the things we think but do not say

Do consumer electronics live at an accelerated rate, a little like dogs and cats? It seems that they live more like humming birds, since 3 years seems to be the most that most people either keep their gadgets, or they break, are neglected or sold on. The sad thing is that it costs as much to buy the replacement model (of which they’ll be two of) than it is to repair it.

Are consumer electronics made to be disposable? $300 for a freaking mp3 player is hardly disposable. How long has this 3 year life cycle been around? And why does everyone just accept it? Strange huh?

My gadget history:
My old Samsung cell phone: 2 years and hated every minute of it
Old iPod: 3 years. loved every minute of it.
Sony s70 digital camera (before the Nikon D70): 1 year before it stopped working and died.
Palm Visor: 6 months before I stopped using it ‘cause the Palm OS sucks.
Nintendo Gamecube: 1 year before it was stolen from my flat, but it was within 3 months before I just got plain tired of it.
Old Palm III: 1.5 years before I got tired of losing my contacts whenever I changed the AAA batteries.

Just before I paid foy my new iPod with video, the sales guy at BestBuy asked me if I wanted the $50 service warranty to cover everything in case of failure for up to 3 years. I thought about it for a sec. Then I bought it. 3 years is a really long time in the world of consumer electronics.

My faithful old friend, my white little travel partner, from train, to plane, from bus ride, to el, from block to block, to travelling in the car, you were always with me.

After three long years of relentless service, my iPod is dead. In the last year of his life, he started to show slight signs of Parkinson’s, forgetting that I had just recharged him. And over the years, I guess I could have taken better care of his shiny coat. It’s not what it used to be.

And even though there were many like him around town, he was mine. And only mine.

Good bye old friend. I’ll miss you.

If you like to listen to rubbish RnB radio in your car, then you’ll likely have come across this rediculous song called “Magic”, by Charlie Wilson. Despite his managers’, his fans’, his family and his close friends’ best advice, Charlie released the cheesiest song known to man. It’s just sooooooo bad.

A lot of soulful love songs have a lot of cheese built in. Imagine being ‘trapped in the closet’ with R Kelly. Lots of ‘hey girl”, “hey baby”, “hey baby girl”, and “hey girly baby”. I can accept that. The other thing is that Charlie Wilson is a former member of the Gap Band (”Outstanding”, “You Dropped A Bomb On Me”) so he’s pretty familiar with the spirit of hot and sweaty, cheese melting soul music. It’s all part of making sweet, sweet, love baby.

But when I first heard this song on WBEZ or WGCI or whatever, I thought it was one of those ironic, tongue in cheek, “this is the state of soul music these days” commentary songs. But when I heard it every day this week, the deeply sad reality started to sank in

It’s a real song. With a real producer. With a real record company behind it.

Some lyrical gems from this song are below:

Welcome to the Charlie show
tonight I’m going to be showing you things
that you never seen before.

So just sit back and relax
because tonight I’m going to be doing
some things no man has ever done to you baby

All you gotta do is dim the lights
and I’ll show you a trick or two

Now I ain’t no physic,
but I can see what you need, girl
And you don’t have to write it,
‘cause looking at your body I could read, girl
You’re giving me the eye
and it’s making me want you bad, girl
Turn around
now can you guess what’s in my paaaants…”

Hold up a second. “Can you guess what’s in my pants?” Is he serious? Perhaps it’s a rabbit. Or a shiny silver dollar?

What a cheese ball. Charlie Wilson - Magic