Word: shorthand
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...That's not true. I plan very carefully. I start with political research, I usually hire researchers. I compile many notes on character, plot, venue, historical incident. Then I do a shorthand draft of the entire story, and then I block it out into a formal outline, then I follow that outline down to the most minute detail. You cannot write books as large, as complex, as densely populated as mine, without a detailed outline...
...mail message. "Wait a second," I typed. "Who is this Ellis guy, anyway? B4 we interview him I'd like to know. =@)" Admittedly, the "B4" and "=@)" were lame and unnecessary--I was towards the end of a brief and disastrous experimental period with special e-mail shorthand and parenthetical-math sign-smiley faces. But the electronic response did not critique this visual jargon; instead, what I received was a nasty and merciless attack on my cultural skills and knowledge...
...meet a girl on the road and by the end of the film they've surprised themselves.' That's a Sundance film," says TIME film critic Richard Schickel, only half-jokingly. You know you're no longer a young, upstart event when your name has become critical shorthand. "To me a 'Sundance' film is sort of a sober independent taking itself very seriously," says Schickel. "Of course, sometimes things come out that are quite wonderful." In past years that list has included "Betty Blue," "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Reservoir Dogs" and last year's "Gods and Monsters." This year Park...
First out of the blocks (it debuts this Sunday before settling in on Tuesday night following King of the Hill) is The PJs (shorthand for "the projects"), the brainchild of Eddie Murphy and perhaps the riskiest of Fox's new cartoon ventures. Murphy sold Imagine on his idea two years ago. The result is a visual tour de force. The puppeteers of the Will Vinton Studios, best known for the California Raisins, have created a colorful 3-D universe of intricately animated clay figures expressive enough to almost pop off the screen. Making sure they land in viewers' hearts...
...which are nothing more than masturbatory lists of famous names--"Brooke Shields; John Stamos, Stephanie Seymour, Jenny Shimuzu [sic]". And so many brand names make an appearance, from Alaia to Prada to Yohji Yamamoto, you'd think he had a product placement contract. It seems to be Ellis' convenient shorthand for character sketches. When Victor undergoes a transformation to a law student, we know he is different because he now wears a Brooks Brothers suit and drinks Diet Coke. London and Paris become nothing more than a different collection of recognizable proper nouns (Notting Hill and Irvine Welsh...