Cars in their dramatic black showroom are pricey, rare and in extremely fine condition.

WSJ: Frank Dale & Stepsons' Vintage Automobiles

All have been individually decorated, so it is impossible to generalize, but ours came with cream walls, bleached wooden floors covered by sisal matting, wicker screens, a four-poster king-size bed, wingback armchairs, a large writing desk, dramatic framed black-and-white photography and decoration that ranged from traditional African sculptures to a tower of Louis Vuitton steamer trunks.

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Compliments of acclaimed interior designer Dodd Mitchell, villas are "dramatic design statements in black and white", says Travel and Leisure.

BBC: Daily deal: Three nights of Cabo couture

His knack for developing must-have gadgets, his signature black turtlenecks and dramatic delivery during product launches have made him a cultural icon beyond Silicon Valley.

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But on Wall Street Black is known for staging dramatic comebacks and 2012 has fit that pattern.

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Local TV broadcast footage of the dramatic scene in which Musharraf jumped into a black SUV and escaped as a member of his security team hung to the side of the vehicle.

NPR: Pakistan's Musharraf On The Run After Arrest Order

The HLF said Yr Ysgwrn had become a place of pilgrimage for visitors from Wales and around the world who want to see the poet's Black Chair, while experiencing the dramatic landscape which inspired so many of his poems.

BBC: Yr Ysgwrn

Opponents of racial preferences also accuse the other side of double standards: on the one hand lamenting the decline of black and Latino enrolment since 1996, yet at the same time ignoring the dramatic increase in the number of Asians admitted during that period.

ECONOMIST: Affirmative action

"We've always said that if someone is going to do 'Appalachian Spring' in black leather, it should be us, " said Ms. Eilber, referring to Graham's dramatic 1944 work of Americana set to music by Aaron Copland.

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