iYawn

[greatbear]

So, the biggest announcement out of Macworld was the inevitable iPhone. Yeah, it's sleek, has a cool touchscreen, undoubtedly gets completely smudged by fingerprints and cheek grease thereby spawning a huge raft of aftermarket cases and skins to keep it as pristine as possible...

Still, it's just a glorified cell phone. Worse yet, it is also a Blackberry-like email/PIM/PDA/net tablet. The latter fact will surely cause a rise in dazed, inattentive-to-their-surroundings automatons wandering sidewalks and hallways creating traffic jams and running into other people, and dont get me started about those who will use it as such while driving. I guess I will get double points while 'Blackberry Bowling*' if I manage to cause an iPhone-to-floor interface.

Sorry, I just cannot get excited about a tiny gadget that causes large monthly bills and adding to already poor behavior among the gadget distracted.

I made a joke about this quite a while back, and apparently it's a reality now. It appears that John Cage's groundbreaking work 4'33" is available as a ringtone. For those unaware if this piece, it is written for piano, and consists of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of blissful silence. If you ask me, this should be the default ringtone built into every phone made.

* "Blackberry Bowling" is the name I have given to a new contact sport that I currently engage in. It is played with two people. Me, and ostensibly an oblivious, self-absorbed yuppie type using a Blackberry, Treo, or other similar handheld device. The game starts with said device user walking through a corridor or hallway completely enthralled with his device and not paying attention to where he is walking. If this person is on a collision course with me coming in the opposite direction, I will prepare myself for the collision rather than take evasive maneuvers. I will usually let out a warning a split-second prior to the collision, whereupon I lead with my shoulder and take the impact. A bonus point is awarded to me if the collision causes the dropping of the device. It seems appropriate to double the bonus points if the dropped device is the new iPhone, simply due to the outrageous cost of the unit. Please not that in none of these instances am I the 'aggressor', i.e. I am not walking down the center of the aisle nor do I cause the actual 'hit'. Blackberry Bowling is a game played off the gutter, similar to a good roll in tenpins. I simply take the 'hit' when I have nowhere else to go. I simply lead with the shoulder and a stiff arm.

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like the sound of that game. ;)

And I presume you have a library of comebacks ready when said Oblivious Twit snarls at YOU for "making him/her" drop their ePacifier?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Ya know, I've never had this issue with women. I guess they are naturally more polite, or perhaps less 'obsessed'. Or maybe more concious of their surroundings. As for the comeback, I have never needed to use one, since in the few times it's happened, I was showered with apologies, or summarily ignored. My comeback, if needed, will be simply to remind that person to watch where they are going rather than staring at their little screen.

[garebear.livejournal.com]

I'm a major fan of Apple. This keynote was pretty much of a yawn. $500 for a phone that does all kinds of pretty things? Maybe. I hate cell phones, but appreciate the internet capabilities (although the demonstration was WiFi). I'm guessing that a dedicated wide screen iPod isn't too far off.

John Cage? In all the journals that I've read, I think you're the third person to ever mention him and the second mention of 4'33" You're probably the one who mentioned it before. Either you're a real student of music, or you're older than you look!

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

While the phone, or rather its internet capabilities, are exciting, I do not plan to ever get one. $500 is a bit much to pay for a little device to look at emails at Starbucks, I can and do take my laptop for that. Except for a few exceptions, I loathe talking on the phone so the iPhone will not change that. The idea of partnering with Cingular exclusively is a show stopper for me regardless of the product. I use T-Mobile and am not about to drop them for Cingular, at&t, SBC, BellSouth or whatever in the hell they may want to call themselves. They are still the same old SBC and I want no part of them!

;0)

[shawnsyms.livejournal.com]

*tacit*

[knarfd.livejournal.com]

I dont understand all these young whippersnappers and their new confangled gadgets.

Well im not gonna brag about meeting Cage in nyc a long time ago (he was too quiet ;-)) or his ties to NC. But please, if there's a god in heaven do not let Philip Glass become a ringtone.

Btw, on the annoying front, unlike NY, cell phone use is allowed in cars down here. And everyone abuses this privilege and it shows. Nuff said.

[baeritone.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know.....Glass's "The Canyon" might be a great ring tone, if a person carries a cell, which I do not.

[knarfd.livejournal.com]

Koyaanisqatsi would be an interesting (and apt) juxtaposition.

[reslbear.livejournal.com]

You mean this one? ;-)

[knarfd.livejournal.com]

faint/thud

[reslbear.livejournal.com]

Either there is not a god in heaven or god likes Philip Glass. (I do too.)

I saw a great show by Philip Glass a few years back. It was a French Opera sung to the accompaniment of Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast) 1946 film. It was pretty awesome. I've seen Glass in concert 3 times and am amazed by the diversity of each show
While I understand the dislike many might have for his work, I hear similarities with what he does and the hose-trance dance stuff. I have to say I like it in large, measured amounts. ;-)

[knarfd.livejournal.com]

I saw him on the subway once. I like his work actually.

[anziulewicz.livejournal.com]

I prefer "Blackberry Electroshock Therapy." You see a Blackberry user walking down the street talking out loud to himself and gesticulating wildly. He might be on the phone with his stockbroker. OR, he might be hopelessly psychotic. There's no time to differentiate. Best thing to do is chloroform him, dump him in the trunk, drive him to my isolated cabin in the woods, then practice on him with a jury-rigged electroconvulsive device (a discarded lamp cord with stripped wires should do just fine).

[fuzzyjay.livejournal.com]

Oh, great. Now some of my kinkier friends will start carrying Blackberries for that very reason.

[orejen.livejournal.com]

I think that ringtone should be the default someone enters a movie theater or restaurant.

[fuzzyjay.livejournal.com]

OK, but this is only marginally related: so, when I'm trying to cross at a crosswalk, and there's a car waiting at the red light and the driver is on their cell phone and looking left to see if they can take a right on red, and they start to drive into the crosswalk without looking right at all, I go bam! on the hood of their car with my fist.

As they look right, I grab my knee and roll on the ground screaming. Wakes 'em right up.

[robearal.livejournal.com]

I love you!

Camper VanBlackberry?

[fuzzcub.livejournal.com]

Take the skinheads blackberry bowling,
take them bowling.

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the idea of Blackberry Bowling!

Now what to do with wheeled luggage?