Word: strenuous
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...chief exponent, or perp, is Streep. She's lively and limber, executing a saddle jump to gymnastic perfection while bouncing on a bed and singing Dancing Queen. But she also spends a long part of the film in a strenuous simulacrum of pleasure. She has the laughs the way a consumptive has the coughs. You worry that when Streep dies and goes to Actor Heaven, the recording angel will say, "On this scale we have decades of transcendent performances, and on this scale, that Mamma Mia! thing. Begone...
...family profited from while he was in office, are rather less happy. The military, which went to the trouble of toppling him in 2006, surely is also irate over Thaksin's lingering shadow. (Thaksin himself has said he's done with politics, although his avowals have been rather less strenuous of late.) "It's a no-win situation for Samak," says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "If he stands for Thaksin, then he's seen as a stooge and that hurts his personal honor. If he distances himself, then he alienates Thaksin's support base...
...accused of the murder and discovers she is pregnant. Argentine law allows women prisoners to keep their children with them until the age of four. This allows Gusman (the director's wife) much latitude for scenery-chewing, which makes her another candidate for Best Actress. Her emoting is strenuous but not persuasive, in a gritty film whose heart is too soft...
...necessity, rather than the body-toning concerns of Western fashionistas, that shaped Krishnamacharya's style: Most of his students were restless young boys, and he found that the best way to focus their attention for purposes of meditation was to put them through a rigorous regimen of strenuous postures, struck in quick succession to minimize mental distraction. Today, the style appeals to Western devotees whose priority is a high-energy workout rather than an inner journey...
...sees it as a "contradictory presentation--very strong physical violence presented in terms of physical beauty." And there's no denying that the piece brings its share of wow factor to the rotunda. But it's also an instance of an artist playing air guitar with history--making a strenuous gesture to create the impression that he's summoning a powerful reality, when in fact he's merely toyed with it. All the same, it certainly fits the apocalyptic tenor of this show. When the smoke from all that gunpowder clears, there's still a whiff of brimstone...