Word: shorthand
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...shut them up? Not Altman: he hears America talking, endlessly, engagingly, whether or not it makes sense. Even in an two-person conversation, the Babel of off-screen voices tells you that the main story is just one of many that could be told-are being told, in shorthand, at the edges of the frame. The murmur of overlapping blarney isn't a carpet of sound; rather, it's swatches, hundreds of gorgeous samples to choose from. This blend of image and voice, meticulously designed, may seem like a glorious mess. But that is Altman's way of upending...
NICHOLSON: Here's what was good for me: I gave him a part, and he made it a performance. We've talked about movies forever, so getting moviemaking down to shorthand while we were working was a kick. I've actually known all these fellas a while--though we've rarely talked about anything but work. And we like one another too. Sarcasm is better than that answer, incidentally. [Laughter...
...name in discussions all around you almost as soon as you sat down on the cafe's Persian-carpeted floors. These days, the subject rarely comes up. "He's like all the rest of them," says Amin, 22, a motorcycle messenger, using a Farsi version of "them" that's shorthand for the corrupt clerical establishment. "What has he done to solve our problems?" Hashem, his companion, nods at the Iranian cigarettes lying beside him. "Even these are more expensive," he says. "He just repeats slogans and goes on trips...
...talk as if my family live in a stately home and don't have to work. My ancestors were mainly teachers, vicars, profs and bishops - careers which might require a top-of-the-range voice. That may explain why I speak a distinctly upmarket version of received pronunciation (RP) - shorthand for the standard English of bbc newsreaders. Which is fine if you want to marry a landowner or work in a top art auction house, but not so much fun if you just want to fade into the background. People make assumptions: men think I'll boss them, employers think...
What's with the rash of wussy love interests? Why all the "unsuccessful architects" (movie shorthand for men who cannot, so to speak, get things up)? Is this the great revolution wrought by the ascent of women to the heads of studios? Is it because guys with real jobs and some sense of purpose, let alone captains of industry, simply aren't funny? ("Ladies and gentlemen, the adorable antics of Ben Bernanke!") Is it just another attack from liberal Hollywood, constantly harping about the buffoon who keeps messing things up and his smart, attractive Right-Hand Woman...