2B - Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

ARTS RECOMMENDS
In this feature, Daily Arts writers will give their endorsements
for the arts you need to experience to help you deal with current events.
"The Future"
With Oscar season comes Oscar snubs: those
deserving films that missed out on a coveted
nomination. One of these is "The Future," writer-
director-star Miranda July's brilliant exploration
,- oof modern life and relationships. The film is beau-
tiful, witty, challenging and easily one of the best
of the year. Don't let the Academy discourage you
from seeing this gem.
ROADSIDE ATTRACTIoNS
The Spirit Room
Michelle Branch
Give the dubstep a rest and tune into something
soothing and nostalgic. Michelle Branch's The
Spirit Room dropped in 2001, but has a'90s-acous-
tic-mix-tape-your-best-friend-made feel to it. It
might remind you of your middle school dance,
but The Spirit Room is calming and perfect for an
impromptu singalong in the UGLi.
MAVERICK
"Cosmicomics"
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino's "Cosmicomics" is an unheralded
great work. It follows a seemingly timeless and
omnipotent being named Qfwfq as he learns about
life through the dawn of reality. With Valentine's
Day barely a fortnight away, why not take a look at
this unprecedented study of life, love andthe games
of the universe by the Italian master?
HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH
"Smash"
Looking for a feel-good fix now that "Glee" spi-
rals further into lackluster territory? You have
NBC's new drama "Smash," a show-within-a-show
-. that tackles the intriguing and oft-melodramatic
world of musical theater. Set to premiere next week,
the full pilotchas been released on Hulu. Fun in that
.K.over-the-top way, the pilot is sure to paste a smile
on your face and a song in your head.

JEFF WA AIAK/DaIly
~~B-Side Buzz~
English professor Anne Curzan
& inguistics professor Robin Queen
Why is language the theme for the winter 2012 semester?
Curzan: Language is, in the end, fundamentally what makes
us human, and it was something we thought everyone at the
university woud be interested in.
What would be the consequence of having a single, universal
Queen: It's hard to even talk about in terms of pros and cons
because it's very much contrary to the way human language is
entangled with human life.
Excerpts are taken from the B-Side Buzz video,
which can be found on MichiganDailycom.
Interview by Jeff Waraniak

*I

EPISODE REVIEW

Monday's episode of "Gos-
sip Girl" followed the recipe:
It amped up the drama, threw
curveballs
(Georgina
Sparks style)
and made Gossip Gl
us root for
our Romeo Season5
and Juliet - "GG"
Chuck and The CW
Blair.
Fans have
been awaiting the wedding of
Blair and Prince Louis, hoping,
it to be the site of Chuck's final
stand. And while it was, the
wedding still occurred - but it
doesn't seem to have ended so
magically for our Princess Blair.
Blair's pact with God still
seems completely out of char-
acter, and was likely only a plot
device to keep her and the audi-
ence from what we really want:
Chuck and Blair's happy ending.
The humdrum with Dan-

THE CW
slash-Serena and Nate-slash- Gossip Girl?
his-snooze-fest-of-a-love-life Though it's formulaic, the
took a backseat to Chuck and method still works for "Gossip
Blair's forbidden love, as it has Girl," 100 episodes into its run.
been all season. The kicker was Drama, deceit, love and lies
the final scene, which left us are exactly what we expect, and
with a question we've all had it's exactly what we get.
since seasonone: Who is the real -RADHIKA MENON

Since the break-up of the
undeniably influential blues-
rock outfit known as the white
Stripes early
last year, Jack
White has
been strange-
ly absent
from the InterUptin
music scene. Jack White
Rolling
Stone's 17th- Columbia
ranked gui-
tarist was nowhere to be found,
despite still beinga member of
two other bands. There was
a collaboration here, a cameo
there, but nothing that truly I
came from the legendary man
himself.
"Love Interruption" has a
finally arrived to change all a
that. An early release from s
White's first solo album (hard I
to believe, but true) due out
April 24, the single finds the t
musician in his natural habitat r
TR
Sony (parent company of
Screen Gems) is in trouble.
Remember the Ericsson? How
about the PSP?
Neither do we.
But appar- *
ently, Sony's
still trying to Reident
sell things. Evil:
Evidence:
the first half Retibution
of the trailer Screen Gems
for the lat-
est "Resident
Evil" installment, which literally
features random people - quite
possibly the last Sony users on
Earth- describing"theirworld"
while using Sony products.
When done creatively, prod-
uct placement is tolerable. But t
this Madison Avenue experi- I
ment fails catastrophically. Not
only does the trailer not sell
Sony very well, but it also evis-
cerates what little goodwill the
movie might have had with its

EPISODE REVIEW

Previously on "Ringer": A lot
of stuff happened. This show
is all over the place, and while
the writers
have assured
viewers they
have a "three- Ringer
year plan," it Season 1
doesn't seem
like anyone "It Just Got
on this show Normal"
knows what's The CW
happening or
where anything is headed.
"Buffy the Vampire Slay-
er" fans are in it for the long
haul, refusing to believe Sarah
Michelle Gellar can do wrong,
but the show's several-month
hiatus wasn't enough to make
anyone forget that it has more
problemsathan strengths.
As usual, this episode of
"Ringer" failed to be as excit-
ing as the adrenaline-inducing
promo and didn't advance the
story. Siobhan is back in New

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York, Bridget has horrible
bangs, poor Henry still doesn't
have a clue as to what's going on
and the writers still seem to be
mishandling Juliet's story,
As enjoyable as it is to get a
double dosage of SMG every
week, the "Ringer" crew has a

lot to learn from more success-
ful and better-crafted soapy
dramas like "Revenge." When
the most shocking part of an epi-
sode of "Ringer" is a character's
new haircut, something is defi-
nitely askew.
-KAYLA UPADHYAYA

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