Barker, the Kiwi skipper, appeared an increasing morose, lost figure as he headed towards the record books for the wrong reasons.
But he has been a different man from the morose and diffident figure who finished second from last at Firestone last weekend.
His years there were probably unhappy because, although he was proud of his middle-class origin, he was a constant butt of ridicule because of his ungainly figure, morose manner, and biting tongue; the bitterness of his book reflects the inferiority of his social position.
Although the vast majority of males were pleased with the size of their endowment, according to the British Sex Survey carried out by The Observer, the figure of those feeling morose about their manhood is lower than six years ago, when 86 per cent of males were happy with how they measured up.
His image of a desolate row of petrol pumps in New Mexico; a cowboy lounging by a rubbish bin in New York; a morose, stooping lift attendant; a hunched figure by an arrow-shaped neon sign in Los Angeles: all look like amateur snapshots when set against the formal beauty and tonal range of photographs by Edward Weston, say, or Ansel Adams.
Each of the previously mentioned emotions are depicted as brightly colored characters: Joy, a cheerful, petite yellow lady; Sadness, a morose blue blob; Anger, a short, red rectangular figure with a masculine voice; Fear, a thin, tallish purple figure; and Disgust, a green slithery female character.
A depressed counterpart to our SpongeBob SquarePants and dubbed "the morose baked good," this cartoon character has become a cult figure.
Then, to name a few, there are the morose former child television-quiz-show star (William H. Macy), the present whiz kid (Jeremy Blackman) and the strutting macho cult figure (Tom Cruise, above).
That said, the disparity between what was happening on stage – or, rather, what wasn't happening, unless you count watching black-clad, motionless figures wearing expressions that run the emotional gamut from morose to I-was-forced-here-at-gunpoint an unmissable visual feast – and what came out of the speakers held the audience rapt.
Fast guitar picking and simple relationship dynamics -- nothing too morose or emotionally trying... "I Don't Think I'm Ever Gonna Figure It Out" reminds listeners of the guitar work and mood in Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
