Halftime

Halftime is the Voice’s sports and leisure blog.

Halftime Leisure

House of the Dragon soars beyond its stuttering start

Content warning: This article includes references to sexual violence. In a dark, imposing war room, a bleach blonde dragon-rider musters forces to war against male claimants to her throne. You... Read more

By and November 19, 2022

Halftime Sports

The skeletons in the closet at the 2022 Qatar World Cup

A colossus looms on the horizon: the skeleton of a soccer stadium in Qatar ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the midst of construction, thousands of underpaid migrant... Read more

By November 18, 2022

Halftime Leisure

“Lift Me Up” is a soothing, triumphant tribute from Rihanna

A minute left before the Oct. 28 midnight official release of Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up,” time slowed to an agonizing crawl as a million questions surged to the forefront of... Read more

By November 18, 2022

Halftime Leisure

9 songs about being in a car if you miss driving, or if you don’t

I know some people find driving relaxing, but I am not one of those people — unfortunately, I actually hate driving. However, I do like the feeling of pretending I’m... Read more

By November 18, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Curtis Waters’ “RIOT” and its funky fresh sound will make you want to, well, start a riot

Waters prefers to carve out a space for himself in the music industry, making music by his own definitions.

By November 17, 2022

Halftime Leisure

She-Hulk brings a whole new meaning to ‘breaking the fourth wall’

Honestly, I'm confused. She-Hulk, Marvel's latest superhero TV series, left me in complete emotional turmoil.

By November 16, 2022

Halftime Leisure

“I’m not a monster, I’m a mother”: Making villains of superhero women

Sam Raimi did Wanda Maximoff dirty. His early summer entrance into the MCU with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) ignored a season’s worth of character development written... Read more

By November 14, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Tell Me Lies: Your next binge watch

If you’re looking for a drama-filled show that will keep you faithfully tuned in to every episode, look no further. Tell Me Lies (2022), a television series based on Carola... Read more

By November 12, 2022

Halftime Leisure

A disappointing but nostalgic prequel: Rings of Power (2022) misses big

Warning: spoilers Full Disclosure: If you’re looking for a detailed analysis on how J.R.R. Tolkien’s world works or how his world-building is incorporated into the show, this is absolutely not... Read more

By November 10, 2022

Halftime Sports

NIL helps athletes sell: How the branding rule change is shaping collegiate sports

In 2021, Kool-Aid signed Alabama student athlete Ga’Quincy “Kool-Aid” McKinstry to promote their brand on the football field. It’s normal for athletes to market their public image, but until recently,... Read more

By November 6, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Hellraiser (2022) is a twisted lesson in remaking a horror classic

  After a wait of more than 30 years, our favorite “explorers in the further regions of experience” have made their sinister return to the screen, just in time for... Read more

By November 3, 2022

Halftime Leisure

“Out Of My System” is distinctly Louis Tomlinson and that’s why it works

Louis Tomlinson’s “Out Of My System” sounds like it belongs to an old One Direction album. Tomlinson’s latest single borrows from pop, rock, and punk sounds to collectively create one... Read more

By November 3, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Protest through song: an ode to resistance in Hozier’s “Swan Upon Leda”

Content warning: this article discusses sexual assault. Reverence and rage do not often accompany each other, but to Hozier the two are notes on the same staff. Hozier is perhaps... Read more

By October 31, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Under (the) Siege: Halle Bailey’s color-blind Ariel and the role of race in fairy tales

The upcoming live-action adaptation of yet another Disney Renaissance-era classic, The Little Mermaid (1989),  has sparked discussion about diversity and casting equity on the big screen. In light of the... Read more

By October 26, 2022

Halftime Leisure

This time, it really is just a bunch of Hocus Pocus: Hocus Pocus 2 Movie Review

Well, it’s that time of year again: Hocus Pocus season. As Halloween approaches, Hocus Pocus (1993) related toil and trouble of all manner floods the internet and this year has... Read more

By October 24, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Interracial casting in Hollywood isn’t as progressive as we think it is

Still making waves from its June release to Amazon Prime Video, The Summer I Turned Pretty checked off all the boxes for a quintessential summer drama: first love and subsequent... Read more

By October 24, 2022

Halftime Sports

All my friends are NFL head coaches

Thirty-two NFL teams play every season, but according to ESPN, there are 40 million head coaches keeping an eye on their teams every week. Fantasy football has been taking over... Read more

By , and October 23, 2022

Halftime Leisure

The definitive Arctic Monkeys guide in preparation for The Car

On Oct. 21, Arctic Monkeys are releasing The Car, their seventh studio album, making this fall the perfect time to get into the staple alternative rock band. Here’s everything you... Read more

By October 23, 2022

Halftime Leisure

Warping the mirror: Five haunting literary monsters

For as long as humans have told stories, we have told of monsters. The Bible spawned the Devil and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first true English-language epic,... Read more

By October 23, 2022

Halftime Sports

The Voice guide to the MLS playoffs

All statistics in this article come from the official website of Major League Soccer. The autumn wind whips around corners, sending bronzed leaves in a dizzying spiral toward the earth.... Read more

By October 14, 2022