Coronavirus Days 39 & 40 – Stylin’

The facial recognition on my iPhone stopped recognizing me. This growth was starting to itch. I looked older. I didn’t look as fabulous as usual. Time for the whiskers to go.

Here are my recommendations for some great movies featuting terrible hairstyles.

Taxi Driver – you talking to me? It was correctly pointed out that I missed this 70s masterpiece from my list of greatest New York movies. There are few movie characters as iconic and influential culturally as the delusional, insomniac cab driver Travis Bickle. Travis has the seventies most recognizable haircut in Martin Scorsese’s tale of isolation in the big city. Yes – it’s better than Goodfellas .

The Road Warrior – this post apocalyptic road trip is now considered one of the most influential movies of the 80’s . This Australian set actioner has leather clad driver Mad Max reluctantly help a group of survivors escape across the Australian desert from marauding punks. Max’s hair is fine, but check out the cuts on the villains. The extended truck chase across the plains is one of cinemas greatest finales.

This film was reimagined as Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015 by original director George Miller. This time around with a feminist slant. Fury Road was selected by Britain’s Empire magazine as the top film of the century so far in 2020.

In No Country for Old Men – Chigurh, the souless assassin, who decides fate with the flip of a coin, sports one of the most ridiculous hair styles in film history. And he is terrifying. That awful styling helped win Javier Bardem an Oscar, friendo. This modern western is my best film of the past quarter century and won best picture in 2007. The Cormac McCarthy book that No Country is the based on practically reads like a screenplay. It’s a solid read. Unless you want to really feel down, do not read McCarthy’s Post Apocalyptic Pulitzer Prize Winner , The Road. It’s on my rxcelkrnt riveting books but not for right now list.

First Blood – this is the movie that launched the Rambo franchise and unlike the rest of them it’s a well drawn drama with believability. John Rambo drifts into small town Washington looking for a fellow Vietnam veteran. Things go south when he’s harassed by the local law, led by Sheriff Brian Dennehy (who just passed last week). Rambo’s hair starts off badly enough but then comes the bandana. This is an excellent 80’s thriller that spawned awful, if entertaining offspring. I just watched Rambo: Last Blood.

I had the realization tonight that this is the first time in the entirety of my existence that I’m experiencing domestic bliss.

I’m at my home, in an actual house, not an apartment, for an extended period. I’m getting to spend all day in the same space as Wifey. I get to prepare and cook three meals a day . I also get to clean. Sometimes I get to run out and pick up groceries. I’m allowed vacuum on weekends.

I had the realization tonight that this is the first time in the entirety of my existence that I’m experiencing domestic life.

I finished F1 Season 2 (Netflix) on the elliptical yesterday. It makes me want to sprint. I’m recommending it again. I found it a real tonic for theses claustrophobic days. The 21 locations for the F1 races have an international glamor and the races knuckle biting exciting. Part of the real strength of the series is the individual and varied drama each episode brings, beyond the intensity of the races themselves. Try it! I was reluctant to start too and got hooked.