Word: frisson
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Ventura entered Minnesota politics in 1990 when he ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb, and won, causing a nervous frisson in the state's political establishment. Here was a guy who had campaigned on a Harley. Still, how much harm could this outsider do? He had been elected to a part-time job; most of the work was done by a paid manager, and the mayor's vote counted for no more than those of the six other members of the town council...
...Connecticut decision lacks the historical frisson of the Massachusetts ruling from 2004 and the extended eloquence of the California ruling from earlier this year. The Connecticut justices didn't take the opportunity - as the California justices did - to dismantle the various arguments that social conservatives have used over the years to oppose marriage equality. There is only one brief moment of righteous clarity in the Connecticut ruling - the part where the court explains why civil unions do not suffice: "Although marriage and civil unions do embody the same legal rights under our law, they are by no means 'equal...
...slice-and-dice explicitness of the Saw and Hostel slasher series. Early on, a young woman takes a dip in a public pool, then gets out. Submerged in the pool is a man with a predatory smile. As the camera moves in on him, an air bubble escapes. Nice frisson. And there's one shot that sent people at a critics' screening out of their seats. We'll just say it's a tribute to that old Z-movie classic The Brain That Wouldn...
News that Israel has for months been secretly negotiating with Syria has sent a frisson of excitement through the Middle East - overshadowing, at least momentarily, the new political deal in Beirut. The standoff between Syria and Israel has historically been much more intractable than that between Lebanon's warring factions, so any exchange between Damascus and Jerusalem that doesn't involve invective or military ordnance deserves to hog the headlines...
...summit's chairman, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jan'a, said the blueprint to move to a low-carbon economy was nothing short of a "third industrial revolution." Giving the leaders' debate an added frisson was a warning that climate change could even spark wars. E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented the leaders with a report saying that global warming will have a growing impact on global security, multiplying existing threats such as shortages of food and water. His report said that climate change could cause millions of people to migrate toward Europe as other parts of the world suffer...