Voco clock
I’m rather tempted by this alarm clock which wakes you with the honeyed tones of Stephen Fry (as Jeeves). Who wouldn’t enjoy the illusion of their own personal Gentleman’s Gentleman rousing them gently and politely from sleep, bearing a tray of freshly brewed coffee in a silver pot, precision-cut toast, and — if necessary — an astonishingly effective hangover cure? Sadly, only the audio part of that illusion is included with the clock.
I did, however, notice a rather disturbing thing (disturbing to me, at least). If you go to the downloads page, you’ll see some samples of both the ‘Good morning, sir’ and ‘Good morning, madam’ greetings. The first thing you notice is that the ‘Good morning, madam’ samples are conspicuously more verbose than sir’s. Second, a good number of them deal in some way with issues of dieting, clothes, beauty or — gah! — horoscopes.
I feel that a female Bertie Wooster would give this kind of morning routine the short shrift it deserves1: “Dash it all, Jeeves, if you’re going to trouble me early in the a.m. by blithering on about shoes and suchlike, you can jolly well biff off instanter and start perusing the Sits. Vac. for a new position!”
1 With humble apologies to P.G. Wodehouse, who would have put it a lot better. ↑
1
A noble attempt bsag, but trying to imitate PGW is, as you admit, doomed to failure. Douglas Adams is often compared to him, and is likewise impervious to imitations by us lesser mortals. But thank you for reminding me of their matchless wit, and precision cut beautiful prose. God bless them both.
by ThoughtBadger @ 14/05/2007 9:56 pm • Permalink •
2
....that's started me thinking of all of my favourite Wodehouse lines - "ice formed on the Butler's upper slopes" (I think) - and have looked out his letters. Now I'm not getting on with the conference paper I am supposed to be writing. On the positive side, I've someone to blame now and feel better about it.
by Julian @ 15/05/2007 2:19 pm • Permalink •
3
funny you should mention this one, as i ordered one yesterday after haering about on on leo laporte's podcast. i have been a fan of stephen fry for years, and it is hard to think of a gentler way to wake up in the morning than with a polite nudge from jeeves. i do agree on the contents of the "madam" version however, and i am happy that the "sir" is appropriate for my gender.
by Helge A. Gudmundsen @ 15/05/2007 3:48 pm • Permalink •
4
ThoughtBadger: I know -- it was a bit of a pale imitation, but I felt the urge to try.
Julian: Hehe, I love that quote. Also, when Bertie was smarting about some injustice, Bertie: "I say, Jeeves, this is a bit steep!". Jeeves: "Approaching the perpendicular, sir." Glad to be of service as a procrastination scapegoat
I'd get the 'sir' one too, regardless of my gender.
by bsag @ 15/05/2007 5:37 pm • Permalink •
5
Please Ms., do they do one, for we not so gentlemanly men, with the dulcet tones of Joanna Lumley?
by Jonathan Briggs @ 15/05/2007 6:20 pm • Permalink •
6
I do like the gondoliers-themed message for women, but would only find it funny once. Most of the others would drive me batty with the assumption that women are all about clothing and dieting, etc.
I am ashamed to admit, however, that the thought of being awakened by that fellow's gentle voice every morning is strangely appealing. It would be a nice change from the sporadic frantic beeping of my husband's alarm clock as he hits the Snooze button over and over and over and over again...
by Inkygirl @ 15/05/2007 8:19 pm • Permalink •
7
AAAAAAAAAA, I hate my alarm! It's radio clock, but it doesn't metter, when it starts scream (sing songs) I want to crush it!
by Andy @ 23/05/2007 5:56 pm • Permalink •
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