Word: backgrounder
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...Cosby Show. (He does a formidable Cos impression.) After Pulp Fiction made him famous in his mid-40s, Jackson settled into his current rhythm of mixing prestige projects with what might fondly be called exuberant crap. For both, his preparation is obsessive. He writes out full character biographies--"Educational background, who his parents were, what he did, where he came from, what kinds of friends he has," says Jackson--then memorizes everything and inserts notes into the script to mark the spots where he plans tiny, barometric moments of character revelation. "Doesn't matter if it's Sphere or Shakespeare...
...touching you to make a point. He speaks in a circular way, taking you on a fact-filled detour and then back to the main point. Once when I was interviewing him, he turned to his secretary and said, "She is from Galicia, but from a very different background from mine." He then started telling the story of Galicia--the Spanish region from which his father came--and ended by telling us about his family and how he became a revolutionary...
...rugby league. How would you characterize such a group? Battlers? Bludgers? Westies? Yes, but there's much more to each of them. Do has quietly captured the textures of being and belonging. Like the country itself, it's a picture of tolerance, hope and humanity against a thumping background of urban blight and biff...
...Music button on the phone's right side is a stroke of convenience. Unlike other quick-access buttons I've seen, this one allows you to toggle. You quickly access and then hide tunes, allowing them to play in the background as you go about your business. Taking its cue from the circular touchpad, the animated main menu lets you swirl through options. It is a major aesthetic improvement over Verizon's current standard menu system, and key features, such as the phone's Bluetooth networking capability, are easier to locate...
...failure of its economy forces Cuba to reinvent itself, Fidel Castro has stayed largely in the background, leaving it to other officials to explain and defend the changes sweeping his country. But two weeks ago, he invited a delegation from TIME to dinner for a rare three-hour conversation that gave him an opportunity to define the compromises he is making: to expound, argue, and marshal the evidence in support of a reform process some Cubans fear is changing Cuba too much and others charge is not changing the country nearly enough...