Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
ACROSS
1 Home of the
Nobel Peace
Center
5 Loafed
10 Wharf
14 Scandinavian
royal name
15 Black, in
Bordeaux
16 Johnson of
“Laugh-In”
17 Lose it
20 Takes advantage
of a cloudless
night
21 Grating sounds
22 “Oui, oui,” across
the Pyrenees
23 1-Across locale:
Abbr.
24 Lose it
30 Kentucky college
or its city
31 Cod cousin
32 __ gratia artis:
MGM motto
34 Spot in the
control tower
35 Lose it
37 Twosomes
38 Brillo competitor
39 Alert
40 Packers
quarterback
Rodgers
41 Lose it
45 NASA affirmative
46 Big name in
speakers
47 Prophetess
50 Works like a
demon
55 Lose it
57 Lowly worker
58 True-crime
author Dominick
59 Wine barrel
sources
60 Applies gently
61 Hilarious types
62 Bout enders,
briefly
DOWN
1 Sounds of
amazement
2 Blind part
3 Basalt source
4 Exceed, as one’s
authority
5 One way to pay
6 Humdinger
7 Poem piece
8 Coastal raptors
9 Opus __: “The
Da Vinci Code”
sect
10 Persian Gulf
native
11 “Exodus” novelist
12 Resting upon
13 Hankerings
18 Stomach
discomfort
19 Orwellian worker
23 Footwear
company named
for a goddess
24 Serf of ancient
Sparta
25 __ whiskey
26 Music from
monks
27 “The Pit and the
Pendulum”
monogram
28 World’s smallest
island nation
29 Clean and brush,
as a horse
30 Air gun pellets
33 Form 1040EZ
info
35 Rubberneck
36 60 minuti
37 Lacks the
courage to
39 Virginia of the
Bloomsbury
Group
40 On the briny
42 Synthetic fabrics
43 Not answering
roll call
44 Satisfies the
munchies
47 Calif. law force
48 Lower intestinal
parts
49 “We’re not
serving liquor,”
briefly
50 Spitting sound
51 “That isn’t good!”
52 Minn. neighbor
53 Northern Nevada
city
54 Meeting of Cong.
56 New Deal pres.
By Gary J. Whitehead
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
11/18/15
11/18/15
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com
THESIS EDITING, LANGUAGE,
organization, format. All Disciplines.
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6A — Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM NOTEBOOK
Sir Cumberbatch in
his prime at age 39
Newly knighted
actor deserves all
the success he gets
By RACHEL RICHARDSON
For The Daily
To all you Cumberbitches
out there who think Benedict
Cumberbatch
will
one
day rule the world: you’re
definitely
onto
something.
Queen Elizabeth II recently
appointed
him
Commander
of the Most Excellent Order
of the British Empire for his
flawless acting and charitable
efforts. This prestigious title
is only one step down from
Knight status. At this point, he
might as well be listed as “Sir
Benedict Cumberbatch” in the
end credits of the upcoming
“Dr. Strange.”
While he has had an estab-
lished presence in British films
since 2002, he only recently
started dominating the Ameri-
can film industry. Domestic
moviegoers received their first
taste of him in “War Horse,”
where he portrays the harsh
Major Jamie Stewart. Cumber-
batch then extended his cruelty
to outer space when he played
Khan,
the
evil
genetically-
modified creature who tries to
destroy San Francisco in “Star
Trek: Into Darkness.” Although
his roles are significant in
both these movies, Cumber-
batch still didn’t get what he
deserved — the lead — until he
perfectly captured the essence
of the impeccably intelligent
Alan Turing in “The Imitation
Game.”
Ultimately,
what
makes
Cumberbatch
an
incredible
actor is his ability to fully
immerse himself into every
role. Unlike Christoph Waltz’s
lackluster villain performance
in “Spectre,” Cumberbatch is
rarely ever questioned about his
characters’s credibility; there
isn’t a second of “The Imitation
Game” when we doubt Turing
can crack German enigma. Along
the same lines, Cumberbatch
can evoke emotions in even
the most stoic person. As he
physically collapses and sobs
in Knightley’s arms at the end
of “The Imitation Game,” every
person in the audience started
searching for the tissue buried
deep in their purse.
However,
he’s
not
only
known for his acting anymore.
Over the years, Cumberbatch
has been involved with 20
different organizations, such
as research funds, anti-war
campaigns and charities, but
he has devoted most of his
efforts to The Prince’s Trust,
which assists homeless and
mentally ill 13- to 30-year-
olds through counseling and
monetary donations. He even
encourages
fans
to
donate
to the organization on his
birthday instead of sending him
cards and gifts.
Benedict
Cumberbatch
is
very much in his prime at the
age of 39. With his charming
personality, undeniable talent
and, lest we forget, admiration
from Her Majesty, he’s well on
his way to earning the title of
“World Leader Sir Benedict
Cumberbatch.”
Or, maybe not. The idea
that audiences should go to
cultural events — concerts,
exhibitions, readings — to be
passively
enlightened,
quiet
and stationary, is an invention
of the past 150 years. Compare
the above scene to accounts of
Franz Liszt’s recitals, a pianist
who “revolutionized the art of
performance ... Everything we
recognize about the modern
piano recital – think Keith Jar-
rett, Glenn Gould, Tori Amos,
or Elton John — Liszt did first.
Even the name ‘recital’ was his
invention.” This same article
recounts some of the most
striking visuals of the moment
in class music history called
“Lisztomania”:
“Liszt was tearing up the
polite salons and concert halls
of Europe with his virtuoso
performances. Women would
literally attack him: tear bits of
his clothing, fight over broken
piano strings and locks of his
shoulder length hair,” the NPR
staff said.
All this might seem just a
fragment of a “simpler time.” It
should be underlined, though,
that the recital was caught up
in the process of racial and class
segregation that accompanied
the emergence of our models of
receiving and enjoying culture.
In 19th century New York City,
the movement to institute bas-
tions of culture — museums,
concert halls and the like — to
exclude workers, black Ameri-
cans and immigrants culminat-
ed into the Astor Place Riots of
1849, the most violent episode
in New York history. What is
taken for granted today took
decades of state repression to
accomplish.
This history survives now in
certain conventions and pro-
hibitions, which concertgoers
abide by: Don’t clap between
movements! Don’t cough! An
upcoming performance with
Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian
concert pianist and chamber
musician, on Friday, Nov. 20
at Hill Auditorium, will be
no exception. He is one of the
powerhouses of contemporary
classical music whose North
American tour stands as his
first major stint in solo perfor-
mance after a multi-year-long
project playing and record-
ing all five piano concerti by
Beethoven.
Yet, for a winner of “Best
Recording of the Year” from
BBC Music Magazine and the
German Critics’ Award, what
jumps out from Andsnes’s biog-
raphy is his commitment to
unpretentiousness in his per-
formance career. In 2005, when
the power went out at his recit-
al in Rome, he offered to con-
tinue with the performance in
the dark. “The hall declined the
offer ... citing safety concerns,”
notes a biographical document
about the pianist from his man-
agement.
“What I really dislike some-
how is the feeling when you
come into a concert hall and
you have the kind of people
who really know how it’s sup-
posed to go, and they cough
in between all the movements
because then you are allowed
to do that,” Andsnes said in an
interview with The Michigan
Daily.
“If Beethoven, in his time,
saw that people weren’t clap-
ping after his first movement
of a piano concerto, he would
have thought, ‘What the heck
is going on?’” Andsnes said.
“He would have thought that
no audience was there. I mean,
they would always clap and
they would clap, even, after a
great cadenza.”
Andsnes remarked that he
has “nothing against” people
taking the break after the first
movement of a piano concerto
to clap. At the same time, he
doesn’t want to take away from
the beauty of the silence that
reigns over concert halls “that
is so rare in today’s society.”
Andsnes takes great joy as a
performer in frustrating expec-
tations about program selec-
tion as well. The program for
his
upcoming
performance,
jumping from short pieces by
Sibelius to a piano sonata by
Beethoven, forms creative con-
nections between what some
purists might deem an unlikely
pairing.
“I’ve always loved making
recital programs to combine
music that people will think,
‘Ah, I know this, this is famil-
iar territory,’ with music that
is very unfamiliar and also see
how one can affect the other
one,” Andsnes said.
Andsnes has also served as
co-director of the Risør Festi-
val of Chamber music in Risør,
Norway, a historic shipping and
fishing town that attracts many
tourists.
Andsnes
described
how he has developed some of
the most lasting musical rela-
tionships through these events
over the past 20 or so years.
Holding this festival out-
side of the major metropolises
of the world is yet another
indication of Andsnes’s com-
mitment to working within,
but also sometimes against,
conventions of classical music
performance. A prohibition on
clapping between movements
is not equivalent to the violence
that laid the basis for so many of
our dominant cultural institu-
tions. It exemplifies an aware-
ness of history that is essential
when we participate in this con-
sumption and of how we think
through the norms that define
the experience of art. Andsnes
is, besides his virtuosity, an
exceptionally thoughtful per-
former who takes these ques-
tions seriously.
ANDSNES
From Page 1A
A
s I write this column, Shia
Labeouf has just finished
his #ALLMYMOVIES
event, during which he watched
every one of his films over a three-
day period.
There was no
explanation
as to why he
undertook
such a cause. I
do not under-
stand this
man — I very
much want to.
Labeouf
(alternate
spelling:
Labeef)
is
perhaps
the
greatest enigma of a human
being.
He’s
chameleonic
but
obvious, masterful yet simple,
unpretentious yet completely in
your face. I just can’t get a read on
him.
Gone are the days of “Even
Stevens”
and
“Holes,”
which
starred an unassuming Shia when
he was young, meek and, dare I
say, innocent: “Shia La-weak,” one
might say. Gone, too, are the days of
straightforward performance: the
animated surfing penguins film,
“Surfs Up,” the Hitchcock-inspired
“Disturbia” or the feel-good sports
film “The Greatest Game Ever
Played.” Even in “Transformers,”
Shia seems at ease — if not in his
element, then at least comfortable
enough to deliver a performance
that is … direct.
Today’s
Shia
is
something
different — not an actor but a
perpetual performer, living and
breathing his act. I suppose you
could call it “performance art,”
but that doesn’t quite capture what
Shia is doing. But, then again, what
exactly is Shia doing?
I must admit, for the longest
time, I detested Shia Labeouf.
I despised his confused face
that
stares
perpetually
into
nothingness. I reviled the movies
he chose to take part in, only to
deliver an insipid, uninspired
performance of the lowest caliber.
I abhorred his apparent inability
to deliver a line or to complete a
sentence without stuttering, as if
it meant he was “acting.” I loathed
his ego off-screen, which oozed
superiority.
But to my Shia-surprise, I have
seen the error of my ways.
I
realize
that
Shia
is
a
philosophical mind, a thinker that
has taken the Hollywood image
and exaggerated it far beyond its
traditional scope, cruising past
parody into almost scientific case
study. He pushes the limits of fame
to see just what he can get away
with, to see when people finally
call out his antics. The funny thing
is, the more he pushes, the more I
am drawn to him.
It began when Shi-Guy created
a short film that he plagiarized out
of a comic, and then he apologized
with a public letter that was also
plagiarized (which in a way is
genius; he opted to subvert a
two-wrongs-don’t-make-a-right
premise and transform it into a
weapon of public aggravation).
Then came the “I’m not famous
anymore” paper bag he wore to
the premiere of “Nymphomaniac.”
Then he took on #IAMSORRY, an
event where participants could
enter a vestibule and interact with
a silent paper-bag-clad Shia in any
way they chose.
That last enterprise was an
interesting
one
indeed.
Mr.
Labeouf expected to be harassed
by his visitors, but, he said that
many simply comforted him about
his fall from grace (or ascension
to nirvana; it’s in the eyes of the
beholder). But he also claims, and
others confirm, that a woman
sexually assaulted him during
the event; but if you read his
explanation of it, he’s so casual, not
hurt or damaged, just — for lack
of a better phrase — bummed out.
Which raises so many questions:
If Shia halted his performance
to prevent such an assault, would
that mean his performance was a
failure? Does the fact that such a
detestable act occurred constitute
a failure in and of itself? Or does
it elevate the performance into
something intangible: a real-time
experience of the tragic artist,
intimately
in-tune
with
real
human suffering? And these don’t
even begin to prod the legal and
ethical ramifications.
It’s so easy to write off celebrity
antics as “stunts” or “machinations
of an unsound mind.” Not to
say that all such antics are
performance, but certainly these
are far more than antics — a series
of
interconnected
statements
meant to illuminate some kind
of truth: call it the Shia-ning. But
what is that truth?
It seems to me that Shia wants
to tap into something paradoxical:
expression
through
isolation
and openness concurrently. It
creates an internal conflict — it
creates pain. And from that pain,
by simply putting himself within
these bizarre situations, Shia
creates art … or else complete and
total bullshit. There’s no script
to guide him, no director to offer
advice. There’s only a mind and
a will to achieve a perfect artistic
manifestation of human emotion,
whether it be dejection, depression,
damnation … or he’s a slighted, self-
absorbed professional bullshitter.
It ultimately doesn’t matter: Shia
doesn’t care — he just does it.
I wanted to give something
back to him to show I recognized
the insanity and the clarity within
that insanity. I couldn’t be there
to watch #ALLMYMOVIES, but
I could watch at least one on my
own — one I had never seen before,
one of his worst reviewed movies
ever.
“Charlie Countryman” is a
trip: it drags, it makes zero sense,
it’s dull, it’s generally awful and
I’ll never watch it again. But
it contains the best cinematic
performance from Shia I’ve ever
seen. Instead of pretention, he
oozes absurdity that’s barely held
together, chaos just beneath the
surface. It comes through when
Shia’s
eponymous
protagonist
realizes that the passenger next
to him on his transcontinental
flight has died; he asks the flight
attendant for help, “My hands!
Listen! I need a wet nap!” as he
squirms in his seat. It comes
through when he downs several
painkillers and hallucinates that
the dead passenger speaks to him.
Charlie stares, bug-eyed, slightly
crossed, his face is as calm as it is
manic. It comes through in the
most tortured smile in the history
of smiles. It comes through when
he drops acid (which Shia actually
took) with Rupert Grint (who
plays an aspiring porn star who
takes six Viagra, in case you were
interested). And it comes through
when Charlie, in a state of utter
euphoria, runs through the streets
of Bucharest, only to be hit head on
by a taxi.
That’s a pretty apt metaphor
for actual artist Shia Labeouf.
The world will kick him around,
but he’ll just get back up — the
breathing embodiment of that
Chumbawumba song. The world
is his oyster; he can do anything. I
don’t know what he’ll do next, but
it will be worth watching.
The fact is, I’ve never seen a
public figure so aware of his place
in the spotlight and so willing to
stretch the limits of that spotlight —
someone so endowed with a sense
of humor about his relationship
with the public, as a celebrity and
as a performer. You’ve done it, Shi-
Guy; you’ve won me over. I’ll follow
you anywhere — except another
viewing of “Charlie Countryman.”
Bircoll is alone in his room
making more Shia puns.
To send him yours, email
jbircoll@umich.edu.
FILM COLUMN
Shia Labeouf knows
what he’s doing
JAMIE
BIRCOLL
To all you
Cumberbitches.