Strength and cunning in a filthy society
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As a teenager growing up in India, director Mira Nair spent her days and nights voraciously reading her favorite novel, &quot;Vanity Fair.
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Too often, inspirational movies about extreme bravery in the face of affliction are pure goo. They only manage to inspire a few rolls of the eyes in those of us with more ironic constitutions.
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Christopher Marloweâs âEdward IIâ tells the story of sexual obsession, religious power and the intersection of the political and personal lives of a flawed leader.
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They are rich, tight-fisted bullies with a penchant for gambling, a lust for multiple mistresses, and plenty of powerful political connections.
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Though illegal, dog fighting continues to draw crowds hungry for the sight of blood and the gambling thrill. A law enforcement officer takes us inside this underground world.
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A game that eerily mimics misanthropic online reality lets you team up with social misfits from around the internet to blow away all those other pesky jerks. Commentary by Lore Sj&#246;berg.
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Major disasters unearth con artists who prey on philanthropic goodwill.
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Amazing, but even in this time of goodwill and cheer, some folks are always looking for a fight. A recent exchange with a regular reader got me thinking how divisive things can get.
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A combination of basic human oversights and seemingly innocuous events made the fire stronger and deadlier.
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Fighting an enemy as invisible as he is deadly
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For the average person, gaining entry to a Manhattan nightclub can be an exquisite form of cruelty. PartyBuddys whisks clients past the velvet ropes.
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Tycho:  It is often the case that we are jumped by four or five horde ten levels higher than us.  This is often because we've jumped a friend of theirs, ten levels lower than us, as retribution for some earlier act of aggression, in slavish iteration of a behavior that has - as its culmination - the end of all life, everywhere.  Kara marveled that Gabriel and I were able to escape these confrontations with such regularity.  What was our secret?  "Fear," I said, bending the microphone closer.  "Fear, and selfishness."
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This account of a famous double poisoning and ensuing trial is a heady tale of sin, sex, jealousy and revenge in sepia-toned Manhattan.
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The government struggles to adapt its old methods of social control to the challenge of maintaining authority over a society seeking greater freedoms.
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A bestselling novel offers surprising critiques of Egyptian society and government through the voices of taxi drivers.
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In brief Mopping up the minorities
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Comment is free: George Monbiot: Evictions of the poor, along with mentally ill people and beggars, are one of the games' best-established traditions.