Word: pawned
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Just last year when I was pawn to an inane comping process for an activity, the selectivity of which is based purely on pretention, my interviewer became much more impressed with me when I told him that I had acted in the G&S production of The Gondoliers. It didn't matter that my chorus role was miniscule. To the interviewer, I was now "talented" and worthy of his respect. Forget about judging or self-segregating based on ethnicity--we at Harvard are too righteous and politically correct. We only self-segregate based on skill. We are trapped...
Like shards from a shattered mirror, Fiona Apple's new album, When the Pawn Hits... (Clean Slate/Epic), glitters with reflective surfaces and sharp edges. The singer-songwriter's debut album, Tidal (1996), was a work of ingenue ingenuity, delicately designed, bright with innocence, laden with the prospect of future accomplishment. This follow-up CD is a promise kept: the 22-year-old's new compositions, angry but articulate, veering between gentle balladry and art-pop, don't need the crutch of precociousness to establish their worth. These are songs that stand on their...
...full title of the album is a poem, written in frustration by Apple after seeing a story about herself in Spin magazine that she deemed unfair. The complete title: "When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king/ What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight/ And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring/ There's no body to batter when your mind is your might/ So when you go solo, you hold your own hand/ And remember that depth is the greatest of heights/ And if you know where...
...songs on the album, Apple is far better at hitting her targets. When the Pawn Hits... has been artfully produced by Jon Brion, who helps give the CD a carefully ornate sound that's intimate yet rich. Lyrically, Apple is full of fury: at her past, at her lovers, at herself. In To Your Love she sings, "It's hard enough even trying to be civil to myself." In Limp she mocks, "It won't be long till you'll be/ Lying limp in your own hands." She knows there are things about her that put people she loves...
...Jetsons," the "Flintstones" of The Future, also came out of this era of optimism. George Jetson and family were used to paint a complex picture of The Future--one that was aided by convenience but also one that subtly showed George as a pawn in the Spacely Sprocket empire--a de-humanization of the American worker through technology...