Hitting a brick Wahl

We’ve entered a new stage of quarantine. If I wanted to, I could go for a mullet. The term mullet hasn’t grown obscure, has it? Just in case, here’s a definition courtesy of Urban Dictionary.

mullet

Pronounced “MUHL LET” 

A hairstyle in which the front is cut trim, but the back is long, left wild and often uncut. Even when the back is cut, it is still longer than the front. It is the sign of the redneck. Alternate names include: 

Ape Drape. Beaver Paddle. Bi – Level. Camero Cut. Buisness in the front, Party in the back. Canadian passport. Coupe Longveuil.  El-camino. Hockey hair. Kentucky waterfall. Missouri comprimise. Mudflap. Neckwarmer. Ranchero. Shlonc (short + long). Achy-breaky-bad-mistakey. Soccer rocker. Squirrel pelt. Tennessee tophat. Yep-nope. 

Mmmmmmmmmmmm…Mullet 

I’ve never had a mullet. I may have been unintentionally close to one, but I am stating, definitively, that I have never had a mullet. I don’t intend to start now, pandemic be damned. So I’m on a quest for good hair clippers for a buzz cut. The problem – they have been sold out everywhere for weeks, maybe months.

I don’t want to use Amazon. I don’t want to get one online at all. I’ve called so many stores and gone to a few repeatedly (quick, masked checks at Bartell Drugs, Target, etc.) that it’s now a quest. My weird little anecdotal tracking of life during COVID. I meant to start tracking Wahl’s stock price and sales last month, but there was one problem – I’m lazy.

What sorts of things have surprised you during these weird times? Obviously, the hair clipper inventory caught my attention. I have no idea what the pre-COVID hair clipper sales looked like. It’ll be interesting to compare.

I also remember noticing when stores started having hand sanitizer on the shelves again – with limits per person. The first few times I saw them on the shelves they seemed to be independent, small company products. I read that it took some time for big chains to adapt their supply chains. I also thought it was very cool to see distilleries adapt and start rolling out hand sanitizers.

Then there’s the masks. I bought a bunch from a Seattle vintage clothes designer / artist. She was already an expert at this kind of thing, but it was neat to see the resurgence in sewing and home economics.

I went out for a short walk the other day and ended up in Pike Place Market. There were people there, but I won’t lie. It felt a little sad. Normally it would have been packed. And I probably would have been annoyed. Looking forward to safely being annoyed by large groups of happy, healthy people again.

I had my recorder with me, so today’s your lucky day – including another version of Guy Who Walks Around and Talks to Himself. It’s a rough edit. I’ve gotten faster at working in Audition, but I haven’t gotten better. I went through and tried to cut out a lot of the long gaps and uhhmmms…my scalpel made some bad cuts. I’m not going for a Grammy here, so it’ll have to do.

In the audio I talk a lot about Astrid Kirchherr. I mentioned that I’d link to an article I read, but now I can’t figure out which article it was. I’ve read a lot the past few days. As for the movie Back Beat, I was surprised to learn that you can’t find it online anywhere. I wonder if someone will repost it now.

If you listen to the audio, can you tell me if you hear what sounds like someone tapping out morse code or a telegraph? I can hear it, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out where that’s coming from. It’s either a faulty mic, faulty connection, or the recorder bouncing around in my bag.

I keep thinking of more things to fix in those rambling walk arounds. Something in my bag makes a clicking noise. At times it’s like I’m walking with a metronome.

This is going to be a jack of all trades post. I haven’t felt very focused the past week, so lots of little half thoughts have been simmering. Chuck them in here and drive on.

Remember that rosé I mentioned? I just had a glass, and I’m sure it’s good, but I’m not a rosé fan. Shame. It always looks really inviting in the summer sun.

I’ve talked about wanting to move to Berlin. Scandinavia is also on the list. I wonder if my visa application will get bonus points when I mention that I love their dark humor and their obsession with serial killer movies. I binge watched Norsemen last week, and it’s got some very funny parts. It can also get very very dark. You’ve heard some of the jokes in other things or seen similar physical comedy, but it was pretty good. After watching I read about the production. They filmed a Norwegian version and an English version at the same time. They’d do a cut in Norwegian and then a cut in English. That is impressive.

Oh, and here’s some video. It’s cropped terribly, but that was sort of the point. I didn’t know you could crop in Premiere Pro. It’s in slow motion (120p). I added some of the audio at the tail end. If the normal audio is layered over the slow motion, it makes your head go wonky.