Iphone, Iphone Iphone. Marsha Marsha Marsha. Everyone's got one. Don't you? Well I don't. I nearly jumped on the technology train when I saw a new application called Brushes that turns the iphone into a sketchbook with different brushes, colors and works sort of like photoshop. And then another program that works like a low-fi 4-track recorder. Notice how I'm not writing "app". That's because I can't stand that abbreviation when spoken. One of the fathers at my daughter's school sent me over the edge on kid's camp night at an impromptu "multi-dad beer escape" to Triple Rock brewery. An A-1 dweeb pulling out his iphone like a shiny little sports car when one of the dads needed to call his wife. After the call the father lingered, scrolling and showing a slight interest in the device. Dweeb dad says wagging his tail, all bonered out, "Hey man, what cha doin'? Downloadin' some apps?" Argh. I think you had to be there.
It's not that I'm opposed to the iphone. It's a wonderful accomplishment. It's that everywhere I go, everyone is totally tuned out to the world around them. We have friends that come over for dinner and we're at the dinner table and the dude's fiddling with his iphone...oblivious. Put that damn thing down. I'm not jealous. Anyone can go and buy one. And I would and could have a legit reason for owning the thing: writing, drawing, recording music, animating. It could help with all that. But fuck it...at least for now. The service plan is ridiculous, and I'm quite content and more so every day with my spiral bound sketchbook. Pen on paper will always win for me. And what of all those hours lost goofing off with lame little technological diversions and peering into small flickering screens? The last thing I need after 8 hours of staring at a large flickering screen in the office everyday. In ten years my sketchbooks will still be on the shelf filled, one of a kind, and that iphone will be in landfill with nothing to show for it...in most instances. And the average person will most likely go through more than one. It's true, we will look back on the computers of today and laugh at their awkwardness and the things they are incapable of doing. That is if one ever takes a break from their "I-whatever" to realize that.
