Word: veneering
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Unkind Cut. "Underneath the imitation-oak-grained formica veneer is solid oak, beneath that phony image of character is character," writes Safire. But what is the nature of that character? He never succeeds in defining it. Perhaps there never was anything cohesive in Nixon's character. Perhaps Safire is simply too compassionate to label it. Such ambiguity of approach may partly explain why Safire's original publisher, William Morrow & Co., rejected his manuscript as unsatisfactory (the author lost his suit to recover all of a promised $250,000 advance, settling for $83,000). Still, Safire offers lively anecdotes...
...Saturday morning's discussion of procedural rules, the conference's veneer of harmony is shattered. The charge surfaces that the conference has been packed by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and their youth wing, the Young Socialists Alliance (YSA). "The black community was not involved in the organization of this conference," asserts Vivien Morris '75, a member of a coalition of black and third-world groups. However, most of the people favor the conference's set-up. By the time the plenary session is adjourned, the tone of the conference has been set. The debates are long and boring...
...perhaps the only guiding principle of the film, is that there is a large, well-heeled audience out there that loves pornography, is too fastidious to seek out the crass version in the Combat Zone, and will pay through the teeth to have it served up with a veneer of class. For this reason Emmanuelle isn't just a skin flick, but has been made into a film with towering pretensions to philosophical and artistic merit. These conceits make the film ridiculous where it might otherwise have been a little boring, but nice to look...
Fitzgerald has been severely criticized because of the elite he chose to depict--after all, of what general interest are people who consider an Atlantic crossing routine? The objection seems largely unjustified. Fitzgerald's characters have common denominators that make them exciting if we look beyond the thin veneer of wealth and poise. "Babylon Revisited" is an elegant, sophisticated treatment of an expatriate's loneliness in Paris. His wealth is integral to the plot, not obtrusive. The story is also structured meticulously, interweaving flashbacks to younger, more foolish days and ending in an indefinite way that reinforces the story...
...crumbles early in the second act, just after he has dealt Anna a setback in their battle of mutual degradation. Deeley's heavy emphasis on second meanings and his lumbering, wounded desperation rob his words, his weapons, of the strength they had held in the first act. The veneer of civility, too, skillfully maintained in Act I, becomes a travesty earlier than it should...