Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Electronic Orifices

Today's Bizarro cartoon is brought to you by Foolish Cool. "We'll make you look like all the other idiots, and you'll like it."

I've been looking forward to blogging about this one because a lot of people didn't understand it. I got a small wave of emails from readers wondering what it meant, some of them trying to attach a political meaning.

The truth is that I was simply poking fun at the way bluetooth ear devices have become a fashion accessory. In big cities I've been in recently – NYC, LA, SF – you see an increasing number of hipsters wearing their ear devices all the time. I suspect some don't even have phones. If you haven't seen this yet, it will only be a matter of time before the white suburban kids in your area are following in the footsteps of the urban Hip Hopsters elsewhere.

For those of you seeking a deeper political meaning, try this: Just as the U.S. is listening illegally to our phone conversations, Brazil is monitoring its citizens' TV viewing habits, China is stifling free speech, and Russia is imprisoning inveterate nose-pickers.

19 comments:

Jeremy said...

I better not go to Russia, I pick my nose like a MoFo.

I used to work in a Verizon Wireless store and people hated Bluetooth headsets because of the poor audio quality. The problem was that the execs down in California see people with Bluetooth all day long and think its cool and everyone wants on. So when they see us not selling very many they think that it is totally our fault and we're not doing something right.

Nope, its just that people in Oregon aren't willing to sacrifice the ability to hear the person on the phone just to look cool.

Eric Dyck said...

way to channel your inner Kliban! enjoying your palette these days too...

isee3dtoo said...

just remember:

You can pick your friends
You can pick your nose
Just don't pick your friend's nose

Penny Mitchell said...

Brazilian Borg Bluetooth!

Unknown said...

Be glad you left Dallas. That's been big for a year and a half or so now, except that it first showed up in the wal mart crowd, rather than in the downtown hipster crowd. I took it as basically showing off your money through technological jewelry. I mean hell, it's like a big diamond earing, except it's a) bigger b) glows and c) makes noise, and flash always seems big with the poorest and wealthiest among us (those with the most money to waste, and those with the most desire to have a taste of money).

doug nicodemus said...

i got it but i didn't really think it was that funny...to me anyway. but hell that happens a lot more with family circus then it does with you...renewing my plea for more censored cartoons/or one that you do for here because you know it won't run..

more videos too

isee3dtoo said...

I agree with Doug,

Show us the rest of Medusa you have in your mind's eye, she had a nice ass and her hair is scary. What is the rest of your image of a Greek God?

Anonymous said...

Dan - your comic is funnier than Family Circus. Congrats.

marine_explorer said...

A common moniker you hear for the herds wearing Motorola ear-jewelry is "bluetool".

Dolores said...

The bluetooth headset IS a fashion accessory. You can now buy a hearing aid that looks like a bluetooth -- presumably so you look cool (instead of old and deaf).

Based on Jeremy's comment, one wonders if they work.

BoB said...

ooo, that's a good one. you're on to something. always wired through the bluetooth... always.

As for the "coolness" factor of the blue tooth.
this is just an observation...

When I have traveled in the past year or so between LA and SF, I find that largest majority of the "every-minute" blue tooth wearer are the same people stepping out of F-150s with Lee or wrangler jeans - and so on. Except, of course, since california's new anti-cell phone in the car law - boy that's a pain in the ass - it seems that a much more wide variety of professionals, students and moms are using them too. Mostly ONLY in the car.

I suspect as they get smaller and more efficient, they'll become more LA 'blingy'.

SAYOTTE316 said...

Hey Jeremy i thought you puss-ied out when Duffau showed you what fighting was all about!

"Me Love You Long Time" said...

HAIL DUFFAU!!!!

HollyBerry said...

south park is also banned in russia. so, there's that.

i just graduated from college here in southwest ohio and you would not BELIEVE how many students and teachers had those damn things. it would be weird walking between classes and the person walking next to me was 'seemingly' talking to their imaginary friend.. i would have to look very closely to make sure they were, in fact, talking on the phone instead.

@robert finis-- you hit in on the head, brother. sociologists have been trying to figure that phenomenon out for a while now... at least since the late 1800s. you really have to think though, that the whole idea of accessories falls onto that same plain. why do we even HAVE accessories? why do we mow the grass and take care of our lawns? why do we buy nice, expensive cars when we can't even afford them? why do we wear jewelry? make-up? we're trying to prove to someone that we spend more money than we have, because money = power. the reason we know this is simple, too. just look at our candidates. do we really think that mccaine and obama got to where they are because people liked their ideas? don't get me wrong, they did say "some" things that people liked, but they really didn't say anything the other guys weren't saying. i don't want to turn this into a racial thing, but more people liked obama at the beginning just because of his color. it's great and all that he will likely be the first (half) black president, but that's the complete wrong reason to vote for him. but back to my point-- money governs everything, whether we like it or not. and the more money we are able to express on our outer appearances, the better off we appear to the general public. and hey! that's EXACTLY why our economy is in the shitter-- because we spent more money than we had, both the government and the people.

SAYOTTE316 said...

yeah man jeremy verses duffau in an all out bizarro rumble...Jeremy claims hes connected....We'll bring duffau out and we'll see who brings out the high voltage.

Lorie said...

Shortcake, I typically agree with your reasoning and am also disgusted by the display of Cadillac Escalades with spinner rims bought on credit, but please do not judge the hardworking people who live within their means and are homeowners and car owners and whatever owners because they EARNED it. We take care of our lawn because we like to. It's called pride. We are not phonies. I agree that there are plenty out there who were seduced by the recent ability to use home equity and easy credit to buy things they could not afford, but do realize the majority of people who own homes, cars, etc. do so after working hard and saving their money. As you get older and more successful in your career, you acquire things. Most are necessary to house your family, drive yourself back and forth to work and present a appearance acceptable to the environment in which you work. Some choose suits. Some like tattoos. They can be very expensive. Yet nobody looks down on tattoos as an unnecessary, trying to encite envy, accessory. Subprime, non-performing mortgages equal a small percentage of the actual loans out there, they just get the most media coverage. Someone in the news business once said, when asked why so much of the media coverage is so terrible when not all is bad, something to the effect of "we don't report every successful plane landing, do we?" There is a great book you should read. It is called The Millionaire Next Door.

Anonymous said...

Judgement is Shortcake's thing, Lorie. Being as all-knowing as she is, it comes naturally.

HollyBerry said...

but my point was that the people who lived within their means and are entitled to their possessions aren't the ones who got us into this mess. and i agree with everything you said.

Saoki said...

Where does the information about Brazil comes from? Brazilian and never heard of it, so I googled it and found nothing.
If you can point me to some source I'd appreciate.

Not that our government doesn't have constitutional rights to monitor us (brazilian constitution is messed up, americans have no idea how lucky they are with 1st amendment), but at least we can try to complain about it and see if anything happens.