6B -The Michigan Daily - Wedsct, e4. - Thursday, February 22, 1996 Students search for love at Kuumba Dating Game By Eugene Bowen Daily Arts Writer OK, so maybe it's been done many times in the past. A group of wild and crazy college students get together and recreate some well-known game show from yesteryear, then invite actual col- lege students to participate and put on a show that.involves a great deal of audi- ence participation. The idea may not be groundbreaking, but the result can be fun. Take the Kuumba Dating Game: A spoof of the old-school game show where three hopefuls vie for a date with some unknown person, who then elimi- nates two of the contestants with a se- ries of questions. With a specifically African American flair, the Kuumba Dating Game was guaranteed to garner some outright guffaws, which explains why a standing-room-only audience of some 300 to 400 black University stu- dents crowded the U-Club. Questions and answers ranged from the goofy and frivolous to the interest- ing and serious. Ofthe fourwomen who vied for senior football player Thomas Guynas' love, it was first-year student Velisha Thomas whose answers sparked his interest. "If I had a trapeze over my bed, what kind of tricks would you perform for me?" Guynas asked. Thomas responded, "I'd tumble, roll and flip right into your arms." Such a beautiful answer deserved the "awwww" the crowd crooned. Not all was romantic, however, when University students Joe Griffen, Andre Hewitt and Daniel West tried for the hand of the very lovely first-year stu- dent, Chandan Morris. Everyone could tell these guys were about to clown when Morris asked West for his idea of a perfect evening, and he began, "I'd take you to the Oasis motel." REVIEW Kuumba Dating Game U-Club Feb. 16, 1996 Hewitt got even raunchier. When Morris stated her favorite slogan was Nike's "Just Do It," he gave his favorite, homemade slogan: "Just Hit It." In the end, it was sophomore Joe Grif- fin who got Morris' vote. No wonder. When asked what he would do to earn her approval he responded, "I probably wouldn't do nothin'." How romantic. Sophomore Kiera Fernandez had a better batch ofmen to choose from-not that that's saying much. When she asked them to name what kind of exotic animal they'd be, she got such well thought out answers as "kangaroo" and "chipmunk." Junior Keith Moton's answer definitely got her attention: "I'd be a black panther, 'cause one night with me, you'll realize how wild the shit can really get!" Fernandez retorted, "One night with me, you'll be too tame to talk like that." "That's what I'm talkin' about, baby," was Moton's clever answer. Khary Hornsby was able to get a little freak out when Fernandez asked if she were a Tootsie Pop, how many licks it would take him to get to her center. His response: "Fifteen. One for every time you call out my name." In the end, however, it was a psychol- ogy major, Brandon Guinn, who won the date. Signs of African American female strength were apparent throughout the contest. When asked for her view of the perfect man, Brittanie Chin responded: "He has to realize that chivalry is not dead. He must respect me like the queen I am." Jaavon Kuykindall has a lot to live up to as he chose her as his mystery date. When asked by Marcus Ray what he could do to make her the happiest woman inthe world, Lakeisha Hamilton stated, "The only thing you have to do is be yourself and show me you're do- ing everything to achieve your dreams." It should come as no surprise that Ray chose Hamilton as his date. He certainly wouldn't have chosen the freak-like Jasmine Guy whose response to a question to compare her skills with that ofan NBA player was cut out by an audience heckler who shouted, "Magic!" The jury's still out over whether the pun was or wasn't intended. The game show's intermission was filled by "Images of Identity," a live soap opera with an all-African Ameri- can cast. Containing a few interesting insights on male-female relationships punctuated with farcical humor, the story centered on two different areas of a barber shop with women and men talking amongst their respective gender group about the quirks of the other. This was very reminiscent of the gen- der dialogues brought to life in last year's controversial movie "Kids." Humor was certainly the backbone of "Images of Identity," much like the popu- lar '70s television sitcom "Soap." Such1 plots as a catfight between two sorority women while the rest of the cast chanted, "Let the ho's fight," a drunk country girl and the largest group member's anguish that women only want him for his body drew much laughter. In the end, the Kuumba Dating Game brought together eight lucky couples. Sure, this game was humor-filled, but don't laugh too hard at what may lie in these couples' futures. People have met Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking." OSCARS Continued from Page 18 from critical groups at the end of the year, both lead actor Nicolas Cage and director Mike Figgis appear to be front- runners in their respective categories. After all, Cage was named Best Actor by the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review and the Hollywood Foreign Press Associa- tion (which gives out the annual Golden Globe Awards). Figgis was also named Best Director by the Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics. Look for Cage's biggest competition to come from Sean Penn for his role as a condemned prisoner in "Dead Man Walking." Though his was probably too bleak a role for him to receive commendation, Penn gave an inspiring performance. Figgis is certainly helped by the ab- sence of "Sense and Sensibility"'s di- rector, Ang Lee, in the directing cat- egory -usually the director of the Best Picture takes this prize as well. But, assuming "Sense and Sensibility" wins Best Picture, then all five directing nominees have a much fairer chance of victory. Mel Gibson is another favorite in this category, considering that he did an admirable job crafting the spectacular "Braveheart." Directors (who vote for this award), however, may resent that Gibson is an actor first; a true director, they may think, deserves the prize more than he. Such might be the problem for actor Tim Robbins, who is nominated for directing his masterpiece, "Dead Man Walking." Despite his superb pro- duction, he is impaired by both his reputation as an actorand the extremely depressing nature of his movie. There's no clear front-runner in the Best Actress Category; all five nomi- nees gave outstanding performances, and all deserve to win. The best perfor- mance ofthe group is Susan Sarandon's Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Contestants In the Kuumba Dating Game at the U Club last Friday. WALKER VANDYKE/Daily in stranger ways. Walking." She may be the closest thing to a favorite in this category, given thf she has been nominated numerous tim yet has never won. Other possible victors are Sharon Stone ("Casino"), the Golden Globe recipient, and EmmaThompson ("Sense and Sensibility"), winner of the N- tional Board of Review prize. Stone gave an exceptional and atypical .per- formance in Martin Scorsese's other- wise flawed film, but she may be hin- dered by her reputation as a sex-go dess and/or dumb blonde. Expect ompson to win if her film takes home many other prizes, otherwise, the once- victorious and many-times-nominated1 actress may have to settle for just the nomination. There is no doubt that, while the selections for Best Picture are not im- pressive, the acting nominees are. It is in the acting category that some of the most deserving and accomplished nomi- nees in the whole program exist. C sequently, look for man-of-the-momeT Kevin Spacey to win the Best Support- ing Actor award for his role in "The Usual Suspects," and Joan Allen (who gave an astonishing portrayal of Pat Nixon in "Nixon") to take the prize as Supporting Actress. Each performer has already been honored by the critics - Spacey won the New York and National Board of Review awards; Allen received acc lades from the Los Angeles and Na- tional Society of Film Critics. While Spacey enjoys little competition r only Ed Harris ("Apollo 13") and Bad Pitt (12 Monkeys") should be con- sidered - Allen may have a greater challenge against Mira Sorvino ("Mighty Aphrodite"), -the winner of both the New York critics' and Na- tional Board of Review's awards. Unfortunately, like the Best P ture group, the nominees in many oth categories are not nearly as appropri ate as those in acting. While we can expect "Braveheart" to capture many of the artistic elements (cinematogra- phy, costume design and makeup awards seem destined to go to Gibson's film), it is still absent from the Best Art Direction category. Why was it not nominated for that award as well? Similar questions arise when we consider that "Batman Forever" was nominated for a cinematography award while "Apollo 13" wasn't; when we notice that "Seven" and "Crimson, Tide" - both worthy nominees i many other categories - were give nods for editing while "Sense and Sensibility," "Casino" and "Nixon" weren't; or when we realize that the Best Original Score category has be divided into "drama" and "musicale comedy" sections. The fact is, we can always question the inclusion or omission of certat people from certain categories, but such queries could be without end: Why were John Travolta ("Get Shorty") or Nicole Kidman ("To Die For") left out of the lead acting co64t petitions? How were "The American President," "Get Shorty," "T. Story," "The Usual Suspects, "Seven" and many other worthy mo ies almost completely excluded? Wlf is only one film ("Apollo 13") thaI was shot and produced almost com pletely in America, nominated for the Best Picture award in this traditional American ritual? Who knows ... vot- ers do strange things sometimes. Instead, let's simply enjoy the pro- ceedings. Admire the winners, p the losers and get a little nerv( when someone says: "And the Oscar goes to ... ." In the end, this ceremony could be more entertaining than watching many of the films them- selves. The Academy Awards usually are. The 68th-Annual Academy Awards will be televised on Monday, March 25th. They will be hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. A hilarious rivalry both on and off the football field. by James Thurber and Elliott Nugent _ U Copyright C1989 Rosemary A. Thurber. From Collecting Himself, published by HarperCollins. Directed by Hal Cooper Mendelssohn Theatre February 22-24 at 8 PM February 25 at 2 PM Tickets are $16 and $12 Charge by phone: 313-764-045 Student seating is $6 with ID at the League Ticket Office UM School of Music Dept. of Theatre and Drama A1 i* -im -m -a -n -ni - mi mi i 1 01 491 expires: 4/30/96 COOL COW All Natural Frozen Dessert Fat Free 9 Calories per Ounce Cholesterol Free Low Lactose MAL, Nc'a Can you -sell elvator psses t fns inMcignStodium? .t 6 Can you sell parngpsses t VIA biccis? Can you sell s~d spce in the UGU? If you answered "YES" to any of the following questions, you're hired. ._ It I - -A I _*-I - L -rk v~rr'' '/ E ti3c7)t L ~;!N tee ''IJt f x. -' is y' w ev;.t4 9. ,EC4t r4 I i I UE~ EU I I LIE IIUU U i