6A - Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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'Half' the intrigue

Julie Iovine discusses
changing landscape

CBS sitcom
disappoints in final
season premiere
ByKARENHUA
DailyArts Writer
This past Thursday, the
iconic sitcom "Two and a Half
Men" premiered its twelfth and
final season.
The show
historically
has been one Two and a
of the most
beloved and Half Men
highly-rated on Seasonl2
television, but Premiere
in recent years
hasseenseveral Thursdays
ups and downs. at9 p.m.
At this point, CBS
it seems like
CBS continues
to renew the show simply for
the sake of tradition. While it
is true "Men" has become a
sort of American legend, the
show's audience is waning and
demonstrates little potential for
growth.
Now with the absence of
Charlie (Charlie Sheen, "Anger
Management"), many viewers
have turned away, even with the
younger, cleaner Walden (Ashton
Kutcher, "No Strings Attached")
as asubstitute. With Alan's (John
Cryer, "Pretty in Pink") brother
gone, and his son Jake (Angus
T. Jones, "The Rookie") "in the
army," the show can only come
up with so many fresh premises
for two grown male best friends
thathavenotbeenused in sitcoms
before.
Thetitlenolongermakessense,
as Jake is now not only a legal
adult, but he is also absent in the
premiere. Even though this will
be its final season, "Men" must
only come up with a multitude of
excuses for the disappearance of
characters as the show runs on
diminishing possibilities.
Whether or not the producers
like it, theycannot stop the
audience -rora automatically
comparing Kutcher to Sheen.
Perhaps firing the volatile Sheen
helpedtheir industry's image, but
many argue thatthe series should
have wrapped up with Sheen's

"Guess we'll just ride this one out..."
dismissal. The original character
dynamic is simply unparalleled.
Regardless of Kutcher's talent,
Sheen still stands as the face of
the show, as he has a #winning
stage presence thatsimplycannot
be matched.
The premiere starts with
the two men and missing half-
man, donned in their Halloween
best. Walden unexpectedly
suffers a heart attack, and after
his "terrifying" near-death
experience, he completely over-
dramatizes his dismay to where
his "desperation" seems more like
sarcasm.
The premiere continues this
pattern ofamalgamatinghilarious
moments with artificial ones
to the point where the writing
simply feels uncomfortable.
There -are far too many instances
when Walden's lines are so over-
dramatically presented that it is
ambiguous whether he truly is
tryingtosarcastic orgenuine.
Especially when Walden pokes
fun at Alan, the jokes seemed
rehearsed and timed, without
the spontaneity that is supposed
to qualify his character as witty.
The humor becomes too cheesy,
especially when it is ambiguous -
atleastinitially-whetherWalden
legitimately has a heart attack or
whether he fakes it for attention.
During Walden's contemplation
of his "purpose of existence," he
decides he wants to introduce a
child in his life, which ironically
contradicts his free-spirited
persona. He's not supposed to be
the one philosophizing to Alan,
but rather vige, versa - another
strange discontinuity in the
premiere.
Walden is rejected from the
adoption agencies, however,
because his status as a single father
is unfavorable in comparison to

stable married couples. Walden,
disappointed, understands how
marriageissimplynotanoptionfor
him, as he notes, "you have to find
the right person - or Mila Kunis."
This is no accident as Kutcher
and Kunis are very publicly
engaged with a newborn. While
the connection is appropriate,
it does not help the audience's
difficulty in separating Walden
as an on-screen character from
Kutcher's persona as an actor.
As a resolution, Walden
ultimately proposes to Alan to
increase their odds of adopting a
child. Although the ridiculousness
of the situation is meant to elicit
laughs, it rather produces nervous
chuckles of confusion. Is this
the show's way of making weak
social commentary on same-sex
marriage and adoption?
Meanwhile, the only primary
characters are Alan, Walden
and the occasional insertion of
Berta who is really only there for
comedic timing or as a straight
man, something the show
certainly does not need if there's
better chemistrybetweenWalden
and Alan. Berta's character
truly bears an irrelevance and
indifference. In addition, there
are no other subplots to avert
audience attention during the
half an hour, so as interest
atrophies slowly for all secondary
characters, it will soon diminish
for the two primary men, aswell.
When Sheen was still present,
the series was known for its low-
brow, dry farce. It perfected the
use of comedic relief, as it was
well-known for intercutting
moments of sentimental sincerity
to vulgar jokes about boobs
or farts. Unfortunately, a few
seasons after his departure,
"Men" hasn't started off its final
seasonwith greatpromises.

WSJ architecture
columnist talks
journalism industry
ByKATHLEENDAVIS
DailyArts Writer
For the last decade or so,
print journalism has seen
a sharp decline thanks to
technological advancements
that make information so
readily accessible. Paired
with a rough ride through
the latest recession, arts
journalism has found itself
taking the blunt of section
cuts and layoffs, frequently
falling second to sections
deemed more important
and profitable like news
and sports. However, some
arts-exclusive journalists
have managed to navigate
the changing landscape of
journalism successfully.
Julie Iovine, architecture
columnist for the Wall Street
Journal and the former
Executive Editor for The
Architect's Newspaper, is
a striking example of this
versatility, and came to the
University's TaubmanCollege
of Architecture and Urban
Planning last Wednesday to
discuss the changing worlds
of both architecture and arts
journalism.
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, Iovine spoke
about her views on students
breaking into journalism and
the future of architecture.
Iovine is a native of
Washington DC and studied
Ancient Greek at Yale before
deciding to become a writer.
She developed a love for
architecture after living
in Athens for a year and
later moved to New York
City to write for various
publications, including the
New York Times, where she
was on staff for 13 years
writing about architecture
and design. In 2008, she
became Executive Editor of
The Architect's Newspaper,

a publication which delivers
news and inside reports
to the niche architecture
community.
"What drew me to
architecture reporting is
that it's so embedded into
the real world and you can't
escape it - that's why I live
in New York," Iovine said. "I
don't want to live in a suburb
where I don't see horrible
things, I want to see them,
and architecture is like that.
It has to face the real stuff,
and any architecture that
doesn't is really missing the
point."
Unpaid interns, rented
desks, large paycuts and
intensive layoffs were the
sacrifices the newspaper
had to make in order to stay
afloat during the recession,
and in 2012, Iovine finally
left the publication as she
was financially unable to stay
longer.
"In a fantastic way,
architecture is really used
to this 'boom-bust' thing,"
Iovine said. "(The recession)
was a fascinating time to
learn how to stay resilient
and dynamically inventive as
architect's are. They figure
out what they need to do to
get through, and that's what
we did. As we look back, it
was actually quite a neat
time."
Before leaving The
Architect's Newspaper,
Iovine helped oversee a large
digital expansion, including
launching a sleek website
as well as Facebook and
Twitter platforms. Iovine
nods at critics who question
how such a physical art form
can translate over a digital
platform, yet she believes
the advancements have been
positive for architecture.
"It's a good thing and a bad
thing. It draws even further
architecture's tendency to
be a beauty contest, because
you can just splash these
spectacular photographs
onto the internet and that's
what some people think
it's all about," Iovine said.
"However, it also fits itself
very smoothly into the world
of internet visualization.
As architecture has
evolved to accommodate
and embrace aneco-friendly
landscape, Iovine highlighted
the factors that she takes
into consideration during a
critique of a newbuilding, the
foundation for what she does
at the Wall Street Journal.
In her lecture, she brought
up examples of exceptional
works of architecture, which
she believes has changed the
future of the art.
"I need to be able to figure
out what's going on, and
without the architect telling
me. It's important to me that
the building tells me what's
important, and that the space
is comprehensible to me just
as a user, not as someone who
has just had the architect
describe it all," Iovine said.
"Knowing the constraints
that were on the project is

also important, whether it
was budget, or political or
zoning issues. People see
these things and may judge
it as horrible, but they don't
know why it's horrible. It may
be that the community had a

stake in it."
Iovine gave advice to
Taubman students looking
to break into the competitive
world of architecture, from
the point of view of someone
whose critiques can truly
change public opinion
regarding an artist and their
buildings.
"You have to be absolutely
devoted," Iovine said. "You
must be ready to join the cult
before you take that leap,
and if you do it can be very
rewarding."
In terms of the ever-
changing world of niche
arts journalism, Iovine
urged national publications
to retain their arts writers
and to keep informing and
shaping public opinion.
"(Arts journalism) will
thrive, but I worry that it
will only thrive among an
inside track and close in on
itself," Iovine said. "The gap
will grow between how the
wider public understands
art and art journalists, and
newspapers are dropping
their architecture columnists
left and right - There's only
six architecture columnists
left in national newspapers.
This shouldn't be that
way. More newspapers and
magazines should think
it's important that there
be someone on hand and
describe the world and how
it's being shaped."
Taubman graduate student
Brooke Dexter and Taubman
senior Alyssa Kargl run
Dimensions, the student
architecture publication at
U-M. Dimensions releases one
issue yearly and features the
work of dedicated Taubman
students, as well as the
work of outside professional
sources like Iovine.
"One of the things that's
really important to us is
showcasing student work,
but also including voices
from outside sources that
influence the way students
think," Dexter said. "For
example, hearing (Iovine)
say that architects need to
simplify their words when
talking to non-architects
is very interesting for us,
and helps the student work
stay relevant in the outside
world."
"Since (Taubman students)
come from the same
architecture education,
sometimes while working we
become somewhat similar
minded," Kargl said. "We
sometimes get caught in a
certain way of thinking or a
certain way of learning, so
lectures like these are always
refreshing, and offer a new
perspective.
"It's easy to get too focused
on some small detail of your
project that you are so stuck
on," Dexter said. "When you
come to lectures like these,
you realize that architecture
is so much bigger than what
you're working on now, and
that's very refreshing."
"A degree of architecture
at Taubman is more like a

degree in design," Kargl said.
"You learn speaking skills,
graphic design and just a lot
of things are embedded into
the degree. You can end up
doing a lot more with the
skills we gain here."

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