FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @michigandaily NOW. Classifieds Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com ACROSS 1 Fall follower? 5 Ophidian menace 8 Brightness stats 11 Arts supporters 14 Frat letter 15 Akhenaten’s son 16 On the level 17 Battle of Khafji conflict 19 “Battle it out” quintet 20 Plasma particle 21 Loafer’s lack 22 Some audiobooks 23 Pro shop supplies 26 Opposite of bids 27 Kool-Aid alternative 28 “__ Eterno”: 2004 sports documentary 29 Boorish 30 Detergent with Oxi Booster 31 Bone: Pref. 32 “Seasons in the Sun” songwriter 33 Dot on an MTA map 34 “Love in the Time of __”: García Márquez work 36 ICU staffer 39 “Can’t argue with that!” 41 Former car- financing org. 42 It may come after you 43 Court attire 45 Rooting sound 46 Hardly bright 47 “Agreed!” 48 Title girl in a 1965 #1 hit 50 Sushi topper 51 Mall draw 52 Sci-fi suffix 53 Signs of dissatisfaction 55 Appears ... and the contents of this puzzle’s circles? 57 “Missed your chance!” 59 Brief facilities? 60 Zing 61 Early Alaskans 62 Memphis-to- Nashville dir. 63 Year abroad 64 Payroll deduction, perhaps DOWN 1 The Police, most of the time 2 Bit of deception 3 A, in Argentina 4 ISP option 5 Shoptalk 6 Treats as persona non grata 7 D.C. figure 8 Realization often preceded by “Whew!” 9 Charlatans 10 Hardly gloss over 11 Still-life subject 12 Swallowed one’s pride 13 Rodgers and Hart title lyric that precedes “I get no dizzy spells” 18 Roadside warning 20 James Brown memoir 24 Inclusive pronoun 25 Quartet member 29 One way to lighten the mood 32 Word before or after name 35 Key of Dvorák’s “New World Symphony”: Abbr. 37 Before 38 They can’t be beaten 40 Get Wired again 43 Fight in the sticks 44 Fred Astaire, by birth 48 President François Hollande’s birthplace 49 Whale relative 54 Bulldog fans 56 Facial spot 57 Brother of Jack and Bobby 58 College Football Playoff champion crowned Jan. 12, 2015 By John Farmer ©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 02/27/15 02/27/15 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: RELEASE DATE– Friday, February 27, 2015 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis xwordeditor@aol.com 2 BED. A V AIL. April 1st‑August 21st Furnished, Heat & Water & Free Internet 734‑761‑8000 primesh.com 4 BEDROOM HOUSE Fall 2015‑16 North Campus: Off Fuller by UM Hospital 2 Baths, Wshr./Dryer, 3 Prkg spaces, Pet & Smoke free. $2300 + utilities 1010 Cedar Bend Dr. 734‑996‑1991 6 BEDROOM HOUSE 511 Linden. East of CC Little btwn Geddes&South U. 2 Bath, Wshr./Dryer, 2 Prkg. spaces, Pet & Smoke free. Fall 2015‑16 $3,600 + utilities. 734‑996‑1991 EFF, 1 & 2 Bedrooms Avail Fall 2015‑16 $750 ‑ $1420. Most include Heat and Water. Parking where avail: $50‑80/mo. Coin Laundry access on site/nearby. www.cappomanagement.com Call 734‑996‑1991 ARBOR PROPERTIES Award‑Winning Rentals in Kerrytown, Central Campus, Old West Side, Burns Park. Now Renting for 2015. 734‑649‑8637. www.arborprops.com THESIS EDITING. LANGUAGE, organization, format. All Disciplines. 734/996‑0566 or writeon@iserv.net UNIVERSITY TOWERS: $0 Down Special ‑ No Security Deposit, No Processing Fee on leases signed be‑ fore 2/28. www.u‑towers.com RELIEF CAREGIVER FOR medical foater home, about 25 hrs/mo, $9/hr lo‑ cated in Willis, MI. contact bizwiz808080@yahoo.com DOMINICK’S HIRING FOR spring & summer. Call 734‑834‑5021. SUMMER OF YOUR LIFE! CAMP WAYNE FOR GIRLS ‑Children’s sum‑ mer camp, Pocono Mountains, Pennsylva‑ nia 6/20‑8/16. If you love children and want a caring, fun environment we need Counselors, Instructors and other staff for our summer camp. Interviews on UMich campus March 3rd Select The Camp That Selects The Best Staff! Call 1.215.944.3069 or apply at www.campwaynegirls.com 2,3,4 BEDROOM APARTMENTS South Campus Fall 2015‑16 1015 Packard ‑ $1370‑$2680 + Utilities Call 734‑996‑1991 to sched a viewing WORK ON MACKINAC Island This Summer – Make lifelong friends. The Is‑ land House Hotel and Ryba’s Fudge Shops are looking for help in all areas be‑ ginning in early May: Front Desk, Bell Staff, Wait Staff, Sales Clerks, Kitchen, Baristas. Housing, bonus, and discounted meals. (906) 847‑7196. www.theisland‑ house.com ! NORTH CAMPUS 1‑2 Bdrm. ! ! Riverfront/Heat/Water/Parking. ! ! www.HRPAA.com ! HELP WANTED SUMMER EMPLOYMENT SERVICES FOR RENT 6 — Friday, February 27, 2015 Arts The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Bad jokes sink new comedy ‘Odd Couple’ Multi-camera sitcom wastes Matthew Perry’s talent By ALEX INTNER Daily Arts Writer At this point, you can tell if you’re watching a CBS sitcom. While other networks have tried playing with multi-camera comedies, CBS is the only one to have recent success in the genre. Shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and “2 Broke Girls” can be defined as a “CBS comedy” based merely on their appearance and structure. “The Odd Couple,” the latest sitcom from the network, fits right into this mold. The series will be able to find fans, but the generic jokes and unenthused actors aren’t really worth anyone’s time. “The Odd Couple,” based on the Neil Simon play from the ’60s and the television series from the ’70s, tells the story of recently divorced neat freak Felix Unger (Thomas Lennon, “Reno 911”) moving in with the messy, sports- radio broadcaster Oscar Madison (Matthew Perry, “Go On”). The pilot features them on a double date with Perry’s neighbor Casey (Leslie Bibb, “GCB”) and her sister Emily (Lindsay Sloane, “Horrible Bosses”). In a multi-camera sitcom, the jokes must be funny or else the studio audience laughter will be awkward, and the attempts for laughs on the “Odd Couple” lack any keen sense of humor. They follow the traditional “line- punchline” structure that has defined multi-cam for years, but they lack any sense of invention or originality. When Felix comments on improving Oscar’s beauty, Oscar exclaims “I’m trying to be inside a beautiful person.” Perpetual jokes like that feel lazy, causing the comedy to be more boring than entertaining. It doesn’t help that most of the “Odd Couple” ’s cast appears to be sleep-walking through the episode. Perry is a gifted performer, but it doesn’t appear he gives much effort. He reads the punchlines with about as much energy as a college student right after exams. Lennon tries to create a realistic character, but he doesn’t have much room to work with such one-note material. The supporting cast is also a collection of talented actors, and the show wastes their potential as well. Wendell Pierce (“The Wire”) proves he can carry both comedic and dramatic material on “Treme,” and Yvette Nicole Brown has demonstrated that she can be hysterically funny on “Community.” However, they’re barely in the first episode and are saddled with some of the dullest material on the show — making it seem like their presence is purely to cash the paychecks. CBS has shown with “Mom” and “The Big Bang Theory” that they’re capable of making imaginative sitcom jokes. However, “The Odd Couple” doesn’t try to do anything different with the classic stock story. It’s fine enough to find an audience between episodes of “Big Bang,” but not good enough to be worth watching. CBS “Is that your nubbin?” C- The Odd Couple Series Premiere CBS Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. GENDER AND MEDIA COLUMN ‘Knope we can’: Leslie’s impact on me T his column contains spoil- ers for the series finale of “Parks and Recreation.” For my column this week, I was going to write about the Oscars. I was plan- ning an impassioned but rational delibera- tion on why “Boyhood” deserved the Best Picture award more than “Birdman.” I had estab- lished an elaborate schema charting the casual misogyny and studied misrepresentation found in “Birdman.” I spent more time than what is healthy Googling Patricia Arquette, and I took copious notes on her much-publicized Best Actress acceptance speech. Then I watched the “Parks and Recreation” series finale three times in a row, and my pri- orities changed. This is not a review of the “Parks” finale or the final sea- son. I can’t even begin to col- lect my feelings about what has quietly become the best show on television — funny in the familiar, giddy way of being drunk with your best friends and sharply political, but with a warmth running thick and sin- ewy through every scene and storyline. Reviewing “Parks” would be like sitting down and giving my mom a letter grade on her job as a parent. (Though if I had to do it, Mom, you would get an A- because of that time you told me I might be better off dat- ing gay guys.) But Leslie Knope was one of the most empow- ering, endearing and timeless characters on television, and while saying goodbye is hard, her sendoff was pretty goddamn magical. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how revolutionary Leslie had become over her seven seasons, because of the goofy awkward- ness Poehler infused into the character, her dorky dancing and almost-sexual attraction to mac and cheese pizza, distract- ing from Leslie’s impressive real mission. She went from being a lowly, slightly sad government employee to a beacon of liberal- ism, a powerful public figure, a caring friend and balanced mother. We watched Leslie run for office; we watched her lose. We watched her face sexist cowork- ers (from Jamm to Councilman Milton to the sex-negative Lang- mans.) We watched her fight the uphill battle for approval in Pawnee, a place slyly repre- sentative of all of conservative America. We watched her find love in her equal Ben Wyatt, kindly (but firmly) reject some weirdos (including Louis C.K. in one of his most cringe-inducing roles yet), have children and make a giant career leap at the same time. Every shade of Les- lie blared feminist, a label she didn’t deny (I have a magnet with her quote, “Hoes before bros, uteruses before duderuses, ovaries before brovaries” on my fridge), but that never was her most salient characteristic — her feminism was tightly connected with her pluck, tenacity and kindness. Leslie and her co-conspir- ators were some of the most fleshed-out characters on televi- sion, especially in comedy, but Poehler skillfully masked Les- lie’s complexity in her outright hilarity. It was only after the joke that the depth behind Les- lie’s ideology, and her character, coalesced. But don’t get con- fused: Leslie Knope is one of the strongest and most important characters on TV ever, because of these very shades. In the last few minutes of the “Parks and Recreation” finale, we get a glimpse into Leslie’s future: She is doing something big, something important, some- thing very public. Is she the next Hillary? Quite possible, given her hairstyle and Poehler’s uncanny past impressions of Clinton. But despite her power, Leslie is still Leslie – warm and supportive and overzealous. “Parks” did the incredible by making us fall in love with a character before her success or political awaken- ing, when she was still a humble government official just trying to build a park. It makes Leslie’s path all the more rewarding, and the ending of the show that much more bittersweet. Last month, I had a really scary job interview in New York. My flight was leaving at 9 a.m. and the night before, the clock turned 1, and then 2, and still I was awake, mentally going over my resume yet again as I took excessive trips to the bathroom. Finally, I reached under my bed and pulled out my copy of “Yes Please,” Amy Poehler’s autobiography. While there are a lot of encouraging chapters I could have turned to — her triumphant time on Saturday Night Live, her words of advice to young girls or her experiences volunteering in Haiti — I went straight to the chapter on “Parks.” I needed comfort, and I needed strength, and I needed the knowledge that I could succeed. Amy, through Leslie, has given that to me for seven years, reminding me that other bumbling, waffle-loving Mid- western girls can find success and passion, and that it is OK for me to have high expecta- tions for myself. Just like Les- lie so brightly exclaimed in the final words of the episode, she’s ready for whatever happens next. And because of “Parks,” I’m ready too. Gadbois is nailing that job interview. To offer her words of encouragement, email natgadb@umich.edu. NATALIE GADBOIS On breakup albums By MICHAEL FLYNN Daily Arts Writer One of the jobs of a musician is to convey human emotion, and on a breakup album, the emotion comes in droves. Singers and songwriters have been pouring their hearts out over this sad subject for years, taking many different approaches to their grief. Some breakup albums were sad, some incredibly angry, some brimming with excitement for a new chapter of life. The best were all of these at once, which is most representative of how a breakup feels as time goes on. Like those that stem from a relationship, the emotions of a breakup are varied, contradictory and always intense. Many times, breakup albums have captivated audiences with their emotional honesty, sometimes even taking the artists to a new level of success. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is one of the most famous examples, recorded when everyone in the band was breaking up ... with each other. The album became the group’s best-selling release, with over 20 million copies sold. Bob Dylan has vehemently denied that his spare mid-’70s masterpiece Blood on the Tracks was influenced by his divorce, but the songs, filled with crushing sadness and righteous fury, seem too deeply felt to be pure fiction. The album is now viewed as one of his best releases, and to this day, reviews of Dylan’s new material include the quote: “It’s his best album since Blood on the Tracks!” Occasionally, a breakup is enough to make an artist change his or her style considerably. On Beck’s 2002 album Sea Change, he eschewed his traditional hip- hop influences in favor of a simple acoustic sound, and traded his clever wordplay for more sincere lyrics. Kanye West embraced Auto-Tune on 2008’s electronica- influenced 808s and Heartbreak, using it as a melodic instrument and an emotional tool — the effect gives his voice a quavering sound reminiscent of a person on the verge of tears. And Taylor Swift’s smash hit Red completed her transformation from country artist to pop sensation, featuring modern instrumentation and snappy, sometimes humorous lyrics — the opposite of Beck’s approach. The genre doesn’t seem to be going away, and in fact continues to become more popular as years go on. In the year 2014, Coldplay released Ghost Stories, The Black Keys released Turn Blue and Robin Thicke released Paula. They all had one thing in common: the theme was of a relationship breakup. Why are these albums so popular? In some ways, the breakup album can be seen as a window into the things we feel but can’t necessarily communicate. With the huge variety of emotions that come from such a troubling event, it can be hard to know how to handle oneself, or even what to feel. Listening to albums like this can help a heartbroken person realize that he or she isn’t alone, that there is someone out there who feels like he or she does. Picture a young man sitting in his room. He opens up his CD player, pops in Bruce Springsteen’s divorce opus Tunnel of Love and presses the play button. There is one track in particular that speaks to him: “Valentine’s Day,” the album’s final track. It’s a slow country dirge that features a man driving home as fast as he can, aching to be back with his lover. The young Springsteen fan is in the midst of a long, painful breakup. He knows the breakup is what he needs, but that doesn’t make it feel any better. So why is he drawn to “Valentine’s Day,” a song about missing a person, about wanting to be back with a person? Perhaps it’s because he remembers the way he used to feel, and the song is a reminder that someday, after the pain subsides, he will feel that way again.