2B — Thursday, September 29, 2016
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Apparently I was in a coma when this whole Adidas craze 

started and I wish it could be comatose until it ends. 

Also, Stussy, hard pass. There are so many metal 

band tshirts here ... I didn’t know the clientele of 

Urban was so hardcore. Maybe they’ll pair their 

Metallica merch with their Adidas sneaks ... so 
fetch. In other news there is a $90 coat that 
looks like a blanket. I want it. I make minimum 
wage. Part of me wants everything and part 
of me wants to boycott. We lost Baked. Maybe 
there is a $90 coat that looks like a blanket. I 
want it. I make minimum wage. I’ll look for him 
in the home goods section. (Read: I’m a sucker 
for overpriced home decor.) Buzzed really wants 

to go hop in the photo booth ... hard pass pt. two. 

Why are the men’s t-shirts so high up? The patriarchy 

doesn’t want girls to wear t-shirts! Urban Outfitters is 

an extension of patriarchal domination! Or maybe I’m just 

short. But I’m going to go with the latter. Their record selection 

is ... interesting. Baked has got a hold of both Rihanna and Ariana Grande vinyl and it doesn’t look like he 
will be relinquishing them anytime soon. I bet “Into You” bangs on record. That was the most weirdly 
millennial thing I have ever said. Do I regret it? Not in the slightest. Buzzed keeps knocking down the 
records, which is pretty indicative of both her as a person and of her current blood alcohol level.

- Carly Snider, Daily Arts Writer

A trip to Urban 

Outfitters

in this series, three daily arts writers in 

varying states of mind do the same activity 

and write about their experiences.

this week’s event:

“I just wanna love U” by Jay Z and Pharrell is playing ..... predictable yet not 

problematic. Buzzed is living up to her title from her wine-vodka mix. I 

need to find my sister a bday gift. and myself an outfit for KANYE’S 

concert (my phone now automatically puts KANYE and 

RIHANNA in call caps). Did they just up and get rid of 

the sale section? this is bullshit I’m poor OMG 

I FOUND IT. it’s a big room now. I take 

it back. this isn’t bullshit. Why 

are 99.99% of urban tshirts so 

douchey? I found 1. Maybe.

10 mins til close: we. are. the. worst. 

I don’t want that shirt and there’s bleak 

gift options. also FUCK anyone who buys their 

kitchen supplies at UO. ur what’s wrong w millenni-

als. Some ’90s song that I can’t name just came on but I feel 

nostalgic ...all I’m thinking bout is u / even when I’m with my boo 

— u know the one. *compares notes with Buzzed* Now I’m just tired.

-Daily Arts Writer

IM SO HAPPY
IM A HUSTLER BABY IS PLAYING YOU KNOW PHARELL 

WILLIAMS

GIVE ME THAT FUNK THAT SWEET THAT NASTY 

THAT GUSHY STUFF

Bored and I just saw a Misfits tshirt I love it but also I hate that 

it’s here — peep Kathleen’s column that changed my life

What goes around comes around by Justin Timberline yeah 

honestly karma is a bitch is Justin Buddha or something thing 
he’s dead on.

I just want to dance around.
Where is baked????
The colors in here are very mellow and I love it. it’s fitting my 

vibe.

I just saw a pillow in the shape of a cat I hate cats okay Tumblr 

girls BACK OFF okay my grandma got attacked by one once and 
NO FELINE messes around with Fay she is a goddess.

I want these leopard shoes bc I want to appear badass.
A Kurt Cobain tshirt is also my ish.
This store is hard for me bc I’m all about eclectic vibes but 

like this is some capitalist shit this is what Marx wrote about we 
are feeding corporate greed go to mom and pop shops support 
plebeians xoxox

“I’m feeling powerful”— Baked

baked.buzzed.bored.

Baked’s love for Ariana Grande is real and I condone it.
In conclusion I have to go do 5000 pages of reading now but 

fashion is breaking my heart too.

-Daily Arts Writer

Sept. 22 marked the first day 

of fall, and the weather — as 
though a switch was flipped — 
quickly began to cool.

And as the leaves begin to 

change, so do the clothes.

To see what students were 

most excited about wearing 
for the fall, I stopped a few 
fashionable peers from all over 
campus to ask which article of 
clothing they couldn’t wait to 
break out for the fall 2016 season.

Students cited style icons 

from Cara Delevingne to Lady 
GaGa, and there appeared to be a 
huge, diverse range in the kinds 
of styles students wanted to 
emulate. However, the common 
factor among most Michigan 
students’ fashion decisions was 
comfort.

Art & Design sophomores 

Livvy Meyers and Alexa Moss 
confessed they had just been 
having a conversation about 
fall fashion right before being 
interviewed.

“You can just be wearing jeans 

and a T-shirt,” said Moss. “But 
if you throw on a cool jacket, it 
really brings the whole outfit 
together.”

Moss said her favorite thing 

to wear in the fall is a cute jacket 
— an overwhelming majority of 
students were enthusiastic about 
these as well — while Meyers 
added that she loves wearing 
scarves.

Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 

freshman Wyatt Stromer can’t 
wait to get into his warm clothes.

“I’m really looking forward 

to wearing long sleeve Vineyard 
Vines shirts, and my jean jacket 
that has a fur interior. It’s so 
warm,” Stromer said, adding that 
his style icon is Willow Smith.

LSA freshman Mary Obyrne 

also said she was excited to sport 
a jean jacket.

“It’s vintage and from a thrift 

shop,” she said. “It’s big and has a 
hood on it, so it’s really good for 
the fall.”

Obyrne 
described 
her 

personal style as being a bit 
bohemian and a bit urban.

“I’m 
from 
NYC, 
so 
I’m 

surrounded by everything. I 
like to try a bunch of different 
things,” Obyrne said. She named 
Cara Delevingne as her style 
icon.

“I’m super excited about my 

jackets,” said Izzy Genshaft, a 
senior who is double majoring in 
Psychology and History of Art, 
who describes her personal style 
as comfy and edgy.

“Oh that’s a tough question,” 

Genshaft said when asked who 
her style icons were. “I have so 
many! But I love the Olsen twins 
— particularly Mary-Kate.”

Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 

sophomore 
Edward 
Nunoo 

named Jesse Boykins III, a 
rhythm and blues singer, as his 
fashion icon. Nunoo described 
Boykins’s style as “eccentric and 
chill at the same time.”

“I have this really dope CPO 

olive trench coat that I’m really 
looking forward to wearing,” he 
said. “That, and this Polo Ralph 
Lauren Herrington jacket that I 
actually wore today. It’s so nice.

Nunoo described his personal 

style as a mix of genres.

“I mix a lot of business casual 

with some chic hipster bullshit,” 
he said with a laugh. “And a lot of 
mixing with athletic wear. I have 
a lot of really dope jerseys.”

Oversized 
comfy 
sweaters 

were also popular.

Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 

freshman 
Cameron 
King 

pointed at the big blue sweater 
she was wearing while being 
interviewed, and said she was 
excited to wear it all season.

LSA freshman Lilia Duncan 

said she is looking forward to 
wearing her new peacoat. “It’s 
a neutral color and goes with a 
lot,” Duncan said.

Additionally, 
Kinesiology 

junior Erin Almony said she 
is looking forward to wearing 
sweatpants and hoodies.

“I love big, baggier clothing 

and swoopy t-shirts,” Almony 
said.

She described her personal 

style as being comfortable, 
casual and cute — a style that 
seems to encapsulate many 
students at the University of 
Michigan.

Fall fashion on the Diag: 
what’s chic and shabby

ALLIE TAYLOR
Daily Arts Writer

Fashionable UM students speak about their personal style, 
as well as their inspirations and icons 

THE VAULT | ‘CRUEL INTENTIONS’ (1999), COLUMBIA PICTURES

COLUMBIA PICTURES

“Ay mami, I’mma make your boobs sweat.”

In “From the Vault,” Daily Arts 

takes a new look at old films.

In the eighth grade, I went on 

a school trip to London. I saw 
Big Ben and Windsor Castle and 
watched “Cruel Intentions” at 
least five times. There must have 
been something about the spring 
of 2011 that prompted British 
television schedulers to play the 
movie at all hours of the day. 
It was always on, and we were 
always watching it.

When I was 14, I thought it 

was just about the hottest thing 
I had ever seen. It was the pre-
“Gossip Girl” “Gossip Girl.” 
Rich, 
good-looking 
Manhat-

tan teens without any parental 
supervision getting drunk and 
having lots of sex. It seemed so 
unbelievably glamorous. When I 
rewatched it with my roommate 
this past week, I thought it was 
just about the most ridiculous 
thing I had ever seen. It was 
melodramatic and absurd, and 
yet, completely entertaining. 

The movie is a modern 

retelling 
of 
“Les 
Liaisons 

Dangereuses,” an 18th century 
French novel. Set in 1999 New 
York City, the film is set in motion 
by a bet between step-siblings 
Kathryn 
(Sarah 
Michelle 

Gellar) and Sebastian (Ryan 
Philippe, “I Know What You 
Did Last Summer”). If Sebastian 
can seduce their headmaster’s 
daughter, 
Annette 
(Reese 

Witherspoon, “Wild”), who’s 
a public supporter of waiting 
for marriage, then he can sleep 
with Kathryn. If he fails, then 
Kathryn gets his car. There’s 
also a side plot in which Kathryn 
tries to destroy the reputation of 
Cecile (Selma Blair, “The People 
v. O.J. Simpson”), because her 
ex-boyfriend has been pining 
after Cecile. It’s a tangle of sex, 
revenge, manipulation and, as 
the title would suggest, cruel 
intentions.

Everything about the film is 

so 
wonderfully 
over-the-top, 

from Sarah Michelle Geller’s 
cocaine-filled rosary to Selma 
Blair’s bratty whine. There isn’t 
even a hint of subtlety in “Cruel 
Intentions.” 
It’s 
absolutely 

absurd 
and 
absolutely 

incredible.

But for a plot so dependent on 

sex, the film’s central sex scene 
is 
really 
disappointing. 
It’s 

weird and forced and passion-
less. It’s a lot of extreme close-
ups of a panting Ryan Philippe 
and Reese Witherspoon’s boob 
sweat. Why are they so sweaty? 
How is that possible? Has any-

one ever actually sweated that 
much in the history of the 
world? Actually, for a movie 
that spends so much time talk-
ing about sex, there isn’t a lot of 
it. That just makes the hyper-
sexualization of characters like 
Sebastian and Kathryn all the 
more absurd.

So, 15 years later, many of the 

original criticisms of the film 
ring true. It’s a glorified teen 
soap opera. The acting is bad. 
The script is awful. But both of 
those things are just bad enough 
to make it campy instead of 
cringe-worthy. It’s full of the 
kind of sex, drugs and melodra-
ma that cult classics are made of. 
It’s not a good movie, but it’s so 
fun to watch.

So, as I paused the movie at 

the climax of its absurdity to 
laugh (I won’t spoil the ending 
but it does involve a fist fight in 
the middle of Central Park East), 
my roommate said, “this is so 
ridiculous, and I love it.”

“Cruel Intentions” has big 

aspirations. It wants to be both 
socially and intellectually pro-
vocative, it wants to be risky 
and clever — and it’s none of 
those things. But it’s so much 
fun. It’s the perfect bad movie 
to put you in a good mood.

If you still aren’t sold on 

“Cruel Intentions” as the ulti-
mate guilty pleasure movie, 
you get to see Sarah Michelle 
Gellar stomp her foot and yell, 
“I’m the Marcia fucking Brady 
of the Upper East Side.” Really, 
what could be better than that?

MADELEINE GAUDIN

Daily Arts Writer

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

With Phantogram’s newest 
single, the duo continues to 
move away from the hip-hop-
drenched sound of Big Grams, 
a collaborative EP with Out-
Kast’s Big Boi, which the band 
spent performing to crowds at 
mainstream festivals this sum-
mer. “Same Old Blues,” how-
ever, doesn’t sonically coincide 
with the track’s title. Rather, 
its vibe is situated somewhere 

between techno-tinged gospel 
and pop-rock; the song opens 
with an echoing backup cho-
rus and just-there beat that 
builds into the song’s primary 
bass line. After a production 
breath, Barthel comes in, “And 
this is nothing new / It’s the 
same old blues.”
 She’s not completely wrong. 
The track’s lyrics, while 
catchy, paint the unoriginal 
picture of a recently failed 
relationship, building off of a 
number of those clichés: “I’m 
stuck in a hole and I can’t 
get out,” “My heart is on its 
knees,” “I think it’s time to let 
me go,” just to name a few. The 

track shines not in its lyricism, 
but in the production and 
instrumentation. The strip-
ping of the chorus to a cappel-
la on the final line before the 
hook displays a wide, deftly 
crafted range of sonic moods. 
The range is further widened 
by an out-of-nowhere electric 
guitar solo buried in a fuzzy 
bass drop during the song’s 
third act.
 Blues it is not, but it’s Phan-
togram’s fourth solid single in 
a row, setting up the band for 
a successful release of their 
third LP, Three, dropping 
next month.

- CHRISTIAN KENNEDY

SINGLE REVIEW

B+

“Same Old Blues”

Phantogram

“As the leaves 

begin to change, 

so do the 
clothes.”

When I was 14, 
I thought it was 
the hottest thing I 

had ever seen.

FROM THE VAULT

