Considering these decidedly materialistic times, casting may prove to be as much of a challenge as frontier life itself.
In these war-torn, high-strung, materialistic times, how could a return to that kind of innocence be anything but a relief?
And even if you're non-materialistic, time is time.
In hyperkinetic, brashly materialistic boom times, the Middle Kingdom needs a real role model who extols and perhaps even profits from -- this timeless truth.
Several traits of cubism, such as distortions and the materialistic rendering of time, have their analogies in El Greco's work.
They do not have a saving culture; most are coming into the middle class fold for the first time and materialistic possessions like house, cars, LCDs are being bought with gusto.
But people often achieve a greater sense of well-being and fulfillment, both as producers and consumers of such activities, than they ever do in the time-poor, materialistic supermarket economy in which most of our lives are spent.
In the middle of this sorry collection of lager louts and megabores stands the grotesque human phenomenon known as "Becks" - the perfect icon for our narcissistic, materialistic and under-educated times.
That a work of fiction has now assumed the form of an auction catalog could be seen as a sign of the times — deeply materialistic and, with a big recession on, increasingly for sale.
Haslett's description of the mansion's enviable features — its cavernous rooms, futuristic security system, and master bathroom with "chilled marble" floors, double sinks and showers, and both a Jacuzzi and a bathtub accented with slate — functions as a handy form of characterization, representing its protagonist's aimlessly and at times angrily materialistic nature.
