Arts & Entertainment It’s hard to be intellectual I It’s getting pretty damn hard to ! be an intellectual these days. It suddenly no longer seems hip to admit that you laugh at subtle humor, weep at art exhibits or en joy watching PBS. Case in point, the most holly debated issue to hit this campus in many years: Jim’s Journal. Now, I’ve already made it clear that I like this pedestrian little comic strip. Although it occasion ally slinks, I usually find it a hu morous, insightful day brightencr. Unfortunately, I learned that I probably only like Jim’s Journal' because I’m a pretentious, haughty, Birkcnstock-wearing, pseudo-intellectual. Rats. And I thought I liked it because it was funny. Somehow, somewhere along the line, it became cool to admit that you aren’t an intellectual. Many have become pretentious about not being pretentious. I personally don’t consider myself an intellectual. I do like Jim’s Journal, and my SAT scores were OK, but I fail to meet many of the other intellectual criteria. For instance, I haven’t seen a movie at the Sheldon Art Gallery for more than a year. I also don’t know how to play backgammon. And most importantly, 1 don’t like going into the Coffee House, the litmus test for intellectuals in this city. I’d rather buy a Pepsi from a machine than shell out mucho bucks for pricey Sanka. Intelligence has very little to do with being an intellectual. Some of the dumbest people 1 know arc members of the intelligentsia. If you really want to know if you qualify as an intellectual, an swer the following questions. Don’t worry, there arc no right answers. Just answer the questions honestly and by the end, you should have a pretty clear idea as to whether you qualify as a full fledged, red-blooded intellectual. 1.1 thought the movie ‘ ‘ Dangerous Liaisons” was: A) a beautiful, well-crafted film that moved me to my intellectual core. B) a tedious, hard to follow movie that put me to sleep (but the costumes were pretty cool). 2. I’ve always wanted to visit: A) Paris, in the springtime. B) Akron, during the soap box derby. 3. The comic strip Beetle Bailey: A) is a juvenile exercise in simplcmindcdncss that glorifies the military. B) makes me laugh ‘til I pec my pants. 4. My favorite humorists are: A) Art Buchwald, Donald Kaul and Steve Allen. B) Larry, Moc and Curly. 5.1 find MENSA lobe: A) an invaluable organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of the intellectually superior. B) What’s MENSA? 6. In noting the impact of thinkers like Rousseau, Descartes and Marx on current fluctuations in the philosophical infrastructure of Eastern Europe: A) we find that this impact is inexorably linked with political trends in the developing nations of South America. B) Huh? 7. The most underrated television program is: A) The MacNeil/Lchrer News hour (although I generally do not approve of television). B) that one show that Scott Baio and Willie Ames star in . . . oh, what’s that called . . . urn . . . “Charles in the Lead’’ or “Char- - les is the Head’’ or something. 8.1 find Monster Truck Racing to be: A) a pointless waste of increas ingly scarce fossil fuels. B) just plain awesome. 9. The capitol of Great Britain is: A) London. B) Russia. 10. If I won a million dollars in a lottery I would: A) donate 10 percent to charity and write it off on my tax returns and invest the rest in high-yield money markets and tax-deferred IRAs. B) blow it To score, give yourself five points for each question to which you answered “ B ’ ’ and zero points for each lime you selected “A.” Add it up. If you can’t add it up, you’re probably not an intellec tual. If you can, figure your score on a scale from 0 to 50. The closer you arc to zero, the more likely that you’re an intellec tual. A perfect 50 means you’re nowhere near intellectual status. The ideal score is somewhere around 30 to 35 . . . this means you’re probably a normal, well adjusted human. Congratulations. Stephanie Cannon/Daily Nebraskan Low ticket sales prompt cancellation of(Remote Control, ’ producer says By Gretchen Boehr Senior Reporter “Remote Control’’ cancelled to night’s performance at Lincoln’s Pershing Municipal Auditorium due to lack of ticket sales, according to Lisa Protter, producer and lour man ager for the show. The hit MTV game show’s “Out of the Basement Tour’’ performance in Nebraska was cancelled in a joint decision between the show’s pro moter, Contemporary Productions, and producer, MEGA, Protter said. Protter blamed lack of time to promote the show as the reason for low ticket sales. “It was a last-minute thing,” Protter said. “All of a sudden we found the University of Nebraska-Lincoln wanted to have the show and we tried to accommodate them,” she said. ‘ ‘We tried to make it work, but we just didn’t have enough time.” When booking the show in Lin coln we thought we could do it, but sometimes in trying to accom modate everyone you make a mis take.' --Proffer Prouer said “Remote Control” relies on a large audience. “A large audience is very impor tant to the show because we have a loi of audience participation," she said The audience cheers for its favor itc contestants who arc strapped tc reclincrs and answer off-the-wall questions about TV sitcoms and othei wacky subjects. During the “Out of the Bascmcni Tour," 18 students from local univer sities arc chosen as contestants, Prot tcr said. Sometimes audience members are chosen to ask the contestants ques tions, Protter said. “And at one part of the show the stars, Ken Ober and Colin Quinn, come down and gel everyone in the audience to dance and sing," she said. “Remote Control" cannot be re See REMOTE on 7 Paul Chandler/Pally Nebraskan UNL faculty member learns from teaching, performing By Stacey McKenzie Staff Reporter Professor Larry Lusk said of all the places he has performed « from New York to Washington - Lincoln is his favorite stage. “The concerts I care about the most are the ones in Lincoln, because my friends and colleagues will be there, said Lusk, a piano professor and associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. Lusk will be featured in part three of the University of Nebraska-Lin coin Faculty Recital Series tonight in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gmlery. The 8 p.m. conceit is free and open to i the public. Although Lusk plays on television and across the United Slates, he said he still gets just as nervous and still plays just as well. “Every concert is a special af fair,” he said. Lusk leaches a class called The Arts Today, which is about the latest in dance, theater, art, music and *“u;c- Jiving performed in about 30 faculty recitals, he said he hkes a combination of performing and leaching. 6 I like performing because I like communicating feelings and strong points, he said. “I like teaching because it keeps me sharp and keeps me with the kids. I learn as much from leaching as I do from playing.” Lusk said he practices an average of three hours a day and that concert preparation lakes the same "kind of mental strength an athlete or comic would need. “The No. 1 thing is to have it in your head, your fingers, and your heart,” he said. Lusk said his style is one of com munication. “It’s a challenge to make things happen the way you want them to happen,” he said. “You always have a mental picture. If the audience is quiet, you know you’re coming across.” In his years of experience, Lusk said he has had pianos move on stage during performances and he once had two strings lied together while play ing in a concert in Grand Island. He didn’t quit, though. “The name of the game is to just keep on going,” he said. Tonight’s performance will in clude a work titled “Tarantella”, which was dedicated to Lusk by Randall Snyder, professor of theory/ composition. Also featured will be a Prelude by Bach, a Mozart Sonata in F major, Images by Dcbusscy and three works by Chopin. In choosing what to play, Lusk said he picks something he has been dying to play and builds around it. He said he chose the work by Debussey called “Reflections in the Water” because it sounds like raindrops fall ing. “Hopefully they (the audience) will forget that I’m up there and will just listen to the music,” he said. “I’m playing some beautiful stuff.”