Leisure

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

Leisure

Transatlanticism – Death Cab for Cutie

Ben Gibbard has returned from his electronic pop side project, the Postal Service, with a vengeance as pleasant as vengeance can sound. Washington state’s most beloved indie pop group (at least here at the Voice) has dropped an album that quietly surpasses their previous work with the same subdued, beautifully melodic songwriting that has won them a devoted fan base over their six years of existence.

By the October 9, 2003

Leisure

The Decline of British Sea Power – British Sea Power

British Sea Power revels in eccentricity. Everything about them is quirky, from their name, an odd reference to their country’s maritime history, to their peculiar penchant for writing musical tributes to obscure Russian and Czechoslovakian historical figures.

By the October 9, 2003

Leisure

‘Lies’ illuminate, inspire

This much is clear: Al Franken is an asshole. He has an undying passion for confronting people whose political views he disagrees with and publicly humiliating them by calling them out on their deception. For example, reflecting on his discovery that current National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had made contradictory statements regarding the terrorism briefings she had been given by the outgoing Clinton Administration, Franken beams: “My instinct was to shout for joy and dance around the room, naked, celebrating the finding of a lie .

By the October 9, 2003

Leisure

Pretty girls exposed

To the uninitiated, the phrase “pretty girls make graves” used as a band name may evoke images of vicious, Courtney Love-esque harpies screaming over poorly orchestrated death metal. The name is borrowed from a song by ‘80s guitar pop geniuses The Smiths, but this band’s sound is somewhat closer to the maniacally aggressive punk and post-hardcore of At the Drive-In.

By the October 9, 2003

Leisure

Crossdressing Culkin

LEISURE BY ABBY LAVIN With murder by Drano injection, a gaggle of drag queens in booty shorts, and drugs aplenty, Party Monster seems to contain all the ingredients of a future cult classic. Combined with an all-star cast including a cross-dressing Marilyn Manson, Chloe Sevigny and the party monster himself, Macaulay Culkin, this movie seems to possess the formula for success.

By the October 9, 2003

Leisure

More ballyhoo

I’ll just come right out and say it; I am deeply ignorant of football. Hailing from football-maddened Texas, it seems impossible that the nuances of the game remain so utterly lost on me. But then again, I don’t even remember the Alamo. I’m using this chance to let everyone know I will not be in attendance at this weekend’s game, so I won’t spoil anyone’s spectator experience with my irritatingly basic questions about tackling or “downs.

By the October 9, 2003

Leisure

OutKast’s Big Boi on the ‘Speakerboxxx’

LEISURE BY KEVIN O’DONNELL These days rappers have traded in their 40s for Cristal, and their fixed-up Impalas for Escalades with spinning rims. Shallow materialism has compromised the integrity of a genre that remade the music industry in the ‘90s. OutKast’s last was one of the most relevant albums the hip-hop genre: the content of their songs eschewed the high-life consumption of their rapper compatriots.

By the October 2, 2003

Leisure

OutKast’s ‘The Love Below’ is candyland

Buttery, lacquered-piano plays over top of a strings section. As the sound rolls out with timpani drums, we’re left with Jimi Hendrix’s psychedelic wet dream on a very electrified guitar, before a brass flourish somehow transforms it all into a smooth jazz-inflected number.

By the October 2, 2003

Leisure

Looking for a futbol fix?

Soccer is immaculate. It’s a sport that combines strategy and physical prowess to such an extent that it becomes an art form-the only art form capable of igniting drunken pub fights and reviving latent country rivalries. But aside from all the international hype, there exists a small cult of jersey-clad Americans religiously waking up to watch their teams play live.

By the October 2, 2003

Leisure

Queer? Aie!

Around the early 1900’s people thought minstrel shows were really funny. And seriously, what’s funnier than a white guy in black face imitating one of those darn funny blacks, right? White racists laughed and blacks probably laughed, too. Even some white people who had black friends laughed.

By the October 2, 2003

Leisure

Prosit!

To the chagrin of the flip-flop loving students of Georgetown, the cold waltzed in this week in all of its frosty glory. But if anything makes college students happier than warm weather, it’s cold beer. The advent of fall finds consolation on this front, as Oktoberfest rolls in along with the chill in the air.

By the October 2, 2003

Leisure

G’town warehouse hosts film fest

LEISURE BY CHRIS NORTON AND MARY KATHERINE STUMP An non-air-conditioned warehouse with exposed plumbing isn’t the ideal location to hold a film festival. But with the south of France already taken, this warehouse, situated next to Blues Alley, was the next logical choice.

By and September 25, 2003

Leisure

A bride in Jerusalem

It’s morning. Roll out of bed. Walk out the door. Five soldiers with Kalashnikovs lounge idly against the rubble of a stone wall, joking among themselves while they carefully watch your apartment complex.

No, it’s not DPS on a power trip, at least not this time.

By the September 25, 2003

Leisure

RJD2 revealed

Hip-hop’s underground rattled when rapper El-P ever so bluntly declared on his acclaimed solo debut last year, Fantastic Damage: ” Signed to Rawkus? I’d rather be mouth fucked by Nazis unconscious.” Rawkus Records, the home of late-90s landmarks Soundbombing, Mos Def and El-P’s group Company Flow, was losing its grip on the ” it” label for underground hip-hop.

By the September 25, 2003

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‘Cat celebrates

If you went to Georgetown ten years ago, you would have just traded in your acid-washed jeans for plaid flannel shirts, and would be rocking hard to Nirvana. If anything, Georgetown today is more Avril than Kurt; the only plaid on campus exists in the form of miniskirts.

By the September 25, 2003

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Lost treasure

LEISURE BY KIM RINEHIMER Unprepared and much less enthused than your average GU junior abroad, the characters of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation find themselves in exotic and chaotic Tokyo. Lost in Translation brilliantly explores cultural disparities as well as the gulfs that can divide individuals.

By the September 18, 2003

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Palahniuk woos target audience with ‘Diary’

Art is effective when it admits to the full extent of the human condition, that the something in the air has a name. Keeping this in mind, read a few pages of Chuck Palahniuk in a well-lit and crowded area, and look in the direction of your choice. You will see a girl with good hair and an uneven gait-this girl is always there, appearing less frumpy than she thinks, and she is always a sex addict.

By the September 18, 2003

Leisure

Being the top dog

Questions plague mankind. What are we doing here? What do we know? What are we waiting for? Topdog/Underdog, a fierce new play penned by Suzan-Lori Parks, follows closely in the footsteps of playwrights Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard by delving right into such inquiry.

By the September 18, 2003

Leisure

Eat this

From Atkins to South Beach, there’s a diet out there for just about everyone. While most popular diets help you lose weight by controlling caloric intake and portion size, diet programs of the past took a much more effective approach: make the food so unappealing that you literally can’t eat it.

By the September 18, 2003

Leisure

Thrifty thrills

A hefty price tag has come to denote the following: quality goods, a designer outfit, or a new piece of clothing that looks 20 years old. Evidence of this phenomenon abounds in stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and Urban Outfitters, where retailers strive to make costly clothes that look like they were produced decades ago.

By the September 18, 2003