All the phones I've ever owned...

Just finished browsing through a blog post on one of my favourite web design blogs. ( The Evolution of Cellphones)

Decided to compile a list of phones I've ever used since the first time I ever saw a cellphone, up until right this very moment.

Let me begin...

1997-ish
Motorola

This phone from Motorola was the very first cellphone I ever held in my hands. EVER! Back when the SIM card was like a phonecard that you had to slide in at the back of the phone. I still remember that it was a Vodacom number.
I remember my amazement when my grandfather came home with this phone that didn't have a cord, and had a screen like a calculator. It was some futuristic stuff. I remember the first thing we did was call our landline phone. Just to see if it actually was a phone. Good times.

The legen... *wait for it* ...dary Nokia 5110. (brand new)

The first phone I was ever bought. The very first phone I ever owned. I'm sure I'm not the only one. :) I loved playing Snake on this mammoth of a machine!
When those screen personalising things first came out, I was the first one to have it back in high school. I had NoFear on it, and later had BadBoy. Had to remove the BadBoy one though, because it was during that part of my life when I was heavily into 2Pac and Hit 'Em Up and all that, so yeah...
Also when custom ringtones came out, I was there!!! :)

Nokia 3210

My dad had this phone. Playing Snake on it was so much more rewarding because it vibrated every time the snake ate something. Also, it had better ringtones and NO ANTENNA! This was revolutionary!

Nokia 6150
After the 5110, I upgraded to the evolutionary 6150. Was pretty much similar to the 5110, but had a slimmer battery. And infra-red - which I never used. But I had it, and hey, that was something worth bragging about. Got it from my dad after he upgraded to the revolutionary 3210. So it had sentimental value. Kinda.


This is also the first phone I ever lost. I was climbing into a taxi, must have fallen out then. Worst feeling ever! Since then I've been very protective of EVERYTHING electronic! EVE-RY-THANG!

Nokia 3310 (brand new)
The came... The greatest phone to ever do it! The best phone ever made, in my opinion! I'd buy this phone if I ever saw it sold anywhere! IN A HEARTBEAT!

My Snake playing days were filled with even more awesomness than ever before! The snake could eat other bonus "fruit"! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING?! Fruit! That was a game-changer right there! I could basically "snake" through walls! I don't think you're hearing me.

This phone also came with an astonishing amount of memory for SMSs and call records. The old limit of 5 calls were a thing of the past. This one had 8! Do you have any idea how many missed calls that is?! That's right... EIGHT!!! The SMSs were also not limited to 160 characters like all the other phones I had owned before.

This was the second phone brand new phone I ever owned since the 5110. So I treated it extra nice. Wiped it clean before going to bed. It was special.
Had to give it to my grandmother because she didn't have a phone at the time.

Nokia 3510
Also inherited from my dad. I never really liked this phone. Sure it had a colour screen and orange flashing lights when it rang, but still. Nothing exciting! And it was heavy as a ton of bricks! Compared to my trusty 3310.


Samsung SGH-R220 (brand new)
After leaving high school, I wanted a phone that no one else had. Everyone I knew pretty much had the 3310 or some other Nokia phone, so I was looking for something special. I liked that it had blue backlighting and that you can assign an LED light to a contact. Not that I ever checked the light first before answering, because I could assign my own ringtones to people now. *pause for effect*
Did you get that? I had a phone that could MAKE ringtones. Another 1up on Nokia users at the time.

Motorola e398 Jukebox
Soon as I got myself a job, the first thing I did was get myself a phone. And that phone had to reflect the new me. The more grown up me. So I got me this..

Which I still have, to this day! Still works too. :) I loved the super loud stereo speakers it had, and that it was called a "Jukebox". A name it lived up to every time it rang! People around me hate its loudness, but I beamed every time music played from it!

When my contract was due for an upgrade, I went back to the Nokia side of things. The greatest Nokia phone since the 3310. The 2MP Carl Zeis camera was what made me love the phone even more than it's 2GB memory card.

I used every single feature this phone had. From video calling, to video recording, to emails, to everything else in between. I miss this little black number! :'(
Nokia N73 Music Edition

It's a pity that after two years of trusty service delivery from this small wonder, the screen stopped working, but I still used it regardless. At some point I was taking pics without even needing to preview them. I was one with this phone.

While waiting to get another phone, I bought myself a small "I'm-between-phones-right-now" phone, in the form of...

Nokia 1100
A lot of people had this phone, for different reasons. Some used it as an alternative phone, for when the super fancy smartphone had a low battery, or one they could use for other people to reach them on. Clearly I was now part of this elite society. Only downside is that I didn't have an alternate phone. This was the only phone I had! But my excuse was that I was in the transition phase, from button phones to touchscreen.

And indeed I was. While everyone was getting excited by the many many buttons on the Blackberry, I was more focused on getting a phone with the least buttons as possible.

After seeing an HTC Touch for the first time, I knew I had to have it.

Then while I was still trying to figure out if I was really ready for a button-free lifestyle, the Touch Diamond came out.

At that very moment, I knew I was ready!

So this is the phone I'm using right this very moment.
HTC Touch Diamond 2
Has so many features, at one point you can't believe!

It's like having two phones in one.

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Oh noes!

Turns out, you're a devil worshiper and don't even know it.


According to the internet, everything anyone's doing, watching or even listening to is associated with the devil.

Anything I do with your hands? = devil sign.

Anything I do with your eyes? = devil sign.

Anything you're listening to RIGHT NOW?! = devil sign.

Any logo you see? = devil sign.

Any movie you watch? = devil sign.

The list goes on and on. And there's nothing you can do about it. Just accept that your every movement is devil-related. And apparently any musician/artist/person who says or has ever said "...sold my soul..." is referring to the devil.

Needless to say, I don't believe in all this nonsense.

Why is it that anything and everything popular is associated with the devil? Why is he given so much credit? I've blogged about this before and it's just ridiculous how he's given so much power and credit through every single thing that people can come up with. Didn't God create everything? Didn't He create everything good and bad alike? Isn't He the one who gave us all this fingers and hands and installed muscles and tendons to allow them to bend and twist any which way we want to twist them in? He did, didn't He?




So why are his very own creations (humans) turning everything else that he created into a devil symbol? God created goats, stars, and trillions of other things that have now been credited to the devil. In all my years of existence, I have never, ever ever heard of one single thing that the devil created. Not one.

Now everything that surrounds us is credited to him. What you wear, how you wear it, why you wear it... all that is now satanism? Why?

If I choose to wear my Chuck Taylor All-Stars today - you know, the one with the star - am I part of a "secret society" that worships evil?
I doubt it. Not that I know of anyway. Or maybe it's so secret, I don't even know I'm a card-carrying member! Oooooh! That's spooky.

What do these illuminati enthusiasts suggest we do with ourselves? Not have tattoos? Not wear anything that has stars? Not call people if their phone numbers have a 666 in them? Not twist up your fingers in any suggestive way? Ensure by any means necessary that when you're taking a picture, both your eyes must be visible at all times? What kind of life is that? Where's the variety?

More "analyses" here: http://mediaexposed.tumblr.com/

All I gotta say about this is that these people should stay far far away from Egypt and India. All those hand symbols and pyramids are gonna drive them straight into insanity!

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It's not you, it's me

Please be advised that the content in this post is NOT SUITABLE FOR SENSITIVE READERS!


Now that we got that out of the way. Let's dissect the happenings of yesterday...

So there I am, just clicking around the internets, and while on Twitter. I see this girl saying something about dark jelly something or other... Being the food junkie that I am. This obvious

Emphasis on: ...dark jelly-like blood clots, ...look like liver.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE AMOUNT OF VOMIT I HAD TO SWALLOW AFTER READING THAT?!

It is at this point that I immediately stop reading and decide that I'm not gonna run the risk of seeing something like this again in the near future, and unfollow this person. But before I do that, because Dineo is a fellow creative. Somewhat. I think it's only fair that I let her know what I'm about to do and that she's aware of the reason why. Hence the retweet.

The plan was, to unfollow her and return to following her after a few days. That's usually how long these things last, right? OK then.

She then decides to reply by saying:
To be perfectly honest, so do I. I really do. I think I might have a more awesome time spoiling a girl rather than a boy. But that's a story for another day.

Anyway, explaining further the reason behind my unfollow. I reply:
After letting my explanation - which was just out of common courtesy - marinade in some of that dark jelly. She decides to take my sheer disgust personal. And says this:
Now THAT was totally uncalled for. How can she insult my follower-count like that?! I blame the jelly!

OK that last part was mean. Obviously the jelly has nothing to do with anything here. Let's not blame it on the jelly.
Let's blame it on the fact that someone mistakes follow-count for .
Internet numbers are just numbers to me. Yes, they represent people who are actually interested in hearing what you have to say and everything else in between. But having 1000 versus having 10 is really no big deal to me. It matters, yes. But I'm not gonna kill myself if I don't reach a thousand followers by my birthday or whatever! (though it would be nice)

I may have 400+ followers and all, but that does absolutely nothing for my ego, personality, or body odour... NOTHING.

This isn't about followers. This is about someone tweeting something that disgusted me and took my unfollowing personal. It's not you, it's me.

I'm the one who doesn't wanna read about your blood clots.
I'm the one who thinks some things, like things involving your reproductive system, should be kept private. Where they belong. Otherwise you might as well walk around with your skirt pulled to your waist every now and to let the world know that there's live-looking jelly in your panties. Go ahead. I dare you to do that. Even for a few seconds. I TRIPLE DARE YOU!

No one in their right mind would ever do such a thing.

So why should your 1000+ followers be subjected to such? Why am I being attacked for choosing to look at the birds in the sky when you figuratively raise your skirt for the world to see?

As much as you see nothing wrong with pulling down your jelly-ridden panties, I see nothing wrong with choosing NOT to read about them.

I know you're reading this and saying, "you could have just ignored it." and you're right. I could have. But then what's the point of following someone and not reading their tweets? Might as well not see them at all. That's my logic, open for discussion.
I read all the tweets of the people I follow. As long as they are on my timeline when I'm on Twitter, then I'm gonna read them. Otherwise what's the point of following 300 people only to read 299 of their tweets?

Again... it's not you, it's me. I'm not sorry for unfollowing you!


:p

Follow me, I promise I wont tell you about blood jelly. @tehPaperCut

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Behind the music

So, the day before yesterday, I had a good dose of TV. Okay, I'll admit, that sounded waaay better in my head.

What I'm trying to say is, I was spoiled for choice on Monday. Literally. There were at least three good TV shows worth watching. All pretty much around the same time - which sucked. Because I couldn't watch all at the same time.

It's no secret that I prefer documentaries over anything else on TV. If it's a music related documentary; even better!

So on Vuzu, there was a "documentary" on R. Kelly's Love Letter album. Basically it was him explaining the ideas behind the song titles, the album conceptualisation, the track selection, the writing process behind every song on the album. Pretty riveting stuff by all accounts. Good stuff.

While on MTVBase, they had a "day-in-the-life" type of thing on Trey Songz. Where they followed him around for some reason.
Needless to say, I chose to watch the R. Kelly special over the Trey Songz one. Simply because I saw that the Trey Songz one had multiple repeats coming up some time during this week. Today at 16:50, to be specific.

And on National Geographic, they had a behind-the-scenes look at the manufacturing of the latest Porsche. That I didn't watch. Though I really wanted to, just out of curiosity. I'm not much of a Porsche fan. Yeah. So... back to the music.

While switching between the two music specials (in-between ad-breaks obviously) I started thinking about something. About how little we know about our own local music artists. No one really knows the struggles they've gone through. What they're working on now. What actually goes into creating an album, or preparing for a performance, or running from pillar-to-post for interviews or anything along those lines.

Why is that? Who's to blame. Do we blame the artist managers and the artists themselves for not giving their fans a sneak peek behind the music?

I don't think such investments are made into our music industry. The only time you see the artist promote an album is months after it's been created and they're all cleaned up and smiling on TV behind dark shades talking about how their album caters for everyone. And how it's featured so-and-so from where and where. Talking about who they worked with and all that!

Imagine if the artists put out a video, even if it's on YouTube or Vimeo, of themselves actually working with so-and-so and making the music. Imagine the anticipation from the fans. Imagine the hype the video will create around the release of the album. Even if it's a staged "leak" of the footage, pictures, audio, or whatever.

I have R. Kelly's Love Letter album, and I can tell you one thing for sure, after watching those 30 minutes of TV, I felt I had a better understanding of the direction he was aiming for in that album. The "back to the old-school" element behind it. Only afterwards did I understand why there was a Michael Jackson-like song on the album - he wrote the song for MJ before his passing. That explains why I always skip that song.

Anyway. Why is it that all we get from local artists is a two minute interview about an up-coming album?

The two examples mentioned above aren't the only ones I've seen. There's a Nicki Minaj documentary that's always playing on MTV, there's a Drake one as well. Not to mention the famous "The Diary of..." series by MTV.


Why is MTV Base, which claims to be interested in promoting Africa to the world, not investing their resources into our own artists?

Why is it that so few of our local artists have websites or even bother interacting beyond the "I'll be performing at...." updates on Facebook and Twitter? Why not embrace the internet and completely abuse it as a communication tool to the fans?

I stumbled on behind the scenes pics of Kanye and Jay-Z's collaboration album pics the other day. Why aren't South Africans doing this?

Wake up! Give us a peek of what you get up to when there's no make-up artists involved. When there's no limited time to plug your album!

Shout-out to http://www.themakingof.co.za/ for being the local version of True Hollywood Story.

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Sticks and stones

Imagine you're just chilling, on a cool Monday afternoon, and you get an email that someone has commented on a website you've been featured on.

So you decide to check it out, then this is what you come a across:

I'm not too sure what exactly it is that this person saw on my Twitter page, but still.

Am I the greatest designer ever? No.
Are my designs the most unique-est thing ever to hit the internet? No.
Is there anywhere on the internet (or anywhere else for that matter) where I claim to be the be-a-and-end-all of all things design? No.
Am I guilty of shameless self-promotion over and over and over all over the internet? YES. YES. And oh hell YES!

Am I gonna apologise for that? No.
Why? Becuase if I don't do it myself, then who's gonna do it for me? No one.

So what if my designs aren't the greatest designs ever to hit the internet since porn?
I never said they were. The sole reason why I put my stuff all over the internet is to get some feedback on what I'm doing right or wrong. Not to be judged on my tweets. Not to be praised either. But to be given criticism. Both positive and negative. If someone is just going to come up out of nowhere and say I need more practice or more humility, then I'm all for that. Lemme know where I need to improve, where my short-comings are. Where my faults are. I'd appreciate that. But the rest of that comment was absolutely unnecessary.

I'm not gonna say "don't mistake my confidence for arrogance".

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