Word: shrewdly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Taiwan is simply a determined nationalist following the wishes of the vast majority of his electorate. But domestic critics call him a loose cannon, and his adversaries in Beijing regard him as a truly dangerous provocateur. While he likes to talk and often does so injudiciously, Lee is a shrewd politician consciously engaged in a high-risk game of chicken with China...
...same architect, Frank Gehry, and other big names, worked on the initial plan. But in 1988 Krens moved to the Guggenheim, and the economic boom known as the "Massachusetts Miracle" evaporated, taking the funding with it. Joseph Thompson, Krens' successor, was left holding the baby. He has proved a shrewd parent. Thompson and a local architectural firm, Bruner/Cott & Associates, scaled back the original grand scheme. As a result, they may have ended up with something more interesting...
Diana was a sacrificial symbol in several ways. First she became the patron saint of victims, the sick, the discriminated against, the homeless. Then, partly through her real suffering at the hands of a rigidly formal family trained to play rigidly formal public roles, and partly through her shrewd manipulation of the press, Diana herself projected a compelling image of victimhood. Women in unhappy marriages identified with her; so did outsiders of one kind or another, ethnic, sexual or social. Like many religious idols, she was openly abused and ridiculed, in her case by the same press that stoked...
...Merchant of Venice works up from its simple beginning, whirling through widening spirals of hatred and loss. A strange, contradictory suspense builds throughout the play, and the judgment scene in which Shylock calls in his bond before the law is riveting. Hillel Drama, through its shrewd interpretation of Shakespeare's work, uncovers the ironies and contradictions in the text, creating a true and more effective production...
Closer is such a shrewd piece of contempo-realism that its shortcomings as drama might be overlooked. Marber's tactic of eliding large chunks of time--people meet; in the next scene they've been living together for months--stresses the impersonal power of sex but robs the characters of human dimension. The cybersex scene is clever but seems entirely detachable from the rest of the play. Like a skilled hooker, Closer is satisfying mainly in the moment; as a lasting experience, it leaves something to be desired...