This is a journalist who knows a good boondoggle when he sees one, and among the many influences of Under the Influence are the panel discussion, the post-panel Q and A, and the strategically flattering post-Q-and-A bull session.

boondoggle (n) : work of little or no value done merely to look busy – Movie Love

There are two types: the pompous and the somnolent.

somnolent (adj) : inclined to or marked by drowsiness [syn: slumberous, slumbery, slumbrous] – Are Men Boring?

While appearing in the pageants, I was required to learn haranguey speeches with big words in them, like ”totalitarianism.”

harangue (n) : a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion [syn: rant, ranting] – Earl Pomerantz: Summer Time – An Introduction

This has not stopped accusations that Darwin and his supporters used some very dirty tricks indeed to scupper Wallace.

scupper (v) 1: wait in hiding to attack [syn: ambush, bushwhack, waylay, lurk, ambuscade, lie in wait] 2: put in a dangerous, disadvantageous, or difficult position [syn: queer, expose, endanger, peril] – How Darwin won the evolution race

He had prevaricated for 20 years and would have done so for another 20 if he hadn’t realised someone else was on the trail.

prevaricate (v): be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information – How Darwin won the evolution race

It met at that median between obsequious and boorish that people come on with you because they have to assert that you’re not such hot stuff.

obsequious (adj) 1: attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery [syn: bootlicking, fawning, sycophantic, toadyish] 2: attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner – Harlan Ellison, part two

Rising early for a swim in the aquamarine waters in the cove below his idyllic Jamaican retreat, Goldeneye, Fleming tapped away at his Remington portable typewriter with six fingers for three hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon — 2,000 words a day, a completed novel in two months, all the while keeping up the sybaritic lifestyle that led Noël Coward, a frequent guest at Goldeneye and no puritan himself, to describe the Fleming household as ”golden ear, nose and throat.”

sybaritic (adj) : fond of sensuous luxury or pleasure; self-indulgent – Remembering Fleming, Ian Fleming

Cry too rarely and you’ll split your weasand trying to gasp out the first sob.

weasand (n) : The windpipe – For crying out loud!

I wanted a warm look against the green vegetation, so I was looking for filters that would bring out the verdant quality of the landscape.

verdant (adj) : covered with growing plants or grass; green; fresh; flourishing; as, verdant fields; a verdant lawn – Deconstructing Bob Dylan

A boring subtext, about the wisdom or otherwise of actually uttering Voldemort’s name, meanwhile robs the apotropaic device of its force.

apotropaic (adj) : having the power to prevent evil or bad luck – The Boy Who Lived