8A - Monday, October 10, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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4 ILM EVIEWFROM CUBA TO CAMPUS
Cuban hip-hop group
SObsesion visits the'U'

Even men with voice recorders love Ryan Gosling.
Momentous'r

Backstabbing
thriller reaches the
core of politics
By EMILY BOUDREAU
DailyArts Writer
In the opening scene of "The
Ides of March," Stephen Mey-
ers (Ryan Gosling, "Drive") is
trying to get a
pair of podi-
ums raised two
extra inches in TheIdes
preparation for
a debate. Why? Of Marh
To make the AtQuality16,
other guy look Rave and State
shorter. And
making the Columbia
other guy look
shorter, making the other guy
look bad, is an essential part of
"The Ides of March."
"The Ides of March" is a politi-
cal thriller (loosely based on the
play "Farragut North") centered
around the Democratic Primary
Elections in Ohio - though many
might recognize a few restau-
rants in Detroit, as well as some
Ann Arbor scenery, extras in the
background. Meyers is a wide-
eyed campaign manager and
consultant working for Governor
Mike Morris (George Clooney,

"The American") and is one of the
best political minds in the busi-
ness. Just as it seems his team
has everything figured out and
the election in the bag, scandal
erupts through an interplay of
sex, media and political figures,
and "The Ides of March" becomes
a meditation on integrity.
The cast is flawless. Phillip
Seymour Hoffman ("Moneyball")
plays Paul Zara, the intelligent
but old-fashioned chief campaign
manager for Morris. Through
no fault of his own, his role gets
a little bit buried under all the
dirt. Clooney - also the film's
director - doesn't have much
screen time, but his articulate,
moderate stances on issues and
his charisma draw the audience
to him whether we see his face or
not. Morris is so earnest and so
likeable when he speaks that it's
shocking when he turns out not
to be as wholesome as he looks.
Clooney successfully capturesthe
disconnect between the private
and public face of a candidate.
Gosling is the actor who will
most likely walk away with the
Oscar nomination for best actor
after his performance as Meyers.
He works behind the scenes and
crafts Morris. He decides who
gets elected and maybe one of the
most powerful men in America.
Meyers does not have Morris's

open-faced charm, but he is not
a traditional politician. Gosling
rises to the challenge of portray-
ing the tragic arc of a man with
ideals in a dirty world. As a result,
his story and his character grip
the audience with the most force.
Like Clooney's other political
movie, 2005's "Good Night and
Good Luck," "The Ides of March"
moves slowly and it's important
to keep track of details. How-
ever, the plot's momentum does
build energy. By the end of the
film, whole scenes can be carried
out by a smoldering exchange of
glances between characters -
which might sound boring, but
when paired with the film's omi-
nous soundtrack and dark setting
makes foranail-bitingexperience.
The political tragedy has been
done before - like in 2006's "All
the King's Men." But "The Ides
of March" looks at the people
who make politicians rather than
the politicians themselves. More
importantly, the film does so in a
post-Clinton, post-Spitzer, post-
Weiner world where scandals
are so easily revealed. While the
rules andthetechnologyinvolved
in the political game might have
changed, the story has not, and
though "The Ides of March"
exposes some flaws in the politi-
cal system, it doesn't suggest that
they can be changed.

ByARIELLE SPECINER
Daily Arts Writer
Last semester, three girls jour-
neyed to Havana obsessed with
culture and came back to the
states with the culture-centric
Cuban hip-hop group Obsesion.
Obsesion, fronted by Magia
L6pez and Alexey Rodriguez,
has been rapping and play-
ing music in Cuba since 1996.
The group's music resonates
throughout the country, as they
sing in Spanish to fans around
the world about Cuban political
problems, religion, customs and
culture.
When LSA seniors Amara
Lopez, Anna Megdell and Nicole
Mueller traveled to Cuba with
the University's anthropology
department, their GSI Vanessa
Diaz - the group's friend and
translator - introduced them
to Obsesion. The three girls
felt such a connection that they
decided to bring the group to
Ann Arbor for Cuba Week, a
celebration of Cuban hip hop
through music, film and lec-
tures, which took place Oct. 3 - 7.
"We wanted to find a way to
continue our experience person-
ally," Megdell said. "It was really
hard to come home. We wanted
to share our experience with
Ann Arbor because we feel so
rounded in both communities."
With a little self-motivation
and outside help, the girls wel-
comed Obsesion to the Univer-
sity for a week.
On Tuesday, Obsesion attend-
ed Professor Ruth Behar and
Professor David Frey's anthro-
pology classes to speak about
Cuban life and developments,
as well as their lyrics and travel
process. On Wednesday, in an
Angell Hall auditorium, the
group members attended a ques-
tion-and-answer forum after a

screeni
"Cuban
ciplo."
forman
hip hoi
day eve
"For
largely
dell sai
Lope
in Ann
experie
exchan
the th
they tr
took a
few m
to atte
poetry
guage b
L
m+
WE
"It's
standin
we spe
Rodrig
"It's al
and ho
art."
Lope
of Cuba
sion's i<
hopedi
attitud
wants t
values 1
"The
other r
in oth
enriche
guez s
when3
life an(
out hov
all of th

ng of Diaz's documentary and seeing different kinds of life-
Hip Hop: Desde el Prin- styles gives you a totally differ-
They also gave a free per- ent base from which to respond."
ice with local Ann Arbor Megdell and the other two
p group Tree City Thurs- students who coordinated Cuba
ming. Week were confident that the
me, my time in Cuba was student body would be as recep-
defined by music," Meg- tive to Obsesion as the hip-hop
d. group was to Ann Arbor.
ez's and Rodriquez's week "I think that even if people
Arbor was also all about don't have experience directly
ncing their own cultural with Cuba, there's still a huge
ge - similar to the one interest," Megdell said. "The
ree students had when music is very good. People are
aveled abroad. Obsesion just convinced."
trip to Detroit to visit a According to Mueller, Obse-
useums and they hoped sion is very "Cuban," made up of
nd a spoken-word slam two welcoming, fun, and warm
reading - despite the lan- people.
arrier. This Cuban mindset is evident
in their music, lyrics and even
their apparel. Rodriguez, Lopez
and Diaz all wore wooden, tiki-
SA seniors looking necklaces that Diaz
et Obsesion explained were handmade by
 Rodriguez- who is a woodcarv-
iie in Cuba. er on the side - as a symbol of
their family and their friendship.
The fact that Cuba Week is
focused on hip hop is quite sig-
not just about under- nificant. The University could
sg each other because have gotten any Cuban politi-
ak different languages," cian or activist to speak for Cuba
uez said through Diaz. Week, but Rodriguez under-
so the quality of the art stands how influential music is
w you connect through in Cuba.
"Hip-hop music is important
ez explained that the goal because it's the way we have
aWeek was to share Obse- to best express ourselves and
deas and values. She also express the way we're feeling,"
it would reform negative she said through Diaz.
es toward Cuba. Obsesion The cultural exchange that
to bring American-taught took place last week will be a
back home. lasting one, but sending repre-
fact that we get to share sentatives from Cuba is not the
ealities with other people only effective way to break the
er social environments scornful myths traded between
es our intellect," Rodri- Cuba and America.
aid through Diaz. "And "We always invite people to
you have experiences in come to Cuba and see for them-
d you're trying to figure selves," Rodriguez said through
w to react to them, having Diaz. "We just want you to come
sese different experiences and experience it for yourself."

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TEDX
From Page 6A
coherently," Prof. Singh outlined
seven ways in which the practice
promotes "good life" in much
the same way as sustainability.
The seven concepts that Singh
listed included physical well-
ness, creativity, balance, loving
and receiving love, freedom of
expression, meditation and the
ability to see oneself in others.
Shortly after his talk, Prof.
Singh led the audience in a brief
yoga session. Every audience
member could be seen reaching
his or her arms to the sky and
heaving in chestfulls of warm
arboretum air.
While the first half ofthe event
focused on the individual's role in
sustainability, the second set of
talks examined sustainability on
a community level.
Jennifer Canvasser, an Envi-
ronmental Health Organizer at
the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor,
opened the second session by
explaining how toxicology often
gets overlooked when thinking
about sustainability since harm-
ful chemicals are difficult to
trace.
"We don't always know what
we're being exposed to," Can-
vasser said. "Toxic chemicals
are out of sight and out of mind
because we just don't see them or
talk about them."
Designer and Program in the
Environment instructor Kat
Superfisky gave one of the final
talks of the day, describing how
sustainability isn't just about effi-
ciency, but beauty too.
"Sustainability can and should
be sexy," Superfisky said. "If we
have a beautiful world, we're
going to want to live in that
world."
At the close of the event, Busi-
ness senior Poonam Dagli, one of
the event's principal organizers,
said she was incredibly pleased
with the audience and the feel-
ings stirredby the talks.
"Sometimes sustainabil-
ity is something that can get you
down," she said. "But right now,
I feel really uplifted, like I can go
out and do anything."
That and a deep breath are
exactly what TEDx is all about.
See a video about this story on
R MichiganDaily.com

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