Shoot the frog

The Crazy Frog (click at your own risk...seriously), the annoying ringtone mascot, has been scratching around inside my ear canals for a few years now. First, it advertised a ringer that sounded like an electronic moped engine. The noise crawls in your head and jackhammers away at your brain. I used to see it on commercials when I was in London, and I promptly changed the channel...there were only four channels, and most of them were fuzzy. Sometimes I had to put the TV antenna through the mail slot to get reception...and that was when it was sunny (three days a year).

But I can deal with a ringtone promotion here and there. Recently, however, I saw that the Crazy Frog now has its own CD, a random selection of covers, including of Jingle Bells, Pump Up The Jam, and the high school basketball pre-game warm-up classic, Whoomp! (There It Is). Allow me to plant a marker for this event on the slope of senseless consumerism we're rapidly sliding down. While I know I'll never voluntarily have to listen to the Crazy Frog album, I fear for those people who buy it. And what about the children? Something that annoying has to have a lasting effect after repeated exposure. Nightmares and mild paranoia to start off...pretty soon it's pulling a Van Gogh or committing mass amphibicide. The worst fallout from that stupid frog...Wikipedia says they're developing a TV series based on the character. Say it ain't so. Gotta go sharpen my ear-slicing knife.