Leisure

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

Leisure

Critical Voices: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Given the incredible anticipation surrounding Merriweather Post Pavilion—the ninth proper LP from the new-primitivist outfit Animal Collective—the album could well represent the second most memorable album release of the digital... Read more

By January 15, 2009

Leisure

Critical Voices: Glasvegas – Glasvegas

The British music press hype-cycle has gotten behind a number of bands in recent memory, from well-known successes like the Arctic Monkeys and Klaxons to a few, well, stinkers (The... Read more

By January 15, 2009

Leisure

The Ritz Carlton proves money does grow on trees

While GU students furtively auction off sleeping spaces in their Village A apartments to eager Inauguration-goers (much to the University’s chagrin) or pile friends from around the country into their... Read more

By January 15, 2009

Leisure

Mirth and murder in Pillowman

Georgetown’s Nomadic Theater has been described as the most socially conscious of the University’s co-curricular theater troupes. Admirable as such sentiments may be, when overbearingly conveyed, they can easily obstruct... Read more

By January 15, 2009

Leisure

Frost thaws Nixon’s hubristic silence

In the pop culture psyche of many Americans, Richard Nixon’s life and career ends at the moment when his most notorious picture was taken: arms raised in the air waving... Read more

By January 15, 2009

Leisure

The man with no other name but Clint

For a man who’s been acting in films for over 50 years and directing them for over 30, Gran Torino might seem like a victory lap—a final, self-indulgent opportunity for... Read more

By January 15, 2009

Leisure

The striped pajama party in Hitler’s Third Reich

Through the innocent eyes of a child, the horrifying injustices of the Holocaust amass a certain  naive surrelity. In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, director Mark Herman uses this... Read more

By the December 4, 2008

Leisure

Milk, a movie of solid consistency

The standard Hollywood biopic faces a problem of balance. On the one hand, they attempt to tell a true story, to give facts and real information about one (presumably important)... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Killers – Day & Age

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always had a secret love for The Killers. As one of the first “indie” bands I listened to in my younger days,... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Jake One – White Van Music

After a lengthy career of making beats for rappers on both ends of the hip-hop spectrum, Seattle-based producer Jake One has enlisted an impressive array of MCs to rap over... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Guns n’ Roses – Chinese Democracy

In 1991 the Minnesota Twins won the World Series; the Louisiana governor’s race included a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard; former Soviet states declared their independence; and Nintendo released... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Of sound mind

Nowadays new music genres pop up as frequently as Sarah Palin changed her clothes ON the campaign trail. (Gotta keep those pants suits crisp for charity, eh?) Out with the... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Turn me on…

As the end of the year approaches, the internet will be inundated with “best of” lists for everything from books to inventions. Simply look at this week’s feature story in... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Going beyond bangers and mash

You don’t get much British food over here in the United States. That’s probably because jolly old England’s starchy, overcooked culinary offerings tend to be something less than transcendent. However,... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Framing humanity in a snapshot culture

America is a snapshot culture. A single still frame is enough for the viewer to get lost in a remembrance of the past, however fleeting. Thus, a professional photographer’s goal is to draw attention to a piece of history with each frame he takes.

By December 4, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Kanye West , “808s and Heartbreak”

Much has been made of Kanye West's transformation from gloating hip-hop megastar to brooding synth-popper. Would 808s and Heartbreak be a disposable gimmick or a real artistic statement? Surprisingly, the answer leans more toward the latter.

By November 20, 2008

Leisure

Gaming for a girl

The Who Wants to be a Millionaire? song used to mean so much to America. The lights went down, Regis Philbin spun in his chair, and we were thrilled by the beginnings of reality TV. Most of all, though, the song heralded promise-the promise that by spending an hour in Philbin's spaceship of a studio, a regular person could use luck and determination to win a whole lot of money. Slumdog Millionaire, a movie based around the Indian version of the show, asks us to believe in that innocent hope-and a whole lot more.

By November 20, 2008

Leisure

A shaky, not stirring, Bond in Quantum of Solace

Avid James Bond fans were once skeptical about Daniel Craig's abilities to pull off one of the most iconic cinematic characters of all time. Complaints ranged from his apparent lack of debonair charm to rumors that he could not drive a stick shift Aston Martin. Casino Royale, however, proved to be one of the most acclaimed Bond movies to date, inspiring comparisons to Connery and exclamations that Craig had managed to do the impossible-reinvent Bond for the better. Unfortunately, not only does Quantum of Solace not measure up to Casino Royale's standard of cinematic excellence, this time around, Craig's Bond is Bond in name only.

By November 20, 2008

Leisure

Fritz Scholder’s American Indians, past and present

"Indian, not Indian," an exhibit of Fritz Scholder's work at the Smithsonian Institute's National American Indian Museum, challenges the very idea of who the American Indian was while demonstrating how Scholder revolutionized the depiction of the American Indian, replacing the classical romantic depictions with a modern, pop-art realism.

By the November 20, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Samuel Jackson 5, “Goodbye Melody Mountain”

When a band names themselves after both Samuel L. Jackson and the Jackson 5, we expect great things. Perhaps the name of The Samuel Jackson Five speaks to a love of both ferociousness and pop sensibilities, which is exactly what Goodbye Melody Mountain has to offer. A breath of fresh air, they have taken the stale tendency of post-rock towards sleep inducement and made it something worth listening to.

By November 20, 2008