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Chilling Halloween Highballs
So you’re throwing a Halloween party? Try some of these bloodcurdling cocktails for a killer bar selection—the usual Natty Light, Burnett’s and jungle juice trifecta is getting old anyway.
Lust, Caution heats up screen
When the producers of Lust, Caution confronted director Ang Lee about his film’s NC-17 rating, he refused to take out any scenes. Directors know that such a rating can be a death sentence at the box office, but Lee’s decision was justified; the sex scenes make the film, adding not only the right tone but the right emotions to elevate the film from just another thriller to a study in lust and power.
Deadbeats
To the laziest constituents of music’s critical and consumer realms, each sparkle from Lil’ John’s grill represents the victory of style over substance, production values over quality songwriting. We are entrenched in an era when studio trickery can wax even the window-shattering squawks of Ashlee Simpson to an FM-ready polish.
Environmental aesthetics on M Street
What would you do with some algae, horsehair and snow? Throw it all away? Not Emily Chirstenson. Her first East Coast show, Blue Currents, proves that paintings become prettier if you let nature participate in their creation.
Bold impressions of the sea
Impressionists by the Sea is the latest much-anticipated exhibition to grace the walls of Dupont Circle’s Phillips Collection. Composed of selected pieces from The Collection and contributions from the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, the exhibition depicts the evolution of the northern French shore from wind-swept fishing villages and raw breakers to a Riviera-style parade of luxury.
More Method Than Madness
The Director’s and Dramaturg’s notes on Hamlet talk of the pitfalls of reinterpreting Shakespeare for a modern audience. Gussy it up with modern twists and it becomes a gimmick; try to tie it to its original time period and it becomes an artifact. The goal is to “create a common space,” as dramaturg David Cumming (SFS ’08) puts it; to be “bridge-builders.”