2 & 4 Bedroom Apartments
$1400‑$2800 plus utilities.
Tenants pay electric to DTE
Showings scheduled M‑F 10‑3
w/ 24 hour notice required
1015 Packard
734‑996‑1991
5 & 6 Bedroom Apartments
1014 Vaughn
$3000 ‑ $3600 plus utilities
Showings scheduled M‑F 10‑3
w/ 24 hour notice required
734‑996‑1991
ARBOR PROPERTIES
Award‑Winning Rentals in Kerry‑
town 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 $4300
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
FOR RENT
ACROSS
1 Sound from
Rover
4 Quite anxious
11 Canada’s most
populous prov.
14 Corporate VIP
15 Pudding choice
16 Canada’s least
populous prov.
17 Mess up
18 *Sci-fi energy ray
that grabs ships
20 Set of guidelines,
as for grading
papers
22 Big stretch of
time
23 Pay to play
24 Tattle
25 Cheer on
27 __ Moines
28 Hailed car
30 Sign before
Virgo
31 “Then what
happened?”
33 Sang 29-Down
35 Tattle
38 “Joltin’” DiMaggio
39 Puts in new film
40 “Dawg!”
41 Columnist
Landers
42 Sees right
through
43 Salt Lake City
athlete
44 Family cat, e.g.
46 In medias __
47 “Big Brother”
channel
49 Soda can feature
52 Yacht spot
55 Word of lament
for “poor Yorick”
56 __-pitch softball
58 The “U” in
“MVEMJSUN”
59 Small, influential
group ... and a
hint to the word
hidden in each
answer to a
starred clue
62 Suffix with ranch
63 “Norma __”: Sally
Field film
64 Witty remarks
65 ID on a W-9 form
66 Concorde, e.g.,
briefly
67 Martyred bishop
of Paris
68 “Ha! Told ya!”
DOWN
1 Taiwanese
laptops
2 Syndicated
sitcom, say
3 *Sci-fi classic
featuring Robby
the Robot
4 Top stories
5 Durable wood
6 Mental health org.
7 Beans go-with
8 *Vessels pulling
water-skiers
9 Budget, in
product names
10 Patriotic women’s
org.
11 *Sign outside a
new store
12 “That’s
awesome!”
13 Sometimes
egg-shaped
kitchen gadget
19 Diminish
21 Numbered rd.
26 Auto pioneer
28 *Unable to tell red
from green, say
29 Without company
31 “How to Get Away
With Murder”
actress __
Naomi King
32 “Smoking or __?”
33 French “his”
34 Tokyo, once
36 Word after op or
pop
37 Foot part
39 “Hud” director
Martin
45 Ultimatum word
47 Tender touch
48 Sports __
49 Socks from the
dryer, hopefully
50 Radii
neighbors
51 Fancy
neckwear
52 Vitamin prefix
53 Rehab center
staffer
54 Synchronously
57 “It’s her __”:
relationship
ultimatum
60 NFL playmakers
61 Cheat
By Evan Mahnken
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/03/18
04/03/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Zach Braff’s return to TV
completely disappoints
It has been eight years since
Zach Braff’s defining role as
goofy doctor J.D. on “Scrubs”
came to a triumphant end.
Since then, the New Jersey-
born actor and filmmaker has
turned his focus to movies,
including 2014’s “Wish I Was
Here,”
which
Braff
wrote,
directed and starred in. Now,
his focus has shifted back to
the small screen to take on his
first sitcom since the wildly
successful “Scrubs.”
Braff’s
new
show
“Alex,
Inc.” takes its inspiration from
the story of Alex Blumberg,
whose
successful,
real-life
podcast “StartUp” helped him
create
the
award-winning
narrative
podcast
company
Gimlet Media. Braff plays Alex
Schuman,
a
journalist
and
father of two, who quits his job
at an upbeat radio show to tell
the hard-hitting, interesting
stories he wants to tell.
The concept may sound very
niche and millennial, perhaps
even a little bit boring, but this is
Zach Braff we’re talking about.
This master of witty voiceovers
and quick asides could make
“Pawn Stars” into a cheery,
laugh-out loud thriller. Braff
brings positivity and quick
wit to every project he tackles.
And while in many cases that is
his greatest strength, it is this
show’s biggest weakness.
“Alex,
Inc.”
is
far
too
polished for the difficult topic
it tackles. This is a man in his
mid-thirties who just quit his
job spontaneously, without so
much as telling his wife Runi
(Tiya Sircar, “The Good Place”).
When he does inform her after
the fact, she is shocked for
about a minute before throwing
all of her support behind him.
Is it really so bad to see a spouse
supporting
their
significant
other? No, but “Alex, Inc.” fails
to do anything to address the
true weight of the decision that
Schuman is making, a move
that could potentially add some
depth to an otherwise two-
dimensional show.
Braff is still excellent in the
role, there’s no question of
that. But the dynamics of the
characters make it clear that
this is his show, and nobody
else’s. One of the reasons that
“Scrubs” was so beloved is
that while Braff was the star,
each supporting character had
their own distinct personalities
and storylines, which played
off
of
and
alongside
the
exaggerated
and
beautiful
buffoonery of Braff. In “Alex,
Inc.,”
the
supporting
cast
members are nothing more
than underdeveloped tropes.
Schuman’s producer Deirdre
(Hillary
Anne
Matthews,
“Dirtbags”) is essentially his
groupie,
while
his
second
cousin and business partner
Eddie
(Michael
Imperioli,
“Hawaii Five-0”) is nothing
more than an Italian Mafia
caricature who delivers the
occasional somewhat comical
line.
The
most
punishable
crime of “Alex, Inc.” is its
severe misuse of Sircar, who is
an incredible actress and plays
a likeable character reduced
to nothing more than her
husband’s cheerleader.
“Alex, Inc.” is too bubblegum
for adults, but too mature to
be a family show. It is clearly
focused
more
on
being
a
platform for an actor with as
big of a personality as Braff
than it is on telling its story
right or integrating its talented
cast well. While in “Scrubs,”
Braff was a key complementary
component to multiple well-
told stories, in “Alex, Inc.,”
he is the only story. The
show chronicles the birth of
a podcast, a medium that has
become revolutionary in today’s
entertainment industry. Yet the
beauty of podcasts come from
their ability to convey depth of
story and emotion, just through
words. “Alex, Inc.” fails to do
this even with pictures on their
side, leaving viewers to assume
that maybe some stories are
better left on the radio.
SAMANTAH DELLA FERA
Daily Arts Writer
ABC
“Alex, Inc.”
Series Premiere
Wed. 8:30 p.m.
ABC
DOOM’s latest is dynamic
Music changes; if it didn’t,
Gregorian
chants
would
dominate
Billboard’s
Hot
100 chart. Generation after
generation, old sounds are
phased out and new sounds
come to dominate as blends of
past-respecting influence and
future-forward
innovation.
With this trend, there is and
always will be a rift between
older listeners and younger
listeners — hence why your
Baby Boomer mom “doesn’t
get” Frank Ocean.
This contrast, as it pertains
to hip hop, is especially evident
on Czarface Meets Metal Face,
a
collaborative
project
by
Czarface (a trio pioneered by
Wu Tang Clan’s Inspectah
Deck including rapper Esoteric
and producer 7L) and MF
DOOM. Soaked in stripped
down, boom-bap beats and
clever lyricism, the album is
nearly indistinguishable from
dated projects like DOOM’s
Mm..
Food
or
Wu
Tang’s
Enter The Wu-Tang. It sounds
undeniably classic, despite its
2018 release, and makes evident
the extent to which rap has
changed over the past 15 years.
No autotune, no mumbling, no
booming bass. The production
is low-volume and crisp, and
the lyrical delivery is decisive
and comprehensible.
The premise of the album
is superhero-based: Czarface,
a self-described hero, recruits
Metal Face (a.k.a. MF Doom)
to be his “villain,” a clever play
on Doom’s famed Madvillain.
This loose plot provides some
structure and flow to the
album, but more so allows for
clever and entertaining skits
and sampling, augmentations
for which both the Czarface
trio and Doom are well known.
What
makes
the
album
especially interesting is the
dichotomy between sound and
lyrics. While the tracks act as
portals to the rap that used
to be, their lyrical content is
extremely current: The rappers
trade
musings
on
popular
culture with lines like, “It’s on
the tip of my tongue like Stan
Smith’s face,” and “Only time
you set-trip is when you binge
on Netflix.” When combined
with the album’s classic sound,
these modern lyrics make the
aforementioned evolution of
hip hop even more obvious.
The
nearly
40-year-old
Esoteric raps about modern
shoe trends and streaming
services, something one would
expect from the likes of Drake
or Travis Scott, but the music
sounds nothing like today’s
rap.
Now, I don’t want to indicate
a bias against or dislike toward
modern hip hop; I love and
appreciate trap rap and all of
its booms and mumbles. It’s
simply interesting that, when
placed in a modern context,
outdated
art
exposes
the
changing of the times. The
same could be said about Andy
Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych if it
were repurposed with the face
of Kim Kardashian or Johann
Sebastian Bach’s “Little Fugue
in G Minor” if Young Thug spit
a verse on top. With Czarface
Meets Metal Face, listeners are
reminded of where hip hop was
and where it is today.
MIKE WATKINS
Daily Arts Writer
Czarface
Meets Metal
Face
CZARFACE/
MFDOOM
Get On Down
‘Splitting Up Together’
is not worth your effort
I had high hopes that ABC’s
“Splitting Up Together” would
make me laugh, especially with
Ellen Degeneres as one of the
show’s
executive
producers.
And I mean really laugh — in
a way that’s greater than the
fake chuckle family comedies
normally elicit. But with an
overwhelming sense of “been
there, done that,” a couple lacking
on-screen chemistry and an all
too predictable plot trajectory,
“Splitting Up Together” mostly
falls flat.
Like
a
lighter
version
of
HBO’s “Divorce,” “Splitting Up
Together” follows Lena (Jenna
Fischer, “The Office”) and Martin
(Oliver Hudson, “Nashville”), a
recently divorced couple who
have decided, on behalf of their
children and extensive mortgage,
to remain living under the same
roof. Well, kind of. The plan
goes a little something like this:
Alternating weeks on and off
duty, one parent lives in the house
and takes on all the household
responsibilities, while the other
gets some much needed rest and
relaxation in the detached garage.
It sounds simple — and boy is
it. It’s just a disappointment that
almost every aspect of the pilot
is as one-dimensional and basic
as the premise. Each member of
the family is forced into a trope
so constraining and overused that
there seems to be little room for
character development down the
road. Lena is instantantly labeled
as the uptight, high-strung mom,
whose neurotic tendencies and
hypersensitivity are to blame
for the divorce. And Martin, on
the other hand, fully embodies
the
man-child
trope,
acting
as the cool dad who just can’t
seem to comprehend emotion or
communication.
As for the kids — well, the kids
are just bizarre. They somehow
seem unusually unphased by their
parents’ separation. Additionally,
they are bound by such rigid
stereotypes that they come off
more as caricatures of pop culture
trends than real, living people. The
oldest son, Mason (Van Crosby,
“Criminal Minds”), is nothing
more than a boy embarking on
the journey that is puberty. In the
first episode alone, his complaint
of
painful
balls
completely
consumes
his
already
short
moments of dialogue. The pair’s
fiercely feminist young daughter,
Mae (newcomer Olivia Keville), is
almost scarily expressionless, as
she sips tea from her “Male Tears”
mug and bashes her brother for
having a crush on Kate Upton.
And as for the youngest child,
Milo (newcomer Sander Thomas),
the only air time he has been given
is five seconds of looking cute.
Perhaps the most pressing
problem
of
“Splitting
Up
Together” is that it’s trying all
too hard to be funny. The pilot
felt strained, as though the actors
were pausing to let audiences
know that they had just said a
joke, and that you should laugh
now. While there were a couple
genuine sprinkles of pure comedy,
like when Lena accidentally texts
Mason with flirty messages, most
of the punchlines fail to deliver.
Among the cast, Jenna Fischer
was truly the only actor who
delivered a winning performance.
As Lena, she was convincing
and defined, and stood strongly
as the leader of the household.
But even then, I couldn’t help
but imagine her in her world-
renowned role as Pam from “The
Office” due to the characters’
shared use of witty humor and
quick insults. Alternatively, Oliver
Hudson was nice to look at, but
extremely bland and unappealing
as Martin. For a couple that had
been married for 10 years, there
was almost no chemistry between
the two of them — either romantic
as ex-lovers or argumentative as
newly divorced.
“Splitting
Up
Together”
has a seemingly low shelf life,
considering it is very likely that
Lena and Martin will eventually
try to rekindle their relationship.
Or, at the very least, the series
is sure to fall into the inevitable
loop of a “will they, won’t they”
storyline, which the show will
frustratingly milk for all it’s
worth.
“Splitting Up Together” is
meant to be a comedy, but divorce
is just not given justice for the
traumatic event that it is. It’s
possible the series is meant for
an older demographic that can
really identify with the trials
and tribulations of separation,
or
maybe
divorce
just
isn’t
conventionally
funny.
Either
way, “Splitting Up Together”
will easily get lost in the flood
of other network comedies, and
isn’t worth the hype that Ellen’s
signature provides.
MORGAN RUBINO
Daily Arts Writer
“Splitting Up
T
ogether”
Series Premiere
Tues. 9:30 p.m.
ABC
ABC
TV REVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
TV REVIEW
6 — Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com