 ARBOR PROPERTIES 
Award‑Winning Rentals in 
Kerrytown 
 Central Campus, 
Old West Side, Burns Park. 
Now Renting for 2018. 
734‑649‑8637 | 
www.arborprops.com 

FALL 2018 HOUSES

# Beds Location Rent
 11 1014 Vaughn $7700
 9 1015 Packard $6525
 6 511 Linden $4800
 6 1016 S. Forest $5400
 6 1207 Prospect $4900
 6 1355 Wilmot Ct. $5075
 5 935 S. Division $4000
 4 412 E. William $3200
 4 507 Sauer Ct $3000
 4 509 Sauer Ct $3000
 4 827 Brookwood $3000
 4 852 Brookwood $3000
 4 927 S. Division $3100
 4 1210 Cambridge $3400

Tenants pay all utilities.
Leasing starts Nov. 10th
 Reservations Accepted till 11/8.
CAPPO/DEINCO 
734‑996‑1991

MAY 2018 – 6 BDRM HOUSE
811 Sybil ‑ $4400 
Tenants pay all utilities.
Showings Scheduled M‑F 10‑3
24 hour noticed required

DEINCO PROPERTIES
734‑996‑1991

FOR RENT

ACROSS
1 Free
6 Crusty formation
10 One in a farm
array
14 Truism
15 Kappa preceder
16 Entry
17 Saint toppers
18 Equine footwork
19 Glitz
20 Renewed one’s
energy, in a way
21 Counseling for
boomers’ kids?
24 Santa __:
Sonoma County
seat
25 Complimentary
writers
26 Sign on a film
studio
employee’s
door?
31 Words of desire
32 Room at the
hacienda
33 Fast hit
36 Gave for a while
37 Some rank
indicators
39 Corona product
40 Disturbance
41 “Write once, run
anywhere”
software
42 One with many
mouths to feed?
43 Altered clone of
actor Richard?
46 French gambling
game
49 Zero
50 Molecular
manipulation
technique ... and
a hint to the
starts of the three
other longest
puzzle answers
53 Sudden turn
56 Advantage
57 Bunches
58 Immune system
component
60 Food
preservative
61 Cithara relative
62 Clear, in a way
63 “__ bien!”
64 Word appearing
twice in a Woody
Guthrie title
65 Synthetic
polymer

DOWN
1 Turner of “The
Bad and the
Beautiful”
2 It’s a turnoff
3 What’s up at the
deadline?
4 Mushy lump
5 “Yikes!”
6 Traffic or turn
follower
7 Influence with
flattery
8 Studying like
crazy, say
9 Tub soothers
10 Interstate rumbler
11 Condemned Titan
12 Jumped
13 “Game of
Thrones”
accumulation
22 Zener cards
presumably
tested for it
23 “Show Boat”
author Ferber
24 Take a load off
26 __ monster
27 Was required to
pay
28 Yucatán
youngster
29 Sunni’s religion
30 Indoor __

33 Force user
34 NASA prefix
35 Muffin option
37 Left nothing out
38 Big event lead-in
39 Data measure
41 Ballet jump
42 Do a surfing
maneuver
43 Shakes hands
with, say
44 Bonded
45 Weigh station unit

46 Get rid of
47 Wood for grilling
planks
48 What “x” may be
in trigonometry
51 Former NHL
winger Kovalchuk
52 Uncertain
53 Gusto
54 “Just one more
thing ... ”
55 Narrow valley
59 Sound of woe

By Daniel Nierenberg 
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
11/03/17

11/03/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Friday, November 3, 2017

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

6A — Friday, November 3, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SHOWTIME

‘White Noise’ premiered on Showtime this past Sunday
‘White Famous’ could be 
funny, if it wasn’t just lazy

Jay Pharaoh’s new show offers little humor with bad, sexist writing

“Saturday 
Night 
Live” 
has 

become known as a machine for 
cranking out comedy stars. Input 
a famished improv actor who 
does a decent George W. Bush 
impression, and out pops a shiny 
new celebrity with two book deals 
and a TV show already signed on 
for three seasons. With his new 
Showtime comedy, Jay Pharaoh 
is the most recent and former 
“SNL” cast member trying to 
take advantage of that seemingly 
flawless formula. Unfortunately 
for him, the machine is still 
working out some kinks.

“White Famous” has a great 

idea delivered through a bad TV 
show. Floyd Mooney (Jay Pharoah) 
is a young comedian trying not to 
betray his hometown roots as he 
works toward becoming “white 
famous.” He’s got everything 
you’d 
expect 
a 
bright-eyed, 

up-and-coming 
comedian 
to 

have: 
An 
overzealous 
agent 

(Utkarsh Ambudkar, “The Mindy 
Project”), an on-again / off-again 
relationship with the mother of his 
child (Cleopatra Coleman, “The 
Last Man on Earth” ), an implicitly 
racist boss (Stephen Tobolowsky, 
“One Day at a Time”) and even an 
encouraging yet slightly crazed 
mentor Jamie Foxx (“Baby Driver”) 
who plays himself. But even with a 
talented cast and a solid concept, 

the show struggles to feel like 
something substantive and worthy 
of more than just a single episode.

You know when the ticket 

person at the movie theater says 
“enjoy the movie” and you respond 
with “thanks, you too?” That is 
what it feels like to watch “White 
Famous.” 
It’s 
not 
completely 

wrong, but it does leave everyone 
involved feeling just a little bit off. 
Pharoah’s character seems to be 
stuck in a single, ongoing comedy 
sketch, and the joke wears down 

about 10 minutes into the half-
hour-long episode. By the time 
you’re done watching, there’s 
nothing left to look forward to. 
Mooney gets a job on a big movie 
set, him and his ex-girlfriend are 
on relatively friendly terms and 
the agent he fired at the beginning 
of the episode is already back 
working for him. Every conflict 
that arises as a possible storyline 
is resolved by the episode’s end, 
leaving no reason to tune in next 
week or any week after that.

It’s disappointing given the 

show’s potential to address real 

problems present in Hollywood. 
At one point, Mooney complains 
to Foxx that everytime a Black 
man tries to climb the ladder 
in Hollywood, directors try to 
emasculate him by putting him in 
a dress. It’s a fascinating point, and 
one that can be seen in Dwayne 
Johnson’s “Tooth Fairy” and Tyler 
Perry’s “Madea” series, among 
numerous other examples. Yet 
instead of exploring this topic, Foxx 
brushes off the comment, and it’s 
never really addressed again.

The 
show’s 
capacity 
to 

humorously address the societal 
pressure of being a Black man in 
Hollywood is also ruined by its 
blatant sexism. You can’t pick and 
choose what minority group you 
aren’t going to offend and which 
one you are — it’s kind of an all-
in, all-out deal. If you can’t be 
funny without uncomfortable Bill 
Cosby jokes and an old White dude 
that’s racist and sexist (but we’re 
supposed to understand that’s 
wrong, so it’s a joke), than you 
aren’t really funny, you’re just lazy.

There’s no doubt that Jay 

Pharaoh is a talented young 
comedian whose talents extend 
beyond 
the 
impressions 
that 

defined his run on “SNL,” but 
“White Famous” is not the show 
to demonstrate that. If, like his 
character, 
Pharaoh 
wants 
to 

become the next Eddie Murphy or 
Chris Rock, he may have to put on 
that hypothetical dress and take 
some more daring steps to stardom. 

SAMANTHA DELLA FERA

For the Daily

TV REVIEW

CINEFLEX

We’re not a fan
YouTube film critique’s 
swift and plaguing rise

Vloggers surge in popularity threatens cinephile community

Tony Zhou struck internet 

gold in 2014. His YouTube 
channel 
Every 
Frame 
a 

Painting, with over a million 
subscribers, 
produces 
video 

essays analyzing nuances in 
filmmaking, 
like 
the 
Coen 

Brothers’ 
reverse 
shots 
or 

the use of silence in “Raging 
Bull.” 
Along 
with 
other 

popular channels — CineFix, 
Nerdwriter, Closer Look and 
Karsten Runquist — Every 
Frame a Painting is a major 
player in a booming market for 
video essays.

That market, however, is 

very one-dimensional: A man, 
presumably in his mid-20s, 
talks about why a director, 
often David Fincher, is just so 
damn great after pointing out a 
somewhat obvious filmmaking 
technique. People watch these 
videos without having seen 
the 
movies 
he’s 
critiquing 

and close their laptops feeling 
smart. Worse yet, they feel 
like they never have to see the 
movie at all.

CineFix’s 
content 
in 

particular irks me and is 
the epitome of why these 
essays produce a new level of 
pretentiousness. This channel 
creates listicle videos ranking 
the “best” of something, like 
the most beautiful shots in 
cinema. One video discusses 
the most beautiful movies of all 
time: Stanley Kubrick’s (“Eyes 
Wide Shut”) “Barry Lyndon” is 

listed for its shots that replicate 
paintings. Truth be told, at 
least 95 percent of the video’s 
viewers haven’t seen the movie. 
And a high percentage of that 
group probably never will.

If those who never saw the 

movie accepted their ignorance 
and didn’t act knowledgeable, 
all 
would 
be 
well. 
Sadly, 

this is rarely true. I’ve had 
conversations 
with 
devoted 

CineFix viewers where I’ll be 
bombarded with information 
about how beautiful “Barry 
Lyndon” is. But when I ask 
them their favorite scene, they 
daftly reply, “Oh, I’ve never 
seen it.”

Watching a video essay does 

not give you the right to talk 
about a movie as if it’s your 
favorite, especially when you 
couldn’t be bothered to spend 
187 minutes sitting through 
“Barry Lyndon.”

The origins of the rising 

popularity 
of 
video 
essays 

likely dates back to Anthony 
Fantano’s 
popular 
music 

channel, The Needle Drop. 
Although he’s not producing 
video 
essays, 
per 
se, 
his 

content 
involves 
in-depth 

music critique reflecting his 
wide, developed taste for just 
about every genre of music. 
He paved the way for future 
video essayists to make their 
own 
statements. 
Fantano, 

however, doesn’t take himself 
too seriously, unlike many of 
his essayist successors.

In many ways, the film 

criticism community loosening 
its barriers to entry is a feat. 
But we’ll always need a decent 

amount 
of 
tweed-wearing 

academics writing lengthy film 
critiques. The truth is, a lot of 
the video essayists’ content is 
not entirely original and comes 
from the work of PhD-holding 
professors. Everyone should be 
able to express their opinions 
about films. But not everyone 
can be a film critic, at least not 
in the scholarly sense of the 
word.

Obviously, 
not 
all 
video 

essays 
are 
bad. 
Kogonada, 

prominent 
up-and-comer 

responsible for “Columbus,” 
began his career making video 
essays on Vimeo, that other 
video sharing website that 
never fails to disappoint the 
two times a year I use it. His 
videos are always expressive 
and 
original, 
making 
him 

an important voice in film 
criticism 
today. 
Video 

essays’ rising popularity is 
an equalizer of sorts, giving 
voices to those who deserve 
more attention but lack the 
Hollywood connections.

For 
people 
looking 
to 

blow off steam and watch 
intellectually 
stimulating 

content, there’s nothing wrong 
with video essays. YouTube 
becoming plagued with video 
essayists, 
however, 
is 
off-

putting, especially considering 
the lack of gender diversity 
within the community.

Watching 
a 
movie 
and 

having an opinion is essential. 
Sharing 
these 
opinions 
is 

always 
welcome. 
Watching 

video 
essays 
instead 
and 

pretending to be an expert on 
film is nothing but obnoxious. 

WILL STEWART

Daily Arts Writer

BOOK REVIEW
‘A Good Cry’ is a comfort

“A 
Good 
Cry” 
is 
Nikki 

Giovanni’s 21st collection of poems 
to be published, and the experience 
shows. As one of America’s 
most prolific and recognizable 
living poets, this new collection 
proves that Giovanni is settling 
into her role as senior poet with 
grace, elegance and a continued 
immediacy that makes her work 
as relevant today as it was in the 
1960s and ’70s.

The poems in “A Good Cry” are 

written in Giovanni’s signature 
style, combining the lyrical with 
the endearingly colloquial. At 
her best, she revels in simplicity: 
Simple 
language 
and 
images 

thoughtfully 
bundled 
together 

to express great complexity and 
intensity of feeling. Poems like 
“Bread,” “Thirst” and “Morning 
Breakfast Routines” elevate the 
mundane pleasures of food and 
drink to a dream-like state of 
poetry, and “On a Snowy Day” 
is an ode to the impact of small 
acts of kindness from strangers. 
The emotional backbone of this 
collection, in both its lightest and 
darkest moments, is Giovanni’s 
complete sincerity, and this makes 
each poem, no matter how simple, 
vibrate with honesty.

At times, the poems might 

falter in the direction of being 

too simple. For example, the 
acrostic “A Poem for Morris” 
and the prose poem “A Poem for 
Joanne” say nothing that hasn’t 
been said before by other writers 
in more nuanced ways. These 
poems are saved, however, by 
Giovanni’s enduring earnestness, 
her affection for the subjects 
shining through in every word. It 
would be a mistake to confuse her 
preference for simple, everyday 
subjects with an inability to cope 
with complexity and ambiguity; 

Giovanni is able to sit comfortably 
at the midline between light and 
dark, hope and hopelessness. If 
anything, her choice to write about 
seemingly 
quotidien 
subjects 

reveals an admirable lack of self-
consciousness that comes from her 
wealth of experience.

The poems in this collection 

reveal 
Giovanni’s 
thematic 

obsessions, many of which revolve 
around time, memory and age. In 
poems like “Heritage” and “If I 
Have to Hospital,” she considers 
old age with refreshing equanimity. 
In “Surveillance,” “Baby West” 
and “I Married My Mother,” she 

looks back on her childhood, and 
particularly her troubled family 
relationships, with a refusal to 
either idealize or condemn; and in 
“Rita Dove” she looks forward to 
the next generation with enduring 
hope. Giovanni also writes about 
friendship, 
particularly 
her 

friendship with fellow writer 
Maya Angelou, with an intensity 
that many poets ascribe only to 
romantic relationships, insisting 
on 
solidarity 
and 
connection 

as the most important human 
experiences. Many of the poems 
in this collection correspond with 
Giovanni’s lifetime of work as a 
civil rights activist; she views the 
Civil Rights movement as both a 
triumph and an ongoing struggle, 
making this collection an essential 
read in the current political 
climate.

The common thread running 

through 
this 
collection, 
and 

perhaps the greatest virtue of 
Giovanni’s work, is her ability to 
confront joy and tragedy in a single 
swoop. She demands connection 
in a world where we are bound 
to be isolated, and honorable 
intentions even under the worst of 
circumstances. Her message, both 
a comfort and a call-to-arms, is 
best expressed in “Introduction to 
Tim O’Brien”: “You cannot make 
the tragedy go whole / You cannot 
make the hurt heal / You can do 
nothing but embrace / The best 
within yourself.”

JULIA MOSS

For the Daily

White Famous

Series premiere

Sundays at 10 

p.m.

Showtime

A Good Cry

Nikki Giovanni

HarperCollins

October 24, 2017

FILM NOTEBOOK

Giovanni’s latest is is both a call to safety and a call to arms

