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October 24, 2018 - Image 6

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of movies I intend to frequently
re-watch. I never took much to
e-readers or e-books and like
to read front to back a copy of
the New Yorker that comes to
my door every week (thank you,
Grandpa). Before I joined The
Daily, I would always pick up a
copy on my way up my dorm at
the end of the day. Call me old-
fashioned, but there’s something
about actually having a physical
copy of a piece of entertainment
or work of literature that helps

me to connect with it. I find that
screens create a distance between
us and the material we are trying
to engage with, or at least they
do for me. That’s why I’m against
media socialism. I live in fear of
the idea that one day, the only
place I will be able to find new
music is by paying $10 a month
to Spotify or, god forbid, giving
even more money to Apple. So
join me. Drag that song from
your iTunes to your iPhone. Pop
that CD into the player in the car.

Bust out a cassette tape every
now and then. You might find
yourself rediscovering an old
favorite, or finding new meaning
a song you’ve heard a thousand

times. You might also realize you
haven’t been missing anything
at all. In that case, no problem,
I’m sure Spotify will have a few
suggestions for you.

Spotify.
Pandora.
Apple

Music. What do these things
have in common? They are
all music streaming services
that
have
become
all
but

omnipresent
across
the

entertainment landscape. Hulu,
Netflix, Amazon Prime and the
forthcoming Disney streaming
service are gaining an ever
larger foothold on the way we
consume media. I try to avoid
taking part in any of it. Oh sure,
I mooch off my family’s Netflix
account and occasionally log
into my roommate’s HBO Go app
on my laptop, but when it comes
to music, for many years now,
I have done what most of my
friends are convinced is insane:
I’ve remained firmly rooted in
the past.

I have never had a Spotify

account.
Ditto
for
Pandora

or Apple Music. When I was
in
middle
school,
I
would

occasionally
dabble
with

Grooveshark, which to the ill-
informed was kind of like a free
Spotify before Spotify was a
thing (it was also totally illegal
and got shut down eventually),
but I never made the jump to
the trendier music platforms
that have come to dominate our
culture. There’s a very simple
reason for this, the same one I
give whenever I am questioned
on this point by any of my
understandably
incredulous

friends: I don’t believe in media
socialism.

There’s an analogy I like to

use whenever I end up on this
particular soapbox. Imagine a
world where there aren’t any

bookstores. The only way you
can read books is by going to a
library. Now imagine that public
libraries don’t exist. The only
libraries that are around are ones
privately funded and owned by
corporations that have become
increasingly
stringent
about

giving the authors of those books

the proper cut of the profits from
their work. These authors have
no choice but to go along with
this system because if they don’t
put their writing out through
these privately owned libraries,
then there will be no real way for
them to get it out at all. That is
the world that I believe we will
soon be living in with regards to
music.

What will I do if, say a decade

from now, I decide I don’t
agree with something that the
Spotify company is doing, or,
for whatever reason, I no longer
want to pay for the service and
decide to leave it? Suddenly, I no
longer have access to any music

from the past decade and a half
of my life, having not purchased
an album since around 2013.
I already feel trapped in the
technological prison of Apple.
In the past two years, both my
phone and laptop have broken
and have required replacement
and both times I felt forced to
pay a new Apple product even
though I felt strongly that I was
buying what was essentially an
inferior product to what I had
before (the lack of ports on the
new MacBook Pro is especially
detrimental to a film major’s
lifestyle). I fear that many of us
will soon end up in this same
trap with music.

I
still
download
songs

(or
albums
from
CDs
I’ve

purchased), load them onto my
iPhone and manually choose
what playlists and songs to listen
to whenever I leave class or go
for a run. Many have called me
insane. I can only get away with
this because I don’t listen to a lot
of modern music, so it’s not like
I’m constantly having to go out
and buy the new Travis Scott or
Kanye West album. Those people
might be right. But I don’t think
I’m entirely wrong either. Much
and more has been written about
how bad the move to streaming
is for artists, and while it
seemingly creates a more diverse
marketplace, it also minimizes
the number of outlets that
new music can be successfully
distributed through.

I’m a slow adapter. I still

frequently use my external disc
drive. I’m not at all opposed to
purchasing DVDs or Blu-Rays

By Tim Schenck
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/24/18

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

10/24/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2018

ACROSS
1 Vote to accept
6 Sincerely asks for
10 Vicki Lawrence
sitcom role
14 Harley owner
15 “This is __ a test”
16 Flower painted by
van Gogh
17 Roadblocks
19 Friendly
20 Win the affections
of
21 “__ lost!”
22 Mental flash
23 Be rude to
24 Doc’s org.
26 Good name for
many a tree-lined
street
28 Energy
29 Barely sufficient
33 “Unbreakable
Kimmy Schmidt”
co-creator Fey
37 Crossed (out)
39 Prepare, as
Romano
40 Womb-related
42 Crowd control
weapon
44 Part of TNT
45 Trace amount
47 Not tacit
48 Ledger column
50 Charlotte-to-
Raleigh dir.
51 Did nothing
52 Calypso-
influenced genre
53 __ of March
57 Minor argument
60 Baseball bat
wood
62 In the center
64 Airport idler
65 Gambles in a
church basement,
maybe
67 Golfer’s selection
68 Easy gait
69 Winemaker with
1900 acres of
vineyards in
California
70 __ a bell:
sounded familiar
71 Short-horned
bighorns
72 Lid inflammations

DOWN
1 Clerics in un
monastère

2 “Outlander”
novelist
Gabaldon
3 Gumbo pods
4 Salon jobs
5 Crosby, Stills &
Nash, e.g.
6 Fancy neckwear
7 Final stage of a
chess match
8 TV series with
choreographed
numbers
9 Word with metric
or merit
10 Wawa and
7-Eleven
11 Bone-dry
12 Attic pests
13 Topside,
perhaps
18 Cowardly
25 With 38-Down,
bar offering
found in each set
of circles
27 Big name
in small
construction
30 “Poker Face”
Lady
31 Needle case
32 Tear to bits
33 Sushi option

34 “For real?”
35 Brooklyn NBA
team
36 Captivating
38 See 25-Down
41 Greek letter
43 Support group?
46 Mold into a new
form
49 Paper clip
alternative
53 Senseless sort
54 Shabby

55 Sharp-eyed
hunter
56 Astringent
plumlike fruits
57 Prepare, as a
25-/38-Down
58 Prefix with graph
59 Neural
transmitter
61 Hoping for more
customers
63 Drops off
66 “Amen!”

Why I don’t believe in

“media socialism”

IAN HARRIS

For a band from Toronto,

Great Lake Swimmers gives off
a strong flyover country vibe,
an initial modesty that quickly
finds its voice. At The Ark on a
rainy Friday night, lead singer
Tony Dekker stood awkwardly
at the mic, his hands in fists
and stance unbalanced. Bassist
Bret Higgins wore abbreviated
cowboy
boots
that
barely

reached above his ankles. The
rest of the ensemble — Kelsey
McNulty on keyboards and
Erik Arnesen on guitar and
banjo — also exuded a midwest
humbleness in their presence.
Only
drummer
Marshall

Bureau added a showy, urban
energy to the stage. However,
once the band settled in, their
music pulled the audience
along for a great ride.

On tour for their new album

The Waves, The Wake, Great
Lake Swimmers stepped away
from
their
usual
acoustic

guitar-centered sound to a
more multi-instrumental taste.
The band often records albums
in non-studio locations like an
abandoned grain silo for their
debut Great Lake Swimmers
and a 145-year-old church for
The Waves, The Wake. As a
result, even with the acoustic

beauty produced in a venue
like The Ark, their live set
has trouble mimicking the
recording.

Still, Great Lake Swimmers

found
a
way
to
fill
the

space with the addition of
McNulty on keyboards. Her
stripped-down synth patterns
contrasted the more classic
folk guitars and bass, bringing
the band into a new era.
Although the band could not
transport a whole woodwind

section, they were clever in
how to adjust the set and
minimize gaps in the music.
Several songs began with a
solo instrument then added
different sounds, crescendoing
into a massive wave.

Despite their indie status,

Great
Lake
Swimmers

released
their
first
album

back in 2003 and have since
produced a steady stream of
EPs and records. Reliant on
the songwriting talents of
Dekker, Great Lake Swimmers
has been a constant presence
in
the
Canadian
folk-rock

scene, receiving nominations
for the Polaris Prize and Juno
Awards.
While
tracks
like

“The Great Exhale” from New
Wild Everywhere and “Zero
in the City” from A Forest of
Arms follow the traditional
songwriting
verse-chorus-

verse-chorus formula, other
tracks run off on tangents of
enchanting harmonization or
instrumental interludes. When
the band played “In a Certain
Way,” Arnesen’s banjo riff
alone could carry the song.

Great Lake Swimmers are a

hidden gem of folk rock music.
Although they are based in
Canada, their soulful rhythm
guitar
and
sincere
lyrics

radiate a Midwestern feel,
making the band right at home
in the Great Lakes state.

Great Lake Swimmers
own the midwest sound

MEGHAN CHOU

Daily Arts Writer

CONCERT REVIEW

NETTWERK

Although they
are based in
Canada, their
soulful rhythm

guitar and sincere

lyrics radiate a
Midwestern feel,
making the band
right at home in
the Great Lakes

state.

Heists have never felt so

heartwarming.

“The Old Man and the Gun”

provides the mostly-true story
of Forrest Tucker, a lifelong
criminal who escapes prison at
70 and begins a gleeful spree of
robberies again. He confounds
nearly everyone he encounters,
from a woman he falls in love
with
(Sissy
Spacek,
“The

Help”) to an amused detective
(Casey Affleck, “Manchester
by the Sea”) to dozens of
nervous bank tellers.

Director David Lowery (“A

Ghost Story”) outfits the film
with a nostalgic look and feel.
The picture is grainy enough
to feel as if the events not
only happened in another era,
but were filmed then too. His
camerawork is self-indulgently
goofy at times, with quick
pans
and
zooms,
invoking

the absurdity of the story
at hand, yet his style more
prominently features extreme
close-ups of his well-chosen
cast. The proximity to their
visages is not claustrophobic;
it’s endearing and emotionally
persuasive.

Perhaps
these
shots

work
well
because
every

performance in the film is

genuine
and
captivating.

Even those in the supporting
cast, including Danny Glover
(“Sorry to Bother You”) and
Tom Waits (“Short Cuts”),
never feel as though they are
acting. Each line of dialogue
feels fresh and spontaneous,

each idiosyncrasy smooth and
habitual. Above all, the film
oozes humanity, and that’s why
its impact is so memorable.

“Old
Man”
defies
the

abrasive tendencies in its genre
with admirable indifference.
It is among the few truly
“feel good” crime stories, not
forcing a viewer in with guns
and violence, but inviting them
instead with a pair of twinkling
eyes and an old-timey charm.

Those twinkling eyes, of

course, belong to none other
than Robert Redford, a legend
made iconic by his role as
the Sundance Kid. Not only
does Redford’s dry wit and

contagious
grin
hold
the

movie together, but makes it
believable too. A viewer might
ask themselves, “Would I really
hand over money to a man
who never showed me that he
had a gun?” And upon seeing
Redford’s confident charisma,
the answer is inarguably: Yes.

A recurring point of humor

in the movie is the way that
Tucker
smiles
politely
at

the people as he robs them,
making them feel at ease as
they hand over bags of cash.
But the expression is as much
a descriptor of Redford’s witty
charm as it is the audience’s
reaction to the robberies — not
trepidation or urgency, but
glee.

For
all
these
enjoyable

moments, the film purviews
a
gentle
appreciation
and

not much else. Lowery aims
for a pure, untainted ode to
Redford’s
legendary
career,

and
that’s
not
necessarily

a bad thing. But when the
narrative momentum picks up,
the genuflection overrides any
possibility of tension from the
audience.

The truth is, the film wraps

the viewer up so completely
within itself that the constant
encomium does not vastly take
away from the experience.
However, it prevents the film
from having a truly gripping

Robert Redford charms in
‘The Old Man and the Gun’

ANISH TAMHANEY

Daily Arts Writer

“The Old

Man and the

Gun”

Michigan Theater

Fox Searchlight

Imagine a

world where
there aren’t

any bookstores.
The only way
you can read
books is by
going to a

library. Now
imagine that
public libraries

don’t exist.

DAILY ENTERTAINMENT COLUMN

FILM REVIEW

FOX SEARCHLIGHT

6A — Wednesday , October 24, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

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