Wait for it ...

These days it seems like anything really worth having has to be worth waiting in unreasonably long lines to buy. No major product can launch, it seems, without news stories about all of the dedicated fans who have pitched tents outside stores so they can be the first person to get one.
Take Harry Potter. When the most recent movie in the series debuted last month fans around the country attended midnight screenings. When the final book in the popular series hit stores a few weeks later dedicated Potterphiles — many dressed in costume, at least two straight foregoing their own wedding reception, according to one news report — loitered for hours at book stores so they could be among the first to discover whether the titular wizard died, as he was rumored to do. Or whether he killed his arch enemy. Or whether he turned out to be not actually a wizard but a leprechaun who lived in constant fear of children stealing his overly sugary cereal.
I haven't read any of the books, but I wouldn't be surprised if that last option turned out to be true. Writers love to throw in twist endings.
Anyway, whatever you think about Harry Potter it's hard to argue this: nobody ever dressed up as an old fisherman to wait in line for Ernest Hemingway books.
People waited in line for the iPhone, though. According to news reports hundreds of people camped outside of Apple stores for the earliest possible chance to seem even more pretentious while using their cell phones.
Don't get me wrong. I think the iPhone's awesome. I'd probably buy one if I was in a position to spend $600 for a phone — plus whatever early termination fee my current cell carrier would charge me so I could move to a provider everyone I know hates. I just think if I were going to do it I'd happily be a day or two late to the party if it meant I didn't have to curl up in a sleeping bag outside a mall.
Every new video game system seems to launch with massive lines these days. When Sony launched its much anticipated Playstation 3 earlier this year the truest nerds camped outside electronics stores for days for the chance to drop several hundred dollars on a souped-up Atari.
Actually, many of the people who waited for the Playstation 3 were there in hopes of putting their newly acquired systems on ebay and turning a quick profit. Thing is, so many would-be free marketeers had that idea it was hard for many of them to turn a profit. Some reportedly lost money on the consoles they spent as much as a week of their life camping outside Best Buys for. When you think about it, that's pretty hilarious.
Even the less anticipated Nintendo Wii, which remains the video game console with the most obscene-sounding name, drew lines when it launched a few days after the PS 3. One person outside a Woodbury Best Buy waited in line dressed as popular Nintendo character Luigi.
It's not just geeks who camp out for new products, though. These days people will put their dignity on the line for something as simple as a canvas shopping bag, as long as it's from the right designer. People clamored earlier this year for designer Anya Hindmarch's "I'm not a plastic bag," which was basically a simple canvas shopping bag with the phrase "I am not a plastic bag" printed on the side. Honestly, why just feel superior to people for being more sensitive to the environment when it's possible to feel superior to them for having better fashion sense at the same time. As of Tuesday, the bags, which originally sold for around $10, were going for upward of $100 on ebay.
How's that for a twist?