Friday Mailbag - 11/13/20
Is it too early to put up Christmas decorations? Plus, a new "20 in 20"
Today is Friday the 13th! Wow, spooky. And Mercury may or may not be in retrograde. Who cares. Read the tea leaves, people. It’s Scorpio season.
20 in 20 EPISODE FIVE is LIVE!
For all your hard-hitting election coverage–plus my thoughts on dill weed–turn to 20 in 20, a new podcast from the New Experimental Hours Podcast Network. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout. And please let me know if your regular podcast destination isn’t carrying 20 in 20.
And don’t forget to check out this week’s N.E.H. story, “The Merch Legacy of Depeche Mode.” A couple guys clowned me on Reddit for being a Depeche newbie, but that’s to be expected, and I probably deserved it. Reach out and touch faith.
AND NOW TO THE MAILBAG…
Loyal N.E.H. reader, Jonathan, asks:
When’s the best time to start decorating for winter holidays like Christmas?
Great question, Jon. Kathy and I typically put up decorations around the second week of December. Ideally, we’d get everything up by the first week, but that almost never happens. Here’s why:
For starters, we prefer real Christmas trees. The city’s tree lots don’t seem to appear until right around Thanksgiving. Not that we’d ever put up a tree before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, though a flawed and overrated holiday, deserves its own space. The best day to put up Christmas decorations, in my opinion, is the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as Black Friday. Don’t wait in line at Best Buy like some chump. Stay home, throw on some dang Bing Crosby, and dust off the ceramic elves that have been sitting in the crawlspace all year.
Loyal N.E.H. reader, Tyler, asks:
What was thrifting like in Alaska? See any trends in what got dropped off? Fave finds?
Another great question. For those who don’t know, I lived in Juneau, AK from 2016-2019. It’s a small, strange, and very rainy town. People dress for the weather. That means raincoats, rubber boots, floppy hats, etc.. Juneau isn’t connected to any road system, meaning, you can’t just get in the car and drive to a different city. Unless you’ve got a boat or a plane ticket, you’re stuck.
Sure, Juneau has thrift stores and consignment shops, but just like “down south,” 90% of their inventory is junk. You might score a decent fleece or rain shell, but because Juneau is so isolated, people tend to wear their clothes into the ground. And you will almost certainly never unearth a Polo or Brooks Brothers grail because that stuff isn’t sold anywhere in town.
I did find a ridiculous Yellowstone longsleeve from a company called Moosejive. It’s got a real crunchy chest print and some dancing moose on the sleeve. I haven’t been able to learn much about Moosejive except that they made national parks apparel for awhile. More Moosejive grails I found on Depop:
Got a question? Feel free to comment on this post or e-mail me at newexperimentalhours@gmail.com. Thanks!
Welp, that’s it for now. So long! Have a great weekend! Wear a mask, wash your hands, cancel plans, subscribe to my OnlyFans!