Word: dictions
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...same sentence. And if at times the sheer weight of detail may almost be dizzying to a newcomer, the text is enlivened at every turn by all the familiar props of the Hughes voice -- the mischievous erudition (translating a Latin motto as "Far down! Far out!"), the rococo diction ("fribblers" and "cutpurses" abound) and the Augustan bite (asides that wither "the mingy veneering of today's 'lite' architecture"). Beneath the virile lucidity of the prose, however, is a subtle and sensitive mind that can lead the reader, patiently, into complexity: "In Gaudi one sees flourishing the egotism achieved by those...
...well, a careful dresser, an elocution student struggling to improve his diction and a citizen eager to put his hit man's skill to patriotic use; he fondly nurtured a plan to assassinate Mussolini. Above all, he was bedazzled by the mutual admiration that developed between him and the movie stars and moguls he met after moving to Los Angeles to oversee his syndicate's West Coast gambling interests. That he was subject to outbursts of violently sociopathic, possibly psychopathic, rage in no way damaged his self- estimation and probably enhanced his glamour in Hollywood's eyes. In a town...
...Waltzer's performance as the father hints at inexperience. He stumbles through some lines, and his gestures are occasionally awkward. Karl Lampley created a respectable Jamie, although he does not project as much "Broadway diction" robustness as O'Neil delincates for the role...
...Fortinbras, Daniel Jenkins enters talking in the clipped modern diction of a yuppie warrior -- contemptuous of doubt, confident of the power of confidence itself. Dumb luck makes him an epic hero. Every country his armies confront submits without battle. Then comes disaster just as abrupt and irrational: his soldiers all march into the Indus River and drown. The man of action, it turns out, is as storm tossed on the seas of fate as any man of thought -- and far less equipped to handle the swings of fortune. Any parallels to George Bush and the gulf war are obviously intentional...
...more precocious stars is newcomer Monie Love (Simone Johnson), 19, a British import whose crisp diction, smart rhyming and clear, light voice have given her a hit single, It's a Shame. Love entered college in London with the intention of becoming a kindergarten teacher, but then began singing poetry she had written over tapes her cousins sent from America. Her debut album, Down to Earth, sends a message to women about trust, reconciliation and relationships -- all with an ease and restraint that might not have been possible in rap just a few years...