Leisure

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

Leisure

Low Fidelity: The end of another Empire

“What came first, the music or the misery?” John Cusack asked the camera as embittered and lovelorn record storeowner Rob in the ever-endearing 2000 film High Fidelity (not to be... Read more

By September 3, 2009

Leisure

Critical Voices: Polvo – In Prism

When Polvo split in 1998, they had carved their own distinctive niche into the hodgepodge of mid-90s alt-rock. With their noisy and dissonant but oddly melodic riffs, Polvo’s sound owed... Read more

By September 3, 2009

Leisure

Culottes for you Lots: School supplies

Some people follow football or the stock market or Congressional politics; I follow fashion. The colors, the shapes, the possibilities—fashion is creative expression for the artistically challenged. Like Legos, you... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Leisure

While we were out: a summer arts retrospective

The dark days of summer film Maybe it’s the desire to get out of the heat, or the fact that kids are busy not thinking about everything they learned in... Read more

By the August 28, 2009

Leisure

Hitler had it coming

Inglourious Basterds is more Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly than it is The Dirty Dozen or Guns of Navarone.  Don’t... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Leisure

So long, summer reruns

Following last year’s underwhelming crop of freshman TV series, nearly every network is looking to rebound in the ratings. A number of new and returning shows will be fighting to... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Leisure

Artistic Egg-cellence

Photographer William Eggleston captures typical Southern scenes in landscapes and social snapshots, but unexpectedly introduces an intimacy with the American South. Eggleston escapes a replication of the standard iconic imagery... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Leisure

High Fidelity: The golden age

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the golden age of music consumption. Assuming you own a computer, have an Internet connection, and know how to use Google correctly (that’s right, Google,... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Leisure

Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

“What came first, the chicken or the dickhead?” seems a rather odd question from an evolutionary standpoint, but from the mouth of the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, it seems fairly... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Leisure

Off of the Prairie, into D.C.

Though Fratelli la Bufala (loosely translated as Buffalo Brothers) is best known for its Buffalo meat dishes and buffalo milk mozzarella, the scent of sweet cheese won’t be the first... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

DPA Delivers Dazzling Blockbuster

If you’re looking for light, Friday evening entertainment to fill thatawkward time between dinner and your night out, Pentecost is not the play for you. This three-hour marathon is a... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

Real Life Sucks Dragon Balls

I’m a sucker for a bad movie. Classic sci-fi camp, gung-ho action, teen comedy, or any Nic Cage movie—I’ve seen it all. Twice. Something beautiful happens when an incompetent director... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

An Abstract Journey

“I have always admired people who just seize something and run it into the wall,” said Georgetown alumnus Goodloe Byron (COL ’04), author of what is more easily labeled an... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

Bottoms Up: Drunken Summers

Most of my drinking at Georgetown occurs during the winter; for now, let’s disregard the fact that my twenty-first birthday was this past March. As winter transitions to spring, however,... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

Imaginary Realities

Netherlander Guido van der Werve is a jack of many impressive trades: accomplished pianist, composer, chess player, and student of archaeology and industrial design. No wonder he chose himself to... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

The Hold Steady – A Positive Rage

At every successful Hold Steady show, it’s obvious for a fleeting instant that being lead singer Craig Finn and sweating beer into your shirt every night for an enraptured crowd... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

Critical Voices: Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

It’s tempting to say that power-pop supergroup Tinted Windows’s much-anticipated debut album is disappointing, weak, or even bad, but that’s not exactly the case. The truth is, the record, a... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

Low Fidelity: Dischordant Punk

What does it mean to be punk? Much of today’s music culture seems to exploit the idea of punk, as stores like shopping mall mainstay Hot Topic profit by misinforming... Read more

By April 23, 2009

Leisure

Ming finds cosmic harmony in space

The Air and Space Museum is fancy. Really fancy. The exhibits light up and elaborate spaceship parts hang from the ceiling. The escalators aren’t hidden off to the side because... Read more

By April 16, 2009

Leisure

Fire-crotched and shit-stained monsters in Tokyo!

Japan is a crazy place. Forget all the ridiculous stuff you’ve read on the internet; if Tokyo! is to be believed, the land of the rising sun is full of... Read more

By April 16, 2009