Word: dullness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...high ground and low ground at the same time. I feel like a liberal caught in Hitler's Germany. If I speak out, I run the risk of being shouted down. When I do speak out, my arguments--freedom of thought and expression, the legitimacy of "male" desire--sound dull and lifeless next to the appeals against phallocracy and pornocracy...
Similar changes in the TV scene, if not arousing quite the same fury, are common sights across Europe these days. Established government-owned -- and frequently dull -- networks are facing a feisty new array of commercial competitors. In Italy the state-owned RAI-TV has been joined by three popular networks run by TV Magnate Silvio Berlusconi, who is also part owner of La Cinq. In West Germany, the government is spending an estimated $10 billion to wire the nation for cable (which is already widespread in countries like Belgium and Holland). German cable viewers can choose from such new channels...
Another bright spot in the generally dull show is actress Beth Steinhorn who plays the archetypal nagging mother. Steinhorn delivers litotes on the apartment's less than impressive decor such as "amazing what you can find at garage sales these days" with deadpan motherliness. Steinhorn also helps move the play along--surprisingly needed for this short drama...
...just so much background noise--like the pounding of the surf, or the whine of a chainsaw. The only bits of excitement were the occasional long periods of silence, each one of which caused me to look up from my notes, half-expecting it to be followed by a dull thud and a cry for oxygen or a taxidermist...
...other offerings, "Fortune Hunter" and "Cadillac." But Page's hammering riffs on side two definitely make an impression. Page fanatics still mourning Zep's death in '80 will find their fill of guitar here, especially on "Dreaming" and "Spirit of Love," two instances where the master redeems the dull work of the debut...