Apple straying from its own Human Interface Guidelines

So don't upvote. :P

Personally, I think it's a valid point. The icon in question definitely seems less professional and (ahem) iconic than the well-known TextEdit icon. Even without the Greeked text, the perspective, shading and typography are all awkward.

Indeed. It's hardly news, anyway; Apple violates their own HIG all the time (cf. brushed metal theme and iTunes zoom button). There's a reason they're called "guidelines".

Apple has been criticized about this for ages, and I think the criticism is generally a bit more nuanced than you let on: the complaint is that "modern" (post-OSX) Apple often goes way beyond simply showing good judgment and breaking the rules when it helps the interface, and many times strays into simple self-indulgence, making things prettier and shinier at the cost of usability.

[I don't use Apple products enough to say whether this is really true, and as an outside observer, I rather like the pretty-shiny. But that is the criticism.]