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By Gary Cee
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
11/28/18

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

11/28/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2018

ACROSS
1 Mary Oliver, e.g.
5 Tweak
11 Obliterate in a 
flash
14 Prefix with 
sphere
15 Self-moving 
vacuum
16 “I __ you one”
17 High-tech 
classroom
19 Starchy grain
20 Bygone Persian 
rulers
21 Long-jawed fish
22 Present
23 Fighter at the 
Olympics
27 Man-horse hybrid
30 Synagogue 
reading
31 Country between 
Vietnam and 
Thailand
32 Quaint 
contraction
34 Type of coffee or 
whiskey
37 Congressional 
statute
38 Military IDs ... or 
what 17-, 23-, 51- 
and 61-Across 
have
41 Life highlights, 
briefly
42 Moby-Dick, e.g.
44 Hula strings
45 Pungent quality
46 Rice dish
49 “The Shawshank 
Redemption” 
extras
51 Court long shot
54 __ hog
55 Org. whose 
returns were 
never sales
56 Get to
60 Trellis climber
61 Astute attorney
64 Golf peg, or 
where it’s used
65 Long cold spell
66 Image in a 
botanical print
67 Make a typo, say
68 Litter box visitor
69 Pre-Easter 
season

DOWN
1 D.C. influence 
gps.
2 “However,” in 
tweets

3 “Handsome, 
clever, and rich” 
Jane Austen 
character
4 Headwear with 
tails
5 Works on walls
6 Stag’s mate
7 Longtime 
Univision news 
anchor Ramos
8 Two dots above 
a vowel
9 Pizza chain in 
many food courts
10 Bar bill
11 Madagascar!, in 
the Bronx
12 In the know
13 Pan in Neverland
18 Inst. with the fight 
song “On, Brave 
Old Army Team”
22 Frost
24 Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. 
(Death of 
__-Tune)”
25 H.S. subject that 
covers all the 
angles?
26 Jewish ritual
27 Jaguar’s weapon
28 Individually
29 “Fat chance!”
33 “The Simpsons” 
disco devotee

35 Locale
36 Soil-clearing 
tools
38 Mark for 
omission
39 Related
40 Well-mannered 
man
43 Made up things
45 Reveal 
everything
47 Individually
48 Draw a blank
50 Nothing but

51 Done to death
52 Float in the air
53 Actor Oscar __ of 
“Star Wars: The 
Last Jedi”
57 Pulitzer-winning 
author James
58 Close-knit group
59 Test by lifting
61 Backtalk
62 Alternative to JFK 
or EWR
63 Perfecta or 
trifecta

SERVICES

Classifieds

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

Way before that guy in your 

English class discovered NPR, 
audio entertainment had been 
amusing audiences for decades. 
While today it seems everyone 
and their mother has a podcast, 
the renaissance of the art form 
is a revival of the old time 
radio technology on which it is 
based. The rebranding of radio 
programs as podcasts is the best 
thing to happen to the medium 
since it was replaced by television 
back in the ’50s. Podcasts today 
have occupied every realm of 
entertainment that radio once 
had a monopoly on: There are 
dramas 
like 
“Serial,” 
news 

programs like The New York 
Times’s “The Daily” and even 
comedy shows like “WTF with 
Marc Maron” and “2 Dope 
Queens.” Podcasts have most 
certainly declared themselves 
the second golden age of radio 
and more importantly, I would 
say, the second golden age of 
radio comedy.

The Golden Age of Radio 

was a time period in American 
entertainment lasting from the 
1930s until televisions entered 
nearly 
every 
home 
in 
the 

country by the mid 1950s. Back 
in the day, families gathered 
around the radio weekly to tune 
into 
beloved 
comedy 
shows 

like “The Goldbergs” or “The 
Aldrich Family.” Like podcasts 
today, these shows survived on 
advertisements, but instead of 
ads for Blue Apron and Gillette, 
they were sponsored by Camel 
cigarettes 
and 
Pepsodent. 

Many comedies in the radio age 
were episodic and situational. 
“Abbott and Costello” used the 
medium for clever wordplay 
and endless puns to crack up 
listeners 
everywhere. 
The 

original “Funny Girl,” Fanny 
Brice, portrayed the silly young 
girl Snooks Higgins on “The 
Baby Snooks Show,” sometimes 
called “Baby Snooks and Daddy.” 
Bob Hope — usually recognized 
for hosting the Academy Awards 
a record number of 19 times 
and 
earning 
five 
honorary 

Oscars — was a massive part 
of the radio industry. For his 
64-year broadcasting run he was 
closely associated with NBC. 
He performed everywhere from 
Broadway to US military bases. 
On Hope’s show he had celebrity 
guests like Al Jolson, Jack Benny 
and Doris Day. A comedian in his 

own right, Hope’s show, “The 
Pepsodent Show Starring Bob 
Hope,” was wildly popular. The 
show boasted some 15 writers, 
including a young Sherwood 
Schwartz who would go on to 
create “Gilligan’s Island” and 
“The Brady Bunch.”

While 
much 
of 
radio 

comedy and radio in general 
was superseded by TV in the 
’50s, one very important radio 
comedy show made itself known 
in the peak of TV’s reign in 
the early 1970s. It ran weekly 
sketches and musical parodies 
from 1973 until 1974. That show 
was “The National Lampoon’s 
Radio Hour” starring the likes 
of John Belushi, Chevy Chase, 
Bill Murray, Gilda Radner and 
Harold Ramis. Like the Lampoon 
itself, the show was chock full of 
controversial and crude material, 
making it difficult to keep 
advertisers. The radio hour was 
even cut down to half an hour 
after 13 weeks. While the show 
only lasted a year, its alumni 
went on to change the history 
of comedy. Most of the alumni 
went on to work at “Saturday 
Night Live,” the show’s creator, 
Michael O’Donoghue was even 
head writer at “SNL” for its first 
three seasons.

Today, 
the 
selection 
of 

podcasts is, to put it lightly, 
overwhelming. 
Comedy 

podcasts are no exception, as 
there are hundreds of pods 
out there with the chief goal 
of making you chuckle on your 
morning commute. Earwolf — 
a podcast network part of the 
Stitcher family — is putting out 
some of the best comedic content 
thanks to the genius of comedy 
podcast king, Scott Aukerman. 
The comedy writer and improv 
master 
started 
the 
podcast 

“Comedy Bang! Bang!” under 
the name of “Comedy Death-

Ray Radio” in 2009. The show is 
an improviser’s dream as it runs 
on witty rapport and impressive 
character work. It is goofy, 
weird and sometimes downright 
bizarre, but always hilarious. 
Featuring special guests every 
week, “Comedy Bang! Bang!” 
never 
fails 
at 
keeping 
our 

attention. Some of my favorite 
recurring guests include Jason 
Mantzoukas 
(“Big 
Mouth”), 

Paul 
F. 
Tompkins 
(“Bojack 

Horseman”), 
Lauren 
Lapkus 

(“Crashing”) and Nick Kroll 
(“Big Mouth”). Aukerman and 
his business partner launched 
Earwolf 
in 
2010; 
now, 
the 

network hosts over 35 different 
comedy 
programs 
including 

Paul Scheer’s “How Did This Get 
Made?” and Jonathan Van Ness’s 
“Getting Curious.” Aukerman 
has also recently launched a 
podcast with Adam Scott of 
“Parks and Recreation” fame. 
The show in question, formerly 
known as “U Talkin’ U2 To Me?,” 
is now called “R U Talkin’ R.E.M. 
RE: ME?” The hilarious pod was 
previously devoted to delving 
into the discography of the rock 
band U2 and has now shifted its 
focus to the band R.E.M. — they 
have amazing banter that makes 
you wish you could be in the 
studio with them.

If you want to get into 

humorous podcasts but fear 
the incessant banter of improv-
based 
and 
character-focused 

pods of Aukerman fame, have a 
listen to my personal favorite, 
“My Dad Wrote a Porno.” The 
British show is hosted by James 
Cooper, Jamie Morton and Alice 
Levine. Each episode, Morton 
reads a chapter from his father’s 
self-published series of erotic 
novels, “Belinda Blinked.” Every 
moment is a cringe-fest verging 
on tears from laughter. The three 
friends tear apart the novel with 
hilarious running commentary, 
making the most uncomfortable 
moments of the highly sexual 
erotica laugh-out-loud funny. 
The pod is now on their fourth 
season, 
as 
Morton’s 
father 

continues to publish his work, for 
which we are eternally grateful. 

The art of radio comedy is 

alive and well with the plethora 
of comedy podcasts in our midst; 
the only thing left to do now is 
to get listening. And with that, 
Dear Reader, I bid you happy 
listening! 

Oh my pod! The new radio 

comedy golden age

DAILY HUMOR COLUMN

BECKY 

PORTMAN

Just a little over a week 

before dropping their long-
awaited album A Brief Inquiry 
into 
Online 
Relationships, 

The 1975 released the music 
video for “Sincerity is Scary.” 
Departing from the moody, 
jazz-influenced 
pop 
sound 

of 2016’s I Like It When 
You Sleep, For You Are So 
Beautiful yet So Unaware of 
It, their sophomore effort 
ABIIOR seems destined for 
a more uplifting and radiant 
resonance 
with 
singles 

such 
as 
“Give 
Yourself 

a 
Try” 
and 
“TOOTIME 

TOOTIMETOOTIME.” 
However, “Sincerity is Scary” 
fits the bill in a different 
fashion.

Whereas 
The 
1975’s 

most recent videos veered 
more 
towards 
abstract 

visuals, “Sincerity is Scary” 
tells 
a 
story. 
Classically 

misanthropic, 
danceable 

and a bit condescending, the 
video mimics the song on an 
acoustic and aesthetic level. 

The visuals take a turn from 
the fluorescent pinks and 
blues we would expect from 
The 1975, and the first scene 
features a disheveled Matty 
Healy in a completely white 
room, the only exception 
being 
his 
navy 
forearm 

tattoo that reads “WEAK 
MESSAGES CREATE BAD 
SITUATIONS.” The camera 
then pans to a black-and-
white piece of art on the wall 

before landing on a vivid 
urban scene. From then on, 
Healy takes to singing in the 
streets and adapting to the 
various dance scenes and 
street illusions he encounters 
throughout 
his 
leisurely 

stroll.

While 
seemingly 
unfit 

for a song about a difficult 
relationship, 
the 
music 

video suits the narrative in 
its capacity to foster a fun, 
upbeat energy in the face of 
the various difficulties Healy 
faces throughout it. Though 
characteristically 
pedantic 

and corny in its delivery 
and aims, it showcases The 
1975’s undeniable strength 
in generating an appeal and 
sound that is genuine and all 
their own. 

- Diana Yassin, Daily Arts 

Writer

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘SINCERITY 

IS SCARY’

INTERSCOPE RECORDS

“Sincerity is 

Scary”

The 1975

Interscope Records

Self-help goes beyond the 
self in Havrilesky’s essays

I love the genre of self-help. I 

love its relentless optimism, its 
fundamental belief in our ability 
to cultivate positive change 
and the way it encourages 
us to see ourselves as active 
participants in our lives rather 
than as victims. In an age of 
overwhelming anxiety, I love 
being told that the problems 
of the world are simple and 
individual, and that if only I 
were to meditate / journal / pray 
more, I would be able to insulate 
myself against universal human 
emotions 
like 
fear, 
anger, 

insecurity and loss.

But I don’t entirely trust 

self-help, 
for 
exactly 
these 

reasons: its oversimplification, 
its insistence that we exorcize 
our 
uncomfortable 
emotions 

and the way it puts the onus for 
change on the individual rather 
than on the society. The “self” 
in self-help is important, even 
essential, but in a world where 
we are hyper-connected — our 
circumstances largely dictated 
by power structures beyond 
our control — it can’t be the 
whole story. Don’t we have a 
responsibility at some point to 
stop navel-gazing and help the 
world around us too?

Heather Havrilesky’s latest 

collection 
of 
essays, 
“What 

If This Were Enough?” does 
exactly 
that, 
directing 
the 

introspective and philosophical 
tools 
of 
self-help 
not 
only 

at the individual, but at the 
society at large. Havrilesky’s 
project is simple in theory, 
but fascinatingly nuanced in 
practice: to diagnose our shared 
cultural 
values, 
anxieties, 

obsessions and illusions in order 
to better understand the way 
they influence our individual 
emotional landscapes.

The essays in this collection 

are richly layered, emotionally 
evocative and often profoundly 
funny. Havrilesky focuses mostly 
on popular culture as a medium 
for our shared preoccupations, 
and moves nimbly between 
analytical investigations of what 
our cultural artifacts tell us 
about our priorities and deeply 
personal reckonings with how 
those priorities infiltrate our 
psyches.

In “The Smile Factory,” she 

explores how the phenomenons 
of Disney and Buzzfeed have 
created a culture of obligatory 
cheerfulness 
and 
constant 

distraction. In “The Land of 
Heroic Villains,” she connects 
our narrative fascination with 
antiheroes to the elevation of 
figures like Harvey Weinstein 
and Donald Trump. In “The 
Popularity 
Contest,” 
she 

analyzes how the numbers game 
of social media has warped the 
way we evaluate our own worth. 
Other essays, like “Adults Only” 
and “Playing House,” take a 
more personal turn, recounting 
Havrilesky’s own experiences 
with hard-earned wisdom and 
haunting vulnerability.

Pulling together all these 

loose threads is Havrilesky’s 
overarching 
emphasis 
on 

mindfulness and gratitude — 
not in the shallow, gimmicky 
ways these terms often get 
thrown around in the rhetoric 
of self-care, but as the only 
logical remedies for a sick 
culture. 
She 
encourages 
us 

to be more cognizant of the 
ways we’ve internalized our 
society’s poisonous values and 
assumptions, 
and 
crusades 

against distraction, asking us 
to look closely at our difficult 
experiences 
and 
emotions 

rather 
than 
pathologically 

turning 
away 
from 
them. 

Havrilesky’s 
insistence 
that 

we face this darker side of our 
humanity might come across 
as depressing if it wasn’t such 
a refreshing change from the 
enforced perfection we so often 
experience, and if it wasn’t 
balanced with an unrelenting 
compassion 
for 
our 
shared 

humanity.

Again and again, she comes 

to the conclusion that the 
only way for us to live full, 

meaningful lives is to do what 
we can with what we have, 
to live for the present and to 
“embrace the conflicted nature 
of humankind.” Ultimately, she 
writes, “We have to rediscover 
how to navigate each day. We 
have to learn how to embrace 
the imperfection of the present 
moment and accept the wide 
range of experiences that fall 
between happiness and sadness, 
success and failure, true love 
and 
hatred, 
popularity 
and 

invisibility.” 
Only 
when 
we 

release our belief in perfection 
and get comfortable with that 
uncomfortable 
middle-ground 

will we be able to see that 
what we have right now, in this 
moment, is enough.

JULIA MOSS
Daily Arts Writer

BOOK REVIEW

“What If 
This Were 
Enough?”

Heather Havrilesky

Doubleday

Oct. 2, 2018

Don’t we have a 
responsibility at 
some point to stop 
navel-gazing and 

help the world 
around us too?

6A — Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

