Leisure

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

Suffer for Fashion: I think he played music too

This month, on what would have been his 70th birthday, John Lennon’s friends, family, and fans gathered to celebrate the life of one of the world’s most admired, adored, and controversial musicians. People placed flowers at the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park. The city of Liverpool, his hometown, unveiled a statue of him.

By Keenan Timko October 21, 2010

Bad haircut, worse movie

Ed Norton, in full prison garb, walks into a counseling office. He informs his parole officer that he has found religion. Suspicious, yes, but it appears that his epiphany has some degree of sincerity to it, and Ed has become a new man. Sounds like American History X, right?

By Mark James October 15, 2010

Alone in his room, Edwards creates Monsters

There’s nothing new about a young filmmaker venturing out on his own and making an independent pet project. Most of the time, these are low-budget affairs that shuck special effects in favor of small-scale stories and clever writing. Some are brilliant, but budgetary restraints and production limitations guarantee that most are just film festival fodder.

By Brendan Baumgardner October 14, 2010

Bill Ward explains the Things That Fools Do

Most seniors will spend their final year taking classes they’ve put off since they were freshmen, and then either applying to graduate school or frantically begging for employment. So Bill Ward (COL ’11), who already has a job lined up at Morgan Stanley, is liable to make his classmates pretty envious.

By Nico Dodd October 14, 2010

Improv incoming!

There’s a whole lot to look forward to this weekend—convincing your visiting parents to buy you everything you can’t afford, kicking off the basketball season, and seeing Despicable Me in the ICC auditorium. But for those of you still looking to fill your planners, there’s the Georgetown Improv Association’s first show of the semester, Holy Moly!

By Mary Borowiec October 14, 2010

Critical Voices: Mount Eerie, Song Islands Volume 2

Song Islands Volume 2 is like an ice cream cone completely covered in ketchup: there’s something of value in there somewhere, but you’re so afraid to take that first bite that you’ll never find out exactly what that is. Mount Eerie frontman Phil Elverum tries to represent a wide variety of styles with his compilation album.

By Sam Harman October 14, 2010

Critical Voices: Belle & Sebastian, Write About Love

Few bands embody the rise of independent music over the last decade better than Belle & Sebastian. This Scottish seven-piece began their career as the final project of front man Stuart Murdoch’s college music class in 1996. Since then, Belle & Sebastian have been hailed as the triumphant return of classic British pop.

By Matthew Decker October 14, 2010

Warming Glow: Glee is bigger than Jesus

In 1966, when John Lennon quipped that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus,” people went nuts. They burned records and religious groups pounded home the argument that Satan loves rock and roll. A little ironically, the Beatles have since become so canonized that these days comparing any musical act to them is decried as blasphemy.

By Leigh Finnegan October 14, 2010

Rub Some Dirt On It: The no-saline-solution blues

The hardest-working organs in any college student’s body are probably the eyes. They are continuously glued to a computer-screen lit in harsh, artificial light, gazing at power-point slides during class lectures, pouring over glossy textbook pages into the early morning, or adjusting to the strobe-lights at a Saturday night party.

By Sadaf Qureshi October 14, 2010

Considerate comedy with Mike Birbiglia

On Tuesday night, comedian and Georgetown grad Mike Birbiglia (COL ’00) spoke with the Voice about his current tour, upcoming book, and his time on the Hilltop. Interview conducted and transcribed by Heather Regen.

By Heather Regen October 7, 2010

Lez’hur ledger: There are no winners at the Air Sex World Championship

So here’s the thing about showing up to the D.C. leg of the Air Sex World Championship alone: it’s awkward. Like, hanging out alone at the back of an indie rock concert by yourself awkward, with the fear that everyone around you will think you’re some kind of pervert.

By Brendan Baumgardner October 7, 2010

Should have stayed Buried

Perpetual frat-boy Van Wilder trades in his iconic red Solo cup for the confines of a coffin in Rodrigo Cortès’s new thriller, Buried. From the very first scene of the film, the audience is also resigned to this tragic fate, as the camera stubbornly remains trapped inside of the coffin for the entire 94-minute duration of the film.

By Sam Thompson October 7, 2010

Tragic but “fun”

Anyone who read Macbeth in high school knows the basics of the tragic play: it’s long, heavy, and ominous, and its costumes and sets echo its grim themes. But, as director and professor Nadia Madhi explains, her interpretation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding is intended to be anything but the typical tragedy.

By Leigh Finnegan October 7, 2010

Critical Voices: Salem, King Night

This year’s buzziest new genre boasts the most ridiculous title the Internet genre-naming gods have ever bestowed (and that includes “purple” and “chillwave”): “witch house.” So named for its ethereal synths and ominous, DJ Screw-influenced beats, this new genre includes bands with names as ridiculous as oOoOO.

By Matthew Collins October 7, 2010

Critical Voices: Sufjan Stevens, Age of Adz

In 2004, Sufjan Stevens announced an audacious plan to write an album for each of the fifty states, beginning with 2003’s Michigan and moving south to Illinois in 2005. Then, in 2009, Stevens announced that the “Fifty State Project” was nothing more than a publicity stunt, and that he was starting anew.

By Luke Howley October 7, 2010

Literary Tools: No, but I saw the movie

Adapting a book can be a tricky business. On rare occasions, an adapted movie can transcend its source, but more often than not, it loses some of the elements that readers loved. Book snobs, the lot of pretentious bastards that they are, often rightly criticize adaptations for failing to live up to original texts.

By Chris Heller October 7, 2010

Suffer for Fashion: Dirty jeans, done dirt cheap

Jeans may have won their first fans during the California Gold Rush, but proper jean care has come a long way from simply plunking down your pan and dunking your dungarees into the stream in between sifting sessions. Some have caring for denim down to a science, but is the extra effort worth it?

By Keenan Timko October 7, 2010

A Social success

There is an important scene early in The Social Network, bass heavy dance music throbs as the screen cuts deftly between two symbolic set pieces. The first is typical montage material: the first party of the year at Harvard’s most prestigious clubs, a debaucherous scene of hedonistic excess.

By Brendan Baumgardner October 1, 2010

Tombs manager lays his career to rest

Last weekend, William Watts had a lot to handle. Homecoming Weekend brought a flood of customers to the Tombs, and a private party had reserved F. Scott’s for the evening. At the same time, these were just the last few days of his 35-year career managing three Georgetown restaurants. Just one last push.

By Chris Heller September 30, 2010

¡Ay caramba! Muchas peliculas

Between limited releases and an Oscar category that nobody pays attention to, Americans don’t give foreign films the credit they deserve. But not the American Film Institute—they’ve been offering D.C. an outlet for foreign films for decades. At the head of their current battle: the Latin American Film Festival.

By Mark James September 30, 2010

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