Word: britainã
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...without being reminded of the travel writings of his legendary elder brother, V.S. Naipaul. Only 40 when he died of a heart attack in 1985, the unfortunate younger Naipaul cannot escape comparisons to his sibling, older by 13 years and a literary behemoth and Nobel Laureate often described as Britain??s greatest living writer. Shiva Naipaul’s work is more than worthy of notice on its own merits, but in so far as he has been remembered at all in recent years, it has been as V.S. Naipaul’s brother.Like the elder Naipaul, Shiva...
...taunts of sixth grade bullies still echoed in the back of her mind, the passing of her 97-year-old mother pushed her to peek out of her shell for just one more, all-or-nothing performance. As Susan Boyle walked onto the stage of “Britain??s Got Talent,” she brushed off the laughter of the audience with unassuming familiarity. What neither she nor they knew was that this duckling was about to deliver anything but a swan’s song...
...Boyle’s story is one we’ve heard thousands of times before. Her rags-to-riches ascent joins the long tradition of Cinderella, Philoctetes, Cyrano de Bergerac, the frog prince, and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. No doubt the producers of “Britain??s Got Talent” knew this when they decided to recast the age-old archetype on a modern stage like so many authors, playwrights, and bards before them. The fresh angle in Boyle’s case, though, is that this isn’t a puppet show...
...another media darling, and Simon Cowell will find another unlikely star to mine for ratings. Boyle will land a record deal and sell enough albums to live comfortably to a ripe old age. But the next time a buffoonish-looking, middle-aged woman with a stellar soprano auditions for Britain??s Got Talent, she won’t make it very far—that’s already been done. Money, not principle, will always be the goal, and in a music scene full of Beyoncé Knowleses and Kelly Clarksons, there’s still room...
...that “reality” was one of the few words in the English language that is meaningless without quotation marks. Reality TV gives this observation a whole new meaning—one that makes me wonder whether those who wish to follow in the footsteps of Britain??s newest talent would be better off had she, too, been a fairytale...