0 4 - The Michigan Daily - Best of Ann Arbor - Thursday, April 13, 1995 0 0 0 0 Life is a highway, and the signs say 'College ends -1 year' TheMihian aiy1 Better Nate Than Never stomach rolls over before I even enter the Union. A good time can be had on a weekend night without going to a party or a movie theater. While classes have become more interesting ("Business and Government 311" vs. "Social Science Class I Have No Interest In 101"), I have become complacent in many of them. Papers merit only reflection on the topic until the day before they are due. MIRLYN is now a source for book references. not books. More and more classes have become candidates for skipping. Grade-point averages no longer need to be calculated on a daily basis. Just when life seems to be on cruise control, you hit a speed bump. Friends begin talking about intern- ships, jobs and future plans. Others are even graduating. A big, yellow "FREEWAY ENDS - 1 MILE" sign appears, although it says "COLLEGE ENDS - 1 YEAR." Then, just when life seems to be hurtling along like the bus in "Speed" toward the gap in the overpass, the phone rings. t It's my sister. She just got another letter from the University and she wants to know if she should live in Martha Cook or South Quad next year. I ex- plain to her what Martha Cook is and she says thanks, she'll check the "South Quad" box. This forces me to look in the rear- view mirror of my Volkswagen Jetta and reflect on my trip from the famil- iar, dirt roads of St. Clair, Mich., to the asphalt-lined, congested streets of Ann Arbor, a journey my sister is destined to make this fall. Upon arrival almost three years ago, the Ann Arbor culture seemed a little foreign to this St. Clair native. While there are no coffee or bagel shops in St. Clair, there are no coun- try music stations in Ann Arbor. Con- versations on Congress and foreign wars are drowned out by comments on the weather and the recent perfor- mance of the high-school football or basketball team. Coffee shops and bagel outlets aside, the many fast-food restaurants were a welcome contrast to St. Clair's one: Burger King. And you can't go into the Whopper palace without next- door neighbor Loretta asking how my mom, dad and sister are doing and whether or not we'll be over to get some corn this week. You have to go one city north to get to eat at McDonald's. Making a "run for the border" to Taco Bell entails driving two cities north. Another discovery that stunned my freshman eyes was the much-touted University computing system. The most recent technological improve- ment to hit St. Clair was direct-dial long-distance service. In plain English, you can now make a long-distance phone call without the help of an op- erator. Internet surfing is a hobby less common among St. Clair High School students, or "Saints," than among NUBS hackers. I was quite impressed when I first visited the Grad Library to research some paper or other. The on-line in- dexes and halls of academic books and journals stand in stark contrast to the St. Clair Public Library with its quasi-alphabetized card catalog and half-dozen aisles of mostly romance novels and home-repair manuals. Even such simple tasks as paying for groceries at Kroger with an ATM card cannot be completed back home. The grocery store's cashiers, many of whom graduated from high school with me, have to punch in the price of each item on the cash register. In my new home, none of the cashiers sat behind me in French class. I no longer know everyone in my class. When I get my diploma next year, it won't be with people I have known since nursery school. While it's good to get away from the potholes and mud that comprise the dirt roads, you also miss the fields and barns on the side of the road and, most of all, the people you pass by. \ I There comes a point in time when a person finds his niche, when he has finally come to terms with his new en- vironment. I believe I have finally grown accustomed to college life in Ann Arbor. I know how to get to North Cam- pus (although this usually involves U.S. 23 or Ann Arbor-Saline Road). My I I I Jump Scott Plagenhoef The motion picture studio in Rob- ert Altman's "The Player" has as its slogan, "Movies ... now more than ever." For the purpose of the fictitious studio the slogan is, of course, self- absorption; a reassurance' that what they do is important. Altman's choice of the slogan is to indicate this ego- ism which blankets the studio and the Hollywood industry. Yet the slogan may not be all that fictitious. Over the past two years as a film critic the most frequent criticism I and most of my fellow writers have received is that we are too negative; that we take the films we review too seriously; that we don't like com- edies; that film is intended to enter- tain and, by God, we should just loosen up. I love the movies. I find no plea- sure in having to review a poor film and even less pleasure in having to see win. Life is too short to see bad movies. Frankly, a bad film is even slightly humiliating to me. It means that an institution I cherish and be- lieve in is failing. Over the course of the past two decades, the quality of films has de- clined, and over the course of the past year or so, the quality of comedies has as well. Trends come and go and we are currently entrenched in a "dumb guy" phase. I find it difficult to believe that I need to loosen up because I don't find (take your pick: Jim Carrey, Pauly Shore, Sinbad, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler) getting kicked, punched, hit, bit, in the cajones amusing even the first time, let alone when this pie-in-the-face of the '90s is recycled in these films over and over. Film is much more than that. Film, let alone, music, art, theater, lit- erature, all of the humanities, are not simply entertainment. They can be.; They should be entertaining, but not at the expense of intelligence. They have the power to enrich lives in so many ways than a temporary numb- ing of the pain. Two facts which I have previously shared in this columnI which should combined stand as proof of the importance of popularI culture are that, more American households have television than in- door plumbing, and that the film in- dustry is this nation's second leading1 export. This is not simply entertain- Movies are ment. Television is our national window at ourselves. It is our looking glass. Film is our reflection to the remain- der of the world. We have no state religion. We have no national lan- guage. There is no prototypical American. If there is, it is television. In the most diverse country on the planet, and geographically one of the most expansive, television is our glue. If popular culture is sought only as entertainment than we can be de- fined as the country who seeks to be entertained rather than think. The country that prefers to watch a war than reflect upon it. Why question the means, if it makes for great viewing? The country that needs to see because it can't think analytically or ab- stractly. Escapism is so cherished in this country. This attitude is fostered by the obscene amount of outlets for en- tertainment we now possess as we approach the new century. This turn- ing inward of our concerns and our energies to only our lives is reflected even in the rise of conservatism. A movement if not fueled at least com- pounded and made cohesive by talk radio, a branch of popular culture. A movement that now seeks to elimi- nate a minority portion of the fund- ing for the so-called higher arts. They aren't important they feel. It's a free market they say. Ironically as the world becomes an exponentially smaller place by the decade, our nation's inward turn re- flects a stubborn and foolish pride. Our self-importance may manifest as a refusal to keep pace with the times. The world, which has previously only been connected in two large-scale in- cidents of destruction, is now begin- ning to finally become constructively cohesive. NAFTA, GATT, the United Nations, the internet and information superhighway and, yes, the export of American film and television to nearly-every corner of the globe are all involved in the process. We have the opportunity, mainly because these connections which are being made at a grass roots rather than governmen- tal level, the cultural links being formed, are done so in spoken or printed English, to be the leaders of the advancement into the 21st cen- tury. An advancement being led by popular culture. We choose not to because we are Americans, dammit, and we are stub- born. We don't want the United Na- tions dictating our policies. We don't our culture ... want cohesion with non-Christian time nations. We are the greatest nation on coul the planet and don't need any one else from around to alter that. coin This is at least the conservative They viewpoint. Yet conservatism is by than definition, and this according to poin Webster's, "the tendency to prefer an duc existing or traditional situation to prog change." Liberalism is on the other attitu hand, again according to Noah, "a ... worl philosophy based on belief in tury, progress." I recently challenged a A conservative friend to name one great intot thinker in history who was in his life- as al U M coffee " Cafe Espresso Royale burgers e Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger french fries * McDonalds pizza " Cottage Inn Pizza hot dogs " Red Hot Lovers wings * Mister Spots cheap beer * Touchdown Cafe bar drinks * Ricks ice cream/frozen yogurt e Stucci's chipati * Pizza House sandwiches * Amers subs * Subway cookies * Mrs. Peabody's italian food * Gratzi middle eastern food * All Baba chinese food * Dinersty korean food * Kana mexican food * Tio's vegetarian food * Seva deli * Zingerman's greasy spoon + Fleetwood Diner sports bar * Touchdown Cafe breakfast * Angelo's lunch *Red Hawk Bar & G ll dinner * The Earle take-out * Olnersty cafe * Rendezvous Cafe late-night munchies * Taco Bell place for folks to take you * Gandy Dancer romantic evening " Sweet Lorraine's dorm cafeteria e Bursley best overall restaurant * Cottage Inn best overall bar * Ashley's conservative. The cli d do was Machiavelli. A Jesus to Luther, Socrate were progressive for t y were pointed to the futt satisfied with the pres t is: Conservatism has n ed anything but a fa ress. It has never fost ude except empty pride d seeks to step into the r will we follow? knd as the world seeks the new century popular ong with free trade, or now n Y{ Y EA; W' .S recoras Tower used records " Wazoo men's clothing * Bivouac women's clothing " Urban Outfitters thrift/used clothing " Value Village bicycle sales/repair " Great Lakes books * Borders textbooks " Michigan Book and Supply used books " Ulrich's haircut Supercuts first-run theater " Showcase video store " Video Watch liquor/party store " Village Corner photocopying Kinkos sporting good " State Street Sports groceries * Meier florist " Normandie Flowers travel agency " Council Travel magazines " Decker Drugs michigan items (sweats, mugs, etc.) * Moe's posters " Union Poster Sale MSA member " Amy Andriekus speaker/lecturer in past year " Dhali Lama & Marcia Brady computing center " Angell Hall student group/organization * AIESEC fraternity to party with " Phi Delta Theta sorority to party with " Alpha Phi co-op " Nakumara Co-op ugliest building " LSA bathroom * Union lecture hall " Chem 1800 This is your brain. local band " Bucket dancing spot e Nectarine concert in the past year " Sarah McLaughlin radio station * WIQB place to go when in an altered state * Arb best dating stuff place to meet a mate " Class pick-up line * "Can I borrow your notes?" rejection line " "Sorry. I don't like you." place for first date " State Theater place for secret rendezvous " Arb idea for unusual date " Oasis Hot Tub "date movie" " Pulp Fiction professor " Don Kubit course " Com. 290 News Writing blow-off course e Com. 103 Intro to Com. residence hall " West Quad sports team e Men's Hockey Michigan athlete " Ray Jackson library * Graduate place to study " Law place to work out " CCRB campus tradition " Naked Mile cause/issue/movement " Hash Bash activist group * NOW protest slogan " "No means NO" If you're coming home to West Michigan for th Grand Valley State University provides expande in Allendale and Grand Rapids, and Centers in Need more credits? Schedule yourself o not offered by your college or university? You do see the opportunity this presents. You can: Register as a GVSU guest stud the classes you want because tuition is affordal versity faculty, not graduate students. You cannot: Transfer credits your schoc check with them about credit transfer, then cal listing and registration information. It's your summer break. What are you Talk about a no-brainer GRANDM. STATE UNIVn An affirnative action, equal opportunity institution. Accredited by the No best of the rest excuse for late paper e Computer problems excuse for cutting class a Weather fad " Corduroys slang * "Wassup?" thing about A2 " Freaks restaurant for the drunk . Taco Bell SPECIALIZING IN BLACK HAIR CARE * Custom Hairstyling * Haircuts *Spiral Perms " Relaxers fp e*Weaves Braids 10% off all chemical treatment 312 Thompson St. 995-5733 I