Leisure

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

Leisure

Who is Harvey Pekar?

Although comics may be the oldest narrative medium, comic creators are still marginalized as creators of a preadolescent art form. In the 1960s, R. Crumb, founder of the underground comic book movement, helped change that impression by introducing over-the-top sexual perversion into comics, revolutionizing them for an adult audience while managing to stay within the familiar framework of larger-than-life archetypal characters and animals.

By the September 4, 2003

Leisure

Hybrid Restaurants

As Georgetown students, we all know how to multitask. Whether we use Palm Pilots or Post-Its, read history reading in theology or talk to our parents as we walk to a party on O Street, doing just one thing at once is never enough. Most of us have even ventured into the world of multitasking while eating and drinking, planning group meetings at Darnall or breakup conversations over coffee.

By the September 4, 2003

Leisure

Good twin/bad twin

LEISURE BY JULIA COOKE What do pink-collared blouses turned into straightjackets and cheerleading uniforms doused in blood have in common? In Paula Vogel’s The Mineola Twins, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s newest production, both are integral components of each sister’s personal hell.

By the September 4, 2003

Leisure

40 years from Lincoln’s steps

Although classes had begun only a day earlier, Georgetown students eager to celebrate Thursday’s 40th anniversary commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, formed a line that quickly wound around the Village C staircase.

Buses that could hold only 25 people came and went on 15-minute intervals, frustrating the growing crowd of students.

By the September 4, 2003

Leisure

Queue and not you

LEISURE BY SONIA SMITH The day before Q and Not U was supposed to embark on their spring tour of the United States, drummer John Davis broke his foot while playing street hockey. While the timing of this break was certainly unfortunate-all the spring shows had to be cancelled to give Davis’ foot time to heal-Davis managed to find something positive about the situation.

By the August 28, 2003

Leisure

Better than nothing

You’re excited to be back on campus. You’re looking to get out, and you hear about a cheap, on-campus show of a band that you vaguely remember. What was the name of that song? “Good.” And the band name? Better than Ezra. Unfortunately, neither “good,” “better,” or “best” is an appropriate adjective for the NSO show this past Sunday in McDonough Gymnasium.

By the August 28, 2003

Leisure

Summer leftovers

While many Georgetown students doubtlessly spent this summer backpacking through barren stretches of Central Asia and others kept busy idling by pools in The Gambia with boarding school friends, others (like myself) spent the bulk of the summer doing mind-numbing office work in the District.

By the August 28, 2003

Leisure

Urban underbelly

by Tali Trigg

Imagine traveling around the world trying to find the ugliest possible places. Then imagine trying to simultaneously convey the ironic beauty and underlying destruction of these places. Edward Burtynsky, a Toronto photographer, has managed to do both by expertly locating and portraying sites that bear terrible witness to man’s excess of industrial waste.

By the August 28, 2003

Leisure

Bye Wesley

If you’re like most people, you arrived at college and spent your first five minutes of high-bandwidth-induced euphoria downloading important-sounding music you had always meant to learn to appreciate, like Bob Marley’s Legend. Then your music-stealing tastes turned to novelty songs, and you spent the rest of freshman year clogging the network by downloading such tracks as King Missle’s “Detachable Penis.

By the August 28, 2003

Leisure

This just in: stamps enrich life

LEISURE BY CHRIS JAROSCH If you still think that stamp collecting is extinct, there’s an entire museum solely dedicated to the history of stamps and the postal service ready and waiting to prove it to you.

By the August 21, 2003

Leisure

Hail Radiohead redux

Over the summer, Radiohead had indie rock aficionados more excited than a sugar-happy nine-year-old on his birthday-and all they did was release another album. When the group that is often called the Earth’s most relevant rock band plays, everyone listens.

By the August 21, 2003

Leisure

Colonial misadventures

Don’t Lets Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller Random House, $12.95 Although a grammar teacher would balk at the title, don’t let its wordiness fool you. In her memoir Don’t Lets Go To The Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller recounts with wonderful clarity her upbringing in Africa in the 1970s and 80s.

By the August 21, 2003

Leisure

Embellish!

Was your summer less than exciting? Maybe you sat on your fine ass watching three straight months of All My Children. If a first-year, perhaps you allowed your parents to convince you that college would entail a full summer of preparation and spent the entire time searching for the perfect shade of blue extra-long twin sheets.

By the August 21, 2003

Leisure

How to make a bad student film

Two weeks have passed since Georgetown third annual student film festival. In the interim, the Lord has risen on the third day, and we here at Voice Leisure have witnessed intrepid students dashing about with digital cameras in preparation for next year’s competition.

By the April 24, 2003

Leisure

It’s no weeping willow

Mark Barrionuevo listed several reasons for using the pseudonym Garcia Anthony for his debut novel, Raintree. “Spelling and correcting others’ spelling of my family name felt like spelling out my ethnicity,” Barrionuevo said. With this name change he also hopes to eliminate readers’ bias towards male or female authors by using an androgynous name.

By the April 24, 2003

Leisure

Sketches of strain

You know those people hanging out for peace in Red Square? Chances are nine out of 10 of their leaders will know artist/activist Seth Tobocman by the trail of his reproduced art. Political cartoonist Tobocman is coming to D.C.’s own Vertigo books to support his latest book, Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For My Parents, forthcoming later this month from Soft Skull Press.

By the April 24, 2003

Leisure

‘Elephant’ worth its weight in ivory

The White Stripes’ new album, Elephant, is being described by the music press as everything from this week’s album of the year, to a weaker, whiter rehash of the blues. A more accurate description of the minimalist duo’s latest release is a strong, hook-laden pop album tinged with blues and folk elements.

By the April 24, 2003

Leisure

Gypsy love

It’s that time of year again. Copley Lawn is a veritable lust den. If you can tear yourself away from the beach-towel saturated revelry, proceed to your nearest theatre and check out the D.C. International Film Fest. Now in its 17th year, the festival kicked off Wednesday night with a screening of John Malkovich’s directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs.

By the April 24, 2003

Leisure

Pioneering, sans covered wagons

“There are two types of people in this world: those who love Neil Diamond and those who don’t. I don’t.”

Jenny Manno (CAS ‘03) is quoting What About Bob? and talking about her run in backstage with the pop songwriter one night two summers ago. Like most college students, she has about a million CDs and has rocked many concerts, keeping her ticket stubs in a small album and collecting T-shirts from her favorite bands.

By the April 10, 2003

Leisure

Coat hangers & pacifiers

Shock Value: Fairly low. We recommend a picture of a baby with a nail through its head to boost the shock factor, making your message more pointed. Comments: Nervous system?... Read more

By the April 10, 2003