Word: protean
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Oddly, the most protean among them is the least well known today. No other 20th century figure approaches Coward's creative breadth: playwright, actor, composer, lyricist, novelist, stage director, film producer, Vegas "entertainer." His nose for talent was such that he launched Laurence Olivier's career and produced the first four films directed by David Lean. "Success," he once said, "took me to her bosom like a maternal boa constrictor...
...bring the review down to earth. While the movie is generally well-written, often funny, only the final twists allow things to just squeak into an ending before turning irredeemably tiresome. Everyone seems overly confident in the script's zinginess and protean plotting--and therefore gets lazy...
...Zippergate burnout? Then read--in fact, buy--this brisk, witty, cheerfully dour screed by Shearer, the radio host (Le Show), protean voice (The Simpsons) and hidden national treasure of political common sense. Analyzing the hatred some people have for Clinton, Shearer ladles blame and caustic wit on the President, his G.O.P. posse and the moralizing TV newsies with their "hideously bad acting." It's a smart challenge to lazy thinking. Along with another acerb little volume, Gore Vidal's The American Presidency, it can be taken as an ideal chaser to the recent binge of Monicaholism. Hemlock, anyone...
...have scientists managed to do all this without those protean stem cells? Part of the answer is smart engineering. Using materials such as polymers with pores no wider than a toothbrush bristle, researchers have learned to sculpt scaffolds in shapes into which cells can settle. The other part of the answer is just plain cell biology. Scientists have discovered that they don't have to teach old cells new tricks; given the right framework and the right nutrients, cells will organize themselves into real tissues as the scaffolds dissolve. "I'm a great believer in the cells. They...
...years Alessandrini has been having his cream pie and throwing it too. Subverting Broadway's hit tunes with wickedly irreverent parody lyrics, he has created a series of satirical revues that skewer musical theater. This latest edition is one of his sharpest yet. Here, a protean cast of four derides Disney's Lion King in The Circle of Mice. Footloose? Screwloose. Best of all is Alessandrini's new take on the decade-old Les Mis, which offers up dread-inspiring thoughts in the number Ten Years More. Even Victor Hugo would chuckle...