Observant
As the last blogger in town to pick up the Observer and feverishly page
through to their “Weblog Guide,” we don’t have a lot new to say. We thought that the “recent posts” they picked for us - “critiques of news articles, examination of the term ‘Michigan hookup’, blogger slang” - were appropriately representative of the depth and seriousness we aim for at this site. Although, we’re not the first to notice that, of the nine blogs they picked to exemplify the “opinionated, tech-savvy residents” that make Ann Arbor “fertile ground” for a vibrant Web culture, three of them are from Ypsi and one of them is specifically devoted to hating Ann Arbor.
The Observer also marks the five-year anniversaries of a few local
businesses, including Leopold Brothers - congratulations! And a letter
from Wazoo’s music buyer complains about the (lack of) coverage given to our favorite local music store in an article about record shopping in A2 last month. We have noticed a tendency for local media to slight them in favor of Encore or Schoolkids.
And one non-Ann-Arbor business to whom we’d like to give a shout out - our hosting company, 2Xtreme Media, who got this site back up in less than a minute of being contacted after we exceeded our bandwidth restrictions this afternoon.
Encore has all the hipsters working there; Schoolkids has a good story in all the business drama they went through. Wazoo, well, Wazoo’s a little pricier, and they tend to be dicks about what they buy. On the other hand, that’s where you can find nearly all of the new albums that anyone would need, and their used stuff is pretty decent. On vinyl, only PJ’s can top them, but I fear that PJ’s (because of lack of demand for said vinyl) may be on the way out. BUY MORE VINYL!
posted by js on March 30th, 2004 at 8:17 pm ejs
Everything we do, we do out of love. Just not love of Ann Arbor, which is quite obviously overrated. That is all.
posted by Mike on March 30th, 2004 at 8:18 pm eAlso- that record store article was written by a former owner of Schoolkids… well not the good one now, but SKR before it went under. Which may explain how Wazoo was overlooked.
posted by icecreammotor on March 30th, 2004 at 11:56 pm eThey talk about Leopold, but what about the famous duo of Leopold and Loeb? Does U-M honor Mr. Loeb, it distinguished graduate?
posted by Anonymous on March 31st, 2004 at 8:36 am eAAIO,
Thanks for the mention, but we won’t hit our five year mark until October of this year.
A little mistake by the Observer. Any press is good press, I suppose.
posted by todd on March 31st, 2004 at 10:10 am eWazoo is really good for new stuff. Wonder if it gets forgotten because of it’s chosen odd digs? Rubber Soul is more for the garage / retro clique.
posted by Leighton on March 31st, 2004 at 12:08 pm eY’know, some of us have actually met Rob. And when I told him about the results, I think he said “Yeah, Ok. That’s great for [AAIO]” and then went back to talking about getting locals involved in politics.
posted by js on March 31st, 2004 at 6:26 pm eI’m just sayin’ that, y’know, if you were spoofin’ people likely to sound like that, Rob’s not exactly one of them.
AAIO- Do you track IPs on comments?
js
Oh, and that I don’t think anyone has ever gotten that worked up about anything in Current. Except maybe when Wig stole 10,000 copies because their band got slagged (before I worked there).
posted by js on March 31st, 2004 at 6:27 pm ejs
I found this site quite by accident researching roofers in the Ann Arbor area. I grew up in a completely different college town far away from Ann Arbor.
It appears that college students are terribly the same… everywhere. Considering I’m the son of a college professor, you’d think I’d be more forgiving of the whiny, solipsistic attitude I’ve listened to for most of my conscious life… but you’d think wrong.
There’s that old adage:
“Those who can’t do, teach…
and those who can’t teach, teach gym.”
which I believe could be adapted for the web like this:
“Those who whine, have nothing to say…
and those who have nothing to say, write blogs.”
Move. Leave. Evacuate the premises. Or at least stop the whinging.
posted by Drive By on March 31st, 2004 at 6:53 pm eAAIO- Do you track IPs on comments?
Yes, I pay pretty close attention, and that one didn’t seem right. I’ve always been concerned that the Movable Type comment system could be easily taken advantage of, and until they release their new authentication thing, I’m not sure what to do about it.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on March 31st, 2004 at 7:11 pm eDrive by.. chill out. Although you might perceive many of the comments to be whiney, it’s mostly for fun, a release. It’s SATIRE. You need to find a site more compatable with your interests, maybe something devoted to roofing.
posted by Anonymous on March 31st, 2004 at 8:12 pm eIf I had a hammer…
Drive By, your negative attitude about teachers speaks volumes about your troubled relationship with your college professor parent. Maybe we can talk about that for a while, rather than about how OAAI?
Although I’m feeling way more positively today about AA, after making my maiden voyage to the new Trader Joe’s. It’s amazing what a reasonably priced frozen green chile tamale will do for one’s attitude.
posted by Alex on March 31st, 2004 at 8:19 pm eI’m with you, Alex; as a former teacher (and former roofer!) I’ve never understood that “adage.” And, yeah, Drive By, it’s satire; get a grip. Go roof something. Oh, you can’t roof, you were looking to hire people like me. Well, those who can’t roof, suck. Get lost.
posted by Laura on April 1st, 2004 at 1:07 am eBut isn’t satire supposed to be funny, or something?
posted by torONTo on April 1st, 2004 at 10:05 am eNo.
posted by c-lo on April 1st, 2004 at 11:01 am eHey, I know this is off topic, but does anyone want to buy a moped? It’s a 1980 Garelli Super Sport XL.
And yeah, I know mopeds are kind of faggy.
posted by Ryan Wilson on April 1st, 2004 at 3:20 pm eOne of my father’s aphorisms is “A scooter is like a fat girl. They’re fun to ride, but you don’t want your friends to see you on one.”
posted by js on April 1st, 2004 at 4:43 pm ejs
A bit sexist js.
posted by Anonymous on April 1st, 2004 at 5:12 pm eIn some societies fat is a symbol of wealth and status.
posted by Alex on April 1st, 2004 at 6:34 pm eFeeling defensive, porky?
posted by happy? on April 1st, 2004 at 10:33 pm eNope. My obesity is solely the result of sloth and bad genes, and I’ll be the first to admit it.
posted by Alex on April 1st, 2004 at 11:59 pm eSexist? I suppose so. You can reverse the genders at your leisure.
posted by js on April 2nd, 2004 at 8:57 am ejs
Although the saying certainly doesn’t hold true if you reverse the genders. I see tons of beautiful women with fat/short/ugly/bald/etc. and their friends don’t give them shit–as long as they’re wealthy, powerful, funny, or have a huge cock. But the world has no use for an ugly girl. That may be a sexist thing to say, but it’s the god’s honest truth.
posted by Alex on April 2nd, 2004 at 9:03 am eI’ve known women who’ve opportunistically gone after the short/fat/ugly guy who’s wealthy/powerful, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never known a woman to make that tradeoff for a huge cock. I’m just saying.
posted by Anna on April 2nd, 2004 at 9:17 am eway to go, offering such thoughtful critiques when it seems all you do is sit at home complaining and tracking ip address’s. As I’ve said before, if you actually got out of your little grad student womb and have some fun you might not have reason to whine.
posted by Anonymous on April 2nd, 2004 at 10:28 am eWell, if you left your name, maybe AAIO could go out with you.
posted by js on April 3rd, 2004 at 10:33 am ejs
Anonynymity lends very little creedence to words. Talk is cheap. It’s sort of like the words uttered from under a white hood.
But I undersand that some people are afraid. Some are afraid they can’t back up the things they say. Some are afraid that they might actually be held accountable for their words.
Fearful words are simply that. Lend them as much creedence as a barking dog.
I have shaken AAiO’s hand and they are flesh and blood. Who’s got time for anonymous pot-shots?
It’s okay to be afraid, lots of people are afraid.
posted by Steven B. Cherry on April 3rd, 2004 at 7:22 pm eThanks, Steve, although I have to observe that I could potentially be open to the same critique from someone not fortunate (?) enough to have met me. Anyhow, I wish I didn’t have to track IP addresses, and I certainly don’t bother to do it if someone’s just posting anonymous crap.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 3rd, 2004 at 9:11 pm eI found an anonymous crap in the bathroom this morning and I’m convinced it was AAIO. Christ, dude, get your own fucking toilet at least. Do you have to shit all over everything?
posted by Anonymous on April 5th, 2004 at 1:57 pm e