By Bruce Haight
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/09/18

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

10/09/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2018

ACROSS
1 “Big Board” that 
lists GM and GE
5 Strauss of jeans
9 Scam using 
spam, say
14 Fireworks cries
15 Eye layer that 
includes the iris
16 Roman robes
17 How something 
precarious may 
hang
19 Love, to 
Casanova
20 Soft toss
21 “Out with it!”
23 List-ending abbr.
24 Diplomatic office
26 “No more for me, 
thanks”
28 Simon __
29 How a good 
comedian leaves 
the audience?
33 Farm layer
35 Lamp-to-plug line
36 Little mischief-
maker
37 Marisa of “My 
Cousin Vinny”
40 Asian New Year
41 Very unpleasant
43 “It’s __-win 
situation”
44 Clinton’s veep
46 Fifth scale note
47 Difficult time
50 Queries
54 Schlepped
55 Eats a little
57 “Verrrry funny”
59 Stem (from)
61 Opposite of “yep”
62 Overplay the part
64 Care
66 Career employee
67 New __: modern 
spiritualist
68 Rebuke from 
Caesar
69 Put off
70 Gridiron throw
71 Stinging insect

DOWN
1 Aristocrats
2 Grammy-winning 
cellist
3 “Not too __!”: 
“Good work!”

4 “To the max” 
suffix
5 Slyly attracts
6 “Brideshead 
Revisited” 
novelist Waugh
7 Wiener schnitzel 
meat
8 Words of 
confession
9 School 
fundraising gp.
10 Household skills 
class, for short
11 “Let me handle it”
12 __ Lee desserts
13 Canine 
command
18 Elevs.
22 Mideast 
chieftain
25 Arthur of tennis
27 Dictation pro
30 Like dessert 
wines
31 Ambulance pro
32 007, e.g.
34 Figure skating 
figure
37 Sticky subject?
38 Musical Yoko
39 Get sassy with 
someone

40 Import-export 
imbalance
42 “Sadly ... ”
45 Newspaper 
opinion page
46 Norelco products
48 Pointed beard
49 Baked potato 
topping paired 
with sour cream
51 Piano piece
52 Some big box 
stores

53 Clinched, and a 
hint to the four 
longest Across 
answers
56 “... and two if 
by __”
57 __ up: robbed
58 Parisian gal pal
60 Latvian capital
63 Blow it
65 “Do the __”: 
soft-drink 
slogan

Of all the fads that have 
come 
and 
gone 
societally, 
one of the more prominent 
cultural obsessions is the push 
for immersion in a world of 
DIY. From your own house, 
to your clothes, to the entire 
world of crafting, there really 
isn’t anything that we can’t 
somehow make for ourselves. 
A beautifully, and in most 
cases 
empowering, 
concept 
emerging from this hands-
on world is a completely new 
breed 
of 
self-motivators, 
spearheading 
self-activism 
and opening the world of “do it 
yourself” to the complex realm 
of 
cosmetics. 
With 
beauty 
blogs, 
tutorials, 
YouTube 
channels, Instagram accounts 
and even entire businesses 
dedicated to self-improvement 
— through not just cosmetic 
products, but beauty routines 
as a whole — an entire new 
concept fabricates itself from 
within the depths of DIY 
pitfalls. This world, practice 
— or rather, expectation — is a 
concept called aesthetic labor, 
and it’s changing femininity as 
we know it.
We’ve seen it on Vogue’s 
regular 
Instagram 
posts 
showcasing 
and 
promoting 
various 
celebs’ 
seemingly 
flawless makeup routines, and 
Glossier’s entire blog “Into the 
Gloss” rests not on the actual 
products, but rather aesthetic 
labor. As defined by Ana Sophia 
Elias in her book “Aesthetic 
Labor: 
Rethinking 
Beauty 
Politics 
in 
Neoliberalism,” 
aesthetic labor is the privilege 
that women have to take 
ownership over their beauty 
routines. It is more than just 
some Glossier Boy Brow or 
Covergirl mascara. It is the 
process, the labor of beauty 
as a whole. From a young age, 
girls are exposed to the world 
of cosmetics and expected 
to uphold societal norms by 
taking ownership over their 
routines in terms of their 
cosmetic choices and steps of 
their routines. In theory, this 
ability to build a routine seems 
easy, breezy and beautiful, 
but in a culture so heavily 
focused on self-improvement, 
the dedication to aesthetic 
labor 
becomes 
more 
than 
just a minute-long Instagram 
video, but a full-time job. 
A full-time job that, once it 
starts, the constant buzzing 
of 
beauty 
blogs, 
videos, 
channels, tutorials, magazine 
editorials, new and improved 
product lines, makes it nearly 
impossible to let go.
As more and more women, 
and young girls especially, 
dedicate themselves to the 
burden 
that 
is 
aesthetic 
labor, the link between the 
pressure to uphold aesthetic 
labor and femininity becomes 
ever-present. 
With 
the 
constant watchful eye of DIY 
culture and social constructs 
reminding us that there are 
never enough changes we can 
make to our appearances to 
achieve true beauty, aesthetic 
labor 
suddenly 
becomes 
a 
crucial aspect of a woman’s 
femininity. In other words, to 
be a woman is to be an aesthetic 

laborer, a hunter for the latest 
and 
greatest, 
an 
upholder 
of routine, a user of the best 
products. The only problem? 
To 
be 
the 
best 
aesthetic 
laborer is to be inhuman. It is 
practically impossible to keep 
up with DIY culture, to obtain 
the perfect routine. Yet women 
are deemed less feminine for 
failing to put enough work 
into their routines, and for 
not 
taking 
ownership 
and 
bettering their appearances, 
because as society likes to 
remind us, we are never good 
enough 
and 
cannot 
make 
enough changes and choices to 
our beauty regimes to embody 
perfection. And this, this is 
where the vicious cycle starts 
all over again.
Especially 
with 
the 
emergence of Instagram as a 
platform of social media, the 
feeling to aspire for a perfectly 
effortless routine and lifestyle 
is 
ever 
present. 
Countless 
profiles 
saturate 
Instagram 
with 
regular 
postings 
of 
photos and videos of products, 
various makeup looks and just 
the day-to-day lives of the 
account owners. With so many 
of these accounts on one’s feed, 

it is nearly impossible for viewers 
to escape the constant reel of 
content and comparison from 
these accounts. Account owner 
Huda Kattan runs @hudabeauty, 
a page featuring tips for all 
things cosmetics, with regular 
video 
routines 
showing 
extensive 
contouring, 
fake 
lashes, bright eyeshadow and 
skincare techniques, to name 
a few. Kattan also regularly 
posts photos of her extensive 
makeup 
collection, 
packed 
with name brand products 
conveniently laid out on her 
Louis Vuitton makeup bag.
In theory and on paper, 
it seems obscene that a few 
photos and videos could hold 
so much weight in society for 
women ascribing themselves 

to the philosophy of aesthetic 
labor. But in a world revolving 
so much around materialism 
and 
looks, 
aesthetic 
labor 
thrives on the social media 
scene’s 
overwhelming 

properties. Because aesthetic 
labor is always changing, it 
preaches for us to find the 
latest and greatest, to always 
assume that we can be better. 
So naturally, following one 
beauty 
Instagram 
account 
simply will not do. To keep up 
we follow not only our favorite 
blogger’s 
pages 
but 
also 
brands like Benefit Cosmetics, 
Glossier, 
Lush 
Cosmetics 
and Birchbox, adding up to 
a large percentage of daily 
Instagram 
scrolls 
to 
be 
overtaken by routines, new 
products and more photos of 
Kattan’s perfectly contoured 
face, Glossier’s perfect new 
packaging for Coconut Balm 
and 
Rihanna 
effortlessly 
glowing while explaining her 
10-Minute Guide to Going Out 
Makeup for Vogue.
Although all different in 
exteriors and makeup choices, 
what 
unites 
these 
women 
and accounts is how they are 
socially constructed. Because 
Kattan has a specific routine 
including her own makeup 
brand, because the women 
on 
Glossier’s 
account 
are 
incorporating 
Cloud 
Paint 
and Lash Slick into their 
looks, because Rihanna has a 
different routine for going out 
than day to day, they are all 
considered feminine. These 
women are working to better 
themselves, their appearances, 
they are laboring working to fix 
the flaws society has told them 
that they have, yet making it 
look effortless. And for that, 
they 
are 
considered 
truly 
feminine women. They are 
trying new products, keeping 
up with what’s on trend in the 
cosmetics world and posting 
about 
the 
labor 
they 
are 
putting into their routines. 
And for what in return? For all 
this work, society deems this 
body of women to be beautiful.
The only issue with this 
is that the aesthetic labor 
portrayed 
through 
social 
media especially is so far 
from effortless. And while 
the videos, posts and brands 
make it seem as though it’s 
OK to have a routine unique 
to yourself, there are always 
consequences. Whether you’re 
wearing too much makeup, not 
enough or if you’re not up to 
speed on the latest cosmetics 
trends, there is literally no 
right answer. Yet, as women, 
we are still expected to work 
away at our routines and 
appearances, to be aesthetic 
laborers 
and 
neoliberals, 
because this is what it means 
to be feminine. With social 
media as our overseer and 
constant reminder that there 
is always something more to 
strive for, the vicious cycle of 
dedication to aesthetic labor 
never ends. It is as unending 
as it is unrealistic, something 
that we as women may never 
exactly know what it means, as 
we curate our Instagram feeds, 
purchase our Glossier and stay 
in the know on cosmetic blogs, 
all completely unsure of just 
how far from easy, breezy and 
beautiful this lifestyle is.

Aesthetic labor and the 
changing of femininity

MARGERET SHERIDAN
Daily Arts Writer

GLOSSIER

STYLE NOTEBOOK

As more and 

more women, 

and young 

girls especially, 

dedicate 

themselves 

to the burden 

that is aesthetic 

labor, the link 

between the 

pressure to uphold 

aesthetic labor 

and femininity 

becomes ever-

present

When Michael Cera first 
burst onto the scene almost 
two decades ago, he played 
almost exclusively nerdy and 
whiny, nasal-voiced dweebs. No 
character better encapsulates 
this than George Michael Bluth 
from “Arrested Development.” 
I have a firm belief that you can 
trace the entirety of Michael 
Cera’s career as an almost direct 
parallel to how the character of 
George Michael is portrayed. 
Cera has gone from the pedestal 
of innocence, to the embodiment 
of strangely dickish and cool, 
to a young man-child who has 
perhaps overstayed his welcome 
and now it’s not entirely clear 
what is next for him. 
In 
the 
early 
days 
of 
Michael Cera and “Arrested 
Development,” 
both 
were 
quirky, well-loved and a wee 
bit indie. Cera went on to star 
in “Superbad,” “Scott Pilgrim 
v. the World” and a number of 
other popular comedies, his 
celebrity status slowly rising. 
Simultaneously, Jason Bateman, 
Will Arnett, Mae Whitman and 
other “Arrested” alumni began 
to make it big in multiple facets 
of the entertainment industry. 
Netflix users discovered and 

binged the early seasons of 
“Arrested Development” and 
clamoring for a revival slowly 
reached a fever pitch.
It’s 
2013. 
“Arrested 
Development” returns in a new 
format with a new Michael 
Cera. In the intervening years 
since the show went off the air, 
Cera had grown up and become 
“cool,” appearing as a parody of 
himself in the raunchy comedy 
“This is the End” and redefining 
the role of George Michael Bluth 
as a suave (but still bumbling) 
college 
student 
who’s 
now 
knocking 
up 
his 
Euro-zone 
hookup and sleeping with a 
woman who’s also dating his 
father. This version of George 
Michael still has the youthful 
charm of young Michael Cera but 
now also includes the irony of 
the fact that that youthful charm 
has now slightly grown up. 
This is the transitional Michael 
Cera, the liminal Michael Cera, 
the Michael Cera that you still 
trust despite some feeling deep 
within your soul telling you 
that doing so is a huge mistake. 
This 
version 
of 
“Arrested 
Development” 
was 
similar. 
Some loved it, some didn’t, most 
people shrugged their shoulders 
and said, “Hopefully next time it 
will be better.” 
Cut to 2018. Michael Cera 
is now bordering age 30 and 

appearing 
in 
Aaron 
Sorkin 
movies 
as 
Tobey 
Maguire. 
“Arrested 
Development” 
is 
back for another go around 
except this time it is mired 
in 
controversy 
surrounding 
Jeffrey Tambor’s alleged sexual 
misconduct and the male cast 
bumbles their way through one 
of the cringiest New York Times 
interviews in recent memory. 
Everything from “Twin Peaks” 
to “Roseanne” to “The Last Man 
Standing” is getting revived. 
Donald Trump is President. The 
days of pining over new episodes 
of “Arrested Development” are 
a distant memory. If anything, 
most fans of the original show 
are now helplessly hoping they 
never have to watch Jessica 
Walters break down in an 
interview because of the way 
her co-stars are acting ever 
again. Michael Cera being in 
love with his cousin just isn’t 
funny anymore, not when both 
are old enough to have kids of 
their own. This is the final stage 
of Michael Cera. The moment 
when the bitter taste of nostalgia 
comes back to bite you in the ass 
and leaves you wondering what 
it will be like when a 70-year-
old Michael Cera is hitting on 
a similarly aged woman who’s 
been rejecting his advances since 
they were 11. Still laughing? I 
sure hope not.

The arrested development 
of Michael Cera’s career

IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Writer

NETFLIX

6 — Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FILM NOTEBOOK