Word: blanding
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...witty and merciless taste for characterization, which invariably portrays his subjects in their weakest and most unattractive light. This dispassionate and always slightly disgusted--sounding tone is familiar from Theroux's previous books, including his non-fiction. The narrator of The London Embassy always seems to be presenting a bland, agreeable face to the people he is speaking to, while in his thoughts--to which we are privy--he seizes on their flaws, as when he describes his superior at the embassy...
...Deputy Secretary of State, Clark worked to smooth Secretary of State Alexander Haig's high-strung relations with the White House. Finally, when Clark replaced Richard Allen as Reagan's National Security Adviser in January of last year, the common reaction in Washington was relief: a bland but efficient mediator had been brought in to straighten out a floundering operation. The staff was demoralized, and Allen was paralyzed by charges that he had improperly accepted gifts from Japanese acquaintances...
...International with his own ideological stamp. The Socialist International routinely condemns human rights abuses in South Africa or South Korea, but delegations heading for East European capitals often steer away from controversial subjects. When Poland's General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in December 1981, Brandt issued a bland statement of regret noting that "unwanted advice and strongly worded declarations will not help the people of Poland." Brandt has also drawn fire for his calls for "revolutionary change" in El Salvador...
...plot is standard romantic comedy fare. A successful married man falls passionately in love with his young, talented patient, and a few unusual plot twists do not compensate for the otherwise bland progression of the storyline. The standard comedic treatment of psychiatry as a profession--which makes Saul Benjamin, the Dudley Moore character, slowly turn as nutty as most of his patients, while the script simultaneously mocks all other psychiatrists with their idiosyncracies--falls flat this time because each gag seems isolated, expected to sustain itself. Benjamin's patient merely represent all the familiar crazies of past sitcoms, such...
...destroyed when old buildings are razed. Character attracts visitors, gives residents a sense of belonging and accounts for the affinity between cities and civilization. The notion that we must revitalize the heart of a city every two decades, in accord with the latest architectural fashion, explains the cities' bland uniformity...