Word: witting
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Hailing not from the wilds of Big Sky Country but rather from the suburbs of New Jersey, Chris and Martin Kratt have added the element perennially missing from TV wildlife shows: wit. At the same time, they have deleted other elements usually all too evident: the funereal music, the somber voice of an offscreen narrator, and the snooty self-importance. Airing weekdays on PBS, the half-an-hour series is aimed at six-to-11-year-olds, but the hosts' offbeat affability and unpatronizing tone have made it a favorite among grownups too. In many areas ratings for Kratts' Creatures...
...settle for such anonymity. Strayhorn was homosexual; in that era the only way he could live an openly gay life was to keep out of the public eye. Hajdu gives Strayhorn his belated due as a distinct musical voice and an engaging, if conflicted, personality. Strayhorn's taste and wit, his relentless drinking, his lovers, his activism in Harlem cultural life and the civil rights movement, his generosity--all are sensitively evoked. "He was just everything that I wanted in a man, except he wasn't interested in me sexually," singer Lena Horne told Hajdu. "We were in love, anyway...
...Padraic O'Reilly dances and prances around the stage, whirling past the sputtering Ed and twirling around the nervous Pat, the audience is often brought to laughter from his cartoon-like demeanor. How could this play be anything but a comedy with someone so blatantly melodramatic, whose wit is even sharper than his bite? More importantly, how could he NOT be a vampire, since he shines with energy and vicious vivaciousness as several of his human counterparts struggle to keep their own pulses going...
...emerging from the shadows. As Cassius Clay, he had won the light-heavyweight gold medal in Rome, and as Muhammad Ali, he became the most famous athlete in the world. But a lifetime of blows has left him with Parkinson's syndrome and robbed him of his quick wit and physical skills. So when Ali bravely took the torch and, with a trembling arm, lit the wick, there was hardly a dry eye in the house. The fire then traveled up a guy wire to the cauldron atop Olympic Stadium...
...sharp wit, combined with Cambridge-accented eloquence, made the longtime liberal fixture a legendary figure in Israeli politics. Born in South Africa, raised in England, he was appointed Israel's first ambassador to the U.N. in 1949. From his Labor seat in parliament, he was named Foreign Minister in 1966 and remained in office for eight years--still a record for that post. After serving as chairman of the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee, the dovish Eban left parliament in 1988 after 29 years. He continues to campaign for peace with the Palestinians through speeches and writings. Author...