Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Screen capture from Apple.com today.

I actually wept a tear at the passing today of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and - not to be forgotten - the equally magical Pixar Studios.

It was partly a Gaelic good wish for his passing from a friend on Twitter that brought tears to my eyes, but also the fact that Apple - and in particular Jonathan "Jony" Ive, designer of the iPhone, iPad, iMac and iPod - were inordinately kind to Hudson on his seventh birthday this year, thanks also to the kindness of our wonderful friend, Stephen Fry, who arranged the introduction.

Only yesterday, Hudson, Paradise and I were watching the opening of the original Toy Story (the first computer-animated feature, which revolutionized animation as much as anything Walt Disney ever did) and were reminded of Steve Jobs' credit as executive producer. His faith in Pixar and in the potential of computer animation - which has reached astonishing heights with works of beauty and wonder such as WALL-E - was as radical and farsighted as his original creation of Apple, and perhaps just as remarkably, the rebirth of the company when he returned in 1997, essentially to save his creation from bankruptcy.

Perhaps there is also an element of identification, in that Steve Jobs was born a month after I was in 1955. But whatever the case, his passing feels extraordinarily personal for a man I never met, and I wish all those who knew and worked with him, not least Jony Ive, a sense of peace at his loss.

If you are interested in my account of Hudson's - and our - hugely enjoyable trip to Apple in Cupertino (a trip we repeated a month or so later with our friend, Andrew Hale), please read my earlier post: Hudson, Apple and Jonathan Ive.

And may Steve Jobs pass into the extraordinary white noise - the perfection and silence - that is the cosmos.

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The High Tower Apartments and The Long Goodbye

Photograph by Dwayne Moser. This beautiful apartment complex in Los Angeles is called the Hightower or High Tower Complex (the High Tower name refers to the central elevator, I believe), and was designed in 1935-1936 by architect Carl Kay - and made famous in 1973 by my favorite film, Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (see Why I Love Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye ). Although Altman used the building as Philip Marlowe's apartment in his somewhat post-modern Long Goodbye (the film plays with references to Old Hollywood and opens and closes with the song, Hooray For Hollywood ), the building has another direct connection to Raymond Chandler. It was apparently the inspiration for Chandler in his book, The High Window (the first Chandler novel I ever read), in which Chandler describes the residence of Philip Marlowe as being on the cliffs above High Tower Drive in a building with a fancy elevator tower. (Thanks to the Society of Architectural Historians Southern

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Microphone stand designed by Hudson. Our eight year old son, Hudson, has been having severe abdominal pain over the past week to ten days, and this week we took him to see Dr Jennifer Neufeld-Trujillo , one of our regular pediatricians at the Forest Road Pediatric Clinic in Sonora, and also to ER at Sonora Regional Medical Center. We just want to say a big thank you to everyone - including all the very friendly and helpful staff at ER - for their care of and concern for Hudson, who is gradually starting to feel better. We would also like to make a special mention of Dr Lisa Johnson , who was on call tonight for Forest Road Pediatrics, and who had a long telephone conversation with me, in which she answered many questions with a depth of knowledge and experience that was both highly reassuring and informative, and who left us feeling confident that we are on the right path for the weekend - always a difficult time when your child is not feeling well. Hopefully, Hudson will cont

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The Malteste Falcon, 1941. For those of you wishing to keep up to date on my writing workshops at the Central Sierra Arts Council , the most efficient way is to sign up in the "Follow This Blog By Email" box in the right sidebar beneath the Buddha. You will then receive an email update every time I post to the blog, including any changes in times or dates or other details of the workshops (although I shall try not to mix things around). I would also greatly appreciate it if you would "Like" this blog on Facebook , by clicking on the "Like" button also beneath the Buddha. This lets you follow the Facebook page associated with this wesbite, AlexanderStuart.com , which frequently has additional content not included in the blog. Blade Runner, 1982, courtesy of artist Gavin J Rothery. In the meantime, the first Writing Workshop of the New Year will be on Saturday January 21st 2012 , at the Central Sierra Arts Council, 193 S. Washington Str

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