The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
4 — Wednesday, April 6, 2022
“WAIT, WHY DO you look so familiar?”
Before I could even ask a question, LSA senior
Cam Turner was interviewing me instead.
I have to laugh because I know exactly why
I look so familiar to him — he was an RA in
my freshman dorm. It’s not the only thing
we have in common, either. We’re both from
the South, him from Georgia and myself
from Tennessee, and we’re both passionate
about the one thing that binds all Southerners
together: Waffle House.
“This all started with Dr. (Eric) Fretz’s
Entrepreneurial Creativity class,” Turner
said in an interview with The Michigan Daily,
“we needed a project … then that one kind of
stuck for whatever reason.” He’s referring to
Michigan Waffle House, the Instagram cam-
paign to “bring the state of Michigan its first
Waffle House franchise.” Turner is one of five
founding campaign members: Zach Simp-
son, Leo Samba — whom he called “the other
(Southerner)” — Harshith Vempati and Nikhil
Tangella round out the team. Back in the fall
of 2020, the five were charged with designing
a movement or campaign that solved an issue
on campus, and Michigan Waffle House was
born as a solution for two things: the absence
of a Waffle House in Michigan and the lack of
affordable late-night food on campus.
The movement exists largely on Insta-
gram, and it’s only grown since its concep-
tion. In December of 2020, the page had 650
followers, and at the time of the interview,
that number had grown to 1,180. When asked
about that growth, Turner said that “hitting
1,000 followers is like a milestone … that’s a
decent following.” The group has expanded
into selling merchandise (“waffledrip”), pro-
ducing Waffle House parodies of pop music
(“waffletunes”) and, most recently, hosting
Waffle Day in campus dining halls.
Waffle Day, the Waffle House–inspired
dinner at every dining hall on campus, was
“a fever dream” for the group. “It was initially
supposed to be only MoJo,” Turner said, “but
we were able to hype it up and get every din-
ing hall on campus.” Waffle Day included
waffles, topping bars and an assortment of
other breakfast foods all served in the dining
halls. The event was a huge success. “Turn-
outs were great … we’re spreading aware-
ness that we don’t have a Waffle House …
and people seemed to enjoy it,” Turner said.
Instagram posts captured lengthy lines and
large groups of students partaking in Waffle
Day, and it was promoted on the University’s
student Instagram page. Turner cited post-
ers around campus and social media as major
promotional tools for Waffle Day, adding that
these allowed students to “engage in some of
the hype that we’re trying to build.”
When asked what had been more crucial to
their growth, social media presence or events
like Waffle Day, Turner said that it was “100%
social media.” He referenced their popular
photoshopped pictures of celebrities wearing
Michigan Waffle House merch, which Turn-
er called “super effective in terms of repost
value,” and graphics and artwork inserting
Michigan Waffle House into various U-M
locations like the Big House. “It’s the language
of Gen Z,” Turner said about their use of social
media as the campaign’s primary catalyst. “So
we knew that that would be our main attack-
ing strategy.”
The strategy has been successful: Michi-
gan Waffle House has been featured on the
University’s Barstool page and reposted on
the University Instagram. The campaign’s
meteoric growth and endorsements have led
Turner and crew to consider pitching the idea
of a Waffle House in Michigan to the corpo-
ration itself and just how much of a role their
online presence would play in such a proposal.
“Social media would 100% play,” Turner said.
Referring to the artwork and parody celebrity
endorsements on their Instagram, he added,
“It’s kind of a cool, new form of marketing and
cool way of using our social media platform …
and as much fun as we’re having, we’re actu-
ally serious.” Turner said that “our goal this
year was just to make enough noise, to build
a bigger following so that … they can’t ignore
us.”
And because I am also a student and a self-
admitted nosy person, I couldn’t leave the call
without asking what score they received on
this project. “Not to brag here,” Turner said,
“but I think we were the second highest rated
project in the group. We did win people’s
choice award in the class, though, so that was
pretty cool. I think people really fell in love
with the freshness, and the newness and the
creativity behind it.” He was, as he had been
the entire call, spot on about how the Uni-
versity community has received Michigan
Waffle House.
“People want to be together,” Turner
added before we hung up. “And want to have
a similar thing that binds them together, and
for us, it would be waffles.”
LIKE FINDING A dollar bill on the
ground, like the rainbow after a sum-
mer afternoon rainfall, like the perfect
ointment to a wound that won’t heal; as
soft as a forehead kiss, as captivating as
a cloudless night sky, as soothing as a
spoonful of honey running down your
throat when that brief rainfall soaked
your clothes, and you caught a cold…
Holly Humberstone is all of that.
The pandemic turned days into nights
and nights into days, in what felt like an
endless cycle of nothingness. In those
monotonous months, I took the time to
dust off the shelves of my room — for
every book I picked up, I made sure that
the music playing in the background was
fitting. I found that Humberstone’s music
never necessitated me putting down my
book to skip a song.
Fast forward two years later, there I
was — second row, close enough to mouth
“thank you,” but far enough to still be a
fan among a predominantly young and
female crowd. On the 12th night of the “if
i could make it go quiet” tour led by girl
in red, Humberstone put on a show supe-
rior to that of the average opener. In the
heat of excitement mixed with excessive
clothing from a prolonged winter, I was
ready to sing along to every lyric.
The concert began with “Overkill,” a
song off of her first EP. In the confines of
a one-man setup, Humberstone emulated
the performance style of artists such as
Tash Sultana or Bon Iver. A pair of light
blue jeans, a ‘90s tee and a white Stra-
tocaster were enough to make Humber-
stone a magnet to the hundreds of eyes in
a sold out Majestic Theater.
The 22-year-old artist stunned the
crowd with every movement — swaying
gracefully between two keyboards and
three mics, blending the rawness of her
sweet tone with melodies distorted by a
vocoder in a manner evocative of Imogen
Heap. With the click of a pad, a backing
track became the ground from which the
seeds of her essence bloomed.
Lyrics pickled with a bitterness famil-
iar to adolescent heartbreak, friendship
fallout and self-found solace, Humber-
stone becomes the intermediary between
one’s unspoken thoughts and the comfort
of saying nothing at all. She writes songs
for someone else, yet you’re left with the
conviction that they could well have been
made for you. A perfectly tailored suit, a
minutely planned day, finally growing
into the shoes you inherited from your
older sister.
Humberstone went on to sing an unre-
leased song before explaining that she
had spent a nauseous, restless night after
eating a salad from a deli in Toronto.
Despite the incident, Humberstone’s
eight songs left the audience wanting
more.
To curb that hunger, she stated that
she would send a secret demo of an unre-
leased song titled “Room Service” to any-
one who messaged her on Instagram. A
link to a SoundCloud song with under
2,000 streams seemed not only a sweet
treat but also a good marketing strategy
— I am positive at least 50 of those are
mine, and it has only been a day.
With
her
soft-spoken,
endearing
voice, Humberstone found the perfect
balance between linking tunes consecu-
tively and making small confessions
about her songs. She explained that her
debut release, “Deep End,” had been an
attempt to appease her younger sister,
who was struggling at the time. I myself
have found comfort in this song in times
of distress.
Serving wins on social media with Michigan Wafe House
Holly Humberstone proves she is so much more than an opening act
As expected, The Oscars were
a complete trainwreck … and I
loved every minute of it
THIS
YEAR’S
ACADEMY
Awards, from top to bottom and in
every conceivable facet, were a com-
plete disaster … and it made for some
invigorating television. Unsurprising-
ly, a bunch of producers desperately
trying to keep an irrelevant awards
show relevant led to an amalgamation
of appeals to different audiences, none
of which actually want to watch the
Oscars in the first place.
If the Academy Awards is supposed
to be a show for film lovers, it prob-
ably wasn’t a good idea to wait until
20 minutes into the show to actually
start talking about movies. Instead,
the telecast began with a performance
by Beyoncé of her song “Be Alive,” a
song that does not appear in “King
Richard” until the end credits and was
recorded for the sole purpose of get-
ting nominated for this award. Sure,
having Beyoncé perform during the
broadcast might entice more viewers
to watch, but is it really worth cutting
numerous important categories to
make room for the performance of a
song with about seven million listens
on Spotify?
By turning the Oscars into the
Grammys, all the musical numbers
meant that the producers of the show
cut major categories like Best Editing
and Best Visual Effects — both cat-
egories that typically recognize mov-
ies that a broader audience has seen
— in order to save time. And yet, the
broadcast went on for over 20 minutes
longer than last year’s. Thanks to the
reintroduction of a host to the ceremo-
ny — in this case three: Amy Schumer,
Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall — the
broadcast stole time from the count-
less behind-the-scenes crew members
who won awards and the likes of Best
International Feature winner Ryu-
suke Hamaguchi, who could only get
a measly 52 words in before they tried
to play him off. All so the three hosts
could tell bad jokes about one of the
better Best Picture nominees being
boring and do terrible bits like calling
famous actress and Best Supporting
Actress nominee Kirsten Dunst a seat-
filler. If the Academy was going to go
back to having a host despite three
years of positive reviews regarding
the lack of a host, perhaps they should
have gone with one that actually likes
and cares about the art of film. But
maybe that’s asking too much of an
awards show honoring the art of film.
Another bizarre decision was to
include two “fan-voted” categories:
One for the “Oscars Cheer Moment”
and one for the “Oscars Fan Favorite.”
Fans voted online for their favorite in
each, and the results were as moron-
ic as you would expect. The cult of
Zack Snyder came out in full force to
claim both prizes for “Flash Enters
The Speed Force” in “Zack Snyder’s
Justice League” and “Army of the
Dead” in both categories, respectively.
Other films included in the so-short-
it’s-not-even-worth-showing top five
montages were Marvel movies galore,
“Dreamgirls,” Camila Cabello’s “Cin-
derella” and the Johnny Depp-led
“Minamata.” Give the internet an
inch and it will take a mile. These cat-
egories were treated as nothing but a
joke by viewers from the start, reek-
ing of desperation from the producers
of the show to pander to new viewers
who are not at all interested in being
catered to.
Lila Turner/Daily
MADDIE AGNE
Daily Arts Writer
MITCHEL GREEN
Daily Arts Writer
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Julian Lim
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/06/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
04/06/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2022
ACROSS
1 Bank security
device, briefly
5 Aim high
10 Harvest
14 “Fancy meeting
you here!”
15 Vital vessel
16 Semi bar
18 Shoulder warmer
19 Table parts
20 Region on the
South China Sea
22 Members with
unflinching
loyalty
wife on “Dallas”
27 Maximum
28 HHS agency
29 Exchange need
32 12-Down output
33 “No problem!”
35 ER skill practiced
on a doll
36 Pet-adoption ads,
briefly
38 Part of MB
41 Text recipient
44 Tattoo parlor
supplies
partner, in verse
47 One with many
limbs
48 Facebook
barrage, at times
50 Unconscious
53 “Srsly?!”
54 Media-monitoring
org.
55 “Up First”
network
56 Flu fighter
58 Emotionally break
down
hot!”
64 Bicolor cookie
65 Dinnertime
draws
67 Italian tower city
68 End of the line
69 Burning again
70 Column in math
71 Risk it
72 Walk heavily
73 Pursue
DOWN
1 Micro- ending
break
out”
4 Author Gore
5 Fun time, in slang
6 Fireworks cries
8 Formal
confession
9 Predictors
of most
20th-century
U.S. presidential
elections
nickname
11 Workout
suggested by the
circled letters and
their orientation
12 Pub dispenser
13 Pampering spot
for cats and dogs
21 Above, in poems
23 Dampens
28 Winter mo.
30 Bookkeeping pro
31 Triage MD
34 Craving
put on
40 28-Down number
42 “I wanna look!”
43 Thanksgiving
dinner choice
own
49 Georgetown
Univ. locale
51 Wall Street
regular
52 Ph.D., e.g.
57 Targets for
towers
59 Mythology
60 Caramel-
centered treat
61 Request at the
barbershop
63 Render indistinct,
as an odor
66 Longtime
NASCAR
sponsor
SUDOKU
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WHISPER
“April showers
bring May
“Who else
is ready for
WHISPER
By Seth Bisen-Hersh
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/30/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
03/30/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
ACROSS
1 Yoga aid that
helps prevent
slipping
4 Weather report
stats
8 Recipe amts.
13 In the past
14 Sale rack abbr.
“Blue __”
17 “Misery” co-star
19 Like most tennis
shots
20 In full view
21 “My turn to bat”
23 Cruise with a big
price tag
24 Equine control
25 Merged comm.
giant
26 On
28 Versatile award-
winning Indian
film star known
by his initials
“SRK”
33 Starting gun
36 Move slightly ...
like a mouse?
37 Hullabaloo
38 Cut (off)
39 Water source
41 Pachuca
pronoun
42 URL ender
43 Cycle starter
44 Red letters in a
dark theater
46 Fly over Africa
48 Oscar-nominated
actress for “Paper
Moon” and
“Blazing Saddles”
51 Ultimatum word
52 Big noise
53 “Cornflake Girl”
singer Tori
57 Obama __
58 Spoken
60 Food recall cause
61 Cop to
63 Swindler ... or,
phonetically, what
each of three
puzzle answers
is?
instrument
66 Celebrity chef
Eddie
67 Yellow or Red
follower
69 Places to relax
70 Explosive letters
DOWN
2 Tequila source
3 “My Cousin
Vinny” Oscar
winner Marisa
4 Suffix with craigs
5 “LOTR” menace
6 Eerie apparition
7 Two-__: fastballs
named for the
grip used to
throw them
8 Undetermined:
Abbr.
Castle”
composer Béla
10 Toady
11 Dickinson work
12 South of France?
15 Animal that
sounds fresh
18 Dadaist Max
22 India neighbor
25 Star systems
27 Wallop
29 Monopoly
miniatures
30 Sport-__: off-road
vehicle
31 Fruit drinks
32 A or E, but not I,
O or U
surprise
34 New Rochelle
college
35 Doctor Octopus
foe
45 Boring
47 Sign into law
49 Friend of Jerry
and George
50 Abduct
54 Damp
55 Elizabeth of
“WandaVision”
56 Occupy, as a
table
57 Actress Falco
59 German gripe
60 Bits of work
61 Fitting
62 Two-year-old,
say
scoreboards
CECILIA DURAN
Daily Arts Writer
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
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