Page 2 -- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 8, 1988
The Michigan Daily - Thur!
FILM
The ghosts of Ann Arbor cinema linger
AFTER THE SHOW
BY JOHN SHEA
Certainly, there was confusion. The young
man, a first-year student, stood under the State
Street Theatre marquee expecting to find the
very best cinema in the country. After all, this
was Ann Arbor - one of the last bastions of
the art outside New York and Los Angeles -
long renowned for showing anything resem-
bling experimentalism.
But only four titles
greeted him: Hardbodies 2,
Return to Horror High, Surf
Nazis Must Die and Shoot
to Kill.
"Damn," he said, walking away. He didn't
understand. Wasn't Ann Arbor supposed to be
a wonderful escape for the film buff? Why in
the name of Hitchcock would they lie to him?
HAVING nothing to do but go to Doo-
ley's, the first-year student went to bed early.
Up in his loft he tossed and turned at the
thought of four years of movies with numbers
in their titles. When the thought finally be-
came too much, he sat up in a cold sweat.
And three ghosts greeted him.
"I am the ghost of Ann Arbor Cinema
Past," the Past said.
"I am the ghost of Ann Arbor Cinema Pre-
sent," the Present said.
"And I am the ghost of Ann Arbor Cinema
Future," said the Future, voice barely audible.
"What do you want?" the young man
asked.
"We want to show you why cinema in Ann
Arbor sucks," the Present said.
"But you need to get to know me," the Past
said, "before you get to know him," pointing
to the Present.
"FRIEND," the Past continued, "Come
with me. Let me show you what you had
hoped for before you got here." The young
man, slightly curious and having nothing bet-
ter else to do, went with the Past. The two
flew around the Michigan Theatre at light
speed three times and when they stopped, it
was 1963.
"We've arrived at a very special time," the
Past said. "Right down the street a University
professor is hosting what will become the first
annual Ann Arbor Film Festival." The two
walked down the street to the Frieze Building
and saw a line of people stretching out the
door. .
"It's 'Winner's Night,' when they show all
the best films," the Past explained. "Doc-
umentaries, cartoons, that kind of thing."
THE FIRST-YEAR student looked on
wistfully, wishing he could get in the build-
ing. But just then the Present shot out of
nowhere and grabbed him by the collar.
"Time to go back," the Present said, and in the
wink of an eye they were.
"Welcome to the '80s," the Present said
when they stopped. "Multi-plexes and cheap
exploitation flicks run supreme. "Crocodile
Dundee 2 or Rambo 3? Rocky IV or Friday
the 13th Part V? It's all here."
"No thanks," the young man said bitterly.
Moments later, he heard church bells in the
distance.
"What's that?" he asked.
"People ringing the death of campus cin-
ema," the Present said. "Every Friday and
Saturday at 7, 9 and midnight they come to
the church on Liberty to lament the lack of
entertainment. The film co-ops can't survive
because the University charges them rent for
the auditoriums. There's nothing imaginative
anymore, just one big Woody Allen film fes-
tival from September to.May."
THEN CAME the Future, who took the
first-year student and waltzed him around a
convenience store. When they stopped, they
were on State Street. A cinematic tumbleweed
rolled down the barren street and all the
movie houses had been converted into video
stores.
"Do I have time to ring the bells?" the
first-year student asked.
"You have all the time in world, if it makes
you feel better," the ghost said.
BY ERIC LEMONT
When I entered the room I found
one impatient student with phone
receiver in hand, another two flip-
ping through the yellow pages, and
three others yelling, placating, and
bargaining.
In other words, they were
ordering a pizza. A calmer head had
to prevail. Someone with extensive
reporting experience. I stepped for-
ward.
"So," I asked, "what exactly are
you looking for?"
"A quality pizza!" someone
shouted.
BUT WHO isn't looking for a
quality pizza? To help the student
out, I told him about my talk with
Ray Allan, area supervisor at Dom-
ino's.
"Our pizza is kind of like Mc-
Donald's," Ray explained. "It tastes
the same everywhere."
This consistency requires more
than standard proportions of cheese
to sauce. Every Domino's pizza
must go through the Ten Point
Quality Check which includes the,
dreaded Number Six - air bubbles.
This attention to detail and a
"goal of delivering a hot tasty pizza
in 30 minutes or $3 off' has pro-
pelled Domino's to number one in
Ann Arbor, I told the students.
"I'VE HAD Domino's in m5
hometown," the woman next to me
said. "Let's try someplace a little
more unique."
"Well, there's Pizza Bob's," I
ventured. "But Owner Bob Cranson
could tell you better than I can."
"We have considerably higher
quality on every pizza," Bob had
told me. "We don't use just plain
mozzarella, we use a blend of three
cheeses. We also go heavier on the
the upper
A search for the perfect pizza
You have to let it rise."
THE IDEA of a deep dish pizza
struck a salivary chord in the stu-
dents. The students were noisly
preparing to place an order from the
Inn, but then a solitary voice rose
above the din.
"Uno's" the voice said. It was
the guy with the yellow pages.
He quoted page 521: "'Original
Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza.
Voted Ann Arbor's best three years
in a row."'
As Uno's manager Bill Everall
explained, Uno's only started deliv-
ery because of a "great demand" fo
the deep dish pizza, which has a
"richer crust and a deeper shell" thar
a traditional pizza.
While the rest of the students be-
gan to argue, I noticed one sitting
quietly watching Letterman.
I WALKED over to student.
S DR
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items than everybody else. And then
there is just the Pizza, Bob's aura -
pizza made by people who are
happy with what they're doing."
There were murmers. Someone
mentioned combining the personal
touch of Pizza Bob's with the pro-
fessionalism of Domino's.
"Maybe Cottage Inn is the an-
swer," I said.
"HASN'T IT been in Ann Arbor
since 1948?" one woman asked.
"It's an institution."
"It also won best pizza last year
in a Daily opinion poll," her friend
Entree
plus
KAREN HANDELMAN/DOily
said.
Steve Miller, area supervisor for
Cottage Inn, justified the billing.
"Our deep dish pizza is a favorite
and makes up 55 to 60 percent of
our sales. It's an excellent meal for
two people and maybe you'll have
some left over," he said.
Steve can't guarantee a delivery
in 30 minutes or less but says the
extra time is a necessity: "It takes
time and labor to make this pizza.
Entree
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in the
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Students living in non-university housing
can still enjoy on-campus dining
with ENTREE-and ENTRGE PLUS!
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. Special ENTREE PLUS discounts!
The University of Michigan Housing Division has
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