AN ARTIST RE THE ART OF ANN MIKOLOWSKI PAGE 4B Please, take me seriously There are two movies set for release this winter (one out now, one forthcoming) that piqued my interest. The first is about a con- spiracy theorist who believes the mysteries of life can he explained by the number 23. " The second is a story of a man who loses his PAUL family in the TASSI Sept. 11 attacks and must now rely on his col- lege roommate to help him grieve (or, rather, not to grieve). What's the common denomina- tor? "The Number 23" stars Jim Carrey, the man who crawled out of a rhino's ass in "Ace Venture: When Nature Calls," while the starring role in "Reign Over Me" is filled by Adam Sandler, who headbutted Bob Barker in "Happy Gilmore." Sometimes such actors want to shatter perceptions of them- selves by branching out into a role completely different than what you've come to expect from them. Jim Carey has already failed ("The Majestic") and suc- ceeded ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") in his dramatic attempts thus far, and his perfor- mance in "23" has met with mixed reviews at best. This is Sandler's first attempt since "Punch Drunk Love" to be in a film where abso- lutely no one gets hit in the balls, so "Reign" looks to be a welcome change, at least in theory. In truth there is any number of actors just begging that you not laugh when they appear in a movie, each with varying degrees of success. We've seen that Ryan Reynolds wants to be America's next action hero with roles in "Blade: Trinity" and "Smokin' Aces." He's not bad, but after every line he says, I'm still wait- ing for him to add "write that down," because no matter how hard he tries, he'll always be Van Wilder to me. Ashton Kutcher tried desperately to emulate a young Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" when he starred in "The Guard- ian" last fall, but he should clearly stick to producing "Beauty and the Geek" and regretting his life choices as he watches his wife's hotness slowly slip away. The need to be taken seriously has officially become an epidemic if we are to take recent trail- ers at face value, including one showing Dane Cook in a role as a blackmailing photographer in the upcoming Kevin Costner thriller "Mr. Brooks." That's correct: The man who brought phone sex to the Burger King drive-thru is in a serious cinematic adventure of his very own. I imagine watch- ing Dane Cook attempt the role of a dramatic actor is going to be something like watching a snake that dreams of tap dancing. It just doesn't seem like it's going to work out. But sometimes this need for a per- ception-changing "breakout" role manifests itself in exceptionally strange ways. By now you've all seen the pub- licity photos of Daniel Radcliffe, or as you know him, Harry Potter, where he appears naked, hairy and longingly embracing a horse. He's taken it upon himself to star in a play See TASSI, page 4B The psychology of U i- - Tr ~f -, - =~t'",: 3al g f 1 zs . : -~ / __ . ..."...:. The New Yorker's crtoon editor -- ' knows more about humor than you I ,. - a l 1 \V F . ' .. fr -, &} ' ". ,. t " . ., thought possible By Andrew Sargus Klein I Managing Arts Editor Institute of Humanities is lined The first room on your left at the at eye-level with 68 single-panel cartoons. Their compositions are visually unassuming, being the simple, colorless line drawings of a certain magazine's signature style. Bourgeois couples and well-fed CEOs squabble in various board- rooms, bars and urbane living rooms, each little scene wryly grounded by a punchline that's either inoffensively snide or sharply aca- demic. Across the hall from the exhibit room is a tiny office quietly overflowing with faxes of cartoons, stacks of folders and boxes. Some- where, there's a phone and a computer. The only color in the room comes from three multi-colored juggling balls moving in fren- zied, concentric arcs. I thought I had the wrong office. Bob Mankoff, a 30-year contributor to The New Yorker and its current cartoon editor, deserves some down time. He's in constant motion, juggling as many as 600 to 1,000 cartoons a week for The New Yorker while giving lectures and teaching an honors mini-course at the University, "The Art and Science of Humor: Theory and practice, practice, practice," which began last week. At first glance Mankoff is everything you'd think The New Yorker cartoon critic would be: liberal gravitas; easy, know-it-all humor; well- cut blazer with jeans and nice shoes. Elisabeth Paymal, curator and designer for the Institute for the Humanities, described him*as a "cultural shock for everyone." Mankoff described Meijer as "bigger than Rhode Island."' His persona is certainly char- acteristic of many things New York, but Mankoff is extremely aware of humor's psychological processes and what triggers them. "Humor is entering a play state, a safe area, where you're insulated from the outside world," he said. "That's why we can enjoy aggressive humor, sexual humor - things that if they occurred in real life we would find disgusting and repellent." He likened humor to horror movies, in that once you're insulated by the stimuli of peo- ple getting brutally murdered, the questions "Are you afraid?" and "Aren't you offended?" don't matter anymore. The situation takes on its own language, outside of the real world. Let's say two groups of people are told a joke that goes something like this: A doctor tells his patient "You're going to be awake during the entire operation; the anesthesi- ologist is on vacation." The first group laughs at the harmless joke. Everything is fine. The second group of people is told the rea- son they're laughing is because, psychologi- cally, the joke releases aggressive impulses. "Now, their conscience is tweaked a little bit," Mankoff said. "They think: I don't like aggressive impulses, that's not a good thing, I'm a nice person.' Now that group, when they look at the cartoon, won't laugh as much. They're repressing -like political correct- ness - they're repressing because they feel guilty for their aggression." Another example: a gallows with a wheel- chair ramp. "Now, you're going to laugh at that," Mankoff said. "But if you've read sto- ries about the handicapped, all of"a sudden I activate that scheme in your brain; the importance that the handicapped should be treated correctly. Then the political cor- rectness dampens that, then the real world intrudes on this fantasy world." Perhaps it's that intrusion which gives Mankoff's humor a definitive ring. If based solely in the fantasy world of humor - the notionthat anything goes, thatwe're protect- ed from offense because humor is harmless - then the punchline runs the risk of losing its relevance. By bringing in the real world - a wheel- chair ramp on a gallows, an ad for Viagra on an erect skyscraper, a lawyer casually claim- ing he can sue God - Mankoff's humor defies easy categorization. One cartoon has a CEO type seated at a desk while a suited figure See MANKOFF, page 3B LU S i=LIST March 15 to 18 The Daily Arts guide to the best upcoming events -it's everywhere you should be this week and why. ON SCREEN After a highly contested cut in fundingfortheAnnArbor Film Fes- tival on the basis of last year's "por- nographic" material, the event has made an impressive rebound and will celebrate its 45th anniversary this year, beginning next Tuesday. Get tickets this weekend: They can be purchased at The Michigan The- ater, or online at ticketweb.com. $9 to $12 for a day's pass to a particu- lar grouping of films. ON STAGE Jim Leija's "Sins, With all my Heart" is billed as "a semi-auto- biographical romp through the fantastical landscapes of suburban Catholicism and urban gay night- life," and with a descriptor like that you know this performance tomor- row will be something different. The first-person narrative marks the completion of Leija's School of Art and Design MFA and takes place at the Duderstadt Center at 8 p.m. AT THE PODIUM Hollywood screenwriter Todd Phillipshelpedpenanumberofrecent comedic heavyweights, including "Borat," "Old School," "Road Trip" and "Starsky & Hutch." Presented by the James Gindin Visiting Artists series and the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures, Phillips will lecture tonight in the chemistry building (1300 Chem). His next film intheaters willbe "Old School Dos." The event is free and it begins at 7:30 p.m. ON STAGE Classic teen-pop singer and song- writer Lesley Gore (best known for "It's My Party" and "You Don't Own Me") will play The Ark Sunday night. She first gained popularity for her Quincy Jones-produced pop hits in the '60s and is still writing and per- forming 40 years later. Now you can catch some of her originals on her new album Ever Since along with old favorites, in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $35 and doors open at 7:30 p.m.