Wednesday, July 18, 2007

. . . because you'll believe anything.

I remember long ago, back when Saturday Night Live was funny, they did a parody of what was the brand new 2-blade disposable razors. The SNL's Trak-III razor had three blades: one blade to cut the whisker, a second to grab what was left before it could snap back into your face, and a third blade to slice it off. The tag line was "because you'll believe anything." Their satire lost a lot of its punch because in short order some genius came up with just the product they were making fun of.

In my mailbox today was a free sample of Gillette's Fusion razor. Not three, not four, not even five blades, but six. SIX! There are five on the front to do the nasty business of cutting the whisker several times over along with the outer layers of flesh, but also another blade on the reverse side for "precision trimming." Hell, I cut myself just trying to get it out of the package.

This defies belief. And yet I know that before too long there will be a new design with even more blades. Satire becomes absurd reality. How many blades can dance on the head of a razor?
Apparently, as many as want to.

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