Looming Ominously
From the You Know You’ve Lived in Ann Arbor Too Long When… department: when we first read the Arbor Update headline “City of Ann Arbor budget cuts loom,” we thought, “Well, it’s about time they stopped spending tax dollars on that loom.” Assuming, of course, that there must be a decorative Loom of Peace or Weaving of Diversity on display in City Hall or somewhere. But we were wrong — it’s probably actually a quilt, which everyone knows isn’t created on a loom.
The REALLY diverse quilts are crafted on looms.
posted by Dummy on December 5th, 2004 at 5:46 pmWell, you have to use the looms to make the cloth that you’re quiltifying.
Obviously.
posted by Murph on December 5th, 2004 at 10:48 pmthis website is overrated. your posts suck this week - I was all jacked up about this site and then you sucked!
posted by remember2002 on December 6th, 2004 at 1:24 amthis website is overrated. your posts suck this week - I was all jacked up about this site and then you sucked!
posted by remember2002 on December 6th, 2004 at 1:24 amthis website is overrated. your posts suck this week - I was all jacked up about this site and then you sucked!
posted by remember2002 on December 6th, 2004 at 1:24 amI think this week was actually above average for me - stick around and see how much worse they are next week!
posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 6th, 2004 at 1:44 amNo way Remember’02! Comment about it again!
posted by js on December 6th, 2004 at 9:12 amwell…first i agreed, then i disagreed, then i agreed again..but now i disagree with remember2002.
i love this site
posted by bones on December 6th, 2004 at 9:32 amshit it posted three times not my fault. I’ll stay tuned for worse crappiness though, a2isover. you should do like weekly reviews of crappy campus hangouts I think that would enhance the site
posted by remember2002 on December 6th, 2004 at 10:42 amNo, YOU should do reviews of your crappy campus hangouts. On your own site. Nyah.
posted by Dale on December 6th, 2004 at 10:52 amI’m not claiming ann arbor is overrated - this site is!
posted by remember2002 on December 6th, 2004 at 11:21 amA simple solution to your little dilema, don’t come here. If you don’t like it, leave.
Pretty simple huh?
Nah…a sign that you’ve lived in this area too long…You see a pink haired male and don’t think anything of it.
posted by Kozzie on December 6th, 2004 at 12:25 pmIf you don’t like it, leave.
Or, preferably, stay and be miserable and start a website about it.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 6th, 2004 at 3:07 pmAnn Arbor is Overrated is Overrated. Not by a lot, but it is.
I like the idea of mocking crappy campus hangouts, but “Departments” would be the beginning of the end for AAIO.
posted by Dummy on December 6th, 2004 at 3:16 pmseriously, how could I improve this site? Not that I’m going to do anything that takes work.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 6th, 2004 at 3:45 pmmore puppies. and unicorns. maybe a brightly colored bean bag over in the corner. some plants could spruce it up a bit.
perhaps a change similiar to this?: http://spiderman.sonypictures.com/bugle/weblogs/downloads.php
posted by rob on December 6th, 2004 at 4:39 pmWe’d have more to mock if more Ann Arbor boosters would post and remind us why people like Ann Arbor. So, if you could advertise in the Ann Arbor News, Observer, and in the Yellow Pages, that would be great. Thx.
posted by Anna on December 6th, 2004 at 4:52 pmI think it might be interesting to throw up a name like “Lucky Kitchen” and allow an open thread.
Can I put up the first post?
“Yeah, 40 minutes, whatever… but will you get some goddamned peapod greens (pea tips) already?”
posted by OFW insurgent on December 6th, 2004 at 6:09 pmWhat improve? Isn’t putting effort into something that exists to deflate hype kinda, I dunno, against the whole anti-booster slack mentality? Or am I reading too much of me into this?
posted by js on December 6th, 2004 at 8:53 pmHey, js, I was going to send this in directly to Current, but I’m too lazy and not quite interested enough. BUT — did you catch the review of Great Lakes in this month’s issue? The writer (who may be a nice woman and all) makes some bone-headed comment to the effect that “you can tell it’s a good Chinese restaurant because sometimes you’ll walk in and not see a single American face.” WTF? What does an “American face” look like? And how can you simply tell by looking whether or not one does indeed HAVE an “American face”? The implication being, of course, that an “American face” is always white as the pure driven snow.
It’s not a big deal, of course. But it’s this kind of stupid ignorant crap that makes Ann Arbor a rotten, smug little hellhole. When you combine unparallelled ignorance with extreme levels of pretension, it’s a recipe for disaster.
So, js, if you happen to know the woman, give her hell for a really stupid, parochial review.
posted by Boris on December 6th, 2004 at 9:21 pmdo more crap ripping up campus - I mean your critique of the city is nice and all, but lots of them just don’t have bite.
use some investigative reporting - did you know that Michigan has the highest rate of STDs in the Big Ten?
posted by remember2002 on December 7th, 2004 at 1:06 amBoris: I haven’t even read this month’s magazine, but I’ll take a look.
posted by js on December 7th, 2004 at 1:12 amOh, and my boss reads this site, so hopefully your comment will be seen by people with power.
r02: AAiO is not overrated. Your comments jumped the shark when you referred to pseudo-statistickery.
posted by Dale on December 7th, 2004 at 10:06 amAnn Arbor isn’t really overrated. But its residents are.
posted by Personality on December 7th, 2004 at 12:32 pmOK, R02, now I’m intrigued. Where did you find that information that Michigan has the highest STD rate of the big 10? Is that Michigan the university has the higest rate, or Michigan the state? Did they say what STDs, or all STDs? Where did the info come from–was it from UHS? The health department? Some website?
I doubt though that AAIO has time to do investigative reporting, being in grad school and all. And btw AAIO, I love the site. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in disliking treetown.
posted by Zigs on December 7th, 2004 at 1:26 pmWell, R02, you can always start your own blog instead of haranguing our hard-working host, er, hostess. (and what’s to remember about 2002 anyway?)
posted by tom on December 7th, 2004 at 3:58 pmthe university told me at freshman orientation a few years (quite a few) back. There’s lots to remember about ‘02…
posted by remember2002 on December 7th, 2004 at 5:08 pmWho else will bet with me that “quite a few years” is less than 10? OK, how about less than 5?
posted by Sam on December 7th, 2004 at 5:53 pmR02- Just because you got syphilus from some sorority chick doesn’t mean that U-M has the highest rates.
posted by js on December 7th, 2004 at 7:45 pm“In City of Ann Arbor, STDs Loom: Too Much Bobbin Going On.”
posted by Laura on December 7th, 2004 at 10:01 pm“Nah…a sign that you’ve lived in this area too long…You see a pink haired male and don’t think anything of it.”
My hair was pink for a little while this summer, but it was a TOTAL ACCIDENT. I’m actually serious about this, too. I ended up having to shave it off because dying it more just made it more pink (and yes, I used natural hair color dye, not just more pink).
Just so you know - these things happen to normal guys for some reason, it’s not the town
posted by Keith on December 8th, 2004 at 2:13 amLaura, did you have to?
posted by Murph on December 8th, 2004 at 11:54 amMurph! Sorry to needle you in this thread with the looming threat of excerable puns.
posted by Laura on December 8th, 2004 at 11:23 pmInteresting suggestions, all, although I think I’ll pass on an investigation of A2 STDs. I thought that was just a myth spread by that Ohio State band that has all those songs about Michigan girls having herpes or whatever.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 10th, 2004 at 11:11 am