Blessed are the MIDI makers

So I’ve got a new phone. This one’s only my second cell phone in three years, so I think I’m doing good on the whole not-switching-phones-every-three-minutes thing. To me, cell phones are like cars: if they do what they’re supposed to do, who cares how blingy they are? Still, this one’s got some nifty options, and I’ve been playing around with a couple of them this morning, shooting .MID files over to it via Bluetooth to use as ringtones. So yes, for a few shining moments, I’ll be joining the annoying ringtone crowd…and I’ll probably switch ’em off after a few days and go back to a plain old ringer sound. But it’s fun to mess around with some of the free MIDI files I’ve downloaded – I’d seriously consider assigning different ones to different callers if this phone could do that (bummer, my old phone could do that until it met with that Unfortunate Accident this weekend). Right now, anyone calling me sets off a boisterously loud (and really good) rendition of Ben Folds’ “Steven’s Last Night In Town”. Though I can think of individuals who I’d rather have setting off, say, The Prisoner, Doctor Who, Katamari Damacy or Monty Python themes, or Alan Parsons’ “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You”. Ah well – I’m sure the fascination will wear off pretty soon. It’s still just a bleedin’ phone. I’ll probably get more mileage out of making kitty wallpaper for it.

I see in this news item that BBC America is bringing Torchwood to the U.S. at some unspecified future date. I wonder just how chopped up it’s going to be – I haven’t had Dish in over a year now, so I’m not sure what BBCA’s standards are on language, nudity, and big damn gay space heroes. The press release also says something about BBCA showing an “all-new season of Doctor Who” – eh what?? Are they ripping it out from under Sci-Fi? That’d be a bummer, simply because BBCA is still satellite-only fare in a lot of places.