Word: conceit
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...Jack Black), a cheerful boor in denial about the foxy women who deny him, meets a heavenly being (motivational flack Tony Robbins!) who lets Hal see the beauty of homely women--to him, the hippopotamic Rosemary looks like Gwyneth Paltrow. This fable, with its Shrek-like conceit, could be the Farrellys' mission statement about their fascination with human eccentricities: retardation in There's Something About Mary, albinism in Me, Myself & Irene, obesity, spinal bifida and vestigial tails here. We mock, they say, because we care. But that doesn't make the film elevating or amusing. Torpor sticks to the actors...
...corner of some dim café, the British-born journalist and author evidently seeks to cast himself as a morose rebel from the outset. The mission of Letters to a Young Contrarian, the latest addition to a career carved in stubborn public controversy, fits in nicely with this conceit: the seasoned revolutionary passes his wisdom onto flame-brained youth...
...Senses (Riverhead; 370 pages; $24.95). It posits, through a series of anecdotes told by each sister, that when you grow up in a large family, you develop an extra set of senses that help you both stand out from and connect to your kin. This, at least, is the conceit. But the underlying mantra of the book and the radio show is the same: talk is good. Even seemingly insignificant banter, such as the discussion about the aforementioned gravy boat, is really a way of coping with big life changes, such as Julie's move to Bangkok. "Everyone uses conversation...
...striking postcards is internally labeled “Young Arab Woman from Timbuktu,” showing a photograph of two topless women reclining in the pose of an odalisque. The photograph was taken by Francois-Edmund Fortier in 1905, and is quite obviously an example of a European conceit of the exotic. However, both Keïta and Sidibé play with the idea of the odalisque, providing their own (less sexualized) interpretations of the concept in 1959 and 1969, respectively...
...many backpackers without us." But as visitor numbers climb each year, no one has any plans to stem the flood. Wheeler offers no grand solutions, sticking to the piecemeal guidebook wisdom of patronizing the good places to discourage the bad. But he is ready to give up one backpacker conceit, the habit of calling one another "travelers" to distinguish themselves from other, less intrepid vacationers. "I don't believe that for a minute," says Wheeler. "At the end of the day, we're all tourists...