Word: criticism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...often, as Critic Mikal Gilmore points out, graphic novels still tend to be "overblown bad comics, using fancy paper to do bad stories." But a work like Watchmen -- by common assent the best of breed -- is a superlative feat of imagination, combining sci-fi, political satire, knowing evocations of comics past and bold reworkings of current graphic formats into a dysutopian mystery story. It is as engagingly knotty and self-referential as The Name of the Rose, but instead of monks doubting their faith, here are superheroes weighed down by their creed, caught in a world they never made...
That kind of shared attitude is ripe material for satire, and, indeed, the current Britpop scene has its shrewdest, severest critics right at the center of its matte black heart. The Pet Shop Boys mock the scene from the ideal perspective: deep inside. Their inventive synthesizer work makes music so stylized it becomes otherworldly. In the words of one admiring London critic, "They know how to use their computers." The Pet Shop Boys' tunes are inventive and danceable; It Couldn't Happen Here, on their new album Actually, was co-written with the formidable film composer Ennio Morricone. Their lyrics...
Obando y Bravo, himself a leading critic of the Sandinista government, was not available to answer reporters' questions after meeting the six Resistance directors...
...this one: shy middle-class British kid grows up listening to Mozart and Richard Rodgers, teams with buddy to write school musical, is discovered by slumming music critic, goes on to pen smash biblical epic Jesus Christ Superstar and monster hit Evita, splits with pal, has megatriumphs with Cats and Starlight Express, then comes up with extra-hot spook, The Phantom of the Opera. Along the way swaps bell-bottoms for swank Belgravia flat, 1,350-acre English country estate, choice property on the French Riviera, $6 million apartment in Manhattan, private jet, beautiful second wife and a worldwide musical...
...London's St. Paul's School, and it remains one of their most winning compositions. Originally a 25-minute piece for the school's younger boys, it was expanded for a performance at Central Hall, Westminster, where by chance it was heard by Derek Jewell, a music critic for the London Sunday Times. His unexpected rave led to a recording. Lloyd Webber's deft gift for parody (the Elvis homage of Pharaoh's Story) and melodic invention (Joseph's moving anthem Close Every Door) captured a wide audience. "Without realizing it," recalls Rice, "we were breaking new ground by forgetting...