6 — Thursday, January 11, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ACROSS
1 Splendor
5 Lara Croft targets
10 In that case
14 Jamba Juice
berry
15 “Tommy” is one
16 Chewy Hershey
candy
17 Step on it
19 Activates, as a
security system
20 Tossed course
21 Company that
introduced
Styrofoam
22 Spacek of
“Bloodline”
23 Things to avoid
25 Foamy pick-me-
up
27 Defeat
decisively
30 Tied in the
harbor
33 Flowing garment
36 __ Paulo, Brazil
37 Roman poet who
coined “carpe
diem”
38 Creator of
Iceland’s
Imagine Peace
Tower
39 Sleep on it
41 “SNL” writer/actor
Michael
42 “Becket” star
44 Auction ending?
45 Inert gas
46 Not very often
47 Like some poll
questions
49 Youngsters
51 Hamlet cousins
54 Put down
56 Crone
59 Knuckleheads
61 Wild bunches
62 Count on it
64 Lawn pest
65 “That’s too bad”
66 It might be a
whole lot
67 Follow
instructions
68 Covert agent
69 Safari shelter
DOWN
1 Bear feet
2 Aquaman’s realm
3 __ Cup: classic
candy in a yellow
wrapper
4 Hot and spicy
5 Young Spider-
Man portrayer
Holland
6 Pundit’s piece
7 Short note
8 Wild fight
9 Suppressed, with
“on”
10 False friend
11 Bet on it
12 Shade trees
13 Way too interested
18 Dumpster output
22 Put up with
24 “Well, sorrrr-ry!”
26 Massachusetts
college or its town
28 “Holy smokes!”
29 Stir
31 Letter between
Delta and Foxtrot
32 “It Ain’t All About
the Cookin’”
memoirist Paula
33 Pigeon calls
34 Poker stake
35 Bank on it
39 Chap
40 Cause of a buzz
43 Adventurous trip
45 “Another
problem?”
48 Forget-me-__:
flowers
50 Shoulder
warmer
52 Jenna, to Jeb
53 Unsmiling
54 Firing range
supply
55 Doofus
57 Pond plant
58 Small valley
60 Editor’s mark
62 You may feel
one on your
shoulder
63 Even so
By C.C. Burnikel
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/11/18
01/11/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, January 11, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com
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What makes country
music so uncool today?
I’ve spent the better part
of my adolescence trying to
be cool. I’m not going to hide
it; all I ever wanted to do was
be a frontwoman and pull off
Doc Martens without my legs
looking like toothpicks about
to break under my weight.
There was a solid year where I
carried around “Catcher in the
Rye” without even reading it.
I’ve watched “Almost Famous”
close to 15 times. I have a dorm
drawer overflowing with band
t-shirts to not only prove how
annoying I was as a middle
schooler, but also my passion
for the grit and glitter of rock.
I don’t know if I ever actually
became cool in the end, because
I definitely am not now, but the
constant avoidance of what I
believed to be “uncool” helped
me recognize a set of guilty
pleasures I just couldn’t give
up. Even though I’ve been a
proud proponent of almost
every genre from London grime
to experimental jazz, there was
a large hole in the public aspect
of that pride.
Now, I have a confession to
make: I like country music.
This isn’t exactly a crazy
revelation, but for people who
know me (and my undying
worship of Stevie Nicks), it may
be. But it’s true — I not only
like country, it honestly raised
me. I can remember watching
Shania Twain’s Up! tour DVD
with my sister twice a day for
years of my early childhood.
Even though I barely remember
it, my first concert at age six
was the Dixie Chicks. I went
home
this
Christmas
and
found a hilarious photo of my
younger self, wearing my mom’s
cowboy boots and a tied-up
shirt, twirling around with my
toy guitar. It made me think
about how much I used to love
country, singing with my family
in the car to songs like “Cowboy
Take Me Away” and feeling
unbearably happy.
This year, I’ve come back to
country in some ways, letting
it calm me down when I’m
missing my mom or dancing
like a crazy person when I need
a little relief from the world.
But it got me thinking: What
really makes something cool
or uncool? What’s wrong with
badass women like Faith Hill
singing about their experiences
in love and life, pulling your
heart
out
with
songs
like
“Breathe”? Why can’t I scream
Hunter Hayes’s “Crazy” at the
top of my lungs on the freeway
without weird glances from my
hipster friends? Even beyond
pure, commercialized country,
people are still weird about
music that even sounds similar,
immediately
disregarding
genres like roots rock, bluegrass
and folk because of country’s
reputation.
Look, I can understand where
people are coming from when
they say they hate the genre
in its entirety. There are an
increasing amount of bad apples
in country music — people who
stick to the same routine of beer,
red dirt and tan legs over and
over again and love to throw
in a gratuitous banjo once in
a while to spice it up. They’ve
lost the soul that makes music
good, and essentially pander
to their blue-collar audiences
while wearing designer clothes
and living in mansions. They’re
why I stopped listening in the
first place. However, if you take
a second to think about it, every
genre has people like this. The
rise of almost machine-made
popular music has made a lot
of people angry in every sector
of the business. All I’m saying
is, don’t knock it ’til you try it.
It’s easy to avoid entire genres
without taking a closer look,
but there’s often something
awesome hidden within the
ugly. For now, I’m going to stick
with this pursuit of exploring
the uncool, and who knows —
maybe I’ll come out of it with
some twang.
CLARA SCOTT
Daily Arts Writer
‘The Good Place’ is
Schur’s best work yet
Can Michael Schur do any
wrong?
From
“The
Office”
to “Parks and Recreation” to
“Brooklyn
Nine-Nine,”
his
particular style of comedy sitcom
manages to outclass nearly every
other show of its genre, excelling
at being optimistic but not
sappy and featuring memorable
ensemble casts. Yet somehow,
even when compared to the
legendary aforementioned shows,
“The Good Place” may just be his
best work of all.
“The Good Place” returned
from its winter break with the
episode “Leap of Faith,” in which
Michael (Ted Danson, “Fargo”)
faces an unexpected visit from
the all-powerful judge of the
afterlife, Shawn (Marc Evan
Jackson,
“22
Jump
Street”).
However, he somehow manages
to leave the meeting unscathed,
actually in a better position than
when he came in. Nonetheless,
Shawn’s verdict renders Eleanor
(Kristen Bell, “How to Be a Latin
Lover”), Tahani (Jameela Jamil),
Chidi (William Jackson Harper,
“Paterson”) and Jason (Manny
Jacinto, “The Romeo Section”) in
a spot of bother.
And I’ll leave it at that.
Seriously, there is no better way
to go into any episode of this show
than completely blind. Unlike
most major network sitcoms,
“The Good Place” is highly
serialized, speeding through its
plot at a breakneck pace. Lesser
shows may stretch moments,
such as a montage of Michael’s
failures earlier in the season or
the initial plot with Shawn into
who-knows-how-many episodes,
but as Schur proves repeatedly,
this show does not play by any of
our rules. The infamous twist at
the end of season one lent itself to
thousands of fan theories which
Schur ripped apart and tore
down in the space of one episode.
Amazingly, even the simplest
gags are present in the show’s
premiere, such as “The Good
Place” automatically replacing
profanity with words like “fork”
and “shirt.”
Like always, the characters of
“The Good Place” are captivating
and marvelously portrayed. It’s
hard to see anyone but Danson
convincingly play Michael, a
character that can make anyone
fall for his charm while being a
literal personification for evil.
Bell’s Eleanor is much more
clever this season and the most
perceptive of the bunch. Jason,
the show’s “Andy Dwyer,” makes
a character who on paper is
rather annoying into (like Andy)
one of the show’s most loveable
characters — shame he couldn’t
be alive to witness his beloved
Jaguars have a winning season.
Meanwhile
Janet
(D’Arcy
Carden, “Crazy Ex Girlfriend”),
the
personified
“foundational
mainframe” of the afterlife is
more advanced than ever and
provides some of the show’s best
gags. We see her vomit coins, play
the role of a trophy wife and even
feel jealousy, all while cheerfully
reminding characters at every
turn that she is not a human and
doesn’t actually eat or feel or die.
Perhaps
the
biggest
accomplishment of the show is the
fact that it tackles and introduces
important philosophical theories
and works them into the show in
such a light-hearted, accessible
way. After all, though modern
philosophy is still viewed as a
detached, academic discipline,
“The Good Place” reminds us
that studying philosophy may
actually be a worthwhile venture.
In one of the best episodes of the
season, Chidi (the resident moral
philosophy
professor)
teaches
Michael and the others about
the infamous “Trolley Problem,”
which
Michael
proceeds
to
simulate in graphic reality. In an
effort to make Michael actually
care about learning ethics, Chidi
makes him come to grips with
the fact that he too can actually
die (although in a more gruesome
manner
ironically
called
“retirement”), causing Michael
to spiral into an existential and,
subsequently midlife, crisis.
The fact that Michael Schur
has wrapped all of these strengths
into a major network sitcom is a
testament to his immense skill
as a writer. Few shows on TV
are as original, funny, thought-
provoking and deserving of more
viewers as “The Good Place.”
NBC
Kelly’s ‘Matisse Drawings’
make midwestern stop
at the UMMA’s exhibit
Today,
American
artist
Ellsworth Kelly and Frenchman
Henri Matisse are recognized as
two of the most significant artists
of the 20th century. Yet, their
lifetimes overlapped for a mere
21 years; Matisse was nearing
the end of his life as Kelly was
starting out as an artist. For the
amateur Kelly, Matisse’s works
served as artistic inspiration
as he developed his presence
and
style.
During
Kelly’s
international travels following
World War II, as he discovered
artists that inspired him, it
was Matisse’s emboldened use
of line that informed his own
unique style of draftsmanship.
“Matisse
Drawings,”
an
exhibition
Kelly
curated
in
2014 at Mount Holyoke College
Art Museum, is an opportunity
to “see Matisse through the
eyes
of
Kelly,”
said
Lehti
Keelmann, Assistant Curator of
Western Art at the University of
Michigan Museum of Art. Kelly
chose 45 seldom-shown Matisse
drawings, to each of which he
felt personally connected, that
represent the scope of Matisse’s
career.
Kelly
supplemented
these
works with nine of his own
lithographic
drawings
that
date from a trip to France in
the 1960s when he studied
Matisse’s expression of figure
and nature through line. Kelly
shared Matisse’s intention to
translate — rather than copy —
nature in his work. While Kelly
crafted a crisp and controlled
drawing
style
compared
to
Matisse’s expressive use of line,
Kelly’s drawings reflect his
aspiration to draw in the spirit
of Matisse whom he believed
“every mark on the page that he
made had that sort of distinctive
quality that spoke to the artist,”
Keelmann said.
Keelmann
took
on
the
challenge of translating Kelly’s
curatorial vision as managing
curator of the UMMA’s showing
of
“Matisse
Drawings,”
on
display until Feb. 18. The public
is invited to view the exhibition
during the UMMA’s business
hours (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.), as well
as the opportunity to engage in
deeper learning of Matisse and
Kelly at “happenings” hosted in
the spirit of the exhibition. The
museum has exciting offerings
this MLK weekend.
On Friday, Jan. 12 at 5:30
p.m., John Stomberg — who
collaborated
with
Kelly
to
curate the original exhibition
at Mount Holyoke — will speak
on the process of working with
Kelly and situate the creative
evolution of each artist within
their
respective
contextual
circumstances.
Additionally,
on Sunday, Jan. 14, at 2:00 p.m.,
UMMA will offer a gallery talk
and tour where attendees can
look forward to an exercise
in close looking. A docent’s
guidance will provide a roadmap
to navigating the exhibition
that will facilitate intimate
engagement with the works on
display.
“Matisse
Drawings”
is
a
traveling
exhibition,
the
UMMA hosting its midwestern
destination.
Detailed
instructions
specifying
the
construction and installation
of the exhibition guided the
UMMA’s curation of Kelly’s
vision. The two artists’ works
are shown in separate spaces
conjoined by a vibrant blue
alcove. In this way, the showing
of
Matisse’s
and
Kelly’s
drawings
can
function
as
separate exhibitions.
This architecture, however,
creates a passage between the
two spaces that evinces the
rapport between the two artists,
and it offers a way to physically
navigate the ways in which
Matisse’s use of line informed
Kelly’s development of his own
drawing style. Furthermore, the
vibrant blue passage encourages
a
consideration
of
line
in
correspondence to these artists’
use of color in their oeuvres.
Kelly specified the height at
which works were hung and
evenly spaced them throughout
the exhibition. He also forwent
the use of tombstones that
would provide context of the
Matisse
works
—
although
tombstones
do
accompany
Kelly’s lithographic drawings.
In this way, Kelly curated the
space in order to encourage an
immersive visual experience.
This exhibition is about deep
looking
and
engagement
with the medium of drawing.
Both Kelly and Matisse were
recognized for their use of
color in their art, but they were
equally creative in their use of
line, and line informed their use
of color.
“(Kelly)
was
trying
to
showcase that, really, drawing
was integral, if not foundational,
for
their
artistic
practice,”
Keelmann said.
Everyone has a relationship
to line. “We can all take a
piece of paper out and doodle,”
Keelmann pointed out. “Matisse
Drawings”
puts
two
great
artists’ drawings on display, but
it is also an ode to the artistic
practice of drawing itself. This
exhibition serves to consider the
creative expression of drawing,
to which anyone who has picked
up a pencil can relate.
ALEX SUPPAN
Daily Arts Writer
“Matisse
Drawings”
On display until
Feb. 18th
UMMA
Free
SAYAN GHOSH
Daily Arts Writer
“The Good
Place”
Leap of Faith
Thursdays @ 8:30
NBC
TV REVIEW