Word: pleasants
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...nation almost saved the festival it was Japan, which comes as a pleasant surprise: the supine performance of the Japanese film industry during much of the past decade was one of the big factors driving China's recent ascendance. Japan's directors took dead aim at real-life subject matter, not shying away from the darker parts of society and keeping clear of any self-conscious Japan-o-philia. In a country where school bullying, teenage prostitution and youth crime increasingly make headlines, Japan's directors and writers certainly have stories to tell. (Not to mention a large captive audience...
...have to be polite? Who's going to make us? It's one thing to be pleasant, even friendly, to people we actually know and care about, but what about the folks who don't deserve anything less than a quick kick in the shin? Do I have to be polite to the guy who lives in the apartment next to me (thin walls, people!) and plays his trombone at 4 A.M.? Do I have to make nice with the woman whose dog inevitably leaves a little gift just outside the door of my building...
...rest of the world is so set on being pleasant. Take France. The French are self-satisfied in a way that makes most Americans uncomfortable. They love everything about themselves: their cheese, their art, their little cars. They don't give a flying figue what anyone else thinks of them, and they're perfectly happy to tell all of us precisely what they think of us. Sure, they're rude, but they're comfortable with their rudeness. They embrace it. They cherish it. It's part of their identity...
...banyan trees." That quaint scene greets today's visitors, too, thanks largely to late-'90s restoration, a combination of government and private initiatives. All of the old buildings now bear plaques describing their history, which makes a walking tour of the 3-sq-km island both possible and pleasant...
...never feel lonely in the kitchen. Food is very friendly. Just looking at a potato, I like to pat it. There's something so pleasant about a big baking potato or a whole bunch of peas in their shells. I'll be turning 90 soon, and to me, the kitchen has never stopped being a place just full of possibilities and pleasures...