479: Tones
Tones |
![]() Title text: I need a lawn, so I can yell at kids to stay off it. |
Explanation[edit]
This comic begins with Cueball staring introspectively out the window, reflecting on his life's choices. He first comments on his regrets and failures, but reassures himself it was all worth it by standing firm to a single moment he stuck to his convictions for a better purpose. This fairly serious scene is broken up by the punchline that his proud moment is completely mundane and not at all remarkable: Cueball doesn't use novelty ringtones for his cellular phone.
Cell phone users can set nearly anything as their ringtone; even the default rings on new phones are a short string of notes put together, and serve a dual purpose as a company's trademark. Phones today can even set multiple ringtones, one as a default and several custom tones for their frequent contacts. During the early 2000's companies and customers were very quick to flaunt these features and it was subject to countless commercials and parodies (including this comic).
The comic also seems to begin very seriously, with Cueball standing at a window looking at the setting sun which also indicates that he's in a late phase or near the end of his life whie pondering about his past life and thus the comic relief is provided by the turn to the inconsequential; this is mirrored in the zooming-in to the cell phone on the table.
To continue the comic's theme of Cueball-as-crochety-old-man, the title text says that he needs a lawn, so he can yell at kids to stay off of it — a stereotypical "old man" behavior.
Randall makes another complaint about ringtones in 2272: Ringtone Timeline.
Transcript[edit]
- [Cueball is standing in a room next to a round table, looking out a window. A blue and orange sunset is visible outside the window. There is a phone on the table. The text of the comic is in boxes, two for each panel. Cueball is not talking, but rather narrating in these boxes.]
- Narrator: I haven't lived a perfect life.
- Narrator: Made plenty of mistakes. Got my share of regrets.
- [Zooming in on Cueball and the table with the phone, window with colored sky still visible to the left.]
- Narrator: But there's one thing of which I'm proud.
- Narrator: One stand on which I've never wavered.
- [Zooms in on the cell phone on the table, Cueball and window outside the panel.]
- Narrator: When someone calls my phone,
- Narrator: it makes a goddamn ringing sound.



Discussion
Yes!! To the death!!! A goddamn ringing sound... 162.158.91.165 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
In the olden days of electro-mechanical telephone exchanges, each exchange would have a 17 Hz ring tone generator. When a call was switched through, it would send a 17 Hz signal down the line which would be picked off by a 17 Hz pick-off filter in the receiver. This would then activate the bell inside the receiver, causing it to ring. (Feel free to delete if deemed irrelevant). -- The Cat Lady (talk) 10:56, 15 August 2021 (UTC)
could be a reference to “a softer world”, seeing how it has the same style of text boxes on top of one consistent image. thats what it reminded me of immediately, anyway Fjathom (talk) 21:34, 12 December 2021 (UTC)