Word: rueful
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...Though pure fiction, the story of Old Zhao is circulating widely on the Chinese Internet these days, with plenty of rueful comments trailing in its wake. It reflects a sour undercurrent running beneath the blare of Olympic triumphalism that reached a crescendo in the days before the Aug. 8 opening ceremony. With the capital socked in for days by a gray haze, there was a literal and metaphorical pall hanging over what Beijing has long hoped would be a moment of glory marking the country's re-emergence, after years of darkness and irrelevance, as a world power...
...over-familiar melodies and lyrics in context again. ?Some Enchanted Evening?, which always struck me as the stodgiest of the big R&H love ballads, becomes an affecting, shape-shifting reflection of the show?s emotional movement, from the joy of love-at-first-sight to the rueful foreshadowing of love lost. Even the seemingly simple lyrics of ?A Wonderful Guy? glide from ironic detachment to full-throated romanticism with deceptive wit and charm...
...continent where President Bush is more popular than anywhere else, Africans have another, more rueful reason to take note of electoral contests 10,000 miles away: the transparent and hotly contested race bears such stark contrast to recent elections in their own countries, which have been marred by opacity, vote-rigging and tribal politics. There has been widespread violence in the aftermath of Kenya's Dec. 27 poll, with the country split along tribal lines. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times recently reported that members of Obama's Luo ethnic group are supporting him, while rival Kikuyus are vociferously...
...From the start, director Peter Hedges cues Dan's mellow, mildly rueful tone. We hear the sensitive strumming of an acoustic guitar; we see Dan seen doing his kids' laundry and getting little credit from them for being a full-time dad; and at the bookstore, Marie says that what she's looking for is "something funny, but not big ha-ha-ha laughter...something human and funny that could sneak up and surprise you." It could be a recipe for the old-fashioned or chick comedy, and a template for Dan in Real Life...
...with Cerdan, radiating good nature and a casual pleasure in his own celebrity, to make us feel good for a few moments, and with Piaf's uncanny voice, still thrilling, still moving in her classic songs. It's easy to make us believe that her sad life conditioned the rueful timbre she imparts to her music. Maybe too easy. It's possible that her natural vocal quality was the one lucky accident in her unlucky life. Which, considering the fame, money and sympathetic regard she collected was not - considered from an objective viewpoint - all that unfortunate...