barry burton

Observation

Wearing a bluetooth headset even while not in use—

It’s the new “keeping a cellphone in an awkward case¹ on the belt”.

The good news is that one can still look like a technocratic-communications-showoff-with-no-real-style, but now one has more room for the Leatherman and its belt-stowed accessories. The bluetooth headset also has the added bonus of confusing those around the wearer. (Are they on the phone? Am I interrupting?)

¹ The modifier, ‘awkward’, is redundant, but was included for the sake of clarity. In actuality, all cases purposed for the attaching of cellphones to belts are, by definition, awkward. And seriously, do cellphones and iPods really need these car-bra² type cases? The wear lines are just embarrassing. What I don’t get is what these cases accomplish. I mean, I would assume they are supposed to protect the finish and beauty of the item inside, say an iPod. The iPod itself is a beautiful object. An iPod with scratches is perhaps less beautiful in some ways, but I think a certain elegance is gained from the authenticity of scratches. Proof that the object functions and does so well enough that it is used frequently. Proof of a beauty that is more than skin deep. However, the car-bra-case clad iPod has been plastered by objectionable materials resulting in an object that just looks silly. So if the case is never removed, the iPod always looks silly. Thus the purpose of the case is self defeating. Why?

² 642,000 to 113,000, Google says no ‘s’.