After seeing it a second time at Wyndham's and talking about it to exceptionally bright American students, I was forced to revise my opinion that Lydia Wilson's Kate was a quietly manipulative Lady Macbeth in the making.
Taking inspiration from the slow food movement in San Francisco, where restaurants feature just a few signature dishes that they do exceptionally well, American Giant chose to achieve scale through micro-focus on a single product of exceptional quality that evolves over time but maintains consistent excellence.
In this context, Lt. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton emerged as an exceptionally Ugly American who openly ridiculed Japanese mores and manners.
He pointed out in his Perspectives piece that Vice President Al Gore, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas and former Senator Bill Bradley all scored just middling-well on the verbal portion of the College Boards, yet all, he said, would be considered exceptionally successful Americans.
Yes, protests have taken place in at least 12 countries around the world, but only in four countries have the protests turned exceptionally violent, killed American personnel or destroyed American property.
The Supreme Court term that ended last June was, by all measures, exceptionally good for American business.
While the past few years have been exceptionally good for American companies, with interest rates and labor costs low, and profits at historic highs, a host of potentially huge risks continue to loom, including the threat of terrorism, America's huge current-account deficit, and the possibility of a slowdown provoked by the end of the housing boom.
As expected, things finally got exceptionally ridiculous on "American Horror Story: Coven" in last month's mid-season finale.
Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation.
