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.”
