Halftime Leisure

The Voice’s takes on all things media and culture.

Halftime Leisure

Why Changing the Structure of The Bachelorette During it’s 19th Season Was A Power Move

Any fan of Bachelor Nation is likely very familiar with the setup of each season: one eligible bachelor or bachelorette, and about 30 contestants swooning over them from day one.... Read more

By September 24, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Halftime Leisure’s favorite summer reads

Fight Night by Miriam Toews (2021) Miriam Toews’ books all cover very similar thematic ground, but each novel finds a new emotional angle to explore her cultural history. Toews was... Read more

By , , , , , , and September 11, 2022

Halftime Leisure

A League of Their Own (2022) celebrates stories of Black and queer folks in baseball

The year is 1943. With most men off at war, one question remains on every American’s mind: Who will play baseball? Enter the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), recruiting... Read more

By September 10, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Twelve Glee songs that are better than the original (and counting)

Glee, for all its many flaws, boasts one of the most extensive musical catalogs in television history. Since its debut in 2009, Glee quickly built a reputation for doing it... Read more

By , , , and August 26, 2022

Halftime Leisure

A pop star in her element, Rina Sawayama dazzles at the Howard Theater

Rina Sawayama is an artist who belongs in stadiums. While the pandemic put a damper on her rise to stardom, Sawayama’s return to the stage comes at an exciting time... Read more

By and May 27, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Goodbye Hyper Scape. You were bad but I loved you.

My favorite battle royale is dead. It died, officially, on January 27th 2022, at 5:00 EST, when Ubisoft announced that it would be shut down on April 28th. It was... Read more

By May 18, 2022

Halftime Leisure

10 songs to take you back 10 years, because music peaked in 2012

You read the headline. You kept reading. You’re looking for some 2012 bops. Let’s get on with the list.

By April 29, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Olivia Rodrigo masters the art of storytelling in Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u

Rodrigo gives fans a much-anticipated glimpse into the creative process of making SOUR, the now Grammy-winning album.

By April 28, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Conan Gray renounces a fractured relationship in his new single “Memories”

From the moment “Memories” begins, Gray makes it abundantly clear that he understands how best to tell a story rooted in disillusioned nostalgia.

By April 27, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Pabllo Vittar and Rina Sawayama’s “Follow Me” is an exercise in excess

In her collaboration with Rina Sawayama, Vittar crafts a club banger with plenty of heart.

By April 20, 2022

Halftime Leisure

The Tinder Swindler and the dark side of dating apps

The Tinder Swindler exposes the true dangers of dating people who we meet online and don’t truly know.

By April 17, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Horse races, heated stares, and happy endings: Bridgerton season two deals in heavy-handedness

Yet in its second season, Bridgerton, which ostensibly continues Pride and Prejudice’s Regency-era legacy, fails to deliver this satisfying progression.

By April 16, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Are TikTok and celebrity feuds saving the Oscars?

Why does an entity as powerful and eminent as the Academy of Motion Pictures need to partner with social media creators to gain a more engaged audience? 

By April 10, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Quiz: Which World Cup song should you listen to?

Take this quiz (created by a certified soccer super fan) to find out what song will soundtrack your 2022 experience. 

By April 5, 2022

Halftime Leisure

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Is she still so marvelous?

Much of what makes this show marvelous, like the acting and costumes, remains consistent, but the story itself takes a turn for the worse.

By April 4, 2022

Halftime Leisure

The Weekly List: Ranking beers by pee taste

The pee taste isn’t an inherent eventuality of beer-loving life.

By April 4, 2022

Halftime Leisure

The Voice predicts the 2022 Grammys

Album of the Year by Adora Adeyemi Prediction: SOUR (2021) Should Win: SOUR, Planet Her (2021), or Evermore (2020) While one would have expected music to slow down in the... Read more

By , and April 3, 2022

Halftime

The misunderstood masterpiece of The Emoji Movie

What makes great cinema? Must it move the masses? Need it withstand the test of time? To these questions and more, I proclaim yes. In a cultural milieu so saturated... Read more

By April 1, 2022

Uncategorized

A Swift conversion

The artist, the witch, had snatched yet another innocent yet again, as swiftly as her name.

By April 1, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Ask not what the rat ring can do for you

The audience doesn’t know what to do with themselves, gripping their plastic folding chairs in white-knuckled disgust.

By April 1, 2022