The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, January 23, 2018 — 5

There seems to be a trend in our 
society where once the calendar 
switches to Jan. 1st, we begin a 
new plan of exercising, self-care 
and dieting. The gym gets packed, 
people get yoga class packages and 
fridges become full with fruits and 
veggies. Typically, we stick with 
these goals for the month of Jan., 
but it seems to go all downhill after 
that.
Reasons for this vary, whether 
it be school or work or extra 
commitments. We let the first few 
weeks of the new year bring us 
hope for a fresh start, and we turn 
these hopes and resolutions into 
actions. But I can’t help but argue 
that this fitness plan we all hope to 
achieve doesn’t have to begin in the 
first month of the new year, and it 
certainly doesn’t have to end there. 
Resolutions of self-care and healthy 
lifestyles can be put into action at 
any time of the year, and we don’t 
have to give up on these goals as the 
year progresses.
Of course, keeping yourself 
motivated or starting a new routine 
in the middle of the year is easier 
said than done. But that’s my 
question, not only for myself, but 
others who do the same: Why is it 
so difficult to start over at any time 
or to maintain our resolutions?
I won’t lie. I love setting New 
Year’s resolutions, especially when 
they pertain to my mental wellness 
and physical health. I was the person 
who rarely swam last semester, but 
I’ve started to hit the pool again. I 
was also the one who never cooked 
for myself and ate absolute junk, 
but since the new year, I have now 
made almost every meal at home 
a healthy one. I acknowledge 
these accomplishments and new 
types of behavior — and I want to 
congratulate myself — but in some 
way, I feel guilty.
I realize that it took me until 

the new year of 2018 to start over 
and reconsider my lifestyle, when 
realistically, I needed to begin 
this health kick and revive my 
motivation months ago. I watched 
not only myself, but also some of my 
friends, become mentally affected 
by their lack of physical health and 
vice versa. With full consciousness, 
I saw my aspirations for healthy 
habits go down the drain.

This lack of motivation and 
eagerness to give up is somehow 
rooted in the pressures of the 
new 
year. 
There’s 
a 
mutual 
encouragement that Jan. is a great 
month to start new routines and to 
become motivated again — there’s 
no doubt there. Nonetheless, we’re 
stuck in this idea of “new year, new 
you,” and that the turn of another 
year is the time, and the only time, 
to begin again. Although it seems 
that we know this to not be true, we 
follow it anyway.
Other than time itself, there 
are other factors that play a role 
in delaying our desired lifestyles. 
We allow other commitments and 
plans to come before the gym or 
to come before cooking a well-
balanced meal. Sometimes we feel 
like we have to finish the essay 
before we sit down to meditate, or 
we would rather go to the movies 
than put on our running shoes. We 

make the excuse that we don’t have 
time to do it all, but I recently lived 
the simple and cliché revelation 
that is, “you have to make the time 
to do it.”
After this hiatus of exercising, I 
came full circle and acknowledged 
how absolutely difficult it is to start 
fresh again, but also that it’s not 
impossible. It’s that nervousness 
one feels when they leave the house 
for the first time in a long time 
to go out and exercise. There’s a 
worrisome notion that we have 
other and more important things 
to do rather than execute a healthy 
lifestyle. But that’s what designs 
this type of lifestyle: It’s not about 
trading one for the other, it’s 
factoring in exercise and self-care 
into our daily routines.
That’s where I, and maybe so 
many others, went wrong. I saw 
my plan of getting fit again as a 
burden, as something that I had 
to do, as another thing on my 
plate. It stressed me out. But once 
I felt my blood pumping and my 
body generating endorphins, I 
discovered how badly I needed 
exercise (and not just for the 
month of Jan.). I’ve decided to 
implement these healthy actions 
into my everyday life, and I’m 
starting to become fully conscious 
of the effects, both mentally and 
physically. Now that it has become 
a habit, I believe there’s nothing 
stopping me.
The new year doesn’t always 
have to be the starting line. Even 
for those of us who do use it as 
the starting line, it doesn’t mean 
we lose track of the race a couple 
weeks in. Being confident in our 
goals, applying them every day, 
creating that routine and realizing 
that we can begin again whenever 
and wherever — these are all 
components of maintaining our 
health plans and goals.

New Year, new plan?

DAILY HEALTH & WELLNESS COLUMN

ERIKA 
SHEVCHECK

‘Call Me By Your Name’ is 
an artful portrait of love

Words are only part of a story. 
What connects words, the silence 
and observations, the sensory 
details that provide feeling, are 
just as vital. In “Call Me By Your 
Name,” director Luca Guadagnino 
(“A Bigger Splash”) paints a 
palpable visual splendor for us, as 
he renders a love story that unfolds 
between Elio Perlman (Timothée 
Chalamet, “Ladybird”) and Oliver 
(Armie 
Hammer, 
“Nocturnal 
Animals”), 
when 
feelings 
overcome words.
The film, based on the novel 
by André Aciman, traces Elio, 
a 
17-year-old 
French, 
Italian, 
Jewish amalgam, who spends 
his adolescent summers in an 
idyllic, magical town in Northern 
Italy, where his days consist of 
transcribing music and reading 
by quaint ponds. His routine is 
disrupted when his archaeologist-
professor father, played by Michael 
Stuhlbarg (“The Shape of Water”) 
hosts Oliver, an American student, 
for six weeks as part of his studies. 
Oliver’s crude Americanism stands 
out from the Perlmans’ understated 
European sophistication, from his 
oversized, ill-fitting dress shirts, to 
his overuse of the phrase “later,” 

to the aggressive, ill-mannered 
way he cracks open an egg shell, 
devouring it primitively, like an 
American would. Upon Oliver’s 
arrival, Elio is intrigued.
Guadagnino illustrates a serene 
and relaxed summer landscape 
that is an ode to Italy and Greco-

Roman Classics. We get a feel 
for the characters’ world, with 
the aid of a sublime soundtrack. 
Through 
voyeuristic 
peeks, 
aided by a perfect mise en scène 
of immaculately-set tables with 
Nutella and juicy fruit, our senses 
become fully entranced and a part 
of their reality. We feel Italy’s dewy 
summer on our skin, and we taste 
the sticky-sweet apricot flesh on 
our tongues. The film is a tactile 
experience, almost even too lush 
and overwhelming at parts. It is 
arrestingly visceral. Sensual.
Chalamet is the obvious star 
here. Though a newcomer to the 
industry, his performances in 
both this and “Ladybird” have 

put him high on the Hollywood 
radar, 
resulting 
in 
various 
nominations, 
particularly 
up 
against adroit legends like Tom 
Hanks and Denzel Washington. 
His acting is refined and laid-back 
— the opposite of overacting. It’s 
almost too good. He mesmerizes 
us by appearing relaxed while 
paradoxically displaying a full 
range of emotions. He could fold 
shirts on screen for two hours 
straight and would somehow 
entertain us still. Their chemistry 
is tangible, but Chalamet impresses 
and outshines Hammer. But after 
all, it is his movie.
The film could’ve easily fallen 
into the cliché conventions of 
a queer love story, but it never 
does, nor does it aim to moralize. 
It is about male friendships, the 
discovering of sexuality and most 
importantly, the discovery of 
one’s place in the world, which it 
doesn’t truly answer but leaves us 
wondering.
“Call Me By Your Name” shows 
us the best parts of love and the 
absolute worst. Given the film’s 
often scant use of the verbal, there 
are simply no words to describe 
its effect. It builds you up, only 
to break you down, leaving you 
vulnerable, bawling in the theater 
with people around you looking to 
see if you are okay. 

SOPHIA WHITE
Daily Arts Writer

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

NETFLIX

‘Black Lightning’ saves TV

Admittedly, when I first 
heard 
word 
of 
The 
CW’s 
latest action drama, “Black 
Lightning,” 
I 
felt 
myself 
internally 
combusting 
at 
the thought of yet another 
superhero show. However, in 
a major plot twist, I found DC 
Comics’s 
“Black 
Lightning” 
— with its fierce character 
dynamics, shocking realism and 
divergence from the norm — to 
be a refreshing and impressive 
jolt of energy for the genre.
Black 
Lightning’s 
origins 
and means of introduction are 
different from the standard, 
as 
Jefferson 
Pierce 
(Cress 
Williams, “Prison Break”) has 
actually been in retirement 
from his superhero career for 
nine years, in favor of more 
subdued fighting for justice as 
a high school principal. It is 
only when both his city’s law 
and order and daughters’ safety 
are compromised by a notorious 
gang, the 100, that Jefferson is 
convinced to get back into the 
business of fighting crime and 
restoring the state of Freeland.
In 
this 
way, 
“Black 
Lightning” is not just your 
typical 
superhero 
story 
highlighting a young, suave 
renegade, fictionally fighting to 
save the girl, defeating the evil 
villain or starring in crossovers 
with other superheroes. “Black 
Lightning” doesn’t need the 
hype of an “Arrowverse” (CW’s 
superhero universe) crossover 
event to show its worth. Its 
relevance in the real world and 
spotlight on true injustice, gang 
violence and systematic racism 
is necessary representation in 
our current political landscape. 
“Black Lightning” veers beyond 
basic good vs. evil tropes, as 

for once, the “bad guy” role is 
encapsulated by two levels of 
sincerely destructive villains 
— 
Tobias 
Whale 
(Marvin 
“Krondon” Jones III, “Harry’s 
Law”), the gang kingpin of 
the 100, and the corrupted 
white police force that racially 
discriminates and profiles on 
the job.
Aside from the sharp and 
commanding performance of 
Williams as the namesake, the 
female leads are equally (if not 
more) badass and captivating in 

their portrayals and character 
potential. With the tease that 
Jefferson’s 
eldest 
daughter, 
Anissa (Nafessa Williams, “One 
Life to Live”), has inherited 
some of her dad’s powers and 
superhuman 
skills, 
it 
will 
be intriguing to see how her 
capacity for influence will be 
unveiled in the future, given 
that she is already such a social 
justice warrior. On the other 
hand, his younger daughter, 
Jennifer (China Anne McClain, 
“A.N.T. Farm”), will most likely 
undergo the expected route of 
development for her reckless, 
party-girl archetype, reigning 
in her disregard to help her 
family 
and 
leaving 
some 
spontaneity to be desired.
Another 
winning 
aspect 
of “Black Lightning” lies in 
its 
mesmerizing, 
prismatic 
soundtrack, 
which 
features 
hits 
ranging 
from 
Nina 
Simone’s soulful remake of 

Billie 
Holiday’s 
“Strange 
Fruit” to Kendrick Lamar’s 
robust “Backseat Freestyle.” 
The musical selections do a 
stunning job of enhancing the 
tense moments of the episode, 
spotlighting 
Black 
culture, 
amplifying Black voices and 
ultimately 
tying 
together 
the cinematic quality of the 
series. I found myself focused 
not only on the drama and 
turmoil 
happening 
between 
the characters, but also really 
listening to the lyrics of each 
song and uncovering their more 
profound purpose.
The only place where “Black 
Lightning” stumbles a bit is 
in some of the more logistical 
elements of a series premiere. 
Unless 
you’re 
extremely 
familiar 
with 
the 
“Black 
Lightning” comics, the average 
newcomer 
viewer 
is 
left 
majorly in the dark regarding 
the backstory of Gambi (James 
Remar, “Dexter”), Jefferson’s 
presumptive mentor, tailor and 
makeshift nurse who is inserted 
into 
the 
mix 
mid-episode. 
Besides that slight snag, the 
special effects of the episode 
came across as mediocre and 
cheesy at times, as did the fight 
scenes and costuming of our 
hero.
Setting itself apart from the 
majority of other superhero 
dramas, 
“Black 
Lightning” 
has the capability to charm 
anyone, 
from 
devoted 
DC 
die-hards to novice action-
seekers. In combination with 
a good old cliffhanger ending, 
introspective characters and 
quite a large deal of justice 
at stake, “Black Lightning” is 
stacking up to be one of The 
CW’s most thrilling breakout 
hits. This genre-bending social 
commentary 
is 
innovative 
and exactly what we’ve been 
waiting for. 

MORGAN RUBINO
Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW

“Call Me By 
Y
our Name”

Sony Pictures 
Classics

State Theatre

FILM REVIEW

Porches plays the introvert

Porches has mastered the sound 
of the zealous introvert. At their 
core, each of his songs address 
the specific ambivalence of this 
personality. He walks by the party 
and wants to dance, but needs to be 
alone. He craves solitude, but still 
wants to give more of himself, still 
wants to love. There’s a pull to the 
outer world and a safety in hiding 
from it.
It’s fitting, then, that the home 
is the soul of his third and newest 
album, and also its namesake. On 
The House, questions that seem 
simple on the surface — whether to 
stay in or go out, whether to get up 
or go back to bed — become pivotal. 
What he decides in those moments 
represents who he is as a whole. 
Each decision is the outfit he has 
chosen to wear. That is, if he decides 
to dress up and go out at all.
Take his shift between the first 
two tracks. On “Leave the House,” 
he sings over a paced, spacious 
synth line: “I just wanna leave 
the house … / Maybe take a walk 
around.” He needs air and leads 
us to believe he’s going to set out 
to find it. It’s an uncharacteristic 
moment of willful exposure for 
an artist who produced his entire 
last album in a single bedroom in 
New York City. But immediately he 
contradicts himself. “I think I’ll stay 
inside,” he tells us in the first line 
of the absolutely gorgeous second 
track, “Find Me.” He can’t escape 
the fear of everything outside. 
It’s all about moving inwardly 
again, right when we thought he 
was moving outwardly. The song, 
ironically, is also the most generous 
and danceable on the whole album, 
complete with a huge, bouncy beat 
and an exuberant trumpet section.
Porches 
has 
increasingly 
defined his project by playing 
with this mental back and forth. 
No conversation about Porches is 
complete without ample mention of 
ambivalence — this is certainly not 
music for hardliners. Tellingly, so 
many of Porches’s verses land on a 
final line that begins with “but.”
What makes The House so much 
bigger, and so much more powerful, 
I 
daresay, 
than 
the 
already 

wonderful Pool, is that Porches 
seems to celebrate and understand 
his ambivalence better than ever 
before. There’s something beautiful 
in how assured he is in being unsure. 
He lets himself sink inwardly and 
lets himself question that desire to 
do so. He gives room for both: the 
feeling, and the reaction to it.

The 
difficulty 
of 
such 
a 
personality is how to handle the 
external — that’s a broad word, but it 
covers a lot of important bases here. 
The biggest external for Porches 
is other people. Navigating love as 
someone who needs separation 
as much as the air they breathe 
becomes a constant question: How 
do you express it? How do you give 
it in a way that your partner wants, 
when so much of yourself rests 
within rather than without?
Porches isn’t really sure. The 
conundrum is too large for a solitary 
introvert to solve. Instead, he simply 
narrates 
his 
own 
experience, 
explaining how he’s trying to 
figure it out. The result is some of 
his clearest and most emotionally 
resonant writing to date.
Nowhere 
is 
this 
better 
showcased than “By My Side,” one 
of the most arresting moments on 
an album that is filled with so many 
that stop you in wild appreciation. 
“It’s my fault / This I know / It’s just 
hard to swallow,” he sings, speaking 
to a hurt lover. But this track grows 
far deeper than just an apology. As 
much as Porches loves to be inside 
the house, he learns about himself 
by those on the outside, and when 
he says to her, “I will call you by 
your name / If you call me by mine,” 
you nearly want to cry, because 
the weight of that moment, the 
drawing of lines in the sand, is so 
instantly understood in the context 
of his own internal fight. This once 
internal question of whether to stay 
inside or go out is reflected onto 
this relationship, and then reflected 
back onto himself, altering his self-
perception. The relationship is a 
mirror, but the thing is, he doesn’t 

want it to be. That he goes on to 
say most of the time he has no idea 
who he even sees in that mirror 
is the crux of the problem. It’s the 
essence of this album. With so 
many conflicting thoughts and 
desires, how do we begin to know 
ourselves? How do we decide to 
exist?
As much as this sounds like 
a narrative, The House is better 
described as a mood. Continuing 
the trend he began on Pool, he 
creates a lot of the emotional work 
through the production. As sonic 
arrangements, these songs are well 
polished, absurdly addictive. The 
progression and crescendo of “Ono” 
does as much, if not more, work 
to translate feeling as the lyrical 
clarity of “By My Side.”
He works with a similar synth 
palette as Pool to create this 
effect, but The House sounds 
more alive, conjuring expansive 
worlds, whereas Pool contained 
itself within a singular bedroom. 
Each song is its own room, fully 
furnished, and while every room 
is consistent aesthetically with the 
last, they all offer the listener a new 
discovery, a new chaise lounge to 
dance on and a new framed photo 
to gawk at. Walking through The 
House is supremely enjoyable.
We’re guided out of the home 
on the final track, “Anything U 
Want.” He paints a scene with two 
characters: “Julie on the bed as 
warm as night falls,” and “Ricky on 
the field with some makeup on.” It’s 
a concise pastoral, a scene largely 
about love, but about the home too, 
and the country and the things we 
want to be for the people who love 
us back. Introversion is so easily 
misunderstood as selfishness, but 
here, Porches is generous to the 
point of giving himself entirely. 
He offers his world, singing “Tell 
me everything you want to hear 
/ I want you to hear it / Tell me 
anything you want to feel / I 
want you near it.” The album, 
in retrospect, was always about 
others. Even from afar they guide 
Porches through his ambivalence, 
cutting false paradox and landing 
at an answer that’s perhaps even 
more complicated than the question 
we started with, of how to live and 
love as an introvert. Which is that 
somehow, we learn to love alone.

“Black 
Lightning”

Series Premiere

Tuesdays @ 9/8C

The CW

MATT GALLATIN
Daily Arts Writer

ALBUM REVIEW

The House

Porches

Domino Record 
Company