Word: formulaic
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...they explored beats more familiar to American audiences - throwing in some junkanoo (Bahamian festival music) percussion to give it their signature flair. The result is the catchy rendition you've heard so often: urban, with an echo of the islands. The rest of the CD cleverly vamps on this formula, with the Men at their best when they stay true to Caribbean textures on infectious songs like "Getting Hotter...
Luckily for the bean-counters, someone took a gamble on the idea. But it's interesting to consider why such a formula seems to work so well. Some have suggested that the idealism of "West Wing" constitutes some sort of wish-fulfillment for its viewers. In the modern world, zoning out in front of the television may indeed be tantamount to a 21st century version of dreaming; had Freud lived today, he might agree that when we switch into couch potato mode, we are unconsciously drawn to that which we desire most...
Rather, Harvard will stick to the same formula that it has used all season--consistent defense and a multi-faceted offensive attack...
...worked up a bizarre enthusiasm for these things, said that just as the World Series is settled in seven games, he wished that Bush and Gore could have four more debates. I worry about Brokaw. I wished, on the contrary, that the candidates could follow Wiesel's formula - that in some redeeming, parallel world, they could sit down together and set their minds to the intelligent, disinterested exploration of some matter outside the ambit of their disfiguring and depthless political ambitions...
...Admissions officers say the most successful essays show curiosity and self-awareness. Says Cornell's Saleh: "It's the only thing that really lets us see inside your soul." While there's no one right formula for soul baring, there are many wrong ones. It's disastrous to write, as one Rice applicant did, of what he could "bring to the University of California." A self-absorbed or arrogant tone is also a guaranteed turnoff. Exhibit A: a Rice essay beginning, "I have accumulated a fair amount of wisdom in a relatively limited time of life." Exhibit B: A Cornell...