Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
ACROSS
1 Filet mignon
source
5 __ price
11 Ran together
15 Actress Paquin of
Netflix’s “Alias
Grace”
16 Tremble
17 Slick
18 Team first
managed by
Casey Stengel
19 Volcanic
archipelago state
20 Eyelid bump
21 Fast clip around
the racetrack
24 Internet
subdivision
25 Feathered layer
26 USPS assignment
29 Eagerly took in
30 Flutist of Greek
myth
33 Romanov rulers
35 Classic shoe
polish brand
39 Surmounting
40 Fast clip from the
pitcher’s mound
45 “Field of Dreams”
setting
46 Lowered the
grade of
47 Take potshots
49 Simple survey
answer
50 Poetry Muse
55 Own, to Burns
56 Craven of horror
59 Mental haze
60 Fast clip down
the slopes
65 “Toodles!”
67 Evening get-
together
68 One-named
Deco artist
69 Curved paths
70 There for the __:
easy to get
71 Plug-in vehicle,
briefly
72 Chinese toy
73 Comes down
hard?
74 Dines
DOWN
1 Greek letter
whose lowercase
indicates
wavelength
2 Developer’s unit
3 Early enough
4 Bahamian capital
5 Pale as a ghost
6 __-Pei: wrinkly
dog
7 Fuzzy fruit
8 “Ghostbusters”
director Reitman
9 Secretariat
utterance?
10 Complaint
11 Anjou kin
12 Intelligentsia
13 English cathedral
town
14 Easter egg dip
22 A bit buzzed
23 Aardvark snack
27 Bouncy gait
28 Best Game or
Best Play
30 Christmas candle
scent
31 Fit to be tied
32 Super stars?
34 Plant pouch
36 Put out of sight
37 “I’m game”
38 Newcastle Brown
brew
40 Wolfgang Puck
creation
41 New Rochelle
college
42 Twice-baked
bread
43 Hit with a laser
44 “Awake and
Sing!” playwright
48 Farm mom
51 “Slumdog
Millionaire”
money
52 Brief summary
53 Line dance step
54 Military
instructions
57 Bridge seats
58 Scandinavian
toast
59 Surfboard
stabilizers
61 Got up
62 “Just do it”
brand
63 Niagara Falls
source
64 Penny
65 Ballplayer’s hat
66 Choler
By Roland Huget
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/24/18
01/24/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
THERE’S A
CROSSWORD
ON THIS
PAGE.
DO
IT.
HAPPY
WEDNESDAY!
6A — Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘High Maintenance’ blows
smoke on the competition
The stoner comedy isn’t always
considered to have intelligent,
cohesive storytelling. It’s loosely
structured, the characters are
high all the time (the main source
of the humor) and more often than
not, there are scenes of ridiculous
slapstick,
kooky
psychedelic
trips and ironic melodrama. But
when contextualized in a more
timely, socially relevant setting,
the stoner comedy can actually
be an enlightening
commentary
on
how a person’s need
for weed informs
their
neuroses.
HBO’s
criminally
underrated
series
“High
Maintenance” has
already taken that
step — and then
some.
Ben Sinclair (“Home Again”)
and Katja Blichfeld (“30 Rock”)
co-created,
co-wrote
and
co-directed “High Maintenance”
as a Vimeo web series back in
2012. Though the show has grown
tremendously since its humble
origins, the premise has remained
the same: A nameless Brooklyn
weed dealer, known simply as
The Guy (played by Sinclair),
delivers pot to a variety of clients.
Its anthology format gives us a
glimpse into the private lives of
The Guy’s regular buyers, who
range from the ordinary to the
eccentric.
“High Maintenance” may share
some the formulaic qualities that
define
other
cannabis-tinged
farces, but it’s no “Pineapple
Express” or “Cheech and Chong”;
it’s
something
much,
much
better. Sinclair and Blichfeld’s
humanistic approach to the stoner
comedy redefines the subgenre
entirely. The two have crafted
a deceptively meticulous and
aesthetically
radiant
world,
replete with sharp, insightful and
entertaining vignettes of people
from all different backgrounds.
Because every episode introduces
new characters, most of whom are
unknown actors (save for a few),
“High Maintenance” excels at
capturing the multidimensionality
of contemporary society better
than most TV shows currently on
air.
While the first season was
focused more on the lifestyles
of New York City potheads, the
second season explores the role
of weed as a coping
mechanism
in
the
Trump
era.
In the wonderful
season
opener
“Globo,” The Guy
and his girlfriend
Beth (Yael Stone,
“Orange is the New
Black”) awaken to
news of a horrible
unnamed tragedy — the details
are kept vague, but their reactions
mirror the national devastation
felt the day after Trump’s election.
Instead of depicting the people
affected by Trump’s imminent
presidency, “Globo” focuses on
the marginal experiences of The
Guy’s unaffected clientele: A
body-insecure man is pressured
to go to the gym, a woman and
two dudes engage in a threesome
at a hotel and a burned-out Latino
restaurant worker takes the late-
night
subway.
Conversations
about the tragedy are peppered
throughout “Globo,” and The Guy
appears briefly in each subplot,
but it’s the episode’s theme of
modern dread that ties everything
together. The mere averageness of
each character and how they move
through the world draw attention
to the weight of their ongoing
angst, and weed, as a result, helps
them get through the day.
The
second
season
also
benefits from the addition of
creative voices behind the scenes.
While Sinclair and Blichfeld’s
dual collaboration was enough
to build “High Maintenance”
to what it is, the expansion of a
writer’s room and a new director
(Shaka
King,
“Newlyweeds”)
help cultivate fresh perspectives
on weed culture. The third
episode, “Namaste,” illustrates
the challenges of class divides
through the idealistic aspirations
of a struggling realtor attempting
to find a new home of her own
(Danielle Brooks, “Master of
None”) and a disillusioned couple
moving from a co-op to a polished
apartment. The fifth episode,
“Scromple,” lets us know more
about the personal life of The
Guy, as it reveals a deeper, quieter
pain
buried
underneath
his
generally nonchalant demeanor.
The Guy’s subtle suffering in this
particular episode is made only
more devastating by Sinclair’s
understated performance.
Granted, “High Maintenance”
may not be everyone’s cup of
tea. Most stories end without
any
closure,
often
abruptly
transitioning right to the next set
of characters — think Richard
Linklater’s “Slacker” but with
more marijuana. Most episodes
don’t have a typical conflict/
resolution
setup,
instead
showcasing the randomness of
everyday
life,
either
through
poignant
incidental
situations
(a drag queen and an exiled
Orthodox Jew cross paths in the
standout “Derech”) or hilariously
strange
coincidences
(a
pet
snake slithers into two unrelated
storylines in the amusing “Fagin”).
But even if its unconventional,
unpredictable plotting isn’t tailor-
made for mainstream audiences,
“High Maintenance” is still such
a fascinating, magnetic watch.
It’s a show that feels very in
the moment, striking a unique
balance between universality and
specificity through the everyday
experiences of flawed, weed-
loving people.
SAM ROSENBERG
Senior Arts Editor
HBO
“High
Maintenance”
HBO
Season 2 premiere
Fridays at 11 p.m.
A Night Over the Rainbow
What do you hope to find in
a room? How do you want to use
this space? Whether it be engaging
in a one-on-one performance,
simply witnessing others partake
or staying for one rendition of
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow,”
all is welcome as FK Alexander
takes over the STAMPS gallery
with her performance of “(I Could
Go on Singing) Over the Rainbow”
starting this Friday, Jan. 26.
The space will be open to
everyone and every experience.
Alexander
argues
that
one
reaction is just as valuable as
another.
“Whatever people’s responses
are, I hope they know that they
are equal and that they are all
welcome,” said Alexander in an
interview with The Daily. “Some
people want to stay there forever
and some people turn out after 10
minutes and they’re just like, ‘she’s
just doing that one song.’”
The
performance
consists
of
multiple
renditions
of
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
backed my the Okishima Tourist
Association playing noise music
out of small, mysterious, Oz-esque
boxes.
“They’re playing a kind of lull
of noise; It’s not totally chaotic
noise, it’s very carefully crafted,”
Alexander said. Not only does it add
background to the performance,
but it also complicates the song.
“It brings out a tension in the song,
and the song is also bringing about
a tension in that soundscape that’s
happening.”
“There is not a story. There
is not a beginning, a middle and
an end. It’s this. It’s one thing,”
Alexander explained. But while
the performance itself is not
a story, the audience creates a
story on the spot. Each individual
narrative may differ vastly, but
it is the collective narrative that
creates the story as a whole.
While the idea of an entire
performance consisting of just
one song may initially seem a bit
daunting, it is in the repetition, the
connection and the experience
in which individuals will find
meaning.
Through
repetition,
Alexander strives to experience
what Judy Garland may have
experienced over the course of her
life.
“For everyone who heard Judy
sing it in a concert, that was the
one and only time she was going
to sing it for them,” Alexander
explained. For each and every
repetition to be for someone and
to be more than just one of many:
That honesty and sincerity were
fundamental aspects that inspired
this show.
“The sacrifice which Judy
made for other people to have this
moment, where maybe they felt
like they were over the rainbow,
was just devastatingly poignant
and beautiful to me.” In an attempt
to reveal this beautiful sacrifice,
Alexander’s
performance
ventures to give more people an
over the rainbow moment.
There are so many ways that we
try to make others understand, but
too often it feels incommunicable.
There is only so much that words
can do, and at a certain point
they lose any sort of power at all.
Alexander argued that words
can even block the way to pure
understanding.
“As much as words can really
allow people to understand what
you are trying to say, they can also
really alienate people as well,”
Alexander said
But then, art steps in. Pathways
to communication open as art,
and performance give people
an experience, or a “sensation,”
which permits understanding.
Alexander uses the power of
performance
to
communicate
her own, and Judy Garland’s,
experiences with her audience.
Alexander is far from lacking
in experience. Stemming from
her recovery, her performance has
less to do with the unimaginable
hardships and everything to do
with the fight back. Through
Judy’s
experience,
Alexander
realized that the “struggle is
beautiful,” and that “the fight
against the parts of yourself that
are saying ‘you can’t do this,’ that
is actually just as beautiful as
success.”
“What Judy really spoke about
a lot was that this struggle towards
a happy ending was life, that
was the thing. Over the rainbow
doesn’t exist,” Alexander said,
“but maybe there are moments in
our lives when we feel it, when you
do get a little bit over the rainbow
moment, but you can’t live there,
you can’t live in Oz.”
Honest,
selfless
and
empowering,
FK
Alexander’s
performance
opens
the
door
for the audience to reflect and
learn by experience. Promoting
connection and communication
through her performance, there
will be something to take away for
every individual, even if it is just
knowing whether you want to be
there at all. In a world where both
communication and acceptance
can feel impossible, spending an
hour where those things thrive
makes it hard to turn away.
Perseverance is a struggle
that we all face, but the beauty in
continuing on is sometimes hard
to see. It is from Judy Garland
that FK Alexander found her
way to recovery, and it is from
FK Alexander that the audience
will find inspiration to keep going
through whatever may stand in
their way.
“Can’t go on, can’t go on, but
you’ll go,” Alexander said. “If you
just keep going then it will get
better; it will get better tomorrow
even.”
ISABEL FRYE
Daily Arts Writer
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
“Juliet, Naked,” the latest effort
from producer Judd Apatow (“The
Big Sick”) and director Jesse
Peretz (“Our Idiot Brother”), isn’t
nearly a failure because of what
the movie does, but because of
what it doesn’t do. With a great
pedigree — Apatow, original book
by Nick Hornby and screenplay
by
masters
Tamara
Jenkins
(“The
Savages”),
Phil
Alden
Robinson (“Field of Dreams”)
and Jim Taylor (“Sideways”) —
it’s a disappointment that “Juliet,
Naked” falls as flat as it does.
Annie (Rose Byrne, “Spy”)
is angered by her long-term
boyfriend’s
obsession
with
American rocker Tucker Crowe
(Ethan
Hawke,
“Maudie”).
Tucker, with the melancholy of
Elliott Smith and the sort of broken
timbre of Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy,
is all Duncan (Chris O’Dowd,
“Loving Vincent”) can talk about.
He has a room — nay, a shrine —
devoted to his collection of Crowe
memorabilia, and runs a website
dedicated to curating his fandom
through his investigative stitching
of Tucker’s life. Duncan hides
away in his lair after he discovers
a disc of demos previously thought
to never exist. This draws Annie to
a breaking point, and she does the
unthinkable, leaving a scathing
comment on his review tearing
her boyfriend to pieces. Crowe,
miraculously, reads the comment,
and in his nigh depressed state,
writes to her that she was dead-
on in her criticism. They develop
an online romance until Crowe
comes
to
London
after
his
daughter goes into labor.
For a movie that tries to examine
the parameters of relationships
— parent-child, partner-partner,
artist-fan, sister-sister — “Juliet,
Naked” surprisingly finds its
strength in its individuals, and
decidedly not in the interplay
and exchanges between a pair.
While Byrne, wresting the leading
role from O’Dowd, and Hawke,
endearing in his own way, bring
vibrancy to their respective roles,
their chemistry never feels quite
truthful. It’s not that they’re
acting in two separate movies; it’s
that, in relying on the plot alone
to forge their connection, they
neglected to do it themselves.
The same can be said about
the relationship between Byrne
and O’Dowd, the central focus
of the film in its first half. Annie
and Duncan have been partners
for a long time, enough to have
discussed
children,
but
they
can hardly stand one another.
There’s a lack of genuine love and
care for one another that makes
the pairing seem like a doomed
relationship, even considering the
external tension between the two
on Tucker Crowe’s musical ability.
The film just never quite makes
a convincing case that we should
care.
Ultimately,
“Juliet,
Naked”
tries to do too much in too little
time. Rather than luxuriate in
the ideas it sets out to discuss, like
celebrity, spousal infidelity and
parenthood, Peretz’s film splashes
water before getting out of the
shallow end. On top of the trite
and overdone film sequences, the
lack of focus makes almost every
emotional beat a miss. The film
is occasionally funny, especially
in scenes that involve Annie’s
flamboyantly
flirtatious
sister
Rose (Lily Brazier, “People Just
Do Nothing”) or the screwball
madness between Crowe, Duncan
and Annie. Sadly, only a few punch
lines land. When the lucky few do,
they reveal the dearth of humor in
the film.
SUNDANCE REVIEW
Sundance: ‘Juliet, Naked’
DANNY HENSEL
Daily Arts Writer
“(I Could Go
on Singing)
Over the
Rainbow”
Friday, Jan. 26 —
Saturday, Feb. 3
The Stamps Gallery
$12 Student, $30
Adult
TV REVIEW