Trendzilla

More proof the '70s live: first it was the return of the nylon Velcro wallet, and now—the Black Power afro pick? Kind of. This Chinese-made lint roller is way too close, stylistically, to those afro picks—the ones that had, as a handle, an arm ending in a clenched fist? Those were the coolest afro picks ever, and it is not a little unsettling that they've been resurrected as a lint roller with a tiny black kitty paw and a hole through its middle. You know: so you can hang it on a hook. Like the Man did to the Black Power movement.

Is this really what we want to be known for as a culture? Sure, we send jobs overseas all the time; and, sure, some of those jobs are making Levi's and Converse. But isn't it time we stopped the insanity while there are still a few American designs conceivably made stateside—a few aesthetic benchmarks to which we can cling, and stuff in our back pockets next to an orange nylon Velcro wallet trimmed in brown, with a huge, red Edelbrock logo silk-screened on it?

Yes. Yes, it is. Besides, this thing is the worst lint roller ever; the sheets stick together, and they're impossible to tear off one at a time. But now I'm spoiling Sunday's “A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney”—and his flying carpet graphic would've been perfect to reuse in a segment on lint rollers. Sorry about that.

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