Dash out.

Not much time this morning, so let’s dig up a little snack platter of linkage, shall we? There is much to discuss:

The Center for Automotive Research said the bailout of GM and Chrysler saved more than 1 million jobs, and today’s GM IPO will return more than $13 billion to American taxpayers. (Thanks, American taxpayers!) Imagine the last two years with 1.14 million more people out of work. I’d be shooting squirrels out of the trees, like in “Winter’s Bone.”

It’s deer season in Michigan! Let’s check out the buck pole!

Kittens with kitten filling. And purring.

For locals and tourists only, Jim Griffioen from Sweet Juniper has the best Detroit guide evah. I’ve been to most of these places, and now I want to go back.

And with that, I have to run. Sorry, it’s been one of those mornings.

Posted at 8:53 am in Current events, Popculch |
 

69 responses to “Dash out.”

  1. Bob (not Greene) said on November 18, 2010 at 9:21 am

    What I don’t get about hunting is that it’s not so much “hunting” but sitting up in a tree stand waiting to get lucky. “Hunting” implies some sort of activity. Simply staying awake doesn’t seem like a big thrill. You might as well call it “fishing.”

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  2. Mark P. said on November 18, 2010 at 9:33 am

    We live next to a college with one of the largest campuses in the world, and it is overrun with deer. We routinely see them lying by the highway, hit while crossing the road. I sometimes see them grazing like cattle in a herd, right next to the cattle the school keeps. They are definitely overpopulated, so I can understand, in a purely intellectual way, why it might be good to thin the herd by hunting (and yes, sitting in a tree waiting for a deer to walk by is hardly hunting). But I still can’t see why anyone would actually want to do it.

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  3. coozledad said on November 18, 2010 at 9:33 am

    What with sweet-thang there in the orange hog-washers, getting lucky in the tree stand might be as exciting as riding out a hurricane in a mizzen top.
    Shooo! Dot. Take off them tree climbers!

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  4. 4dbirds said on November 18, 2010 at 10:28 am

    It is the time of year where we read and hear about friends and family members accidently shooting each other while hunting. Of course to balance this out (so everything is even steven) there are accidents in slaughterhouses.

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  5. nancy said on November 18, 2010 at 10:34 am

    I have zero problem with hunting, at long as it produces art like this.

    “Hog-washers” — I’m still snickering.

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  6. ROgirl said on November 18, 2010 at 10:56 am

    Now I know what a deer pole is. I thought it had something to do with a stripper pole, but stringing up animal carcasses around a metal pole didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Thanks for the enlightenment on a part of Michigan life that has eluded me for so many years.

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  7. Deborah said on November 18, 2010 at 11:00 am

    Coozledad what’s a “mizzen top”?

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  8. coozledad said on November 18, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Deborah: The platform on the top third of the rearmost mast of a three masted ship. I think.
    EDIT: We’ve got someone out here hunting at 2:30AM. I figure it’s someone who’s either starving, or a complete asshole. Who fires a high powered rifle at anything when it’s pitch dark?

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  9. adrianne said on November 18, 2010 at 11:34 am

    Remember, wear those blaze orange vests when you venture out in the Hudson Valley this weekend, else you’ll be mistaken for a 12-point buck.

    Happy hunting!

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  10. Sue said on November 18, 2010 at 11:50 am

    Deer pole? What, they didn’t have a tree in their front yard to hang it on, gutted? That’s what they do around here, although this year I think it’s going to be a little too warm to keep the carcass up long.
    Ok, here’s a synopsis of an actual conversation that took place in my back yard a few weeks back. The speakers are a kindergartener and a second grader, my next door neighbor girlfriends who like to help people all over the neighborhood, no matter what they are doing. They were speaking to my son and my nephews who were cleaning some fish.
    “Can I touch the eye?”
    “That’s not very much blood. Lou [neighbor on their other side] had a lot more blood when he was cutting up his deer.” [bowhunting season was on at the time, Lou sets up a table in his driveway so he’s near the hose]
    “Yeah, when he cut the leg off he let us shake hands with the hoof.”

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  11. beb said on November 18, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    With that, Sue, I’ve lost my appetite.

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  12. Sue said on November 18, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    Well then, beb, you are obviously not a little girl from Wisconsin.

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  13. coozledad said on November 18, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    Who says there aren’t any jobs out there?
    http://roanoke.craigslist.org/spo/1996007500.html

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  14. prospero said on November 18, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    Haven’t seen Detroit in 35 years, but the city guide has got me running all over town on Google. MIA: Greektown, UD High and Louis the Hatter. Is the Grande still standing?

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  15. nancy said on November 18, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    It’s Henry the Hatter you’re thinking of, Prospero — still alive and well and outfitting Kid Rock.

    And the Grande still stands, but is in pretty serious disrepair. Closed and awaiting the inevitable, most likely.

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  16. Sue said on November 18, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    This is a good day to ask a question like this, since Nancy’s busy…
    Why am I weirded out by Kate wearing Diana’s engagement ring? Is it because the royal family recycles these baubles like hand-me-downs? Or because it appears cheap in a “I don’t want to spend the money, so here’s a very expensive ring not chosen with you in mind” way? Or because it was originally chosen by someone who did not actually love the recipient? Or because if this marriage fails, the ring will get a ‘curse of the hope diamond’ kind of rep?
    For most women an engagement ring is one of the most important symbols in a marriage, and it’s not unusual to offer an heirloom ring with the current bride’s blessing. But I saw that ring and went ‘ick’.

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  17. Jolene said on November 18, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    I found the use of Diana’s ring awkward too, Sue. To William, it’s apparently a reminder of someone he loved, but, to me, it’s a reminder of a spectacularly unhappy marriage.

    In general, though, I find the use of a family ring appealing–a way to bring important people from the past into the future. To me, the connotation is of specialness, not cheapness/

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  18. 4dbirds said on November 18, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    Who knows what royalty thinks but here’s another perspective:

    Williams knows his mother was cherished by the British people and want his bride to have that love so he gave her something that belonged to his mother. Also the meme was that Diana was a splendid mother who adored her children and they loved her and he wanted to honor his mother by giving the future Queen of England his mother’s ring.

    Me? I don’t do diamonds and gems. They are overpriced and if one ever tries to sell them they get nothing for them.

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  19. Connie said on November 18, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    The previous occupant of my desk left behind a Henry the Hatter business card. You can check them out at http://www.henrythehatterdetroit.com .

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  20. nancy said on November 18, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Put me in the pro-ring camp. Diana’s ill-fated rock is still a gorgeous sparkler with the added benefit of something I’ve long advocated — a colored gemstone engagement ring, rather than a diamond. Screw those DeBeers jerks and their propaganda. Blue is a good color on Miss Kate.

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  21. paddyo' said on November 18, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    Cooz, I gotta get me one of them refrigitors that the hunt camp boyz have waiting for their “lady cook.”

    Seriously? I wonder what kind of replies, if any, they got to their want ad . . .

    On another topic: Saw this on Romenesko this a.m. and wondering what the Blogmistress’s take is. I’ve run across “Patch” from time to time on the ‘Net but didn’t know if was an AOL brand, out to take out home-grown hyper-local news sites everywhere . . .

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  22. prospero said on November 18, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    There was a store right near Seven Mile and Livernois in the late 60s called Louis the Hatter, a few blocks from the Chessmate, a fantastic blues club where you were frisked at the door and John Lee and occasionally cousin Earl were fixtures . Unlike Henry, Louis was a black enterprise extablishment.

    Louis ran unintentionally hilarious TV ads of the homemade variety, about “ruby suits, plum suits, lime suits, lemon suits”, all very sharp continental styling like Marvin Gaye and David Ruffin would wear. I still own an iridescent plum and gold paisley necktie from Louis. We had to wear ties to school, and sthe store was right down the street past the Fabulous Modern bakery, exquisite bagels $.50/ two gor $.99 (no kidding). Despite having the best swimming team in the history of Michigan HS sports, we had no pool, and bussed out to Oakland U at 7pm every school night. So we pretty much ran wild in that neighborhood. It ain’t Oldtimers yet. And the short-term memory made a comeback back when pot got to be about $125 per quarter oz.

    Anyway, what about the Grande?

    And y’all like kittens? here are some kittens fo you.

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  23. Rana said on November 18, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    I like the idea of the family ring… for other people. I wore an engagement ring (ruby) that had belonged to my godmother while we were engaged, but I was so happy when I could swap it out for my wedding band. The little bugger got caught on everything. Some people can wear ornate jewelry; I am not one of them.

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  24. Joe Kobiela said on November 18, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Sue,
    I am waiting out a charter in Beutiful Merrill Wisc today. Nice little town,up north of Mosinee, went for a run and used a day pass at their fitness center to take a sauna and shower then had lunch in a little downtown sandwich shop. How close am I to you?
    Pilot Joe

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  25. Sue said on November 18, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    Far, far away. Give me a call if you ever land at the local airport and I’ll take you to lunch at the biggest bar in Wisconsin.
    http://ci.hartford.wi.us/airport.htm
    http://mineshaftrestaurant.com/

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  26. bobolink said on November 18, 2010 at 2:44 pm

    I have to go back and check, but my initial reading of the Will and Kate ring led me to believe it was a replica, not the “real thing”. I like the sentiment, but it takes many, many steps back when the ring is a replica. no continuity of spirit …

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  27. Deborah said on November 18, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    Here’s an engagement ring story for you: my ex and I had conversations in college when we were planning to marry about what kind of engagement ring was appropriate. I was not a fan of diamonds because of the politics and violence that they represent (in Africa). So we had talked about an emerald instead which turned out to be mega expensive. So my ex’s mother offered her mother’s simple tiffany setting diamond which I thought was lovely and since we weren’t purchasing a new diamond it seemed perfectly OK. Fast forward 7 or 8 years later, my ex’s brother mentioned in a phone conversation that he wanted to propose to his girlfriend but found that the cost of a diamond ring was way beyond his budget. So my ex on the spot without consulting me offered my ring and his brother accepted. When my ex told me about it I was flabbergasted that he would do that but felt that since it had come from his family I had no say in the matter. Way later it came out in marriage counseling how hurt I had been by that. So my dumb ex went out and bought me a diamond to “replace” it. But that turned out to be a ring he bought from a friend who’s girlfriend had turned the friend down. My ex got a super deal on it and bragged about that fact to me. Needless to say, it’s one of the reason’s he’s my ex. Totally insensitive among other things. I gave that ring to my daughter after the divorce and she promptly pawned it which was fine with me.

    edit: re-reading this I realize it sounds like my ex gave my ring away after we were divorced. Not the case, he gave it away while we were married, way before marital problems came to light (they were deep inside though at least from my perspective, especially after that)

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  28. MichaelG said on November 18, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    It’s good and green for William to use his mom’s ring. You know, recycling. As an alternate, he could always pick up something nice at Zale’s. I’m sure they’d give him credit.

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  29. MichaelG said on November 18, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    Deborah, did he ever give you a vacuum cleaner for Christmas?

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  30. Jolene said on November 18, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    Good line, MichaelG. And it is, in fact, his mother’s ring, bobolink–not a replica.

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  31. Julie Robinson said on November 18, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    Kate’s dress was indeed a lovely frame for the ring, but Rana is right, it is too big/ornate for wearing everyday. Okay, maybe not for princesses. But could you imagine how hard most tasks would be when your hand was weighed down with that thing?

    Deborah, that is a staggering tale of insensitivity. I’m glad for you that you aren’t with him anymore.

    The morning after my husband proposed he called to say he thought he had done it wrong since he hadn’t presented me with a ring. I told him I thought it would have more meaning if we picked it out together. Since my tastes in rings are very simple I’m glad we had that chance.

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  32. Dorothy said on November 18, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    I came home sick from work this morning (lightheaded feelings, nothing too serious but I enjoyed a nap) and just found out they found the bodies of the missing women and 11 year old boy, related to the 13 year old girl who was found alive on Sunday morning in Mount Vernon. This community has been consumed by this story for almost a week now and I’m glad it’s finally been solved. It’s a tragedy for sure, but I’m hoping now that I won’t have to suffer the ramblings of a few members of my department who have been spending untold hours discussing the possible scenarios, where to search for the bodies, etc.

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  33. Little Bird said on November 18, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    Deborah’s ex did indeed give her a vacuum cleaner one year!
    Along with an iron for some holiday, and quite a few other stupid things over the years.
    This is the same man that gave me an alarm clock and wrapped the batteries separately in ever smaller boxes. He joked (after he remarried) that he learned what not to do with Deborah.
    No, he and I aren’t especially close.
    And I didn’t pawn the ring IMMEDIATELY! I had it a few years.

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  34. 4dbirds said on November 18, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    Wow Deborah, he gave away your ring? I think that takes the cake. I had a co-worker who gave his wife vacuum bags for their first anniversary. You know the paper anniversary. It was a joke and they were very happy. She later died at 26 from cancer but they did have two lovely girls when she was in remission. Funny how these thoughts connect and take me down a different path.

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  35. nancy said on November 18, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    I asked Alan for a Scumbuster for Valentine’s Day one year. Actually, I asked for it three years’ running, before he finally figured out I wasn’t kidding and gave it to me.

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  36. Sue said on November 18, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Valentine’s Day this year: Hockey game. I believe cheesy nachos were also involved, possibly a pretzel.
    It was very nice, but then I’m the kind of person who would laugh if I had to look romantically into my husband’s eyes.

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  37. MichaelG said on November 18, 2010 at 5:19 pm

    I just googled Scumbuster. They’re expensive. How does it relate to Valentine’s day? I’ve got that “my finger is being pulled feeling”.

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  38. nancy said on November 18, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    They’re not *that* expensive, are they? Like, well below $50? I just wanted something to make cleaning the fucking bathroom easier. When you clean someone’s bathroom, that is a labor of love, let me tell you. The least he can do is make it easier.

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  39. MaryRC said on November 18, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Dorothy, what a sad ending to that story — but not unexpected by now, I guess.

    Worse present ever? A friend’s boyfriend gave her a silver polishing kit. A home-made kit at that, including a box of Borax. Nothing about her has ever suggested to anyone that she would either be interested in owning silver or care in the slightest about keeping it polished. An ex-boyfriend of mine used to give me teddy bears and I am not a teddy-bear collector but other than that, I can’t complain.

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  40. MichaelG said on November 18, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    Well, OK, but I still can’t see the Valentine’s connection. I just pour in a shit load of clorox, swizzle it around, come back in a few hours and flush. Don’t piss on the clorox. Also, I’m the only one who uses the potties. I have two.

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  41. moe99 said on November 18, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    The ex gave me a vacuum cleaner our last Christmas together. It was a used one from his mother’s ‘estate’ (to be honest she was quite poor when she died). Should have figured it out because that was the same Christmas he went out and bought himself nice, new fancy underwear.

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  42. brian stouder said on November 18, 2010 at 7:41 pm

    moe, I confess – you got me laughing when you said you should have figured it out when the ex bought himself “nice, new fancy underwear”!

    Good God almighty!! If Pam caught me in flagrante delicto, it couldn’t possibly be a more clear indicator that something was amiss (so to speak), than if I announced I was gonna run to the store and buy some fancy underwear!!

    I honestly cannot say that I’ve ever bought my own underwear, let alone “fancy” knickers!!

    Anyway – and for the record, I am NOT laughing at you, but only at him!!

    edit: for the foodies around here, let me just say that the day was grey and there is a chill in the air and the leaves are mostly gone…and our 15 year old high school student very happily peeled and sliced potatoes and carrots, and composed a very pleasant vegetable soup (also using partial bags of frozen corn and peas & so on, and broth and ground beef and bay leaves and other things I know nothing about) – leaving everyone happy and warm. He really likes his Practical Life course (what we used to call Home Ec), and so do I

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  43. Jolene said on November 18, 2010 at 7:59 pm

    Was just reading an article re L. Murkowski’s write-in victory in Alaska. Among other things, the article attributed her success to clever ads about how to write in her name. I clicked on a couple. Thought this one was very cute.

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  44. coozledad said on November 18, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    I finally figured out the only thing that will clean the toilet here is muriatic acid. I don’t know if it’s just hard water, or the corpses in the old family cemetery are beginning to leach into the aquifer and cause problems.
    The tap water tastes fine. We even use it to make seltzer, and you can’t see chunks in it when you hold it up to the light.
    I should probably make a large mandala of sand and pray for the integrity of our ancient cast-iron pipes.

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  45. Dexter said on November 18, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    I don’t get to Detroit much anymore but two places I enjoyed that are gone are the once famous Lindell AC on Cass, and the Left Field Cafe on Michigan.
    The Lindell was a lively place when owners Jimmy or John Butsicaris were there. This was Detroit’s most famous bar and The Billy Goat Tavern was / is famous in Chicago and they both served paper-thin cheeseburgers. I wondered why they made them with less meat than a White Castle slider.
    http://d-townballer.blogspot.com/2007/01/not-really-problems-opportunities.html

    The Lindell was levelled four years ago.
    I really liked the old Left Field Cafe on Michigan because of the beef-barley soup they served. This place was clean and shiny and homey, friendly staff, and great diner food. It only lasted a short time. Man, that soup was so damn great.
    The list nance posted here makes me realize how out-of-touch I am with today’s Detroit. It seems that my Detroit trips are only to pick up my kids and grandkids at Metro. Love that cell phone lot. Very thoughtful.

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  46. brian stouder said on November 18, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    Jolene, that was a superb little campaign commercial.

    When I googled the phrase “in flagrante delicto” (in order to spell it correctly; it was “research”, I tell ya!) this odd video presented itself.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSCPL0e7498

    What struck me was, it’s pretty old (30 years or so?) yet it looks strangely familiar. Then it hit me that it’s very like those Asian Airways commercials, and the Pomegranate juice commercials

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  47. LAMary said on November 18, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    I’m catching up after surrendering to the cold variation that’s going around. First of all, I remember when Nancy got the scumbuster and she was genuinely happy.
    Deborah and Moe, there’s a reason they’re exes. I am reminded of this all the time.
    And a follow up from yesterday, Bristol is indeed rude in Cockney rhyming slang. Bristol City is a soccer team. City rhymes with titty, so one could say, “that one’s got a nice pair of bristols.” Ergo, SP named her daughter Tit.

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  48. brian stouder said on November 18, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    I think we’re just milking the situation for laughs, now; and in any case, I prefer “boobs” to “tits” (and SP is surely a boob)

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  49. coozledad said on November 18, 2010 at 8:37 pm

    LA Mary: Just wait. They’ll name at least one of the new sprog “Berk”.

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  50. LAMary said on November 18, 2010 at 8:49 pm

    As in Berkshire Hunt?

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  51. coozledad said on November 18, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    Apparently Belvoir would work too. Belvoir Pemmican Palin.

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  52. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2010 at 9:01 pm

    MaryRC, was it a teddy bear holding a heart?

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  53. Linda said on November 18, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    A little roundup of commentary:
    I love colored engagement rings, too, and the sapphire ring of Di’s is the bomb. Good for Kate.

    Bob (not Greene) and Mark P.:
    Sitting in one place waiting for a prey animal to walk by is NOT boring if it means you have a socially acceptable way to dodge your job/spouse/responsibilities for awhile.

    The Detroit guide is mind-blowing in that it described the neighborhood where I grew up as Poletown/Urban Prarie. Although that’s what I thought the last time I visited.

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  54. Holly said on November 18, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    I was at my sister Sue’s house in Wisconsin a few years back. I was at a gas station when 3 pickups pulled into the lot. All the sudden they start pulling deer out of the back of the trucks and tossing them on the ground. The 3 guys start dividing up who was going to get what deer. Then they just tossed their deer into their trucks like this was a normal thing to do. They did this at a gas station. I also remember looking out Sue’s living room window and seeing deer hanging from trees in her neighbors front yard.

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  55. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    My wife asked for, and got, a peridot engagement ring (our mutual birthstone). Men, websearch the cost of a big, pretty faceted peridot, and then . . . try not to hate me.

    I think the gorgeous one in her band cost $8. Today, to replace the same, about $12.

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  56. prospero said on November 18, 2010 at 11:38 pm

    Nancy? Seriously? You were not there in the day, when Detroit was in play. You can sit in the Grosses deCades removed and act like you know dick. You don.t. My summer job was incinerating dedx black guys ‘there were a lot of them.

    In ’68 it was all about tagging black enterprise and burning down everything else. Cops were so corrupt it was scary. Cops were out of control. They actually terorixed my mom and dad and pulled some bullshit aboutBill Scollin. You could look that shit up.

    But the Grande, I’m not going for some self-aggrandizement. Warch those videos. They are really good.

    But really, Nancy, if you ignore Louis the Hatter and University of Detroit, you are ignoring Spencer Heywood trashing Bob Lanier, the greatest basketball game in thd city’s history. My brothers and I barely saw the first half because the chlorine from the Warren pool rendered us nearly blind. Spencer Heywood destroyed Bob Lanier.

    Far as Michigan HS swimming, UD High is ridiculously good. My brothers and I, and the Duffields, and the Tarnases, we kicked ass. Year in and year out. We were just better. You can look this up, and we didn;t even have our own pool.

    But anway, Nancy, there was a real Louis the Hatter. It was Detroit. I tell you Grosse Pointe folks just have no clue abou.I take your Detroitism fairly. In the late 60s the music was so good it was all ridiculous. Believe me, I was there. MC5 and SRC ruled. Quackenbush sustain was as good as Sonic and Brother
    Wayne Kramer. It was about really knowing how to play. Everybody thought Iggy was an embarrassment to his dad.

    In retrospect, there is Black to Comm and there are all of the SRC albums, and Iggy is sort of OK. From somebody that was there. The Ashtons, they could not play to save their lives. Sonic and Fred Kramer, holy shit, you cannot play bet ter.Quackenbush. that is identifiable and unmistakable, like Robin Trower and Jimi. It’s truly astounding and one of a kind. Sustain but actual notes. Nobofy since knows how to do that. And every song is a sci-fi novel.

    So nobody back in the day thought Iggy wasn’t an asshole that didn’t care about anyything but embarrassing his dad. We all thought he was an asshole.

    We lived with stunning occurrences. One night, Procul showed up at the Birmingham Teen Center. They played all of Salty Dog. That is fairly awesome. One of the greatest albums ever lived, I’d say. Had not been released yet. Back then, shit like this happened. Gary Brooker bought me a coke at the snack bar, because I told him I thought
    Homburg was brilliant. Really nice guy and I can’t understand why he ouldn’t get alomg with Matthew Fisher.

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  57. Mark P. said on November 19, 2010 at 8:34 am

    Linda, I didn’t say that sitting in a tree stand waiting for a deer to walk by so you can shoot it is boring. I said it was not hunting. But I think it would be pretty boring, too. I would prefer a walk in the woods to a sit in a tree. But not during hunting season. Anything moving in the woods during hunting season looks like a deer to some hunters.

    I don’t mean to tar all hunters with the same brush. I know several people who hunt, and although I don’t understand why they do it, I’m quite sure they are responsible. But I see the result of hunters all the time and “responsible” is not what I would call it. Just on the short road to our house I have seen three deer carcasses this fall. Apparently the hunter shoots the deer, takes a little meat from it, and then tosses the rest on the side of the road. A game warden I knew told me years ago that a poacher left a deer carcass in her driveway as a challenge. But maybe it happens here so often because I live in a red(neck) state.

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  58. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 19, 2010 at 9:13 am

    The cool thing about hunting, for many hunters, is the realization of what happens in the forest when you stop moving around, and the surroundings edit you back out. It becomes, again, a busy place full of life in motion, and there’s a vitality and activity in the middle of the stillness that triggers a very reflective and engaged state of mind, not too different from many forms of meditation, and is even a bit addictive.

    Granted, of course, you can go out into the woods and stop and sit (or even go up in a tree stand) and have that experience — it’s the heart of what we have older Scouts do when they earn Environmental Science merit badge (an Eagle required MB). But most hunters go out into their target area multiple times to see the movement and the patterns, without weapon, without firing. The shot, and the kill/harvest, and the preparation of the carcass, are the culmination but not the sum total of what the hunting experience is about.

    Anyhow, that’s the biggest difference between a “walk in the woods” and what most hunting is like. The hunting part is, itself, about the stillness, and then the moment you take the buck, or the turkey, or the duck.

    Never hunted myself, but I know plenty of hunters in this area, and their accounts are very consistent around these themes. Guys who are like the crew in “The Deer Hunter,” tossing beer cans and tromping about shouting: for those they have the utmost contempt.

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  59. Mark P. said on November 19, 2010 at 9:42 am

    Jeff, that sounds very conflicted to me. All the quiet meditation and appreciation of the natural life of the forest, and then you kill something. Not for food. Not for survival. For sport. Simply for the sake of killing it.

    As I said, I don’t understand why anyone does it. There may be some who have to hunt for food, if you believe Winter’s Bone is an accurate reflection of some lives, but it’s simply not true of most hunters.

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  60. MaryRC said on November 19, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    Jeff, no, although one bear had a balloon. But the bears all came with candy, so … no complaints from me.

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  61. prospero said on November 19, 2010 at 9:21 pm

    And that garbage about Charlie Rangel and rent control? Can you hike that Appalachhian Trail to CStreet? 25% of going rentals and informing Ensign of how to evade IRA scrutiny with his gifts.

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  62. prospero said on November 19, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    Rest assured. Most of the damage done in deer season is these redneck yahoos falling out of tree-stands drunk as lords, or shit, whichever you prefer. My dad used to work an ER in Newton Co. GA. There was a parachute school nearby. Dead splatted rednecks outnumbered deer. Treestands come with 12-pak holders. These idiots always get loaded and fall out.

    Here on our island (Hilton Head, y’all) people dislike deer because they claim the cervine population eats their azaleas (seriously, what sort of asshole do you have to be?), so there is support for culling the herd. Nambu-Pamby folks made Save the SeaPines Deer bumper stickers. My girlfriend and I opted for Arm the Sea Pines Deer tshirts. Upright buck with a carbine. We’d like to see them shooting back at blue-haired shitheels that haven’t got enough sense to plant the 97% percent of azaleas deer wouldn’t eat if you held a .22 to their heads. What the hell is wrong with people?

    I actually know. They are dumber than a box of Joe Millers, or Dino Rossis, or, you know, conservative assholes that got their butts embarrassed. And how does Sarah swing this? She was made out to be a total asshole in her home state. The vote was not actually close,

    Joe was an idiot on policy, which was of course right up Palin’s alley. His supporters were out and out thugs. Ditto. He tried his best to look like Sonny Crockett, but Rico Cooper would not hang with this neo-nazi asshole in a million years.

    If there is a Palin story in the midterms, did she not crash and burn with this uncouth idiot? And why isn’t this abject failure a lede for lamestream media? Ms. Rode Hard and Put Up Wet put her folksy twang amd her legs up for grabs for this racist yahoo. How is this not a major league loss? Is Littrle Miss Runamuck running things at the NYT? Shellacking? Stunning repudiation? You cannot get more repudiated, nor more humiliated than to lose by 10.000 votes to a write-in candidate.

    What’s truly astounding is that this nitwit that bscked this backwoods bozo like it was going out of style is still considered a GOP Presidential candidate. Try Mitt, you assholes, but he’ll have to explain how he invented what passes for Obamacare. Well, you always have Huckleberry. He isn’t full-goose looney. Oh wait, he is. He staunchly believes the world is about 5,000 years old. Carbon-dating, some anti-christ made that up to hide the truth about men sharing the earth with dinosaurs.

    Fuck. Obama is assailed mercilessly from the left.

    There are morons among you that believe Matt Taibbi is the second coming and not some dickwad that could not write his way out of a Piggly Wiggly bag. Self-righteousness is the flavor of the month. Get over your fucking navel-gazing and do something. What do you assholes think he’s supposed to do in the real world where the Senate is the most anti-Democratic deliberative body that ever existed? Don’t vote for Blue Dogs. Do Not whine and stay home on election day, you worthless, sanctimonious progressive pieces of shit. That is what you did, you jerks.

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  63. prospero said on November 19, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    Honestly, if you are willing to cast a vote for someone that believes the world runs on Leviticus time, you deserve permanent disenfranchisement. Way too stupid to be allowed to vote again.

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  64. DellaDash said on November 20, 2010 at 9:57 am

    I haven’t listened to it yet, just reserved it at my library, but the audiobook ‘The Rivalry’ caught my attention because of Brian’s enthusiasm for all things Lincoln. With David Strathairn voicing young Abe debating Paul Giamatti as Stephen Douglas during the Illinois Senate race of 1858, it promises to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.

    If I can manage the linkage without too much trouble, you can listen to an excerpt, and read a review (you’ll have to scroll down a little to the ‘Audio Drama’ category to find it):

    http://www.theaudies.com/

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  65. nancy said on November 20, 2010 at 10:10 am

    What do the resident Lincolnheads think of this casting? Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in “Team of Rivals.”

    I like everything but the Steven Spielberg part. But he may surprise me. Tony Kushner’s writing the script. It could work.

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  66. DellaDash said on November 20, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Besides the chops and skeletal elongation, Day-Lewis has been getting better and better at doing American since his slightly distracting initial foray in ‘Last of the Mohicans’.

    Other Brits who do a surprisingly good job of acting like (versions of) us:

    Dominic West and Idris Elba in ‘The Wire’

    hmmm…Cate Blanchett channeling Katherine Hepburn in ‘The Aviator’ (with reservations since Hepburn sported a New Englandy/Hollywoodized pseudo-British accent)

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  67. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 20, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    Day-Lewis could play a dinette set convincingly. In fact, I think he did that off-Broadway in ’93.

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  68. DellaDash said on November 20, 2010 at 7:45 pm

    I have to add Helen Mirren in ‘Love Ranch’ to the Brits-doing-a-convincing-American list.

    On the visa-versa, Americans-doing-a-convincing-Brit list, I’d have to start with Terry Gilliam at the top, followed closely by Elizabeth George (author of the crime fiction series featuring posh Inspector Lynley).

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  69. brian stouder said on November 20, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    Well, Abraham Lincoln in a new major motion picture sounds good to me, ten times out of ten!; especially from the guy who brought us Saving Private Ryan.

    ‘Course, I always liked Sam Waterston’s Lincoln, and Hal Holbrook’s (accurate) creaky-voiced Lincoln; but it is time for a newer model.

    For the past several years (at least the last 4 years or so), whenever I’ve attended Lincoln-related events, the subject of this ethereal Spielberg movie about Lincoln comes up; and the updates are always vague and conditional (and sound like “it ain’t happening”). I asked Harold Holzer – who I had heard was directly involved* in the project – about this when the Fort Wayne Lincoln Museum still existed (I believe his lecture was on his book about Lincoln’s speech at Cooper Union, which btw is superb), and he indicated that the project was “dead”.

    So here’s hoping this project finally will come into existence

    One question always was – who will play Mary? Sally Field’s name was floating around, but by now I suppose she’s maybe a little too old.

    Anyway, I’d be first in line to watch that movie. If it is tightly edited, and if they conciously steer away from apotheosis, then it cannot help but be a tremendous movie.

    BTW – I didn’t think I’d like Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, but when I heard she was coming to Fort Wayne (years ago) to sepak about it, I bought it and read it – and it is an excellent book! She really fleshes out all the cabinet members – especially SecState Seward of New York. Now, in 2010, there are some interesting parallels between SecState Clinton of New York and him, with regard to their political trajectories and ultimate ambitions.

    *Holzer’s involvement in the project, if he still is, is a very good sign. He’s got just the right background (studying Lincoln’s public perception and iconography through the ages) to really keep the movie grounded.

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