New Trends in Martinis?

We were out earlier last night, and I had occasion to order three of them in two different places. We were with another martini drinker, so we had a baseline from which to compare. All three of my martinis sported a sheen of crushed ice along the top of the drink.

I don't remember where precisely, but somewhere I read that a martini should have a little bit of tiny crushed ice to prove that it really was nicely chilled. I've never really bought into that. I don't need to have ice to prove anything--I simple sip can tell you how cold (or not) it is. And aesthetically, ice in a martini says nothing to me so much as diluted gin. But even if a small amount of ice crystals are desirable, I certainly don't need to have enough crushed ice in my drink to crunch my way through to the last drop. Oddly, the other martini drinker in our party never seemed to have any noticeable ice crystals in his drink. So why did my drinks--mixed by the very same bartenders--have more in common with Icees than with cocktails?

Despite my title at the top of the page, I like my martinis just as they are--I need no new trends. If nothing else, bartenders, at least scoop the multitude of ice out with a spoon or ladle or something. I want a nice, bracing drink, not a drink that's getting weaker and weaker the more you look at it.