Procrastinet: No Worse Zealot than a Convert

February 15, 2005

No Worse Zealot than a Convert

Awright, awright. The frickin iPod rules. I'm so madly in love with the damned thing that I've started annoying *myself* on the subway.

Spent all weekend ripping discs - it was nice, in a cro magnon kind of way, to look at the stacks (and stacks) of ripped discs with the little teensy blue wonder sitting next to them HOLDING ALL OF THEIR MUSIC. Yahaaa! Go technology, go!

I have, however, realized what has made iPods so ubiquitous: they are the ultimate prop for the sophisticatedly self-involved. See below.

Side note: there's a cutesy mass-market label waiting to be coined but I can't pin it down. "Hipster" is limited to one subset (Joke - Q: How many hipsters does it take the change a lightbulb? A: You mean you don't know...?!), "Bobo" includes "bourgeois..." which isn't exactly right either, as it now carries lots of connotations that don't really apply to 20/30something urban types.

I've been toying with "Urbo" for "urban bohemian" but that suggests that the bohemianism is achieved and not just longed-for. "Wobbo" is close ("would-be bohemian") but leaves out the "urban" aspect, plus the crippling self-awareness that would ban applying the word "Bohemian" to oneself.

And "Wsbawbhwbahrpweptmsbnewtbtam," or "Urban Would-Be Artist/Would-Be Hip-Without-Being-a-Hipster/Reluctant Professional With Enough Perspective To Mock Self But Not Enough Willpower To Break The Acronymic Mold" just doesn't have the right ring to it.

Let's go with Wobbo for now. The iPod is the ultimate wobbo accessory, because we are used to seeing ourselves as the protaganist in the Movie of our Lives. We're also used to providing ourselves a soundtrack for the movie - but now, thanks to our little white symbiotes, we can actually be SURPRISED by the soundtrack to our lives! Just like watching a real movie, where we can be all "Boy, that Zach Braff chose just the right song for this scene!" except it's just US, WALKING DOWN THE STREET. And we're pretty much guaranteed to like the song, because it's our music! Everyone a winner!

2nd greatest wobbo accessory? The blog. You knows it.

Posted by rjt at February 15, 2005 05:04 PM

Comments

here's the way i look at it. if you're doing things that actively engage the world in front of you (running through the park on a warm day, serious writing), not so much.

but when you're just passing through (running on a treadmill, walking down a crowded street), the ipod is a great way of grooving de way through the day.

in gladiator terms, it's like the shield - it can get in the way of the sword-arm, but it can also be invaluable in getting through a hostile crowd (AKA new york sidewalk) with a smile.

welcome to the podflock.

Posted by: frydry at February 18, 2005 02:57 PM