Classifieds Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com ACROSS 1 Help for Holmes 5 All hands on deck 9 Baby food, usually 14 “Can you give me a __?” 15 Bass’ red triangle, e.g. 16 Dove rival 17 Fraternal meeting place 19 Sense & Spray air freshener maker 20 “Here are the facts,” briefly 21 Garden outcast 22 Dark suit 23 Central church area 25 Pacific Northwest capital 27 “The Cask of Amontillado” writer 31 Reduced in number 32 Track tipsters 33 Train cos. 35 Yankee nickname since 2004 36 Asparagus, mostly 37 Nemesis 38 ENE or WSW 39 Set straight 40 Golfer Palmer, to fans 41 Where to read candidate endorsements 44 Much of the time 45 Kitchen add-on? 46 Yemenis’ neighbors 49 “__ been thinking ...” 50 NASA thumbs-up 53 Acme’s opposite 54 Periphery ... and, literally, the periphery of 17-, 27- and 41- Across 57 Most clubs in a pro’s bag 58 Scott Turow memoir 59 Vulcan mind __: Spock’s skill 60 Principle 61 Superstorm response org. 62 Functions DOWN 1 “Cutthroat Kitchen” competitor 2 Easter bloom 3 Critical comment 4 Aliens, briefly 5 Prosperous, after “in” 6 Took the bus 7 Fabergé creation 8 Reason for hand- wringing 9 Sloppy farm digs 10 Tanning booth light, for short 11 Freeway, e.g. 12 Earth, to Hans 13 Windows to the soul, so they say 18 “Reading Rainbow” host Burton 22 Mattress supports 24 Matured 25 Liqueur in a fizz 26 Barnard grad 27 Like 27-Across’ work 28 Clothes 29 Fruity drinks 30 Bert’s buddy 31 Fleeting fashion 34 “Get it?” 36 Schedule openings 37 Sassy tyke 39 Initially 40 More fitting 42 Salt additive 43 Low parking garage floor 46 Bad mood 47 Bern’s river 48 Noodle bar order 49 List component 51 Gawk at 52 Classic sneakers 54 “That knocked the wind out of me!” 55 Sorbonne one 56 Aussie runner By Jeffrey Wechsler ©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 01/28/15 01/28/15 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis xwordeditor@aol.com 2015‑2016 LEASING Apartments Going Fast! 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Such is the model with- in which Swed- ish filmmaker Ruben Östlund (“Play”) works in his some- times absurd, funny in a look- away-kind-of- way exercise in family drama set in the quietude of a tiny Alps ski resort. And it’s really quiet — from the hissing of skis down an unpopulated run to the sun-kissed mountains playing with sleepy zephyrs. It’s also gor- geous. The terrain, the Kubrick- ian ritzy hotel and, of course, the family of four, in their matching, tailored baby-blue pajamas and blemish-free skin, on which the film centers. Doubtless, Östlund might have one of the tightest grips on naturalistic familiality I’ve seen — like when Mom’s so mad at Dad, she actually laughs. The film title’s thematic signifi- cance becomes apparent within minutes (“force majeure” means someone fails to uphold a con- tract when something unforesee- able happens): while lunching on a hillside with a marvelous view, a distant “controlled” avalanche suddenly becomes not so dis- tant or controlled. Diners begin to freak, screaming and running for dear life. The father, Tomas (winsome newcomer Johannes Bah Kuhnke), on instinct, nabs his iPhone and shades, then bolts, ignoring his two young children and wife Ebba (played by lissome rookie Lisa Loven Kongsli), who blankets her children like a moth- er should. The result is anything but cataclysmic — no injuries, no trauma, just a few snow-dusted butter plates. Tomas returns to the family table moments later, but, with deft subtlety, the table is so far from “family” that we don’t even know what it is. The emo- tional maelstrom begins to whirl. The implicit tension amid the family hurts and is hard to watch. Östlund slices these moments with a few smart tools: Hyperki- netic baroque music akin to a Wes Anderson film and noiseless chair- lift rides that let us breathe, prep- ping for the next teeth-clencher. It doesn’t feel entirely unique, it just feels right — Östlund has a gut for this fusion of well-cast art house and Malick-esque sublimity. The intrafamily conflict gets exposed by an anxious Ebba over drinks with a couple when hiding behind a faux smile, she says that Tomas “ran away from the table like a lit- tle girl.” Her smile just sits there, eyes tired, while everyone else looks anywhere but toward her, as if they can’t even fathom her bewilderment. Then, not because we want to, the lens flashes to a broken Tomas. We almost feel bad for him. This scene owns an emo- tional quotient unmatched by any movie this year, one that makes you respect Östlund as a talented filmmaker, as a human being. “Force Majeure” is not devoid of flaw. Ebba’s divorced brother- in-law and his 20-year-old girl- friend at first provide an effective soundboard for Ebba’s troubles, but soon fizzle out, Östlund try- ing to shoehorn an otherwise redundant device into an already compelling yarn. This soon grows irrelevant, getting lost in the oozy subtext of marital gender roles, male conniption fits, the politics of infidelity, the male gaze and the hidden imperfections of an aesthetically perfect family. And, like, other stuff, too. All of this framed like a hovering specter via Fredrik Wenzel’s cam adds a witty, self-aware mystique, invit- ing us in without ever allowing us to feel at home. And the acting. The parental performances, by these two no- names, feel real in an unreal way, a way that our parents growing up would seldom reveal, but when they did, it felt cinematic. Östlund smothers us in pulchritude — the modelesque cast, the hotel ame- nities, the perfectness — without abandoning the root: Nobody lives like a J.Crew catalog, all smiles and riches and no rub, not even the J-Crew mannequins. It’s a fine study on Top 0.01 Percent Prob- lems, but even more, a nuanced mediation on familial psychology. Acclaimed cartoonist headlines Penny Stamps lecture By CAROLINE FILIPS Daily Arts Writer She came. She spoke. We laughed. As soon as cartoonist and writ- er Alison Bechdel appeared on stage at the Michigan Theater and graced the nearly-full crowd with her presence, she too laughed … at herself. “There’s an old saying that car- tooning is a field for people who are mediocre artists and medio- cre writers, and I would say that in my case, those things are pretty much true,” Bechdel remarked. Soon after, Bechdel presented the audience with her rejection letter from the School of the Art Insti- tute of Chicago. It’s that genuine, self-deprecat- ing humor and her idiosyncratic cartoons that captivated the audi- ence on January 22. But her accolades, such as her 2014 MacArthur Genius Award and breakthroughs for the LGBT community, prove that she’s far from mediocre in her profession. Bechdel was selected to speak about her biographical graphic novels and the art of cartoon- ing for part of the Penny Stamps Speaker Series, which has part- nered with The Zell Visiting Writ- er Series and The Institute for Research on Women & Gender. Speaker Series Director Chris- stina Hamilton said Bechdel has been requested to speak numer- ous times and is highly regarded by Stamps students. Though ultimately delivered with insightful, witty candor, Bechdel’s presentation tugged at the audience’s heartstrings as she spoke about her unconventional upbringing, defined by the dra- matic twists and turns within her family life. She evinced her signa- ture ability to find humor in mis- fortunes rather than succumb to them, proving her greatest talent lies beyond her work. Bechdel’s graphic novels exam- ine what most are shy to admit — let alone publish — such as the poignant tale of her father’s secre- tive, sexual double life that led to his eventual suicide. Yet openness and freedom from inhibition is the essence of Bechdel’s powerful storytelling. Staying true to her childhood dreams, Bechdel made a name for herself and developed a unique style tinged with honesty. “I always wanted to be a car- toonist, even when I was a little kid,” Bechdel said. “But it was soon pointed out to me that was not a very practical career choice.” No stranger to grit and perse- verance, Bechdel kept at her craft even when prospects were bleak. “It took a lot of work and a lot of years before it actually became my job,” Bechdel said. “I had to keep pursuing it, keep pushing it, slowly let go of my paying day jobs. It was a long process com- mitting to it.” Bechdel emerged in the car- tooning field with her marginal lesbian comic strip, “Dykes to Watch Out For,” (1983-2008), which originally was not intend- ed for publishing. Instead, the comic was the medium through which Bechdel extracted humor from the lifestyles of her and her friends. “After I graduated from col- lege, I had recently come out as a lesbian and I just started draw- ing these comics for me and my friends about women like us, women who looked like us,” Bechdel said. “It was very unusu- al in the early eighties to see any kind of different looking women in the media, you would just see very feminine women and we were all countering that kind of image and looking kind of wild, crazy and androgynous.” Though well known for her comic strips and darkly humorous graphic novels, Bechdel is also the creator of her surname-titled test, which assesses the gender bias in films. The Bechdel test deems a film as feminist if it satisfies three requirements: one, if there is a scene with two women, two, the women have a conversation and three, if that dialogue is about something other than a man. For fans of Bechdel and those who missed the presentation, a comprehensive showcase of her work will be on display at the Institute for Humanities through February 25. The exhibit features original diaries from Bechdel’s youth, the infamous rejection letters, notable comic strips and clutter from her creative process. Amanda Krugliak, arts cura- tor for the Institute for Humani- ties, modeled the exhibit after Bechdel’s childhood home with great attention to detail, even mimicking its wallpaper. “Conceptually, the idea of the room is to place it in the context of the house she grew up in, which was this kind of Victorian house,” Krugliak said. “Her father was really interested in interiors and getting something just right from the Victorian period. I thought it would be interesting to use that as a starting point and think about all these things coexisting in this room — past, present, her work, but also bits and pieces of grow- ing up.” Bechdel also touched on the media’s response to the Jan. 7 ter- rorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French newspaper tar- geted because of its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. “I think everybody can see the significance of cartoons and com- ics especially right now,” Hamil- ton said. “We’re sort of in a very fresh and precious moment with the terrorist acts that happened in Paris just in the last couple weeks that were directed specifically at cartoonists.” Though intended for comedic effect, comics are undoubtedly a powerful tool. As evidenced by the recent, horrific Parisian trag- edies, it’s clear that they can have formidable effects. Yet, the influ- ence of the medium’s worldly suc- cinctness is one to admire. “Obviously the power of the cartoon is sometimes more pow- erful than words can solve, that visual element can take it to another place,” Hamilton said. “The ability for comics and car- toons to juxtapose real-world issues in a visual and separate world formant give people the ability to instantly see things that otherwise might take a novel to explain.” Rather than acting in haste after the world deals us an unfa- vorable card, perhaps we can move forward from adversity by taking a note from Bechdel and extract- ing humor from our misfortunes rather than succumbing to them. A- Force Majeure Magnolia Pictures Michigan Theater EVENT REVIEW Bechdel talks comics & life FILM REVIEW MAGNOLIA PICTURES Is that Shaun White? Tour de force ‘Majeure’ A unique style of the craft, one tinged with honesty. COME TO ONE OF THE MICHIGAN DAILY’S OPEN HOUSES AT 420 MAYNARD STREET! Interested in writing, design or multimedia? Come see it in action. Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 8:00 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2 at 8:00 p.m.