Tim Cook recently attended a Startup Fest in Amsterdam. As part of his schedule, he was set to visit a museum and take a stroll through history as he looked at paintings of renowned artists.
There was Frans Hals, Jacob Isaacksz, Pieter de Hooch, and of course, Rembrandt Harmensz.
Now, all was going well until a wretched reporter asked Cook the next day: “Do you happen to know Tim, where and when the iPhone was invented?”
Wow. Whattay question, man! Kudos to exhibiting sheer genius! Why don’t you go and ask Dhoni who won the 2011 World Cup?
*Slow clap*
If it had been us, we would have just given the reporter a death stare, hoping that would vaporise him where he was standing. However, Tim Cook being Tim Cook, he decided to come back with a witty repartee: “You know, I thought I knew until last night. Last night Neelie took me over to look at some Rembrandts, and in one of the paintings — I was so shocked; there was an iPhone in one of the paintings.”
Yep, for a moment there we were just as confused as that poor reporter who looked like he’d walked straight into a brick wall. However, when enlightenment dawned on us, we realised Cook was referring to this painting:
Well, first thing’s first, Mr. Cook. That is NOT a Rembrandt. That’s a Pieter de Hooch. It’s an oil on canvas from 1670. And it’s called Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House. Know your artist, Mr. Cook, know your artist.
On a side note: The painter, for all his creative bent of mind, couldn’t come up with a better name than that? Or maybe he thought that ‘Man Standing Beside a Woman Sitting with a Pup in Her Lap, While a Dog Stares at Them and A Little Girl Watches from a Distance’ was quite a mouthful, not to mention fairly tiresome to remember
All we’re saying is, why so literal, Mr. Hooch? #IamLiterallyDead
Anyway, coming back to ‘What the hell was Tim Cook talking about?’, some tweeks and edits in Photoshop revealed excactly what Tim Cook was talking about.
Now, we know that creativity is a good thing, but Mr. Cook, you have just let your imagination run away with you. Plus, that joke fell flat on its face and had to be scraped off the floor with a shovel.
At the end of the day, we have one question: What was Cook smoking? And can we have some of it??
Speaking of wild imagination, did you also notice the Stormtrooper from Star Wars in the window at the back? He he he ..
