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Sports

Backdoor Cuts: Hope you like soccer

When the Packers hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy in Dallas last month, a bittersweet air surrounded the celebrations. A strange anxiousness filled the hearts and minds of football fans around the country. Because of the impending expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Super Bowl may have been the last NFL game for a long time.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Film festival provides good, green fun

In our generation, going green has gone from a hippie-centric fad to a full-blown industry. From celebrity-designed reusable totes to trendy organic food stores, it seems that “saving the planet” is, to some degree, on everyone’s mind. But beyond our Sigg water bottles, what do we really know about the problems facing the environment today? For those yearning to learn more, look no further than D.C.’s 19th annual Environmental Film Festival, which runs Mar. 15-27. With 150 events taking place in museums, libraries, theaters, and universities all over the District, the film festival invites viewers to step back and join in a “celebration of the natural world” that is both varied and thoroughly 2011-pertinent.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Inside Tennessee’s Bedroom

After a long day of class or a stressful all-night cram session, the sight of your bed is a comfort and a relief, representing a haven of well-deserved rest. But to troubled playwright Tennessee Williams, his bed lost all symbolism of warmth, and came instead to embody loneliness, insomnia, and substance abuse. This unfortunate association is the subject of Service of My Desire, a 15-minute solo performance which runs this weekend in the Gonda Theater as part of The Glass Menagerie Project.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Get wired in Portrait Gallery with A New Language

History may have awarded John Hancock and Queen Elizabeth with fame for their bold and ornate signatures, but sculptor Alexander Calder deserves points for creativity—when signing his works, Calder brandished cold copper wire as elegantly as any calligrapher. In sculpting wire portraits of famous people, which lack any trace of a brush or a stone surface, Calder marked each of his wire sculptures with an inventive inscription. Woven behind an earlobe, under a chin or at the base of a neck, Calder looped wire to form his signature on each of his whimsical wire portraits.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Strokes, Angles

After five years of silence, solo projects, and anticipation, The Strokes have reunited and reemerged with Angles, their first release since 2006’s First Impressions of Earth. During the interim, the band had become characterized by tensions between frontman Julian Casablancas and his bandmates, who accused him of being a creative tyrant. Angles was a joint attempt to mollify these tensions. It was the first of The Strokes’ albums to be composed collectively. But if you’re a superfan, don’t get too excited—Angles will disappoint anyone looking for more of the Strokes’s trademark electronic dance vibes.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Travis Barker, Give the Drummer Some

It’s hard to think of Give the Drummer Some, the solo debut from Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, as a product of the man who helped craft the sound of one of the most quintessential pop-punk bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Instead of Blink’s power chords and whiny vocals, the drummer’s solo effort is a rap-rock project, packed with A-list vocals and production—with the latter category including Barker’s own talent. While the album lacks consistency, it displays Barker at his best, showcasing his undeniably brilliant drumming skills while blending his own sound with the distinctive styles of his featured artists.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-bouche: Green beer, black out

Between a boyfriend and boyfriend-wannabe is not a comfortable place to sit. But about two years ago, I had just that unfortunate experience. The former hailed from Beverly, Chicago, the last Irish stronghold of the Chicago South Side, the latter from Breezy Point, a Queens neighborhood so Paddy it may as well be Galway. And that was pretty much the meat of their conversation. “We’re 95 percent Irish,” my boyfriend said. “We’re 99 percent Irish.”

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: Lights, camera … action?

Last summer, Hollywood brought out its big guns for The Expendables, a hedonistic bullet-fest that claimed to be nothing but that. But the movie did have one sizable surprise: its cast of aged veterans— Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Willis—felt oddly refreshing. The disheartening truth is that the classic action movie, with its dual-wielding protagonists, blond Russian enemies, and unforgiving muscles, is at a low point in its existence. Recently, studios have managed to churn out some movies in this dwindling genre, but superhero and comic book films have gotten a stranglehold on the good ol’-fashioned blockbusters in which the aforementioned California Governor thrived.

By March 17, 2011

Features

Building up the sciences: New facilites, new horizons

When Steven Singer was hired as a professor of biology in 1999, he was told that Georgetown would have a new science building within five years. Other professors hired earlier in the ‘90s were told the same thing.

By March 17, 2011

Page 13 Cartoons

Fall – Part One

We all had fathers. We all had brothers. We all had sisters. Of course, we all had mothers. We all had cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Hell, we all had children, sons and daughters both. That’s the only thing you think of in the classroom. It’s all that’s in your head when you straighten your gig line, shine your shoes, adjust your hat so it’s just above your eyebrows.

By March 17, 2011

News

GU’s tax-free status under fire

On Wednesday night, D.C. City Councilmember Mary Cheh (D - Ward 3) announced plans to introduce legislation that could effectively revoke the tax-exempt status of D.C. universities.

By March 17, 2011

News

Disaster in Japan prompts campus outreach

While University officials confirmed earlier this week that all seven Georgetown students studying abroad in Tokyo are safe, those on campus have also been affected by the largest recorded earthquake ever to hit Japan.

By March 17, 2011

Editorials

Georgetown science facilities need renovation

The global challenges of the coming decades, from climate change to the growing strain on water and food resources, will require innovative scientific research. The continuing global relevance of American colleges and universities rests heavily on their ability to break new ground in confronting these problems. The promise of adding 35 new science faculty and the construction of an entirely new science center show an encouraging commitment to the sciences, but Georgetown must do more to support a field that is increasingly crucial to the direction of the world’s economic, social, and political future.

By the March 17, 2011

News

Construction worker killed in accident at science center site

On Wednesday morning, a 36-year-old woman died after she was seriously hurt while working at Georgetown University’s new science center site.

By March 17, 2011

Editorials

Support federal funds for National Public Radio

The past several weeks have been bad ones for National Public Radio, as congressional Republicans continued their relentless effort to cut the organization’s funding. Under the guise of fiscal prudence, Republicans have deemed federal money for NPR wasteful, but in reality that verdict is the result of shrewd political calculation. If Republicans manage to slash federal funds for the program they will damage news media standards and lower the level of public awareness in America, all to cut an almost negligible expense from the federal budget and strike against a media outlet they view, incorrectly, as an adversary.

By the March 17, 2011

News

GUSA endowment commission proposals take shape

GUSA’s Student Activities Fee Endowment Commission held its inaugural meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the allocation of $3.4 million to campus projects. A provision of SAFE reform allows GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations committee to allocate the $3.4 million Student Activities Fee Fund and accrued interest. GUSA established the commission to determine how the endowment money will be allocated, pending final approval by FinApp.

By March 17, 2011

News

City on a Hill: Sulaimon’s silly screw-ups

There’s an old saying that all politics is local. A lesser-known but equally important corollary to this adage is that much of local politics is hilarious. If you’re one of the many Georgetown students who came to D.C. to get closer to the epicenter of national politics but you’re not paying attention to what’s happening at the local level, you’re missing out.

By March 17, 2011

Editorials

Broad focus key for Endowment Commission

This past Tuesday was the first meeting of the Commission on Student Activities Endowment Reform, which has been tasked with spending the $3.4 million left over after SAFE reform passed last fall. The group will meet once every week until Apr. 25, when they will submit their plan to Georgetown University Student Association’s Financial Appropriations committee. The committee should keep some key things in mind as they begin their work. Specifically, committee members should appreciate the importance of looking at the big picture, making a long-term impact, and listening to the students, who this money really belongs to.

By the March 17, 2011

Sports

Hoyas helpless in Big East Tournament, fall to UConn

Without Chris Wright in the starting lineup for the third straight game, Georgetown continued to look lost. But in their fourth consecutive defeat, it was abundantly clear that the cause of the Hoyas woes was on the court, not wearing a suit on the bench. Georgetown continued its tailspin as it kicked off the postseason, losing to Connecticut 79-62 in its first game of the Big East Tournament.

By March 9, 2011

Leisure

Pay to cook your own pizza … and like it

If you’ve gone out looking for HomeMade Pizza Co., you very well might have walked right past. Tucked into a small, unassuming location across from Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue, this new restaurant hides an unconventional pizzeria behind its minimalist storefront. And despite the menu’s mouthwatering toppings—including chèvre, marinated artichokes, and poblano pepper—not a whiff of bubbling parmesan greets hungry customers. In fact, there is not a table in sight, nor any indication of a wood-fired pizza oven. Though chefs in white toques spin soft, flour-dusted dough into enticing, round pies behind the counter, HomeMade advertises itself based on the very service it does not offer

By March 3, 2011

Leisure

Hirshhorn eyes Blinky

According to the Hirshhorn Gallery’s press release, Blinky Palermo was “long celebrated throughout Europe.” He is, however, an “artist’s artist” who has “escaped America’s notice.” That is perhaps why Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964-1977, running now in the Hirshhorn until May 15, is his first retrospective in the states, despite his many active years. That is to say, the Hirshhorn is sending up smoke signals of desperation, the kind that usually tip off even the art-inclined that an exhibit isn’t really worth your time. Which is a shame, because the usual clichés actually apply here: the little-known Palermo’s paintings and sculptures really do deserve more attention than they’ve gotten.

By March 3, 2011

Leisure

Cupcake warfare

Do you ever walk down M Street and think to yourself, “Wow, I really wish Georgetown had another high-end, overpriced, nationally-famous cupcakery?” Probably not, since the line and television crew outside Georgetown Cupcake are almost as unavoidable as those ubiquitous pink boxes you eye with envy when you see them all over campus. But despite the fact that Georgetown’s overpriced confection market has been very much tapped, today, Sprinkles Cupcakes’s flagship D.C. location will have its grand opening—just a few blocks away from Georgetown Cupcake.

By March 3, 2011

Leisure

Nic Cage: Convict from Hell

The trailer for Drive Angry 3D proudly and brazenly plugs one of the more ridiculous plots in recent cinematic history—Nicolas Cage breaks out of hell and fights with a vengeance to save his infant granddaughter from a murderous biker cult. With an almost self-parodying premise (and grammatically questionable title), you might expect a certain level of self-aware schlock. For the first 10 minutes, it seems to have just that—you’re poised to make a two-hour descent into the guiltiest B-movie pleasure ever, as a hard-eyed Cage chases and dispatches three unknown evildoers. Cars blow up, cheesy dialogue is exchanged, and disembodied, three-dimensional limbs fly out of the screen straight at the viewer.

By March 3, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Alex Ebert, Alexander

Alexander suggests that Alex Ebert has finally made up his mind about where he belongs in the music spectrum. Though currently fronting indie-hippie outfit Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Ebert previously spent time as lead singer of L.A. powerpop band Ima Robot, and even attempted to pursue a rap career. His solo debut, however, is clearly in the same vein of his most recent work, sounding much like he does when backed by his Magnetic Zeros. And although Ebert clearly has a talent for indie-folk, listening to Alexander all the way through will make the listener think that maybe he could do with a change of genre.

By March 3, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Peter Bjorn and John, Gimme Some

In the age of iTunes, cover art is an oft-overlooked piece of an album’s appeal. This is an unfortunate casualty, because frequently cover art can offer insight about what kind of music to expect from the album’s tracks. Take, for instance, the cover of Peter Bjorn and John’s latest release, Gimme Some. It carries the image of a “funk mitten,” or a three-thumbed foam finger. This rather bizarre, colorful picture reflects the sometimes confusing pop-rock sound on the Swedish trio’s energetic but disjointed sixth album. Gimme Some, on the whole, is intriguing—it contains an almost equal number of praiseworthy and skip-worthy tracks.

By March 3, 2011