They say that our interpretations of art are shaped by our experiences. As someone whose identity has been formed by countless pieces of art and who spends what is probably an unhealthy amount of time reflecting on her past, I know this statement to be true. The media that I’ve consumed over the years has been tainted in some way, good or bad, by the memories and people I’ve known. I make playlists for the people I love, full of songs that remind me of them. In contrast, several films are hard for me to rewatch because I associate them with times of pain or heartbreak. The relationship between art and memory, between experience and interpretation, is fascinating. What lies underneath the surface of a favorite piece of media? Can a book or a song be saved from the negative memories it’s become linked to in our minds? Is there any value to making these connections in the first place? These are the kinds of questions that the Time Capsule B-Side seeks to answer.

A time capsule serves several purposes. It allows the contributors to live on after they’ve passed; it allows whoever finds it to learn more about the times that came before. It’s something that physically represents this intricate connection between the objects inside and the ways these objects influenced our lives. Perhaps its greatest objective is to be understood. What we seek cannot exist without vulnerability, and the writers of this B-Side have delivered on that front. 

As Arts writers, we essentially create a time capsule of our own with every article we publish. We share pieces of ourselves and the things we love with the world, not knowing who will come across our work, when that encounter will occur or whether those who do will gain anything from what we have to say. But that uncertainty has never stopped us from pouring out our hearts week after week — that, I would argue, is one of the most beautiful things that art and writing have to offer.

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Call me basic, but “Friends” is one of my comfort TV shows. My parents were in their 20s as it aired — the same ages as the characters — and they tuned in to watch it every week. Being old enough to stay in the room whenever they were watching reruns was a rite of passage, and finally virtually binge-watching the entire series became a family bonding experience when I first went away to college. 

Funnily enough, now that I am also around the same age as the characters and living with roommates for the first time, I’m more likely to put the show on as background noise than I am to be spending all my free time at a coffee house or going out on dates every other night. In fact, I’m doing this right now as I write this article. (Rachel is pregnant and Joey has a crush on her, in case you were wondering where I am in my “rewatch”). I hate my need to constantly have something playing, even if I’m not actively paying attention to it. Sometimes it’s TV, other times it’s a podcast. So when I discovered “Popcorn for Dinner: A Podcast Sitcom,” which promised to fulfill both of these roles at the same time, it was my duty to investigate.

“Popcorn for Dinner” is designed to be a sitcom you can “throw on in the background so you don’t feel so alone.” That’s not just me saying it — host and narrator Ciara Bravo (“Big Time Rush”) pitches it this way in the trailer episode. The show follows four friends in their 20s — Laura (Maddy Kelly, debut), Michael (Charlie Foster, debut), Ellie (Jillian Ebanks, “South Side”) and Austin (Ben Fawcett, debut) — as they  “try to make it on their own, despite the fact that none of them know what that looks like … at all.” These voice actors come from backgrounds such as stand-up comedy and podcasting, and Kelly is also the show’s creator. At the time of writing, there are seven episodes available to stream, with new ones dropping every Tuesday. 

Despite being a podcast, the show is very clearly trying to be a modern take on shows like “Friends,” describing itself to potential listeners as a ’90s TV sitcom — except it’s not set in the ’90s, and it’s not on TV. It has several key components of any older sitcom: episodes have running gags, like Michael’s “sexless streak” gradually increasing each time it’s mentioned; a change in scenery or the start of a commercial break is denoted by goofy music; a “will they/won’t they” romance à la Ross and Rachel and, of course, a laugh track. As the narrator, Bravo plays a crucial role in moving things along. She describes what the characters are doing when nobody is speaking, which also makes the show more accessible. She also contributes to the show’s self-awareness — a podcast sitcom is, admittedly, a strange idea, which her commentary frequently acknowledges. At the start of the third episode, she addresses listeners by saying, “many of you haven’t even decided if you like this show yet,” though its 4.6-star rating might suggest otherwise.

Content-wise, “Popcorn for Dinner” has its moments. Several lines have made me laugh out loud, like when one character is described as looking “like she’s read ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’ one too many times,” or another character drinking wine and asking, “You got any communion wafers?” The gang’s apartment also has a balcony that is apparently only used “during special episodes,” yet another nod to “Friends” that made me chuckle. Other times, the show feels like it’s overcompensating; the delivery of lines can sound forced, and Austin, the “oddball” character, seems like he was ripped straight from a Disney Channel show. I can’t say whether I’m completely sold on the podcast-sitcom genre, but here I am, having listened to all the episodes and currently writing about it. 

The show calls itself a “first of its kind” podcast, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this description isn’t technically true. For one thing, scripted podcasts, like “Welcome to Night Vale,” are nothing new and have been largely successful. To get more specific, scripted comedy podcasts have been around for a while, too. The closest thing I can compare “Popcorn for Dinner” to is radio shows in the 1940s, and even then, many of the popular programs at the time were comedies. The only notable difference is that the laugh track in those programs was real, whereas today’s audiences are reminded by the narrator with every episode that “‘Popcorn for Dinner’ was not recorded in front of a live studio audience.” This show might be a new idea to most of its listeners, but a more accurate description would be that it has reinvigorated a few elements from both sitcoms and radio programs and brought them to a growing form of media. 

I’ve written before about my love for podcasts, and while I hope I’ve made my affinity for sitcoms clear by now, my knowledge of old-timey radio shows is limited to learning about fireside chats in high school and a scene from “Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front.” So where exactly does something like “Popcorn for Dinner” fall on the podcast/sitcom/radio show spectrum? Somewhere in the middle, I’d say. It’s not the first of its kind, and while the writing shows promise, the show still has to find its footing — not just in the sitcom realm but as a podcast, too. But it’s also just begun its run, and plenty of now-beloved shows got off to a rocky start. If you’re looking for a modern sitcom that rivals something like “Friends,” give “Popcorn for Dinner” a few seasons to catch up. If you genuinely just want some background noise, I’d recommend it. That’s what it was created for, anyway. 

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.

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One of my favorite stories to tell is about the time that I got so excited to watch “Finding Nemo” as a toddler that I fell down my stairs and got the wind knocked out of me. I couldn’t have been older than 5 years old, yet I remember it vividly. We had watched the first part of the movie the night before, and I marched from my bedroom doorway to the top of my stairs, yelling out with each step: “Let’s! Go! Watch! Some! More! Nemo!” The next thing I knew, I had missed a step and was on my hardwood floor. I was crying and couldn’t breathe, but my dad carried me into the family room and put the movie on. It didn’t take long after the animated fish reappeared on the screen for me to forget the pain I was in only minutes before.

“Finding Nemo” was the first movie I ever saw in theaters, or so I’m told. The film came out in May of 2003, which meant I would have been 2 years old when my parents took me to see it. Sure, I may not have been old enough to truly understand what was going on, but the stunning animation of underwater life and Thomas Newman’s even more gorgeous score could captivate people of any age. To this day, it is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I firmly believe that it’s because of it being my first — even if I don’t remember it. 

When I say that this movie has been a formative part of my life, I mean it. I’ve seen it so many times that I have a majority of it memorized. Lines like “I’ll pick you up after school!” have been integrated into my family’s day-to-day vocabulary, and my private Snapchat story is named “yes I’m a natural blue,” after a quote from Dory. I know weird trivia about the film, like the fact that Pixar’s art team had to take marine biology classes in order to ensure that the animation looked accurate. Nemo is my Disney+ profile avatar. I remember watching the last minute of the movie over and over again in order to make myself cry (I was 11, and I have no idea why I did this.) “Nemo” was the first film that we watched after we got a new TV and a Blu-Ray player, and I imagine that my reaction to seeing the underwater animation then is exactly how my 2-year-old self saw it for the first time on the big screen. I held hands with a boy for the first time while watching this movie. 

I’ve always associated random parts of my personality with my early introduction to “Nemo” — my love for marine life and obsession with film scores, for example. As I’m writing this piece, it occurs to me that I can see my relationship with my parents reflected in the movie as well, though not in the way you might think. 

I’ve struggled with anxiety for a majority of my life, and being near one or both of my parents always made me feel safer. But at times, they became a crutch, and I would panic even if my friends and I went to the movies by ourselves. My version of crossing the ocean was going away to college for the first time. While I had mostly gotten my anxiety under control in high school, I was still not mentally prepared for such a big transition, mostly because I had never been completely independent like this. Maybe I was more like Marlin than Nemo — I was the one holding on so tightly to my family, instead of them holding on tightly to me. 

My freshman year, I spent the majority of my time holed up in my dorm. My nerves were always at an all-time high, making it difficult some days even to go to class and eat — the only two things I did, anyway. Of course, I had a digital copy of “Nemo” on my laptop; I watched it from my bed during one of my first few weeks on campus. There’s a scene where Nemo is sitting inside a tiny diver’s helmet, very clearly depressed. I remember taking a picture of his sad little face because that’s how I felt at the time. 

While I may have been far away from my parents, I was never completely alone. I called them almost every morning while I walked to and from my classes, and my dad was always willing to pick me up and take me home for a weekend (which was often). But I was definitely lost, drowning in an ocean of people who all seemed much happier than I was to be there.

On one of our usually-tearful drives back to campus towards the end of the year, I told my dad that I didn’t want to come back in the fall. Though I’d been saying the same thing basically since I first arrived, now I had the experience under my belt to know that this school wasn’t for me. I was terrified to say it out loud, since it felt a little like failure. Everyone goes to college — why wasn’t I happy? But instead of telling me to stick it out some more, my dad was fully supportive, proud of me for trying and ready to help me figure out my next steps. I broke down, this time out of relief. 

Since that fateful drive, I have been through many other firsts — a global pandemic, new jobs and, of course, a new school. This time, I was ready to be on my own, and I’d like to think I’ve made the most of my time here at the University of Michigan. I still call my parents occasionally when I walk to class, not because I’m miserable, but because I miss them. They’re happy that I’m happy, and when I do come home for the occasional weekend, I’m sure they’re glad it’s a much shorter drive to pick me up. (Love you, Dad.) The gratitude I feel for them and for my journey cannot be described. 

Naturally, “Nemo” has been there through these firsts, too. My friends and roommates are very familiar with my love for the film — they insist I am Baby Dory, not Marlin. For Spring Break this year, I went to Disney World, where I got a Nemo T-shirt, a plushie and several pressed pennies. I’ve watched the movie in my off-campus living room, holding hands with a different boy. The ending now makes me cry without needing to rewind. I have many more firsts on the horizon, many more oceans that need crossing, but at least I’ve got my favorite people in my corner and my favorite movie at my fingertips.

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.

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As a self-proclaimed Disney kid, movies like “Tinker Bell” were an integral part of my childhood. I remember being allowed to stay up late to watch the self-titled first installment of the Tinker Bell series in 2008, and my family owned several of the sequels. As a Gen Z kid who grew up in the online age, I also spent a good chunk of my free time playing online games with my friends on the desktop computer in my den. These two parts of my life intersected in “Pixie Hollow,” a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by Disney, that ran from 2008 to 2013. Here, I could create my own fairy, explore different meadows, collect ingredients, play minigames and more.

After learning in 2013 that the site was being shut down, I remember feeling sad, even though I hadn’t played in years. A part of my childhood was disappearing; how could I not be upset? I wasn’t alone in feeling this way, because several years later, some “Pixie Hollow” fans took matters into their own hands. Enter: “We the Pixies,” a restoration project that has been rebuilding the original “Pixie Hollow” site since 2018. I discovered the project while deep in quarantine and was hit with a huge wave of nostalgia the minute I began playing. Everything, from the music to the avatar designs to the minigames, was exactly how I remembered it. At the time of writing, “We the Pixies” is in its alpha build. Players can create a fairy, play two of the original minigames (Bubble Bounce and Butterfly Painter) and fly through three different meadows (the in-game locations).

Curious to get more information, I joined the rebuild team’s Discord server. The care for the project was evident immediately — the standard onboarding questions when joining the server were an immersive experience, as I was greeted with a welcome quote from Pixie Hollow matriarch Queen Clarion and asked to identify my “talent” alongside my pronouns. It was here that I ended up getting in touch with one of the project’s founding members. Nora, who asked to be referred to by her screen name in an interview with The Michigan Daily, is a game developer and artist for the project as well.

“‘Pixie Hollow’ shut down in 2013, and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to bring my favorite game back,” Nora said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. “This eventually culminated into ‘We the Pixies’ in 2017, and official work began on the project in 2018.”

Rebuilding a game that previously existed seems fascinating, especially when the team working on it has no ties to the original creators. Since “We the Pixies” is not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company in any way, the team is essentially rebuilding the game from scratch. “The demographic for ‘Pixie Hollow’ was, like, eight to 13, (I believe),” Nora said, “and a lot of us were not tech-savvy enough to know how to record things and want to preserve them.” But even though the team doesn’t have access to any of the old code, they have plenty of talent to bring the game back to life. Videos of gameplay do exist, and developers will try to copy the functionality displayed in those videos as the first step in the rebuilding process. The team then has to go off of memory to fill in any remaining gaps.

As far as how the rebuild looks identical to the original game, Nora explained “we have artists, very good artists, (who) actually patch some of the backgrounds and will redraw pieces that are missing based off of what we think should have been there.” Parts of Butterfly Painter, one of the few minigames currently up and running on the alpha version, were redrawn and reprogrammed by Nora herself. 

The team currently working on “We the Pixies” consists of a few dozen people, each with different lifestyles and fulfilling different roles. “A lot of us are students, some of us are people with full-time jobs, some are developers and sound techs, too,” Nora said. As a college student studying computer science, communications and geoscience, Nora’s educational background has played a major part in her roles on the project. “I’ve always been pretty interested in computers. Then I decided to put two of my passions together to bring back the game I loved so much as a child,” she said.

The development of “We the Pixies” hit major strides during quarantine, not only because of the abundance of free time but also because the game went viral on social media. “We refer to (it) as the ‘TikTokkening’,” Nora said. “We got a lot of developer and artist and sound designer applications when that happened, and that definitely helped.” That progress has slowed a bit now that the world is returning to normal, but there are still about two or three people working on a certain feature at a time. If you’re interested in helping out with the project, join the Discord server for more details.

I would be remiss to not discuss copyright because it might seem questionable that “We the Pixies” functions without having ties to Disney. But they aren’t technically breaking any laws by rebuilding their property.

“Legal disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice,” Nora said. “But in 2018, there was an addendum to the Copyright Act that specifically included MMORPGs (in the laws pertaining to game preservations).” This addendum made it easier for online games to be legally restored in the name of preserving video game history. “It’s possible that Disney still DMCA’s us,” Nora said, referring to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which deals specifically with copyright infringement on the internet. But so long as game preservationist projects like “We the Pixies” don’t make any money off of the rebuilt site and they try to keep the spirit of the original website, then they have a legal right to exist.

Along with the preservation of previously existing features, “We the Pixies” may someday add original content to the site. “What we’ve been kind of mulling over is new fashions, hairstyles, events, games, things like that,” Nora said. While these additions are very up in the air and wouldn’t happen until the original site’s rebuild is complete, Nora added that part of preserving MMORPGs is preserving the game’s community as well. “When we finish leveling out the original game, the way to keep the game alive is to keep making things in the spirit of ‘Pixie Hollow,’ ” she said.

Bringing a beloved childhood game back to life is no small feat. To see this happen to a website that had such a chokehold on my younger self is so comforting, especially when the people behind the project are around my age now. I can’t wait to see what else the “We the Pixies” team comes up with, and I look forward to the day when the full site is up and running.

Nora said that she gets hit with a similar wave of nostalgia every time she works on a new aspect of the rebuild, and she loves seeing people rediscover the world of Pixie Hollow. “It fuels my motivation to work on the game,” she explained. “It always fills me with so much joy to see so many people so excited for this project. It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding.” 

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.

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(Latin Lover Narrator voice) Ah, friends. When Jane Gloriana Villanueva was 23 years, six months and 14 days old, her life was changed forever.

When I was 17 years, three months and 20 days old, my life was changed forever too, because “Jane the Virgin” had completely taken it over. I had binged the first three seasons of the hit CW show on Netflix and was finally caught up and could watch new episodes live. I remember walking into school the day after the season four finale aired — ending with a cliffhanger reveal about a favorite character — and immediately getting caught in a screaming match with two of my friends who also watched the show. 

If the premise sounds like something straight out of a telenovela, that’s because it is. The show has all kinds of crazy drama, magical realism and swoon-worthy romance that is easy to get sucked into. As I’ve gotten older, all of those things still get me despite my countless rewatches. But I’ve also begun to notice and appreciate the care that went into portraying such an unconventional family.

“Jane the Virgin” centers around Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez, “Someone Great”), an aspiring writer from a Catholic family. The promise she made to her grandmother, Alba (Ivonne Coll, “Instinct”), to wait to have sex until marriage is thrown out of whack after accidental artificial insemination leads to her pregnancy. The father of her baby is Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni, “Con Man”), the playboy who owns the hotel where Jane works. Oh, and did I mention that the doctor who inseminated Jane is Rafael’s sister? The show also follows Petra Solano (Yael Grobglas, “Jeruzalem”), Rafael’s ex-wife; Michael Cordero (Brett Dier, “Schooled”), Jane’s fiance; Jane’s mother Xiomara (Andrea Navedo, “A Million Little Things”) and her father, international telenovela star Rogelio de la Vega (Jaime Camil, “Schmigadoon!”)

Let’s take a deeper dive into that family (it should be noted that spoilers are ahead): Xiomara and Rogelio had Jane when they were 16 years old. Jane is engaged to Michael but becomes pregnant with Rafael’s baby and has their son, Mateo (Elias Janssen, “The Mindy Project”). Jane is caught in a love triangle with Michael and Rafael throughout most of the show. Rafael’s sister, Luisa (Yara Martinez, “The Tick”), meant to inseminate Petra with Rafael’s sperm but obviously made a mistake. Rafael was married to Petra. They have twins together, Ellie (Ella Allan, “Parenthood”) and Anna (Mia Allan, “Parenthood”), because Petra deliberately inseminated herself in an attempt to stay with Rafael. Xiomara and Rogelio are also caught in an on-again/off-again romance for the first half of the show but eventually get married, becoming stronger through their many obstacles — such as Rogelio’s ex Darci (Justina Machado, “One Day at a Time”) having his daughter and falling in love with his mortal enemy Esteban (Keller Wortham, “Bajo el mismo cielo”).

Did I throw enough information at you? Believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also international crime lord stepmothers, kidnappings, a strange devotion to public transport and amnesia storylines. This is a telenovela, after all. [love]

“Jane the Virgin” is literally about artificiality — accidental artificial insemination is the foundation of the series. There’s also deliberate artificial insemination, as I mentioned above. But the show’s treatment of this practice is more than a dramatic plot device (for the most part). Insemination is a way to treat infertility problems, the reason Petra wanted the original procedure. Despite the Villanueva women’s religious backgrounds — the Catholic Church teaches that such acts are immoral — the tension between certain characters comes more from other telenovela twists than their reproductive health decisions.

Mateo might have come into the world in an unconventional way, but his family doesn’t love him any differently, nor do they shy away from being honest with him about it. There’s a scene in season three where Mateo is called “artificial” by kids at school, which leads Jane and Rafael to explain his birth story to him. “If you think about all the things that had to happen, that’s pretty amazing,” Jane says. It’s a sweet scene that takes such a complicated story and boils it down to the simplest message: artificial practices can still lead to human connections.

Artificiality lies in the relationships between these characters as well, and in a good way. Within this huge family, there are a surprising number of people who aren’t actually related by blood. But on “Jane The Virgin,” that doesn’t matter. Co-parenting is taken to new heights — raising a child is hard enough, and adding in love triangles, surprise twins and international crime lords makes for an awkward Saturday brunch. But no character is ever doing it alone. There may be plenty of drama involved, but the show gives us several sweeter moments that prove how much everyone cares. It’s a prime example of the “found family” trope: These characters are there for each other when it’s needed most, because “family shows up.”

Even though the series ended in 2019, I still regularly rewatch and recommend “Jane The Virgin.” Maybe that’s because I see so much of myself in Jane: we have similar beliefs and life goals. Maybe I’m more of a sucker for a love triangle than I’d care to admit. But underneath all of the drama is a story about a messy but lovable group of people, and that’s what keeps me coming back. Family is at the heart of this show, and it doesn’t matter whether that family is made up of blood relatives, baby daddies or best friends.

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.

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The Michigan Daily Arts writers virtually covered The 95th Academy Awards. Like in 2021, we had access to the Virtual Press Room where award winners answered questions, commented on their excitement and spoke directly to the press. Here are some of our favorite moments from the night. Find the full list of 2023 Oscar winners here, and see the Film Beat’s Oscar predictions here.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” was, in fact, everywhere

Exactly a year after premiering at the South by Southwest film festival, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s (“Swiss Army Man”) multiverse action-comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (“EEAAO”) swept the Oscars. This was expected — the film has seen success throughout this year’s awards circuit. On Sunday night, the film took home seven of the 11 awards for which it was nominated. The directing duo, known as “Daniels,” took the stage for Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. They, along with “EEAAO” producer Jonathan Wang (“Swiss Army Man”), talked with the press backstage about everything from their parents to special effects to mental health. Kwan called the film “a shotgun blast of joy and absurdity and creativity” and spoke about how powerful creativity can be in dark times, saying, “I really hope that the next generation can watch a movie like ours and (see) there’s another way to look at the bleakness … and face it head on.”

“EEAAO” also won three of the four big acting awards: Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress. Michelle Yeoh (“Crazy Rich Asians”) was the epitome of grace after winning Best Actress for her role as Evelyn Wang. In her acceptance speech, she dedicated her award to her mom and all mothers of the world, and told all the women watching to “never let anyone tell you you’re past your prime!” She smiled and laughed while answering reporters’ questions. She joked that her mom asked her not to wear pants to the ceremony, but said, “I think what mothers do is they’re constantly reminding you to be better, and they do it with love … (because they) want you to be better so you have more opportunities and you will have a better life.” 

When asked to say something in Chinese to the Asian community, Yeoh gave a simple response, translated to: “To all the Asian communities, we are seen; we are heard; we have a seat at the table.” Yeoh then poked fun at the press with a grin, saying, “My Mandarin isn’t very good … but you all wouldn’t know that, would you?”

Comeback Stories

It was hard not to tear up during Ke Huy Quan’s emotional Best Supporting Actor acceptance speech for his role in “EEAAO.” He spoke about his return to acting, saying that “dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. … Thank you for welcoming me back.” 

That emotion turned into full-blown excitement by the end of the night — Quan was literally bouncing off the walls in the Virtual Press Room, a moment even more adorable than when he hugged Harrison Ford while onstage to accept the award for Best Picture. He told the press about a moment during a commercial break that he shared with Steven Spielberg, with whom he had worked as a child on “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies”: “He gave me a big hug and said, ‘Ke, you are now an Oscar-winning actor.’ Hearing him say that meant the world to me, and I still cannot believe it.”

Brendan Fraser has also had a strong comeback this year. His performance as Charlie in “The Whale” was his first leading film role in almost a decade, and he was just as shocked as Quan when he won the award for Best Actor, telling the press that “I heard my name, but I thought ‘that can’t be right.’ ” The Oscar trophy was heavier than he expected, and he joked that it would make one of his arms longer than the other. Fraser’s performance had been favored to win, and is especially notable given that “The Whale” was not nominated for Best Picture. Backstage, Fraser said his comeback story has given him “a lesson in humility and gratitude.” He ended his time backstage by thanking fans on the internet for rooting for him in his return to the silver screen, saying “I hope that I live up to this.”

Ruth E. Carter makes history with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” made history on Oscar night when she became the first Black woman to win multiple Oscars. She won the Costume Design award for the original “Black Panther” film and, now, for its sequel. This win is indicative of the power “Black Panther” has. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a successful franchise in its own right, but “Black Panther” stands out for its focus on representing the Black community. In her acceptance speech, Carter pointed out the power of the Black community, and Black women especially. 

“Thank you to the Academy for recognizing the superhero that is a Black woman,” she said. We all see the superheroes on the screen but often forget the real people, from film editors to sound technicians to costume designers, who make it all happen. 

The main job of a costume designer, according to Carter, is supporting the movie. She explained in the Virtual Press Room that “(when creating costumes), it’s about storytelling. You don’t want to distract (from the movie itself) … you want to support.” She discussed Queen Ramonda’s (Angela Bassett, “Strange Days”) costume in particular. Carter and her team thought about everything — they added more vibranium to Ramonda’s costume to emphasize her status as a Wakandan ruler, they decked her out in purple and gold to symbolize her royal status as she entered the U.N., and they showed off her arms in a one-shouldered dress. 

“The exposed shoulder shows her strength because, you know, Angela, she got those guns, right?” Carter said. “So we exposed her arms … to show, you know, how beautiful women can be, how (she can be) strong and vulnerable at the same time, but also can lead a nation.”

Carter herself represents the film’s message — how enduring and strong the Black community is. 

“I pulled myself up from my bootstraps,” Carter said. “I studied, I scraped … I dealt with adversity in the industry that sometimes didn’t look like me. And I endured.” Like Queen Ramonda endured after losing T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman, “Avengers: Infinity War”), like the filmmakers endured after losing Chadwick Boseman, she endured. She succeeded by showing Hollywood, the Academy and the world what she was capable of.

“I feel that this win opens the door for other young costume designers that … may not think that this industry is for them,” she said. “Hopefully they will see me, and they will see my story, and they will think that they can win an Oscar too.”

Five out of nine Best Picture nominees went home empty-handed

The nominees for Best Picture included “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “Women Talking” and “EEAAO,” which took home the big prize. Five out of the nine nominees were awarded nothing. 

Daniel Kwan, one of the directors of “EEAAO,” tweeted “No movie deserves to sweep” the day before the Oscars. Although “EEAAO” did deserve every award it won, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Tár,” “The Fabelmans” and “Babylon” look most curious empty-handed. “Babylon,” ignored and neglected in nearly every other category, seemed to be the sure winner for Best Original Score. When “All Quiet on the Western Front” was announced for this award on Sunday night, I could feel Film Twitter start to shake. If Justin Hurwitz (“La La Land”) had taken a hiatus this year, Volker Bertelmann’s (“Ammonite”) win would not have raised eyebrows, but Hurwitz’s epic “Babylon” masterpiece outshines the inventive but familiar sound of the war story. 

As for “Tár,” Cate Blanchett — a two-time Academy Award winner — lost Best Actress to Yeoh. Blanchett delivered the performance of a lifetime, but so did Yeoh. “Tár” more notably lost Best Cinematography to the deceptively unthreatening “All Quiet.” Despite high praise from critics and cinema legend Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”), “Tár” could not tempt the Academy. 

Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” and Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” faded into the background with “Tár,” “Babylon,” “Elvis” and “Triangle of Sadness” while “EEAAO” and “All Quiet” dominated the awards. The lesson to take from this year’s Oscars is that there will always be incredible films and filmmakers that don’t get the recognition they deserve. If some of Hollywood’s most prominent had not brought attention to ​​Andrea Riseborough’s outstanding performance in the limitedly released “To Leslie,” the Academy would not have nominated her. If “EEAAO” had not found a place in the hearts of so many, it likely would not have dominated the awards season as it rightfully did.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” was anything but quiet

“All Quiet on the Western Front” was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Original Score and Best International Feature Film. It now sits tied with films such as “Parasite” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” as the foreign language film with the most Oscar wins after Sunday night. The German World War I film, which also won seven BAFTAs, has been making the rounds on the awards circuit for its distinct anti-war sentiments and focus “on the futility of war” rather than glamorizing it. Director Edward Berger noted in his backstage interview after winning Best International Feature Film that they “tried to make a film about our past” but finished with a film “about our present,” subsequently remarking that “new terrors … had broken out that we never thought would again in Europe,” in reference to the Ukraine crisis.

“All Quiet” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before going straight to Netflix. It has now achieved notoriety despite being foreign and coming from somewhat humble beginnings. When asked about the importance of the achievements of “All Quiet” for the German film community, Berger told the press that “if a German film goes to Cannes, it’s going to be a push. And if a German film is at the Oscars, it’s going to be a push for the other films.” He spoke about feeling inferior as a German filmmaker and the responsibility that the film now carries after its awards sweep, imploring other filmmakers to use “All Quiet” as inspiration to “just do it … just do our movies.” 

Some of our favorite quotes from this year’s Academy Awards

When accepting his Best Supporting Actor award, Quan joyfully exclaimed, “Mom, I just won an Oscar!”

Later, in the press room, Quan reiterated his excitement: “Can you believe I’m holding one of these?”

In the Virtual Press Room, Jamie Lee Curtis called for more female representation in Hollywood by referencing her film’s title, saying that Hollywood should include “Basically, just fucking more women anywhere, anytime, all at once.”

“At this point in the show you miss the slapping a little,” Jimmy Kimmel joked during the award show, referencing last year’s highly controversial but extremely memorable slap.

“I recently directed the film Cocaine Bear,” Elizabeth Banks said, when announcing the Best Visual Effects award … with a bear.

John Travolta honored his late “Grease” co-star Olivia Newton-John — and all other Hollywood figures who have passed away — when introducing the “In Memoriam” tribute: “They’ve touched our hearts, they’ve made us smile and became dear friends who we will always remain hopelessly devoted to.” 

“Tonight we freaking broke that glass ceiling,” Yeoh remarked in the Virtual Press Room when thanking the Academy “for acknowledging, embracing diversity and true representation.”

When onstage with the rest of the “EEAAO” cast accepting the Best Picture award, producer Wang shouted out his wife by referencing one of the film’s now-iconic lines: “If all the shiny stuff and tuxedos go away, I would love to do laundry and taxes with you for the rest of my life.” 

Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell had a mini “Four Weddings and a Funeral” reunion — that was in part to “raise awareness about the vital importance of using a good moisturizer” — when presenting the award for Best Production Design. “Still stunning,” Grant said, gesturing to MacDowell. Then he called himself “basically a scrotum.”

When talking backstage to Fraser about his experience playing Queer characters, a reporter told him that “the gays love you,” to which Fraser responded, “I love you right back.”

“Chadwick, please take care of Mom,” Best Costume Design winner Carter said in her acceptance speech, paying tribute to “Black Panther” star and her mother, Mabel Carter, who died the week before the Oscars.

“Can I answer in German? Or in English? Both. Good.” Berger answered a question in the Virtual Press Room in both languages in honor of his film.

“I feel very blessed to have this kind of greatest recognition of the world for my country, for my culture, for my motherland and for my movie industry, from Telugu language,” M. M. Keeravaani said, on representing his culture with “Naatu Naatu.”

And finally, as the telecast was coming to a close, host Kimmel left the stage, walked up to a sign that read, “Number of Oscars Telecasts Without Incident,” and changed the zero to a one.

Daily Arts Writers Hannah Carapellotti, Maddie Agne, Maya Ruder and Sabriya Imami can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu, maagne@umich.edu, mayarud@umich.edu and simami@umich.edu. 

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These are the films that were nominated and won Oscars this year.

Animated Feature Film:

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”

“The Sea Beast”

“Turning Red”

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”

Judd Hirsch, “The Fabelmans”

Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Ke Hug Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Hong Chau, “The Whale”

Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Documentary Feature:

“All That Breathes”

“All That Beauty and the Bloodshed”

“Fire of Love”

“A House Made of Splinters”

“Navalny”

Live Action Short Film:

“An Irish Goodbye”

“Ivalu”

“Le Pupille”

“Night Ride”

“The Red Suitcase”

Cinematography:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”

“Elvis”

“Empire of Light”

“Tár”

Makeup and Hairstyling:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Elvis”

“The Whale”

Costume Design:

“Babylon”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”

International Feature Film:

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany

“Argentine, 1985,” Argentina

“Close,” Belgium

“EO,” Poland

“The Quiet Girl,” Ireland

Documentary Short Subject:

“The Elephant Whisperers”

“Haulout”

“How Do You Measure a Year?”

“The Martha Mitchell Effect”

“Stranger at the Gate”

Animated Short Film:

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

“The Flying Sailor”

“Ice Merchants”

“My Year of Dicks”

“An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It”

Production Design:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“Babylon”

“Elvis”

“The Fabelmans”

Original Score:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Babylon”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“The Fabelmans”

Visual Effects:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Original Screenplay:

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“The Fabelmans”

“Tár”

“Triangle of Sadness”

Adapted Screenplay:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

“Living”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

“Women Talking”

Sound:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Batman”

“Elvis”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Original Song:

“Applause,” from “Tell It like a Woman”

“Hold My Hand,” from “Top Gun: Maverick”

“Life Me Up,” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Naatu Naatu,” from “RRR”

“This Is A  Life,” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Film Editing:

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Tár”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Directing:

Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”

Todd Field, “Tár”

Ruben Ostulind, “Triangle of Sadness”

Actor in a Leading Role:

Austin Butler, “Elvis”

Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”

Bill Nighy, “Living”

Actress in a Leading Role:

Cate Blanchett, “Tár”

Ana de Armas, “Blonde”

Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”

Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”

Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Picture:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Tár”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

“Triangle of Sadness”

“Women Talking”

Daily Arts Writers Maddie Agne, Hannah Carapellotti, Sabriya Imami and Maya Ruder can be reached at maagne@umich.edu, hmcarp@umich.edu, simami@umich.edu, and mayarud@umich.edu.

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I had a Pinterest board when I was 13 titled “Retro Quotes” — which, if the name didn’t make it obvious, was full of quotes from classic Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s worth noting that I had never seen any of their movies at the time, but the words attributed to these women spoke to my younger self. Their quotes became my words to live by: “If you cant’t handle me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.” “Happy girls are the prettiest girls.” “Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick and pull yourself together.” These women exuded femininity and elegance years after passing, through something as simple as a low-quality social media post. 

As I’ve grown older and become more appreciative of my identity as a woman, I still try to live by their words in a way. I’m lucky enough to have people in my life who love me at my worst. I feel much more confident about myself when I’m happy. I don’t usually wear lipstick, but at least I can legally drink now. Where my so-called relationship with these women has changed, however, is that I’ve become more aware of how much popular culture has aestheticized them. I’ve read books that were clearly based on Taylor’s many marriages; Hepburn’s iconic black dress in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” frequently ends up on DIY Halloween costume lists; Monroe remains a popular subject in movies (for better or for worse). I began to see that the reasons we consider these women iconic are only a small part of their lives. It seems to me that society has blurred the line between legacy and reality, and I want to understand exactly what that means.

Marilyn Monroe is primarily remembered for either her movie-star status or her downward spiral at the early end of her life. Or, at least, I had only ever heard her discussed this way. I knew the basics: She was blonde and beautiful. She starred in movies like “The Seven Year Itch” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” She may or may not have had an affair with John F. Kennedy. She died of a drug overdose at only 36 years old. But Monroe was obviously a more well-rounded individual beyond being a beautiful but troubled actress. Just while doing research for this article, I learned that she had a difficult childhood, was in and out of several foster homes and experienced sexual abuse during that time. She wasn’t even a natural blonde. She started her own production company, which some say aided the collapse of the studio system. Yes, she struggled with addiction, but also suffered from several mental health conditions and possibly even endometriosis. 

But the piece of information I was most surprised to learn was that she disliked playing a “dumb blonde” or “sex roles” — which happened often. Her most famous movies were marketed using her sex appeal, and that exploitation of her image is one of the biggest things I still see happening to her today. The Michigan Theater screened “Some Like It Hot” for Valentine’s Day, and I can attest that several people in the theater either giggled or whistled almost every time Monroe was on screen. Typecasting unfortunately still happens in the entertainment industry, but Monroe was at more of a disadvantage considering her contract originally kept her from choosing her own projects. She did eventually earn that right after a year-long fight with 20th Century Fox, as well as the opportunity to show off more of her range, but this knowledge makes her cemented status as a bombshell all the more frustrating. She was much more talented and bright than people gave her credit for, and yet I still don’t see enough conversation about her outside of her appearance.

Elizabeth Taylor was considered one of the first modern celebrities. Starring in movies like “Cleopatra,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Father of the Bride,” she, like Monroe, had several of her films promoted using her sex appeal. Due to sensationalized rumors, public attention was frequently drawn to her personal life. Taylor hated her fame. She felt that the films she received the most acclaim for cut scenes that displayed the core of her characters, disliked how much control the studio had over her and found it hard to be viewed as herself rather than the roles she played.

Still, Taylor recognized that she had been given a platform, which she used to drive her philanthropic efforts. She was one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism, helping to found both the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation to raise awareness. Taylor told Vanity Fair, “I could take the fame I’d resented and tried to get away from for so many years … and use it to do some good.” She did just that: She raised over $270 million, and she’s now considered an LGBTQ+ icon as a result. I had not known anything about her life outside of her acting career, and even then I was surprised to learn just how much she disliked it. I admire her ability to take a shitty situation and do something with it she was proud of, even (and especially) if it didn’t benefit her directly.

Audrey Hepburn is remembered as a film and fashion icon, starring in movies like “Roman Holiday,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “My Fair Lady.” She also spent much of her later life as a humanitarian and philanthropist. Pop culture largely focuses on her life as an actress, but even then, I’ve known some people who didn’t think she could act. I had a teacher in high school who ignorantly argued that Hepburn was “just playing herself” in every movie she starred in. For one, her EGOT status says otherwise. For another, I don’t understand why whether or not she was a good actress matters so many years after her passing. Yes, she was a movie star, but she accomplished so much more with her life. After her family survived the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, she wanted to show her gratitude by working closely with UNICEF, becoming an ambassador and traveling around the world on field missions to provide residents of poorer countries with things like clean water and vaccines. For this work, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

I’d say that Hepburn is the outlier on this list. She took on a variety of roles in her career, and while considered beautiful, was never marketed as a sex symbol like Monroe or Taylor — in fact, some called her “the antithesis of the … blonde bombshell.” Though this comment is more in reference to her thin figure (an entirely different issue facing women in Hollywood that I don’t have the time nor the word count to unpack), there was still very little I knew about her life outside of the stage and screen, things I’d have to go looking for myself to get the whole picture. 

One definition of the word “retro” is something that is “fashionably nostalgic.” Thinking of the ways that some of Hollywood’s most famous faces are remembered, that definition is certainly a fitting one. But is there a cost to calling these women icons when our knowledge is largely limited to their time in front of the camera, or their lowest moments in the public eye? I say yes, if only because women can be beautiful and also ambitious. They can have nice things in life and still struggle, and not only is there nothing wrong with that, it’s nobody’s business but theirs. They can be remembered for more than one thing, and they should be. It’s high time people started to notice.

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu. 

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If my current position as a writer on The Michigan Daily’s Arts section hasn’t already made it obvious, I love art. Whether it’s books, music, movies, TV shows or anything in between, chances are that I have made the media I consume a part of my personality at some point in my life.

But it might surprise you to learn that, despite belonging to the Digital Culture beat, I have a slight obsession with owning physical media. I have a DVD collection that I’ve been building since my preteen years. Whenever a book I want to read comes out, I have to buy my own copy (and I wouldn’t be caught dead with a Kindle — no offense to my Mom, or anyone else who owns one). I still get CDs at Christmas, and I’m slowly getting into vinyl. Do I technically still have a bunch of Disney movies on VHS? That, I will neither confirm nor deny.

I know, it’s contradictory. How can I be writing about things like streaming services and Artificial Intelligence art when I’m much more traditional in reality? I wish I had an answer for you that made sense, but I can tell you this: No matter how technologically advanced our world becomes, my love for physical media will never die.

Technology and media have changed a lot in the 22 years I’ve been alive. I spent my childhood mulling over which movie to rent at the Family Video down the street from my house. I remember when Netflix used to be a service that only sent you DVDs in the mail. One of the few times I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime was Sunday nights at 8 for the latest episode of “Once Upon A Time.” Going to the bookstore was (and still is) a beloved activity, and memories of family car trips are marked by the steady rotation of my parents’ CDs. 

But now, things are different. My local Family Video went out of business when I was finishing up high school, and nowadays, my siblings and I argue over who gets to connect our phone to Bluetooth to play music in the car. There is an ever-increasing number of streaming services on the market, each one allowing you to watch or purchase titles with the click of a button. When I was younger, the closest thing to “streaming” was YouTube, and even that’s become a completely different beast. Cable TV is all but dead because these sites can all create and easily share high-quality, original content. You can build an extensive library without needing to buy CDs or rearrange your bookshelves. It’s hard not to see the appeal — you can have your favorite shows, movies, music and more at your fingertips anywhere you go. You can’t ignore the financial success either, as the streaming industry brings in billions of dollars annually. The idea of owning physical media, constantly needing to find space for it, seems to pale in comparison to the giant that is streaming. So why do I do it?

I don’t think I’m like this solely out of nostalgia, and I’m not a total analog elitist, either. My family pays for several streaming services that I use frequently, and I get weirdly excited when a DVD I’ve bought comes with a digital copy code. No, I think the reason I love owning physical media is just that: the sense of ownership I feel. The stories I hear, see or read … they become mine. In so many of my favorite forms of art, I find little bits of myself being represented. A film character who wants the same things out of life that I do. A literary protagonist whose internal monologue matches how I think mine sounds. A song that turns my deepest thoughts into beautifully crafted phrases, or reminds me of a memory with someone I love. It’s things like these that lead me to make my favorites into personality traits.

I’m a firm believer that you can learn a lot about a person from the music they listen to or the books they read. Art is a paradox — it is given to audiences of countless people and we bond with each other over our love for certain pieces, yet each individual who interacts with a story takes something different from it, something so unique. In my mind, streaming represents that sense of community, but a physical copy that belongs to just me feels understandably more personal. More special.

It might seem annoying that I’ve continued to cultivate such an extensive physical media collection in the age of streaming. My family would have a valid reason to think so, with the vast majority of that collection currently sitting in plastic bins that take up the already-limited space in our basement. But in the same way that my media repertoire grows, so does my understanding of myself, and that’s why I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

My future house will just have to have enough shelf space for my CDs and DVDs, my future partner and I will put on records while we dance in the kitchen and my future children will be more than welcome to borrow my books, so long as they take care of them. That doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu. 

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Dear Pinterest,

I still remember the day that you and I first met. I couldn’t have been more than 12 years old. My aunt had told me all about you — “It’s like an online bulletin board,” she described — and showed me around her own profile. I had never seen so many pictures, appropriately dubbed “pins,” in one place before. I could save these pins to a board, or multiple boards, and organize them in whatever way I liked. I knew that I had just discovered something magical.

You were my first taste of social media. I wouldn’t be allowed to have Instagram or Snapchat accounts like most of the kids my age until many years later, but it didn’t matter. You filled that void for me. I created collaborative boards with my friends where we saved pictures and posts that reminded us of our inside jokes. Through you, I first met and interacted with people I didn’t know, too. You know what they say — “don’t talk to strangers on the internet” — but everyone I talked with was so kind. I was a member of a collaborative board for a band I liked, and someone once posted a pin that said something along the lines of, “Repost this and see what nice things people say about you!” The comments of that post were quickly filled with compliments, reminders to never give up and lyrics and inside jokes related to the fandom. I can’t say whether I would have found that level of kindness on other sites, especially since I was so young, but I found it there, with you.

You give me a space to celebrate the things that I love. The boards on my first account (yes, I have several accounts) were dedicated to specific fandoms I was part of: Harry Potter, Disney, “Doctor Who,” different bands I listened to and YouTubers I watched. Those fandoms have reappeared and evolved on my more recent accounts too, as I have gotten into shows like “Gilmore Girls” and artists like Taylor Swift. You’re like a time capsule of my life — no matter which account I am using, you allow me to reflect on my life thus far through the figures and stories that shaped me. You have never made me feel embarrassed to show off these interests as parts of myself. 

You have always encouraged me to be creative in countless ways. Whenever I have a new idea for a story, you are there with writing tips, character artwork and prompts to play around with. My profile is filled with storyboards, most of them abandoned before I even wrote a full page, but should I ever come back to those ideas, I have a virtual database to spark my motivation again. You’re a great outlet for all other kinds of art as well. Whether it’s shots from movies I love, calligraphy styles I want to try, drawings and paintings I find pretty, tattoos I might get or outfits I’d like to recreate, you appreciate art in its many forms just as much as I do. We’re such a great fit for each other. 

You help me take care of myself and plan for my future. The idea of planning a wedding on Pinterest has become a bit of a joke, but do I, like countless others, have a board dedicated to this special occasion? You bet. There’s no telling whether I’ll actually use it — it will probably all be outdated by the time I get married — but you possess a wide array of knowledge and ideas that could someday serve me well. You’re also the first place I go when I’m looking for new meals. My recipe board easily takes up most of my attention when I’m perusing your pages. It has sections based on mealtime and geographical location, although Christmas cookie recipes, in particular, have their own board. Any time I try something new that I’ve found from your recommendations, I’m reminded of just how well you have come to know me.

You offer my future self advice that is more relevant to me in this current moment than a perfect wedding or a recipe repertoire. From hours of scrolling through your subjects, I have found helpful tips, from apartment hunting checklists to how to boost my credit score to the best way to secure my graduation cap on my head. My ever-approaching entry into “the real world” is nerve-racking, and while I’m lucky enough to have people in my life to help guide me, I know that others don’t have access to the kinds of knowledge that more experienced people have acquired. You have advice that people might not think to ask for, and you welcome us in to receive it.

Our relationship has had its ups and downs. Just as I have grown over the years, so have you. But despite all of this change, you are still known as the “positive platform” I always knew you to be — the one that “help(s) people connect with things that bring them inspiration…avoiding a lot of the toxicity that you would find elsewhere in social media.” There have been times when I have gone several months, even years, without typing your name in my search bar or clicking on your app icon. I don’t know how that makes you feel — I know that you can’t truly feel because you’re not actually aware or human, but your content is so representative of myself that it’s like I’m looking into a mirror. Every time I return, I rediscover just how organized, imaginative and inspiring you are. I hope you know that I have, and will, always come back to you.

Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.

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