Julia Lloyd-George

Leisure

Masturbatory masterpiece hits dark theater near you

It’s not difficult to imagine how the pitch meeting for Don Jon went: “So, there’s this porn addict…” I know I would be skeptical, but, then again, I’m not part of Hollywood’s key adolescent boy demographic. It’s certainly not an easy story idea to pull off, and the main character is about as likable and multi-layered as a cardboard cutout of Todd Akin. Still, there’s a lot more to this film than first impressions allow.

By September 26, 2013

Leisure

This season’s comic relief

Any show whose opening sequence revolves around Andy Samberg wearing a leather jacket and moving in slow motion is already at a serious advantage in my book. Now that I... Read more

By September 19, 2013

Leisure

Idiot Box: Top of the Lake plunges deep

The first few minutes of Oscar-winning director Jane Campion’s haunting BBC miniseries, Top of the Lake, find a young girl slowly wading into the freezing water, the silhouette of New Zealand mountains emerging through the surrounding mist. Her glassy expression is unreadable and the scene stunningly seductive, but when a frazzled adult arrives and yells that the water could kill her, we begin to understand that there’s a sinister force behind the tranquil landscape. As the story unfolds, its characters disturb the surface in more ways than one, peeling back the outward layers of both their small, sleepy town and their own pasts to discover more corruption than they might have imagined.

By September 5, 2013

Leisure

Idiot Box: Women go to prison, too

There are a few things about Orange is the New Black that I’ve seen on TV before. The lead is a “nice blond lady,” gossipy cliques of women are the center of the drama, flashback sequences are dispensed more liberally than whiskey on Mad Men, and everyone’s stuck together in a Sartre-esque situation that just begs for chaos.

By August 26, 2013

Leisure

Georgetown student filmmakers search for their Muse

Spending a Saturday afternoon in the bioethics library isn’t atypical for Georgetown students, except if you have a camera and a crew of 10 people trying to turn it into a film set. Whispering directions to his two actors, Alex Waldon (COL ’15) and Taylor Mansmann (COL ’15), Andres Figueredo (COL ’13) is in the middle of shooting a scene for his Film & Media Studies thesis project, Muse, and attempting to avoid the wrath of the librarian in the process.

By April 17, 2013

Leisure

Trance will hold you in its sway

A psychological thriller can only go one of two ways—astounding success or abject failure. Every piece of the puzzle must come together in the end, the build-up to the ultimate reveal being propelled by unmistakable momentum. Director Danny Boyle masterfully achieves this feat with Trance, his fascination with both visual and metaphorical fragmentation showing through in every scene and suspense pervading every line.

By April 11, 2013

Leisure

Spring Sing is in the air

As the Georgetown community gets pumped for Calvin Harris’s concert this Saturday, campus a cappella groups are gearing up for a performance of their own. Superfood will host the Spring Sing concert, featuring familiar groups like the GraceNotes, the Capitol Gs, and the Chimes, as well as esteemed national acts like Johns Hopkins University’s Vocal Chords and Brown University’s Jabberwocks.

By April 4, 2013

Leisure

Ginger & Rosa: Love in a Cold War

There’s something about 1960s London that smells like teen spirit. Caught in between the heyday of the Beatles and the stifling atmosphere of ‘50s conservatism, the title protagonists of the sharply intelligent Ginger & Rosa relish the tide of change that is just beginning to roll in at the start of the decade. Best friends since birth, they are restless 17-year-olds that sniff at their mothers’ bourgeois domesticity and yearn for freedom. Theirs is a familiar narrative, filled with the same rebelliousness and shattered illusions of adolescence, yet it’s a coming-of-age tale that explores an emotional landscape far broader than that of mere tension between generations.

By March 21, 2013

Voices

Transparency of social media puts rapists on the record

On Aug. 12, 2012, a 16-year-old girl named Jane Doe woke up naked in a Steubenville, Ohio basement she didn’t recognize. From what I can imagine, she felt shame and... Read more

By March 20, 2013

Leisure

aCHORDance and University fail to achieve harmony

With a cappella groups an established fixture on college campuses everywhere, Georgetown students are hardly unique in their desire to belt. Though the Hilltop isn’t typically known for the arts, it nevertheless boasts nine University-recognized a cappella groups.

By February 28, 2013