Word: spiked
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...longtime TV and radio personality. These were the extensions of an exuberant character, whose spontaneous wit never relied on malice to entertain. For those who grew up in Britain in the '50s, Secombe is best remembered as Neddy Seagoon of radio's long-running Goon Show. With Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Michael Bentine, Secombe gave us our first taste of alternative comedy. In those ordered, respectable times, he created the enjoyable sense of participating in something rather daring and anarchic. Britain has a few people it calls "national treasures," to whom it gives uncritical affection. The Queen Mother...
...occupied by establishments like the Tasty, a 70-year-old burger joint that served up floats, fries and friendliness at all hours of the night. Yet, the Tasty has been closed for almost four years now, replaced by a renovated shopping complex that serves PacSun skater gear to spike-haired boys who hang in the pit and A&F posters to pre-pubescent girls on their way home from CRLS. High rents and corporate expansions have effaced a once student friendly neighborhood, replacing locally owned businesses loyal to the College crowd, with impersonal retail chains, office space...
...colleague Rick Stengel has ably and correctly pointed out in his column that the showdown is a boon to the media - especially in this economic slowdown ("recession"? "bear market"?) - which need round-the-clock news marathons to spike ratings and readership. But ironically, the media are so far also showing a second, contradictory tendency that works against this interest: their tendency to parrot the language of the administration in power, especially when reporting on international affairs. Lest they appear biased or unpatriotic during wartime, for instance, reporters surrender their understanding of English and let "bombing victims" become "collateral damage...
...Today, the only reliable ratings spike for CNN, MSNBC and FOX is a continuing saga - à la Monica or O.J. or Elian - which is why network execs won't be sad if the fliers have an extended holiday in the East. They will be able to have their fancy graphics and chirons; their running heds, like MSNBC's "U.S-China Showdown," or Fox's "U.S.-China STANDOFF' (yes, it's all-caps); their hot-headed guests, like Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (who called the fliers "hostages held by a hostile power" - nice alliteration, Dana!), and opportunities for young and pretty anchors...
...foothills toward the ridge but never seems to reach the sun-drenched summit. Chilai is far removed from everything coastal, low, industrial and loud. Most hikers spend the second night camping atop the ridge, cooking dinner and admiring the view. To the north looms the towering rock spike of Tapachienshan and far to the south is Yushan. Below and to the east are the twinkling lights of the east-coast quarry town of Hualien, and in the west is the glow of the setting...