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ACROSS
1 Jordan’s capital
6 Amounts to
11 Cleveland
hoopster
14 Tour leader
15 Popcorn brand
whose logo
resembles a
movie marquee
16 Corrida cheer
17 *Many a museum
piece
19 “MSNBC Live”
co-anchor Velshi
20 Big Dipper’s
constellation
21 Birth-related
23 Couple of gags?
24 Tied-on protectors
25 Without
28 Not even close
30 Vise features
31 British nobles
32 Roger Federer’s
org.
35 French buddy
36 *Choice spot at
the opera
38 Pi follower
39 Stood for office
40 Powerful
Japanese dog
41 Black bird or
black cat, to
some
42 Go round and
round
44 Messed (up)
46 Obtain
48 Is not misused?
49 Very serious, as
a water shortage
50 Blunder
55 Humanities degs.
56 Words to a
server ... or a hint
to the first words
of the answers to
starred clues
58 “The Book of __”:
2010 Denzel
Washington film
59 Exorbitant
interest
60 Ceremonial place
61 Fond du __,
Wisconsin
62 Closed
63 Braid

DOWN
1 Twittering
2 “Studies in the
Sierra” writer John

3 Fitbit unit
4 Much of the
Sunday paper
5 Spruce (up)
6 Walking sticks
7 Penta- plus
three
8 Cup-a-Soup
direction
9 Pewter
component
10 Footpath aid
11 *Family crest
12 Poe’s middle
name
13 Concealing
accessories
18 “Probably not”
22 “Wanna go out?”
response
24 Protagonist of
Auel’s “Earth’s
Children” 
novels
25 Somewhat 
open
26 Auburn rival,
familiarly
27 *Ellington genre
28 Squander
29 Surface product
31 Bright word in a
dark theater
33 You, back in the
day

34 Koi habitat
36 Kansas City
cuisine
37 Not bad
41 Fly off the shelf
faster than
43 To date
44 Struggle with
sisters?
45 400 meters, on
many tracks
46 It has one hump
or two

47 Florida’s __
National Forest
48 Binder for some
paints
50 2017 FX
miniseries
subtitled “Bette
and Joan”
51 Spacious lot
52 Part of TTFN
53 Actor Morales
54 Cheeky
57 QVC sister station

By Mark McClain
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/21/18

03/21/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

BOOK NOTEBOOK

Clive 
Cussler 
was 
my 

first favorite author. I’m not 
embarrassed, and I don’t think I 
should be. For those unfamiliar 
with Cussler’s work, he is a 
prolific novelist (and underwater 
explorer) 
who 
has 
written 

more than seventy action and 
adventure books. He’s not a high-
brow literary darling by any 
means; his style and content is 
more like a lovechild of Stephen 
Coonts and Stephen King.

There are many reasons not to 

like Cussler’s books. It’s chock-
full of flat female characters (who 
are always thin and conveniently 
beautiful and single), and the few 
non-white characters are either 
villains, have very small roles 
or both. Still, there’s something 
about Cussler’s writing that 
draws the reader in. It’s not 
that I really wanted to stay 
up on Wednesday until 2 a.m. 
rereading a book about the lost 
tomb of Genghis Khan, but there 
I was.

Cussler has a formula, and it 

works: 
Charismatic 
scientist, 

plus witty sidekick, plus vintage 
cars, plus beautiful women, 
plus shipwrecks, plus nefarious 
criminals plotting something big. 
It’s like James Bond, but better (I 
should be honest: I’ve never seen 
a James Bond movie). It’s got 
car chases! It’s got nonpartisan 
political intrigue! The historic 
and factual foundations are thin 
at best and often nonexistent! 
It also has very few explicit sex 
scenes 
(Cussler 
co-authored 

many of his books with his 
son), little social resonance and 
boatloads (get it?) of dramatic 
tension. There’s even a very 
well-funded federal bureau of 
underwater investigation, which 
is probably more fantastical 
now than it was in the ’70s, 
when Cussler first invented the 
fictional National Underwater 
and Marine Agency (a cross 
between NASA and the National 
Oceanic 
and 
Atmospheric 

Administration). 
Interestingly, 

Cussler used the royalties from 
his books to found a private non-

profit with the same name in 
1979.

Cussler has a quite a few series’ 

that he works on: The Dirk Pitt 
Adventures, The NUMA Files, 
The Oregon Files, The Isaac 
Bell Adventures and The Fargo 
Adventures. Each one follows 
the hijinks of a different cast 
of characters: a freighter that’s 
actually a high tech mystery-
solving ship, early 20th-century 

naval detective or a pair of 
treasure hunters. Cussler is at his 
best with his first series, The Dirk 
Pitt Adventures. Dirk is a George 
Clooney lookalike, as well as 
a scientist and an adventurer. 
He lives in an airplane hangar 
outside of Washington, D.C. with 
his collection of old cars. His 
girlfriend is a young, idealistic 
congresswoman 
(though 

conveniently that relationship 
never stops him from some sort 
of romantic involvement with 
the stunning women who pop up 
as he fights evil across the globe). 
In short, he’s cool. The women 
want him and the men want to 
be him.

The Dirk Pitt Adventures 

are predictable yet thrillingly 
ridiculous. 
One 
particularly 

absurd plot revolves around a 
family of genetically-engineered 
neo-Nazis 
who 
plan 
to 

destabilize an ice shelf in order 
to wipe out everyone except 
themselves. They hope to sail 
around on huge, luxurious cruise 
ships until they can repopulate 
the world. Of course, it’s up to 
Dirk to save humanity, and he 
does. He always, always does. 
The stakes are so insanely high 
that they become low; it’s never 
whether Dirk will be the hero, it’s 
how — and the how is incredibly 
entertaining.

I first started listening to Clive 

Cussler audiobooks with my 
mom. Even when we were only 
in the car for a few minutes, we’d 
pop in a CD and become absorbed 
with the adventures Cussler 
describes (read, of course, by 
the one and only Scott Brick). 
This tradition became a way 
to connect without speaking, 
a shared fantasy world that we 
could inhabit and then discuss at 
length. Last week, I listened to a 
Dirk Pitt novel using OverDrive, 
an audiobook and ebook app, 
and for a moment I was 11-years-
old again, thrilled at the novelty 
of riding in the front seat and 
dreading having to get out of the 
car and step back into the real 
world.

What I realized recently is 

that my mom was definitely not 
a Cussler fan before I began 
checking out his books and 
audiobooks from the local library. 
My mom likes nonfiction about 
Buddhism 
and 
neuroscience. 

She 
likes 
Alice 
Hoffman, 

Elizabeth 
Strout 
and 
Mary 

Oliver. Whatever the predicted 
Clive Cussler fan demographic 
is, my mom is not in it. Rather, 
it was for me that she put up 
with these hours and hours of 
audiobooks, a concession that 
eventually led to a genuine (if 
limited) enjoyment of adventure 
novels. Clive Cussler is certainly 
not for everyone, but he deserves 
a chance. I’ll always love his 
books. He managed to engineer 
a bridge between the childhood 
days when my mother read books 
out loud to me and now, when the 
two of us read separately, silently, 
side by side.

In defense of Clive Cussler

MIRIAM FRANCISCO

Daily Arts Writer

Chilean foreign film “A Fantastic 

Woman” completely lives up to its 
title, proving itself to be fantastic, 
if not outstanding. “A Fantastic 
Woman” is a consummate example 
of giving minority gender identity 
stories a voice in film, especially 
with 
visionary 
direction 
by 

Chilean-Argentinian 
director 

Sebastián Lelio (“Gloria”) and 
a breathtaking performance by 
Daniela Vega (“The Guest”). It 
is no shocker as to why it rivaled 
American films this past season, 
resulting in an Oscar win for Best 
Foreign Language Film. 

A story to be revered and 

admired, “A Fantastic Woman” 
underscores the complexities and 
complications of love and loss, and 
the quest for personal and gender 
identity. Marina, played by Vega, 
is a transgender woman living as 
a singer in Chile, dating an older, 
wealthier 
divorcée, 
Orlando 

(Francisco Reyes, “Neruda”). But 
despite some tropes of relationships 
with a vast age difference, Marina 
doesn’t use Orlando for his money. 
Marina doesn’t care about any of 
that. In fact, the only possession 
she desires after his passing is the 
dog they share. Orlando provides 
her with one thing that no one else 

can: He sees her. When Orlando 
suddenly suffers an aneurysm and 
dies, Marina is forced to confront 
prejudices and suffer abuse from 
Orlando’s family. They try and tear 
her down, but she perseveres.

“A Fantastic Woman” is also a 

tale about self-preservation and 
resistance. Lelio doesn’t give us 
much of a glimpse into Marina’s 
backstory 
because 
we 
don’t 

require it. The film’s dialogue is 

simple and deliberate. Based on 
Vega’s performance — its nuance, 
tenderness and strength — we can 
infer it hasn’t been easy for her, but 
it’s not overly sentimental and it 
doesn’t make us feel pity for her. She 
is ridiculed by Orlando’s ex-wife, 
who calls her a “chimera,” or a 
fire-breathing monster in Greek 
mythology. The investigator who 
questions her after Orlando dies 
refuses to call her Marina because 
he knows she is trans. But none of 
this surprises Marina; she doesn’t 
expect anything from anyone, 
which makes the loss of her love, 

her one piece of hope, all the more 
heartbreaking. Vega herself, who 
brings Marina’s fortitude to life, is 
a big trans rights crusader in South 
America. This will not be Vega’s 
last stellar performance.

Vega tells the story through 

her acting, while the rest of the 
story is told through avant-garde 
cinematography by Lelio that 
elevates 
the 
film’s 
aesthetics 

into an artful and abstract piece 
of work. Despite some sleepy 
moments, daytime shots are met 
with sensual, dream-like night 
sequences with colored lights 
and glitter that reflect Marina’s 
deepest desires of peace — to be 
met back with her love and be on 
the stage. Sparkly choreographed 
sequences of Marina dancing and 
singing, breaking the fourth wall 
and distancing from the reality of 
the piece, don’t allow us to forget 
about her suffering. And the 
quite striking and unusual shot of 
Marina walking as the wind pushes 
back on her, used in the trailer, is an 
in-your-face visual allegory of her 
defiance in a world that repeatedly 
tries to knock her down.

Really, “A Fantastic Woman” is 

about not judging others. It urges 
us to be accepting and to open 
our minds and our hearts. It’s 
heartbreaking, at times too tragic 
to even watch, but by the end, we’re 
all on Marina’s side.

Daniela Vega transcends 
in ‘A Fantastic Woman’

SOPHIA WHITE

Daily Arts Writer

FILM REVIEW

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 

“A Fantastic 

Woman”

Sony Pictures 

Classics

State Theatre

He’s not a high-

brow literary 
darling by any 
means; his style 

and content 
is more like a 
lovechild of 

Stephen Coonts 

and Stephen King.

The year 2002 was quite a 

wild time in pop culture. Justin 
and Britney called it quits for 
good, Nickelback had one of the 
biggest songs of the year, Apple 
released its second-generation 
iPod with 20 whole gigabytes of 
storage and a small show called 
“American Idol” made its debut 
on television screens across the 
nation.

Since then, a lot has changed. 

Justin 
Timberlake 
is 
now 

known more for a botched 
Super Bowl performance than 
his early-aughts relationship, 
Nickelback is nothing more 
than an Internet meme, Apple 
released the iPhone X and is 
on the verge of taking over the 
world and “American Idol”... is 
on its 16th season.

That’s right. Much to the 

surprise of many — including 
myself — “American Idol” is 
still going on. Gone are the days 
of Simon, Paula and Randy. 
Now in their places sit Luke 
Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel 
Richie. Oh, but Ryan Seacrest is 
still there — some things never 
change.

With ratings that have been 

on a constant decline since 
season seven, one begins to 
wonder why “American Idol” 
even bothers to go on. Though 
a 
highly-rated 
“farewell 

season” premiered on Fox in 
2015, the competition show 

has 
been 
resurrected 
on 

ABC 
for 
its 
latest 
season. 

Yet it is no longer producing 
hit-making 
superstars 
like 

season 
one 
winner 
Kelly 

Clarkson 
and 
season 
four 

winner 
Carrie 
Underwood. 

Instead, it’s become a show 
unacknowledged by a general 
audience, only coming into the 
public eye only when it stirs up 
controversy.

So why does “American Idol” 

persist? Why can’t cable TV 
just let it die? Maybe it’s just 
the way the industry works, but 
maybe it’s something bigger. 
Americans 
are 
suckers 
for 

the “self-made man.” It’s the 
reason why every trust-fund 
baby politician weaves stories 
of how their great-great-great 
grandfather’s 
tailoring 
shop 

helped them get into Harvard 
Law. And it’s the reason that 
shows like “American Idol” stay 
on the air.

While most of America has 

changed in the past 16 years, 
“American Idol” has stayed 
consistent. 
Despite 
a 
new 

channel and a new set of judges, 
everything from the format 
of the show to the contestants 
are identical to the series circa 
2002. Picture the quintessential 
“American 
Idol” 
contestant: 

some 24-year-old white boy 
with a guitar, lower-middle 
class parents — maybe raised 
by a single mother to really 
spice things up — who just quit 
his 9-to-5 job to pursue his real 
dream of becoming a star. He’s 

still showing up to auditions, 
and the American people eat it 
up. They cheer for him, pray for 
him and want to see him win, 
because if he can make it big, 
maybe anybody can.

Killing 
“American 
Idol” 

basically kills the American 
Dream. The American Dream is 
more than just the go-to answer 
when you’re in an American 
literature class but haven’t read 
the book and the professor asks 
what “The Death of a Salesman” 
is all about. It’s the foundation 
of shows like “American Idol” 
and “The X Factor” and “The 
Voice,” shows that have fallen 
out of popularity to programs 
centered around the rich and 
the fabulous. It may be a stretch, 
but Americans still need to 
trick themselves into believing 
that anyone, no matter their 
background, can succeed. Just 
the existence of “American 
Idol” perpetuates this false 
reality that anyone can become 
whatever they dream to be, 
whether it’s a star, a CEO or a 
senator.

Is 
“American 
Idol” 
an 

elaborate propaganda machine 
used to blind Americans to the 
true societal barriers that keep 
us secured in our socioeconomic 
and cultural bubbles? Doubtful. 
It is more representative of a 
national culture that longs for 
hopeful stories of the home-
grown boy who made it big. 
And if reality refuses to give 
that to us, at least Ryan Seacrest 
always will.

The return of ‘American 
Idol’ & letting things die 

SAMANTHA DELLA FERA

Daily Arts Writer

TV NOTEBOOK

6A — Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

