The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, September 27, 2010 - 7A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailytom Monday, September 27, 2010 - 7A

Playing house with history

ne Christmas many years
ago, I received a PLAY-
MOBIL Grande Mansion
from Santa Claus. The beauti-
ful Victorian
dollhouse was
nearly as tall
as me, and it
was love at
first sight. I r
spent hours
rearranging
the furniture LEAH
(including BURGIN
a miniature
piano that
miraculously still plinks Ludwig
Van Beethoven's "Fur Elise"),
planning large doll dinner parties
and switching the dolls' outfits
from day attire to tea-time attire
to evening attire.
Even after my sister was
bestowed with a PLAYMOBIL
medieval castle (and then a prin-
cess palace and then a modern-
decor house), my heart still
belonged with my old-fashioned
three-story mansion. As recently
as last summer, I was tempted to
pull out the pieces and set it up
one more time.
My attachment to this doll-
house turned into a love for all
old houses with the aid of my
dad's purchase of "National
Geographic's Guide to America's
Great Houses," a compiled list of
* old, significant homes in America.
Some of the catalogued houses
are obvious - the White House,
the Hearst Castle, Frank Lloyd
Wright's Fallingwater - but
some are obscure, like the Cap-
tain Frederick Pabst Mansion
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This
house, which is touted as "the fin-
est Flemish renaissance revival
mansion in America," belonged to
the founder of the Pabst Brewing
Company. Oddly, it has yet to find
its true calling as a mecca for hip-
sters and frat boys.
During our family vacations,
my dad would plan the trips
around which houses from "the
book" we could see. We made it
our mission to see every house in
every state we visited. So far, we

have ap
we've b
have see
every st
Whil
tourism
individu
Instead
foot tall
furnitui
steppin
mansion
artwork
Houses
Americ:
Thomas
George'
II's Bilt
Taliesin
was ind
individu
tion wit
and the
gave me
Inter
that did
guide is
son Hou
Massact
white-c
the writ
with his
his deat
cai
the
II
house d
The NeN
thought
er thisn
site and
Emerso
The a
two rec
the hist
and his
graduat
couple L
free! -
and gar

retty good track record - scaping experience, maintains the
een to all fifty states and grounds while Lieberg, who has
en at least one house in no extensive domestic experience,
ate. is charged with vacuuming, dust-
e I'm sure this kind of ing and cleaning the roomy house
sounds boring to a lot of every night.
uals, to me it was heaven. When I first read this article,
of playing with a four- I was insanely jealous. I've never
plastic house with plastic been a diehard Emerson fan, but
re and plastic people, I was still, it was more the idea of hav-
g into gigantic multi-story ing direct access to a beloved
ns littered with priceless historical figure that made me
and antique furniture. envious. If I were the caretaker
that had been peopled by of a Laura Ingalls Wilder home or
a's movers and shakers - Jefferson's Monticello, it would be
Jefferson's Monticello, like going on tour with my favor-
Washington Vanderbilt ite band. It would be a behind-
more Estate, Wright's the-scenes, private encounter
West and many others. I with something previously inac-
irect contact with these cessible. And it irked me that the
uals through my interac- couple hired for the Emerson
:h the objects they owned house didn't seem to share this
places they inhabited. It same excitement/creepiness. The
the shivers every time. article states, "The couple tried
estingly enough, one house to read his essays and to listen
n't make the NatGeo to his work on audiotape, but it
the Ralph Waldo Emer- was only after watching a DVD
se. Located in Concord, about Emerson that they began to
husetts, the two-story, understand him."
lapboard building is where A DVD?! Really? Bemis and Lie-
:er and philosopher lived berg have been handed a unique
family from 1835 until responsibility that almost any
h in 1882. Even though the Emerson nut would kill to have.
And they don't seem to appreciate
it. Lieberg says that they took the
job because they "were like, O.K.,
I thought he's cool, nonconformist. And we
like ta. ne.
retakers had But I've calmed down now. I've
realized that living in an historic
ever, home, especially as a caretaker,
wa rvwrn would not be the dream I'm imag-
was WvJAJgb. ining. These homes are not like
my PLAYMOBIL dollhouse - I
could never rearrange the furni-
idn't make it into the guide, ture on a whim or host period-
w York Times certainly appropriate dinner parties. I hate
it was newsworthy. Earli- cleaning and yard work. And all
nonth, I went to their web- too often, when you come in con-
find an article entitled, "In tact with something you love so
n's House." much (like your favorite band), it
article introduces us to the can't live up to your hype, and dis-
ently hired caretakers for appointment is inevitable. So for
oric estate, Taylor Bemis now, I'll put my jealousy aside and
fiancee, beauty school content myself with just visiting.

Phoning it in: a lot easier to get away with when you have a gun.
Sadly uneventful

NBC's new sci-fi
thriller can't manage
its mysteries
By JAMIE BLOCK
ManagingArts Editor
While it's no surprise that
NBC's "The Event" is waiting to
reveal what its
title's all about,
the series pre-
miere was shock- The Event
ingly devoid of
any events what- Mondays
soever. at 9 p.m.
In the pilot, NBC
we jump hap-
hazardly between three time-
frames. The leaps are abrupt and
happen all too often, barring the
story from feeling cohesive. But all
things in all times seem to center
around Sean Walker (Jason Ritter,
"The Class"). Any attempt to say
who Walker is would be futile at
this stage, and that's exactly what
the show wants. He seems like a
normal dude who loves his girl-
friend, but he has ties to a group of
prisoners held on a mountaintop,
hijacks a plane and exhibits super-
human power including, but not
restricted to, creating wormholes
in space-time. Yeah, this"is gnhna
be one of those shows.

"The Event" is all aboutmystery,
but the show doesn't know how
to build any. From the countless
commercials, it was actually easily
predictable that "the event" would
be aliens altering the space-time
continuum. Well, that seems to
have happened - but instead of the
centric event, it was just the pilot
episode's cliffhanger.
At this year's San Diego Comic-
Con, the creators took several jabs
at "Lost" for not answering ques-
tions, assuring future fans that
"The Event" would be more sat-
isfying on that front. Apparently
what the producers were trying
to say is that all the mysteries will
have predictable answers and/or
nobody will care what the answers
are anyway. The only substantial
question so far is "Who are these
prisoners?" But with the dramatic
hesitation of President Elias Marti-
nez (Blair Underwood, "Dirty Sexy
Money") to describe them as "peo-
ple," along with allusions to the old
staple, "Take me to your leader,"
aliens are emerging as the obvious
answer.
Aliens would be a bit of a let-
down though, wouldn't it? We've
seen aliens before. Well, maybe
they're regular people who were
exposed to the event and derived
powers from it. Well that would
just make this another season of
"Heroes." And that's the series' big

problem. At this point, there does
not exist an answer for any of the
show's "big questions" that would
prove at all satisfying.
Maybe that wouldn't be the
case, though, if there were more
questions posed. The pilot wasted
an incredible amount of time on
Walker and his girlfriend's cruise
vacation. It engulfed a third of the
episode, and only hinted at rel-
evance near the storyline's end.
Even the scenes central to the
mountain facility lacked an air
of mystery. It was only the final
scene that begged for fan theoriz-
ing. But a strong cliffhanger does
not a fulfilling episode make (espe-
cially when that cliffhanger uses
CGI straight out of a Syfy original
movie).
For all its failures, "The Event"
could be addictive, just not in the
way its creators hoped. The big
mystery people will tune in for isn't
going to be "Who are these prison-
ers and why are they locked up?"
or "Why is Sean Walker so impor-
tant?" Instead, the question on
viewers' minds will be "Are these
really the best mysteries they could
come up with?"
Oh, and to anyone else out there
thinking of making a similar sci-fi
series: If your goal is to distance
yourself from "Lost," vanishing a
plane into a flash of light isn't the
best way to start. Just sayin'.

e Andrea Lieberg. The
ives in the house - for
and maintains the interior
den. Bemis, who has land-

Burgin needs a playmate.
To sublet her toy mansion,
e-mail Irburgin@umich.edu.

ultimate responsibility at
the start of your career.
Your day begins with multi-m# d1at is t you a
dtstrict awa iting your I drcion An a chac to mk yr m
profsonlst strive ti entir2 car-er ra opo y eto
it from day one.
The responsibility. The success.
And the rewards.
Welcometo More.
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