Word: bland
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...First Lady supposed to do? In the late 20th century the very phrase has an anachronistic scent, musty and perfumed like Great Grandmother's sachet. Yet Presidents' wives still face criticism for fiddling with the affairs of state, for doing anything much more than looking well groomed and making bland statements on behalf of unexceptionable philanthropies. The day- to-day duties of the job are no snap. Nancy Reagan plans and presides over some 20 big White House dinners each year, and makes an official appearance just about every day of the week...
Such great control. His bland face and laid-back manner rarely reveal his inner feelings. Those who know him well say Ueberroth is a fascinating paradox, an idealist with a salting of cleverness, a man of high principle who is willing to go right to the edge of scruple to reach his goals. He once described himself as both shy and ruthless. Over the years he has perfected a calculating public modesty, down-playing himself about, say, his mediocre college grades. But behind the self-deprecation is a huge ego and a steely inner toughness. Everything Ueberroth does...
...theater that informs Sendak's illustrations for E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker (Crown; $19.95). This is not the customary sugarplum rendition. As the artist points out in his introduction, the Christmastime ballet was based on a version of the tale by Alexandre Dumas, "smoothed out, bland and utterly devoid of the weird, dark qualities that make it something of a masterpiece." With characteristic wit and technical wizardry, Sendak has restored those qualities. Marie, journeying from childhood to the altar, old Drosselmeier the taleteller and Nutcracker himself are no longer marzipan creations. In Ralph Manheim's vigorous new translation...
...exciting aspect of this literary event is the story of how Kent Stowell of the Pacific Northwest Ballet convinced a reluctant Sendak to design a new production of the ballet. The familiar stage version is not Hoffmann at all, but rather a hybrid based largely upon Alexander Dumas's bland synthesis of Hoffmann's novella. Sendax became interested in the Nutcracker, when he learned that Stowell intended to crack the old Dumas chestnut with Hoffmann's stronger Nutcracker. The Seattle production was a great success. The triumphant ballet complements the publication of this first adequate and wonderful translation...
...creature of formula writing, whose intent may be simplification but whose consequence is too often mystification. That mystification is compounded by ethnic, religious, political and other groups that have lobbied their attitudes and taboos into texts. In Maryland, Tom Sawyer no longer says "honest injun." Just "honest." And the bland Watergate reference from McGraw-Hill's fifth-grade social-studies textbook United States is a result of the almost universal avoidance of controversy in textbooks...