Surveillance Photos

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that someone using the pseudonym C Meredith Heuer has been taking surveillance photos of me whilst I am out and about doing the routine things I do. I am rather disturbed by this turn of events.

Mason gave me two things yesterday:

1. the name Blogs with a Fist
2. the assignment to write about Indy Jones' hat

Two-dollar Mason, I will attempt to do you proud.

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What do we know about the Indy Jones hat?

• Harrison Ford expressed a fair amount of ire at whoever came up with the idea of putting Indiana Jones in the tropical rainforest wearing a felt fedora.
• The fedora used in Raiders of the Lost Ark was produced by the Herbert Johnson Hat Shop and was based on a Brazilian line of hats by an unknown manufacturer. The fedora used in Raiders is different than the fedoras used in the other films. It had a wider brim along with a high, tight pinch and center dent.
• In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Herbert Johnson couldn't supply the Brazilian so they substituted a Barsalino fedora. Also, Stetson secured merchandising rights and there are about as many hats used in Temple as there are shots featuring the hat. During the 1984 release of Temple Paramount sold Indiana Jones hats at the theaters.
• By the time Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out, Stetson had let their licensing on the fedora expire. The hats provided by Herbert Johnson were the Barsalino. The "official" hat was the lowend Dorfman Pacific fedora, which Disney pawns off on tourists. It has a smaller snap brim with an untapered crown and non bashed look.
• Personally, I own a hat modeled after the Raiders fedora and one modeled after the Crusade fedora. My preference is the Raiders.