... he saw a young man dressed in a bowler, cape, breeches and knee socks on the Lower East Side.When I read style pieces like this, the first thing I always think about is The Great Grunge Hoax of 1992. But then, I'm not a hipster. I'm a member of the tom-tom club.
“We’ve already seen the comeback of the butcher and the baker,” he said. “Next thing is going to be a hipster candlestick maker.”...
Country and city men alike have rediscovered old-school American brands like Filson, Orvis, L. L. Bean and Duluth Pack. Obsolete hobbies like wet-plate photography are finding new enthusiasts; long-outmoded farming practices are being revived. Even deer hunting with old-fashioned muzzleloaded rifles, which have to be loaded with gunpowder, a musket ball and a ramrod, has come back in force in some states.
November 12, 2009
"[C]urio cases, taxidermy and other stylish clutter of the Victorian era have been taken up by young hipsters..."
Jeez, I never know what to believe when I'm reading about "hipsters" in the New York Times.
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Even deer hunting with old-fashioned muzzleloaded rifles, which have to be loaded with gunpowder, a musket ball and a ramrod, has come back in force in some states.
This seems cruel.
I'm all for deer hunting, less so for deer maiming.
Taxidermy? Muzzleloaded rifles? Are you serious? This article reads like something out of The Onion. My hipster friends in college carried walkmans and cameras with actual film but this is too much...if it's even true.
Ok--what's the Tom-tom club?
For that matter, what's a hipster?
From Wikipedia:
Originally established as a side project, the Tom Tom Club comprise a loose aggregate of musicians, sound engineers and artists of the Compass Point All Stars family, including Tina Weymouth's sisters and guitarist Adrian Belew, the latter of whom toured with Weymouth and Frantz in the expanded version of Talking Heads in 1980 and 1981.
Named after the dancehall in the Bahamas where they rehearsed for the first time, the Tom Tom Club enjoyed early success in the dance club culture of the early 1980s with the hits "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood," taken from their self-titled first album released on Sire in the US and Island Records elsewhere in 1981.
"Genius of Love" has been sampled or reinterpreted by many artists, including emcee Redman, Funkdoobiest, and Mariah Carey in her hit single "Fantasy." "It's Nasty" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was one of the early hip-hop versions of the song—however, the sample was re-recorded by a live band, as was common practice at the time. Another version, "Genius Rap" (1981), by Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, was the first cover version.
Is this hip?
Bizarrely, I know a hipster antique dealer in Providence who deals in exactly this type of stylish clutter (though his personal style runs toward tennis sweaters). Unexpectedly, I've seen the zeitgeist.
I am hoping, someday, to sell the last working 35mm film camera for a fantastic price.
Puhleeeze. If the NY Times says it's hip it definitely is not. Run away, hipsters!
... he saw a young man dressed in a bowler, cape, breeches and knee socks on the Lower East Side.
A bowler, cape, and breeches? That doesn't even make sense. Even if you're wearing an old-style groundskeeper bowler thing -- something that might make sense of the breeches and kneesocks -- why would you be wearing a cape?
"Ok--what's the Tom-tom club?"
You have to do the assigned readings.
My 75 year old dad has been deer hunting with a muzzle loader for years (there's a special muzzleloading season in Wisconsin). He'll be amused to learn he's hip.
@blake: I've been told (and it makes sense) that the kill yield is higher for muzzleloaders, probably for a couple of reason. It's the accomplished hunters who do it, not the once a year yahoos, and to even consider taking a shot you need to be much closer (less range, you know you only get one shot).
Sounds like the whole "Steampunk" thing.
Hunting with muzzle-loaders is real and popular - but not with urban hipsters.
It's popular with hunters because it's another chance to hunt, in the muzzle-loader-only seasons or areas (depending on how the state in question handles it).
To be fair, there are some people out there who go for a Victorian look, some of them doing a pseudo-Steampunk riff on it... but I don't think it's sensible to suggest that "young hipsters" as a group are doing it.
I know some people who do things of that nature on occasion, and most of 'em are in their 30s or late 20s. A bit old to be "young" hipsters, which suggests early 20s to me.
In any case, it's a fringe of a fringe, not a "movement" or anything more significant.
(I also know a taxidermist, but she's a professional and prefers to play dress-up as a Viking rather than a Victorian.)
Blake, a Muzzle loaded rifle can kill a deer just as quickly as a modern rifle. They are archaic weapons, slow to load but not necessarily less effective or more cruel (and certainly no more cruel than a modern shotgun loaded with buckshot). They just require a different skill set than modern rifles.
Deer hunting with muzzle-loaders has been popular since at least the early 1980's. In South Carolina, the deer hunting season stared with a period in which you could only hunt with bow & arrow or black powder.
In high school I would go deer hunting after (and sometimes before) school. I used a modern reproduction of a "Zouave" rifle, basically the state-of-the-art military rifle of 1860. It fired a .58 Caliber "minie ball", basically a giant bullet-shaped chunk of lead. I could fire it accurately out to about 125 yards. I only killed one deer with it at about 75 yards out; it dropped like a stone.
A friend of mine's father used a flintlock rifle, which technologically was a step back to 1760. It fired a smaller-caliber round ball, but at higher velocity and flatter trajectory than the Zouave. That rifle was more accurate at longer distances than mine, though at the longer distances it lacked the knock-down power of the Zouave.
Also, Venison is tasty, especially in sausages!!
Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! Venison sausage.
and to even consider taking a shot you need to be much closer (less range, you know you only get one shot).
Not true for us Kentuckians...
They are just getting ready for the retro pre industrialized world that Obama and the Green Police want to thrust us back into. Living in the 80's......I mean 1880's
Sounds like the whole "Steampunk" thing.
Yep. Steampunk our lives.
a Muzzle loaded rifle can kill a deer just as quickly as a modern rifle. They are archaic weapons, slow to load but not necessarily less effective or more cruel (and certainly no more cruel than a modern shotgun loaded with buckshot).
What! Who shoots a deer with a shotgun? No one.
Birds yes. Deer no.
There is a group of black powder enthusiasts who come up to our area once a year for a rendevous. Purists....They dress the part too with buckskins and frontier looking clothing. It is amazing how skilled they are.
What! Who shoots a deer with a shotgun? No one.
Well, yes they do, but with slugs, not buckshot. And it certainly isn't the preferred weapon.
Criminy, bunch of city slickers.
Orvis and LL Bean have been popular for years out here in middle America. Filson and Duluth Pack I am not familiar with. I tend to Caveman's Warehouse and Bass Pro Shops. Or Cabelas. Try Thompson/Center (http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/muzzleloaders.php) for muzzleloaders and discover they are not primitive at all. They are single shot, charged with pellets or loose powder and a cap. Thompson even makes flintlocks. These are finely made pieces of craft.
Anyone who says they are a "hipster"..... ain't. Or cool.... not.
Venison can be gamey. Deer are browsers. Means they eat what is available. Venison that has fed on acorns tastes awful. Try elk or bison. They are grazers (feed on one thing, mostly grass).
Venison jerky. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!
The dude in the bowler hat was a Werewolf of London. Cape and breeches are also field marks, but you can't be certain of the ID until you do the dissection.
Blake, I use a crossbow rather than a muzzleloader. I've fired 2 bolts at deer, and taken them; both went down within paces of the spot; no maiming here. The meat was good, of course, but the real tingle up the leg was knowing that launching those quarrels was moving me ever closer to terminal hipstery. A veritable fountain of youth in a broadhead. Every shot was like a heady cocktail of rogaine and cialis. And somehow, the NYT knew.
As a hip young person, though not a citizen of New York, I can verify that this is a typical Times mixture of lies, the truth, and vermouth. There is a certainly an increasing fascination with the aesthetic of the Victorian etc. eras, but limited to a bit of tweed and a few curio cabinets for most sane people. Extreme adopters are few and far between.
Even two neo-Victorians like the Hovey sisters (witness a scene from their apartment: http://tinyurl.com/ybycoy2) rein it in for everyday life.
I think it's fun, and my tastes run toward the old-fashioned. It's not a harbinger of whatever as the Times will have you believe.
The New York Times has been always annoyed me with their self referential linking. But the can't even get that right, when I read "fall runway looks like cardinal-red tailcoats at Ralph Lauren" with a link in there expect the link to be information on a "cardinal-red tail coat" instead it is a link to a biography of Lauren.
They either don't care or they are deliberately insulting our intelligence.
You know maybe its just me but New York hipsters have always seemed incredibly "unhip" to me. The people who are supposed to be so trendsetting? I've never ever in my life said, 'wow I want to be like them!'
The word 'hip' to me has also seemed like the word 'classy' using it is a good indicator it doesn't apply to you.
My Father and Brother hunted with shotguns and slugs out in western Minnesota because of the flat terrain.
If you're up in a treestand shooting down, or there's plenty of woods around there's less risk of the bullet hitting the farmhouse across a couple of fields.
If you're on the ground, shooting level and you miss a slug will not travel as far.
"rocketeer67 said...
and to even consider taking a shot you need to be much closer (less range, you know you only get one shot).
Not true for us Kentuckians..."
Yeah, you just ram 'em with your pickup trucks, right? ;)
(*ducks*)
LOL... Just kidding man. I'm the last person who should rip on automotive deer hunting. I had to deal with a $2000+ dollar car repair last May because of such a deer-auto "convergence". At 50 MPH, too. Anyone else here know that when when you hit a deer, it "expectorates" all over the windshield? I do now (*grumble*). >:-(
Dust Bunny, not a lot of people use shotguns, but as O.M stated they generally use slugs. As for buckshot, it's named for what it is -- "Buck Shot".
Only guy I knew who used shotguns was a stalker -- he tried to creep up as close to the Deer as possible without it noticing. Not easy to do. Took a lot of scouting and knowing where the deer would be when, and camouflaging clothes and scent. I also knew a guy who stalked & went into the woods with just a long-barreled .44 magnum pistol, which at close range fired into the right spot was plenty of punch to drop a deer.
Those guys might not actually get a deer all season using those methods -- they just liked the hunt.
I think LL Bean has always been cool. Never went out of style. Even Barney Frank and his boyfriend were dudded up in LL Bean head to toe at their little Maine pot party bust...
Muzzleloaders are a lot of fun. A lot of shooting meets with lots of enthusiasts. Sales took off when hunting season expanded to a muzzleloader season, but then a parallel interest in building kits of historical replicas also happened. Black powder pistols, shotguns, even old 17th century muskets and before them - they sell matchlock replicas.
And they are plenty lethal. Think of a .54 Hawken rifle slug as something that weighs 40-90% more than a .45 ACP slug and moves 30% faster.
If you're on the ground, shooting level and you miss a slug will not travel as far.
That's right. I'd forgotten that (it's been a long time since I've been hunting). We used to go to the national forests in northern Wisconsin and a rifle was the preferred weapon. For people who hunted down south (like Dane County) shotguns were popular for exactly that reason.
"What! Who shoots a deer with a shotgun? No one."
Actually in large parts of Wisconsin (and other states), you are not allowed to use anything except shotguns or handguns. The population is too dense for rifles. Riffles will toss lead over a mile.
As for Buck Shot it is illegal in Wisconsin but not everywhere.
Well, yes they do, but with slugs, not buckshot. And it certainly isn't the preferred weapon.
Actually in large parts of Wisconsin (and other states), you are not allowed to use anything except shotguns or handguns. The population is too dense for rifles. Riffles will toss lead over a mile.
Well, you learn something new.
I have only ever hunted deer in the X zones in Calif. Which are 'draw zones' and I haven't hunted for many years. I now would rather just stay in camp or hike and take photos. We usually tried the Warners or Madeline plains if you are lucky enough to get drawn.
You use a long range rifle 30.06 with a scope because the deer are quite often a very long way off, hundreds of yards. No problems with accidentally hitting any civilization with a stray bullet. :-) Maybe a stray range cow.
I suppose there might be some zones in Calif that people would use slugs, but I just can't imagine it.
Rock on.
Deer hunting with a shotgun is fairly common. Indeed, in the State of Illinois you are forbidden from using a rifle other than a muzzleloader during deer season. You must use a shotgun if you are using a modern firearm.
All I can say is that Illinois is Illinois and thank God I don't have to live there.
You use a long range rifle 30.06 with a scope because the deer are quite often a very long way off, hundreds of yards.
Popular in northern Wisconsin too, But the forest cover is dense. Deer hunting here tends to be more up close and personal.
I've had a bowler hat for about five years.
Which, actually, is probably a strike against it being a hipster fashion.
lol @ Simon Kenton
I think (human) population density is typically the justification for banning breach loading rifles when hunting dear. My ex's brothers hunted deer for years with shotguns in NJ.
But I am from the west, where population density is much lower and no one can comprehend using a shot gun to hunt deer (right now, I live in the 42nd densest state, while N.J. is first, after D.C., a non-state - the population density between NJ and AK is approximately 1000:1).
I am hoping, someday, to sell the last working 35mm film camera for a fantastic price.
Sorry to tell you you'll need to wait a while, yet. There are tens of millions of workinig film cameras being used daily.
Film photography has never gone away as a hobby among enthusiasts - we expect at least 20 years of life after we have our cameras cleaned, lubricated and adjusted.
Kodachrome, alas, is gone now and the last Kodachrome processor (for those of us who have kept a small stash in the refrigerator) will discontinue the service in December, 2010.
Wet-Plate photography is just another (larger) format of image capture, with its enthusiasts and obsessives. It is so Un-Hip that it reveals the NYT cluelessness.
Nothing new here. Move along now.
LL Bean's quality seems to have gone way downhill after offshoring manufacture. Have had to send back all sorts of stuff - from hiking boots to sweaters. Am sorry for that.
More and more, I find myself actually gravitating towards Land's End for better quality same sort of sporting goods and stuff to wear.
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