Your friend Darren was one of the first people in the nation to own an iPod, proudly walking around with one as early as 2001. Of course when people found out he'd paid $300 for what appeared to be an effete paperweight they chalked him up as an iDiot, and the gewgaw's rounded corners had them wondering if perhaps Darren had been one of those a second-graders required to use the blunt scissors. WELL WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, NAY-SAYER? Hint: not Darren. Now that everyone and their Manx owns an iPod, Darren has been desperately trying to stay cutting-edge by buying smaller iPods and video iPods and iPods with more gigabytes than Steve Jobs has had laughs over hipster America's willingness to snap up anything emblazoned with the Apple logo. Fortunately, you can make Darren stand out from the crowd yet again with the gift of an iPod cowboy costume. With "fringed-suede chaps, checkerboard kerchief, full-length lasso, and brown suede hat," this item from iAttire edges out Brokeback Mountain for the title of Gayest Cowboy-Themed Holiday Release.

--- END QUOTE

Thanks to Matthew Baldwin's 2005 Holiday Survival Guide For Slackers. Matthew is better known as blogger Defective Yeti.

Bren R.