Word: blanding
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Center in Bethesda, Md., and drape themselves all over the chairs in classic collapsed-teenager mode, trailing backpacks, a CD player and a laptop loaded with computer games. It's midafternoon, and they are, of course, tired, but even so their presence adds a jangly, hormonal buzz to the bland, institutional setting. Fair-haired twins Corey and Skyler Mann, 16, and their burlier big brothers Anthony and Brandon, 18, who are also twins, plus eldest brother Christopher, 22, are here to have their heads examined. Literally. The five brothers from Orem, Utah, are the latest recruits to a giant study...
Islamic-affairs officials know that simply advocating a more open and compassionate version of the faith is not enough to counter the radicals' incendiary message. What happens inside the kingdom's mosques is also now under scrutiny. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs suggests bland sermon topics - one recent theme was road safety - and the Ministry has passed out a guideline of dos and don'ts for the imams. Many mosques have been equipped with closed-circuit TVs so officials can monitor what goes on inside...
...almost certainly diminish once the Games are over. And in any case, it's increasingly obvious that as the capital's creative sectors bloom, so does the ability of those working in them to circumvent or ignore the rules. That has helped shape a second city hidden under the bland façade of broad boulevards and marbled ministries, argues Hu Xudong, a noted poet, columnist and professor of literature at Peking University. "Underneath the official Beijing we have another Beijing that's more like Latin America than China," he says. The city's other art scenes are supercharged as well...
There is such productive tension between politics and comedy because the two fields are so different. Politics is about biting your tongue and sticking to bland bromides (for which you have to blame not just politicians but also voters and the gaffe-happy media). Comedy is about tearing off scabs and unveiling anxieties. In a race that's so much about identity taboos--an old guy is running against a black guy who defeated a white lady--we need that more than ever. Yet the fear of sounding bigoted is precisely what has made (white, male) late-night comics...
...Hotel Zone houses all six of Naypyidaw's hotels. Several more are planned - all sharing a bland rancho-chalet-villa aesthetic - although the eagerness and astonishment with which three hoteliers greet a guest doesn't portend well for their occupancy rates...