August 10th, 2004, 2:43 am

Observations on Watching Cable TV

Visiting my parents in Arizona, I’ve gotten a chance to catch up on the reality of television nowadays; I’ve managed to stay away from it in my real life. (Cheaper and saner, my friends.) I have a few observations:

1. The band ‘Chronic Future,’ whose video I just saw on MTV, went to my high school — and they were several years younger than me. Rumor at the time of their initial success was that one of them had a rich daddy in the industry; no idea if that is indeed true.
2. The new ad for Hummers is kinda cool. Not that I support them, but it’s worth checking out. (Hummer.com/hummer world/tv commercials/evolution)
3. And in stupid beauty products, a new four-blade razor from Old Spice: High Endurance H.E. 4×4 All Terrain Shaver. Runs a tagline “Four high-performance blades and four LubeZones are what you need for maximum shaving horsepower.” It sounds dumb, and it is. But apparently men are now buying into marketing hype just like us ladies. Reports Drug Store News (clumsily), “Retail sales of men’s skin care products alone have nearly tripled in the last 10 years, according to market research firm Kline & Co. Last year, the category, which includes men’s shaving, after-shaves and face care, totaled $300 million — excluding Wal-Mart — according to ACNielsen data provided through Beiersdorf, the maker of Nivea for Men.”