smitten = To inflict a heavy blow on, with or as if with the hand, a tool, or a weapon; To affect sharply with great feeling.
quicksilver
violence is something that's so quicksilver… it can come and go… it's just a snap of emotion here and there, it's so easy to manipulate, to be pushed into one direction or another.
from the Titus movie commentary by directress Julie Taymor
quicksilver = liable to sudden unpredictable change. Mercury was commonly called quicksilver. From which we also have the word mercurial, and Roman God Mercury..
ennui
What set the book apart from its predecessors in the vampire genre was its confessional tone offering the point-of-view of the vampire himself and touching on existential despair and the sheer ennui of lifeless immortality. Anne Rice's previous experience writing bodice-rippers and lush pornography came into play
bodice-ripper = a popular modern variety of romance that emphasizes the sexual excitement of seduction and “ravishment”, usually in colorful settings based on the conventions of the historical novel and peopled by pirates, highwaymen, wenches etc. (excerpt from Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms) See also some Wikipedia highlight of Romance Novels.
ennui = Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest. (AHD)
racy
Lilli was a gold-digging character from a “racy” comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for die Bild Zeitung, and the Lilli doll began to be sold in Germany in 1955. It was marketed to adults, not children: M. G. Lord, in her Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, characterized the original doll as a “gag gift for men, a pornographic character.”
gold-digger = A woman who seeks money and expensive gifts from men. See also: Barbie Anthropology.
racy = Risqué; ribald. Though, originally the word means something like “Having a strong flavor indicating origin; of distinct characteristic taste; tasting of the soil; hence, fresh; rich”; “Hence: Exciting to the mental taste by a strong or distinctive character of thought or language; peculiar and piquant; fresh and lively.”
chaplet
As she passed along, the people sang her praises, and strewed her way with chaplets and flowers.
Yes, the “Story” as an information vehicle. That was how people held and disseminated ideas. Raconteurship was a skillful entertainment that served far more of a purpose then than now. Movies are one of the vestiges of raconteurship.
raconteur = a person skilled in telling anecdotes.
politburo
Mao Zedong (1893 〜 1976) was the chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death.
politburo = the chief executive and political committee of the Communist Party.
antic
The Anna Nicole Show focused on her personal and private life in the manner of other “reality” shows such as the recent hit The Osbournes. Critics blasted it, saying it was so bad it deserved to be pitied. The show's debut was a bomb, and ratings dropped with each successive week. However, it achieved a kind of camp or cult status as many fans found humor in Smith's absurd and arguably stupid antics.
antic = a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement.
no-holds-barred
The magazine fell into a niche between Playboy's upper-class pretensions and Larry Flynt's no-holds-barred approach (Hustler mag), and began to lose the impact it once had.
Bob Guccione (2004-07) (article on Penthouse mag founder.)
no-holds-barred = unrestrained.
outgun
Penthouse was eventually outgunned by Larry Flynt's Hustler, which went even farther with both pictorials and editorial content than Guccione was willing to go.
The movie opens with “The Customer is Always Right,” (though this segment uses the red dress from another short story in “The Babe Wore Red” collection) after which it segues into the opening credit sequence.
segue = proceed without interruption; in music or talk.
fencing
he is often fencing stolen property or arranging early furloughs for incarcerated former criminal associates — for a hefty fee, of course — on the side.
furlough = A leave of absence from prison granted to a prisoner. (AHD)
fencing = (slang) To sell (stolen goods) thru a fence.
lovesick
ok bye let me know how it all turns out. Send email i want one LOVE-SICK email per day
2004. Adale in online chat.
lovesick = Languishing with love or amorous desire.
débutante
When I met you in the restaurant You could tell I was no débutante You asked me what's my pleasure A movie or a measure? I'll have a cup of tea and tell you of my dreaming Dreaming is free …
debutante = a young woman making her debut into society.
lubber
Deep sea fish is a term for fish that live below the photic zone of the ocean. Examples include the lanternfish, flashlight fish, cookie-cutter shark and anglerfish.
Because these fish live in regions where there is no natural illumination, they cannot rely solely on their eyesight for locating prey, mates, avoiding predators and whatnot; deep sea fish have developed alternative methods to what us land lubbers call everyday survival. Many deep sea fish are bio-luminescent, with extremely large dark-adapted eyes. Some deep sea fish have long feelers to help them locate prey in the eternal dark of the deep ocean.
A later variorum edition provided many alternate wordings from which Johnson, in a more limited editorial intervention, had been forced to choose for the sake of readability.
variorum = a edition containing various versions of a text or notes by various scholars or editors.
floozy
A professional floozy of the first order, Bild Zeitung's Lilli traded sex for money, delivered sassycomebacks to police officers, and sought the company of “balding, jowly fatcats,” says Lord.
The Littlest Harlot by Tracy Quan. @ www.salon.com…
(on origin of Barbie).
comeback = a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one).
jowly = having sagging folds of flesh beneath the chin or lower jaw.
floozy = a prostitute who attracts customers by walking the streets.
paean
The album also included “She Bop”, a paean to female masturbation, and the romantic ballad “Time After Time”, an instant “standard” which has since been covered by over 70 artists (most notably Miles Davis).
There are three kinds of nomads, hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads, and peripatetic nomads.
Nomadic hunter-gatherers have by far the longest-lived subsistence method in human history, following seasonally available wild plants and game. Pastoralists raise herds and move with them so as not to deplete pasture beyond recovery in any one area. Peripatetic nomads are more common in industrialized nations, traveling from one territory to another and offering a trade wherever they go.