Thursday, April 16, 2020 — 6
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Throughout
my
self-isolation
during the COVID-19 pandemic,
I’ve had a limitless amount of time
to read books, do schoolwork and
finish household chores. However,
instead of doing literally any of those
activities, I’ve mainly just lounged
around and taken this newfound time
to myself to sample different kinds
of local, domestic and international
beers. Luckily my adventures in
brew tasting have run in tandem
with the series premiere of “Brews
Brothers” on Netflix. My scraggly,
quarantine-induced whiskers were
feeling just a tad more fashionable as
this new comedy series dives into the
misadventures surrounding two anal
retentive brewmaster siblings.
Wilhelm
Rodman
(Alan
Aisenberg, “Orange is The New
Black”) is the owner and founder of
Rodman’s Brewing Company in Van
Nuys, Los Angeles. He has a passion
for brewing despite the fact that his
business is slowly tanking. In order
to keep his brewery alive, he needs
to win over the satisfaction of a local
keg distributor. Much to his surprise,
Wilhelm finds his adopted brother
Adam “Oxy” Rodman (Mike Castle,
“Clipped”) at his doorstep offering
to help save the brewery. We quickly
learn of the brother’s long history
of dispute when Wilhelm punches
Adam right in the face as soon as he
sees him. Wilhelm explains to his
employees that he and his brother
had a falling out years ago when
he intentionally sabotaged Adam’s
brew during a competition in order
to win. “Oxy is short for oxidation,”
he explains to his crew. “Oxidation
destroys beer … and Adam destroys
everything.”
Wilhelm allows his brother to join
the team, though begrudgingly, given
the fact that Adam is an unhealthy
craft beer fanatic to the point of
banning customers for wanting to
order “something like a Bud Light.”
He reveals to his brother that he
traveled to Los Angeles after being
exiled from Portland following a
public rant during a beer expo about
the overrated nature of IPAs. There’s
a brief cutaway gag to a scene of Adam
screaming “IPAs are what people
drink when they’re all out of good
ideas!” after having laced the expo
goers’ drinks with hallucinogenic
hops.
The gags in “Brews Brothers” come
often, and with mixed effectiveness.
Some land very well with the stooge-
like nature of Wilhelm’s brewery
handyman Chuy (Marques Ray, “Our
Footloose Remake”), who is confused
when he discovers that different
ways of making beer exist. Other
characters like Adam come across
as comedically valuable, but their
actual purpose in helping to save the
brewery remains unclear. At times, it
seems like Adam is actively seeking
to put his brother out of business
through his petty alehouse antics.
At the end of the first episode, as the
alcohol distributor becomes ecstatic
at the taste of one of the Rodman’s
newest craft brews, Adam reveals
that he purposefully urinated in the
drink to get back at Wilhelm. When
the distributor asks for 20 kegs of the
same beer, Wilhelm and Adam are
left at a crossroads, confused as to
how they will possibly replicate the
taste given that it’s a) human piss and
b) their only hope.
“Brews
Brothers”
is
a
web
series meant for a small audience
of millennials who probably enjoy
making
their
own
microbrews
at home. The series comes from
the minds of very capable and
experienced comedic writers such as
producer Jeff Schaffer, creator of the
“Seinfeld” Festivus pole. While some
of the comedy can be quite cringey or
even outright disgusting, it’s fun to
see how Netflix producers venture
into new storylines that border on
both the niche and the absurd.
‘Brew brothers’ is for IPA lovers
MAXWELL BARNES
Daily Arts Writer
TV REVIEW
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
On music during quarantine
KATIE BEEKMAN
Daily Arts Writer
Three weeks ago, the Internet
collectively rejected a pitchy celebrity
cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Spearheaded by actor Gal Gadot, the
star-studded clip was meant to uplift
fans and promote unity. Instead, it did
the opposite. With many Americans
losing their jobs and loved ones, the last
thing people want is millionaires’ pity.
The question for entertainers, then, is
what would actually be helpful? Artists
at all levels of the music industry have
responded with different approaches.
In lieu of the press and performances
that make up a typical album release
cycle, many artists (including The
1975, Willie Nelson and HAIM)
have delayed releasing new music
altogether. Sam Smith not only pushed
back their album’s release date, but
also decided to change its title, as it
was originally titled To Die For. Lady
Gaga’s highly anticipated comeback
has been postponed as well. In an
announcement to fans, she explained
that Chromatica, which was expected
on April 10, was supposed to be
launched alongside a secret Coachella
set.
Artists’ hesitation about releasing
new music in a time of crisis is
understandable.
I’m
reminded
of
Kesha’s 2012 single “Die Young” which
swiftly exited US radio playlists in
the wake of the Sandy Hook school
shooting. In a similar vein, hyperboles
like Smith claiming their album is “to
die for” would certainly be interpreted
differently in the middle of a pandemic.
These delays in new music amid
COVID-19 shed an interesting spotlight
on the importance of spectacle in the
music industry. In her announcement,
Lady Gaga acknowledges music’s
healing power, but remains unwilling
to contribute to that process by making
Chromatica available. I don’t intend to
diminish the fundraising Lady Gaga
has engaged with in the meantime, but
the strategy involved in her decision-
making is obvious. Moments like
the now-canceled Coachella set are
meant to bolster a curated image, an
image used to perpetuate more sales
and streams. This equation is just as
important as the music itself. Of course,
Lady
Gaga’s
image-building
has
always been intrinsic to her artistry. It
wouldn’t be a Lady Gaga album launch
without a few outrageous outfits,
evocative performances and a smart
business strategy.
Still, many artists have proceeded
by releasing music as scheduled. For
example, Selena Gomez dropped a
deluxe edition of her latest record
Rare on April 9, but not without an
explanation. In an Instagram post
she reassured fans that, despite
the cheekiness of her new single
“Boyfriend,”
having
a
boyfriend
“is nowhere near the top of (her)
priorities.”
For
the
most
part
though,
quarantine has actually meant giving
fans access to more music than usual.
Dolly Parton’s actions represent the
less tech-savvy approach to providing
extra access. On April 10, she added
six of her previously inaccessible
albums to all streaming services.
Garth Brooks, notorious for keeping
all of his music offline, has opened
up his catalogue by hosting the TV
special “Garth and Trisha Live” with
wife and fellow country singer Trisha
Yearwood. Countless other musicians
of all genres and degrees of popularity
have made their music more available
in a less conventional way: livestream
concerts.
In addition to putting their concerts
online, many singers have taken the
opportunity to put more of themselves
online too. Lately, my Instagram feed
has been full of Q&As, screenshots
of Zoom songwriting sessions and
sneak peeks into the production
process. One trend is to participate
in
the
#unreleasedchallenge
or
#demochallenge.
These
call
for
a
snippet
of an unreleased demo, along with its
backstory, to be posted on social media.
Velveteen Dreams:
Quarantine Edition
STYLE COLUMN
SAM KREMKE
Daily Style Columnist
I
was
really
hoping
that
writing, and creative projects in
general, would come easily as my
self-imposed hermiting became
mandated. As it turns out, you can’t
force anything under conditions
like this, but I’ve been privileged
enough to use this time as an
opportunity to reframe how I think
about productivity. Over the course
of my high school and college
years, I’ve become the reigning
king of the last minute essay,
the late assignment, the barely
pinching things together through a
frenetic stream of unconscionably
disorganized, strung-out bursts
and looseleaf papers. The crux of it
all hinged on feelings of self-blame
that
perpetuated
themselves,
resulting in seemingly endless self-
handicapping and self-fulfilling
prophecies. I would take time for
myself, but it was rarely, if ever,
directed toward something that I
actually wanted to get out of that
time. It would take the shape of
mindlessly consuming content,
playing a game with myself about
how I could start what I needed
to be doing in 5 minutes, OK 15
minutes, OK maybe I’ll try to
go to sleep and do it early in the
morning. 10 a.m. comes and goes.
For me, creative work rarely leaves
the idea stage, but I feel like I’ve
been given a rare opportunity to
break that pattern. One of the silver
linings of watching the world fall
apart in isolation is that the notion
of guilt that comes along with the
rigor of a structured schedule just
evaporates. By being a little bit
more deliberate about how I use
my time and doing my best to fall
backwards into the ever present pit
of self-judgment, those same ideas
are swimming about and they’re
ready to cross over to dry land.
The last time I felt anything
akin to this, I was living at home
and commuting to Washtenaw
Community College. I had decided
that my initial choice of 4-year
institution,
Columbia
College
Chicago, wasn’t the right fit for
what I wanted out of my higher
education. I moved back into
my parents’ house in Northville,
Mich., began working at the salon I
went to in high school, and did my
best to reconnect with old friends
that were going to Wayne State at
the time, but this year-and-a-half
long period felt a lot like limbo.
This isn’t a treatise on the pain of
loneliness or feelings of general
decay, in fact I feel grateful for
figuring out how to be on my own.
What struck me as curious about
this little situational parallel that
I’ve drawn is that both times I’ve
found myself deep in a wonderland
fantasy
spiral
of
complete
fragrance obsession.
There’s
a
deeply
personal
element of smell that lends itself to
escapism. It’s inherently attached
to memory and to visual ideas that
can only really be accessed through
the mind. All sensory experiences
are personal, but scent seems to
tie everything together in a way
that nothing else can. I embarked
on my descent into the crevasse
not entirely by choice; a google ad
for D&G Dolce and Gabbana #3
(L’imperatrice) popped up during
one of my aimless internet romps,
and it reminded me of when I had
a bottle of it in middle school. My
parents took my sister and I to
Las Vegas for spring break when
I was 13 and, unbeknownst to me
then, it was one of the first times
I let myself explore something
that wasn’t expressly intended
for men. It smelled like kiwi
and watermelon, which for the
fragrance world is a weird combo.
It would be classified somewhere
in the unisex, fruity Gourmand
category, which denotes fragrances
that smell like things you can eat.
Generally not something I would
look for in a fluid that’s meant to
be sprayed on my body — the idea
of smelling like a kiwi does not
exactly spark a sense of allure. But
I loved it, and every time I used
it, it made me smile. I remember
putting on my neon yellow and
blue plaid Abercrombie & Fitch
shirt and my Versace wraparound
sunglasses (YIKES), spraying on
my D&G #3 and feeling like I was
on top of the world.
That’s the magic of fragrance,
for me. I love that a particular
smell, or the mere visual reminder
of one, can immediately take
you back to a different place in
time, or even unlock parts of your
imagination that aren’t necessarily
tied to any one part of your personal
history. They’re sentimental and
imaginative, and while sensuality
and sexuality are well-ingrained in
the experience of smell, they’re so
much more than that. A great scent
is no less than any other work of
art, often incorporating hundreds
of natural and synthetic materials,
pairing
them
in
carefully
calculated concentrations with
one another according to their
molecular weight and vibration, in
order to create a deeply intimate,
conceptual experience from the top
note to the drydown. I’ve decided
to devote a lot of my time during
these next few weeks (potentially
months) to sharing my experiences
and ideas about fragrance publicly,
through
writing,
styling
and
creating a Youtube channel (also
a potential yikes) to share the joy
that I’ve found with others.
Without further ado, below are
descriptions of a few scents I’ve
worn over the years and some
of the experiences I’ve had with
them. If you’re new to the world
of fragrance and want to give it a
try, I highly recommend reading
reviews and descriptions online,
as well as looking into different
types of scents and the effects that
they’re supposed to have. Biologist
and perfume critic Luca Turin
has also published some highly
informative
and
surprisingly
funny books on the subject.
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
‘Brews Brothers’
is a web series
meant for a small
audience of
millennials who
probably enjoy
making their
own microbrews
at home