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By Roland Huget
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/18/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
04/18/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Thursday, April 18, 2019
ACROSS
1 Onetime capital
of the Mughal
Empire
5 Pop star
9 Idea, at times
14 Apparently are
15 Bering Sea port
16 Center for Auto
Safety co-founder
17 Part of the
supreme Hindu
trinity
18 Penny pincher
20 Trooper’s outfit?
22 Moan and groan
23 Knot used to take
up slack
26 Garden nuisance
30 Prof.’s helpers
31 Overly
32 Fill with affection
34 Relax completely
37 Like lambs and
rams
38 Amorphous sci-fi
beings, and a hint
to what’s hidden
in the four other
longest answers
41 Pizzeria allure
42 Refreshers
43 Snapper?
45 Chinese
restaurant
general
46 The Mighty
Mighty Bosstones
music genre
49 One logging on
50 Prankster’s
weapon
54 Miniseries based
on a Haley novel
56 Sucked (in)
57 Project wrap-up
62 Voice quality
63 Old saw
64 Throw off
65 Poetic black
66 Ins and outs, with
“the”
67 Like yellow
bananas
68 Slight damage
DOWN
1 Give a hand
2 “Memoirs of
a __”: Arthur
Golden novel
3 Musical shows
4 Floor
5 Business mag
6 Self-critical cry
7 Seamaster
watchmaker
8 Come to know
9 Clouseau’s rank,
briefly
10 Rock the boat
11 Periodontist’s
org.
12 Come down
with
13 Long starter,
once
19 Toll road
21 Passing muster
24 Footprint maker
25 Raise on a
pole
27 Many an oil-rich
ruler
28 Many ages
29 Death Row
Records
co-founder,
familiarly
33 “You’re way over
the line”
34 Tantrum while
playing Xbox
35 Old conductance
unit
36 Ice cream buys
38 Mmes., in
Madrid
39 House-shaped
browser button
40 School group
41 Puncture prefix
44 Each
46 Disco light
47 Passionate about
48 Passionate
51 Upper regions of
space
52 “Likewise”
53 Blabbed about, in
a way
55 World Cup
cheers
57 Go __: succeed
58 Rite answer?
59 Short snooze
60 Bit of a draft?
61 Côte d’Azur
saison
HAPPY thursday!
enjoy the sudoku
on page 2
Last
Thursday
evening
I went out to the Michigan
Theater with some friends
to
see
the
19th
annual
M-agination
film
festival.
After some quick hellos, we
all took our seats and waited
on the films to start. Having
been aware of the production
of several of these projects
throughout the year, I was
excited to see the results.
The first short film that
came on was a James Bond
parody entitled “Icebreaker,”
written and directed by LSA
junior and Daily Arts Writer
Ian Harris and Engineering
senior Charles Rivkin. The plot
comprised of an evil genius
business-frat dude trying to
rid the world of icebreakers
because he never knew what
to say for his fun fact. The film
relied heavily on poking fun at
Greek life and privilege, among
other University of Michigan
memes. It would have marked
a nice, light-hearted note to
begin the festival on if many
of the films to follow didn’t
fall victim to the same trite
nature.
Another short entitled “Cut
Throat,” written and directed
by LSA freshman Macy Goller,
detailed the life of a chef who
had never used a knife, only
to discover that her finger,
which she chopped off, was
the secret ingredient to the
ziti recipe her father had
been looking for his whole
life. Although it was clear
from the start it wasn’t meant
to be taken seriously, it was
an attempt at exaggeratedly
corny humor that could have
been done by middle schoolers.
Its nonsensical plot wasn’t
compensated for by likability
or humor.
Before I continue, I’ll make
this clear: I’m in full support of
M-agination’s mission. Giving
students
the
equipment,
advice and platform to realize
an idea they never would have
gotten to convey otherwise is
an important aim. Plenty of us
have ideas for films, scenes,
lyrics or drawings in our
iPhone’s notes that will never
pan out. M-agination provides
the
opportunity
for
these
seeds to blossom.
On Thursday night, though,
I saw few flowers. The films
mostly all shouted, “We were
just having fun making this!”
While they were intended
for a wider audience, they
only seemed to land for those
in the audience who had
participated in their making.
I’m not putting down groups of
friends who were just having
fun doing something creative,
but that shouldn’t have been
the only objective here.
I know these were all shorts,
but you should be able to say a
lot more in a five minute short
than you ever could in a five
minute speech. A picture is
worth a thousand words, so
what’s a film worth with the
added temporal dimensions
of speech, music and an ever-
changing picture? A select
few films followed the English
class’s golden rule: “Show,
don’t tell.”
One film that attempted to
do so was “Detour,” written
by Stamps sophomore Shira
Baron and LSA sophomore
Elizabeth Wilson. In it, two
friends go on a road trip in
which they run out of gas and
are forced to take a detour to a
gas station. This inconclusive
plot serves as a metaphor for
the lead character’s search for
her sexuality, as all she knows
for certain is that she’s not
straight.
Another film that marked
a slight improvement in the
festival’s second half over the
first was “What If?” written
and directed by LSA sophomore
Sophie Underwood. In it, a
girl’s inner monologue plays a
third character on a first date,
constantly posing pessimistic
“what if…?” questions until the
girl finally asks herself, “so
what if...?” and gains some self
belief. Although the date itself
isn’t convincing, the film’s
message was more important
than most.
Maybe the only film that
kept me immersed throughout
was
“What
is
and
What
Should Never Be,” written
and directed by LSA juniors
Andrew Hullman and Colin
Farmer. A band performs in
a house of secret Carly Rae
Jepsen admirers in an effort
for one of the housemates
to impress an indie girl. The
clash that ensues between
artsy boys and basic boys
and “high” and “low” art is
well-shot and paced, avoiding
dwelling on moments of bad
acting, scripting or set design
that kept me constantly aware
of the production of the other
films.
Given
that
M-agination
cuts most scripts it receives,
these films probably lost their
effectiveness at other points
in the process. While having
fun usually brings out the best
in us, this kind of creativity
was regrettably nowhere to
be found on Thursday night.
Ironically enough, the films at
the M-agination Film Festival
largely lacked imagination.
M-agination Film Festival
is not that imaginative
BEN VASSAR
Daily Arts Writer
‘CHopstix (ft. Travis
Scott)’
ScHoolboy Q
TopDawg Entertainment
SINGLE REVIEW: ‘CHOPSTIX (FT. TRAVIS
SCOTT)’
First came a couple of
ear-grating
early
demos
featuring
Kendrick
Lamar
that leaked last September.
Then a delay from the slated
April 4th release in light of
Nipsey Hussle’s unfortunate
passing. Finally, ScHoolboy
Q’s
“CHopstix,”
featuring
Travis Scott, dropped last
Monday. The final version
is easier on the ears than
the leaks, but it’s already a
candidate for 2019’s most
disappointing singe.
With a producer as
talented
as
DJ
Dahi
chopping up the beats
(pun
intended),
a
good
track
is
almost
guaranteed. But this beat
is shockingly stale — a
catchy sample is all it has
going for it. It lacks the
wacky
creative
drumwork
staple to a Dahi beat (see
Drake’s “Worst Behavior” or
Logic’s “Never Enough”). In
the current hip-hop landscape
where just about every artist
has
top-notch
production
behind them, a lackluster beat
murders all replayability.
Then there’s the case of
the Travis Scott effect. When
Scott sings a hook or verse
for a song, it suddenly turns
into a Travis Scott song, and
the original artist becomes a
guest on their own track. The
rapper has taken many high-
profile victims: 2 Chainz on
“4 AM,” Drake on “Portland”
and Lil Wayne on “Let It Fly,”
to name a few. It doesn’t have
to do with the quality of a song
— all of the aforementioned
tracks are certified slappers.
But the Travis Scott effect
isn’t just in full swing on
“CHopstix” — the hook is
boring and sounds like a filler
track that didn’t make the cut
for Astroworld.
Lyrically there is nothing
to say. ScHoolboy Q compares
a girl’s legs to chopsticks.
That’s it. No classic Q fire, no
classic Q grit. Chopsticks are
cool to use for a metaphor, but
in the historical context
of
the
West’s
weird
fetishization
of
Asian
women
as
exotic,
the
comparison to a girl’s legs
is vaguely off-putting. It’d
probably slide as one line,
but as the basis for the
song, it’s a bit off-kilter.
After
the
absolute
banger
that
was
last
month’s
“Numb
Numb
Juice,”
ScHoolboy
Q
set
the
bar
high
for
his next single. All the
momentum was in his hands.
But “CHopstix” is Q dropping
the baton. There’s no telling
now if his upcoming album
CrasH Talk will be golden or
garbage.
— Dylan Yono, Daily Arts
Writer
TOP DAWG ENTERTAINMENT
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
On Apr. 16, 2018, Kendrick Lamar’s
DAMN. was named the winner of the
2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music. This
seemingly momentous choice sent
shockwaves throughout the music
world.
Up until 2018, the Pulitzer Prize for
Music had been restricted to classical
music. Though the prize is intended for
a “distinguished musical composition
by an American that has had its first
performance or recording in the
United States during the (previous)
year,” it had previously been awarded
exclusively to contemporary classical
music composers and the occasional
jazz composer. To many, it was the
height of American “art music” — a
guaranteed teaching position at a high-
paying university and a publishing deal
with a major sheet music publisher.
Some would even argue that it
has traditionally been restricted to
the more well-established areas of
contemporary classical music, all but
avoiding Minimalism until the late
1990s. It had only been awarded to
three jazz composers prior to 2018,
and never any composers of other
“popular” forms of music.
But many assumed that the 2018
prize spoke to a new era of the Pulitzer
Prize for Music. Reactions around the
music world varied, from the pride of
the larger public for the newfound
diversity of the prize to the fears of
the contemporary classical music
community at the loss of an important
prize.
The reactions to the 2018 prize were
divided, some in the contemporary
classical music world mourning the
(presumed) loss of this important
prize while the larger American public
applauded the diversification of this
notoriously insular award.
And even within the contemporary
classical music world, reactions to this
decision were largely divided along
generational lines, with many young
composers (such as the year’s other
finalists) celebrating Lamar’s win even
as older generations feared the loss of
this important award.
Personally, while I feared the
effects that the loss of this award might
have on contemporary classical music
as a whole, I was also excited to see a
prominent award confidently embrace
other genres besides classical music. It
spoke to the rapid integration of rap
and hip-hop into the larger American
cultural lexicon and the dissolving
barriers between genres.
For the first time since the rise of
the professional orchestra, it seemed
as though the hierarchical boundary
between “art music” and “popular
music” had no effect on the jury
as they considered the recipient of
the award. This was not the first
instance that the Pulitzer Prize had
gone to a significant work of hip hop
— that distinction belonged to Lin-
Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” the
winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for
Drama. But in this instance, Lamar’s
DAMN. was considered alongside
Michael Gilbertson’s string quartet
“Quartet,” and Ted Hearne’s five-
movement cantata “Sound from the
Bench.” His work of hip hop was
considered against these two works
of traditionally notated contemporary
classical music and found to be the
most musically compelling work of the
year.
Nearly everyone seemed to assume
that this marked a new era of the
Pulitzer Prize for Music. Few seemed
to think that the award could possibly
return to the realm of contemporary
classical music after this bold decision
by the jury.
But on Monday, the 2019 prize
was was awarded to Ellen Reid for
“p r i s m,” a “bold new operatic work
that uses sophisticated vocal writing
and striking instrumental timbres to
confront difficult subject matter: the
effects of sexual and emotional abuse.”
The other two finalists were also
works of art music: James Romig’s
solo piano work “Still” and Andrew
Norman’s orchestral work “Sustain.”
Given the response that last year’s
prize warranted, I assumed that this
choice would be met with significant
media attention. The award, after all,
had been criticized last year for never
having previously ventured outside
of contemporary classical music. And
yet few outside the contemporary
classical music world seem to care
about this year’s prize.
The coverage of this award in The
New York Times is most telling in
this regard. They ran an article on
Apr. 11th about the 2018 award and
the contemporary classical music
community that was “upended” by
this decision. But on Monday, when the
award was announced, it warranted
little more than a short feature in the
classical music section of the paper.
The more that I have thought about
this decision by the prize to return
to contemporary classical music, the
less that I have understood it. I had
taken the previous year’s award to be
indicative of where the award would
move in the future. I assumed that
the prize would continue to judge
between all different types of music,
not merely works of contemporary
classical music.
The 2018 award, however, now
seems a strange anomaly — a brief
interruption, if you will — from the
award’s consistent commitment to
contemporary classical music. And in
both the classical music world and the
larger music-consuming public, this
seems incredibly unsatisfactory.
In the classical music community,
the decision to award Lamar the
award sapped some of its career-
making power. It seems to no longer
connote
instantaneous
academic
success, and many have shifted their
focus in this regard towards other
American classical music awards.
And among the larger public,
the reversion back to contemporary
classical music undercuts much of
the musical diversity that many took
from Lamar’s win. Statements about
the unexpected diversification of the
“art music” and the collapse of musical
hierarchy from 2018 seem cheap and
disingenuous after the jury reinforced
this hierarchy in 2019.
Last night, I texted a friend of mine
for her thoughts. She’s a music major
but she doesn’t study composition —
while she was aware of Lamar’s win
in 2018 she was unaware of this year’s
winner.
When I texted her that Ellen Reid
had won for “p r i s m,” she responded
with something that caught me totally
off guard. “A WOMAN,” she wrote.
While my friend was happy to
see that the prize was awarded to a
woman, the potential significance
of this had not yet occurred to me.
This award, after all, has already
been awarded to seven other women.
Though it was groundbreaking when
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich won the prize
in 1983, the past ten years have seen
unexpected gender parity: five female
recipients and five male recipients.
And though I may struggle to
understand the jury’s decision to once
again consider purely contemporary
classical music for this award, I remain
encouraged by gender parity that my
friend identified. Classical music, after
all, has proven notoriously resistant to
widespread diversification efforts.
And in my personal struggle to
come to grips with Lamar’s win, I had
lost touch with the bigger picture. I
had become so focused on the cultural
implications of Lamar’s win that I
failed to see the Pulitzer for what it is:
a $15,000 prize awarded annually by
a few randomly selected composers
and performers. And in the greater
music world, it matters little. It is
the inclusion of new works to this
homogeneous classical music canon,
I now realize, that must be celebrated,
whether they be works of hip-hop or
works by female composers.
Musing about Pulitzers
DAILY COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
SAMMY SUSSMAN
Daily Community Culture Columnist
6 — Thursday, April 18, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com