BlackChampagne Home

In association with Amazon.comBuy Crap! I get 5%.
Direct donations to cover hosting expenses are also accepted.

Site Information
--What is Black Champagne?
--Cast of Characters & Things
--Your First Time.
--Design Notes
--Quote of the Day Archive
--Phrase of the Moment Archive
--Site Feedback
--Contact/Copyright Info

Blog Archives
--Blogger Archives: June 2005-
--Old Monthly Archives: Jan 2002-May 2005

Reviews Section
Movie Reviews (153)

Ten Most Recent Film Reviews:
--Infernal Affairs -- 5.5
--The Protector/Tom Yum Goong -- 6
--The Limey -- 8
--The Descent -- 6
--Oldboy -- 9.5
--Shaolin Deadly Kicks -- 7
--Mission Impossible III -- 7.5
--V for Vendetta -- 8.5
--Ghost in the Shell 2 -- 8
--Night Watch -- 7.5

Book Reviews (76)
Five Most Recent Book Reviews:
--Cat People -- 4
--Attack Poodles -- 5
--Caught Stealing -- 6
--The Dirt, by Motley Crue -- 7.5
--Harry Potter #6 -- 7

Photos Section
--Flux Photos
--Pet Photos (7 pages)
--Home Decor Photos
--Plant Photos
--Vacation Photos (12 pages)

Articles
See all 234 articles here.

Fiction
Original horror and fantasy short stories.

Mail Bags
Index Page

Features
--Links
--Slang: Internet
--Slang: Dirty
--Slang: Wankisms
--Slang: Sex Acts
--Slang: Fulldeckisms
--Hot or Not?
--Truths in Advertising

Band Name Ratings
(350 Rock Bands Listed)
FAQ -- Feedback
A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z

Hellgate: London
--The Unofficial HGL Site
--The Hellgate Wiki

Diablo II
--The Unofficial Site
--Flux's Decahedron
--Middle Earth Mod

Locations of visitors to this page

Powered by Blogger.

BlackChampagne -- no longer new; improvement also in question.: Chrome Shovels?



Sunday, August 27, 2006  

Chrome Shovels?


While enjoying an early dinner at Claim Jumper with Malaya on Saturday, I saw a photo on a table brochure for Claim Jumper gift certificates. From there, my train of thought ran as follows.

The photo of the restaurant on the brochure was unlike any Claim Jumper I've ever seen. The motif is usually turn-of-the-century mining camp, with wooden walls, ceiling fans powered by chains that drive conveyer belt-like strips of canvas, and other appropriate props. They've got photos of old gold miners on the walls, Old West memorabilia like mine carts and wooden saloon doors, rustic metal braces on the wooden beams, and so forth. Yet the restaurant interior pictured on the sales brochure was all glass and neon, with lots of windows and palm trees outside. My first thought was, "Is that the Vegas Claim Jumper?"

I started riffing from there, wondering what the rest of the décor was like. "Do they have polished wood walls?" I asked Malaya, rhetorically. "Chrome shovels and picks?" She shrugged, by now used to my free form thought association, and was not puzzled when I abruptly found myself thinking of those silver shovels they use for ceremonial ground breakings. The kind you see the mayor and some city councilmen holding as they till a few spadefulls of potting soil onto the site of the new power plant, or subway station, or municipal park.

Where do they get those shovels? What do they do with them after using them to pose for photos? Are they real shovels that are sent to some foundry to get dipped in liquid chrome? Do they re-use them; storing them in city hall for years and digging them out again when its time to dedicate a new little league field? Do small towns share them, since they only need to build some big new project every decade or two?

Malaya suggested that the shovels were probably custom made, engraved for the occasion, and hung on the major's wall afterwards. I think she's probably right. People, politicians especially, enjoy those sorts of useless, entirely-ceremonial keepsakes, but I guess when you're blowing $150m of the taxpayers' money, you want something to remember it by.

My next question then, was where they get such shovels? Is there some company in Ohio that specializes in them and virtually owns the market? Are there two companies that fight over the business and try to undercut each other with free bejeweled hoes or monogrammed trowels if you buy three chrome shovels at the full price? Or just anyone go order such a shovel from a trophy store? And if so, how do they make it? Take the order, run to Home Depot, bronze that puppy, etch some text into it, and pass it to His Honor when the time comes?

Labels:

Comments:

If you seriously wanted answers, you could have googled it. Maybe I'm missing something, though.

http://www.chromeshovel.com/


 

They must get those shovels at the same place they get those $900 hammers and $2,500 toilet seats - at the big Haliburton store in the sky.


 

Damn they're like $175 for the chrome ones. I didn't even look at the 14K ones. And who uses all the varieties of ceremonial shovels? And do they put them in a closet for the next use or buy a new shiny one each time. And what about the giant pair of scissors, I've always wanted a giant pair of scissors.

http://www.ceremonialshovels.com/


 

I would have liked to know where to get a huge pair of scissors too..

When I first moved into my own house, one of the first things that I did was to grab a pair of scissors and run through the kitchen. My house, my rules. It probably lost a lot of the implied rebellious value since all I had was a plastic pair of those children's safety scissors. It sure would have been nice to have some oversized metal ones.

Then I could make a game out of it. I could keep them in a closet next to front door, then take them out when my mom comes over and make her actually run with them every time she needs to go through the kitchen. She always said that she would follow my rules when I had my own house..

Being a responsible adult is fun!


 

Ask, and the almighty internet shall provide:

http://www.ceremonialscissors.com/

wsnuws


 

Post a Comment << Home

Archives

May 2005   June 2005   July 2005   August 2005   September 2005   October 2005   November 2005   December 2005   January 2006   February 2006   March 2006   April 2006   May 2006   June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   March 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2012  

All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007.