If American drama was to recognize one fictional clan as first family, the Tyrones would win the title. (Granted, it would be a neck-and-neck race with the Lomans of "Death of a Salesman.") Eugene O'Neill's 1956 masterpiece, "Long Day's Journey into Night," established them as the dark alter ego of t

Dark, Depressive, Domestic, Gritty, Intense, Intimate, Realist theater

The typical male in a Nick Hornby novel is mentally adolescent, moody, consumed with boyish fetishes, and disconcertingly good at wasting free time. These characters often incite irritation or pangs of furtive embarrassment in readers, depending on the latter's gender. Male readers begin to wonder wh

Agitated, Charming, Contemporary comedianism, Depressive, Funny, Pop

Sen Yen is the standard monetary measurement in Japan. That's 1,000 smackaroos --about ten dollars -- or an all-you-can eat platter of lunchtime sushi if you're living in Tokyo with a limited budget. If you look closely at the face of the bill that might pay for tomorrow's buffet, you will see a pict

Depressive, Epic, Lyrical, Melancholy, Modernist literature, Sardonic

Among the foremost members of the Frankfurt School, Theodor Adorno launched a tirade against the modern world. With an arsenal of unsupported assertions strung together without obvious connecting elements, Adorno set out to critique what he called the "phantasmagoria" of commodity consumption. A c

Angry, Dark, Depressive, Dystopic, Frankfurt school, Intense, Marxism/ideology critique, Severe