Word: oddness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Whales is filled with failed motifs and odd touches--like the clothes the characters wear, which are hopelessly out of date. It's not action-packed drama, nor even great drama...
...voices criticism of Soviet society, it is because that system has in his view strayed from the ideals of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state and Gorbachev's idol. And though he argues frequently for a new relationship with the U.S., he seems to have an odd conception of America as a Dickensian hell ruled by the military-industrial complex...
Something decidedly odd is going on at the old mansion. The crackle of splintering wood emanates from the broken windows. A bathroom sink of heroic proportions has been plunked down on the overgrown lawn, and a man is chipping at a graffiti-painted wall with hammer and chisel. "Alllll right! " he says with a smile. "This stone is so wet it's going to come right off with a jackhammer...
...very repetitious job," says Larry. How's that? "We do a lot more than copying. We also do a full range of printing." Oh. But surely there are odd requests that break up the copy-shop monotony. "Sometimes people come in with Bibles." Is that illegal? "No, but I don't like to copy them. And some guy came in last week with a big, big textbook. I couldn't understand why he wanted it copied...
...begun to usher in some reforms. In a move to consolidate the country's bloated bureaucracy, for example, the regime trimmed 31 government ministries down to 23, eliminating 3,000 jobs. Some analysts speculated that the referendum defeat was actually welcomed by certain factions within the regime, including an odd coalition of hard-liners who resist any liberalization in Poland and ardent reformers who want even more drastic measures. But the outcome provided scant encouragement for those hoping that the belt-tightening reforms would allow the country to begin chipping away at the burden of its $34.5 billion foreign debt...