He has also partied heartily, shifted creative gears on whims and survived – with brio, luck and great timing – in an industry littered with corporate casualties.

brio (n): quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous – source: Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Read Me?

Compared to the latter two, myspace’s sites tend to be more colourful, characterful, shambolic and rich in personality.

shambolic (adj) : (British slang) disorderly or chaotic – source: City of Sound: New Musical Experiences

The V.A., Knox said, ”is not there for the veteran. They’re there as a palliative for the non-veteran. To make people feel good, like they’re doing something for the vet.”

palliative (n) : remedy that alleviates pain without curing [syn: alleviant, alleviator] – source: The New Yorker, July 12 & 19 2004, p. 51

After years of lassitude, Brando gave two of his greatest performances for a new generation of film-makers, establishing his ascendancy.

lassitude (n) 1: a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness) [syn: lethargy, sluggishness] 2: a feeling of lack of interest or energy [syn: languor, listlessness] 3: weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy [syn: inanition, lethargy] – source: He was always a contender

British idioms are creeping into American press, claims a professor of journalism in The Chronicle Review.

Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen her unwrap the gum, pop the wad in her mouth and masticate it experimentally.

masticate (v) 1: grind and knead 2: chew (food) [syn: chew, manducate, jaw] – source: Shush!

When just a prepubescent tyke, he says, he’d dress up as a Goth girl and party in 1980s new wave haunts where underground films like Liquid Sky would be shown as club projections.

tyke (n) 1: a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement [syn: peasant, barbarian, boor, churl, Goth, tike] 2: a young person of either sex [syn: child, kid, youngster, minor, shaver, nipper, small fry, tiddler, tike, fry, nestling] – source: Up close and personal

He ended up editing out his only dalliance with pure fiction: a wildly baroque ending where he ends up naked in heaven tended to by his boyfriend, having been shot by his grandfather.

dalliance (n) 1: the deliberate act of wasting time instead of working [syn: dawdling, trifling, wasting time] 2: playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest [syn: flirt, flirting, flirtation, coquetry, toying] – source: Up close and personal

it first opened, protesters treated Python’s Gospel gobbledygook much like Martin Scorsese’s blistering The Last Temptation of Christ.

gobbledygook (n) : incomprehensible or pompous jargon of specialists – source: Popmatters’ Life of Brian review