Word: doofuses
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Outside Providence--the title refers to Tim's native habitat, Pawtucket, R.I., as well as to the silence of God when it comes to doofus teenagers--works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform. For the coming-of-age cliches don't stop once Tim settles in at Cornwall. There are a sadistic housemaster, a hidebound headmaster, a geeky roommate and a duplicitous pal to contend with, and the prettiest girl on campus (Amy Smart) to woo, ruin and redeem. One finds oneself asking how such familiar stuff breeds contentment instead of contempt...
...crowd, of course, may at any moment become a mob, devolving into a single, violent mind. It's too bad that the Doofus of Mayhem (to give the idiot a title, like the Duke of Windsor) got loose at this third Woodstock...
...what this study shows is the extent to which subconscious racist attitudes still afflict even highly educated, humane white people who sincerely believe they do not have a prejudiced bone in their body. In what might be called the Alfred E. Neuman syndrome--after the Mad magazine character whose doofus slogan was "What--me worry?"--people in this group tend to react with shocked innocence when minorities complain about the persistence of unfair treatment. "What--me racist?" they seem to say. "Perish the thought...
Having a con man at the helm is bad, but for some men having a doofus is even worse. What the guys around the radio wanted to know wasn't whether Bill Clinton had learned his lesson or put things right with God, but what his excuse was for his gross stupidity. Embattled on the legal and political fronts, the White House hasn't addressed this issue yet, which may be a mistake. If part of Clinton's charisma and appeal has stemmed from his James Bondish savoir faire--the impression he leaves of a double life well executed--what...
Comedy bits are interpolated, too; role-playing shows up most strongly in the uproariously funny newspaper scene, in which the cast member who's evidently been selected to play the "doofus" role during the show pantomimes sitting down on a wooden packing crate, surrounded by the other members of the company, to read his newspaper--and finds himself hopelessly distracted by the symphony of newspaper-rustling, throat-clearing and coughing that gradually builds up around...