Leisure

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

Of Montreal rocks

Of Montreal, the critically acclaimed psych-pop band out of Athens, Georgia, returns to the Washington D.C. area for spring break. Fronted by Kevin Barnes, the group released their well-received eighth album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, on Feb. 23. Guitarist Bryan Poole detailed the band’s updated sound on the new record.

By Justin Hunter Scott February 22, 2007

Vietnamese art exhibit is pho real

At first, the road sign seems rather ordinary. Bold, green and functional, it could have been plucked from any interstate highway. Yet contradicting its mundane appearance is its content: “Little Saigon: Next Right.”

By Frances Bajet February 15, 2007

Critical Voices: Field Music, Tones of Town

With their third release, UK-based art-rock trio Field Music have created an album that is complex and accessible enough to merit multiple listens. Indeed, Tones of Town’s tracks draw strength from the band’s ability to weave rhythmic layers of sweet vocals, staccato piano punctuations and sharp, post-punk guitar riffs almost effortlessly.

By Chelsea Paige February 15, 2007

Warming up to art

The snow was pretty for about an hour and now your ass is bruised from sledding on a cafeteria tray. You could retreat to your 80-degree dorm room and binge on all that fruit you sacked from Leo’s, or you could fight the winter blues with some hot cocoa and visual stimulation at one of D.C.’s warm spots.

By Madeline Reidy February 15, 2007

Going down on the Hilltop

Winter finally paid off, and in a big way. Such wonderful whiteness can mean only one thing: sled day! Considering only one of the surveyed hills had fresh tracks, it seems that far too few Hoyas partake in this traditional leisure activity. Because they don’t call it the Hilltop for nothin’, here’s the skinny on the best campus sledding.

By Michael Keller February 15, 2007

Sexy food

As anyone who saw Varsity Blues and Ali Larter’s whipped cream bikini can attest, food can be very sexy. But, as anyone who’s ever had a boyfriend who talks with his mouth full or had a propensity for poppy seed bagels can argue, food and love are not always a good mix. There is a difference between your food being yummy and you being yummy.

By Kathryn Brand February 15, 2007

Pole dancing: not just for strippers

My arms ache and I can already feel the bruises on my inner thighs as I try to crawl sexily on all fours. The music switches to “Fergalicious,” and that’s my cue to shimmy up the chrome pole. Holding on with my left hand, I move with the music, strut my stuff for a few beats and slowly turn a full body roll into the fireman spin.

By Anastasia Stepanova February 8, 2007

Punk Love sticks it to the man

In D.C., politics are inescapable—even in music. But when the founding luminaries of Washington’s famously close-knit, activist music scene came together in Georgetown last Friday, it was to praise, not preach.

By Alec Oyenhart February 8, 2007

Giving to get some

What do you call that girl you make out with on the weekend but whose hand you have yet to hold in public? More than friend or less than girlfriend, the correct sociological label is irrelevant—this Valentine’s Day only one tag matters: gift-recipient.

By Sarah Harman February 8, 2007

Critical Voices: Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City, Wichita

LOVES IT

Despite what detractors may say, “Hunting for Witches” is hardly the sole highlight of A Weekend in the City, Bloc Party’s lastest release.

By Justin Hunter Scott February 8, 2007

Critical Voices II: Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City, Wichita

HATES IT

The British music mag NME called Bloc Party “uncategorisable.” While that isn’t a real word, the point was clear when the magazine used it to describe the band’s debut, Silent Alarm. Though it didn’t necessarily deserve that label, the group distinguished itself from the pack of poppy post-punk peers with lead singer Kele Okereke’s heartfelt lyrics and sometimes overly emotive vocals.

By Traviss Cassidy February 8, 2007

Say ‘bonjour’ to good taste!

Dapper French gentlemen clad in smoking jackets, their cigars sending smoke spirals up to the ceiling. Portraits of deceased royalty hanging demurely on the walls behind velvet drapes. An aging poodle curled up by the fire. The only thing needed to complete our scene is that Gallically-accented post-consumption treat: the digestif.

By Anna Ziajka February 8, 2007

Antigone is a tragedy

I’m going to do what Jean Anouillh’s Antigone should have done and get right to the point. This is a bad play, mediocrely acted. The set and costumes are pretty.

By Shira Hecht February 1, 2007

When you gotta go…

Based on an aversion to dirty, shared restrooms, I have developed a rubric that I use to judge them. Recently, I decided to evaluate the facilities at Georgetown.

By Kyle Fitzpatrick February 1, 2007

Jasper Johns: not just flags, guys

Under every picture-perfect surface dwells a host of contradictions and realities. Bubbling under the facade of the happy, down-home, meatloaf-eating American Dream was the Civil Rights movement, McCarthyism and the Cold War. It was during this increasingly unsteady time that Jasper Johns grounded the theoretical rebellion of his art.

By Lauren Gaskill February 1, 2007

Lez’hur Ledger: Shivering for Sufjan

Sure, the scene was familiar enough: nerdy white boys in fraying women’s jeans skulked around, talking music and secretly tallying the hipster points they earned each time they said “crescendo” (I think I’ll use that word on my Live Journal!). This wasn’t going to be my normal weekend –instead of being cramped inside the cloudy confines of the Black Cat, I found myself camped outside the Kennedy Center at 10p.m., waiting to receive free tickets to Sufjan Stevens’ Feb. 5 performance with the Center’s Opera House orchestra.

By Traviss Cassidy February 1, 2007

Aspargus fritter and ice cream, please

Fusion has become a trendy label, with everything from French-Indian fusion at IndeBleu to Asian tapas at Raku. But ‘fusion’ is a vague term, used to describe a wide range of the marriages of many different techniques, ingredients, and flavors.

By Kathryn Brand February 1, 2007

A local artist’s guide to suburbia

As I entered Flashpoint, a modest downtown gallery, I sensed I had unwittingly stumbled into someone’s home.

By Madeline Reidy January 25, 2007

Like Vicodin for boredom: the leisure events calendar

Chinese New Years Event Spectacular C’mon, you probably can’t remember your own New Year’s celebration anyway. All the more reason to do it again, Chinese-style.

By Sarah Harman January 25, 2007

Critical Voices: Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, Polyvinyl

Far be it from me to speculate on Kevin Barnes’ emotional state, but after listening to the latest Of Montreal release, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, I’d have to say he got burned, badly.

By Shira Hecht January 25, 2007

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