"I know, isn't she diabolical?"
The word summons to mind scenes from the worlds of comic books and early James Bond movies. Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman...these virtuous beings routinely faced excessively creative villains bent on their destruction, sometimes to the detriment of the pursuit of world domination. These villains must have devoted many hours to brilliant and productive brooding, dreaming up insanely ingenious plots in order to destroy their adversaries through elaborate scenarios involving acid baths, slowly melting ice, laser beams, hypnotism, sharks in unexpected places. No contraption too complex, no price tag too high. But who has the time to be diabolical today?
Nowadays, we have plenty of examples of bad behavior, and some of them also involve delightful words. "Rapacious" comes to mind, as in Bank of America or Hedge Fund Manager. But in today's fast paced environment, efficiency has put diabolical out of business, making the pursuit of world domination so much less picturesque.
Maybe "diabolical" has a quaint and melodramatic ring to it because at its root is the devil (related words: devilish, demonic, satanic, infernal, fiendish, unholy) and no one really believes in the devil any more. Or, if they do, they are only too willing to make a friendly deal at the next crossroads...or better yet, via email on their Blackberry.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Gained in translation...
Sometimes delightful words are inadvertent, as in the following instructions – translated into English from Japanese – accurately transcribed from the box containing a "squishy stress head" (Zoe's phrase for her new acquisition). My favorite part: "avoid such places where receives direct rays or becomes high temperature." The phrase so perfectly suggests the resulting explosion. CAU MARU
For the people who have such troubles recently that forgetting a smile, feeling stree, and tending to pass by someone. You must be unconscious of the passage of time if once you got this feeling which is the one you cannot spare. For a small present.Let's attach to write your feeling, which you cannot say directly, in a massage...It is safe if throw it in a quarrel by husband and wife because it is very soft. (but, we cannot recommended to do so.) There are four types of faces, so please choose a favorite one.
Precautions for use
- Although the quality of the material and the white powder on the surface are harmless, please do not eat CAU MARU.
- When dirt is conspicuous or sticky, please sprinkle a baby powder lightly after washing it with water and draining.
- Please do not leave it on printed matter etc because the ink and paint may adhere.
- Please avoid such places where receives direct rays or becomes high temperature.
- When a small child uses it, a guardian must attend on.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I just caught part of an NPR interview with a 52-year old comedienne who recently wrote a book called "When You Lie About your Age, the Terrorists Win." Thank you Terry Gross! This is the kind of caustic reminder I need sometimes. At 48, I am unfortunately susceptible to feelings of melancholy and loss when observing the younger people in my life. I envy them; life was like "that" for me too, once, and it never can be again. Focused on looking backwards, I mope and mourn, worse off than the Montana housewife who will never feel secure and safe, knowing that her neighborhood Walmart is the next terrorist target. Might as well just go home and malinger with the drapes closed.
Recently, I was sitting with a friend – from my own generation – and we were listening to a boy in his 20s tell a story about meeting a girl, and at some point in his narrative of paralysis-in-the-face-of-opportunity and love-gone-awry, we looked at each other and said, in accidental harmony, "isn't it always the way..."
At that moment, we were united in feelings of happiness and relief at having left 23 behind us, and having grown into sophisticated and worldly creatures (she was even wearing pearls and velvet at the time) when..."Jinx!" she said laughing.
And I was immediately 6 or 7 or 8, chasing my best friend across the back yard on a summer night, with the sprinklers going in the distance. Jinx: short, simple, musical – a word with magical powers to summon a vanished time, but with glee, not sorrow.
Maybe this is one of the pleasures of growing older, an expanding landscape of memories to explore like pools of water. Put your toes in this one, trail a hand through that one, dive in and race through a third....
Recently, I was sitting with a friend – from my own generation – and we were listening to a boy in his 20s tell a story about meeting a girl, and at some point in his narrative of paralysis-in-the-face-of-opportunity and love-gone-awry, we looked at each other and said, in accidental harmony, "isn't it always the way..."
At that moment, we were united in feelings of happiness and relief at having left 23 behind us, and having grown into sophisticated and worldly creatures (she was even wearing pearls and velvet at the time) when..."Jinx!" she said laughing.
And I was immediately 6 or 7 or 8, chasing my best friend across the back yard on a summer night, with the sprinklers going in the distance. Jinx: short, simple, musical – a word with magical powers to summon a vanished time, but with glee, not sorrow.
Maybe this is one of the pleasures of growing older, an expanding landscape of memories to explore like pools of water. Put your toes in this one, trail a hand through that one, dive in and race through a third....
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
"Don't yield to...
the obvious." So British comedian Russell Brand describes one credo, his refusal to respond to women when they say nothing but instead "make a lot of noise, aggressively clumping about" in order to force you to ask them what's wrong.
Mr. Brand would certainly never resort to such tactics, not with his way with words, which I experienced with increasing delight during an interview with Scott Simon on NPR. This is a man who, when he leaves you with the phrase "lovely talking with you" has probably done most of the lovely talking, and he's not hard on the eyes, either. He describes his childhood as "tumultuous," his discovery (through acting and comedy) that "life doesn't have to be a maudlin trudge through misery...it can be a right laugh," and his preference for the very specific craving for heroin over a generalized feeling that life could be improved by, oh, I dunno "new wallpaper, or a cat, or fellatio."
The interview was prompted by the publication of his autobiography, and I twas charmed by his admission that writing is "difficult, innit, you've just got to be dilligent and fastidious, and churn out the words. I think My Booky Wook's got 90,000 words in it." Dilligent and fastidious, such a wonderful combination, the first naive and trustworthy, the second refined, discriminating, even scornful. What happens when the clerk and the aristocrat combine forces to tell a story?
Mr. Brand would certainly never resort to such tactics, not with his way with words, which I experienced with increasing delight during an interview with Scott Simon on NPR. This is a man who, when he leaves you with the phrase "lovely talking with you" has probably done most of the lovely talking, and he's not hard on the eyes, either. He describes his childhood as "tumultuous," his discovery (through acting and comedy) that "life doesn't have to be a maudlin trudge through misery...it can be a right laugh," and his preference for the very specific craving for heroin over a generalized feeling that life could be improved by, oh, I dunno "new wallpaper, or a cat, or fellatio."
The interview was prompted by the publication of his autobiography, and I twas charmed by his admission that writing is "difficult, innit, you've just got to be dilligent and fastidious, and churn out the words. I think My Booky Wook's got 90,000 words in it." Dilligent and fastidious, such a wonderful combination, the first naive and trustworthy, the second refined, discriminating, even scornful. What happens when the clerk and the aristocrat combine forces to tell a story?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)