Where the Shoe Pinches

Just a quick heads-up that I’m taking part in a rehearsed reading for Tinderbox in the Pick & Mix Festival at the OMAC. Where the Shoe Pinches is by John McClelland. It’s a really good piece, based on the life and work of  the Czech poet Miroslav Holub. Saturday at 7pm, and again on Sunday at 2pm.

Humphrey Lyttelton

I subscribe to the ISIHAC mailing list, and on 18th April got the news that Humphrey Lyttelton was “detained in hospital for an operation to repair an aortic aneurysm.” Jon Naismith added:

Humph is otherwise fine and in very good spirits.  However, if you
wish to write him a get well message, send him an email to this
address with the subject ‘Get Well Humph’ and I’ll print it off for
him.  I imagine it’ll be nice for him to have something to read in his
hospital bed.

So, though I’m not given to fan letters, I sent one.

Greetings from Ireland. I have been listening to ISIHAC for over thirty years, and have never grown tired of it. I hope you return soon to give us more witterings from Mrs Trellis, illuminations of the complex concept that is “One song to the tune of another” and delightful slanders against Lionel Blair.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I don’t suppose he ever read it, and I don’t suppose it’s different from the thousands of other messages that people sent. I’ll miss that dry wit. And where the hell am I supposed to get my fix of fellatio jokes at Sunday lunchtimes?

RIP.

Far away from Apple lawyers

Apple Inc isn’t best pleased that GreeNYC wants to trademark a stylised apple logo which, the corporation says, closely resembles its own and is likely to cause confusion and dilute Apple’s famous brand.

I don’t think they’re so very similar. Maybe Apple would have better luck sicking its lawyers on this coffee shop in Glengormley, Northern Ireland.

Damn you, currency fluctuations! Damn you to hell!

Back in January, after the European Commission had investigated Apple’s (and the record labels’) higher iTunes music prices in the UK, compared with the iTunes stores in Eurozone countries, Apple said they would reduce prices “within six months” to bring the UK in line with other European iTunes stores.

UK tracks cost 79p, albums £7.99; Euro prices are 99c and €9.99 respectively.

Today, the Euro is worth 80p (compared with about 74p in January and 68p a year ago). Without any reduction, the prices now pretty much match. If this trend continues, it might be the other European countries who start complaining to the EC.

Tags: Apple, iTunes, Europe

And you thought your bank was unhelpful…

Killer quote from this BBC story about a trader who found the contents of his safe-deposit had been eaten:

The bank says it put up a notice warning customers of the termites.

Procrastinator’s Toolbox: Image Tricks

   I’ve been playing around with Image Tricks, a nice free app that’s been about for a while without my noticing. It lets you apply filters and transformations (using the Core Image technology built in to Mac OS X Tiger or Leopard) to pictures. In the hands of someone with talent it could be quite useful, but for the likes of me it’s a great time-waster.

Literally mind-numbing

I’m not sure why Amazon UK thought I’d be interested in a Powerball, but I clicked on the link to see what exactly it was. I wasn’t reassured:

Powerball is a dynamic and completely revolutionary new gyroscope that literally explodes with mind-numbing torque and inertia once you activate its internal rotor.

(Emphasis added.)

Nothing new, of course, about “literally” being misused. One of my all-time favourite Colemanballs was the snooker commentator who said:

And the audience, here at the Crucible Theatre, are literally electrified and glued to their seats.

And I remember reading that Edward Windsor, as he then styled himself, said in a documentary on the abdication crisis that George VI was “literally catapulted onto the throne.” What a pity that coronation wasn’t televised.