Word: dreading
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...intelligent reader doubts that Frost had a dark side. Dread--of the "beast" waiting in night and cold, of Frost's forsaken conviction that "there is no oversight of human affairs"--gnaws at the edges of his work. Frost was not writing Hallmark cards...
Science fiction is a fun-house mirror for a society warped by raging technological advance. Science fiction doesn't want or need to make much sense. It seeks astonishment, terror, wonder, ecstasy and dread. It is spectacular and mythic, an oxygen tent for society's daydreams. Science fiction cordially ignores many vital technologies, such as, say, garbage recycling. Recycling is hugely important, but it has zero science-fictional thrill...
Common to all of these is the concern about aloneness, the dread of abandonment, the fear of a meaningless existence. Sometimes it is associated with anger at the perceived devaluation and rejection (the famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger said two people are often killed with each suicide); sometimes with feelings of guilt, inadequacy or fear of criticism that are so great one punishes oneself rather than being punished by others...
...special effects do little to rescue the movie from the monotony of the story line. The Kilrathi make a disappointingly infrequent appearance. Even when they do show up, they appear as silly rubbery monsters, not the fearsome feline-race implied by the Confederation's dread. Similarly, the scarce combat sequences are unspectacular. In fact, the combat usually consists of the heroes shooting at tiny targets on a screen, then flying back to base. There is little of the close-up dog fighting that could have brought at least some suspense to the action scenes...
...lower Manhattan nightclub, K was trying to make it as a hip-hop lyricist and performer. He had the look (270 lbs. of muscular intimidation draped in clothing loose enough to conceal an arsenal) and a showman's instincts. In the book his stage name is American Dread, suggesting both the nation's historical fear of black uprisings and Jamaica's popular hairstyle...