Themes for Bowtie: The Winners

Matt Patenaude

Moments ago, Bowtie 1.0 went live on {13bold}'s servers — head over to Bowtie's website to download it — and as promised, it's time to announce the winners of our poetry and theme contest, which I've cleverly decided to call "Themes for Bowtie." Everyone get the double meaning? Good.

Winners will be receiving their promo codes for Bowtie for iPhone (already available on the App Store in many parts of the world, depending on timezone) by email shortly. Thanks to all who participated, and if you didn't win, know at the very least that you're helping to contribute to the vibrant and passionate Bowtie theming community.

Note: the entries are in no particular order (more or less the order in which they were received).

The Poetry

The poetry response to this contest was surprisingly entertaining. Below we've selected what we feel are the five best.

Untitled Haiku, by Zackary Corbett

With a single click
Musical Enigmas solved
Rescued by Bowtie

Bowtie: a Lament, by Regis Frey

Editor's note: technically, Bowtie for iPhone doesn't control music, but I thoroughly enjoyed the line about rocking out on the loo, so I decided to accept the poem anyway.

I Command-Space into Spotlight and search for Mr. Jones
Which drops me into iTunes where I feel quite at home.
I minimize the window, it shrinks until it's gone.
The hard drive slows it's spinning and my requested track comes on.
It plays for 4 : 3 3 and not a second more
I gently tap my foot, in rhythm on the floor.
Then lo my song is over and much to my surprise
A harpsichord is playing in calming 4/4 time.
I'm puzzled as a jigsaw and I Expose from the dock
I click on my friend iTunes and I drop a bin of socks.
I scrutinize the window, identify the band
Low and behold it's just the Kinks playing their Apeman.
If only I'd had Bowtie, running in the wings
Then Growl would have alerted me before I dropped my things
And rushed to my computer and fiddled with the mouse
And if I had the iPhone app I could walk about the house
Commanding all my speakers and all my iMacs too
To play the music that I want and rock out on the loo.

Ode to Bowtie, by Chris Randazzo

Oh Bowtie, oh Bowtie
You played with my heart
You crashed then you functioned
You tore me apart

From beta to beta
You tugged my heartstrings
Promising me
Such incredible things

Now 1-oh is coming
Snow Leopards will purr
It'll be a free download
On your local browser

Now Bowtie for iPhone
That's quite a slick thing
Read the blog and you'll find out
What this Bowtie will bring

On the iPhone and iPad (soon)
Making your dreams come true
With Butler in back
Bringing music to you

No search, but more features
No bugs and no leaks
Scribbler and more memory
Bringing red to your cheeks

Now the weekend draws closer
I just know he'll be mine
My Butler, my Bowtie,
My pre-Valentine.

Haiku About Bowtie, by Алексей Плотников (Alexey Plotnikov)

Editor's note: strictly speaking, this doesn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable pattern of conventional haikus. However, it very much captures the spirit of a Japanese haiku (capturing vividly a moment in time), so I decided it deserved to win.

Bright colors and wet floors
Shadows in the dark room
Looking for new Bowtie themes.

Poem for Bowtie (or: Haiku Rape), by P. Welker

iTune me Oh dear Bow-tea
For my big library is too much to be handled on my own
one hand is resting on the magical mouse
the other triggers the shortcut to you.

The Themes

The following themes win best of show in this contest, not necessarily because they were the best designed, but because they represent a wide cross-section of different styles, and also use Bowtie's facilities in unique and innovative ways. Links to the themes will appear as we obtain permission from each author to release.