so much.

Listening to Jazz is like sitting by the fire listening to Grandad or uncle Jack tell his stories. You’ve heard them a hundred times before, but the familiarity resonates with the new twists, the allusions, and the in-jokes. I imagine the Greeks gathering around a bard to hear the tales of crafty Odysseus, proud Achilles and doomed Hector one more time felt the same pleasure, and the same appreciation when the right balance was struck between the comfort of well-known classics and the spontaneity of the moment.

Alison Kalaher and her boys took us from Summertime to Autumn Leaves, warned us someday her boots were gonna walk all over us, and crooned about the Girl from Ipanema, in English, French and Portuguese. It was sweet, delicate but strangely satisfying like a dessert you think is going to be overdone but has enough bitterness to offset the honey.

Walking back to our car, on the deserted sidewalks of Madison, New Jersey, we were humming Sinatra’s The Way You Look Tonite and walking on air.

I snapped a shot of a couple on a bench, en passant, and it was the best picture of the evening.

A state of grace.

Mathieu : there is a Calvin Klein sale at Bloomingdale’s, Princess wants to know what cut to buy for Fiat for xmas?
Mathieu : oh, and the size of course … 8 ans?
Greg : actually you know what this is a very big issue in our relationship
Greg : Fiat has 10 baht undies you buy on the market, it’s a fucking disgrace, I kick him when I see him wear them.
Mathieu : BTW, she wants to know if you have a hard-on now
Greg : no, because lingerie is much too serious
Mathieu : tightie-whities?
Greg : NO! we’re so over that
Greg : white button fly boxers (not boxer briefs – not the tight ones, fiat is too skinny for that, and I like to be able to slide my hand up…
Greg : WAIT this is sick, I shouldn’t be saying this to my brother’s gf!!!!
Mathieu : you just made her day
Mathieu: http://www.cku.com/index.cfm
Mathieu: this one?
Greg : am trying to load undies
Greg : difficult with 28k
Greg : that’s it! look no further
Mathieu : would the knit boxers be acceptable?
Greg : I WANT THE ONE ON THE PICTURE OF WWW.CKU.COM AAARGH FROTH SPUTTER
Greg : oh wait, oh ok
Greg : those are nice too
Mathieu : lol
Greg : well I could watch buff dudes in undies all night if they loaded a little fast
Mathieu : or unloaded, as the case might be
Greg : ahahahaha but not TOO fast
Mathieu : what do you want for yourself?
Greg : I think I’m going to surf the website a little big longer if you don’t mind
Greg : but you two can run off
Greg : and you should get some too!
Mathieu : oh, I will
Mathieu : but I like the boxer briefs
Mathieu : I like to be held
Mathieu : errr…
Mathieu : so to speak
Greg : comfort? what’s that go to do with it?
Greg : we’re talking LINGERIE!!!!
Mathieu : LOL
Mathieu : sorry, my bad

I’m sorry, I have some technology to work out of my system. Please excuse me while I discover the joys of shooting pictures in RAW format.

This is the exact same picture, below in jpeg as converted by the camera, and above what you can do with the RAW file. Note the much greater dynamic range and lower noise.

As explained here, however, it’s best to shoot JPEG most of the time, but RAW is going to be very handy for those infrared shots where the exposure is such a pain in the rear!

I realize I still have readers who support Bush, (at least one), and I apologize for the constant beating, but I just can’t help myself.

It’s too much fun.

I just love to hate him.

Plus he makes it so easy. Look here .

Stole the poster from tony p.