It was lampooned on "Saturday Night Live," imitated widely on YouTube and, for a few moments on Sunday night, inspired fervor that videos rarely do anymore.
If old, blobbish Pluto could inspire such fervor, think of the devotion that new, high-res Pluto, with its ice mountains and possible cryovolcanoes, might command.
To instigate the project and to inspire patriotic fervor, in 1890, the Tsarevich (from 1894 Czar Nicholas II) embarked on a grand tour, sailing through the Suez Canal on an embassy to Japan, before arriving at Vladivostok.
Corporate America, too, periodically gets religion in the form of workplace fads that inspire revivalist fervor, then fade away.
The Gormenghast trilogy, three novels by Mervyn Peake published between 1946 and 1959, have inspired cultish fervor in England for decades, and it's easy to see why.
But when it slips into a low-profile summer slot on PBS tonight, American viewers are likely to say, "Gormen who?" The Gormenghast trilogy, three novels by Mervyn Peake published between 1946 and 1959, have inspired cultish fervor in England for decades, and it's easy to see why.
Founding heroes whose faces adorn currency — in China, Mao; in India, Gandhi — no longer inspire the same fervor, but new heroes are nowhere to be found.
Away from the big auction houses, a vintage pair of Nikes or Adidas (the two most collectible brands) will trade hands online for thousands, and new, limited-release sneakers can inspire as much fervor as old vintage pairs.
And it was his capacity to inspire a quasi-religious fervor in his volunteers that allowed the unification movement, or the Risorgimento, as it became known, to overcome Catholic piety and loyalty to the Pope.
I was in the church praying for you to make the putt!" Genuine affection probably inspired his religious fervor, but Muscles' excitement possibly also had to do with money, since he got 15 percent of the winnings, which in those heady days could run to several thousand bucks.
