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Different Strokes Joke in 3...2...1...
1 replies
Different Strokes Joke in 3...2...1...
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Watchu talkin' bout?
It will take a couple generations for people to call it by the new name
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Bruce Willis jokes in 3...2...1...
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@pecan 3.14159265: Speaking of which, if I had purchased said tower I would have renamed it the Nakatomi Tower.
Yea!!!! I have a tower named after me!!!!
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Over my dead fucking body.
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@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): I think turning it silver is an even greater offense. But I agree that it is a stupid move to rename such an important landmark to Chicago.
@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): Okay, my slightly more productive comment is, WTF is wrong with these people that they don't call it something like \"The Sears Tower by the Willis Group\"? \"Sears Tower\" is a hugely well-known brand and name. Stupid to change it.
I'M LOOKING AT YOU MACY'S, who could have run \"Marshall Field's by Macy's\" instead of shooting themselves in the foot/head. Apparently the Willis Group doesn't learn from history. Even recent history.
@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): Seriously, Chicagoans (and most other people, for that matter) don't take kindly to their landmarks being bought and neutered by companies with no sense or respect for history. I still refuse to call the Sox stadium anything other than Comiskey Park as well.
I mean, other cities have to go through it too, but we've been getting the worst of it the last few years.
This is like how they changed the Skydome in Toronto to the \"Rogers Centre\", but everyone still calls it the Skydome.
@littlemisslondon:
But it was never \"The Skydome\", they always insisted it was just \"Skydome\"!
What a bunch of twatwaffles!
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@littlemisslondon: When they demolished the Boston Garden, they named the new building the Fleet center. When BoA bought Fleet, they decided not to opt on the naming rights and TD Bank North bought the rights. It's now the TD Bank North Garden. They say 'Please, just call it the Garden again'. It was the nicest corporate buy back of a name I've ever seen.
I still call the amusement park in Denver Elitches (now six flags) and the stadium Mile High (now Invesco)Like most people I don't take kindly to my childhood institutions getting renamed
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I assume this will cause the same number of protests as the last time someone considered renaming the building...
When I was younger they changed the science center to the telus world of science, no one calls it that, and with the length of time that the ower has been \"sears tower\" I doubt anyone will call it the willis tower outside marketing execs.
They can rename it to whatever they want, but no one will know what they're talking about.
@MMD: Love it
\"Sears is taller!\"
Wesley Willis jokes in 3...2...1...
@Real Cheese Flavor: Rock on London, Rock on Chicago... Wheaties... taste like beef.
ROCK N' ROLL MCDONALDS... ROCK N' ROLL MCDONALDS...
//suck a honey badgers ass ya'll
in London we had the Post Office Tower.
when British Telecom was formed, the Tower was renamed 'The Telecom Tower'
20 years later we're still calling it the Post Office Tower....
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Willis? Screw that.
This is a lot like when Mann bought Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Most everybody still called it Grauman's and it would cause confusion when others would refer to it as \"Mann\".
A few years ago Mann finally wised up, gave up, and officially changed the name back to Grauman's.
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I can't imagine anyone in chicago calling it the willis tower. Hell, I still call the allstate arena the Rosemont Horizon sometimes...
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@suzieq:
Same here, still the Rosemont. It's still Comiskey Park to me, not whatever it's actually called (U.S. Cellular Field?).
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Silver Willy....
*snicker*
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Slick Willis joke from Bladefist in 3....2...1...
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well, I believe American culture names things after the wrong sources. Instead of who owns it, or the original corporation that commissioned it, why not name it after the people who actually designed and/or built the damn thing.
The architecture firm was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
hmmmmmm nothing really catchy there. Skidmore Tower? too juvenile...
Head architect was Bruce Graham. Graham Tower?
Nothing catchy yet... wait!
Structural engineer: Fazlur Khan.
I will now refer to the building as The Tower of Khan.
As a condition to the naming, when you walk past it, it is mandatory to look up to the top of the building and scream \"Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!\"
Problem solved.
Cheers, all.
I would happily endorse your naming conventions to any who ask. I will also never visit this building now, as the thought of critters crawling in my ears seriously creeps me out.
It may be named Willis Tower but it won't be called Willis Tower.
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I've lived in Chicago my entire life and seen some boneheaded names being put on Chicago landmarks. When they changed Comiskey Park to US Cellular Field, I still call it Comiskey because thats it's true name. When this whole name change occurs, I am still going to call it The Sears Tower no matter what.
The way Sears is going (aren't they on the endangered company list?), 10 years from now no one's going to remember who they were anyway, so they might as well change it.
@redskull: The Woolworth Building is still the Woolworth Building, despite the last Woolworths in the US closing in 1997. Venator, the renamed company (now Foot Locker Inc), sold the building in 1998 but the new owners wisely kept the old name.
I'm sure the Chrysler Building will still be called that long after the car company disappears.
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This is pretty dumb, but then again if I had the opp to rename it after myself, I would probably jump on it.
So when is Wrigley being renamed? I can't wait for that day! Go Sox!
The Sears Tower will always be the Sears tower. US Cellular Field will always be Comiskey Park. Renaming existing buildings is never a good idea. It just pisses off the locals and makes the renaming company look bad.
Whenever I take the IRT to Grand Central Terminal to ride the Penn Central, I always go outside to take a peek at the Pan Am Building.
It's the Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Centre. No, it's the E-Centre. No, now it's the Tweeter Center. Wait, now it's the Susquehanna Bank Center.
Give it up. Nobody cares what YOU try to rename it.
When I lived in New Mexico in the late 90's I randomly turned on late night MTV to see Wesley Willis on some weird talk show hosted by a kid if I remember correctly.
Wesley Willis on MTV???
I wonder what Wesley Willis' song would sound like concerning the renaming...
for those who don't know who we are talking about:
I'll always think of it as the Sears Tower, just like Marshall Field's and Comiskey. Of course, my previous nonexistent opinion of Willis Group Holdings is now negative, much like that of Macy's (I despise them), and U.S. Cellular (I think they're idiots for paying for the naming rights even though most people will continue calling it Comiskey).
@Tallanvor: Same here. As soon as I saw the news last night with a smarmy executive from Willis talking about renaming the building, I immediately thought that they've ruined any hope of good community relations in one fell swoop by sticking their name all over the Sears Tower. Willis Group: nobody here cares who you are, and nobody wants you renaming the building!
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I think they should call it the Blagojevich Tower.
@undefined:
\"Song for Wesley\" by Heavy Vegetable:
This song's about a man
He is like a genius
He can roar like a lion
He gets down like a Magikist
Wesley, people can be so cruel
Don't let them bring you down
Don't let them take advantage
You're in complete control
Wesley Willis
He's got style
He's got a special gift
He can see right though
All the musical bullshit.
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@Redskull
Sears played a big enough role in U.S. culture and history that they will be remembered for quite a long time.
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Why haven't they renamed the Empire State Building yet?
The Twin Towers, while they existed, were not going to be called anything but the Twin Towers. The Chysler Building will still be that even when some Chinese auto company absorbs Chrysler...
So why not keep Sears Tower and add \"By Willis Insurance.\"
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I'm laughing at the superior intellect.
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@Lotusmonger: +1 for your rule.
As N.RobertMoses mentioned, those of us here in NYC who are old enough to remember it, we still call it the Pan Am building (not MetLife).
As others have mentioned, we all still remember hospitals and ball fields by their original names, no matter what they might be called now. To me, they are Booth Memorial Hospital and Beekman Hospital. I don't even know what their new names are.
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I still call it Comiskey Park and I'll still call it the Sears Tower damnit.
Silver plating the tower? Is this the new home of some kind of comic book villain? Is Willis owned by LuthorCorp?
Similarly, there are those of us in New Jersey and New York who still refuse to call Newark Airport by its new name.
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People might get the impression that they're talking about the Circle of Willis and not the tower, this is a terrible idea.
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Wow, Sears moved out in '92? How time flies.
Ah, Chicago and their tendency to have major city institutions renamed for their corporate backers.....anyone remember the Bank One Bears?
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I think the best thing that they could do would be to paint it. I think if they paint it, people will cease calling it the Sears Tower, because it won't look anything like the Sears Tower.
I'd rather they leave it as is though. It's part of the skyline.
There is a Kmart building in our town that was abandoned before I was born (26 years ago at least) and we still call it \"the old Kmart\" even though it is now a school.
What I liked about the article is how pissy the Willis exec was. \"Would people rather have an empty building or investment in the city?\" Does anyone have a problem with the Willis group moving in? No. Most people don't even have an issue with the name change in principle. We'll just never call it that. Sorry.
I call the ball park Comiskey and this will be called Sears for the duration.
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I think the company that bought the tower from Sears in 1992 actually requested the rights to still call it the Sears Tower and of course Sears was cool with that since it was great PR.
Still though, I highly doubt the name change will stick since its such an iconic landmark. It'd be like calling the Empire State Building or Rockerfeller center by another name.
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Hmmmm... name a giant skyscraper after the actor who appeared in a movie about terrorists attacking a giant skyscraper. Very clever.
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I still call the AT&T Park PacBell Park. Damn I'm old...
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@Bearded Rapper even though the whole Joaquin Phoenix thing ...: It seemed like as soon as they replaced the signs to SBC Park the name changed to AT&T.
Im 23 and I still call it PacBell.
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Chongo; MissPeacock; Real Cheese Flavor, etc. (Sorry, reply still broken for me.)
So you're some of the 10 others at Wesley Willis shows. I remember seeing him before punk and ska shows all the time.
I recall how the new stadium where the Spurs play got renamed like 3 times in as many years. The stadium was new so it never really got a legacy name attached to it. You know what I call it? The place where the Spurs play. Perfect - tells the story.
I think these corporate whores just don't get it - Chicagoans consider the Sears tower to be \"theirs.\" It doesn't matter who technically owns it - it belongs to the city. It will always belong to the city - and thus the people. Same thing goes for pro-team stadiums. The people of the city feel like the team is THEIRS. So when a corporation comes in a buys the team and splatters their name all over the place, it's incredibly off-putting.
I didnt even know it was called Sears tower because of Sears the department store. I just thought it was designed by a Mr. Sears or something.
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\"Willis Tower\" doesn't sound right to me. Why even change the name anyway?
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When it rains, can we call it Slick Willy?
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I'm still going to call it the Sears Tower.
Is Comiskey still called \"Comiskey Park\" or US Cellular? I can't wait til the unmighty dollar finally gains the brass to change the name of Wrigley! Heads will roll... Or will they? Chicago has apparently accepted Mayor Daley and his stance on Handguns. 1 per month is it? CLASSIC Incrementalism! I'm looking into what stake the Federal Reserve may have in Willis Holdings... Do youself a favor and check out infowars dot com ...