ACROSS
1 Gain experience
(from)
6 Leg muscle
10 World Golf Hall of
Famer Karrie
14 First host of “The
Tonight Show”
15 Like some history
16 Original thought
17 Old-time bandits
20 “The Time
Machine” race
21 Goes out
22 First extra inning
23 Dallas Mavericks
org.
25 Old Mideast
alliance: Abbr.
26 Narc’s quarry
32 Nova Scotia hrs.
35 City SW of St.
Augustine
36 Young boys
37 Place for a
pedicure
38 Special forces
mission
42 Bi- halved
43 Cambodian cash
44 Polar explorer
45 Butter-on-hot-
griddle sound
46 Anonymous
holiday gift giver
48 Bowl-shaped
cookware
49 __ in: surround
50 Delta rival, as it
was once known
53 Tosca’s “Vissi
d’arte,” e.g.
56 Magic charm
60 Air marshal’s
possession
63 “The Mod Squad”
role
64 Automation prefix
65 Superman’s
makeup?
66 __ code
67 Mess offering
68 Brits’ boob tube
DOWN
1 Pathetic, as an
excuse
2 Airline to
Jerusalem
3 In addition
4 Put the spark
back into, as a
relationship
5 Salem-to-
Portland dir.
6 It may help with a
mop
7 Many a Syrian
8 Metallica
drummer Ulrich
9 St. with a
panhandle
10 Three-lane,
vis-à-vis two-lane
11 “I Dream of
Jeannie” star
12 Buddy of Kermit
13 Big party
18 Leader with a
.edu address
19 Beehive State
24 Animal
symbolizing the
25-Down
25 World power
inits. until ’91
26 Magical start
27 Tappable
cellphone images
28 “Miles Smiles”
trumpeter
29 Poker-faced
30 Come to a point
31 Fred’s dancing
sister
32 Chinese or
Japanese
33 Hurling or curling
34 Tucker of country
39 Taxing trip
40 Semicircular
church section
41 One who might
go to bat for you?
46 Achy
47 January warm
spell
48 Modern witch’s
religion
50 Home of the
NCAA’s Bruins
51 Evening in
Quebec
52 Klein of fashion
53 Lotion additive
54 Singer McEntire
55 Star adored by
many
57 Autobahn auto
58 “Piano Man” man
59 __ child
61 Branch
62 Approx. repair
cost
By Timothy L. Meaker
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/28/16
09/28/16
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com
Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
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Having an account on social
media is like living a double life.
On the internet and our mobile
devices, we show the parts of
ourselves that we want people
to see, but not necessarily the
entire picture of who we are.
We
frequently
display
the
good parts of ourselves, not
the more vulnerable aspects of
our personality and daily life.
Essentially, what we create,
produce and express online
becomes our virtual identity.
Since the dawn of the modern
selfie, Instagram has become
one of the more prominent
determinants of virtual identity
in the digital age, totaling
about 400 million users since
December 2015. Facebook and
Twitter
have
given
people
the agency to connect with
friends and post their personal
thoughts on specific issues,
but Instagram has been the
forefront of showcasing the
image and lifestyle of a person.
Along with every other
social
networking
site/app,
Instagram is a program that
feeds us the autonomy to
present what we want to our
friends and followers through
sharing
photos
underscored
with funny, witty and thought-
provoking captions. But more
importantly, it’s how we present
ourselves on Instagram that
dictates the kind of person we
want to be perceived as online.
Two recently growing trends
on Instagram, “finstas” and
“thirst traps,” have established
just how our virtual identities
can either feel genuine or
excessively distorted.
Finstas? Thirst traps? What
are these strange words you
speak of? Don’t worry, Baby
Boomers and Gen-Xers. Let me
break it down. A “finsta” is short
for “finstagram,” a combination
of “fake” and “Instagram”;
the word itself refers to a
second,
private
Instagram
account users create in order
to post funny, embarrassing
photos of themselves, only for
their closest friends to see.
Though a finsta is deemed as
something “fake,” the irony of
it is that a finsta account is the
closest thing your friends have
to seeing an unfiltered, real
version of yourself.
“Finstas
provide
an
opportunity
to
post
things
without the typical barriers of
social media,” said Engineering
senior Susan Rusinowski. “It
allows users to reclaim the
platform and have fun without
the fear of being judged.”
Rusinowski is among the
multitude
of
mostly
high
school
and
college-aged
students around the country
who’ve
created
a
finsta
account. In addition to being
more
unfiltered
(literally
and
figuratively),
finstas
are also less concerned with
creating and publishing the
perfect
picture
with
the
perfect caption, acting almost
like a personal photo diary
exclusively for the eyes of the
users and a select group of
people. In fact, finstas can even
have the power to build self-
esteem. Rusinowski notes that
having a finsta has made her
a lot more open about herself,
as well as less embarrassed at
funny or unflattering pictures
of herself on social media.
“It’s forced me to be more
real about my day to day
life on social media and feel
more comfortable laughing at
myself,” she said.
This contrasts greatly to
the other popular trend on
Instagram, the “thirst trap,”
which, according to Urban
Dictionary,
is
any
photo
or
statement
on
a
social
media
platform,
especially
on
Instagram,
posted
to
intentionally create attention
or “thirst.” A thirst trap can
be anything as suggestive as
a steamy workout selfie or as
explicit as an almost completely
nude,
just-got-out-of-the-
shower photo.
Make no mistake: thirst traps
are not the same as ordinary
Instagram users posting selfies.
There’s
a
huge
difference
between posting a selfie for
the sake of attention, showing
off your sexiness, a photo blog
tracking your health and fitness
progress or a post with a body-
positive message. In any case,
posting photos of yourself is in
and of itself a form of flaunting.
Yet thirst trappers capitalize on
this flaunting by objectifying
their bodies and publishing
totally perfected versions of
themselves.
Take English thirst trapper
Liam Jolley (132k followers),
for example. Nearly all of the
photos that appear on his
Instagram profile are shirtless,
nearly nude pictures of himself,
whether at the gym, in the
bathroom or by a luxurious
pool (note: the phrase “TURN
ON POST NOTIFICATIONS”
is emblazoned in his bio).
Most thirst trappers, such as
Jolley, attempt to relate to
their audience, captioning their
photos with common phrases
or an abundance of hashtags,
even when they have literally
nothing to do with the photos
themselves.
While
thirst
traps
may
have the most benevolent of
intentions, they can have a
negative,
even
detrimental
impact on the users themselves,
as it can affect men and women
suffering from body dysmorphia
and eating disorders. A recent
article on Out.com changed
that
most
thirst
trappers,
predominantly gay men, are
suffering from body dysmorphia,
having to exercise and take
photos of themselves constantly
in order to feel somewhat better
about their self-perception.
This all goes back to this
idea of not just how we want
to present ourselves on social
media, but whether or not we are
willing to be more vulnerable
on our online accounts. Based
on my observations, I find that
finstas allows us to embrace our
flaws, while regular Instagram
allows us to hide them, and
thirst traps allows us to repress
them excessively. Sure, it’s nice
to look at attractive people and
there’s almost nothing like the
dopamine rush you get when
your profile picture or the
gorgeous pic you took of the
sky gets a ton of likes. Then
again, anything we post, publish
and
share
isn’t
necessarily
100 percent of who we are.
Sometimes, it’s who we want to
be. Though it may be impossible,
we should strive to at least try
to be the realest person we can
be on social media.
SAM ROSENBERG
Daily Social Media Columnist
SOCIAL MEDIA COLUMN
Finstas and Thirst Traps:
Deconstructing virtual identity
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
What happens when two of
America’s most impactful and
famous icons, President Teddy
Roosevelt and Elvis Presley, join
together
to
set
out on a soul-
searching journey
to
Graceland?
Rachel
Chavkin,
Libby King and
Kristen
Sieh
explore
the
possibilities of this
wild
adventure
in The TEAM’s
production
of
“RoosevElvis,”
coming
to
Ann
Arbor next week.
Based out of Brooklyn, The
TEAM is a performance group
that
draws
material
from
American history and mythology
to create original productions
that comment on modern issues.
From these stories spring themes
of hardship and triumph meant to
inspire new ideas and challenge
the status quo.
Centering
around
a
hallucinated
journey,
“RoosevElvis” focuses on two
characters: Ann, an introverted
meat-processing
worker,
and
Brenda, a taxidermist with a
bubbly personality who grew
up in North Dakota. When
Ann and Brenda decide to take
their imaginary adventure to
Graceland, they choose to embody
the personas of Elvis Presley and
his idol, Theodore Roosevelt,
respectively.
In an interview, Libby King,
who plays Ann/Elvis, described
what it’s like to play two different
characters in one.
“I am doing things that I would
never be comfortable doing,” she
said, like dancing on stage as a
confident
figure
with “male energy.”
Despite her fun role
as
Elvis
Presley,
King also has the
challenge of playing
Ann.
“The
harder
parts
are
Ann’s
character
and
her
story…
she’s
incredibly
lonely.
But there is a lot of
loss in Ann’s life
and Elvis’ life,” she
said.
King co-lead for “RoosevElvis,”
Kristen Sieh also designed the
costumes for this show, including
her own character of Brenda/
Teddy.
“I always try to think in this
sense of stage picture or ways that
design can communicate story
or feeling,” she said, adding that
her character Teddy is “trying to
be a badass in the West,” and she
is “always keeping in mind of the
constraints of the kind of clothing
people would wear in the 1870s.
Alongside King and Sieh is
associate director Jake Margolin
and director and co-writer, Rachel
Chavkin. The winner of two Obie
Awards, Chavkin has directed
many shows not only for The
TEAM, but other off-Broadway
production groups. Nevertheless,
“RoosevElvis” is a show that is
different from the rest.
“ ‘RoosevElvis’ is the most
intimate work The TEAM has
made … not only in terms of the
vibe, but the fact that there were
only four of us in the room writing
this together.”
The show stands in a category
of its own for many reasons:
a two-woman show with four
characters,
the
experimental
use of light, design, music and
choreography and the modern
themes of gender, sex and identity.
“The demand for consistent
emotional
and
intellectual
complexity, nuance upon nuance
and layering upon layering of
image and language … that is a
thing I don’t find anywhere else,”
Chavkin said.
From touring in places like
London and Boston, The TEAM
is anticipating a different and
younger audience here in Ann
Arbor.
Because the show exemplifies a
powerful theme in self-discovery,
having an audience on a college
campus goes hand in hand with
the concept that young people
are “still solidifying their sense of
self,” Sieh said.
In addition to the show, there
will be a Q&A on Thursday,
with The TEAM. Given their
excitement for a younger crowd
and the show’s discussion of
gender
archetypes,
Chavkin
finished the interview with one
question in mind: “It feels like
there is such a live conversation
that
gets
at
the
center
of
Americans … who gets to be a hero
in America? That, for me, is really
the heart of this.”
ERIKA SHEVCHEK
Daily Arts Writer
‘RoosevElvis’ makes Michigan stop
The eclectic two-woman show is an exciting quest for identity
RoosevElvis
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, 8 p.m.
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre
$12 students, $25
adults
ABC
“I’m now realizing we’ll never be ‘How to Get Away With Murder.’ “
Fall TV season is here, and with
it comes the return of series with
vague, dramatic, one-word titles.
Turn on “Scandal”
or “Revenge,” and
the next 40-some
minutes
will,
without
doubt,
be
filled
with
blackmail,
not-
so-secret
affairs
and, if we’re lucky,
a
mysterious
disappearance.
While these high-
drama
shows
border on ridiculous, they do
promise to be entertaining. At the
very least, they should deliver on
some good, old-fashioned, heart-
wrenching angst, however ABC’s
new drama series “Notorious”
falls short of even the bare
minimum.
“Notorious” centers around
the
(corrupt)
relationship
between a news producer and
criminal justice lawyer, working
together to influence the media.
The lawyer Jake Gregorian (Dan-
iel Sunjata, “Graceland”) is able
to control his clients’ public per-
ceptions, while producer Julia
George (Piper Perabo, “Covert
Affairs”) gets insider tips on
breaking stories. Jake and Julia,
characters that creator Josh Bur-
man (“Drop Dead Diva”) based on
celebrity attorney Mark Geragos
and “Larry King Live” producer
Wendy Walker, write a narrative
absent of ethics,
morals and integ-
rity. Sexy, right?
Wrong.
The
series
kicks
off
with a pilot that
stuffs in one pre-
dictable twist after
another, throwing
originality out the
window and set-
tling for less than
mediocre. All the
boxes for “just another network
drama” are neatly checked off:
the high-profile murder, the
unprofessional affair, the threat-
ening blackmail. The “surpris-
ing” developments come and
go so fast that any semblance
of anticipation or heat simmers
down to nothing. As the series
attempts to move at a fast and
exciting pace, the “Notorious”
pilot becomes a textbook case of
quantity over quality, confusing
lies for drama and power for sex
appeal.
While the drama attempts
(and fails) to hit the audience
with punchy plot lines, character
development
is
completely
neglected. By the end of the
pilot, Jake and Julia still read
completely flat as Perabo and
Sanjata deliver lines that are
painfully
overdramatized.
Without any insight into their
backstory or the foundation of
their relationship, the audience
is unable to connect with the
two main characters, who are
seemingly driven only by power
and success. The pilot does not
create a deeper understanding
of their motivations, nor does
it allow viewers to empathize
with the backhanded way Jake
and Julia go about reaching
their goals. There’s no chemistry
on a personal or professional
level,
making
their
super-
secret relationship hard to buy.
Unfortunately,
they’re
just
boring.
“Notorious” has some big
shoes to fill as it stands in for
“Scandal” on ABC’s coveted
TGIT
lineup
of
Shondaland
shows. But despite the beautiful
people and high-drama plotline
that fall suspiciously close to
the
Shondaland
structure,
“Notorious”
is
not
even
in
the same ballpark as Shonda
Rhimes’s series. The characters
are weak, the story directionless
and the drama convoluted. After
only one episode, “Notorious”
already tastes stale.
‘Notorious’ is far from
Shondaland’s elite work
DANIELLE YACOBSON
Daily Arts Writer
New ABC drama misses the opportunity to be something good
TV REVIEW
C-
“Notorious”
Pilot
Thursdays at 9 p.m.
ABC
6A — Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com