Word: claptrap
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...stratosphere that he can barely exist on the mere surface of the planet anymore. Two detectives, Louis (Christopher Randolph) and Pablo (Christian Clemenson) come in out of the mainstream and attempt to reconstruct the crime. What follows is a collage of random psychic violence and free association, philosophy and claptrap, all so intricately conceived that to follow it in any sort of literary sense is ridiculous. They talk about Shepard writing in dream language, and the bearded wunderkinds at NYU write introductions to his plays that speak of ritual Indian drug use and the tradition of the shaman...
...frontespiece of the Spectator, for example, is a column written by editor R. Emmett Tyrell and titled "The Continuing Crisis," which diagnoses the grave illnesses of America by pointing to symptoms. This month, Tyrell dislikes Bill Walton ("tiresome proponent of New Age claptrap," "Marxist-Leninist thumper for health food"), liberation theologists, and the Washington press corps (who need a "manual on the fundamentals of courtesy"). There are signs of recovery, though; President Reagan has restored "dignity to realms where there recently had been mawkishness and amateurism unsurpassed in American history," and Secretary of State Alexander Haig has refused Soviet ambassador...
...scintallae are obscured by too much pretentious claptrap. Like the Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties' Requests, the Beatles' "Revolution #9," or anything by Led Zeppelin, Public Image suffers from too much unearned self-seriousness. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp," Browning wrote, "or what's a heaven for?" Well, not for rock and roll. Sid Vicious got out in the nick of time...
...Dead concert footage that makes up the bulk of the movie. The initial animation sequence, featuring the Omar Khayyam skeleton-and-roses fellow, as well as other Dead album-cover regulars, is pretty impressive whether you're stoned or not. Afterwards, the music is presented unencumbered by the psychedelic claptrap groups like Led Zeppelin have thrown into their movies, or the self-consciousness of an "event" movie like The Last Waltz. Interviews with Deadheads fill space and add atmosphere, but most likely you'll be able to find both in the seat next to you or the air around...
While reading your article on NATO [Dec. 11], I could not help thinking that I had heard it all before. The confident bluster, the statistics, the little soldier having his say, etc. Then it dawned on me. When I was very young, I heard just about the same claptrap about the awesome Maginot and Siegfried lines-and we all know just how useful they turned out to be as defenses against a determined and ideologically motivated enemy. Perhaps the only hope lies in men like General Haig, who is only "cautiously optimistic"-and no more...