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$1400‑$2800 plus utilities.
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1015 Packard
734‑996‑1991
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$3000 ‑ $3600 plus utilities
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734‑996‑1991
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
6 1016 S. Forest $4500
4 827 Brookwood $3000
4 852 Brookwood $3000
4 1210 Cambridge $3000
Tenants pay all utilities.
Showings scheduled M‑F 10‑3
w/ 24 hr notice required
734‑996‑1991
SINGLE REVIEW: ‘THERE’S A REASON’
It’s been two years since
Brooklyn-based indie pop
group Wet last came out with
new music. After their debut
Don’t You in 2016, they pretty
much fell off the map, giving
no indication that they were
working on future records
other than the occasional
releases of remixed versions of
old songs.
Until this past week’s sur-
prise, “There’s a Reason”:
evidence that Wet is back in
the studio with a potential new
album just around the corner.
The single is also evidence
that Wet have used their hia-
tus as a time to explore their
sound, gaining confidence and
adding weight to their previ-
ously noncommittal synthpop
ambivalence. “There’s a Rea-
son,” contrasting the washy
ballads that often times turned
Don’t You into a haze of direc-
tionless rambling, is a bubbly
celebration. The steady per-
cussion keeps a lighthearted
tempo, the nearly nonexistent
synths clink together in the
background like champagne
glasses. Towards the end of the
track, dulcet string instrumen-
tation give the listeners one
final serenade.
Throughout it all, the steady
optimism of frontwoman Kelly
Zutrau’s vocals holds the song’s
various components together.
“There’s a reason you’re by
my side again,” she sings over
a beat that leaves no room for
Don’t You’s hesitation.
With “There’s a Reason,”
Wet proves themselves to
be new and improved; self-
assured, they back every note
with a conviction that gives
their melodies substance. It’s
almost spring, and Wet is ready
to blossom.
-Shima Sadaghiyani,
Daily Music Editor
It’s a classic scene. Pizza boxes
litter the floor. Soda cans lie
empty on the table. It’s 2 a.m..
“Mario Kart” is on the TV. Is
this a middle school sleepover?
No, it’s an average Wednesday
in some dorm or apartment or
student house somewhere on a
college campus. College kids like
to play video games, but what a
lot of college kids like to do more
than play video games is play old
video games. The GameCube is
a popular console on campus,
with perhaps 70 percent of
its usage coming purely from
“Super Smash Bros. Melee.”
“Wii Sports” still makes regular
appearances from time to time.
But “Mario Kart” remains the
gold standard. It’s not unusual
to see an Xbox 360 or Playstation
2 right next to a much nicer and
more expensive newer model on
the mantel. What’s the appeal of
old games? Is it simple nostalgia?
Or is it something deeper?
When I left for college after
high school I brought my family’s
Nintendo Wii with me. I didn’t
take the PS4 that had become a
mainstay over the previous year
or two. Part of the reason for
this was because it was easier to
convince my younger brother to
let me take the Wii than the PS4,
but part of the reason was also
that I thought the Wii would be
a more fun thing to have. I was
right about that, but not for the
reason I had originally thought.
While
my
freshman
year
roommate and I did play some
“Mario Kart” and “Wii Sports”
from time to time, what really
made the Wii worth our while
was its backward capability
with GameCube games. We
picked up a copy of an early
2000s children’s game, “Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Battle
Nexus,” for a few dollars at a
game shop and reignited our
childhoods.
I cannot recommend this
game
enough
to
anyone.
Designed for children by people
who clearly didn’t care that
much about the finished product,
the game is simple enough to
seem easy but poorly designed
enough to be excruciatingly
difficult. Some of the jumps
between
platforms
require
mind-boggling precision. Many
of the boss battles took us weeks
to complete. It had a simplicity
you wouldn’t find in modern
games and a stupidity that was
almost charming. Would we
have ever bought a Ninja Turtles
game that was released for
the PS4? Doubtful. Something
about it being a GameCube
added to the mystique. We later
picked up a Hot Wheels game
that was actually impossible
and the first and third games in
the Turtles GameCube series,
neither of which were as good
as “Battle Nexus” and were soon
abandoned.
One of my current roommates
brought home his old PS2 after
Thanksgiving and has spent
the past few months playing
through the game version of
“Shrek 2.” Multiple members of a
student org I’m in bring their old
Nintendo DSs on every trip we
go on so they can play Pokémon.
Old games have a strange appeal.
“Super Smash Melee” is still
deemed
the
greatest
Smash
game, even though both Brawl
and the one they released for the
Wii U feature more players and
more characters. Graphics have
improved dramatically since the
mid-2000s, so why is there an
appeal in cracking out “NCAA
2005” for the Xbox 360?
For
a
culture
that
is
increasingly growing cordless,
cords
are
starting
to
have
nostalgic value. Just the act of
having to plug a controller into
a TV and sit within a certain
range to not pull the console off
the ledge adds a level of intimacy
with the product that doesn’t
exist in modern videogames. The
fun factor of, “Oh, I remember
this level,” and the journey of
rediscovery is an easy way to
form connections to childhood
with people whom you’ve only
known since the age of 17 or 18.
Recently “Wii Sports Resort,”
the “Wii Sports” spinoff that
required an extra “Wii Motion
Plus” adapter for the controllers
in order to be played, has become
my friend’s go-to late night game
of choice. The jankyness of the
controls, the randomness of the
game designs, the hilarious idea
that Nintendo actually released
a game designed purely to get
people to buy an extra add-on
for their Wii-motes and that
people actually did it, all of that
has made “Wii Sports Resort” a
great addition to our late night
nostalgia. Expense is surely
another reason why old games
appeal to college students. Video
games
nowadays
are
really
expensive. New games can go for
as much as $80 just for a single
disc or download. But you can get
an old PS2 for like $30 on eBay.
These things don’t break often
either. Most GameCubes were
made between 2001 and 2005
and most people I know who
still have one have never had a
problem with it. A buddy of mine
had an old Xbox that had to be
kept a precise angle so as not to
shred the disc in it but that was
still remarkably useable after
almost 15 years of use. This kind
of tactile upkeep adds a sense of
character to an object and gives
the games a story, a story that is
funny to tell to others.
So the next time you wonder
if your house needs some more
videogames,
maybe
consider
going backwards and picking
up an old Wii, Xbox or PS2. Or
go to your grandma’s and dig
an old Atari or N64 out of the
attic. For many college students,
video games are a semi-constant
part of their lives. The older the
better.
The renaissance of
2000s era video games
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMN
IAN
HARRIS
Starnone deftly sketches
a ghost story in ‘Trick’
The late and great American
author
Henry
James
was
fascinated with the ghost story.
Unlike most writers of horror
fiction, however, James was
not concerned with a ghost’s
capacity to scare. Rather, he
focused on its ability to function
as dark reflections of humanity,
how they supernaturally guide
us through the darker side
of the human psyche. Ghosts
are “the strange and sinister
embroidered on the very type
of the normal and easy,” writes
James in the preface of his final
ghost story, “The Jolly Corner.”
Daniele
Mallarico,
the
central
character
of
contemporary Italian author
Domenico Starnone’s “Trick,”
is very much a ghost himself.
An
aging
illustrator
past
his prime, Daniele has been
commissioned to create images
to embellish a deluxe edition
of “The Jolly Corner.” While
this task certainly occupies
his
time
and
his
fading
livelihood, Daniele primarily
functions as a grandfather as
the book unfolds, as he labors
to look after his four-year-old
grandson, Mario. The contrast
between Daniele’s overbearing
protectiveness
(manifested
sometimes in meanness) and
Mario’s advanced innocence
for a boy his age defines the
relationship
between
the
two
but
creates
problems.
Conversations between those
two push the narrative forward,
as
Starnone
explores
the
connection between artistry
and age.
Translated masterfully into
English
by
Pulitzer
Prize-
winning author Jhumpa Lahiri,
“Trick” — like “The Jolly
Corner” — is “about the horror
of returning to one’s place of
origin,” states Lahiri in her
introduction. Daniele has to
return to his ancestral home in
Naples, which has now become
the modern living space for
his daughter and her family.
And while his daughter and
her husband are off at a work
conference having relationship
issues of their own, Daniele
has to care for the boundless
ball of energy that is Mario.
While Mario oscillates at 100
kilometers per hour between
playing with his action figures,
watching TV and just generally
jumping and moving around,
Daniele is weakened in his
old age and constrained in
his
childhood
home.
This
contrast of bodies — “One
small and mighty, the other
large, laid low” — is central to
the relationship dynamics of
“Trick.”
Much like Spencer Brydon,
the protagonist of “The Jolly
Corner,” Daniele prowls the
house he once grew up and
confronts the ghost of the man
he might have been. Only for
Daniele, this ghost is alive and
has manifested itself in Mario.
For a four-year-old, Mario is
quite capable but limited by
his size; for example, he knows
exactly how to make breakfast
for his family and how his
father takes his coffee, but
he can’t reach the milk in the
fridge. In this way, Mario and
Daniele are a perfect pairing,
yet they never play off of each
other’s strengths. Many a time
their relationship is strained
because Daniele lacks the vigor
to do what Mario asks of him.
The climax of the narrative,
a “trick” Mario plays on his
grandfather,
is
humorous
on paper, but is exacerbated
because completing the “trick”
requires Mario to go beyond his
physical capabilities and listen,
for once, to Daniele.
The crucial moment that
defines
the
relationship
between
grandfather
and
grandson
happens
when
Daniele finally allows Mario
to work alongside him, both
drawing. While Daniele works
on the James story, Mario,
miming his elders in a way
only a child can do, decides
to draw his grandpa. When
Daniele gazes at Mario’s work
to see what he drew, he is in
awe of the “natural harmony
of composition, a fanciful sense
of color.” Yet Mario doesn’t
realize the simple perfection
in his drawing, which causes
Daniele to be overcome with
horror: “I really was my ghost.”
After
Mario
is
finally
reunited with his parents and
the story ends, an appendix
awaits the reader, presented
as Daniele’s diary before and
during his time with Mario,
accompanied by some of his
illustrations. To Lahiri, it is “an
organ literally cut out of the
story,
seemingly
extraneous
but in fact fundamental to our
understanding.” Providing a
crucial subtext to the action
of the book, this appendix
fuses Starnone’s writing with
James’s fiction, glued together
by Lahiri’s translation. But
while
Starnone
willfully
combines
art
of
the
past,
he does so with purpose. In
Mario’s purity of age, he only
does what he knows and copies
the work of his grandfather, of
the past. In copying, however,
he creates something entirely
new,
something
comparable
to his grandfather’s work but
stands entirely on its own.
While most artists are well past
their childhood, with “Trick,”
Starnone reminds them to never
forget their initial inspirations
and how their art serves as a
vivid link between past and
present.
ROBERT MANSUETTI
Daily Arts Writer
“There’s A
Reason”
Wet
Columbia Records
COLUMBIA RECORDS
What’s the
appeal of old
games? Is it
simple nostalgia?
Or is it something
deeper?
BOOKS
“Trick”
Domenico Starnone
Europa Editions
Mar. 6, 2018
6A — Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ACROSS
1 Flow back
4 “Get outta here!”
10 Column in a
pugilist’s record
14 Congressional
auditing org.
15 Rhine wine
region
16 Stable parent
17 Door-to-door
seller’s form
19 Very smart
20 Gosling of “Blade
Runner 2049”
21 Tupperware
sound
23 Jeans label
24 Nightly TV staple
25 Do some
bargain-hunting
28 Where
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
goes on
30 Hold the floor
31 Fabled beast
32 Brad Paisley
venue
34 Copycat
35 Text with maps
and timelines
39 Org. in Dan
Brown’s “Digital
Fortress”
40 Temps
41 “There’s an __
for that”
44 Figures on a
sports news
crawl
47 Input, as
accidentally
erased data
49 Residential
get-together
53 Aviation prefix
54 Pop __
55 Mongolia locale
56 Camp Lejeune
gp.
57 Losing
proposition
59 Game with
ringers
63 Burden
64 Smart people?
65 NBC skit show
66 2016 #1 hit for
Rihanna, which
can precede both
parts of 17-, 25-,
35-, 49- and
59-Across
67 More sinewy
68 Farm area
DOWN
1 Cause of star
wars?
2 Scrubby
wastelands
3 Fragrant shower
gel
4 Setting for most of
“Charlotte’s Web”
5 Overhead trains
6 Volcanic __
7 Billy Blanks’
workout system
8 Become frozen
9 Aquarium fish
10 SHO sister
channel
11 Liqueur in an
espresso martini
12 Point in the right
direction
13 Formally withdraw
18 Point in the right
direction?
22 Ask for a hand?
24 “Empire” actress
Long
25 Nasal dividers
26 Deli option
27 Cookie with a
Peeps variety
29 Antarctic waters
33 Many mos.
34 “__ Road”:
Beatles album
36 QB’s mistakes
37 Mongolian tent
38 London-born
supermodel
42 Word of interest?
43 Quid __ quo
44 Omen on
February 2nd
45 “Starsky &
Hutch” Ford
model
46 Highbrow
filmmaker
48 The “N” of
CSNY
50 “Get outta here!”
51 Garlic
mayonnaise
52 Worth more to
collectors
56 KGB country
58 “Naughty,
naughty!”
60 __-fi
61 Squeeze (by)
62 Plotting
By Robin Stears
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/14/18
03/14/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis