Good morning readers! I hope ya’ll had a very happy New Year. It feels very futuristic to say that it’s 2015, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s because 2015 is the year the awesome movie Back to the Future II was set in, and it predicted that we’d have all sorts of crazy things (like flying cars and hoverboards) by now. Alas, we’re not even close to flying cars, but we ARE close to hoverboards: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/142464853/hendo-hoverboards-worlds-first-real-hoverboard. I can only dream that one day hoverboards will replace cars.
Anyway, our latest issue looked back on the best movies, TV shows and music of 2014; a lot of it is compiled into easy-to-read Top 10 lists. So no excuse, pick it up!
Now onto Words Nobody Uses or Knows in this week’s issue. Best word of the issue was obstreperous, found in Kathy Y. Wilson’s editorial. (I’m noticing a trend here.)
obstreperous: noisy, boisterous, or unruly, esp. in resisting or opposing (adj.)
In this issue: ”
I’d love to amass all the obstreperous black drug dealers I know, converge on Hyde Park Square, blast Gucci Mane after midnight, spark blunts and then leave in a blaze of profane glory.”
Brilliant. I can only imagine the horrified reactions of Hyde Park folks to this scenario.
Next best word of the issue was conviviality, in the piece “Dubbing the New Year” on electronic artist Ott.
conviviality:
having to do with a feast or festive activity; fond of eating, drinking, and good company; sociable; jovial (n.)
January and February are the worst months of the year, I think. Short days, slow, cold months, and holiday conviviality is over.
In this issue: “
‘Loud music, positive energy, polite, friendly, welcoming people, bright clothes, good art, conviviality,’ he says, ‘and the occasional telltale smell of mothballs.’ “
Moving on. Malfeasance, which reminds me so much of the sub par Disney movie
Maleficent , is next. It’s in Brian Baker’s
piece on Jade (the random local ’70s band, not the ornamental rock).
malfeasance:
wrongdoing or misconduct, esp. by a public official; commission of an act that is positively unlawful (n.)
In this issue:
“Their strongest connection is Jade, a Cincinnati band from the early ’70s with great potential but which had its big break undermined by bad luck and malfeasance.”
Next is a word that I see all over the place, but I don’t actually know what it means and I’ve never bothered to look it up. When I saw quixotic it in this week’s issue, I figured I should learn it, even if most of you already know it. It’s
found in our super handy list of the Top 10 Films of 2014.
quixotic: extravagantly chivalrous or foolishly idealistic; visionary; impractical or impracticable (adj.)
In this issue: “
One of two films on this list I caught at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival (see Ida below), I was over the moon when this tale about cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s quixotic attempt to bring Dune to life reached area screens.”
OK, that’s all I’ve got. Take your arsenal of new words out into the world and have a happy weekend, readers.
This article appears in Dec 31, 2014 – Jan 6, 2015.