The writers of The Michigan Daily do it all. On top of being college students with full course loads, they roll up their sleeves to consume media and write. For the entertainment of our loyal readership, The Michigan Daily has revitalized and revamped “Baked, Buzzed, Bored.” For the sake of journalism, three or more writers sacrifice their health and 3+ hours of their life to watch a TV show or Film while either high (“baked”), drunk (“buzzed”) or sober (“bored”). This article was lightly edited to maintain the authenticity of the piece.
This week, six writers watched Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs”.
BAKED A:
It’s crooked … Getting distracted…
“All barks have been rendered in English” — fantastic. The other stuff unfortunate
Is this Jeffrey Wright? Not Jeffrey Wright
Clever and sad that we cannot understand the boy
I like this animation! For the TV.
If that was supposed to be an atomic bomb, that’s kinda weird.
Hot dog!! She could be hotter though
The dog whistles, folks
This kid’s so caring
Omg they’re married
Fuck she’s from Ohio
Kinda just wraps up
Clever and cute
Having trouble synthesizing my thoughts. The dog was kinda hot. Appearances can be deceiving? Animation is great and often soothing. Dismembering sea life was really well done but sad.
BAKED B:
“Who is yoko ono”
“You guys know the pun right”
Never seen the movie, but I like how in-beat it is. I have to think that made it easier to animate.
Suicides. Chief. Western.
Themes of ….?
A convo overheard: “Is he racist? Why is the kid named Atari? I think Atari is named after a kid? Really? I don’t think so. Let’s look it up. Guys. Atari is an American thing. It’s not even Japanese.”
Isle of Dogs is about bodily autonomy and ownership. The movie is fantastic, but it gives me weird vibes. Not intentionally but the movie is that movie cast there’s only TWO female dogs and both are like sexy dogs. Or at the very least attractive dogs. And Nutmeg gets a name that’s not to do with Hierarchy (other dogs are named “boss” “chief”) and it seems like she’s… sexually able. Like she’s definitely SEXY in a way that the guy that played the black dog that became a spotted dog wasn’t. And I think it was the combination of how she was SEXY and was a show dog (talked about by other dog as if being a show dog was taboo) and was one of the only dogs. The dogs were just this giant group of bachelor dogs. So I think my mind jumped that with big group of bachelor dogs (that dog is coded as a love interest) then that dog cannot be a wife dog. Bc what about all the other single dogs. But that single female dog also can’t share. She can’t be EVERY DOGS MATE. Bc that would be not very humane. So she’s in this perpetual state of being single AND admired AND sexually desirable. And to me, that’s her being put in a weird character spot. She’s effectively a sexy dog made for the male dog gaze. As a human,
BUZZED A:
(8:39) i’m already pretty drunk. the movie has not started. we’re sitting around talking about superwholock.
(8:41) one of our writers is talking about a percy jackson fanfic they wrote. the search begins.
(8:49) the movie is finally starting.
(8:51) taiko drums are so fucking good
(8:52) HARVEY KEITEL IS IN THIS MOVIE???
(8:57) we’re getting way off track here. what is a “pear and brick” joke??
(8:59) we just fell silent to acknowledge the presence of ed norton. this is the film beat. also i have been corrected — it’s a pARROT and brick joke! still don’t know the punchline.
(9:01) *VOMITS*
(9:05) SUPOTSUUUUU
(9:07) supotsu 🙁
(9:10) this animation’s fucking sick, i’ll give it that
(9:16) they literally just tazed a twelve year old tf. this child literally has metal sticking out of your head
(9:18) was that…..an atomic bomb reference??? the projector is fucking up
(9:20) i wonder if japanese speakers get more out of this movie than english speakers
(9:24) i can’t deal with the old hollywood lighting on nutmeg
(9:27) some white savior stuff goin on here
(9:29) IVE LOST ALL OF MY PRIDE BEEN THROUGH PARADISE AND OUT THE OTHER SIDE
(9:30) “the middle fingers of trash island” just tickled me idk why. also just realized that this movie is def not gonna pass the bechdel test
(9:34) this movie is just anti-cat propaganda
(9:38) i’m gonna get a pug and name her tilda swinton
(9:40) this food scene is just…….so good
(9:49) STRIKE ME WITH YOUR LIGHTNING BRING ME DOWN AND BURY ME IN ASHES
(9:56) four mason jars into a takeout charley’s fishbowl and i’m getting TIRED
(9:59) the projector is shutting down and we’re singing bo burnham songs
(10:04) projector is back up and running. harvey keitel dog is on screen
(10:09) dog abuse 🙁
(10:13) the dog suit is really getting to me
(10:16) greta gerwig and yoko ono……together……
(10:24) “oh my gosh! they’re haiku fighting!!”
(10:26) i fucking love tilda swinton lmfao. “ESCAAAAAAAPE!!!”
(10:32) okay this movie is objectively good even if it’s problematic. i’m not drunk anymore lol but this was very fun. i was right though this did NOT pass the bechdel test and fantastic mr fox is STILL the better animated wes
BUZZED B:
(8:51) I love this music so much the vibe is immaculate
(8:55) That evil guy looks like Ego from ratatouille
(8:58) It’s a “parrot and brick” joke not pear and brick joke
(9:00) The deadpan dog actors alre great especially Bill and Jeff
(9:02) Good on Duke the dog for being vaccinated
(9:03) I love the class commentary from the difference between the home dogs and the stray dogs
(9:09) SPOILERS one of the writers just spoiled a later part of the movie when not everyone knows how it ends
The shadows on the unsmellable dog really create a vibe that’s cool and mysterious
I don’t remember the part of the movie where they taze 8 year old and he takes it like a champion It’s kinda crazy
These dogs are all really good at democracy
The class commentary of Cheif not obeying authority due to his history as a stray adds some depth that’s much appreciated but I don’t think it was entirely intended by Wes Anderson
The guitar adds so much sorrow and it’s great
Fuck rossholes
TTe music is why I love this song so much I could sit here for hours listening to it
Did he just call them savage aboriginals thats kinda fucked up
I guess he’s supposed to be weird for saying it like that
whoever did the whistling needs to get a pay raise, I don’t care how much they made make it more
This movie miGht make me cry i love the melancholy of the dogs mixed with thr music
The projector just turned off gotta fix this
The one dog called the other dog a son of a bitch and that’s just so funny cause he literally is a son of a female dog cause that’s what a bitch is
Jeff goldblum has some of the funniest lines in this movie, the joke about him just loving gossip is delivered in such an underhanded way that left me cackling
Yoko Ono is playing a character named Yoko Ono but she isn’t supposed to be the Yoko Ono. If she is thought does that mean John Lennon exists in this world?
Imagine deporting the poor girl to Ohio it’s literally the worst state in the country don’t have to torture the girl
The reason I love this music is that its just so beautiful with the animation, music, and melancholy voice acting.
BORED A:
A man just banished all of the dogs, I think, and the fact that the projection of the film is crooked made a canted angle on top of the one that was already there, which is generally the feeling I’m getting from it so far.
I have not seen this movie before, and I’m slightly confused. I’m learning more about the plot from everyone else’s commentary then I think I will from the film itself, including the fact that the title is a pun for “I love dogs.”
This doesn’t immediately strike me as a Wes Anderson movie, but the panning from character to character (dog to dog) while they talk in a circle confirmed any suspicions I had of that.
The fact that Bryan Cranston’s voice is behind one of these animated dogs is something I can’t handle after recently finishing Breaking Bad. I hear this dog speak and assume he has spent years destroying his life as a drug dealer.
Yoko Ono’s voice, on the other hand, was totally unfamiliar to me, and I realized that despite watching the eight hour series on the Beatles which she was there for most of, I don’t think I’ve ever heard her speak, only scream.
They at least voted on it before deciding to eat the pilot who landed on their island, which may just prove that dogs are better at democracy than people are.
I looked away to write that note and now there is sumo wrestling.
As the movie progresses, the Bryan Cranston dog is starting to bear a shocking resemblance to Walter White, what with the superiority complex and refusal to follow the requests of others. Also, the anger issues—apparently this dog bit his owner’s hand off because he was scared. “I bite” is this dog’s catchphrase, yet I am still on his side somehow.
One of our multiple “Dune”-obsessed writers somehow found a way to bring up Dune, specifically his least favorite thing about it. My least favorite thing about it is now how it gets brought into every conversation.
They just introduced the “replacement pets” that they plan to sell after exterminating the real dogs. They are awkward robotic dogs with box-like bodies. This is what Mark Zuckerberg wants our world to be.
At some point I must have forgotten that this is all stop-motion animation, which makes it all so much more impressive. I can’t believe I was not watching every scene with that in mind. That is the only actually on-topic comment I have.
BORED B:
haven’t been sober with buzzed and baked ppl in a while
went across the street to see a friend also smoking weed
Baked B is having trouble with the projector and volume
spotify got opened
Baked A asked if Buzzed A seemed drunk bc they can’t tell bc they are high
“this is where your resentment for authority comes in”
i have never felt so read and perceived
10min in Buzzed B has to pee
“blonde afro-american chick!”
“i literally wrote an essay in hs about why puns are great”
-why
“because they are. but actually bc you immediately understand it”
have to silence them, exoticizes the language
alienating the dogs and alienating the viewers
when’s your birthday
-sagitarrius
Baked B started doing shadow puppets of dogs over the projector