Word: downcast
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...rose above the golden domes and the floors below were polished by kisses of the faithful. Under the Soviet regime, with its Stalinist housing bunkers and oppressive military bearing, the city became a grimmer place, but one that was anchored, orderly, predictable, even if, to many outsiders, drab and downcast. By 1976, the British journalist Geoffrey Bocca could describe the scene as a "crushing concatenation of faceless, shabby, shoving, rude and, above all, indifferent, uninterested people...
...says, not one of the faces he held in his sights was a civilian. But he makes the denial with a flat voice, eyes downcast. Any admission of firing at civilians could get him arrested and charged with a war crime. "I have no feelings for what I do," he says. "I went to see my mother in Belgrade, and she hugged me and I felt nothing." Catching the irony -- that all the killing has been done to avenge a mother he can no longer feel for -- he struggles to explain: "It is our choice to go to hell...
...international level, the press is avid: unlike the feckless Brits and the sulky Grimaldis, this pair are good-news royals, appealing, admirable and with the allure of mystery. Tabloids and weeklies have become fascinated by the young woman with the Mona Lisa smile and habit of looking upward from downcast eyes -- not unlike the young Lady Di. At home, Masakomania dominates the thriving women's magazine business, although Owada has given no interviews and precious few photo opportunities...
Unfortunately, she may have a point. The vacationing youngsters here are all vividly real -- except for rather smug Maggie, who is the pivot. Her retorts run along the lines of "What is it like to be like you?" to the bitchy Monica. When downcast, Maggie does not lash out but retreats to her room, where yet another chapter ends with quiet tears or staring at the ceiling. She is someone waiting to be -- a writer is hinted, maybe even a columnist. Quindlen's flaw is one of meticulousness: the smart energy of her journalist's voice is missing. But surely...
Through two days of testimony, Major General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez sat with his head bowed, absently fingering his uniform, his downcast eyes glazed with an expression that suggested dejection or resignation. He neither smiled when the tribunal of 47 generals and admirals praised his past acts of military valor in places as far-flung as Angola and Ethiopia nor frowned when it branded him a traitor and called for his execution. When Ochoa finally rose to speak, he denied none of the charges: consorting with international drug dealers, illicitly trafficking in everything from cocaine and diamonds to ivory and sugar...