Word: drabs
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...California than the movies. Through 54 probing interviews with prominent writers, composers, architects and painters, Isenberg, a former chief arts writer for the Los Angeles Times, plumbs the qualities of the Golden State that inspire those who were born or moved there. Painter David Hockney talks about leaving drab England for sunny L.A., where he captured on canvas the colors that shimmer across swimming pools. Writer Maxine Hong Kingston discusses how growing up in a Chinese home in racially integrated Stockton helped her learn about different sensibilities. Jazzman Dave Brubeck, who grew up on a ranch in Ione, recalls...
...drab northeastern town of Easington in 1984, the year of a crippling coal strike, and Billy (Jamie Bell) is taking boxing lessons at the insistence of his gruff widower dad (Gary Lewis). But the boy really wants to dance. He's got happy feet that can drive him into a dervish fury. He finds a crabby, loving teacher (Julie Walters), who is impressed enough by his skill and spirit that she prods him to apply to the Royal Ballet school. Thus ensue the inevitable domestic disputes, softening of hard hearts and pirouettes in heroic slow motion...
Furthering this subjectivity, the bright musical sequences, although at times over the top, were refreshing and contrasted wonderfully to the drab and muted color palette of the factory and courtroom scenes. In contrast to Hollywood musicals of the '40's and '50's, von Trier uses the song and dance to further the exploration of his characters, a fragmentation or parallel universe, rather than an instrument of frivolity or light-heartedness. Bjork's performance and singing are stunning (if one is lenient toward her blunt acting style), and her voice carries one into her vulnerable and fragile sphere...
...other hand, the drab village of the Wishy-Washy seems to be located at the 50-yard line of American public opinion in this presidential election. It is the village residents who will--surprise--decide the outcome. In the village, we think there are strong reasons to vote for Gore--and strong reasons not to. Same with Bush...
...both sides, and especially when the issue is one that does not concern me in an immediate way--and might even be construed as none of my business. I have not made up my mind about all kinds of things--including this election. I live in the drab little village of the Wishy-Washy, and say things like "on the other hand...