The Mummy Returns
The 2001 Brendan Fraser
blockbuster plays at the
League. 8 p.m. Free.
ARArwo9m Oak
TS
0 michigandaily.com/arts
WEDNESDAY
MARCH 6, 2002
5
Cliched 'Faith' will need just
that to survive cancellation
PaRappa's encore
a disappointment
for Playstation 2
By Jennifer Fogel
Daily Arts Writer
NBC has done it again: Placing an
inept half hour comedy in the token
"Must See TV Thursday" 8:30 - 9
p.m. timeslot between powerhouses
"Friends" and "Will & Grace," where
by the grace of the Ratings God, the
show will only perform well because
of said slot. Remember "Jesse?" That
show lasted far beyond the usual turn
for a bad sitcom. Now taking a turn in
the coveted spot is "Leap of Faith," a
fashionably lame comedy about
another New York single girl who
uses a close-knit group of friends to
stand in for failed relationships with
the opposite sex.
Created by former "Sex in the City"
producer Jenny Bicks, "Leap of Faith"
combines the female machinations of
Carrie and company with a poor use of
references to classic comedies like
"Laverne & Shirley." In last week's pre-
miere episode, Faith (Sarah Paulson,
"Jack & Jill") is about to marry David
who seems like the perfect guy: "He's
like a Volvo: Safe, reliable and popular."
After a panic attack in Bergdorf's while
picking china, Faith questions this new
life set before her, in which she must
change her entire lifestyle in order to
a cc o m -
mod ate
h e r
fianc6s
old-fash-
ione d
be1i e fs .
When she
meets a
hand -
s o m e
actor, Dan
LEAP OF FAITH
Thursdays at
8:30 p.m.
NBC
(Brad Rowe, "Wasteland"),
during her time of crisis, but Patty's
words of wisdom often run along the
lines of why monogamy is bad and
where the next "stud" will come from.
The other two-dimensional characters
rounding out the familiar foursome are
the career-driven, married Calvin Klein
executive Cynthia (Regina King, "Jerry
Maguire"), and Rolling Stone reporter
Andy (Ken Marino, last seen as Joey's
professor on "Dawson's Creek"), who
can only be described as a dog among
men. While each friend has a different
perspective for our fateful Faith, none of
them appear to have any desire to actu-
ally shape up their own lives, and they
basically sit around drinking in the local
bar trying to forget their troubles.
While bits and pieces of genuine
comedy appear now and then, there is
no real regard for innovation, leaving
only a "been there, done that" feel. The
advertising agency that Faith and Patty
work for is just as convoluted as the
plot, made more so by the appearance
of "Saturday Night Live" veteran Tim
during a casting call for a commercial
she wrote, Faith immediately becomes
attracted to him ... yada, yada, yada ...
they sleep together and poof ... no
more wedding.
Faith leans on her over-sexed gal pal
Patty (Lisa Edelstein, "Ally McBeal")
By Matt Grandstaff
Daily Arts Writer
Courtesy of NBC'
Boy don't I look cute and canceled?
Meadows. His dry sarcasm barely
leaves an imprint in the profuse dreck
that propagates within the show. Even
the over the top, "casual" references to
having sex ("sex hair," "mindless sex")
are dull. Unfortunately, NBC has care-
fully "handled the merchandise" with
this one, and we can look forward to
many more episodes of analyzing Faith
and friends' flaws and sex drives. Skip
the "Leap" and head to HBO for some
real provocative sex talk.
When Sony released "PaRappa the
Rapper" for the original Playstation,
many thought the game's idea was
ridiculous. Using two-dimensional car-
toon style graphics and silly rhymes,
the game seemed destined for doom in
America - where music themed
videogames had previously failed.
Nevertheless, "PaRappa" received
praise from the press and gainers alike
for its Simon-like
gameplay (remember
the old game with the
different color bars you *
had to hit?), quirky
characters and hilari- PARAPP
ous music. Since RAPPI
"PaRappa," music
themed games have For Playst
become very popular Sony Comp
in America, as seen
from the success of
games like "Frequency" and "UnJam-
mer Lammy" (the semi-sequel to
"PaRappa"). As a result of the growing
demand for such games, it was just a
matter of time before Sony released a
true follow up to the game that rede-
fined a genre. Unfortunately, "PaRap-
pa the Rapper 2" for Playstation 2
nlavs like a broken record.
PA
E
eta
au
Guthrie bnngs Wilderness' to Power
By Autumn Brown
Daily Arts Writer
Although Eugene O'Neill is best known as a
genius of dark theater, his play "Ah, Wilderness!"
takes a somewhat nostalgic turn towards family
values and coming of age sentiments. In O'Neill's
own words, the play is "a sort of wishing out loud,
the way I wished my boyhood had been." O'Neill's
quasi-autobiographical comedy follows the story of
a family's experience dealing with the growing
pains of their teenage son, Richard, during the fate-
ful summer of 1906.
Guthrie Theater's production of "Ah! Wilder-
ness" will perform this weekend at the Power Cen-
ter with the hope that the audience will experience
a blast from the past. Guthrie has been recognized
on the international level as an organization devot-
ed to educational programs as well as touring
engagements. Recent productions by Guthrie The-
ater include John Steinbeck's " Of Mice and Men"
and Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream."
"The play reaffirms American values, solid fam-
ily life, responsibility to others, and bring up things
on the mind of the
national conscience,"
said Guthrie member Joe
Delafield, who plays
Richard Miller.
Delafield began acting
as a child in elementary
school and continued to
pursue acting in high
school and received a
M.A. in Theater at New
York University. He has
been cast in " All My
Sons" by Arthur Miller,
"A Midsummer's Night
Dream" and "Waiting
Room," but he admits
that his favorite role is
that of Richard Miller.
Courtesy of Guthrie Theater "It'shat en alo ie
ily in 'Ah, Wilderness!' been a long time
since I was a 17-year old boy who's trying to fig-
ure out his identity, but somehow I can really
relate to the character and becoming the character
- Richard has taught
me a lot about myself,"
Delafield said. "It's
something I can really AH,
sink my teeth into." W~ ' SS
Delafield credits the ILDERNESS.
cast as one of the At the Power Center
essential components Friday and Saturday at 8
which have made his pm.
experience with the 'ickets: $18-40
company enjoyable. Available from UMS box
"This production is office at 764-2538
fantastically cast. We University Musical Society
get along, but we're
going to be in close
quarters while traveling. I don't foresee any prob-
lems as of now. We're having a lot of fun."
"Working at Guthrie Theater is a great regional
theater start, but I'd love to do more. Also, I'd like
to get to the point where I can stay in New York to
be with my fianc6. It's tough being away," he said.
Delafield, along with other cast members, will
be conducting a workshop at the Ann Arbor Dis-
tirict Library during the weekend of the perform-
ances and perhaps other workshops in the area as
well.
"Ah, Wilderness!" is directed by Douglas C.
Wagner, a freelance director and a play discussion
and reception will precede the performances.
Similar to the original, "PaRappa 2"
revolves around the life of PaRappa, a
hip-hop dog who wears a stocking cap,
and his friends, which include a cat, a
bear and a sunflower. But while the
original game kept gainers wanting to
play more to see if PaRappa would get
the girl of his dreams, Sunny Funny,
the storyline of "PaRappa the Rapper
2" will make gamers sick the same
way eating a bunch of ramen noodles
does. This makes sense as PaRappa's
quest this time around is to stop
Colonel Noodle from
turning the world's food
supply into noodles. This
storyline definitely feels
like a stretch and will
k THE make you want to throw
R 2 the game to your dog and
say, "fetch."
ition 2 In addition to having a
ter Ent. storyline that is lame, the
levels of "PaRappa 2" are
sure to defame the hip-
hop dog's name. Once again, PaRappa
runs into difficult situations in which
he's gotta believe by imitating the raps
of hip-hop masters such as Chop
Chop Master Onion and emcee King
Kong Mushi. Sadly, these levels don't
seem quite as unique or funny as the
original, with many using the same or
similar characters from the original.
In addition, every level begins with
PaRappa deciding he can beat the
level by yelling, "I Gotta Believe!"
And while fans of the first game
could be heard repeating the each
level's addicting tunes, those who do
the same with this game might get
their ass kicked by goons.
Speaking of ass, "PaRappa 2" suf-
fers from problematic gameplay that
will leave garners not wanting to come
back for another day. As in the original
"PaRappa",and "UnJammer Lammy,"
the goal is to mimic the level masters'
raps by pressing different buttons in a
particular order. But unlike these
games, "PaRappa 2" does require a
whole lot of accuracy. Gamers are like-
ly to beat the game in their first or sec-
ond try, making them wish they hadn't
paid $49.99.
Courtesy of Sony
Dog eat dog, brother, dog eat dog.
Gem offers rush tix
The Guthrie Theater cast portrays the comedic Miller fam
Scenes' offers glimpse of post-college life
By Jim Schiff
Daily Fine/Performing Arts Editor
By Julia Goldstein
For the Daily
At the end 'of the undergraduate
experience, each of us is left with
but one question to answer: now
what? In her debut novel, "Making
Scenes," Adrienne Eisen employs a
spunky, independent, yet nameless
woman to explore the possibilities
of post-college life. From the first
page, societal expectations are cast
aside as Eisen's principal character
begins, "I announce that I am no
longer accepting money from my
family. ... I write a letter to my
advisor thanking him for all the
honors-student-research-money he
finagled for me during the last four
years, and p.s. I withdrew all my
applications to graduate school - I
want to play professional beach vol-
leyball."
Fortunately for the suspecting
reader, Eisen's work does not
develop into a defiant rags-to-rich-
es tale. Her heroine fails several
times, in several ways. There are
endless troubles involving work,
love, as well as her physical and
mental well being. The constant
struggle enables readers to
empathize with Eisen's generic first
person narrator throughout her
eccentric twists and turns.
If the description so far remains
vague, it is the strategic working of
Eisen herself. She has structured the
book so that the narrator's name is
never revealed, even in the midst of
several passages of dialogue pre-
sented in screenplay form. This
main character, without exception,
refers to herself as "I" and is
referred to by others as "you."
Many concrete biographic details
belt and I struggle to get loose." The
audience is left wondering about the
exact nature of this strange
father/daughter relationship, or how
the narrator herself
feels about it. There
are other similarly sex-
ually twisted tails that
remain unexplained MAKING
throughout the novel.
Since much of the By Adrie
emotion of the work Alt X.
remains on the sur-
face, this book quickly becomes a
plot driven romp through the life
and times of a gutsy, yet anonymous
woman. There are numerous twists
of fate and changes of heart to keep
things interesting. Eisen's narrator
G'
K-P
has an affair with a married man,
tests the waters of lesbianism, and
steals thousands of dollars from the
home furnishing favorite, Crate &
Barrel. So much of the
driving force behind
the piece relies on the
action of the story that
SCENES it becomes weird,
grotesque, and at times
ne Eisen pornographic in its
Press attempt to keep the
pages turning. This
woman, while lacking any interest
in discussing her attraction to her
father, or her bulimic hatred of her
perfectly toned body, has absolutely
no qualms about openly sharing her
erotic encounters with a rubber
spatula. With the wildness of her
work, Eisen risks the alienation of
her audience as it becomes too
embarrassing at times for some
readers to stay connected with the
book.
Amidst the eerie sexually explicit
recounts there are some light-heart-
ed moments reminiscent of Helen
Fielding's Bridget Jones. When end-
ing an evening with her ex the nar-
rator slams the car door. She
recounts, "I do it dramatically, and
when he drives away, I fall over
because my beach bag is caught in
the door." These tidbits are what
salvage "Making Scenes" and offer
a glimmer of hope for future Adri-
enne Eisen works.
The Detroit-based Gem and Century
Theaters are offering student rush tick-
ets to high school and college students.
One hour prior to each performance,
students can purchase these tickets at
the Gem and Century Box Office,
located on Madison Avenue in Detroit.
These discounted tickets arrived just
in time for the opening of two new
plays, "Late Nite Catechism" at the
Century Theatre and "Guys on Ice" at
the Gem. A satire of Catholic Gram-
mar School, "Catechism" is a hilarious
interactive comedy, consisting of lec-
ture, improvisation and question-and-
answer sessions. The play was a
favorite among Detroiters two years
ago and has been brought back by
demand for a second run.
"Guys on Ice" explores the popular
saying "There's more to fishing than
just catching fish." This musical come-
dy portrays three men who ponder
deep topics such as beer, women and
snowsuits over an ice fishing hole. In
the same vein of humor as "Escanaba
in da Moonlight," "Guys on Ice" is
guaranteed to tickle your funny bone.
The Gem and Century Theatres are
part of the historical Gem Theatre and
Century Club Building in Detroit. The
complex began in the late 1920s by
The Twentieth Century Club, a group
of socially prominent, culturally
active women. Over the years the
building has undergone numerous
name changes and renovations, while
still preserving its original, colorful
brilliance.
Rush tickets can be purchased by
calling (313) 963-9800.
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Leavi'ng
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The Gerald R. Ford School of
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are pleased to present:
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What Should We Do?"
A lecture and panel discussion featuring:
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Governor, Federal Reserve Board
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Dean, Ford School of Public Policy
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