And yet another reason why Anthony Bourdain is one of us...

"Tom McParland" (tommcparland)
11/11/2013 at 09:16 • Filed to: ANTHONY BOURDAIN

In case you missed it, the season 2 finale of Parts Unknown was Detroit. As usual, when Anthony visits a place with both a colorful and tragic history, he gets you right in the feels. Last night’s episode was both heart-breaking and uplifting. I am not going to give away too many spoilers because you should just find the episode “On Demand” or something but I will say that he opens the show by touring the now abandoned !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! The ruins of that structure is just mind-boggling.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Tony is also good about giving a nod to car-culture in many of his episodes whether it be the low-riders in LA or the “speed sisters” of the West Bank. The fact that he finished the season in the Motor City, is just one more notch in his Jalop belt.

However, something did strike me as odd with last weeks visit to Japan. Bourdain focused on the often strange and very misunderstood (by us mostly) “night culture” of Tokyo. We all know that Tokyo’s car culture is one of the most enthusiastic in the world. But yet no mention of it. Perhaps Tony did take a Wangan Midnight run and it got lost on the cutting room floor because it didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the theme. Even still the episode is worth seeing (especially for any of you who are into Sushi, Anime, Manga, or Martial Arts)

Here is the full episode (NSFW)

But Tony if you do have some lost footage of you hooning a high-horsepower Silva or something please share! :)

DISCUSSION (9)

FailWheelDrive > Tom McParland
11/11/2013 at 09:57

I didn't watch it because I'm completely written off national media attention of Detroit, but it does sound like this was a more accurate portrayal of the people, but still too much focus on blight. Yes, there's a lot of blight, but there's also a lot of awesome. Too bad that's not as newsworthy.

Tom McParland > FailWheelDrive
11/11/2013 at 09:58

Like I said to Aaron on Twitter I think Tony does a good job of balancing the reality of the city with the optimism of the people.

burglar can't heart click anything > Tom McParland
11/11/2013 at 10:08

Best line (oddly) came from LeDuff:

Pointing at a patch of lilies in an empty lot, he says "I call those the ghost gardens. Even after the houses are gone, the flowers people once planted still come up."

Hit me in the feels.

FailWheelDrive > Tom McParland
11/11/2013 at 10:30

I don't twit, still can't understand it.

Anyway, sounds like it might be worth watching. Seems like something more balanced than most reports, but I'm sick of all the blight talk. There's more to this city than a bunch of optimists living in rubble. There's actually a lot of very nice areas that are far from rubble, with all the same type of optimists. I think that's reaching a point of being much more newsworthy.

rwl1776 > Tom McParland
11/11/2013 at 12:44

Exploring and understanding the City of Detroit

This website is fantastic, the guy has access to countless abandoned buildings in Detroit, and has taken countless photos of them , inside and out, and adds some history lessons to each one. I am in no way associated to this website, I am just a fan of great photography, history and Detroit! Go Red Wings!

Milky > Tom McParland
11/12/2013 at 12:27

Just saw this now ... but I didn't like it at all.

First I didn't realize it was only going to be about food. Second he stated how Detroiters don't like it when you come and only shoot ruin porn, then continued to show ruin porn for the next 55 minutes.

Tom McParland > Milky
11/12/2013 at 12:40

Fair criticism...yeah Tony mostly does a travel/food thing. That is what he is known for, he is not really a journalist.

Binfordtools > FailWheelDrive
11/12/2013 at 12:47

Drama sells not the hundreds of positive things that go on in Detroit on a daily basis. Besides, people who are no where near Detroit and have no clue of what's really going on in Detroit behind the headline grabbing despair, have their narrow minds made up. I am more than fine with the rest of the world thinking Detroit is ruin-porn and murder. It will keep those trendy douche-bags away who will surely destroy the heart of the city and turn it into some over-populated, characterless, sleek and pointless metropolis.

Milky > Tom McParland
11/12/2013 at 12:49

I would of probably liked it more had I known that. All I knew was something called "parts unknown: Detroit" was going to be on CNN.

Ehh I guess it was all knew food stuff, even to me, a person in Detroit. So ... maybe I was being judgmental.