Relocution

I suppose I shouldn’t let today go by without noting the Guardian’s article about the latest trademark battle between Apple Corps and Apple Computer. At the nub of the dispute is whether Apple Computer is violating its agreement not to use the Apple trademark in the field of recorded music. Apple Corps’ barrister, Geoffrey Vos QC, made the following compelling point:

Permanent downloads are the new CDs. It cannot be credibly suggested that they are materially different to other forms of recorded music delivered to the public in permanent form.

If the final decision rests on this issue, then the outcome of this case could prove to be a defining moment, not just for Apple and Apple, but for the whole online, digital era and the future of cyberculture.

There are plenty of other accounts of the case online, and also a copy of the judgement on jurisdiction (i.e. where the case should be heard), courtesy of the Courts Service. It’s interesting to note that Apple Corps’ barrister wins almost every point.

Enjoyed today Andrew Hurley’s online story, The Zahir and I, a parody of the labyrinthine erudition of Borges’ ficciones. Reality and fantasy mingle seamlessly, confusingly, in this tale of a translator driven mad by such problems as finding “a suitable English word for the Spanish adjective atroz” and “languages that consist of nothing but verbs or nothing but adjectives or nothing but nouns with the vowels removed, like Arabic”. Of course these are but “meta-quests” and “metaphors” for the translator’s own condition. Such is the paradox of intertextuality, and vice versa.

“There is something monstrous about translations,” writes Hurley, “for they multiply the number of books.”

Borges is naturally one of cyberculture’s favourite authors: the inevitable meandering and googling that followed led me to more than a few interesting sites, among them The Second Encyclopedia of Tlon. A good set of Borges links is at Libyrinth.Com.

I was entertained by the first instalment of Lost Cosmonaut, which is being serialised on Radio 4. I sympathise with his description of buying a railway ticket at a Russian railway station. I’ve probably only done it once, when we went from Petersburg to Novgorod - or at least I watched Olya doing it - with aplomb, naturally! But once is enough.

‘What do you want?’ she demanded.
I stammered out a request for two tickets to Kazan.
‘When?’
‘Tomorrow?’
‘Not possible,’ she said.
‘Why?’
‘I don’t have information about those trains.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t have any information about trains to Kazan leaving
tomorrow.’
‘But this is where you buy tickets for Kazan.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, when will you have the information?’
‘Tomorrow. Come back tomorrow.’
‘But I want to go tomorrow.’
‘I know. So come back tomorrow. NEXT!’

From Lost Cosmonaut by Dan Kalder. An extract from the book is available online at the Faber website in PDF format.

I don’t think I liked the rest of the book, as read, as much, but I did like the theme tune. It didn’t take long to track it down, it is Я космонавт Петров by the Red Elvises - from their 1999 album “Russian Bellydance”! You can listen to it here, look for “Cosmonaut Petrov”! (There is a version in English too, called Roketman, but it loses something, по моему мнению…)

They’re playing in Brighton in April!