Word: notions
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...anger. Obama's attempt to do that, his peroration about the ideals that cause us to fight, was lovely but abstract: "It is easy to forget that when this war began, we were united - bound together by the fresh memory of a horrific attack ... I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again." Absent the reference to Sept. 11, the closing paragraphs could just as easily have climaxed a speech announcing a campaign against global warming. (See pictures of Obama speaking at West Point...
...easy to forget that when this war began, we were united - bound together by the fresh memory of a horrific attack and by the determination to defend our homeland and the values we hold dear. I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again. I believe with every fiber of my being that we - as Americans - can still come together behind a common purpose. For our values are not simply words written into parchment - they are a creed that calls us together and that has carried us through the darkest of storms as one nation...
Does this mean Haneke is becoming a tiny bit softer in his old age? He doesn't see it that way - in fact, he rejects the notion that his films reflect his personality at all. "People expect me to be dark and gloomy, then write that I'm a jolly chap, and after all, that is what I am," he says, a wry smile sneaking out from beneath his beard. "I think it's a case of an absolute romantic naivety that there should be a parallel between the work and the artist." (Read a brief history of the Palme...
...people are infirm creatures looking for a little hug that can be therapeutic or redemptive. The paraplegic cop played by Javier Bardem in Live Flesh doesn't shrug off sexual desire just because he's confined to a wheelchair. Almodóvar suffuses his new film with this notion of the crippled seeking help; nearly every plot point pivots on someone's infirmity. The message is clear: we are all invalids who want to walk, if the fates allow, into each other's arms...
...which is why in this year's mad present-buying rush, I'm not celebrating the notion that I get to pay less. I'd rather have the sorts of things that only come with a higher price...