The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, March 31 2010 - 5a The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.comWednesday, March 31, 2010 - 5A Examining the splash made by Hokusai's Wave By HEATHERPOOLE DailyArts Writer gyp, q w,. rr rF ,ax_..nx1.a,. ".4 i " a .Allow s COURTESY OF THE CW Don t call us Shirley. Turbulence on The CW N e 'Fly Girls' takes a terrible concept and fills it out with reality tropes By LINDSAY HURD Daily Arts Writer When a show uses the tagline "Only on the ground long enough to take off again," one would assume it would be full of characters who live like rock stars with fast-paced life- styles. But instead we get "Fly Girls," a sad mix of "The Bad Fly Gils Girls Club" and "The Hills" Wednesdays with random flight attendants at 10 p.m. thrown in. And yes, it's as The CW annoying as it sounds. The CW's latest "reality" show follows five flight attendants who work for Virgin AirlinLs, party and live together in the same house, conveniently called "The Crash Pad" (just one of the many genius air- line puns made through the program). "Fly Girls" follows Mandalay, Louise, Tahsa, Far- rah and Nikole, who all live the "exciting lives" of being able to assist people on their flights. Clearly, the producers at The CW are running low on ideas. These women try and make their lives sound exciting by exclaiming that the life of a flight attendant is full of world travel, invites to the best parties and swooning hot men. Apparent- ly, these five women's jobs don't require hand- ing out peanuts and telling people to buckle their seatbelts. Rather, the ladies party it up on planes that don't even look like they ever took off the ground. One of the girls claims, "No one ever believes us when we say that we live such exciting lives!" But the excitement is never wit- nessed. Besides the fact that picking flight attendants as the focus of a show is probably the dumbest thing ever to actually become television, the cast is just a rehashing of the most annoying token reality-star trademarks - and everyone has issues. Tahsa has a son at home whom she misses, Louise always'has boy troubles and can never find Mr. Right, Farrah always tries to act like a mom and Mandalay and Nikole used to be BFFs before they had a fight over a boy and now hate each other's guts. In fact, at the end of the 30 minutes of torture, Mandalay and Nikole have anall-out bitch fit, talking in circles about how the other is just "so annoying" and "can't get over" herself. The nonsensical idea of following flight attendants could be overlooked if there were some ridiculously entertaining characters and actual reality to the show. But it's a poor and sad knock-off of all "Laguna Beach"-esque shows in which the ladies try and make their lives seem way cooler than they actually are. Instead of worrying about real problems, they worry about Nikole being a bitch, the fact that morning flights suck and whether they'll find an "IFB," or "In-Flight Boyfriend," while on the job. Overall, the ignorance of the girls, the fake- ness of the reality, the idiotic theme of flight attendants and the desperate marketing to make Virgin Airlines appear to be young and hip make you want to gouge your eyes out. "Fly Girls," in its stupidity, could give Heidi Montag, Paris Hil- ton and "New York" a run for their money - if it can stay on air long enough to "take off." Hokusai's world-famous print The Great Wave is perhaps one of the most iconic images from Japan. Hokusai'sGreat The printfea- Wavesandthe tures a wave that dominates Maritime Turn the frame as it in Japanese crashes onto people strug- Visual Culture gling to stay Tmroal ~.~ ontheirbot An upcoming School oflSocial Work Bldg. lecture will address the proliferation of this print and why The Great Wave has served as an inspiration to Western artists like Vincent van Gogh. Hokusai's The Great Wave was originally publi The Great Wave is part of the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by debut in 1831. Hokusai. At the time of its first creation "I think its ongoing iteration in so and subsequent publication in 1831, The many forms and places has to do with Great Wave reflected the rise of print the dramatic way in which it gives culture in Japan. expression to an ongoing, and ever As part of the Noon Lecture Series more important, dialogue between the through the Center for Japanese Stud- local and the global," she wrote. ies, Christine Guth, director of the post- Since college, Guth has explored graduate Asia designhistory specialism many aspects of Japanese culture, at the Royal College of Art and Victoria including Buddhism, tourism and, and Albert Museum, will discuss this more recently, the globalization of The well known image in a broader histori- Great Wave. cal and cultural context. Commenting that the image has broken through the world of artistic g, , bu fame and into the realm of commercial its simple, u it popularity - the print can be found on notebook covers, umbrellas and t-shirts ... stays with you." - Guth mentions her interest in the "production and consumption" of the image. "My interests have moved into many Guth is also intrigued by the print's other areas - from the tea ceremony to contribution to the 19th-Century fasci- tattoos,"' Guth wrote. nation with maritime culture. Maki Fukuoka, an assistant profes- "Rather than looking at it in relation sor of Asian languages and cultures at to Mount Fuji and the series of which the University, has attended several it is a part, I propose that it be seen as of Guth's lectures in London and was one of many great waves, products and so impressed with her analysis of The symptoms of a new preoccupation with Great Wave that she invited Guth to the the sea," she wrote in an e-mail inter- University to speak. view with The Michigan Daily. Also interested in the influence of Guth will focus on the print's enor- this print, Fukuoka stressed the enthu- mous popularity and the evolution of siasm and inspiration The Great Wave its place in society since the time of its motivated when it first appeared to shed in 1831. European audiences. "(The Great Wave) was received with such excitement by European audienc- es, including the artists who have never seen anything like this, both in terms of material - the paper and ink - but also in terms of technique with the wood- block print," Fukuoka said. Fukuoka also addressed the emphasis on the boundless adaptations and repro- ductions of this iconic Japanese print. "The topic itself allows us to think about the image in so many different contexts in terms of its influence over artists in Europe and ... its influence of the reception as Japanese art in Ameri- ca (and) Europe, also in terms of a com- mercialized art market," she said. Fukuoka attributes the vast popular- ity of the printto its visual accessibility. "There's this kind of immediate understanding of what the picture is about. And it's simple enough, but it kind of stays with you," she added. Despite the specificity of the lec- ture, Fukuoka emphasized how The Great Wave can address geographical, historical, graphic and visual symbolic interests. "Even if you had no interest in Hoku- sai, if you ever wondered about this image, Hokusai's The Great Wave, and why isthis such aglobal icon, then I think you would get so much out ofthis talk." GARDASI L. [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6,11,16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] EARDASIl IS WIDELY AVAILABLE AND MANY PRIVATE INSURANCE PLANS* COVER IT. TALK TO YOUR CAMPUS HEALTH CENTER OR OTHER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.