In the past week, Bana's account has become especially bleak, devoid of the optimism that had previously characterized it.
After months of bleak economic news, the recent optimism on Wall Street and talk of "glimmers of hope" from the Obama administration may be rubbing off on consumers.
Smith, who once wrote a thesis on panto, says: "In the 1960s, when there were loads of jobs and a real sense of optimism, people wanted bleak northern dramas like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
Reopening of the 75,000-square-foot Mammoth Sierra Center in January brought some optimism to the bleak commercial picture in Mammoth Lakes.
"They can't look like they're lighting cigars with $100 bills in this environment," he says.Although the prospects in America are bleak, there is some scope for optimism elsewhere.
In the post-car-crash-crackup era of Tiger Woods's career, which now spans nearly a decade, the Masters golf tournament, which begins on Thursday in Augusta, Georgia, has often provided a rare moment of optimism on an otherwise bleak calendar.
It's a bleak vision, pitting Treadwell's American optimism against Herzog's Germanic pessimism, and sometimes during Grizzly Man you catch yourself wanting to believe in the former: those bears can seem awfully cute.
The idea of the Hub and its forthcoming event fills me with unleavened enthusiasm, and optimism … and a bleak realization that it's been a while since I've felt this way about a tech initiative.
The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic and Gospel music.
While protagonists Charlie and James exhibited an innocence and optimism that belied their bleak, poverty-stricken lives, they were surrounded by a coterie of unsavory, mean-spirited, and even sadistic characters.
