“Are you serious?”
“Hell, no.” Mimicking a woman’s voice, Prince says, “Where is my phone? Can you call my phone? Oh, I can’t find it.”
Anyway... "Nobody really talks to me."
Pointing to his manager Julia Ramadan, Prince says, "I talk to her. She talks to you."
ADDED: Prince's assertion that he doesn't need a cell phone because no one really talks to him made me think of this from the David Sedaris book
"Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls":
I was in London, squinting out my kitchen window at a distant helicopter, when a sales rep phoned from some overseas call center. “Mr. Sedriz?” he asked. “Is that who I have the pleasure of addressing?”...
“I am hoping this morning to interest you in a cell phone,” he announced. “But not just any cell phone! This one takes pictures that you can send to your friends.”
“I’m sorry,” I told him. “But I don’t have any friends.”
He chuckled. “No, but seriously, Mr. Sedriz, this new camera phone is far superior to the one you already have.”
When I told him I didn’t already have one, he said, “All the better!”
“No,” I said, “I don’t want one. I don’t need it.”
“How can you not need a cell phone?”
“Because nobody ever calls me?”
“Well, how can they?” he argued.
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40 comments:
Hey, I bet he doesn't tweet either.
Smart guy.
Prince doesn't have a cell phone /= Prince SAYS he doesn't have a cell phone.
"And then he served us pancakes."
% of people who think Obama was born in Kenya ?= % of people who TELL POLSTERS they think Obama was born in Kenya
% of people who think GWB planned the WTC bombing /= % of people who TELL POLSTERS they think GWB planned the WTC bombing.
People who tell the truth /= people who post on the internet.
Bob_R, LOL.
I don't have a cell phone either.
It took years before cable companies stopped trying to sell me cable.
"I hate TV."
"But it has hundreds of channels!"
One of my dearest friends does not have a cell phone, much to my chagrin. She doesn't want it even in an emergency.
I had one, but gave it up when I found I could live without it.
Before I finally broke down and got my first cell phone (already ten years ago!) I had told the friend urging me to jump on the bandwagon that it probably would be about as useful as a portable toilet.
It's more fun having phones nowadays, what with all the technology and apps they pack into them. But as for how they facilitate good conversation and sociability, it's the same as always. Someone's either a shitty conversationalist or they aren't. Cell phones just make the reality of distinguishing between the two types that much easier. (I'd say almost too easy, if I were more taciturn...)
I have a cell phone that I almost never answer.
If you don't have a cell phone, how does your mother call you?
But Sedaris went on to make friends with the man and long for him to call back when the phone rang the next day...sort of like imaginary friends on a blog comments.
I thought I had Mr. Unpronounceable Word in my cell phone. But it turned out to be %+@<#!
I have no cell phone. I do have friends. Amazing.
I ask many people for their cell phone number and get it rattled off, but often the the 60+ folks will look puzzled and say they don't remember because the never call themselves. On further inquiry they admit they never turn it on, and keep it as an emergency "car phone."
Fear of being called must be phoneophobia.
I have never, never owned a cell phone.
It's really quite amazing how angry some people get over this.
This song makes a lot more sense if you imagine Prince losing his cell phone in the hot tub.
That would be the cell phone on vibrate feature.
ring!
call me again!
ring!
Query: does one have to listen to the voice mails as good manners towards friends?
When I was busy, once upon a time, I fell into the habit of thinking that if it was important, they will either solve it themselves or call again several days later.
Now I just scan the recent caller screen and call who I feel like, but still never listen to the VM.
David Sidaris would make this funny. He is one hilarious man.
I own the cheapest cell phone I could find - no photos, no internet, no apps, no nothin'. Costs me 30 bucks a month and I maybe use it once a day. Might find someone called tomorrow. Shitty service, lousy coverage, terrible company.
It's enough for me,...
I'm 46 and have never owned a cell phone. Land line is enough.
I have a cell phone. It is one of those "pay as you go" phones from ATT. I bought 100 minutes at $1 a minute so that I wouldn't have to continually renew the damn thing. In almost a year...I still have over $80 of minutes left.
The phone doesn't take photos. I could if I wanted, but I don't, get on the internet, send an email, text. I have no desire to do any of those things. Most of the time the phone is off. Most of the time, I have no cell reception anyway.
The only reason I have it is in case I have an emergency when traveling. Maybe want to call my family to let them know my ETA when traveling. Or if my husband and I are traveling, as we will be in August to Reno for Hot August Nites and we get separated for some reason, like I'm shopping and he is on the other side of the Casino or of the town, we can contact each other.
I have no need for a cell phone. I really have no desire to talk to people for frivolous reasons. I see people talking and texting on their phones at the grocery store, at the post office and wonder...WTF is so important that you can't wait and have a REAL conversation.
We also unplug or turn off the ringer on our home/landline phone after 8pm. Nothing is that important that it can't wait until tomorrow.
In Michael Lewis' great book The New New Thing, he noted that the guys who were at the top of the great California tech companies never carried Blackberrys or cell phones. That was what admin assistants were for.
An older cell phone is a telephone with contacts lists, call history lists and voice mail.
But for newbies, the iphones and Android Galaxy phones are also mp3 ipods with laptop computer's ability and download capacity for book libraries and for movie services.
The old system made people pay for these devices over a 24 month contract for cell service that added up to paying $1200 for a $600 device which remained unusable at a cheaper carrier after the 24 months had paid it.
But competition has opened up now no contract plans at half the old monthly service bill, provided that you pay the $600 for the device yourself once. That also allows used/refurbished devices so long as they have been "unlocked."
An unlocked iphone4 refurbished is on Althouse Portal Amazon and WallMart sells a new StraightTalk service that has unlimited phone minutes and unlimited download bits for $45 a month. It I superior coverage too.
Say Good Night Verizon.
I have a cel and no land line. No cable TV either.
Ghost Riders In The Sky is actually a song about non-refundable airline tickets booked more than a month in advance of the travel date and paid for in full less than 72 hours after booking.
Given his proclivities, Prince is lucky enough to have a name, let alone a fucking number.
I have a cel and no land line. No cable TV either.
Ditto!
I've got a real cheap cell phone. Fliptop! It's so nice to be able to call anybody from anywhere. And to keep a list of your contacts in your phone is nice, too.
No point to a landline, that's the useless one.
Ditching cable TV was a real breakthrough. Now it's just internet and Netflix for me. I haven't seen a commercial since, I don't know, 2003? And all the crap on TV I manage to avoid!
steve said...
I'm 46 and have never owned a cell phone. Land line is enough.
This is weird.
I work with a guy who is 56 and very proud of the fact that he has never owned a cell phone and doesn't own, or can use, a personal computer.
Of course he can barely read or write and is the most soul crushingly boring person I have ever met.
His name is Steve too.
I would answer my phone more if I didn't have kids. Phone talking is too exclusive with little kids around.
Lots of people, especially older people, don't like to talk on cell phones because it's more difficult to hear the other person on a cell phone than it is on a regular line.
A final observation: while no one likes to be next to a loud phone talker, who doesn't like a loud phone talker at the other end of the line? One never has to ask the loud phone talker to repeat himself, even if he does make a person scramble for the volume control at the beginning of a call.
I have a cellphone, but mostly I leave it off. When I turn it on, I find that people call me. Much nicer my way.
“Well, how can they?” he argued.
****************
ABC!!!!
Always
Be
Closing
Before cell phones, when answering machines were all the rage, I seldom got phone calls, but wondered if people were calling while I was away. So, I got answering machine and still got no calls. Because I don't like leaving messages on machines, I figured most others don' like to either. So, I got call forwarding sending all my home calls to my office. Still no one called.
So, I learned my lesson and have never got a cell phone - don't want one, don't need one.
I have a land line and pay $24/mth and the only person to call now is my mother in the retirement home 2 minutes away.
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