ACROSS
1 Great Salt Lake
component, to a
chemist
5 Moved for a
better view, in a
way
10 Lucy’s partner
14 Fairy tale villain
15 Yoga position
16 Pair in a loaf
17 Sleeping in the
great outdoors,
e.g.
19 Big East or Big
South org.
20 Generation
21 Org.
recommending
flossing
22 Like many stunts
23 Making sense
28 In the past
29 Start of a spelling
rule broken by
deists?
33 Flooded
36 Bring __ a
substitute
37 Co-star of Burt in
“The Killers”
38 Fair odds
42 Prefix with
fold
43 “I get the idea!”
44 Skeptical
45 Guard
48 Korean
automaker
49 Airport agent’s
request
54 Adolescent
sidekick
57 Indifferent
response
58 “I did not need to
know that”
59 Letter-shaped
building part
60 Hockey
punishment for
the starts of the
longest across
answers
64 Narrated
65 “State of
Affairs” star
Katherine
66 Clanton foe
67 Jazz finale?
68 Schmoes
69 Leaf support
DOWN
1 Ravi’s musical
daughter
2 Disco era suffix
3 Mean
4 Wing alternative
5 Flatly denied it
6 Hit __:
experience
delays
7 Put out on the
infield
8 One at the front?
9 Butter serving
10 “Meet the
Parents” actor
11 Contents of some
envs.
12 Neb. neighbor
13 “Do as __ ...”
18 __-Ashbury: San
Francisco section
22 Court official
24 Smidgen of spice
25 Take the top
medal
26 By surprise
27 New Age
musician John
30 Compete in a
heat
31 At any time
32 “Nothing to it!”
33 Siesta hrs.
34 Charging cable,
e.g.
35 Not fer
36 Graphic novel
artist
39 Isle of Mull
neighbor
40 Land
41 Tide type
46 Classic Fords
47 Accelerator particle
48 Mournful tolls
50 Physical likeness
51 Chance to swing
52 Three-ingredient
treat
53 Common dinner
hr.
54 Nabisco cracker
55 Concert reed
56 About 500
pounds of cotton
60 Scholar’s deg.
61 Want-ad abbr.
62 Quick drink
63 Aye or hai
By Howard Barkin
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/07/15
10/07/15
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
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Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
“That condo was my life,
okay? I loved every stick of fur-
niture in that place. That was
not just a bunch of stuff that got
destroyed, it was ME!”
Edward
Norton’s
narrator
goes
on
to
thank
the
academy for
a
harrowed
performance
as
someone
who actually
cares
about
his
IKEA furniture. “Fight Club”
reprimands
the
materialist
society that defines itself by
the things one owns: “you are
not how much money you have
in the bank. You are not your
fucking khakis.” And maybe
that’s true about people, but in
a movie, it’s kind of important.
In fact, the very essence of
a movie is defined by the
stuff that occupies the frame.
No matter how mundane or
trivial something seems, the
director and set designer have
specifically chosen that object
to exist in their movie. And
the effects can be incredibly
rewarding.
Take this scene from “The
Godfather pt. 2”: the slant of
Fredo’s chair prevents him
from sitting all the way up. In
the first shot of him, his chin
is tucked in, creating a double
chin effect compared to the cut,
defined features of Michael.
And when Fredo does try to
sit up to express his anger, the
chair pulls him back down;
Fredo comes off as weak and
squirmy. He’s trying to exert
his power over Michael, but the
chair deprives him of any shred
of influence that might stem
from his seniority. And, yes,
Copolla could have achieved
the same effect without the
chair, relying only on his actors,
but the chair adds a visual
representation that words alone
simply could not express.
Sometimes
the
object
captures
the
essence
of
a
movie’s
message,
rather
than simply emphasizing a
desired effect. The last scene
of “Inception” created much
debate over whether the top
fell over, whether Cobb had
entered reality or remained in
the dream world. But the top
itself is an act of deception,
because it doesn’t really matter.
The top was not Cobb’s totem
to use to distinguish between
the dream and real worlds but
his wife’s. Cobb’s totem goes
unnamed (though it’s probably
his wedding ring), and Cobb’s
using his wife’s totem is a
clear violation of the rules and
advice he gives to every other
character in the film. Why?
Because for Cobb, the ability
to see his kids again, thereby
achieving the happiness he
has so longed for, supersedes
whether it or not that feeling
derives from reality.
Taking it further, one can
view “Inception” as a metaphor
for the creation of a film:
dreams are the movie itself,
Cobb is the director, Ariadne
is the writer, Eames the actor,
etc. Read in this context,
the film concludes that the
realizations and feelings we
have when watching movies,
these dreams, are as real and
as important as anything we
might experience outside the
theater.
The
spinning
top,
this tiny black piece of round
plastic, has been the focus of
your attention, but you should
have been watching everything
that happens around it.
And why this interest in
objects, you might ask? Why am
I not concerned with characters
and camera angles? Because,
dudes, I watched “The Big
Lebowski” last night. And it,
more than most films I’ve seen,
takes great pride in the things
that occupy its space, none
more so than the Dude’s rug.
You, know, the one that really
tied the room together.
I
watched
“The
Big
Lebowski” for the first time
years ago, before I knew what
drugs were, before I stopped
using the bumpers when I went
bowling, before I understood
the Gulf War. But this time, I
got it. I got “The Big Lebowski.”
And no, it’s not a straight
genre picture as you might
think. It’s not a western, as the
opening shot of tumbleweed
strolling from the outskirts of
the desert into the middle of
LA or Sam Elliot’s The Stranger
in full cowboy garb might
insinuate. It’s not a reimagining
of the film noir, with its
mistaken
identity
plot
line
complete with a femme fatale,
as many critics have stated. And
it’s not a stoner cult comedy as it
has come to be associated with.
Yes, there are strands of all of
these genres (and musicals and
screwball comedy and political
satire), but they are not what
the film is about.
I had this realization when
the German nihilists (“say what
you will about the tenets of
National Socialism, but at least
it’s an ethos”) break into the
Dude’s house, sans rug, smash
some of his stuff and drop a
ferret into the bathtub with the
Dude. After the nihilists left
and I regained my composure,
it hit me: this movie is really
about just how wrecked this
one dude’s house can get. It’s a
test of one man’s will.
The Dude is subjected to
countless
beatings,
various
events of bludgeoning of his
car, kidnappings and drugging.
He is used for sex for the sole
purpose of obtaining his seed,
and innocent, crazy eyed Steve
Buscemi dies. And on top of it
all, his house is destroyed. And
it’s important that the Dude be
the recipient of this insanity
rather than the instigator of
it. He’s a human punching
bag, a modern Job, his house
the plaything of porn star
kingpins, thugs and nihilists
(read:
writers/directors
Joel
and Ethan Cohen). And it all
happens because of a soiled
rug — a rug that tied the room
together, kept his life together.
Without the rug, it all falls apart.
This rug is something of
a holy grail, and it leads the
Dude on a path of deceit
and
occasional
death
and
destruction. And it’s a difficult
path, a painfully funny path
and sometimes a sad path, but,
through it all, the Dude never
drops his moral compass. He
never forgets that lives are on
the line, nor does he let cruelty
go without at least calling it out
first (I’m sure he’d stop it if he
could. But he can’t, because of
pacifism, man). He demands
integrity and compensation, but
never overstays his welcome.
The
rug
represents
this:
something unattainable that
challenges the protagonist. The
Dude is constantly given the
opportunity to veer from the
path, to make a wrong decision,
to be immoral or inconsiderate,
but he never does. Such is the
power of the Dude’s rug, and
the power of objects in film.
And if you say that I’m reading
too much into it — well, that’s
just, like, your opinion, man.
Bircoll definitely got an
A in his SAC classes. To
request his tutoring services,
email jbircoll@umich.edu.
FILM COLUMN
Tying the room
together
JAMIE
BIRCOLL
Sometimes the
object captures
the essence of a
movie’s message.
The rug that
tied the room
together, kept
his life together.
‘Code Black’ does
ER drama wrong
New CBS series
dissapointing for
hospital drama fans
By SOPHIA KAUFMAN
Daily Arts Writer
There are few genres that are
as formulaic as doctor shows.
The most successful medical
dramas all had
something else
going for them:
“Scrubs”
was
funny,
“ER”
was addicting
and
“Grey’s
Anatomy,”
well, “Grey’s”
will
probably
just last forev-
er. But CBS’s
new
offering
is none of these things. “Code
Black” is clunky and tries too
hard to make you care before
you can. If you like seeing blood
pooling on sterilized hospi-
tal floors in one corner of the
frame while a different patient
collapses in another, then this
show is perfect for you. But, if
you like developed characters
and a reasonable lack of clichés,
then keep looking.
The gimmick in “Code Black”
that differentiates it is found in
the title. “Code black” is the term
for when an ER has too many
patients and not enough staff or
resources to provide for all of
them. This particular hospital in
L.A. deals with this frequently.
The
cast
features
Luis
Guzmán (“Narcos”) as a nurse
who refers to himself as Mama
and likes to break into song
occasionally. He’s close with
the residency director Dr. Ror-
ish (Marcia Gay Harden, “How
to Get Away with Murder”), a
tough doctor with a no-time-
for-bullshit demeanor and a
subtly hinted at tragic past,
involving a mysterious accident.
Harden does her best with
what she has been given, but her
lines are often cringeworthy.
And it doesn’t help that there
are more than a couple shots of
her looking around or walking
through the halls of the hospi-
tal in slow motion, taking it all
in as people and noises fade and
blur, reminiscent of everyone’s
favorite angsty doctor, Mer-
edith Grey.
The patients in the pilot
include a gunshot victim, a
brain-dead
dad,
a
pregnant
woman passed out on her floor
because no one realized she was
suffering from carbon monoxide
poisoning, a cute kid with a col-
lapsed lung and a stoned teenag-
er with a mysterious head injury,
among others. They get even
fewer lines than typical guest
characters on hospital dramas,
because there are so many of
them. And the brand new resi-
dents feel bland; there isn’t a
single one who stands out.
If I were a child, I would
complain that watching this
made me dizzy. As a profession-
al adult TV critic, I would also
like to complain that watching
this made me dizzy. Of course,
an ER is a busy scene, with
everything happening at once;
but it’s possible to convey that
without having to use canted
angles quite so often.
This show is made for people
who are still angry about Derek
dying on “Grey’s Anatomy” and
need something to fill that void
if they’re boycotting it — or
the people who just need more
pseudo-doctor talk every week.
It’s not quite “the new ER” like
it was made out to be.
“Code Black” may eventually
build its characters into inter-
esting enough people to make
up for the transparent cases and
clichéd writing, but it probably
won’t. After flatlining for the
majority of the pilot, there are
few miracles that could jump-
start the heart of this show.
D+
Code Black
Series
Premiere
Wednesdays
at 10 p.m.
CBS
CBS
“I just remembered that I need to fire my agent.”
WANT TO GET PAID
TO HAVE OPINIONS
ABOUT THE RUG IN
‘THE BIG LEBOWSKI’?
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WRITE FOR US!
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TV REVIEW