2B — Thursday, February 12, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
“You can’t just write some-
thing
that’s
funny,”
said
Engineering freshman Peter
Flanagan,
a
recently
hired
E3W writer. “You have to write
something that’s funny and fits
the guidelines of a standardized
paper, so we’re actually parody-
ing something. It’s difficult in
that regard, getting used to it,
but all the editors are really tal-
ented, so they all know how to
reformat a joke to fit the guide-
lines, so they’re really helpful to
new writers.”
The combination of humor
and a standardized format is an
ideal one for students for whom
writing is usually not one of
their favorite activities.
“It’s a good experience,” Fla-
nagan said. “Engineers have to
take a couple of English classes,
so might as well get it in a club,
too.”
While
the
Every
Three
Weekly does have a distin-
guished and recognizable style,
it’s not immune to innovation.
The publication is constantly
trying to think of other ways to
reach out to students and gain
new readers. In addition to pub-
lishing its articles on a website,
the paper has recently unveiled
The Click House, a section of
the website that satirizes online
click-bait articles, similar to
The Onion’s ClickHole.
“(New formats for the Every
Three Weekly) are still up in the
air and being debated,” Flana-
gan said. “With any form of web
content, there’s also the oppor-
tunity to create videos, which
is vastly out of our realm and
scope right now. But it’s been
talked about, because there’s a
lot of joke opportunities to be
made there.”
The writing process at the
Every Three Weekly begins
with a meeting between the
writers and editors where they
pitch concepts for articles.
“We all just bring ideas to the
table,” said Flanagan, describ-
ing the writing process. “We all
listen to each other’s ideas, and
we all vote on which ones are
good.”
Verbally pitching ideas is
essential in to determine which
ideas seem to work the best.
“It’s just which one gets the
most laughs,” Flanagan said. A
week later, the writers and edi-
tors meet to edit the articles.
The paper does not publish
every article the writers pres-
ent to them, both due to the
paper’s insistence on quality
and the physical limitations of
the newspaper format.
“I’ve submitted two (arti-
cles),” said Flanagan. “I feel like
both of them have an OK shot of
getting in the paper.”
Any given issue of the Every
Three Weekly brings a variety
of laughter, from the “Oh yeah,
that’s something silly that I can
relate to,” chuckle to the “I can’t
believe I just read that!” guffaw.
Topics range from personal
relationships
and
fraternity
antics to serious social issues
such as Ebola and the Keystone
XL pipeline. Given the publica-
tion’s predilection for subver-
sive humor and controversial
topics, one might wonder if
there are any topics the Every
Three
Weekly
won’t
write
about. The answer is yes.
“We’ll never approach rape
jokes, under any circumstanc-
es,” Michels said.
But humor based on race and
political issues is fair game,
with a condition.
“We try to always make sure
that the joke is pointed at the
system of oppression and not
the victims of oppression,”
Michels said.
A recent example of that
tenet is the article “Unarmed
white teen gets brutally slapped
on wrist,” which was written in
response to the Michael Brown
shooting and subsequent con-
troversy.
“We wanted to make a joke
on something as newsworthy as
these murders,” said Michels,
“but we knew that under no
circumstances could we alien-
ate the victims. So instead we
pointed the joke at this oppres-
sive system and the controversy
surrounding it.”
By setting up a fictional sce-
nario and writing about it in a
mock-outraged tone, the Every
Three Weekly managed to use
humor to deliver their com-
mentary on a tragic, controver-
sial event and draw attention to
the absurdity of the situation.
The publication is dedicated to
insightful political commentary
in addition to laughs.
Not everybody appreciates
the joke, however, which has led
to moments of controversy for
the publication throughout the
years. In 2005, the paper pub-
lished an article titled “Phelps
to major in pussy,” which led
to an associate athletic direc-
tor appealing to the Univer-
sity Activities Center executive
board to limit the newspaper’s
funding. Briarwood Mall took
objection to the paper when
it accidentally referenced the
mall by name in an article about
a pedophilic Santa, titled “Mall
Santa tells child exactly what
he wants for Christmas.” The
paper was repeatedly protect-
ed from censorship by various
Supreme Court precedents and
University initiatives.
While satire can be protect-
ed on paper and through laws,
there are some things that can-
not be protected against, as
made terrifyingly plain after
the Charlie Hebdo attack in
France. As proponents and
practitioners of satire, the
Every Three Weekly staffers
were shocked and saddened.
“In
our
meetings,
we’re
constantly laughing,” Michels
said. “We’re constantly joking
about things that, honestly, we
shouldn’t be joking about. In all
of our discussions about Charlie
Hebdo, there wasn’t the usual
joviality.”
However, this did not slow
the paper down, and they com-
mitted themselves to paying
tribute to the victims of the
attack through humor. The
result was an infographic titled
“How satirical newspapers are
dealing with the Charlie Hebdo
tragedy.” The infographic per-
fectly captures the paper’s per-
fect mixture of humor, social
commentary and sense of mor-
als.
The Every Three Weekly’s
agenda is not a political one, but
a populist one, seeking to reflect
the opinions of the student body
and show there is someone out
there who understands their
concerns, while the University
administration may not. One
of the paper’s most notable
achievements in that regard
occurred beyond the scope of
the newspaper format.
“We created a fictional can-
didate to run in the CSG elec-
tions,” Michels said. “He won.
He could not be installed in the
student government because
he didn’t exist, but we created
a little bit of a wave there.”
The candidate for the 2011
elections was Karlos Marks,
with Joseph Stallone as a run-
ning mate. Even though the
fictional candidate couldn’t be
installed, students saw Karlos
Marks as a symbol of their dis-
satisfaction with the student
government, and the numerous
votes for him were a clear state-
ment of that. Moreover, the stu-
dent support of Karlos Marks
illustrated the Every Three
Weekly’s ability to establish a
meaningful connection with
University
students
through
its combination of laughs and
truth.
Above all else, the Every
Three Weekly represents the
idea that humor can be a very
valuable aspect of life.
“My
favorite
thing
that
humor does is allow us to take
a second look at the things that
surround us, the choices we
make, the ways that we act and
the cultures we participate in,”
Michels said. “We can take a
second look in a way that doesn’t
startle or offend. It’s a humor-
ous look, and we can challenge
ourselves and challenge the way
we perceive things, all while
sharing this humor that we can
all really relate to.”
Sharing his perspective on
the topic, Flanagan described
the experience of seeing ComCo
perform in Angell Hall.
“They filled one of the Angell
Hall rooms, and they were
charging admission, too,” Fla-
nagan said. “College students
on a budget, who could do any-
thing else on a Friday night,
decided to go to ComCo. So
clearly, University of Michigan
students value humor.”
“And there are so many dif-
ferent forms of it,” Flanagan
continued. “The Every Three
Weekly and ComCo are com-
pletely
different
types
of
humor. But you go to the source
that you find to fit yourself bet-
ter, so we’re filling that void if
you will.”
It is true that there are many
humor-based
organizations
throughout
the
University,
each with its own style. While
one person may prefer the
structure of the Every Three
Weekly, another may be taken
by the rapid-fire unpredict-
ability of ComCo, the inspired
weirdness of the Gargoyle or
the straightforward jokes of
the LOL ROFL Comedy Club.
Whatever a student may prefer,
the Every Three Weekly exists
to provide its unique version of
humor, and the writers’ dedica-
tion to their craft has ensured
that they will remain an insti-
tution for as long as University
students want a laugh.
Nobody
can
predict
the
Every Three Weekly’s next
move, what subjects it will
tackle and what new formats
it will explore. But there is
one thing people can be sure
of: sometime within the next
three weeks, another issue of
the Every Three Weekly will
be completed, rife with fake
news and laughter, and the
staffers will once again set out
into the Diag to try and get the
paper in as many hands as pos-
sible.
“We figured just being in
people’s faces, being loud and
aggravating is the best way to
do that,” Michels said with a
smile.
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
The rodeo-centric “Liv-
ing for Love” video features
Madonna as matador sur-
rounded by a
flock of bulls,
however these
aren’t just any
kind of bulls.
They are ripped
male
danc-
ers
rocking
rhinestoned
facemasks
and
horns.
Throughout the video she
is circled by these glamor-
ous horror-film reminiscent
creatures,
tempting
them
with her cape and fending
them off with awkward cho-
reography. She rides one in
typical bull fashion, fights
one in plank position and
finally dances in tandem
with them.
The message here is clear:
The rhinestone-masked bull-
dancers represent unhealthy
relationships.
They
may
appear shiny, but in the end
they are only destructive.
Madge tempts these relation-
ships and struggles with their
allure (see her near make-out
with a horned man). In the
ends she dances with a group
minus their masks, embraces
positive relationships and is
“gonna carry on” while “liv-
ing for love.”
Great song, but an overly
stylized video. Several outfit
changes for a single-scene
video, well because a Madon-
na video cannot simply have
one or two outfits. The red
and black tones work in the
first half of the video, but they
eventually digress into some-
thing similar to an Instagram
filter everyone avoids.
Upon defeating the final
bull-dancer, roses fall to the
ground and Madge throws
her cape. The video closes
with a Friedrich Nietzsche
quote: “Man is the cruelest
animal. At tragedies, bull-
fights and crucifixions he has
felt best on earth; and when
he invented hell for himself
that was his very heaven.”
Ultimately, the video takes
what is a phenomenal, uplift-
ing song, twists it around and
shoves it into a metaphorical
box. Consequently, the song
loses much of its original
glory by the video’s attempts
to be more than a music video.
-CHRISTIAN KENNEDY
B-
‘Living
for Love’
Madonna
Boy Toy Inc.
BOY TOY INC
WHAT’S NEW ON
FOR INTERVIEWS, TV RECAPS, FILM
RETROSPECTIVES AND THE LATEST
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
CHECK OUT
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
The Every Three Weekly staff writers pretend that they’re not taking Buzzfeed quizzes.
E3W
From Page 1B
EPISODE REVIEW
This
week’s
episode
of
“Archer” saw the spy gang
stuck in an elevator on their
way to an early
morning meet-
ing. This meant
that we got one
of the few times
in
the
series
where
all
of
the
principal
cast with the
exception
of
Malory (Jessica
Walter, “Arrest-
ed
Develop-
ment”) were together for the
entire episode. The idea was
a novel approach — relying
on dialogue while maintain-
ing a single setting. Even if it
wasn’t exactly ground-break-
ing or original, the characters
brought a flavor and humor
that was enough to carry the
episode.
Particular
high-
lights were Pam (Amber Nash,
“Frisky Dingo”) channeling
Omar from “The Wire” while
drinking malt liquor early in
the morning. In short, another
entertaining installment in the
excellent espionage comedy.
-DREW MARON
FX
B
‘Archer’
Season 6,
Episode 5
Thursdays
at 10 p.m.
FX
The E3W’s
agenda is not a
political one, but
a populist one.
TRAILER REVIEW
It’s those eyes, those big,
crazy eyes — when you look
into them, they don’t so much
as look back,
but stare deep
into the soul.
You’re
trans-
fixed, lost in
an
abyss.
It
doesn’t
mat-
ter that one of
them
might
be lazy, or they often appear
puffy; rather, it’s what the
eyes, those big Buscemi eyes
stand for. They’re the eyes
of a man who knows what
he wants, who thinks big,
who, when he orders coffee,
demands it be filled no less
than six times. But how many
secrets do they hide? How far
must we wade to get to that
most base layer, that darkest
shade of Mr. Buscemi?
It’s most refreshing to see
a more fleshed out charac-
ter in Mr. Grey, as portrayed
in supercut by Mr. Buscemi.
He’s now less a cardboard
cutout, barely able to stand
on his own, than a round-
ed character with faults,
desires, even limits to that
dark, erotic nature. When the
going gets rough, he demands
it stop. This Mr. Grey oozes
power, maybe not the kind of
power you were expecting,
but a greater power all the
same. Just look into his eyes,
they’re calling … “Mr. Busce-
mi will see you now.”
-JAMIE BIRCOLL
A-
‘Fifty
Shades of
Buscemi’
HBO
“... clearly,
University
students value
humor.”
“... just being in
people’s faces,
being loud and
aggravating ...”