Word: solemnness
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...Presidents: Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Kennedy, as well as explorers Lewis and Clark and inventor Ben Franklin--because he represents a vital tradition in American politics and culture: the comedic commentator on serious matters, the funnyman as our collective conscience who can utter uncomfortable truths that more solemn critics evade. In an election year when so many Americans are getting their news from nontraditional sources, Twain is the godfather of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as well as the comic voices who influenced them, from Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor to Kurt Vonnegut. And Twain, with Adventures of Huckleberry...
...questions, something done regularly by cinema, literature and contemporary art." Yet YouTube is unlike any of those other media. There is no buying your ticket, no shifting in your seat with popcorn in hand; no stiff new book to crack open; no grappling with an artist's meaning in solemn galleries. Framed by neither the walls of a cinema or museum, nor the written page, YouTube is a kind of non-context, an ether from which one draws images designed for rapid, repeated consumption. Content of great value mixes with bullies terrorizing their classmates, public flatulence and some six-year...
...Medvedev was inaugurated on Wednesday in a lavish, grand and solemn ceremony. But on Wednesday - as on today - and probably not for the last time, his predecessor stole the show. Through force of habit or by design, TV cameras concentrated on Putin. Even Medvedev's inauguration speech centered on praise for his predecessor's achievements and promises to continue in Putin's steps. For his part, Putin segued smoothly from presidency to prime ministership. Formally nominated to head the government by Medvedev, Putin was confirmed in that post by a tame Duma in a rubber-stamp vote...
...parody song “Inner City Pressure” is a fine example of production value adding to the humor of the song. A mock lament of rough and tumble city life, the track gets to the point where you can almost see Bret’s solemn expression mouthing the words to the chorus. “Boom,” a song that wasn’t really all that funny on the show, is buoyed considerably by bringing the beat into the foreground, making far more noticeable the dancehall-reggae caricature intended by the instrumentals...
...rooms before her husbandand struggling with the formal courtlanguage—Haruko abandons her: “Shewas not the first to run into harsh limits;I, of course, had been there beforeher. But she was the first to innocentlybelieve—and who could blame her, havingreceived my solemn promise—thatshe might somehow be protected fromthe implacable forces set against her.”The whole novel suffers fromSchwartz’s lack of engagement with thecentral character. He doesn’t feel theneed to empathize with her. He playsaround with the facts of her life...