Disclosure: Sponsored Post

Click to see all of the posts in my Gillette Pro series.

Let’s talk about the battle of the sexes, shall we? Not in the traditional sense, as in “men are better than women” or “women are better than men,” because that’s just not a road I’m willing to go down. I mean, I’m married: by definition, that means that any answer I give is the wrong one unless it matches the one given by my wife. No, in this case, I’m talking about the way men and women battle against body hair and how differently they tend to spend their money.

For instance, when was the last time you bought a new razor? And when you bought it, how much did you spend on it? I asked my wife how long ago she suspected it was that I bought my last razor, and while she didn’t know specifically, she was at least confident that it wasn’t in 2010.

“I’m sure it’s been at least a year,” she said. “All I know is that the last one got so gross-looking that I thought it was going to fall apart. I’ve had four or five since then! Guys tend to get a good razor and keep it for years. Women don’t have that. There are very few razors for women that aren’t disposable, but guys get a razor, and they stick with it for the long haul.”

She’s right…well, except for the bit about non-disposable razors for women. (What, like you didn’t think I’d throw in a plug for the Gillette Venus?) But when I buy a razor, I’ve always stuck to the basics, and when I buy a razor, I use it ‘til it falls apart. I’ve never had any problems with these tendencies…or, at least, I hadn’t until I invited my wife into this discussion.

I knew that bringing her into the conversation was going to be like traversing a minefield…and it was: when I first brought up the topic of shaving, she cut me a look that said, “If you’re suggesting that my legs aren’t smooth enough, I’m going to slug you.” Once we got over that hump, though, she made some very interesting observations about how men are beginning to reevaluate the importance of shaving. By her theory, it may have something to do with a certain television show about 1950s ad men…not that we’re naming any names.

“You know how those guys go to the barber shop and get a straight-razor shave, get lathered up, have a hot towel placed on their face, and all that stuff?” she asked me. “I’m sorry, but that is a man facial! Men used to place a lot of importance in a good, clean shave. But, sweetie, grunge is over, and now’s your chance to get some of the same feelings that guys in the ‘50s used to get, but in the privacy of your own home.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I look back at that comment, it translates into, “Sweetie, you have my permission to spend as much money as you want on a quality razor, shaving gel, and anything else you think will make your face look good and feel good.” (Thanks, honey.)

When you think about it, it does make sense: given how rarely I replace my razors, there’s no real reason why I shouldn’t take some of the money I’ve saved and buy a really, really good one…possibly a Gillette Fusion ProGlide, he remarked, as casually as his contractual obligations would allow. You should, however, plan on me keeping that razor for at least a year, maybe longer. I’m resigned to some change, but, damn, I can’t change everything.

I don’t think that men will ever place quite the same importance on shaving as women do. I mean, even my wife admits, “Women are more high maintenance than men to begin with, so it stands to reason that they’d be that way about their shaving!” Try to imagine a guy walking into a grocery store or pharmacy, looking through the dozens of shaving creams and gel and selecting one based on color, scent, and other chemical attributes, then looking at the specific properties of the razors, then contemplating the type of moisturizer to use afterwards. I’m not saying that guys don’t do all of those things – a lot of us certainly do – but if you checked the average amount of time each gender spends on the selection process, the time spent by women is a heck of a lot longer.

With that said, though, if I’m going to spend a bit more money to look and feel my best during and after my shave, the least I can do is take the time to make sure I’m getting a product that’ll leave me feeling that I’ve gotten my money’s worth, right?

Ah, forget it. I’ll just let my wife pick something out for me.

It was a beautiful day at my house recently back when I received a package from Frito-Lay of snacks to try and review right here. I had already found their Doritos Burn Flavor chips locally and I’m craving them again as we speak. Anyway, I offered to review some other Frito-Lay snacks that I hadn’t tried. And here they are, in no particular order:

Funyun’s Flamin’ Hot Onion Flavored Rings–Another extension of the Frito-Lay “Flamin’ Hot” franchise, complete with the red glow that works its way onto your fingers as you eat them. I love Funyun’s, and I love spicy food, so this was a slam dunk for me. I could probably eat 10 bags of these right now.

Chee-tos Giant cheese puffs–If Eric Cartman were a real person, he would eat these. We’re talking balls that measure one inch (some more) around, that for some folks would require two bites. The novelty alone was worth trying them for, but it’s not like you’ll want to sit around and munch on these. They taste fine, but when you eat the smaller variety, you get more cheese flavor all around.

Chee-tos Mighty Zingers Sharp Cheddar & Salsa Picante–Unlike the Giant puffs, these are the “fried” variety of Chee-tos. The “sharp cheddar” flavor are indeed nicely cheesy with just a bit more sharp bite than regular Chee-tos. And the salsa picante ones, which are the same color as the Flamin’ Hot snacks, have a hint of cheese but a more prominent salsa flavor–and an authentic one at that, in which you can taste both tomato and a hint of onion and hot peppers. Together these two flavors in one bag go together like peanut butter and jelly. No joke!

Lay’s brand Kettle Cooked Jalapeno Flavor Chips–Well, I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of kettle cooked (i.e. extra crispy) potato chips. But hey, if I had a choice, I’d still rather eat a chip than a stalk of broccoli. So I dug in to these, and while they have a super crunch and a nice jalapeno spice, there is too much onion powder in these chips that overpowers them. Not only that, after eating a nice handful, I had onion breath and dry mouth for the rest of the day.

Doritos Late Night Tacos at Midnight Tortilla Chips–If you, like me, are old enough to remember when Doritos first came out, this one will take you back. Back then (I think maybe in the ’70’s?), they had plain corn, taco flavor and nacho cheese. And my favorite by far was the taco flavor, which they stopped making after a while, brought back and then stopped making again. Now it’s back disguised as this “Late Night” version, which is every bit as good as the original Taco flavor and then some. In fact, you can almost close your eyes here and feel like you’re eating a fast food taco. And we all know how great those taste after a few beers, so the “Late Night” tag on these is an arrow through the hearts and taste buds of those who troll the convenience store aisles late at night. Seriously though, these chips are just awesome, even in the middle of the day.

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did eating and writing. But I don’t know how that’s possible, so go try some!

When you think of Harley-Davidson, you probably think of cruisers with custom pipes, black leather and biker bars. Harleys are the classic American bike, and tonight the company will unveil its latest, the XR1200X.

The Harley-Davidson XR1200X breaks from contemporary Harley design and embraces the company’s racing roots. The bike is all black, including a blacked-out powertrain and exhaust and black wheels, leaving nothing to polish after a hard day’s ride. The XR1200X is aggressive enough to attract Bubba Blackwell and Seth Enslow, two extreme riders that both pulled off full flips on an early edition of the new Harley.

The XR1200X is being unveiled tonight at 6:30 PM CT in Harley-Davidson’s hometown, Milwaukee. The bike will be available at dealerships later this summer for $11,799.

“Get Him to the Greek” could easily become this summer’s “The Hangover,” a rollicking comedy filled with enough laughs to keep you out of the heat for an hour and 49 minutes. Bob Westal at our entertainment blog, Premium Hollywood, had a chance to catch up with the cast from the “Get Him to the Greek” as well as the film’s director, Nicholas Stoller.

“The big movements of this story really locked into place pretty quickly,” Stoller said. “I knew that I wanted to go to London, New York, Vegas and LA. I knew it needed to end with a threesome. There were like a few things I knew very early on — ‘I’m building towards this threesome, how do we get there? Really, every movie should end with a threesome. That’s my comedy theory — it’s in Syd Field’s Screenplay. ”

There you have it. Three of the world’s greatest cities, two of comedy’s funniest people, and a director (who’s not in porn, mind you) who just came out and said his whole film is “building towards this threesome.” Check out our “Get Him to the Greek” review to see how Stoller pulled together the summer’s first solid comedy.

Who wants a hot blonde bouncing around in a tight dress? That’s what we thought.

We’ve been putting “Stadium Love” on playlists and mix discs since Metric’s (awesome) album Fantasies dropped last year, and the band finally made a proper music video featuring, surprise, all of the animals Emily Haines mentions in the song. Wait until you get to the shot of the python attacking the lion. Holy cow.

If we’re being honest, we could watch Haines dance all day long. Note to females everywhere: dance like this, and you will get noticed. Can’t wait to see her do it in person at Lollapalooza.