Like those activities, bodybuilding is an obsession, a living (for a few), and a way of life for the people involved in it—a subculture, in a word, with its own values, aesthetics and vocabulary.

The 1998 Academy Awards ceremony is in the books, and now that we have had a chance to reflect on the big event, we can put the proceedings in some context.

On and on we crept, two beggars humping toward the moonlit house, and dreamt that spring came full of heartspent hope, a winter deadman shadowing the unthawed pond.

I had no doubt he knew where I was from, for I had the brogue, although not much of it.