Leisure

Reviews and think pieces on music, movies, art, and theater.

Leisure

Critical Voices: Mother of Mercy, IV: Symptoms of Existence

Philadelphia metallic-punk outfit Mother of Mercy is not for the faint of heart. MoM delivers a distinct blend of straightforward hardcore punk and darker, brooding rock sounds influenced by the likes of Danzig and Samhain. After years of creating impressive music and touring with punk forefathers, last year Mother of Mercy signed with premier hardcore and punk label Bridge 9 Records.

By February 10, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: We don’t need no education

Just over a week ago, three Georgetown graduates made their mark on the Sundance Film Festival. Hoyas contributed to two entries, earning two prizes and sending shockwaves through the indie film world. While Georgetown can take pride in these ambitious filmmakers’ success, their graduation from a school that lacks a film program proved yet again that when it comes to getting ahead in the movie business, a degree from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts is often not as important as raw talent.

By February 10, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-bouche: The joy of popping

There are some foods that America’s giant, faceless, agri-beast processed food industry can make just as well as the average person. The Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layer Butter Tastin’ biscuit, for example, is a thing of beauty. Frozen pizza and Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese are both mostly high-fructose corn syrup, and not coincidentally both delicious. However, there is one processed food that is an affront to all that is good, right, and beautiful about eating: microwavable popcorn.

By February 10, 2011

Leisure

Don’t miss the climax of The Vagina Monologues

Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues confronts audiences’ discomfort from its very first line: “I bet you’re worried.” As the play’s introduction points out, it “doesn’t matter how many times you say it, it never sounds like a word you want to say.” But past the shock of The Vagina Monologues’ frank language lies a well-crafted, emotionally gripping play, and one the actors, directors and producers of Georgetown’s rendition hope will bring to light women’s issues and sexuality on the Hilltop.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Georgetown filmmakers shine at Sundance

Who says Georgetown doesn’t breed creativity? This past week at the Sundance Film Festival, the creative minds of Georgetown were well-represented, with five films whose directors, actors or producers that have graduated from the University competed in the world-famous film contest. And one of these movie, Another Earth, won big. Way big. Another Earth, directed by Mike Cahill (COL ’01) and starring fellow alum Brit Marling (COL ’05), is a sci-fi drama about the discovery of a duplicate Planet Earth in the solar system.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

If Caravaggio knew cardiology

While scientific advancement has led to solutions and cures that had previously seemed impossible, it has also bred confusion. In fact, very few average people can grasp the small, intricate details of how things actually work anymore. In the exhibition “What Was There To Be Seen,” on display now at the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery on 16th Street near DuPont, Kindra Crick and Carolyn Bernstein convey their personal fascinations and frustrations with the often cumbersome subject of biology.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

3D can’t save Sanctum

How does one of the world’s best-known directors follow up the most commercially successful film in cinematic history? For James Cameron, director of mega-blockbusters Avatar and Titanic, the answer is surprising. Taking a break from fantasy and iceberg-smashing romance, Cameron signed on as executive producer for Sanctum, the tale of a father and son on a life-threatening cave expedition.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Hercules and Love Affair, Blue Songs

Blue Songs, the new album by Hercules and Love Affair, is awful. I’m not going to mince words here: it’s brutal, terrible, miserable, abominable, abhorrent, and appalling. And it’s really a shame. The band’s 2008 debut was rightly praised as one of the best albums of the past decade. Mixing old school house and disco, the group brought a surprisingly fresh twist to DFA Records’s aging nü-disco shtick.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Boxer Rebellion, The Cold Still

In today’s alternative music scene, too many indie groups have abandoned their original sound in favor of mass appeal. So when a band can deliver emotion that is both honest and unpretentious, and stays true to the successes of its past albums, it’s grounds for major commendation. London quartet The Boxer Rebellion achieves just that on The Cold Still, with unassuming but powerful lyrics and melodies, the band rises above the rest of the indie pack.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Banger Management: It’s all about the Benjamins

Hip-hop has always been a regional art. Seminal groups such as Run DMC of Hollis, Queens and N.W.A. of Compton represented their neighborhoods with songs chronicling local troubles and lifestyles. But in the early 1990s, rap’s focus shifted and hip-hop crews began forming record labels to better promote their own music. All of a sudden, the West Coast had Suge Knight’s Death Row Records, which included the likes of Tupac and Snoop Dogg, while the East had Puffy’s Bad Boy label, which centered on Notorious B.I.G.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Internet IRL: This is your brain on Tumblr

Studying can be difficult when your most important tool is also your biggest time waster. All of us are familiar with being holed up in the library, intent on doing homework, only to catch ourselves surfing the net. It is virtually impossible to stay focused with the giant bag of potato chips that is the World Wide Web at your disposal. Betcha can’t click just one.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Activism finds a “voice” at Busboys & Poets

On Sunday night at the K Street Busboys and Poets restaurant, Chris Shaw, an eloquent, friendly-looking, middle-aged man, recalled one of the strangest compliments he had ever heard. “He said to me, ‘You’re a homeless bum talking like Shakespeare, man.’” In a sense, this praise that Shaw, a George Washington University grad school alumnus, received during his years as a homeless man in D.C. could summarize the entire open mic night. It was the first monthly installment of the 2011 Voices of a Movement series, which D.C.-based nonprofit One Common Unity is staging to spread awareness about pressing social problems.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

“Pixel Vision”: A digital decade of Georgetown art

Think about the computer your family had in 2000. Can’t remember it? That’s understandable. Technology has advanced so rapidly in the past 10 years that the digital world of turn-of-the-millenium seems completely foreign in today’s world of iPads and e-books. But if you want a refresher course on just how far technology has come, you’re in luck—“Pixel Vision: The First Ten Years” opened in Georgetown’s Spagnuolo Gallery on Jan. 19.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Jones, Affleck in good Company

September 18, 2008, starts out as normal as any other day for The Company Men’s three main characters. The hunky, 30-something breadwinner (Ben Affleck) arrives at the office in his silver Porsche, followed by his 60-year-old coworker (Chris Cooper), who has worked there for decades, and the company’s curmudgeonly old executive (Tommy Lee Jones) looks weary from the pressures of the markets falling around him.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Cold War Kids, Mine is Yours

The second track on Mine Is Yours, the latest album from Cold War Kids, is entitled “Louder Than Ever.” That could be the mission statement for the whole album, whose anthemic songs are filled with sweeping riffs demanding to be played at full volume. However, lest they grow stale, Cold War Kids intersperse their louder songs with pockets of calm melody.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Fujiya & Miyagi, Ventriloquizzing

Fujiya & Miyagi’s latest release may challenge its audience with some pre-listening confusion—what do you expect from a band whose name was lifted from that of the martial arts master from The Karate Kid? Apparently, it sounds like a talented duo of British synth masters. And with this week’s release of Ventriloquizzing, the group’s fourth studio release, Fujiya & Miyagi deliver a series of edgy electro compositions and artfully layered beats that would make even the staunchest of karate masters tap his foot.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-Bouche: As long as it’s not in a box

This past December, I resolved to graduate to big-girl wine. I was growing tired of buying bland, acrid magnums of Little Penguin and Barefoot, and with Safeway just four blocks away and stocked with hundreds of wines at decent prices, there was simply no excuse not to upgrade. This posed just one problem—the Georgetown Safeway sells hundreds of wines. The three solid rows of bottles are foreboding and seemingly without an entry point.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: No Oscar grouchiness

The Golden Globes, a catastrophic mess of erroneously categorized nominations, are finally over. And although the awards ended up in the right hands, the Hollywood Foreign Press has a long road to restoring its image. As if to counteract that embarrassment, the Academy released the Oscar nominations on Tuesday, and, proving that good taste still exists somewhere, left trash like The Tourist and Burlesque out of its pool.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Yes puts the fun back in dysfunctional

In a pivotal scene of House of Yes, two reunited former lovers, a little drunk in a room that’s rife with sexual tension, begin a bizarre, morbid, and extremely uncomfortable role-playing session. She’s Jackie O, decked out in an iconic pink suit and pillbox hat, and he’s JFK. A fake gun blast goes off, “JFK” collapses onto the couch in feigned pain, and Jackie rushes next to him for support. Then, they have sex.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Watch art get unstuck in time at the Smithsonian

Time-based art is on the rise. The formerly little-known movement, consisting of art that changes as you view it, is rapidly gaining popularity among contemporary artists. A clear reflection of the ways in which technology has influenced society, the time-based genre presents a marriage of art and technology that makes for a dynamic visual experience.

By January 20, 2011