The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, October 28, 2013 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, October 28, 2013 - 7A Zombies are the new black. 'Walking Dead' comes back to life New showrunner resurrects popular zombie tale By DREW MARON Daily Arts Writer At its core, "The Walking Dead" is about a whole lot more than just killing zombies. It's a show about how we keep our humanity in A- a world gone to hell and whether The Walking or not we can go Dead back to the way things were. The Season four, show's problems episodes one have always and two been the direc- tion the two Sundaysat previous show- 9 P.M. runners were AMC taking it in. Frank Darabont (director of "The Shaw- shank Redemption" and first head writer for "The Walking Dead") definitely brought the tragedy of it all with a cinematic scope seldom seen in television, yet the first sea- sonlacked a real overarchingstory- line to bridge the gap from episode to episode. Darabont's successor in the second season, Glen Mazarra, tried to fix that with more story arcs and action, but despite stellar ratings, the characters never felt like they were striving toward any- thingbeyond simply"not dying." With third-time's-the-charm showrunner Scott Gimple, how- ever, "Walking Dead" fans can rest, assured. The show's focus is finally whereitneedstobe: givingus hope in aworld where so little ofit exists. Right off the bat, the first epi- sode of season four, "30 Days Without an Accident," goes down the checklist of previous wrongs in pretty much the easiest way pos- sible: making Michonne (Danai Gurira, "Treme"), the mysterious sword-wielding survivor, smile. And more than just smile, mind you. She laughs, she jokes and she cries (more on that in a second). One of the biggest problems the past three seasons have faced is its female characters. The most notable examples being Andrea (Laurie Holden, "The Shield") and Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies, "Black November") with the for- mer repeatedly failing atbeingjust as tough as one of the boys (only to fail... alot) and the latter being the third-worst parent on television behind Donald Draper and Walter White. Though I'm sure a lot of peo- ple might be relieved those two are gone, I honestly kind of wish Scott Gimple took a shot at flesh- ing them out first. From these first episodes, Gimple shows an innate understanding of these characters and how living in this world has changed them, for good or bad. Carol (Melissa McBride, "Liv- ing Proof") started off as a mousy housewife in an abusive relation- ship. Four seasons later, she's a badass, teachingthe younger mem- bers knife fighting and the more unpleasant aspects of the zombie apocalypse. But undoubtedly the biggest change has been just how much deeper we seem to be getting into Michonne. Her constant paranoia and scowling last season became tiresome and one-note, and fans of the comic series were worried their beloved post-apocalyptic samu- rai would never be fully realized. Fortunately, Gurira finally shows us what the producers saw in the actress when casting her last sea- son. She is establishing a familial link with the prison the rest of the group already shares. Her vulner- ability reveals itself in full force in the second episode, "Infected," where Michonne tearfully breaks while holding baby Judith. It was heart-rending while still keeping Michonne's pastcfirmlyin the camp of mysterious, adding even more layers to her enigmatic past. "Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman has always said the title of the show is a reference both to the zombie-like walkers and the survi- vors themselves who are dead - in the sense that without society and thethingsweconstitute as"making us alive" we are, ina sense, "dead." It's a bleak idea, and the show reflected that continuously these past three seasons, but what it has ignored' is the presence of hope. Season four reminds us of the little things that keep these people going: the hope that maybe, despite all the suffer- ing and death, there still might be light at the end of the tunnel. That's what "The Walking Dead" is about: not avoiding death, but fighting for life. I don't always drink. lot whet I do, it's self-obsession." DJ Khaled is'Suffering' from mediocrity Hollywood glamorizes Beats ByKAREN YUAN For the Daily Allen Ginsberg was an amateur photographer. Throughout his years with fellow Beat poets and artists, he took hundreds of pic- tures of familiar faces - Kerouac, Burroughs, Cassidy - to document the lives they led. Few of the pic- tures were candid shots, and Ithink this was because Ginsbergknew, at least remotely, that their lives were SONY PICTURES CLASSICS made for the camera. There was Drop the Beatnicks. By ALLEN DONNE Daily Arts Writer I cannot be the only one to wonder who DJ Khaled is or what he does. Here's an artist who has released seven albums, has become a recognized name in music, but doesn't perform in any songs except for the inter- spersed yet emphatic yelling of his name. With the recent release of his album, Suffering from Success, I journeyed into Khaled's seventh release, deter- mined to discover this role and how he is "suffering from suc- cess." Immediately, the tone of the album is established with an excerpt from Obama's sec- ond election victory address with "All I Do Is Win" play- ing in the background. From this lone excerpt, we discover the album's purpose - that DJ Khaled and ls featured com- pany are the best there are. And Khaled does nothing to make this subtle, directly saying on a later track that they are "the best music." Such a tone, though, should've been expected. A sim- ple glance at the list of features just yells megalomania. Rick Ross appears multiple times on different tracks mainly as a caricature that grunts while Meek Mill screams as if he were still stuck on a helicopter. Big Sean shows up a few times and says "I do it" and "Oh God." Even Drake sacrifices his well known soft side to fit the theme of the album. And, of course, everyone raps about how great they are, money, or both. One track is even disre- spectfully titled "I Feel Like Pac / I Feel Like Biggie" to describe the level of greatness these rappers believe they have achieved. With such little depth in sub- ject, the best way to describe the first half of the album is a blur. There were moments where I had to check if I was listening to one continuous song with many interludes. It is actually amazing how much substance these artists can derive from material goods, women, personal status and net worth. In between, Khaled continues his declaration of phrases that sometimes come out of nowhere. And noisy, booming beats overpower the ear drums. Even the words, though screeching in delivery, are hard to discern when the bass starts to crescendo - not that it matters. Once we've understood the lyrics to one song, we've understood the lyrics to all. First seen on Finally, -the filter tracks begin to deviate from this for- style, though, DJ Khaled inter- mula. It is as if Khaled knew rupts and reminds us how great how overwhelmed the listeners he is on his final tracks. would be after several tracks. A So what exactly has this album slew of slower paced songs are taught me about Khaled? If Suf- bunched together, starting with feringfrom Success is an adequate "I Wanna Be With You." While indication of his past work, then beats are still relatively heavy Khaled has driven the point that and raps unwaveringly confi- he believes he is the best in the dent, they are much more toned world. But I shouldn't be sur- down. In fact, the moments of prised. After all, this is the man rare sentiment in these 'songs who produced "All I Do Is Win." are really what captures listen- How Khaled thrives in the music ers by surprise. industry, though, is still difficult to articulate. Maybe the best way to begin Is he sick of his to describe DJ Khaled is that his albums are shows while he is the own name yet? host. In this show, the songs are the acts, the overpowering beats are the set Khaled provides, and the featured company are actors. In "I Wanna Be With You," Periodically, the host will remind Nicki Minaj sings about how us that he exists by yelling cer- she wants this special someone tain things to fit the theme of the "to be the type to make her pri- show. The theme of this particu- oritize" and professes that she lar show, however, is not commu- does "wanna be with" him. On nicated clearly. Yes, DJ Khaled is the radio hit, "No New Friends," successful for achieving recogni- Drake's R&B singing on the hook tion while barely contributing, is sentimental just for its out-of- but he doesn't show how exactly place nature on the album. The he's suffering. Perhaps the suf- same could be said of Movado's fering part is derived from how accented yet soft singing on "Give much his listeners have to suffer It All To Me." It is as if these in order to listen to the album as tracks, along with a couple others a whole. that follow it, could be a different - A version of this article album. Just as when we become originally appeared on the Daily accustomed to this played-down Arts blog, The Filter, on Oct. 24. someth be stage Judg films fo tion, H ever, w the Bea orized. aware o ugly sel "Hov and Jef in 2010, (Walter Your D which Finally, Michae aterson D self Holl Genera: * Leaping poetry, halls cr country of murd real life is the d lines la: ling about them that had to tion's best minds, driven mad and ed. raving. ing by the recent rash of But the Beat visual portrayed on cused on the Beat Genera- the big screen has been caricatur- ollywood knows this. How- ized. They're shown purely as one hat it doesn't realize is that extremity- either carefree, YOLO- ats are nothing to be glam- esque youth or clouds of brooding,. They were simultaneously angst. The films never go deeper, 'fboth their appeal and their or stray away from the easy path of f-destruction. romanticizing the Beats, of milking wl," directedby Rob Epstein 1950s nostalgia, intrigue and mon- frey Friedman, was released tages of reckless drug use and wide, followed by"OnThe Road" fruited plains. Their lifestyle was Salles) in 2012 and "Kill decadent, but Hollywood presents darlings" (John Krokidas), the indulgence almost invitingly. just came out this month. It reminds me of the general audi- "Big Sur," directed by ence's reaction to Baz Luhrmann's I Polish, will open in the- "The Great Gatsby" and how Nov. 1. many people misinterpreted it as an advertisement for better times, back in the 1920s when every night on't glorify was chic and ecstatic. Because of the way it's shown in -destruction. film, the Beats may appeal to Ins- tagramming teens or hipsters in the wrong way: all vintage Cadil- lacs and cigarette escapism, black ywood knows that the Beat turtlenecks and giant glasses, slick tion is inherently cinematic. cool and soft anarchy. Even their O on library tables to recite self-destruction through alcohol- kneeling before academic ism could be seen as atrait of tragic ying for lobotomies, cross- heroes. On the contrary, the Beat 'roadtrips,tantalizinghints Generation is nothingto worship. ler - and all of this is only The decade of the Beat boom, . In Beat literature, there the 1950s, also cued the rise of sub- elicious imagery of famous urbia and the nuclear family. It was menting about the genera- a time of oppression, in a way. Any- thing that seemed "Communist" was feared. Sexuality wasshunned. There were very defined lines for gender boundaries and placement. The BeatGeneration arose from the lost and confused feelings this con- stricted time created. They wanted to rebel against this new middle- class United States and find some- thing new to believe in, and so their movement from city to city wasn't born out of carefreeness, but rather anexistential search. Ginsberg once captioned one of his later photos of Kerouac with the following: "He looked by then like his late father, red-faced corpulent W.C. Fields shuddering with mor- tal horror." - The hlat Hollywood character- ization allows viewers to live vicari- ously through Ginsberg, Kerouac and the gang, but it almost mythi- cizes them. Hollywood digs right into the drama - catering to what people want to see - and ignores theveryhumanpartsofthem.Butit maybe ahard balance to keep. Even when depicting that soul-search- ing, it's easy to fall to sentiment. The Beat Generation's search for belief ends up being something we believe in. We're all drawn to the image of explorers after all: mod- ern pilgrims, earnestly due west like Lewis and Clark in Mustangs, toward the unknown destination.