6A — Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Jared Tamarkin
(c)2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/22/20
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
01/22/20
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, Janury 22, 2020
ACROSS
1 Construction
guideline
5 Pitfalls
10 Bible book that
chronicles the
conversion of
Paul
14 Rake prong
15 Soprano Fleming
16 Fluctuate
17 500 sheets of
paper
18 “I’m on __!”
19 Access, as
a computer
program
20 Combat
23 Characterized by
24 Provide parenting
for
27 Art Deco icon
28 Compel to land,
as a plane
32 Massage
therapist’s
employer
34 Penn. neighbor
35 Handling the
situation
36 Lilly of
pharmaceuticals
39 Coffee cup
insulators
42 Texting format,
for short
43 “Boogie Nights”
actor Reynolds
45 Night school
subj.
46 Fashion plate
48 Red or white unit
51 Put one over on
54 Islamic
denomination
55 Oregon city near
the mouth of the
Columbia
58 Speaking
Spanglish, say ...
or a hint to what’s
hidden in 20-, 28-
and 48-Across
62 Competent
64 Suck-up
65 Afrikaans
speaker
66 Shiraz’s land
67 Make one’s case
68 Cupid’s wings
69 Anti-DUI org.
70 Tango moves
71 “This is for you”
DOWN
1 Guitar support
2 Missouri River
capital
3 Fill with affection
4 Fixes in place
5 Activist’s handout
6 Install new
shingles on
7 Quote book abbr.
8 Ill-gotten gains
9 Move for money
10 Guacamole
ingredient
11 Underwriting?
12 Roman three
13 Many a
crossword clue:
Abbr.
21 Ocean trenches
22 Fury
25 Enjoy the pool
26 Tonsillitis-treating
MDs
29 Former
“Entertainment
Tonight”
co-anchor Nancy
30 Make growl, as
an engine
31 Sheet music
symbol
33 Actor Baldwin
36 Goes back out
37 Humdinger
38 Like a rock-solid
contract
40 Language suffix
41 Start of
civilization?
44 Constantly
47 Bureaucratic
bigwig
49 Impersonated
50 On the injured list
52 Camden Yards
player
53 One-dimensional
56 Eye annoyances
57 Be on the same
page
59 Share-a-ride
pickup hrs.
60 Microsoft Excel
command
61 Compensation
62 Crossbow
wielder’s asset
63 Maidenform
garment
SUDOKU
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FOR RENT
WHISPER
“Kevin
takes 27
minutes to
write and
delete an
email.”
“Kevin
is out of
pocket!”
“Make a
sale,
Kevin.”
Release Date: Wednesday, January 22, 2020
In the first ten minutes of
“Clue,” writer Jonathan Flynn
(“My Cousin Vinny”) tells you
exactly what kind of movie
you’re in for. As Miss Scarlet
(Lesley Ann Warren, “Victor/
Victoria”) and Professor Plum
(Christopher Lloyd, “Back to
the Future”) drive up to the
mysterious mansion that serves
as the setting for the story, their
car stops near the gate. After
a dramatic flash of lightning,
Miss Scarlet asks, “Why has the
car stopped?” “It’s frightened,”
whispers
Professor
Plum.
Jokes like these demonstrate
that
“Clue”
is
not
only
a
whodunit mystery, but a film
that is eccentric, cheesy and an
overall delightful experience.
When
“Clue”
was
first
released theatrically in 1985,
I have to assume that people
were confused. Why, one might
ask, would someone take a
board game with no distinct
plot and turn it into a movie?
In the number of times I have
played a game of Clue, I have
never thought, “Man I wish
this board game had a full-
length feature film based on
it.” Yet, such a film exists and
has entertained, as well as
perplexed audiences for 35
years.
Every time I watch “Clue,” I
find it funnier than the last time
I watched it, as I pick up on the
crass jokes that went over my
head when I was younger. For
this reason, I was excited to see
that the Michigan Theater was
showing “Clue” as part of their
“Whodunnit
Wednesdays”
series this month.
The
film’s
premise
stays
true to the game, including
the same six main characters:
Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard
(Martin Mull, “Mary Hartman,
Mary Hartman”), Mrs. White
(Madeline
Kahn,
“Young
Frankenstein”),
Professor
Plum,
Mrs.
Peacock
(Eileen
Brennen,
“Private
Benjamin”)
and
Mr.
Green
(Michael
McKean, “This Is Spinal Tap”).
A semblance of plot is added
through additional characters,
specifically
Mr.
Boddy
(Lee
Ving,
“Flashdance”)
who
blackmails each character with
sensitive
information,
and
Wadsworth (Tim Curry, “The
Rocky Horror Picture Show”),
the
archetypal
butler,
who
brings the group together with
the intention of exposing Mr.
Boddy’s scheme.
Due to the limiting nature
of the source material, the plot
feels forced at times, filled
with heavy-handed attempts to
remind you that, yes, this movie
was based on a board game.
For example, when Mr. Boddy
hands each character one of
the iconic weapons from the
game (a rope, a wrench, a lead
pipe, a revolver, a candlestick
and a knife), we shouldn’t be
surprised that he is almost
immediately murdered.
Beyond
the
somewhat
ludicrous
plotline,
there
are a number of redeeming
qualities
that
make
“Clue”
truly enjoyable. The all-star
cast, for example, does an
excellent job using the witty
dialogue to their advantage
— Curry in particular, whose
rapid-fire
recreation
of
the
night’s events near the end
of the film is an incredibly
funny sequence that is made
all the better by the comical
music accompanying the scene.
Another is the costumes —
Miss Scarlet’s dramatic coat
and Mrs. Peacock’s bejeweled
cat-eye glasses add a touch of
extravagance and flair to the
film.
The real star of the film,
however, is its wit and dark
humor. There’s a reason “Clue”
has been a cult classic for so
long: It follows the typical
“Whodunnit”
format
while
filling
the
time
between
murders with physical gags,
clever
quips
and
satirical
subversions of the genre. If
“Clue” ignored the oddness
of its premise, it would have
been a movie that took itself
too seriously; instead, “Clue”
embraces everything that is
weird about it, and the effect is
delightful.
The zany glory of ‘Clue,’
more than 30 years later
FILM NOTEBOOK
FILM NOTEBOOK
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
When I was in middle school,
my introduction to music was
the Indie Rock Radio station on
Pandora. Up until that point, I
didn’t really put much effort
into finding new music to listen
to. I was either listening to
South Florida’s Number One
Classic Rock Station, 98.7 FM
- The Gator, or a compilation
of greatest hits CDs that my
parents
had
accumulated
throughout the years. When I
first learned about this thing
called indie music, I didn’t really
know exactly what the word
‘indie’ meant. I interpreted it to
simply mean less well-known,
or something along those lines.
It wouldn’t be for another few
years when I heard the word
used in front of other art forms,
like films and games, that I
would decide to look into the
actual meaning of the word.
When you google the word
‘indie,’ the search engine politely
tells you that the word, when
used as an adjective, means
“not belonging to or affiliated
with a major record or film
company.” When I first heard
this
definition,
I
interpreted
it to mean something similar
to what I now interpret DIY to
mean: independent. I thought
of albums put out by bands that
were only able to afford making
the album after playing at their
local bar dozens of times, or
maybe a small group of friends
helping out a community of
bands that they like in order
to promote and produce their
music.
But
later,
I
started
to
notice that this definition was
changing a bit. When I found
an older playlist put out by
Spotify of the top indie tracks
in 2015, I was a bit confused.
There
were
tracks
put
out
by bands that were signed to
multi-million
dollar
record
companies, which to me seemed
to go against the meaning of the
word indie entirely. Don’t get
me wrong, I’m not dismissing
the quality of that music at
all — Sufjan Stevens, an artist
that
I
greatly
admire,
was
pretty high up on that playlist.
It simply seems as though the
word indie has shifted from
referring to an independent
project to becoming a synonym
for alternative. Indie rock now
seems more like an offshoot of
alternative rock.
And now, it seems like this is
starting to happen, albeit slowly,
with the word DIY. Thankfully,
I haven’t heard of any band
signed to a record label that
began as a twenty million dollar
joint venture being referred to
as a DIY band. However, more
and more each day, it seems like
the adjective is thrown around
to describe the sound of bands
instead
of
the
background
of those bands. Bands with
a lofi, alternative sound are
increasingly being referred to
as DIY bands, regardless of
how much of the work they’re
actually doing themselves.
I’m
not
trying
to
be
a
gatekeeper of the word DIY
— I truly want as many people
as possible to be aware and
involved in the DIY community.
I don’t want to pretend to be
some sort of authority on what
is and isn’t DIY. I absolutely
don’t have the experience or
knowledge to make that claim,
and I don’t believe any one
individual does. What I do
know for certain is that this
community is important. The
passion
that
runs
through
the DIY community is truly
inspiring and is something I
hope everyone gets a chance to
experience. I just don’t want
DIY to be known for anything
besides that passion.
Learning from
the ‘indie’ trap
DAILY DIY COLUMN
KARI ANDERSON
For the Daily
Why, one might
ask, would
someone take
a board game
with no distinct
plot and turn it
into a movie?
RYAN COX
Daily DIY Columnist
The real star
of the film,
however, is its
wit and dark
humor.