Posts filed under 'Campus Life'
An Ode to Coffee Lovers
By Whitney, written on Dec. 4, 2008
Christoph Niemann of the New York Times blog recently published a post on his love life with coffee. The post itself consists of a series of comics lovingly doodled on white napkins smudged with coffee rings. The result is a brilliant slice-of-life cartoon straight out of the cafe. Among the things he writes about, Niemann reminisces about the “auto-hazing” he endured to turn into a coffee-lover from a coffee-hater, and discusses the strangeness of his mother’s specialty milk foam that’s so thick he has to “gnaw [his] way through it.”
Click here for the blog post.
The Muppets take Manhattan (Fifth Avenue, to be specific)
By Mark Schultz, written on Dec. 2, 2008
For those of you at a loss for what to get your loved one/family member/milkman this Christmas, look no further than the land of the giant pianos, a.k.a FAO Schwarz. I thought Schwarz had gone out of business at least a year ago, but apparently, not only are they still in business, they’re innovating.
Check out this article on The New York Times website.
Schwarz’s original Fifth Avenue store is “the only place in the world” where you can build your own Muppet from a sizable amount of ears, noses, hair and unnatural skin colors. But don’t worry, for those of you who don’t live in the big Apple, an online Build-your-own-Muppet store will soon be available. The upside of this, of course, is the ability to build a Muppet that looks close to yourself.
The downside? You’ll probably be without a good chunk of cash and will own a damn Muppet that doesn’t look anything like you.
Larry Flynt in A2
By Punit Mattoo, written on Mar. 13, 2008
According to the Ann Arbor News, Larry Flynt will be speaking at the Michigan Theater after a screening of a movie about him. No word on if many females shown in the movie will be making an appearance on campus as well.
Ann Arbor in the WSJ
By Punit Mattoo, written on Nov. 14, 2007
Saw this yesterday and forgot to post it. The Wall Street Journal’s version of “48 hours in..” focused upon Ann Arbor. While some of the recommendations make sense (Law Quad, Zingerman’s), I was a little thrown off by the inclusion of Mr. Spots as a must-visit. Also, reading the article reminded me that while we have a great campus, there aren’t any particularly beautiful buildings on campus. The same thing disappointed me when I visited Harvard recently and made me jealous of Yale. Syracuse also features a few great buildings, including a Hall of Languages that supposedly served as a model for “The Addams Family” house and an arts building which looks like a giant castle. In fact, I always found it kind of odd that the university’s ugliest building was designed by IM Pei (though recent renovations make it look better). Also, it took way longer than I thought it would to find these links.
I’m trying to be a [girl] / hailing from Ann Arbor
By Kimberly Chou, written on Nov. 13, 2007
ann arbor is overrated posted a link to the most recent B-side books column about literature inspired by or set in Ann Arbor. the post that has inspired all sorts of comments about poems that mention Ann Arbor, including a Frank Black song and this wonderful and bizarre Donald Hall poem from ann arbor is overrated reader GGB that I’m reposting here:
“Eating the Pig”
Twelve people, most of us strangers, stand in a room
in Ann Arbor, drinking Cribari from jars.
Then two young men, who cooked him,
carry him to the table
on a large square of plywood: his body
striped, like a tiger cat’s, from the basting,
his legs long, much longer than a cat’s,
and the striped hide as shiny as vinyl.
Now I see his head, as he takes his place
at the center of the table,
his wide pig’s head; and he looks like the javelina
This is NOT a permissable way to stay awake
By Kimberly Chou, written on Apr. 16, 2007
not arts news. but EXCELLENT news.
take a short break from studying and read this.
stay away from chemicals this week. there are B-Side “How To” columns on both bull-shitting a paper and pulling an all-nighter, which I will find a post for you here — while pulling my first of two this week. 80% done with a paper on Wallace Stevens — huzzah!
Getting there: You can do it
By Abigail Colodner, written on Apr. 8, 2007
When you arrive on campus again next semester, you may be motivated to tap into more of the University’s information nexus. You may join a few email lists or check events websites like www.arts.umich.edu and events.umich.edu for quick listings of events more under the radar than Ben Folds at the Michigan Theater.
Two questions present themselves. How do you effectively (and painlessly) find out what’s going on (again, even the highest professional works often seem to operate on the DL), and once you’ve found something, how do you get to it?
A few resources to look at:
-the websites listed above, arts.umich.edu and events.umich.edu
-The Record: yes, the faculty newsletter found looking dejected and unread in dorm lobbies and educational buildings. This publication has one great feature that’s unparalleled in quality, thoroughness, and breadth, even compared to online databases: The Record has two-week listings of events in brief, with informative descriptions of the event and all the information you need to actually go to it. And it covers EVERYTHING. Lectures, symposiums, concerts, readings, exhibitions– everything. Everything. Pick one up, grab a red pen and start circling things. Even if you never go to them, it suddenly feels like you’re living in a utopia of academia and art.
-www.ums.org: the University Musical Society website. Calendar of events and instructions on all your ticket options.
And how to get there:
There are a lot of options. If you see a ticket price above $10 and think “enh,” think again. Most things can be seen for $10, especially if the venue is somehow associated with the University. The London Philharmonic, Midori– ten dollars. For UMS events you can purchase a Advance Student Rush card for either $50 or $100– and these get you into 5 or 10 events each, respectively. Two weeks before the event (any event that catches your eye), you can go to the UMS office and claim your tickets, provided it didn’t already sell out. Which almost never happens, even with the biggest names. You can also buy half-price tickets 90 minutes before showtime. School of Music, Theater, and Dance shows are usually $9 for students. Ushering gets you complimentary tickets when you put in volunteer time, as does volunteering to post advertisements for shows.
Basically, almost nothing is off the table for undergrads with ten dollars and a keen eye at their disposal.
“Old School” at Michigan
By Punit Mattoo, written on Mar. 14, 2007
If you aren’t already on the Film and Video Student Association’s mailing list, I highly suggest you join it (can’t find the link, but try emailing them at fvsa@umich.edu). It lets you know about any free screenings on campus or visiting Hollywood types. This week, the James Gindin Visiting Artists series and the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures are sponsoring a talk by Todd Phillips, whose writing credits include Borat, Starsky & Hutch, Old School, Road Trip, and the upcoming Old School Dos. Here’s some more info on the logistics.
Visiting Screenwriter: Todd Phillips
Date: Thursday March 15
Time: 7:30pm
Location: 1300 Chem
What exactly is Basement Arts?
By Andrew Klein, written on Feb. 11, 2007
Basement Arts seems to be a fairly misunderstood student group. The club has the reputation of being accessible mainly to acting students. It definitely has, among the groups not actually associated with the School of Theater, the closest association with it. Basement Arts used to be produced in a small theater in the Frieze Building, but now has the mixed blessing of producing in a blackbox theater (the name describes the shape of the theater) in the new Walgreen Drama Center on North Campus, right near the Duderstadt and Pierpont Commons. The student-produced group is actually open to all students and is often hopeful for more students to audition. They produce several plays per semester, so there’s no dearth of opportunities to see and do theater.
I went to see Basement Arts for the first time this weekend — they were putting on “A Few Good Men,” which was actually a play before the playwright, Aaron Sorkin, adapted it for film. I’ve seen several productions by RC Players, a popular but rather incestuous (usually in a good way) student theater group. Although RC Players is often impressive and always a good time, Basement Arts put on one of the most disciplined productions I’ve seen here yet — outside of plays by the School of Theater, that is. It probably helped that most of the actors were playing Marines.
The small theater (I hear it holds about 250 audience members) itself requires this discipline, because the actors have nowhere to hide. The actor playing Col. Jessep, Jack Nicholson’s character in the film, had to walk through a narrow space between the back of someone’s chair and the stage wall for his entrance to the courtroom. He walked this path several times and each time I cringed with the impulse to quietly push the chair an inch or two to make this easier—but he, walking with that my-biceps-are-too-big-to-touch-my-sides swagger, simply let his hand pass between the chair back and the seat. Every time. Knowing myself on stage, I don’t think I’d have been able to resist, but what a spectacular choice not to.
— Abigail B. Colodner, Fine Arts Editor
This post is not yet rated
By Punit Mattoo, written on Nov. 15, 2006
Tonight at the Michigan Theater, the Ann Arbor Film Festival will be showing “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” the upcoming documentary on the MPAA ratings process. Tickets are only $5 for students with ID and $20 for everyone else.
A little background: Recently, special interest groups have attempted to remove governmental funding from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs because of the often controversial works shown at the festival. Because of the new content rules that would limit artistic expression, the Board of Directors decided to decline funding. Tonight’s fundraiser held in conjunction with the ACLU will include a cocktail reception and silent auction of signed merchendise from influential filmmakers including George Clooney, Sam Raimi and Gus Van Sant (7-7:45). There wll also be a panel discussion (7:45) and the film’s screening (8:15)