machination
these boys... it's not their own idea, ... that drives them to go out and hurt Lavinia... it comes from the machination of Aaron the Moor.
paraphrased from the Titus movie commentary by directress Julie Taymor
smitten
this character has never been in love before, and now he's smitten.
paraphrased from the Titus movie commentary by directress Julie Taymor
quicksilver
violence is something that's so quicksilver... it can come and go... it's just a snap of emotion here and there, it's so easy to manipulate, to be pushed into one direction or another.
from the Titus movie commentary by directress Julie Taymor
ennui
What set the book apart from its predecessors in the vampire genre was its confessional tone offering the point-of-view of the vampire himself and touching on existential despair and the sheer ennui of lifeless immortality. Anne Rice's previous experience writing bodice-rippers and lush pornography came into play
200502 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire
racy
Lilli was a gold-digging character from a "racy" comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin? for die Bild Zeitung?, and the Lilli doll began to be sold in Germany in 1955. It was marketed to adults, not children: M. G. Lord, in her Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, characterized the original doll as a "gag gift for men, a pornographic character."
200401 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie
chaplets
As she passed along, the people sang her praises, and strewed her way with chaplets and flowers.
raconteurship
Yes, the “Story” as an information vehicle. That was how people held and disseminated ideas. Raconteurship was a skillful entertainment that served far more of a purpose then than now. Movies are one of the vestiges of raconteurship.
friend Paul Kiesow in chat referring to Arabian Nights
politburo
Mao Zedong (1893-12-26 to 1976-09-09) was the chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong
antics
The Anna Nicole Show focused on her personal and private life in the manner of other “reality” shows such as the recent hit The Osbournes. Critics blasted it, saying it was so bad it deserved to be pitied. The show's debut was a bomb, and ratings dropped with each successive week. However, it achieved a kind of camp or cult status as many fans found humor in Smith's absurd and arguably stupid antics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Nicole_Smith, 2005.
no-holds-barred
The magazine fell into a niche between Playboy's upper-class pretensions and Larry Flynt's no-holds-barred approach, and began to lose the impact it once had.[200407, article on Penthouse mag, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Guccione]
outgun
Penthouse was eventually outgunned by Larry Flynt's Hustler, which went even farther with both pictorials and editorial content than Guccione was willing to go.[200407, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Guccione]
segue
The movie opens with “The Customer is Always Right,” (though this segment uses the red dress from another short story in “The Babe Wore Red” collection) after which it segues into the opening credit sequence.
200505 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_City_%28movie%29
fencing
he is often fencing stolen property or arranging early furloughs for incarcerated former criminal associates — for a hefty fee, of course — on the side.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Penguin
lovesick
ok bye let me know how it all turns out. Send email i want one LOVE-SICK email per day [2004. online chat]
debutante
Lyrics from Blondie's Dreaming Lyrics:
When I met you in the restaurant
You could tell I was no debutante
You asked me what's my pleasure
A movie or a measure?
I'll have a cup of tea and tell you of my dreaming
Dreaming is free
...
lubber
Deep sea fish is a term for fish that live below the photic zone of the ocean. Examples include the lanternfish, flashlight fish, cookie-cutter shark and anglerfish.
Because these fish live in regions where there is no natural illumination, they cannot rely solely on their eyesight for locating prey, mates, avoiding predators and whatnot; deep sea fish have developed alternative methods to what us land lubbers call everyday survival. Many deep sea fish are bio-luminescent, with extremely large dark-adapted eyes. Some deep sea fish have long feelers to help them locate prey in the eternal dark of the deep ocean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_fish, 2005.
variorum
A later variorum edition provided many alternate wordings from which Johnson, in a more limited editorial intervention, had been forced to choose for the sake of readability.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson
floozy
A professional floozy of the first order, Bild Zeitung's Lilli traded sex for money, delivered sassy comebacks to police officers, and sought the company of “balding, jowly fatcats,” says Lord.
a article on the origin of Barbie. http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1997/11/26harlot.html, 2004.
See also: Barbie Anthropology: http://xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/20030919_barbie.html
paean
The album also included “She Bop”, a paean to female masturbation, and the romantic ballad “Time After Time”, an instant “standard” which has since been covered by over 70 artists (most notably Miles Davis).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyndi_Lauper. See also: Lyrics Appreciation: She Bop
peripatetic
Typically there are two kinds of nomad, pastoral nomads and peripatetic nomads. [source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomad]
© 2004-2007 by Xah Lee.