6A - Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

4SaveFacebook

Social network
is moving in the
wrong direction
By BRIANNE JOHNSON
SeniorArts Editor
Facebook is not perfect: The site
suggests I befriend ex-friends; tai-
lors commercial advertisements
to an audience far more conser-
vative and denture-inclined than
me; and once mistagged me for a
distantuncle. But hashtags, Zuck-
erberg? You've gone too far this
time. #DoNotWant
In a recent report, The Wall
Street Journal hinted that Face-
book may soon hitch itself to
Twitter's hashtag bandwagon,
allowing users to further drag
cyberspace into the pits of unnec-
essarily tagged #hell.
Am I being dramatic? #Sor-
ryNotSorry
See? I've employed three
hashtags within 80 words and,
already, you wince. Did the joke
get too old too soon? Are you
frustrated by my lack of spacing?
At what age did you realize that
punctuation is prohibited, and
you just can't tag a smiley face?
The hashtag is not what it once
was - or maybe it is, and we've
just ripped it from its original
OPERA
From Page 1A
geous," said director Kay Castal-
do. "We haven't done a lot of
German opera here. I felt that
it was time for the students to
work with the German language,
because they need to learn and
experience that."
Castaldo has been part of mul-
tiple productions in esteemed
companies worldwide, includ-
ing Teatro Colon, Florida Grand
Opera, LOpera de Montreal,
Cincinnati Opera and the Opera
Company of Philadelphia. This
is her first year as an MT&D
associate professor. "Ariadne auf
Naxos" will be Castaldo's first
production as a faculty member.
"Ariadne auf Naxos"'s first act
introduces the audience to the
wealthiest man in Vienna, who
hao rganizeal a vish rdinner to

purpose of ironic amusement.
But its system of classification
- of compiling and connecting
related bits of information and
eager Internet users - allowed
a (perhaps false) sense of cura-
torship. We could assign labels
to our 140-character thoughts,
assort Tumblr rants with the
simple addition of a "personal"
tag and virtually collect pieces
of information relevant to any
subject with one easy click. Life
was simple, hashtags were sparse
and friends were less tempted to
block you. Probably.
But times have changed, and
I unfollowed you three months
ago. #SorryNot ... You get it.
The hashtag has lost its signifi-
cance. It's wrung dry, plastered
in packs in your Instagram cap-
tion. Posting a picture of you and
your one-and-only? Don't forget
to hashtag the following (and,
yes, all are 100-percent neces-
sary): #Couple #Love #Kissing
#LoveYou #Boyfriend #Sexy
#Food #Happy #Baby #SoInLove
#ImBetterThanYou
If not for the sake of your
schmoozy overindulgence, the
hashtag can also act as a side
thought. Computer-mediated
communication seems to have
caused a complete inability to
decipher one's textual tone. How
serious, sarcastic, friendly or
honor his most recent art acqui-
sition. In order to entertain his
guests, he recruits an eminent
operacompanyto perform aseri-
ous, tragic opera performance
in light of the new painting. A
song-and-dance show from a
capering troupe of comedians is
supposed to follow. When time
grows tight, the opera and the
comedians are informed that
they must perform together. The
second act allows the audience
to see how the opera within an
opera takes form.
"This particular opera is the
battle of comedy and tragedy.
Directors are always looking for
the big, dramatic action of the
piece," Castaldo said. "In this
case, it's transformation. We see
the comedy transformed; we see
the opera transformed. It's an
exciting theatrical event to see
because it's really fun and color-
ful. ut it's also mvstinl in torms

flirty was that message? Does
your Twitter audience under-
stand dry humor? Have no fear
- the hashtag is, I guess, here. It's
like the medium through which
the implicit becomes explicit, and
it may or may not have saved a few
social lives. Thank you, hashtag.
But still, your service is not need-
ed, or welcome, on Facebook.
Its use has further evolved, as
friend after friend has responded
tomyquestion- "What doyouuse
hashtags for?" - with the same
answer: It's a joke. Our hashtags
are mere irony slapped onto the
ends of text messages and tweets
with sarcasm. Because, c'mon,
you don't take hashtags seriously
- does anyone, these days?
Maybe not, but Facebook seems
to want you to. Zuckerberg, I'm
already this closeto jumping ship -
another onslaughtof hashtags may
just hurl me over the edge. And to
where do you expect me to dog-
gie-paddle to safety? The "new"
Myspace? Google+?#lol #no
Facebook may not be perfect,
but the ways in which it distin-
guishes itself from the slew of
social networking sites are why
we even still use it. Why use Face-
book if Twitter offers the same
experience, only simpler? Why
use Facebook if it only adopts the
worst aspects of other sites? Why
use Facebook? You won't.
of the themes that are really
important to us."
"Ariadne auf Naxos" is a
vibrant productionthat colors the
stage some of Strauss's most com-
pelling music. It simultaneously
plays with the universal subject
of love, money and high art.
"We see ourselves in a certain
way in life. We have this clear
view of who we might be. We're
defined by our jobs, our social
strata and our relationships. We
have a very clear definition of
who we are," Castaldo said. "And
then, one day, we fall in love and
everything around us explodes
and we're transformed.
She continued: "This is the
big issue here. This is the human
condition. We think we have it all
organized and we're delighted
when something bigger than us,
when something more wonder-
ful than us, comes into our lives
nnd iuneownoes it."

I

A

- 2aTH CENTURY FOX
"Which one of you is Fred?"
Flat jokes, .itn
plot hold back 'Croods'

By CONRAD FOREMAN
Daily Arts Writer
"The Croods" is a well ani-
mated film that will please
younger audiences all over.
Unfortunately,
it's not one
that will stand
up to the test of The
more seasoned Cr0ds
movie-watch-
ers, lacking At Quality16
in humor and and Rave
riddled with
plot inconsis- 20th Century Fox
tencies. And of
course, all you college students
out there are seasoned movie-
watchers.
Eep Crood (Emma Stone,
"The Help") is a normal teen-

she and her family are cave-
men, the last surviving fam-
ily from their "neighborhood."
The Croods live a life of safety
and caution and spend days at a
time inside their cave. But when
an interesting (and cute!) boy
arrives bearing a warning of
the end of the world, Eep and
the Croods must venture with
him, outrunning the dangers of
plate tectonics, vicious preda-
tors and, most problematically,
each other.
The Croods' prehistoric
world has too many incon-
sistencies for the film to be
credible. At first, the red, flesh-
eating birds do just that: They
leave their victims nothing but
their bones. However, when
Grug (Nicolas Cage, "National

of a sticky situation, for no
explained reason these birds
collectively lift Grug (appar-
ently unable to let go?) and fly
him away. At another point, the
Croods happen upon a lake, and
are shocked to discover water ...
you know, that one thing essen-
tial to organic life.
One thing that the film does
successfully create is an emo-
tional connection to the char-
acters. Despite all the problems
the film has, you can't help but
be worried for the family as
the film reaches its climax. If
you've had an especially tumul-
tuous relationship with your
father, it may even bring a tear
or two to your eyes.

loe i'l.4hseh. eoeeb ht Tesure") edsnna av ou e ,-.,' _1__- _1

ine onlypeople
who will enjoy
this are the kids
Call:#734-418-4115 you babysit.
Cne~l 15" ldin . yeral a o u s.

RELEASE DATE- Wednesday, March 27,2013
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

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Emma Stone and Nicolas
E C Cage, who voices Grug, are
able to convincingly convey
the struggles of a relationship
between a father who thinks
he knows what's best, and a
PRIVATE TUTORING FOR LSAT, daughter who just wants to see
LAW SCHOOL, BAR EXAM the world and experience new
My credentials: things. The film finds its great-
" perfect 180 on LSATe h i he h
" Michigan Law grad (3.85 GPA) est strengt i the character
' licensed attorney dynamic between these two.
" 20+ years' teaching experience The rest of the family seems
" hundreds of delighted students to be there mostly to facilitate
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in the divide between Eep and
THESIS EDITING. LANGUAGE, Grug. The mother, Ugga (Cath-
organization, format. All disciplines. erine Keener, "The 40-Year-Old
734-996-0566 or writeon@iserv.net Virgin"), tries to be neutral, but
can't do so for long. Eep's young-
er brother, Thunk (Clark Duke,
"Sex Drive") is obvious comedic
relief - he's chubby, incompe-
tent, clumsy and easily fright-
ened - but his jokes make you
COLLEGE PRO IS now hiring feel as though you're laughing at
painters all across the state to work out- him for being stupid, rather than
doors w/other students. Earn $3k-5k. at the ridiculous results of his
Advancement opportunities +
internships. 1-888-277-9787 or stupidity, and even most kids are
www.collegepro.com too nice to laugh at that.
"The Croods" will be semi-
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drhbryan@yahoo.com. entertained throughout. But
this is not a film that will hit
with older demographics the
way that other DreamWorks
productions such as "Shrek"
I I and "Kung Fu Panda" did with
well placed pop-culture refer-
ences and developed charac-
ters. "The Croods" is able to do
this to an extent, but sells out
for cheap laughs too often and
has too many secondary char-
acters without much substance.
If you're looking for a nice
T H E family film, then "The Croods"
fits the bill perfectly. However,
C O S O D since you're probably a college
student, there's no harm in
missing out on this one.

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03/27/13

4 & A