In 1988, "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" asked all the right questions about secrecy, technology, and female orgasm. The elite clan at Cannes awarded the maverick production the Palm d'Or, and mainstream theaters opened their doors to Andie McDowell asking the camera -- and the mainstream audiences behind

Absurd, Melancholy, Repetition, Whimsical

"In the beginning there is nothing. It starts very small and becomes bigger." Pina Bausch creates epics, but they always retain that quality of having come from absence, of having been built piece by piece. Bausch's dances start with a single concept -- a kernel of movement, a memory -- which she bui

Bombast, Ecstatic, Epic, Euro-surreal expressionism, Repetition

Herman Melville was born in 1819 to a quintessentially American family -- one bestarred with Revolutionary heroes and Tea Party guests. His father, Allan Melvill (who would later add the elegant "e" to the family name), had a mediocre opinion of him, writing around his son's 12th birthday that he was

Baroque, Expansive, Grand, Lyrical, Overflowing, Repetition, Romantic literature, Sublime

The term hermeneutics comes from the name of the Greek messenger of the gods, Hermes. Over the past millenia, hermeneutics has referred to the practice of theological interpretation. But for Gadamer, who re-introduced the term hermeneutics into contemporary discussion, the hermeneutic process is not

Contemplative, Dense, Event, Hermeneutics, Repetition, Sincere