Such moments, along with coy references to Malcolm Lowry novels and "Fahrenheit 451," emphasize that the person staging these dreams isn't really Eiji, it's Mitchell.

Could this be a coy reference to the John Fowles novel "The Collector" (and the movie based on it) about a fellow who kidnaps, imprisons and kills a young woman he has fallen in love with?

Even without that coy reference it is easy to spot this series as the work of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the men behind the film "Independence Day."

In a coy reference to the shift of power that became official at day's end, Mr. Lott said he hoped the final vote on the education bill would take place this week "no matter what the circumstances may be."

There are coy references, including one to Tori Spelling.

The minimalist billboards and posters with a white background juxtapose the red tab with coy references to competing jeans makers.

Camp was thick in the air: Mr. White's coy reference to Meg, his former wife, as "my big sister," his quasi-Southern accent, and basically the whole visual-aural set-up.

Mr. Rulon's "Arpeggicide," with its coy references to a Chopin arpeggio study, nudges the computer into an etude of its own, but one that no human technique could create.

There was also Cookie Hill, a coy reference to another area's saucy reputation.

The union used every tactic in the Joe Hill handbook and then some, from large-scale rallies to coy references to Eloise, that child goddess of mischief.