Once, before dual voltage became the standard for consumer electronics, there was plentiful physical evidence of the fact that if you plug in across systems without a transformer, the result is either a flame-out or a non-starter.

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Ives has mastered dozens of comical ways a pick-up attempt can flame out, and while Rooth's character has heard it all before, Elrod's determination to get to a "yes" lends poignancy to the humor.

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First Marblehead, a student-loan company, did flame out most spectacularly in the early days of the financial crisis.

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Though an avowed liberal, his closest match turned out to be Bill O'Reilly, the flame-throwing conservative host of The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel.

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If one person deserves the credit for keeping this flame flickering when it was about to go out, many people would nominate Jean-Claude Biver, albeit reluctantly.

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In recent days, she pulled out her lover's gift of the violet bazin with the flame-patterned brocade from the bottom of a pile of clothes she was not allowed to wear under the city's occupiers.

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So it's crucial to bolster the men and women of courage in politics: the ones who can act as ambassadors between these increasingly dug-in parties and who can kindle that small flame of trust that has almost gone out.

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