Word: demigod
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...shopping or glance through their wardrobe with the intention of looking like someone else. It's not anyone in particular--it's just the look that they're after. Oh, you know it all too well. It's the khaki pants, the shoes from L.L. Bean (a demigod to this crowd), gray wool socks (if any), a wrinkled oxford shirt under a white-dotted blue sweater (the most popular garment on campus), topped off with a dungaree jacket (collar turned up). Combined with name-brand shades (Vuarnets or Ray Bans or imitations thereof) replete with neckstrap, this typical B.C. student...
Every Labor Day the demigod of bad taste, Jerry Lewis, holds his famous telethon for muscular dystrophy. Every year this mawkish tribute to human misery makes money. But though Lewis is cheesy, he is still trying to reach some lowest common denominator of kindness. Without a reputation to enhance (except in France) and lacking the really big talents that would bring Nielsen points by their very presence. Lewis has to rely on a barrage of sympathy-grabbing images to make people even a little concerned. USA for Africa does the exact opposite, attempting to emotionally shield people from the problem...
...ideal, the symbol of civilized individualism riding west. The state of the cowboy myth became a gauge of American values, of the way that the nation envisioned good guys and bad guys: the wholesomely, vapidly manly Buck Jones-Tom Mix model gave way to a post-World War II demigod. John Wayne, who had none of the old sweet prissiness and was not afraid of the uses of power. Wayne gave way during the Viet Nam era to Clint Eastwood, the high plains drifter with an almost reptilian indifference to death suffered or inflicted. Cowboy: The Enduring Myth...
Winter's Tale charts the adventures of Peter Lake, a mythic figure who progresses from waif to demigod, from the late 19th century to the third millennium, preserved by mysterious forces, pursued by the forces of evil, accompanied by his flying steed Athansor. The locale of his escapade is a New York City that neither was nor will be, decorated with baroque snowstorms, peopled by feral children and avaricious millionaires, blighted by the spirits of the poor and, ultimately, illuminated by a distant vision of the Just City. There a bridge will be built, reaching from Manhattan...
...delicacy of the recovery and worries about the problems in international finance caused by huge debts in developing countries have been adding strength to the notion of keeping Paul Volcker on the job. In the financial community Volcker is regarded as something of a demigod because he brought down inflation, strengthened the dollar and set the stage for the euphoric bull market in stocks that began last August. Nearly 80% of 702 executives polled by the investment firm A.G. Becker Paribas gave their vote of confidence to Volcker, with Alan Greenspan a distant second at 5.8%. Monetarist Milton Friedman...