Leisure

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Seth Rogen won’t save you

While scheming up his vigilante alter ego, Britt Reid, the man behind the mask in The Green Hornet, muses to his sidekick that the crime-ridden streets of Los Angeles need more than a mere superhero. “The city needs our help,” he declares. “We could be heroes! We will pose as villains to get closer to the bad guys. That way, no one will suspect we’re really the good guys!”

By January 20, 2011

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Critical Voices: James Blake, James Blake

Well before he even announced his debut LP, James Blake’s narrative was written. The 22-year old London producer put out three of the most buzz-worthy EPs of 2010, and his prolific release of these experimental but highly melodic dance tracks earned his debut a preemptive label of “groundbreaking” before anyone had heard a single note—James Blake would own 2011 no matter what James Blake sounded like.

By January 20, 2011

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Critical Voices: Tennis, Cape Dory

Escapism is a prevalent theme in today’s music scene (I’m looking at you, Katy Perry enthusiasts). But how many artists actually live out the messages of their songs about the teenage dream? Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, the married couple who make up Tennis, are some of the few who do.

By January 20, 2011

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Banger Management: Lil Wayne’s swag with Bieber’s youth

Once on the cutting edge of social and political commentary, lately rap music has become boring and stagnant. Rappers like Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame make millions by pairing pedestrian lyrics with grandiloquent beats. Lucky for disillusioned listeners, there is now Odd Future, an unconventional rap crew out of Los Angeles made up of 11 teenagers.

By January 20, 2011

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Internet IRL: But still no wireless?

This week, speculation has been mounting about the possible release of the iPad 2 this April—just one year after that of its groundbreaking predecessor. In a world where innovation and change in consumer technology are moving faster than ever, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to realistically keep up with every new product that promises to change their lives.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Tiny Furniture brings little to the table

Indie films tend to isolate their fans. While some audience members will cry “genius!” most will call bullshit. With her new production, Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham has created a shallow micro-budget flick that, despite a few bright spots, fails to break away from the pretentious culture it came out of. Tiny Furniture follows Aura, played by writer-director Dunham, as she moves back into her family’s expansive TriBeCa apartment after her final year of college.

By December 9, 2010

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Theatrical theses thrive

When most people get frustrated with their big writing assignments, they’ll highlight a paragraph or two (three if their paper is really going nowhere) and defiantly smack the “delete” key. Miranda Hall (COL ’11) recently had that experience when she chopped her senior thesis down to a quarter of its length. Except she gave up on 75 pages. “It had been about a hundred pages, but I went a little crazy with it, and now it’s 25 pages,” she said.

By December 9, 2010

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Color School returns to D.C.

Washington, D.C. is not a town renowned for its art scene. Hardcore kids might proudly recount the days of Minor Threat, and Wale might slip a line about D.C. into some of his Chicago-indebted raps, but the city’s a haven for politicos and diplomats—artists usually go a bit farther up the coast. That being the case, many might be surprised to learn that our city gave birth to one of the most exciting styles of American studio art of the modern era: the Color School.

By December 9, 2010

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Black Box ballet

Last night in the Walsh Black Box Theater, which was unadorned except for a string of what looked like colorful prayer flags, Ballet Folklorico, in conjunction with Latin dance group Ritmo y Sabor, put on their final show of the semester in honor of Posada, a Hispanic celebration in anticipation of Christmas. The show featured Ballet Folklorico’s traditional dancing with elaborate and colorful skirts.

By December 9, 2010

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Critical Voices: Daft Punk, Tron: Legacy

We’ve been waiting on a new Daft Punk album for a while now, and in late 2009, when the duo announced that they would be creating the soundtrack for the upcoming Tron: Legacy, it sounded like a match made in heaven. We would we have the first Daft Punk album in five years (!)

By December 9, 2010

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Critical Voices: Keep Shelly in Athens, In Love With Dusk EP

Keep Shelly in Athens is a band with an outlandish name and an intentionally mysterious persona. But although you might expect a band with such a ridiculous moniker to be irritatingly elitist, if you close your eyes and play their new EP, In Love With Dusk, you will quickly change your mind.

By December 9, 2010

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Amuse-bouche: Don’t try this at home

Earlier this year, my access to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything convinced me that I could, in fact, cook everything. And when it comes to pasta, potatoes, fish, chicken, and a few fancy things like risotto, I’m not half bad. In July, inspired by this confidence, I undertook a more ambitious project—French fries.

By December 9, 2010

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Fade to Black: Gazillion dollar baby

Next Friday, Disney’s latest mega-budget production, Tron: Legacy, opens in theaters across the country. Though it will no doubt please the Comic-Con regulars who have been fantasizing about this movie for years, with a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Tron will need to appeal to a slightly wider market.

By December 9, 2010