One of the most powerful and reiterated themes in this memoir is a young boy's pained recognition that the magic of theater was fleeting: "The happiness of being at a play, the most joyous sensation I knew, could not be had without the punishing realization of how finite and unrepeatable each visit to a theater was".
For my money (a preposterous phrase for a critic to use), the most joyous cut on the record is "Chi Passa per 'Sta Strada," an ad hoc arrangement of a 16th-century street song, in which the entry of Wu Tong's sheng -- an ancient Chinese mouth organ -- is as jarring, and then as tonic, as a Renaissance traveler's first taste of tea.
"Soot and Spit" — which is at its most joyous in a delirious scene when some of Castle's cardboard creatures come to life (the spot-on costumes are by Haley Peterson) — does have some fallow stretches.
Banks, who led the nation in passing efficiency (155 of 258) and threw for 2,369 and 25 touchdowns, guided Iowa to an 11-1 record in his first year as a starter, and seemed the most joyous of the candidates afterward.
It's an uncertainty that plagues even the most joyous of moments and lingers as a dark cloud over their heads.
What should have been the most joyous event in a family went by like something unnecessary and hard".
Not the most joyous holiday sentiment, but a practical one.
We are a well-behaved crowd, even in our most joyous highs and miserable lows, Canadians define ourselves by our sober restraint and reluctance to challenge authority.
Carmelo Martinez had a downright joyous year in 1984, that most joyous of years for the Padres.
He said making the film was "the most joyous experience of my career, telling a joyous story in a beautiful place that had suffered the scars of a terrible war and now needed to heal".
