Reassuringly Expensive
I had my iPod on shuffle the other day and Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles came on.
Following my post about “She’s Leaving Home” earlier, I was struck by the thought that maybe it was Eleanor Rigby that left home.
Leaving home to what she thought was a better life, with a man from the motor trade, but she maybe she ended up alone.
You gotta love John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame… In a great post about the iPhone, it’s launch week remember, John pokes fun at some of the iPhone doom mongers in the way only John can.
This piece made me laugh out loud; in which Mr Gruber responds to a quote from an Verizon executive:
Mr. Lanman said he was not worried that AT&T would steal customers because Verizon’s network infrastructure is superior and offers better connection coverage and stability. “For Apple, I think the big risk is the AT&T network.”
Translation: “We’re seriously regretting that we told Apple to go fuck themselves last year, and if you see Steve Jobs, can you tell him that we’re really very sorry and that he should call me?”
The network? Ha ha ha…
That sounds like a typical, technology focussed, out of touch, IT/Telco Exec… Yeah that’s right Mr Verizon it’s the network that has people queuing up already for an iPhone.
You’d think that the wider consumer electronics/computer/music/mobile/everything industry would have learnt from Apple by now wouldn’t you?
I was very spoilt this Fathers Day and one of my many lovely presents was a copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band an album I’ve always loved but for some reason never bought.
I grew up with Sgt Pepper’s, my Dad had an amazing French import copy on fluorescent orange vinyl – appropriately psychedelic I think. I’ll always remember my Nana Hughes dancing to ‘When I’m 64″ when she was probably already at least 80.
It’s nice to be able to share this fantastic album with my children now and also to revisit with a different appreciation. One thing that has struck me is the technical genius of Sgt. Pepper’s; remember The Beatles made this incredible multi layered sound on a four track tape recorder; amazing.
Another thing that has struck me is just how clever the lyrics to “She’s Leaving Home” are; truly brilliant. I present the lyrics below, but urge you to rush out and buy a copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band if you don’t have one… if you do play it now.
She’s Leaving Home
Lennon and McCartneyWednesday morning at five o’clock as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her hankerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside she is freeShe (We gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (Sacraficed most of our lives)
Home (We gave her everything money could buy)
She’s leaving home after living alone
For so many years (Bye bye)Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that’s lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband “Daddy our baby’s gone
Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly?
How could she do this to me?”She (We never thought of ourselves)
Is leaving (Never a thought for ourselves)
Home (We struggled hard all our lives to get by)
She’s leaving home after living alone
For so many years (Bye bye)Friday morning at nine o’clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the motor tradeShe (What did we do that was wrong)
Is having (We didn’t know it was wrong)
Fun (Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy)
Something inside that was always denied
For so many years (Bye bye)She’s leaving home
Bye bye
It’s time for my now annual trip to @Media which I’ve been attending since it’s very first year. OK, OK so that was only two years ago but hey.
It’s a great conference that combines the state of the art with the art of the possible all presented by the very people whose blogs I read on a daily basis.
This year looks to be a great show being opened by Jesse James Garrett and closed by Andy Clarke with a plethora of other geeklebrities in between.
This year I’m staying down in London for the night in between so will both be able to attend the @Media party and not have to get up horribly early afterwards. Hurrah.
In case you hadn’t realised my previous post Just when I thought I was over you was an ode to the iPhone.
Signals vs. Noise has a very interesting post in which they say that one of the iPhone adverts is “perfect advertising”.
You know what they could be right.
I was very definitely over the iPhone until I saw those adverts but even more interesting and significant was the reaction of my 5 year old daughter who happened to be in the study when I watched them earlier today.
Her reaction?
“wow that’s cool”
“it’s got no buttons”
“you’re computer does that” (referring to Coverflow)
I found it interesting because she is going to be the target audience for future iPhones and those the seek to copy it. She accepted the the idea of a “buttonless” phone instantly and without question. She seemed to grasp how you could interact with the phone as quickly.
In the very near future we could have a generation that has never used a phone with buttons… cool.
The moment I saw you it was love at first sight. You were so smart, so sexy, so different to everything I had seen before.
But like a bright flame burning itself out I grew tired of you. Tired of seeing you and hearing about you everywhere I went. I came to realise that whilst you were indeed wonderful and new perhaps you weren’t the one for me.
Then this morning you come rushing back into my life; re-igniting all of my original thoughts and feelings and filling my head with doubt.
Are you in fact the one for me?