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ZERO Halliburton going mainstream. NOOOOO!!!!
by Rattle at 12:19 am EDT, Aug 17, 2006 |
“We had a flurry of phone calls from travelers in Europe asking where they could buy our laptop cases. Some were even calling directly from Heathrow wondering if we sold the cases there at the airport,” says David Sebens, VP of sales and marketing at ZERO Halliburton. The Salt Lake City-based company makes a line of high-end aluminum laptop cases with a shock-absorbent polyurethane foam interior. More closely resembling a portable bomb shelter than a briefcase, the bag also has an aura of geek chic that makes it popular among the techie crowd. The company, which sells thousands of the cases each year, says it has seen a spike in demand in the past week.
DAMN THE TSA! DAMN THEM TO HELL! Decius bought a ZERO Halliburton years ago, which he almost never used. I took custody of it about a year ago. Since that time, I have truly fallen in love with it. Love. Pure love. Not only does it fit my 17" Powerbook perfectly (few cases fit it at all), but it protects the hell out of it. The internal padding does an amazing job of absorbing sock, and the aluminum can stop anything up to a carbine round. (No, I have not tested this.) But the best thing about it, is the fashion statement. And I'm not much one for fashion. It stands out. When you trod along kicking the Halliburton, people notice. You can watch their eyes drift down to the case. One look at it says a thousand words. Words like "bomb", "cocaine", "unmarked $20 bills", "negotiable bonds", "guns", "classified documents", "plutonium", etc.. When I plod around the campus I attend classes at, I get asked at least once a week, without fail, "what's in the case?" I have about a dozen answers. "Schemes and plans" tends to be my favorite. Now, thanks to TSA, everyone is going to have one. It's like when your favorite band gets popular with people you hate. I feel it coming. DAMNIT. Update: Must... fight... turning into hipster.. must.. not.. turn.. into.. hipster.. |
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RE: ZERO Halliburton going mainstream. NOOOOO!!!!
by noteworthy at 7:23 am EDT, Aug 17, 2006 |
Rattle wrote: It's like when your favorite band gets popular with people you hate.
I know exactly what you mean! Obviously their greed turned them into sellouts, but still, it leads you to question why you ever liked that stupid band in the first place. It just makes you want to set fire to your signed album cover art and tear up your ticket stub from their first live show. Because soon enough, the words you see in the eyes of passersby will be things like "Oil of Olay", "Gerber 3rd Foods", "Tigi Treat Me Right Peppermint Hair Mask", and "Ensure Healthy Mom Creamy Milk Chocolate Shake". |
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RE: ZERO Halliburton going mainstream. NOOOOO!!!!
by Rattle at 7:44 am EDT, Aug 17, 2006 |
I know exactly what you mean! Obviously their greed turned them into sellouts, but still, it leads you to question why you ever liked that stupid band in the first place. It just makes you want to set fire to your signed album cover art and tear up your ticket stub from their first live show. Because soon enough, the words you see in the eyes of passersby will be things like "Oil of Olay", "Gerber 3rd Foods", "Tigi Treat Me Right Peppermint Hair Mask", and "Ensure Healthy Mom Creamy Milk Chocolate Shake".
Not exactly.. I guess I was tapping into that pit of hate one felt well up in the 90's upon seeing someone with a Nirvana shirt under a starter jacket. I guess in this case, it's unwarranted. I guess I was going all hipster over the ZERO Halliburton.. sigh. I'll do some kinda penance. |
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RE: ZERO Halliburton going mainstream. NOOOOO!!!!
by Catonic at 10:15 am EDT, Aug 17, 2006 |
Rattle wrote:
But the best thing about it, is the fashion statement. And I'm not much one for fashion. It stands out. When you trod along kicking the Halliburton, people notice. You can watch their eyes drift down to the case. One look at it says a thousand words. Words like "bomb", "cocaine", "unmarked $20 bills", "negotiable bonds", "guns", "classified documents", "plutonium", etc.. When I plod around the campus I attend classes at, I get asked at least once a week, without fail, "what's in the case?" I have about a dozen answers. "Schemes and plans" tends to be my favorite. Now, thanks to TSA, everyone is going to have one. It's like when your favorite band gets popular with people you hate. I feel it coming. DAMNIT. Update: Must... fight... turning into hipster.. must.. not.. turn.. into.. hipster..
It's all those 1980s and 1990s movies that used them for those purposes and now people have reached the spending demographic where they want the sexy aluminum case because of the movies. It's the ultimate in subliminal advertising. The movie I watched the most growing up was The Blues Brothers (thank you TBS, for purchasing it time and time again). Look at the car I now drive. Makes complete sense, subliminal imprinting. Now where'd I put that order form for a Zero Halliburton case.... ;-) |
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