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Leisure

One too many dresses?

As you would expect from the writer of The Devil Wears Prada and the director of Step Up, 27 Dresses is a romantic comedy we’ve all seen before: within the first few minutes, you’ll recognize the formula and be able to predict most of the plot. The clichés are numerous—the unrequited love, the beautiful and bratty sister, the sharp-tongued best friend and the irksome acquaintance turned love interest. Original, this movie is not. But enjoyable? Surprisingly, yes.

By January 24, 2008

Leisure

Diary of a Bad Year: Not so bad for marginalia

Imagine reading an essay on political theory that has a note scrawled along the bottom of the page in the author’s handwriting. It describes a young woman he has just seen walk into a laundromat wearing a “tomato-red shift … startling in its brevity.” Notes continue on pages throughout the essay, bit-by-bit, developing into a suspenseful tale of the relationship between the writer and the woman, while interacting with the philosophical work with which it shares the page. This is the basic format of J.M. Coetzee’s inventive new novel, Diary of a Bad Year.

By January 24, 2008

Leisure

It’s alive! The yuppies … not so much

Pack the Dramamine, kids, because Cloverfield—the newest creation from Lost/Alias wunderkind J.J. Abrams—is a visceral thrill ride with a few new twists on the classic monster-destroys-New York trope.

By January 24, 2008

Voices

On playing the game and being played

Last week, my life was fantastic. I had just moved into one of Georgetown’s finest townhouses. I was finishing all of my work and getting plenty of sleep every night. Sure, it was only the first full week of the semester, but I was still feeling pretty accomplished.

By January 24, 2008

Voices

Students don’t mess about with careers

Like so many Hoyas, I recently braved the mad post-game rush from the Verizon Center, through the Metro and back to Georgetown with a friend from Beantown. We made it to campus in record time, arriving safe and sound at Rosslyn not twenty-five minutes after Roy made that three in the last five seconds of the game. We didn’t make that kind of time by making nice with the other six hundred Hoyas in Metro Center. But when I balked at cutting off a row of students to be one of the last people to board a train, my friend would have none of it. “In Boston,” she explained tersely, “we don’t play.”

By January 24, 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

The Bush Administration changes course

President Bush’s poor planning and lack of intelligent responses to many issues have spawned anti-Bush blocs in America and around the world. From gay-marriage to Guantánamo, his neo-con positions have drawn criticism from personalities as varied as Tim Kaine and Tim McGraw. But recently, Bush seems to have realized that he does not have to do everything wrong. The administration has careened backwards for six years, but it has accomplished enough in the last year to prove that a turnaround, though it may have come too late in this case, is not impossible. Between election coverage and the press’ prejudice against the administration, most of these accomplishments have been overlooked.

By January 24, 2008

Voices

The necessity of idealism

Though it is hard to imagine, I’m sure I’m not the only person who enjoys the Hoya’s bi-weekly exegesis of the ancient philosophers, penned by the legendary Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. Each edition of the aging Jesuit’s Aristoletian discourse is a treat—like intellectual antiquing—but I can’t help but take issue with the latest dispatch from the Hoya’s correspondent in the 1920s, entitled by their editors “Idealism Root of Political Problems.” (Hopefully, next week Fr. Maher will come back with “Open Minds Lead to Strife.”)

By January 24, 2008

Editorials

Losing liberty for better lawns

A proposed protest zone on the National Mall threatens to sanitize demonstrations and curtail freedom of assembly—all to protect some worn-down grass.

By the January 24, 2008

Editorials

D.C.’s struggle for rights not over

University President Jack DeGioia went two for two on Martin Luther King Day when he presented this year’s John Thompson, Jr. “Legacy of a Dream” award.

By the January 24, 2008

Editorials

More Diversity Progress Needed

Ask whether Georgetown is a diverse university and you’ll get a plethora of opinions, ranging from the University’s official stance—“a leader in promoting diversity among the most selective universities in the country,” according to the fact sheet —to the sense of self-segregation expressed by many students in a 2004 Diversity Action Council report.

By the January 24, 2008

Leisure

Not cool

It’s January. In January, wearing a sundress when the thermometer hits sixty degrees is the fashion equivalent of wetting your pants with excitement: overzealous, and (eventually) uncomfortably cold.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

Leave the “House,” ASAP

“House of Blue Leaves” wants to say something, and touches on a lot of grand themes—fame and media in society, the individual in our saturated world, the tension between dreams and reality. Unfortunately, it just ends up a mess, so nothing much comes through. One leaves feeling battered, rather than contemplative.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

Patrician food at plebeian prices

If you find yourself forgetting how to use utensils because your diet consists entirely of finger-food favorites like bagels and pizza, you’re in luck. There are only three days left of D.C.’s Restaurant Week (extended at some places like Farrah Olivia), when the best restaurants in the city offer top-quality cuisine for a fixed price of $20.08 for lunch and $30.08 for dinner in honor of the new year.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

2007’s best?

For me, the best album of 2007 was Animal Collective’s Strawberry Jam. Despite the critical gravitation toward frontrunners such as Radiohead’s In Rainbows and LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver, Jam provided the most exciting batch of songs last year, effortlessly progressive in execution and more cohesive than the band’s earlier releases. I read the year-end, “best-of” lists like anyone else and compared my thoughts to other critics, but I’m a big boy—I can make my own opinions.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

She’s all that… jazz

Crandall hopes to introduce new music to her peers. “The two artists I admire most are Ellen Fitzgerald and Sara Vaughan,” she said. “Too often, I hear that jazz is for old people. I want to enlarge that age range. There are so many styles and ways you can approach [jazz] that I hope [people our age] will open up to it.”

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend began their career like most college bands: toiling away in the relative obscurity of bars around campus. Eventually, though, the indie press noticed their clever mixture of well-crafted melodic pop, African rhythms and New York rock sensibilities, prompting XL Recordings to sign them and put out their very good eponymous first album. Its youthful energy, more than its oft-touted world influence, makes it a compelling and involving listen.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Dengue Fever

L.A.-based sextet Dengue Fever has the kind of back-story that’ll crinkle more than a few cynical noses: five white dudes from the United States travelled to Cambodia, fell in love with that country’s ‘60s psych-rock output, enlisted Cambodian pop singer Ch’hom Nimol and released a self-titled album comprised almost entirely of Cambodian pop-rock covers. Luckily, over the course of seven years the band has melded its diverse influences into a strikingly distinct Cambodian-pop-meets-Ethiopian-jazz aesthetic that in no way hints at the white-boy cultural misappropriation its back-story suggests.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

Sifting through the thrift in D.C.

You hate everything in your closet, that duct tape won’t hold your favorite pair of pants together any longer or you need a new set of dishes. Whatever the reason, you need to shop. There is a healthy alternative to the extravagant prices and looming sales floor assistants behind those gleaming storefront windows on M street. If you are a fan of recycling and a good bargain, then “thrifting” may be your calling.

By January 17, 2008

Leisure

Fast food that’s just plain un-American

In Georgetown, pricey bistros are a dime a dozen, but there are few opportunities for a college student looking for a quick bite that’s both economical and delicious. For the adventurous eater on a budget looking for something other than Chipotle and Five Guys, here are a few recommendations.

By January 17, 2008

News

On the Record: Jack DeGioia

Georgetown University President Jack DeGioia recently sat down with representatives of several campus newspapers to discuss issues important to students.

By January 17, 2008

News

News Hit

The student code of conduct is under review by GUSA, the Disciplinary Review Committee, and the University administration; GUSA will conduct a review, independent from the DRC and the University’s, to address its own long-standing concerns with the current student code

By January 17, 2008

News

Union Jack: Lame-duck diplomacy

With the public’s attention turned inward on the looming South Carolina and Nevada primaries, the Bush administration has trained its eye toward foreign policy. In a six-nation tour covering Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the course of the week, President Bush has reached some startling conclusions.

By January 17, 2008

News

Fenty and Rhee fan controversy

City Council members and community activists will boycott two dozen public hearings being held tonight to address Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s controversial plans to close 23 public schools by next summer.

By January 17, 2008

News

Pounding the pavement for politics

Anthony Bonna (MSB ’09) met Mike Huckabee a few years ago, back when the former Arkansas governor was better known for his rapid slim-down than his underdog victory in the Iowa caucuses. Bonna attended the event where Huckabee first announced his candidacy.

By January 17, 2008

News

GUSA to deliver on newspapers

About two months before Ben Shaw (COL ’08) and Matt Appenfeller (COL ’08) officially step down as President and Vice President of the Student Association, the pair hope to deliver on one of their main campaign promises and top priorities: free newspapers on campus.

By January 17, 2008