Friday, May 29, 2009

I remember the other day the Mail - and probably all the other papers around the world - ran a story about an Audrey Hepburn stamp being sold at auction. It was produced in 2001 in Germany as part of a series of movie icons, and showed Miss Hepburn ostensibly smoking, a cigarette holder sticking out of her mouth. While - or because - that image of her from Breakfast At Tiffany’s is indeed iconic, her son, an anti-smoking campaigner, wouldn’t allow the image to be used and the stamps were destroyed. Except 30 or so were saved from the incinerator and some have emerged on the market since. What nobody seems to have noticed is that the cigarette holder on the stamp has clearly been Photoshopped into the picture. In the original, she has a pair of sunglasses dangling from her mouth. I wasn’t too happy about the holder, which looks too thick and not detailed enough. The shadow has clearly been faded out and the picture has been flipped but look at the earring, the smile, her eyes. It’s the same photo. Yet not the same.

I remember having heated discussions with fellow governors over whether children should be allowed to use calculators in the classroom. Or perhaps just discussions. I think the heated ones were with parents.

I remember when software launches involved receiving T-shirts, toys or invitations to parties. The most recent software I received for review came in the form of a 30-day trial.

I remember having the idea for an IMDb for records. You know, which members of a group or which session musicians played on a particular track. But I haven’t got round to beginning it. I wonder how they started IMDb. They didn’t even have a precedent.