2B - Thursday, October 4, 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 Tiger's Wife"
' EGTea Obreht was only 26 years old when she
won the Orange Prize for Fiction for her debut
novel "The Tiger's Wife." Her prose, however, has
the wisdom and richness of a writer three times
W I FE her age. The novel follows a young doctor in an
unnamed Balkan country who investigates the
mystery surrounding her grandfather's sudden
death. Obreht weaves the real with the fantastical,
RANDOM HOUSE painting a beautiful story of family and folklore.
Presidents of the United States of
America
If the rapidly approaching election makes you
nervous, listen to the self-titled album from the
Presidents of the United States of America. With
songs dedicated to cats, peaches and spiders driv-
ing dune buggies, the 1995 album is nonsensical
but a classic - not to mention a nice change from
the heated political climate out there. If only real
TOOTH & NAIL presidents could be so carefree.
"The Snowtown Murders"
If you're in the mood for a movie experience
punctuated by the most WTF moments that can
possibly be squeezed into a two-hour period, look
no further than "The Snowtown Murders." The
powerful Australian crime-thriller chronicles the
exploits of notorious serial killer John Bunting and
is guaranteed to have the bravest souls looking
away from the screen in moments of pure psycho-
FC MIDNIGHT logical and physical disgust.
"Battlestar Galactica"
If you've never watched the sci-fi sensation, what
the frak are you doing? It blends political intrigue,
soap, mysticism and wartime thrills, and explores
the aftermath of a Cylon - a cybernetic race bio-
logically identical to humans - invasion that nearly
wipes out mankind. With its superb acting and
storytelling, BSG offers more than science-fiction
spectacle: It's a show about the moral intricacies of
SYFT war and human conflict. Roslin/Airlocks 2012.
DO YOU AGREE WITH ROMNEY?
SHOULD BIG BIRD DIE?
BLOG ABOUT IT!
WRITE FOR THE ARTS BLOG, THE FILTER.
Request an application by e-mailing arts@michigandaily.com.

I

HOW TO CATCH

A FALLING

KNIFE

JUDGING
A BOOK
BY ITS
COVER
Daily Arts writers go
against the famous
idiom, choose a
random book and
make assumptions
about its contents
based on the cover art.

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Daniel Johnson is back once
again with the handy DIY help
book "How to Catch a Falling
Knife." Adding to the success of
the popular "How to Catch ... "
series, which has churned out
such hits as "How to Catch a Fall-
ing Bucket of Soup" and "How to
Catch Somebody Else's Newborn
Infant," Johnson clearly demon-
strates that he is the master of
catching things. By reading this
companion of dropping cutlery
(and the methods of securing said
cutlery), perhaps one day, you too
could be a black belt in the art of
catching things.
"How to Catch a Falling Knife"
is helpfully splitinto separate sec-
tions,each detailingthe numerous
important aspects one must con-
sider. In the first chapter, Johnson

DANILL
J OH NSO N
ALICE JAMES
showcases his vast knowledge of
different knives, citing the specif-
ic differences between catching
a Santoku chef's blade from, say,
your average Forschner paring
knife (the difference could cost
you a finger!).
You might think, after perus-
ing the various knives you plan on
catching, that you might be ready
without another thought. But, as
Johnson clearly notes, you would
be dead wrong.
Perhaps the most useful of
the book's 43 distinct sections
details the "aerodynamics" of
falling knives, as pictured on the
cover. Look on in fascination at
the immensely helpful pictures,
which show (by use of colored
smoke) how none of the 20 tested
knives actually affect air currents

in any measurable way.
Johnson even describes (in 37
detailed accounts) of his firsthand
experiences with the different
techniques one can use: the basic
"flailing grab for the handle," the
"oh my God this knife is going to
impale my foot unless I catch it,"
and for those who want to show
off, the "one in a million chance
grabbing the blade doesn't make
me die of blood loss."
For those interested, the
"Deluxe" version of "How to
Catch a Falling Knife" includes
a set of training knives to leave
around the kitchen, until you one
day bump one off a table by acci-
dent. And when that day comes,
with Daniel Johnson's help, you'll
know what to do.
-ELLIOT ALPERN

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