6 — Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Arts
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By Lee Taylor
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/16/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
04/16/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2019
ACROSS
1 “The Big Bang
Theory” network
4 Uncertain
8 Peek at someone
else’s test
answers, say
13 River to the
Caspian
15 Where to find a
hero
16 Rental document
17 Opera songs for
one
18 Part of
19 Ready for action
20 Farewell
performance
22 Award-winning
sci-fi author __
Ellison
23 Chess match
finale
24 Summer camp
craft
25 Neuter
26 Squinter’s
wrinkles
30 Done with
employment:
Abbr.
32 Cathedral recess
33 Go off course
34 Lively Irish
dances
37 “Steppenwolf”
writer Hermann
39 Lyre-playing
emperor
40 “Much __ About
Nothing”
41 Broadway partner
of Rodgers
42 Reuben bread
44 Hidden danger
47 Honey-colored
51 Big rigs
52 Track’s inside
track
54 Songs of praise
56 Easy-peasy task
57 Sports stadium
58 Jellystone Park
bear
59 Actor Miller of
“Justice League”
60 Watchful period
61 Keen
62 Sets eyes on
63 Lawn-trimming
targets
64 Ballpoints
65 Banned
insecticide
DOWN
1 Used “colorful”
language
2 “Doctor My
Eyes” singer
Jackson __
3 Light lunches
4 Strong suit or
weak sauce
5 African desert fox
6 Criticize harshly
7 Yang
complement
8 Purify
9 Find out about
10 Keen-sighted
sort
11 Between ports
12 Seagull kin
14 Won’t go away,
as an odor
21 __-Coburg:
former Bavarian
duchy
22 Mooring rope
24 Foes of robbers
27 Many a reggae
artist
28 Corn serving
29 Romantic dinner
complement
31 “To clarify ... ”
34 Quick punch
35 Swearing-in
words
36 Big fat zero
38 Drops the ball
39 Formidable
opponents
41 Church books
with many notes
43 Sudden pull
45 Small skullcap
46 Connect to an
outlet
48 Drank to excess
49 Hardened (to)
50 Dinner, say
53 Corrosive
compounds
54 Cover with asphalt
55 Like the Mojave
56 Jackknifed into
the pool, say
58 Chatter
FOR RENT
Adapted from the memoir
“I’m Special: And Other Lies
We Tell Ourselves” by Ryan
O’Connell, “Special” tells his
semi-autobiographical tale of
life as a gay man with cerebral
palsy who is learning how to
live on his own. “Special,”
produced
by
Jim
Parsons
(“The
Big
Bang
Theory”),
distinguishes
itself
from
other shows about disabled
people right off the bat,
avoiding common tropes of
self-pity and the erasure of
romantic plotlines. It also
is one of the few shows
featuring a disabled actor
actually playing a disabled
character.
Like all new TV shows,
it takes a few episodes for the
show to find its stride. The
dialogue
is
initially
heavy
with unintentional awkward
silence in conversations and a
forced effort to be funny, but
gradually, the dialogue begins
to sound more realistic and
confident in its delivery. It’s
easy to binge, but it’s a shame
that the show ends right when
it begins to self-actualize.
There are several memorable
scenes
that
don’t
resemble
anything that’s ever been seen
on television. One of the most
daring scenes is when Olivia
(Marla Mindelle, “Kevin Hart’s
Guide
to
Black
History”),
Ryan’s boss, sets him up with
her cousin after hearing that
he was looking for a boyfriend.
Ryan agrees but is surprised
when he realizes that his
date is deaf. He says he can
“do better than a deaf guy,”
and Olivia immediately calls
him out for his internalized
ableism — the idea that societal
prejudices against the disabled
cause disabled people to loathe
themselves and others who fall
under the same category. On
TV, the most common narrative
arc for disabled people is their
constant internal conflict and
attempt to fit into society.
While Ryan experiences this
as well, the show delves deeper
into the complexities of how
being disabled doesn’t give
you a free pass to treat other
humans as lesser.
It
also
tackles
disability
from a mother’s perspective. In
media about disability, mothers
are often portrayed as strong,
impenetrable forces that live
solely to support their kids.
Although some moms embody
this
personality,
“Special”
recognizes the struggles many
parents face with empty nest
syndrome. Ryan’s mom, Karen
(Jessica
Hecht,
“Quantico”),
dutifully represents a mother
who has spent her whole life
acting as an on-call nurse
for both her son and her own
mother, who has dementia.
When Ryan leaves the house,
she wrestles with trying to
start up her own life again
whilst constantly worrying
about her son’s well-being.
Parents will be able to
resonate with her narrative,
which the show thankfully
never neglects throughout
the season.
Despite the show’s rough
start, “Special” flourishes
nicely into a unique and
rarely-seen representation of
the disabled and how their
struggles aren’t so different
from able-bodied people. As
aforementioned,
“Special”
ended right at what seemed like
the climax of the show, giving
Netflix even more incentive
for renewal if the impressively
fresh
plot
wasn’t
enough.
Seeing as true stories like these
hardly
ever
gain
attention
on
mainstream
television,
there are so many layers and
dimensions of disability the
show can bring to the surface
on a platform like Netflix.
Netflix’s ‘Special’ breaks
notions of disability, sex
SOPHIA YOON
Daily Arts Writer
TV REVIEW
NETFLIX
Special
Netflix
Season 1
Now streaming
I tried to like this movie. I
really, really did. I told myself
that
to
expect
perfection
from a romantic comedy is
absolutely
unrealistic.
And
even though I’ve been less than
impressed with Netflix’s past
ventures into the genre, “To
All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”
included, at least they had a
point, something they wanted
to say. Unfortunately, “The
Perfect Date” has anything but
a point. Underdeveloped and
uninspired in every possible
sense, “The Perfect Date” has
nothing to say. Because of this,
it is truly, truly terrible and
completely devoid of anything
resembling life.
The
movie
follows
our
protagonist Brooks Rattigan
(you read that right, Brooks
Rattigan),
played
by
Noah
Centineo (“To All the Boys I’ve
Loved Before”). Brooks wants
two things in life — one, to
attend Yale, and two, to change
the world. By some logic I still
don’t fully understand, Brooks
decides that developing an
app with his best friend that
connects him to local high
school girls who are interested
in renting his dating services
for money — which, by the way,
could only come across as some
kind of male power fantasy — is
his ticket into Yale.
His first client and eventual
love interest is Celia, played
by Laura Marano (“Austin and
Ally”), who I must say is one of
the more deplorable romantic
comedy
leads
in
recent
memory. Celia prides herself on
being “not like the other girls.”
She even says at one point,
“Just because I’m a little weird
doesn’t make me less human. In
fact, it makes me more human.”
Somehow, the movie thinks
that Celia’s “quirks,” such as
being an awkward dancer and
disliking high heels, equate to
her having a personality. Not
surprisingly, they don’t. Celia
is boring, dull and empty of
any substance, just like Brooks,
precisely because she is made
into a stereotype rather than
an interesting, fully-formed
human being.
As you may have guessed
at this point, “The Perfect
Date”
is
awful
primarily
because of its writing. Not
only is the script desperately
dependent on tired stereotypes
and
cliches,
including
the
conveniently
helpful
gay
best friend and the arbitrary
makeover scene that once again
reduces the character’s worth
to their outward appearance, it
chooses to incorporate several
unnecessary plot points that
are
never
elaborated
upon
fully. For instance, Brooks’s
mother left his family when he
was young to start another one
with someone else. While this
has the potential to be truly
intriguing and to give insight
into why Brooks is the way he
is, it hardly seems to affect him
at all. In fact, it’s mentioned
once or twice and then never
discussed again. While I could
suggest that the filmmakers
extend the movie’s somewhat
short runtime of just under an
hour and half to better develop
Brooks’s backstory, I have to
admit that I’m glad the movie
ended sooner rather than later
for my own sanity. Neither lead
delivers a particularly stellar
performance, but it’s hard to
blame them considering the
dialogue
they
were
given,
much of which is outright
hysterical: “I’m a gay teenage
pimp wearing a secondhand
hoodie … my life as I envisioned
it.”
All in all, “The Perfect
Date” is a charmless, instantly
forgettable addition to the
romantic
comedy
canon.
Watching the movie, I couldn’t
help but think back to another,
far superior Netflix movie
starring Noah Centineo — “To
All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
While that movie isn’t perfect,
it has substance. It has a soul.
On the contrary, “The Perfect
Date” is lifeless, with a script so
bad it’s almost condescending.
We know Netflix can do better;
“To All the Boys” proves that.
We must show Netflix that
we deserve better. To do this,
I highly recommend you skip
“The Perfect Date,” both for
your own sake and for the
future of the romantic comedy.
‘The Perfect Date’ is a
dull, distressing rom-com
ELISE GODFRYD
Daily Arts Writer
FILM REVIEW
NETFLIX
Perfect
Date
Netflix
Ace Entertainment,
Awesomeness Films
Vinitaly, Verona: The largest
wine exhibition in the world, a
vino lover’s heaven, a logistical
nightmare, an Italian cultural
celebration that is so grandiose
it is nearly impossible carry out.
Vinitaly is a festival spanning
four days filled with wine,
food, art and music in support
of the Italian wine community.
The fiasco is set in one of Italy’s
hidden gems, the city of lovers
and Juliet’s crumbling ancient
home base: Verona, Italy. This
is perhaps less of a festival
and more of a production. The
curtain goes up on day one,
bright and early as wine lovers
pour
into
the
fairgrounds,
longing to make connections
over young, punchy whites and
deep, thoughtful reds. For the
next 96 hours, the curtain does
not close. It is probably the only
event in the world that brings
together such a high volume
of
wine
makers,
vineyard
owners,
wine
buyers
and
importers, restaurateurs and
wine lovers in an amalgamation
of wine tasting, negotiations
and innovation surrounding
viniculture and the Italian
wine industry.
This is a place I could
disappear into.
I
had
the
pleasure
of
accompanying my father, a
restauranteur,
to
the
54th
Vinitaly festival this past week.
Verona, a place I had not been
since I was eight years old, has
aged hardly a day — her walls
and roads still boast strong
cobblestone and aged brick,
romantic as ever. Her nightlife
is hot, energetic, fashionable
and lively — pulsing brightly
into the early hours of the
morning. I remembered two
things of Verona from my
previous visit: The pigeons
and the people — both large in
number, the latter bashful and
subdued in the face of such
an outpour of attention from
tourists.
The first morning begins
with an uncertain, intangible
energy. The hotel we’re staying
in is filled with other festival
goers, and the whole city is
teeming — the air, bright and
crisp in the early days of Spring,
is awaiting something too. On
a taxi ride to the fairgrounds
from the hotel, we are told in
half-Italian, half-English that
we have to share the taxi we’ve
ordered with another party, as
the taxis are in high demand —
everyone in Verona today has
a common destination. In the
cab, we have our first strangely
ironic, authentic connection
of the day when we realize,
through no common language,
that we know our fellow cab
members through their famous
Italian vineyard. As we pull up
to the fairgrounds, we swap
business cards and promise to
come visit their booth at the
fair — a promise, I learned, that
is not easily kept once swept
up in the camaraderie and
commotion of the event.
Entering the fair is like trying
to fit a beast into a dog’s cage.
Thousands of people, elbows
extended, surging toward three
doors which open into a huge
clearing that is home to the ten
warehouses. Along with the
warehouses is a display made
of cork and flowers which
reads, “Vinitaly 54.” Welcome,
wine lovers — Verona has been
waiting. It’s 9 a.m. and the scene
inside the fair is utter chaos.
In Italian, lovers and friends
quarrel over which province
to visit first. Important men
in expensive suits carrying
leather
briefcases
beeline
toward their first meetings of
the day. Everyone is smoking
cigarettes, everyone is dressed
their best, almost everyone is
prepared to pace themselves
through a dreamy cycle of wine
tastings. Navigating by foldable
map and iPhone app, we begin
our journey through the world
of Italian wine, one wine glass
at a time.
Vinitaly, Verona
DAILY FOOD COLUMN
ELI RALLO
Daily Food Columnist
Read more at
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