Leisure

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

Leisure

Please stop watching Two and a Half Men

If FX is willing to take a chance on animated spy parody Archer, I’m willing to try at least a few episodes. While its highly stylized animation may take some getting used to, the show plays like a smuttier Get Smart—the original series, not the Steve Carell abomination of an adapted movie.

By the January 21, 2010

Leisure

Cera-iously twee

Nick is lonely, lovelorn, awkward, and very much a virgin. When his mother and her boyfriend take him on vacation, he falls desperately for Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), a girl who lives with her very Christian parents...

By January 21, 2010

Leisure

Real monsters of meta

The concept of art within art—like a painting of a painting—can often be difficult to grasp. It is not always easy to determine where the the art ends and the frame begins. In The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play...

By January 21, 2010

Leisure

Critical Voices: Vampire Weekend, Contra

Vampire Weekend came out of nowhere in 2008, writing songs about the Oxford comma, ripping stylistic quirks from Paul Simon, and generating not only an astounding amount of hype, but also haters who found them too uninspiring...

By January 21, 2010

Leisure

Critical Voices: Spoon, Transference

Seven LPs deep and one thing is abundantly clear: Spoon has the paradoxical gift of consistent inconsistency, a sense of “progression” without dilution. Transference, the Austin band’s fifth album in a decade, has the all the trimmings of a Spoon record...

By January 21, 2010

Leisure

Bottom’s Up: Chuck the Chuck, cheapo

There’s nothing worse than being predictable. That’s why I shrink from serving Charles Shaw, or two-buck Chuck, as the bargain Trader Joe’s wine is affectionately known, at dinner these days. As tolerable and affordable—only $2.99 a bottle!—as the wine is...

By January 21, 2010

Leisure

Rub Some Dirt on It: Mouse, trapped

For the past week or so, I have been sharing my apartment with a skinny, hairy, uninvited guest—a mouse, who pops in and out through a hole in the wall. He is small, and relatively harmless...

By January 21, 2010

Leisure

Tomorrow’s Classics: Music

Madvillainy, Madvillain, 2004 Madvillainy is an indie rap fan’s wet dream: an album-length collaboration between MF DOOM, the masked oddball who fancies himself a super-villain, and producer Madlib, renowned for... Read more

By the December 3, 2009

Leisure

Yr Blues: Yule Tide FM

Start your anticipation engines, folks—November has come and gone. It’s all Christmas, all the time from here until early-to-mid January. Retail, television, and radio are already well-entrenched in the Christmas... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Suffer for Fashion: Good golly, garb goes green

When I used to think about “eco-fashion,” visions of boxy canvas dresses, natural hemp shoes, hair beads, tie-dye galore—and the tree-hugging, cannabis-drenched Deadheads that typically sport such looks—came to mind.... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Q&A: John Hillcoat, director of The Road

John Hillcoat’s directorial career is filled with dark, critically acclaimed films like the gritty Australian Western The Proposition. Leisure Editor Chris Heller sat down with him last month to talk... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Up, up, and unemployed

Americans are constantly struggling to balance their work and family lives. As deeply ingrained as the Protestant work ethic may be, those who choose to focus on their careers are... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Giving for dummies

Pop quiz, hot shot. It’s the day before Christmas and, as usual, you haven’t bought a single gift. If you try to buy everyone thoughtful gifts, you will run out... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Leh’zur Ledger: Hell on Wheels

“But these are special peanuts, from Baltimore.” Only a few hundred feet away from roller-skating, black-eyed women tackling each other, I was stuck behind Jimmy Carter’s long-lost cousin in the... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Youth art center rebounds from summer attack

This past August, the headquarters of Life Pieces to Masterpieces, a local nonprofit that lets African-American males channel their energy into art, was vandalized almost to the point of complete... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Leisure

Tomorrow’s Classics: Film

Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001 Mulholland Drive isn’t a difficult film. Despite its convoluted plot, unsettling characters, and occasionally intense moments, Mulholland Drive is pretty straightforward: it’s about film itself.... Read more

By the November 18, 2009

Leisure

High Fidelity: Popular yesterday

There are all sorts of insoluble life mysteries that I wish I could answer: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? How... Read more

By November 18, 2009

Leisure

lehz’ur ledger: Burlesquities

As I nursed my bottle of Mickey’s malt liquor and peered off the balcony, I wondered—are those fireballs supposed to be coming so close to my face? This was last... Read more

By November 18, 2009

Leisure

2012 reasons 2012 sucked, abbreviated

Editor’s note: After watching 2012, our film critic was found shirtless on M Street, babbling about director Roland Emmerich and yelling vague threats to passersby. A list entitled “Two thousand... Read more

By November 18, 2009

Leisure

Open wide for Georgetown art

While walking to class in Walsh, you may have noticed bright new banners jutting proudly from the façade, advertising a small and relatively under-the-radar part of Georgetown—the Department of Art... Read more

By November 18, 2009