Word: decay
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They are worth infinitely more today, as many cities have begun to realize. Though only a few years ago they seemed doomed by downtown decay and the decline of the movies, some of the great palazzos that survive have found born-again splendor as performing arts centers and magnets of revitalization. At least 50 -from the Olympia in Miami to the Orpheum in Dubuque, Iowa, and Washington's Warner-have been restored to pristine glitter...
...only about 90,000 now. A limited additional market exists on Navy ships and overseas (there is also a competitor overseas; the only other barber-pole factory Marvy knows of in the world is in Japan). The popularity of poodle-grooming salons, though perhaps a sign of societal decay, has helped Marvy's sales; his poodle pole (wall mounted, and too high to be of any practical interest to a dog) has a row of poodles on one of the stripes. Nor has unisex haircutting, which has badly cut into the business of old-fashioned barbershops, been a disaster...
...poor, handicapped and racial minorities can feel particularly isolated within affluent capitalist societies. Poverty and urban decay like New York's South Bronx are an outrage to any nation or economic system. The U.S., of course, has tried to solve such problems. Social spending is now by far the largest item in the national budget, amounting to $423.8 billion this year as compared with $145.1 billion for defense. But some well-intentioned Government spending, such as the $8.6 billion annual outlays for the heavily criticized Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), has created new bureaucracies rather than solving urban problems...
Evil, however, can be both magnificent and foul. The groveling degradation of the hired assassin Bosola counterbalances the Cardinal's satanic grandeur. Brian Sands, as the slimy Bosola, is another thoroughly loathsome villain. Half-naked, he revels in his own corruption and derides the courtiers who hide their inward decay with fine clothes and a gracious manner. He listens at keyholes, squirming on the floor as he does, and obtains the evidence of her clandestine marriage that dooms the hapless Duchess. Sands mimes better than anyone else in the cast. Referred to more than once as a serpent, he slithers...
...look into the beyond, past the crumbling factories, the dying nation-states, the obsolescent oil derricks. Look to the bright, shining future. "In the very midst of destruction and decay, we can now find striking evidences of birth and life...Indisputably--with intelligence and a modicum of luck--the emergent civilization can be made more sane, sensible, and sustainable, more decent and democratic than any we have every known...