8A - Monday, September 28, 2009

WHY?
From Page 5A
Less than two minutes into the record, a quick-
paced piano progression channeling a simplistic
folk-like beauty, makes it clear that Yoni had not mis-
spoke when he disavowed his group's ties to hip hop.
"January Twenty Something" welcomes an album
imbued with more piano harmonies and fewer drum
machines. These fresh influences are also evident on
"Berkeley By Hearseback," a similarly peaceful track
full of Biblical references and ties to Yoni's own Mes-
sianic Jewish heritage. The song opens with a grace-
ful keyboard intro, with elegant strings weaving
between the piano notes. The track is notably more
striking than anything the group has ever produced,
signaling a new sound progression for the group.
Unfortunately, the record's lush piano notes grow
stale after a few tracks, proving that a new direction
doesn't necessarily denote a more mature sound.
Thankfully, WHY? hasn't journeyed so far away
from its roots as to be completely unrecognizable.
The blunt lyrics are still fully intact, at times walk-
ing a thin line between self-consciously juvenile and

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
rawly disturbing. As Yoni lyricizes on "This Black-
est Purse," the album's first single: "Still sportin' my
ex-girlfriend's dead ex-boyfriend's boxers / I wanna
operate from abase of hunger/No longer be ashamed
and hide my /tears in shower water while I lather for a
pleasure."
Despite these continued lyrical allusions to mas-
turbation - most prominently seen on the band's
second LP Elephant Eyelash, which according to cer-
tain sources is a euphemism for vaginas - the lyrics
displayed on Eskimo Snow tend to be darker than
those on earlier efforts. Death and anguish are fre-
quent topics throughout the record, cropping up all
over the place. While these themes are fairly new for
the band, the light comical embellishments that fill
in the gaps signal thateven though the group's sound
has noticeably changed directions, its members still
recognize the route that took them to their current
formation.
While WHY?'s latest effort certainly highlights
the group's own musical progression, the record still
hints at past efforts, thereby allowing it to remain
accessible to fans. With Eskimo Snow, the group has
proven that the hip-hop genre is much broader than 0
the current MTV-sponsored club hits would lead
one to believe.

Peer pressure fail.
CBS has an accident

The TV lovechild of
'Sex and the City'
and 'Knocked Up'
stands up to neither
By BRIGID KILCOIN
Daily Arts Writer
Finally someone is reaching
out to that constantly overlooked
group of indi-
viduals: wealthy, **
30-something
white women ACcidentally
searching for P
love in a big
city. But there's Mondaysat
a twist this 8:30 p.m.
time. This par- CBS
ticular wealthy
30-something is
pregnant - with a younger man's
baby. CBS's new sitcom "Acciden-
tally on Purpose," while borrow-
ing heavily from HBO's "Sex and
the City," is a light, enjoyable piece
of fluff.
"Accidentally on Purpose"
focuses on Billie (Jenna Elfman,
"Dharma & Greg"), an attractive
career woman who wants nothing
more out of life than to get married
and settle down. In order to accom-
plish this goal, she spends large
amounts of her free time idling
in bars with two generic friends.
Youthful heartthrob Zack (Jon
Foster, "Stay Alive") offers to buy

her a drink, and before you know
it, their witty banter ("I think I'm
running out of charming. I think I
have some back at my apartment.")
and awkward attempts to dance to
Beyonc's "Single Ladies" lead to a
night of passion on Zack's fold-out
couch. Soon, Billie discovers she's
pregnant and struggles to incor-
porate Zack and his slacker friends
into her life. The premise might
be identical to "Knocked Up," but
the delivery is significantly more
female-aimed.
The older woman-younger man
relationship has become a hot topic
in the media recently, examined in
lackluster series like ABC's "Cou-
gar Town," and "Accidentally" is
strongly influenced by the tired
liberated-women-who's-still-des-
perate-for-a-man shtick, previ-
ously seen in the work of producers
like David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal,"
"The Practice"). Despite having
a great job and a ridiculously spa-
cious apartment, Billie's only con-
cern is getting married. She goes
so far as to reveal that she got preg-
nant on purpose, hence the title
of the show. While it's played for
laughs, her neediness and singu-
lar focus on pinning down a man is
disheartening. One recurring joke
involves Billie saying "I love you"
to Zack and him meeting the utter-
ance with complete confusion each
and every time.
"Accidentally on Purpose"
depends almost entirely on star
Jenna Elfman's ability to carry the

show, and, to her credit, she man-
ages to act as a serviceable comedic
foil to the rest of the cast. While
her almost aggressive quirkiness
can wear thin at points, she's a
sympathetic character even when
placed in situations that seem
abhorrent. Her perkiness makes
her a sympathetic protagonist.
A weaker comedic presence
is found in Zack, who blandly
poses and pouts his way through
the show, raising the question of
why Billie would ever want to get
involved with him in the first place.
Billie's two friends are amusing in
their roles as confidants, though
they seem to exist on the show
solely to narrate past events and
aid in plot exposition.
Although it gets muddled in
generic sitcom dialogue from time
to time, the script is mostly strong,
poking fun at some of the sacred
cows oftheromantic comedygenre.
Billie bemoans her geriatric age of
37, stating that she's past her peak.
There are three stages of life, she
opines: Meg Ryan in "Sleepless in
Seattle," Meg Ryan in "You've Got
Mail" and Meg Ryan in the grocery
store, trying to convince people
she's Meg Ryan. It's not ground-
breaking, but the show fits in well
with the rest of the CBS Monday
night lineup and will undoubt-
edly appeal to its target audience:
women like Billie. "Accidentally"
isn't life-changing, but it succeeds
at what it's aiming for. The bar just
wasn't set particularly high.

SURROGATES
From Page 5A
use the bathroom, but the audi-
ence never sees this necessary
break from virtual reality. The
human characters just become as
artificial as the surrogates, and as

a result, the viewer has no emo-
tional stake in each character's
decisions or outcome.
Everyone has, at some point,
been frustrated by a cinematic
near miss - a film that, while
otherwise terrible, retained some
tantalizingly positive qualities.
Perhaps there was a compelling
performance by one of the actors

or a subplot of notable substance
and depth or even something
simple and aesthetic like a unique
visual style. "Surrogates" is not
one of those films. It is not the
worst movie ever made. It will
probably not be remembered as
the worst movie of 2009. But it
very well might be the least origi-
nal movie you will see this year.

SUFJAN SAYS 'YES' TO MICHIGAN

MORE ONLINE
For more photos of Sufjan Stevens at the Crofoot on Friday night, check online at michigandaily.com/blogs/the filter

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