ellauri065.html on line 202: The Human Centipede has its moments, but they're largely obscured by umpteen holes in the plot as well as by reams of exposition. It was an ultimately underwhelming affair that's neither sick or repellent enough to garner the cult status it so craves. Whether the film was a commentary on Nazi atrocities or a literal expression of filmmaking politics, the grotesque fusion at least silences the female leads, both of whose voices could strip paint.
ellauri393.html on line 292: Although he married three times and raised a family, Rockwell acknowledged that he didn’t pine for women. They made him feel imperiled. He preferred the nearly constant companionship of men whom he perceived as physically strong. It may have represented Rockwell’s solution to the problem of feeling wimpish and small. Rockwell, who was born in New York City in 1894, the son of a textile salesman, attributed much about his life and his work to his underwhelming physique. As a child he felt overshadowed by his older brother, Jarvis, a first-rate student and athlete. Norman, by contrast, was slight and pigeon-toed and squinted at the world through owlish glasses. His grades were barely passing and he struggled with reading and writing—today, he surely would be labeled dyslexic. Growing up in an era when boys were still judged largely by their body type and athletic prowess, he felt, he once wrote, like “a lump, a long skinny nothing, a bean pole without beans.” Assistants looked better than the missus. “Fred is most fetching in his long flannels,” he notes appreciatively.
ellauri424.html on line 220: I found it very interesting to have a fantastical story set in Russia (and by a Russian author!) and not in the familiar Western surroundings. I loved the distinct post-Soviet feel of the story, the language and the references that easily pinpoint the time period of this book. The events take place in the late nineties, when the allure of capitalism and the sad realities of it were colliding in Russian society, when idealism and enthusiasm of early nineties were hit by the harsh reality and had to meet cynicism and disappointment. It created a very specific vibe in the society, the vibe that resonates throughout this book. And this vibe made the endings of each of the three stories that comprise this book feel not as much underwhelming (as some thought) but inevitable and unavoidable. Because life does not have to be fair, let's face it. Because nobody owes you anything. Because quite often life, honestly, sucks, and you can't have it all, and you can't be whatever you want to be regardless of what people tell you.
xxx/ellauri380.html on line 463: Arabic-speaking armies have been generally ineffective in the modern era. Egyptian regular forces did poorly against Yemeni irregulars in the 1960s. Syrians could only impose their will in Lebanon during the mid-1970s by by the use of underwhelming weaponry and numbers.
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