ann arbor is overrated.

“In Ann Arbor, you have many hotel choices,” says the ad for Kensington Court Ann Arbor. “But how many luxury boutique choices?” Finally, someone’s pointed out the appalling dearth of luxury boutique hotels in A2.

From a story in the latest Observer about Ann Arbor book tours comes a description of what may be the most consummately Ann Arbor book ever written:

[Nicola’s Books owner] Nicola Rooney was taken by surprise when a big crowd turned up to hear former prisoner turned talented embroiderer Ray Materson sign his book Sins and Needles. The store had expected, she says, “just our embroidery people.”

But they also apparently got their every-prisoner-is-a-political-prisoner people, and between the two crowds, that’s about 55 percent of the A2 population. If Materson’s embroidery had depicted historic homes and rare birds through the use of found objects, they would have needed to book Hill Auditorium.

As if watching our favorite Red Sox pitcher, Matt Clement, crumble against the Yankees the other night weren’t enough, we also got to watch the new Lexus of Ann Arbor commercial, in which a woman with an extremely affected-sounding British accent repeatedly intones, “Lexus of Ann Arbo(u)r.” They certainly seem to have done their market research.

Jefferson Market is up for sale. Where are we going to get our boutique-retro cleaning products and educational toys now?

The News’ “Discover Ann Arbor (and surrounding areas)” guide came bundled with yesterday’s paper. It starts off with a typically breathless overview:

Many say that the Ann Arbor area has it all. It’s a place where you can visit the Farmers Market or a museum in the morning, then join more than 100,000 college football fans on a Saturday afternoon. Or you can stay away from the stadium crowd and bike or walk across town or along the Huron River amid a splendid fall setting.

It’s large-scale activities coupled with small-town charm.

Our favorite part is the housing section. It doesn’t acknowledge even once that some people (whisper) rent their homes, but it does feature a picture of a house with “historically authentic paint colors” (what does that mean — they contain only beet- and onion-skin-based pigments?) while cautioning that “with little room for new construction, you’ll pay a premium for the city’s older homes.” Well, maybe if by “room,” you mean “political will.”

There are a lot of arguments to be made for why Ypsi is cooler than A2, but we’ve never considered “artfully” parked bikes and the absence of porch couches to be among them.

We’re out of town for the rest of the week. Here’s something about another Lower Town historic district delay.

Murray Ave. may be a short street, but it has a lot of kids! And a mailing list!

The latest argument against the new dorm: it’s on a busy street. Why can’t they build it on a nice quiet street in the OFW instead?

The fairy doors make it on to NPR (thanks, Brandon!) “It’s bound to spread beyond Ann Arbor,” says their creator. But the copy-editor-defeating fairies that seem to follow this story around haven’t disappeared; this time, it’s “Sweetwaterz” cafe that’s said to be the host of one of the installations.