“Well, you almost had me this month,” wrote Stacy Mero. “I searched and searched, with no luck finding an ad that caught my attention as fake, and no clear mention of the past winner’s name. And then, just as I was about to give up, I spotted it: ‘Varnum,’ barely visible on the building in the ad on page 72 for waterfront office space in west Michigan. Very well done!”
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“‘Quartet’ by Jens Zorn,” writes Amy Barnett, was “donated in 2017 by the FWC (Faculty Women’s Club of the University of Michigan—now going by the initials since club is open to all genders).” Designed by physics prof Jens Zorn, says Barb Tester, it was fabricated “by the very skilled technician Joshua Blackmon of the university’s Sheet Metal Shop.”
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“The ‘Vaulted Tunnels’ refers to what used to be The Cavern Club,” writes Shannon Kohlitz, referencing the clue. “I think it’s called something different now but I’m not cool enough to know anymore lol,” she remarks.
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Of all the things people exaggerate—the size of the fish they caught, the size of their bank account, the size of their … let’s move on—laughter might be the biggest one. We say “LOL” when something is amusing. We send an emoji of someone laughing so hard tears stream down its face every time something tickles our funny bone. Or we say we “died laughing” when that is demonstrably false.
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In Historic Ann Arbor: An Architectural Guide, Susan Wineberg calls it “the first architecturally significant federal building in Ann Arbor.”
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“I thought the idea of ‘need a fourth’ was a great one, and I decided to check out the website, only to find it isn’t a registered domain name!!” Stacy Mero writes. “Very sneaky, but now I’m left disappointed not to have somewhere to find euchre games.”
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“So sad!” says Amy Saalberg about March’s I Spy photo, which Marilyn Knepp identifies as “the site of the recent fire that demolished Madras Masala (empty buffet now, for sure) and the Vape Store.”
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We received only eighty-three entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for Everything in Moderation Life Coaching on page 80 of the February Observer. That might be because of where it was placed: hidden among the service ads on a page after the Back Page (not sure how that’s even possible).
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There’s something wonderful about people in Ann Arbor wanting to share everything they know—unless you’re at a cocktail party, of course. Our contest is no cocktail party.
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“The picture in the January issue is part of the old fire house,” writes first-time entrant Amy Saalberg. Also known as the Engine House, says Justine Geidosch, it “is now part of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum.”
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Not many people know this, but the Fake Ad Czar’s single favorite line ever on Saturday Night Live was when Kate McKinnon, portraying an Australian actress playing a death bed scene, was asked if she had any last words. In a terribly exaggerated, inaccurate Australian accent, McKinnon responds, “Kangaroo, I guess.”
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“Those flowers (I always think of them as asparagus) flanked the door next to a long gone and lamented bookshop on State St.,” says Spencer Thomas. “I really like that doorway design,” writes David Karl, adding that it always makes him smile remembering the late Karl Pohrt’s “amazing” Shaman Drum Bookshop.
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“The November Fake Ad is for McCarran-Ferguson Insurance on page 64,” Walker writes. “The clue is cleverly hidden in the combination of insurance company mascots ‘Gecko or Hank the Emu’ (I hadn’t heard of Hank the Emu so that was the first doubt I had about this little ad). Clever hint in the name of the insurance company, named for the 1945 act that confirmed the rights of states to regulate insurance companies. Well played.”
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It “was painted by Mike Ross … [who] states that he works ‘heavily with color and pattern, painting largely abstract work … [using] eye catching but subtle color combos,’” shares Dave Karl. It’s “much better in color!” adds Barnett.
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“Very clever, Czar. Our minds read haunted even though it says hunted house. This one really had me cackling! Put on your camos, grab your broom and fly over there today.”
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Birds and monkeys and geckos, oh my! One finds themself surrounded by them—more noticeably, post-cleaning and renovation—when entering the Ruthven building and rotunda.
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“Bonkers but brilliant” is a wonderful description. We wish Mayer had made that comment before The Fake Ad Book was published. We would have put it on the cover for sure.
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“Okay, I was wrong last month, but this month really does look like the Fleming,” concurs Jacqueline Courteau, about the “Dow building that formerly housed U-M administration.” “As of August 27,” adds Ken Koral, it’s “entirely torn down.”
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