Word: pretender
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...WILLIAM SHATNER who made them look foolish. For a new reality show called Invasion Iowa, scheduled to air on Spike TV in February, executive producers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (the team responsible for Joe Schmo) asked Shatner to move into Riverside with a fake entourage and crew and pretend to shoot a sci-fi movie. Townsfolk were hired for the bogus production. Throughout the eight-day shoot, Shatner played an increasingly absurd, over-the-top version of himself. "The last thing we set out to do was make fun of small-town America," says Wernick. "The thing we actually...
...public figures, Madame Sarkozy's presence raised eyebrows. But as her considerable - some say inordinate - influence has become known, she's increasingly viewed as a political figure in her own right. "She's been central to my life and my career for 17 years," Sarkozy says. "Why should I pretend otherwise?" Throughout his career, Sarkozy has impressed colleagues and voters with his refreshing mix of intelligence, straight talk and ideology-free pragmatism. "The rigidities of ideology limit your choices when the best solutions might involve a mix: more liberalism where best, intervention when necessary," he explains. But that...
...Serg, home of the East Asian studies department, every morning. Perhaps to provide an authentic Asian experience, the building is located halfway to Vietnam, meaning I had to leave at 8:30 a.m. The story was always the same. The alarm goes off at 8, but I pretend not to hear it. I have to pee, but I deny that my bladder is about to pop. I even convince myself it would be better just to wet the bed: I’m freezing and the warmth will do me good...
...frequently violated in practice. Many of the council’s projects have the potential to break even but require a significant initial investment. The council becomes tempted to simply assume that it will recoup those costs by charging students for the services and in the mean time pretend the money hasn’t been spent. But this can be a very dangerous game—especially since it often involves covering losses with money pledged to student groups...
People like to pretend that the Olympics happen outside of time. Actually, the Games are always defined by the moment in which they're held, and if Sydney 2000 was the great global orgy, in which the condom machines in the athletes' village famously couldn't be refilled fast enough, Athens 2004 was often the uncomfortable morning after, the reckoning in which everyone was forced to bundle up the sheets and wonder where this whole international relationship was going...