Word: paradoxical
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...arguing it’s the quintessential illustration for an article describing her “scandalous” life. Neither side has it quite right. The photograph does show Simone de Beauvoir as she was, but because of its complexity, not its impropriety. Beauvoir was a walking paradox: liberated but still dissatisfied, independent but jealous, sexual but romantic, and, above all, the kind of woman who could laugh about a nude picture. By the standards of her bourgeois upbringing, Beauvoir did live an unorthodox life. She earned a living with her mind, having aced France’s most...
...Patriots paradox to Bellichick. At the beginning of New England's 2001-04 run of three Super Bowl victories, he was Nice Bill, a tireless if disheveled football chess master who had finally escaped the capacious shadow of Bill Parcells, the Super Bowl-winning coach for whom he had toiled as a longtime assistant. Claiming three of four Super Bowls is a truly mind-boggling feat, given that the NFL's salary-cap structure is designed to spread the wealth and prevent dominance. It takes some kind of football genius to escape the league's parity policy...
...Bill Moyers' interview with Lucas: the paradox of Lucas' monistic beliefs is that they cannot explain the mythical themes that make Star Wars so powerful. Lucas has written a story of redemption, one that defines evil as a deviant, consuming corruption of the good. To make sense, Star Wars needs a personal God. But Lucas washes God out with his flimsy Force. The result? Guidance without a guide, power without a purpose, goodness without a ground. Since the contradiction of a theistic myth in pantheistic clothing appears lost on Lucas, it also will surely be lost on most...
...Hollywood movies in place of news reports. Second, after making clear our distance from these misguided politics, progressives must critically engage the actual dynamics of the Bolivarian revolution. Primarily, as journalist-cum-sociologist Greg Wilpert convincingly argues, this requires that we come to terms with the curious paradox at the heart of Chavez’s efforts: Namely that, in the nine years since his arrival, Venezuelans have witnessed both the deepening of their country’s democratic fabric, as well as the concentration of power in the persona and the position of the presidency. This first trend deserves...
Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a not entirely unfamiliar paradox: one of those teenagers who knows less about the world than she thinks she does, but more about it than the adult world credits her with understanding. You're never quite sure which Juno you're trying to reason with, the innocent idealist or the shrewdly appraising demi-adult, especially since she offers all opinions in the same tone of voice - brisk, brusque, funny and very often dismissive of our pieties...