Leisure

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

Leisure

Surviving Iraq in Gunner Palace

In September 2003, director Mike Tucker and his co-director and wife Petra Epperlein moved into the bombed-out former “love shack” of Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday Hussein, to document the lives of the soldiers involved in the Iraqi conflict.

By the March 17, 2005

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Cake column

You Taste Like A Burger – a rotating column about eating leisurely

By the March 17, 2005

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Les Choristes: the Dead Poet’s Boys Choir

Writing a review of the new French film Les Choristes is a difficult task; not only can I not pronounce a single name, the movie also seems to have borrowed every character and plot twist from at least five previous, probably better films.

By the March 3, 2005

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Epileptic a shaky, uncontrollable read

For a respite from reality, few things beat a good comic book.

By the March 3, 2005

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Nobody Knows why this movie was made

As far as movie premises go, it’s hard to beat the ingenuity of Hirokazu Koreeda’s Nobody Knows.

By the March 3, 2005

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Bloc Party, Silent Alarm, Vice

Hipsters everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Just as they’re getting bored with the dance-rock of Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party is ready to take its place.

By the March 3, 2005

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The Evens, The Evens, Dischord

I met rock star, record producer, label head and certifiable legend Ian MacKaye at a show once in an abandoned school in Northeast D.C. during the wee hours of the morning.

By the March 3, 2005

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Chevre et al

You Taste Like a Burger – rotating column about eating leisurely

By the March 3, 2005

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Born into Brothels, given a camera

In the world of filmmaking, reality is often distorted beyond recognition. And so, for truth, we turn to documentaries.

By the February 24, 2005

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Rembrandt-mania at the National Gallery

Rembrandt Van Rijn, a Dutch painter of the Baroque era, is best known for his ten-foot wide guild commissions featuring notable members of Amsterdam society.

By the February 24, 2005

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Tapioca Tea

You Taste Like A Burger – a rotating column about eating leisurely

By the February 24, 2005

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Groundbreaking Arabic play

This Week on the Hilltop – Part 1

By the February 24, 2005

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Donn B. Murphy One Acts

This Week on the Hilltop – Part 2

By the February 24, 2005

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Groove Theory shake it

This Week on the Hilltop – Part 3

By the February 24, 2005

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Living Wage takes on acting

This Week on the Hilltop – Part 4

By the February 24, 2005

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Indian Tacos

You Taste Like A Burger- a rotating column about eating leisurely

By the February 17, 2005

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Cai Guo-Qiang’s explosive exhibit at the Hirshhorn

For Chinese-born “artistic engineer” Cai Guo-Qiang, an unrealized vision does not beget remorse, self-pity or disappointment.

By the February 17, 2005

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Getting Inside Deep Throat

Watching the new documentary Inside Deep Throat, I was struck by the idea that in the early ‘70s the best way to get into the legitimate film industry was through porn.

By the February 17, 2005

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Baby got Bak

Any certified Disney Classic in which a major character utters the line, “the fate of the village rests in your hands” had better have some major redeeming qualities.

By the February 17, 2005

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Kertesz captures the “decisive moment” at National Gallery

Dodging around other visitors in the National Gallery of Art, I worried that I didn’t have the aesthetic experience to do Andre Kertesz’s photography justice.

By the February 10, 2005