Leisure

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



Leisure

Avian art takes flight

The Pre-Columbian artifacts showcased in Flights of Fancy, a new exhibit at Dumbarton Oaks, aren’t as overtly flashy as the dazzling gold necklaces and chest plates in the museum’s permanent... Read more

Leisure

A new fusion for U Street

Masa 14 feels a little out of place. Barely a week old, the swanky restuarant that is owned and operated by two successful chefs sits across the street from a... Read more

Leisure

Suffer For Fashion: On the range with urban cowboys

My youngest brother was the first of the Timko brothers to wear cowboy boots. Although a love for western footwear is not common among most toddlers, Matthew would always end... Read more

Leisure

Critical Voices: Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms

If you’ve ever felt a strange sense of nostalgia for the ‘80s childhood you never had, grab the latest from Neon Indian, the most recent project from Texas musician Alan... Read more

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Critical Voices: Alec Ounsworth – Mo’ Beauty

Alec Ounsworth may have a voice that makes Bob Dylan sound like Frank Sinatra, but on Mo’ Beauty, he reveals a bluesy sensibility with enough vibrancy to make even Thom... Read more

Leisure

High Fidelity: One more time for the encore

I detest blatant self-promotion, so let’s just get the stupid part out of the way: I’m in a band. We’re playing a show tonight at the Red and the Black... Read more

Leisure

One man’s Exit is another man’s entrance

At No Exit, everything is done well, nothing seems out of place, and the effect works. Audience members walk through an impeccably decorated antechamber, creepy and Halloween-appropriate in red and... Read more

Leisure

Klosterman’s critical theory

We all rely on gimmicks. We discover actions that please us—a particular manner of speaking with hand gestures, crossing a left leg over a right knee, incessantly quoting The Hangover—then... Read more

Leisure

Lez’hur Ledger: Solar flair

Ever since the first forest-dwelling pagans grotesquely sacrificed children and virgins to what they believed to be the Sun God, humans have recognized the significance of the brilliant orb of... Read more

Leisure

An audience in search of good theater

If you’re looking for a breezy Saturday night, stop reading now: Six Characters in Search of an Author isn’t light fare. The Department of Performing Arts’ first performance is an... Read more

Leisure

Serious criticism

Leave it to Joel and Ethan Coen to turn the quotidian struggles of a middle-class Jewish family in 1960s suburbia into a dark, brooding masterpiece. A Serious Man is the... Read more

Leisure

Bottoms Up: A toast to the morning after

My head throbbing with pain, I open my eyes ever-so-slightly, but the light—that harsh light of day, streaming through my bedroom window—is too painful for me to handle. There is... Read more

Leisure

Low Fidelity: The sun is rising on soundtracks

Maybe we haven’t yet found a way to make music work as narrative, as discussed by my High Fidelity counterpart in this space last week, but narrative and music have... Read more

Leisure

Critical Voices: Atlas Sound – Logos

In the world of free internet music, Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox is a god. Not only does he share personal playlists and unreleased covers on his blog, but last year... Read more

Leisure

Experimental media

It’s true that “the media” is synonymous with information overload—the constant barrage of current event tickers, fast action fast-food commercials, and nonstop Blair Waldorf outfit changes that leaves the mind... Read more

Leisure

A lot of hard work clearly went into Getting Out, Georgetown theater’s first main production of the year. Premiering only a few weeks after casting, and featuring many newbies in... Read more

Leisure

A theatrical experience for all Seasons

Alright, it’s confession time: I love musicals. Not in a wildly rabid way, mind you; I get caught up and carried away by the bright lights, upbeat songs and endless... Read more

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Nostalgic for talking toys

What is it about nostalgia that attracts audiences? The afternoon showing of Toy Story & Toy Story 2 in 3D I attended last weekend was filled with teenagers and young... Read more

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Prisoners’ poetry

Not many people would expect to hear spoken word at a venue whose main decorative object is a big, Hebrew version of the Ten Commandments carved into white stone, but... Read more

Leisure

Suffer for Fashion: Frank fashion

Half a century ago, in a Kerouac-style journey across prairies and fruited plains, Robert Frank photographed the inhabitants of the recently confirmed most powerful country in the world. Last Tuesday,... Read more