As the meeting broke up, Jonas observed what was surely an uncommonly successful attempt at Tolkien-themed romance: a girl and a boy sitting closely next to each other, the girl's right hand holding a pen, while the boy's hand clasped hers over it, as they traced, as one, the elegant lines of Elvish calligraphy.
This year's bestselling album might be by Susan Boyle, but sitting closely below her is Lady Gaga, a woman who sang on the X Factor while dressed like a bat in a bath, and got to No 1 as a consequence – which in itself shows that the tastes of the X Factor audience go beyond euphoric lyrics and dramatic key changes.
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This is followed by her own and her partner holding each other closely in bed, sitting on different sides of a large bed, and other scenes featuring Rihanna singing through sheer curtains and drapery.
Spatial proximity was also influenced by the degree of relatedness, with more closely related kin sitting closer to each other than more distantly related kin or unrelated individuals (Albers and Widdig 2013).
As two girls with 'alternative' hair styles, dressed in jeans and t-shirts and sitting so closely we got a few stares – nothing unusual about that.
Nobody who follows politics closely enough to be sitting at home watching a primary debate on television could possibly experience uncertainty as to whether or not the leading Democrats would appoint pro-choice supreme court justices.
Even sitting relatively closely, I found myself straining to hear the piano in the cavernous opera house, distracted by many other shifting listeners and the sound of sirens seeping in from outside, probably coming from the NYPD following Eric Garner protesters.
While the digital age has influenced and accelerated our focus on all things digital, let's not forget that before its time -- it was poor lighting, reading too many books or sitting too closely to the television screen that would "ruin your eyes".
