Word: distinctives
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...psychoanalytical; the busy, flowing, often frenetic musical numbers and dynamic stage direction affords the audience a rare glimpse into Poe’s psyche. Unfortunately, this “glimpse” extends into an hour and a half long exposition, a bit generous for the lack of a distinct plot; further, the abundance of scenes constructed to convey a universal sense of loss causes the theme to become less affecting in its repetition. Despite this, “Nevermore” does an excellent job of presenting an understanding and sympathetic vision of its antihero...
Nevertheless, poetry has an oral component, and though it is underemphasized, there is something awoken in any poem when it is actually spoken out loud. Echoing sounds connect lines that are semantically distinct. An emphasis placed on a key syllable can release meaning in the same way a sound wave can shatter glass. Listening to a poem is to hear language in its most primitive usage: expression of the unapparent. But what happens when no one, save for the most astute listeners, can understand what is being expressed? Does this not defeat the original point of even talking...
...first song, “Cowboy Casanova,” despite its title, is a distinct break from Underwood’s earlier work. It affects a Lambert-lite stomp and swagger, but Underwood is no rockstar. She sings in perfect pitch, but there is no feeling; in a market where the pop audience demands sincerity, or at least heart, Underwood can provide neither. Worst of all, the song lacks recognizable hooks or an engaging melody. It’s all bluster, no substance...
Acutely conscious of his roots, Wale is proud to claim allegiance with an alternative urban environment that is culturally and musically distinct from New York and Los Angeles. Washington D.C. was the center of the go-go movement in hip-hop and funk, a heritage that Wale readily appropriates for “Attention Deficit.” The go-go of the ’70s can be heard in the jaunty beats, percussion, and horns that populate the entire album. But it is even more explicit in the bits that Wale samples for “Chillin?...
...Krasinski tackled one of his favorite works for his directorial debut. In adapting “Interviews” for the screen, he returns to his college roots as an English major and playwright at Brown University. Wallace’s unnamed interviewer is here given a distinct collegiate identity as Sara Quinn (an icy Julianne Nicholson), who hopes to investigate “the social effects of the post-feminist era” by conducting and recording interviews with male test subjects in a stark, white-bricked basement room. Sara is a reserved, turtlenecked brunette with closely cropped hair...