It's Bloomsday 2010, and over in Ireland, fans of the great modernist novel "Ulysses" are taking to the streets and pubs and bookstores to revel in all things James Joyce. But here in the US, Bloomsday is being celebrated for a different reason: It's the day that someone over at the Apple Store finally admitted that they got a little zealous with that bright red CENSORED stamp.

They're calling it the iPhone preorder iPhonecalypse. After hitting a few early snags out of the gate, the iPhone 4 preorder system at the Apple Store temporarily ground to a halt sometime Tuesday night, sending hundreds of thousands of iPhone fanatics around the globe into a frenzy. Meanwhile, AT&T has stopped taking iPhone 4 preorder requests altogether.

Apple's App Store is right now carrying the Apple Store app. If that statement doesn't twist reality up in a Doctor Who style for you, then read on to find out about its iPhone-buying powers (from an iPhone!) and Genius session booking.

Early adopters, take your mark. On Tuesday morning, Apple began taking pre-orders for the much-hyped iPhone 4, the boxy, feature-heavy successor to the iPhone 3G S. As of 9 a.m., Apple was only accepting pre-orders for two iPhone 4 models, both in black: The 16 GB handset, which is priced at $199 with a contract, and the 32 GB handset, which will retail for $299. Apple said pre-ordered iPhones should ship by June 24.