Part 1: That Ringtone Isn't Cute
As I have said in the past, I don't really care much for cell phones. Actually, I think what I said is that "I hate cell phones." So I've decided to make this week "Why I Hate Cell Phones Week" at omarphillips.net. This is part 1 of that series.
OK, the Super Mario Brothers ringtone made me chuckle a little bit. But your MIDI version of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" succeeds only in making me want to punch you. Especially when you let it play for a while before answering the call.
You know what my favorite ringtone is? It's one that makes a ringing sound like a phone*.
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* Don't get me wrong, I understand that having different ringtones COULD make it easier to distinguish when your phone is ringing as opposed to someone else's. It doesn't really matter though. No matter how unique everyone's ringer is, if a phone rings, everyone in the room looks at theirs anyway.
Comments
Jym Ferrier
said:
I'm rocking the theme from Hogan's Heroes right now. No one my age gets it but that's ok.
I do love the ringers that sound like a phone but let me tell you, until you've watched people at walmart stand around someones phone and dance, you haven't lived.
mep said:
Cell phone rings that sound like phones are so three years ago - come on, this is the digital age. Phones don't need to sound like phones, they need to sound like the hottest digital devices around. That way no one knows whether you are carring a really hot MP3 player, a phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a PSP, an XM player, or a portable DVD player. Or you could carry all of them just to keep people guessing. That would be fun.
I personally think it is hillarious when "Always" by Mariah Carey inturrupts a nearby meeting at the conference table. Much less intrusive than a phone-soudning-phone.
jasmine said:
mine sings in an alicia keys type voice: jasmine, pick up your phone.
it's amazing.
i, of course, also have gavin degraw singing chariot.
Glo said:
Nothin' could be finer than ringtones. No encouraging words here. I have Play that Funky Music as my general tone. Makes me happy every time the little creature chirps to life.
My cell phone is very upset right now. I need to go and give it some love....download something, turn on ringback tones, and call a bunch of people while they are at work.
Scroobious said:
I totally agree about ringtones. Apparently, I'm the only one. See Omar? We can agree on things! All the important things, anyway, viz: your kid's cuteness, and the evils of ringtones. What else matters?
Jon said:
Well, my opinion on cell phones is not one of hatred. I love mine. It’s the only phone I have, it goes where I go, and I can check sports scores with it. It’s unlisted, so I only get calls from people I want to hear from. I also don’t hand the number out to just anyone, very select company get that number. Both of my friends have it. The ringtones are out of control though. That’s why I carry a tazer… when I hear one I don’t like, I shock the crap out of the person whose phone it is, and while they are temporarily paralyzed, I delete the ringtone I don’t like, and they just set the phone to vibrate. I think everyone learns something when I do that.
cadiz12 said:
no one seems to check their phone when my ringtone goes off. mostly it's just something like 'dude, is that the themesong from The Facts of Life?'
yeap. it sho is.
Tayster said:
I'm with Omar and Scroob on this. I loathe cell phones and their ringers.
Glo said:
Shocking. Just shocking. Every time I think the human race has taken a step forward I see how much our bigotry is holding us back...ringtones matter, people. Let's be less life-centric and give some thought to the electronics surrounding us.
RaJ said:
I'm partial to one installed on my phone: the sound of a fairly mundane phone ring followed by a male voice yelling, "Hey! Answerda freakin' phone!"
No one complains when it goes off; seems to always trigger some laughs.
Tayster said:
The only ring tone that I approve of is the one that my fellow co-worker had of Chris Farley yelling, "You better pray to the god of skinny punks that this wind doesn't pick up, cuz i'll come over there and jam an oar up your a**!"
Viking054 said:
Phones piss me off. Not just cell phones. All phones. So you can expect a lot of angry rants from me this week.
And it always bugged me how everyone checks their phone when someone's goes off. It's like their subconscious way of saying 'It could be for me! I'm important too!'
I said:
jym - I'm pretty sure I don't ever want to see that scenario, no.
mep - Hold on a minute. Call me out of fashion, tell me that I fell off the cool train 5 years ago. But are you questioning my technological cutting edgedness? Because them's fighting words. I'm all about the hottest digital devices around, I'm just not sure they ever need to emit any bad 80's rock. Or Mariah.
jasmine - Of course you have Gavin singing.
glo - I knew you wouldn't be on my side with this one. Save some anger for later in the week though, we've still got a few more parts to go.
scroob - Every once in a while, we find common ground. Thanks for having my back on this one, scroob.
jon - I hope you won't mind if I steal that taser technique. Because I will.
cadiz - Facts of Life theme song? (sigh)
tayster - Thanks! Join me as I bash them all week.
glo - Like I said to mep, I am all about the gadgetry. Put the word "digital" in front of anything, and I like it better. But cell phone ring tones, particularly the bad ones, make me mad.
raj - That's typically how I feel when someone else's phone is playing a tune from "Journey's greatest hits." Answer da freakin' phone!
viking - I want to comment on this, but I don't want to give away too much of a later installment of cell phone bashing.
Syar said:
I love ringtones. I used to have a bunch, before I switched to a polyphonic-ringtone-only phone and lacked the GPRS for a downloading rampage. my dad has a ringtone that makes the sound of a ringing phone. I'd support you and all on that point, but there is no way I'm sharing a ringtone with my dad. *shudder*
cadiz12 said:
hey i never said i wasn't cheesy.
Nadia said:
I have over 40 polyphonic ringtones. Some are assigned to certain names(e.g. Syar's is Gavin's 'I Don't Wanna Be'), some are used as the alarm signal on a rotating basis, and some are for me to sing along to when I'm bored...
...but most have been downloaded and then played loudly and obnoxiously in public to annoy people like Omar.
RaJ said:
Nadia - you've been cloned, haven't you? And spread around the planet, a cell phone in each genetically identical hand, doing the loud and obnoxious thing. I knew there was an explanation!
Berrygirl said:
I'm a total girl- I love my cell phone. What did people do before there were cell phones to get your through traffic? My ringtone? Lowrider. It rocks. Super Mario Bros. is a good one. My hubby has the theme from Benny Hill on his and everyone always laughs when they here it.
Syar said:
hah! Nadia can never be cloned. she's too special for that shit. I didn't know that I was assigned a Gavin ringtone, this makes ME feel special, thus strengthening my love for it more. I hope I didn't defeat some greater purpose of other, ringtone-n-cellphone-hating people. *ahem*