Leisure

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

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

By October 22, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By the October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 15, 2009

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

By October 8, 2009

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

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

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

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

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

By October 8, 2009

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

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Flaming Lips – Embryonic

Never been to a Flaming Lips concert? Don’t worry—now we’ve got Embryonic. The band’s latest release solidifies their image as an improvisational experiment in sound. Clocking in at over 70... Read more

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

Critical Voices: Lightning Bolt – Earthly Delights

Lightning Bolt do not live up to the imagery evolved by their moniker. In fact, Lightning Bolt is more like the accompanying thunder than a swift discharge of energy—a bellowing... Read more

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

Pandora’s box

If you’ve ever been on a ten-minute car ride, you’ve come to that sad but unavoidable conclusion: the radio sucks. Commercials are obnoxious, the mix is never quite right, and... Read more

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

High Fidelity: A gleeful future

“Foresight” became an operative term this at Georgetown this week, as the Future of Music Coalition (“a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture”) held its... Read more

By October 8, 2009

Leisure

Telling the future

Twenty years ago, the “Future of Music” was compact discs (remember those?). Ten years ago, the “Future” was all about mp3s, Napster, and peer-to-peer file sharing. Curious about the future... Read more

By October 1, 2009