Word: splendid
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...shadow of its older rival in Stratford, Ontario, not least because an institution dedicated to Shaw sounds less prestigious than one devoted to Shakespeare. The best of this season's work, however, is competitive with that of any resident troupe in North America. For Shaw fans there is a splendid if deeply conventional Candida, staged by Newton and starring the estimable Seana McKenna, formerly a jewel of Stratford, plus a novel Saint Joan that turns her trial into a modern-day government inquiry cum media event. For popular tastes there are Blithe Spirit, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were...
...BOTTOM LINE: In a splendid set, the popmeister goes mopin', hopin' and doo-woppin' in no-man's-land...
Understand: MacNeil/Lehrer is indeed splendid; Ken Burns should be funded in perpetuity; documentaries sympathetic to black homosexuals and skeptical of Republicans are just fine by me. I have raised money for the A.C.L.U., call myself a Unitarian and give dollar bills to almost every bum who asks; I have standing to question just how essential PBS is these days...
This time Stoppard climaxes a splendid intellectual farrago with a poignant image of two couples dancing, literally and metaphysically, in the dark. One embraces in the dawn of the romantic 19th century, the other at the twilight of the nihilistic 20th. Both are confronting the little tragedy of death and the grand tragedy of entropy, the inevitable darkening and chilling of the universe. This dual moment, and the glittering double story that precedes it, are full of more affection and compassion than Stoppard has ever shown before...
...Splendid talk about freedom can't argue this away. There is no reasonable way to justify risking your life in the mountains. You climb at the mountain's sufferance, and get back down if the mountain lets you. Why this is important is not clear, especially to those of us who do it. Once, in a pompous mood, I wrote, "We climb for the same reason that smoke rises and poodles bite doormen: it is our nature." This is baloney, but true baloney. The expert strung out below a featureless overhang knows it, and the ignorant weekenders...