Thursday, August 25, 2011

Angry Since 1967 faces "legal challenge"

The long running legal battles between hi-tech companies took another turn this morning when Angry SInce 1967 became the latest to become embroiled. Citing "misappropriation of the capital "A", one particularly litigious company claimed that such a prominent site using a name starting with the letter "A" was likely to "cause confusion in the mind of the consumer". They further accused Angry Since 1967 of "deliberately following the first letter with three consonants, all of which which appear in the same alphabet our as our brand name. We find this particularly questionable as the word in question is also 5 letters long. There seems doubt that this is an attempt to cash in on the reputation of our brand. We will not allow any one to piggy back their brand id onto our carefully constructed image of free spirited, dope smoking, "Grateful Dead" loving, commune dwelling hippies, content to travel Southern California in a battered VW Camper, looking for somewhere to surf". In papers seen by sources they also allege "1967" used numbers which "may, or may not, at some point previously, or at some point in the future, be exploited as branding, or potential branding, for products we may or may not produce". They also point to concerns about using a word containing an "I", on the basis that some of their next generation product names may also feature a similar vowel. Commenting on this one analyst claimed that a judge would likely find in someone's favour. Or it would be thrown out. "It's an easy way of getting publicity. And it's cheaper than advertising because it generates its own copy, as page after dreary page of this nonsense gets debated and then re-debated on sites like the BBC." 

On the news, shares in both companies enjoyed a caravanning holiday in Groomsport.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Angry Since 1967 Since August 2006

I've been having some problems trying to figure out an appropriate way to look back over the first 5 years of "Angry Since 1967". A light hearted procession of anecdotes? An "Angry Since 1967 Top 50 Greatest Moments" show on Channel 4, featuring people who've become celebs since this post? A range of commemorative crockery? A book of my greatest posts, now in annotated form? A Directors cut, re-mastered, re-released, complete with "never before seen" storyboards, a commentary track and an alternative ending? Articles about how "Angry Since 1967" changed everything? A newspaper column by someone claiming they saw it first? Another claiming it isn't any good now and how they hanker for the old days? A street party? Fireworks? A big mural? An honorary degree? A week of concerts? A grandiose statue? A triumph through the streets of Belfast? Or just another pithy post, short on coherence, which makes even less sense than usual? 

Can you guess which one I finally picked?   

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Now That's What I Call "Odds and Sods" Vol 20

Any who.

I look forward to the headline "Increasing Decline Steadies" as it would neatly encapsulate the nonsense of the stock market. The predictions of boom, then bust, then boom, have taken on the air of an Breakfast TV astrologer in a bad knitted jumper. With one key distinction - at least astrology has a firm basis in fact*.

I did howl at the BBC's (and others) publication of a survey which proved Internet Explorer users were thick. Not because they swallowed this nonsense hook, line and sinker, rather that it took so long for them to be finally caught out.

I was dandering around Belfast's Saturday Food Market. Among the stuff for sale was a jar of Organic Salt. Harvested, no doubt, from a free range quarry. 

*when I say "fact", I mean that in the "it's utter bollox" sense.