Leisure

‘Piano Lesson’ needs practice

The Black Theatre Ensemble’s production of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is a drama that hits a couple of marvelous keys but fails to sustain a unified melody. While often fascinating and touching, the production comes off as lackluster, failing to live up to its full potential.

By the Voice Staff February 6, 2003

Leisure

Supergroup Zwan zwucks

The problem with supergroups constructed from bits and pieces of other bands is that they often end up with the least essential component of the original—bringing with them the name association, but rarely the creativity, of their former group. Zwan is a band in this vein, bringing Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins), Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle) and David Pajo (Slint/Tortoise) together with less than outstanding results.

By the Voice Staff February 6, 2003

Leisure

‘Darko’ at midnight

Everyone, at some point, has had a dream that they are certain is real. Recently re-popularized by The Matrix, the real world versus dream world discussion was old even when John Keats asked, “Was it a vision, or a waking dream … do I wake or sleep?” Written and directed by Richard Kelly, the movie Donnie Darko offers a highly original and challenging take on this age-old question.

By the Voice Staff February 6, 2003

Leisure

Funny sign

“It’s a funny sign, isn’t it?” said the GUTV kid with the shoulder-mounted video camera. He barreled down the hill from Leavey towards Lot T, calling attention to the large, electronic flip-sign at the entrance. It is 2:15 a.m. Tuesday and what normally should say “Road Closed” now reads “No War.

By the Voice Staff February 6, 2003

Leisure

Ride the no wave

Perhaps only a few of us remember the decadence of new wave in the ‘80s via the memorable Flock of Seagulls hairdos of our older siblings, and their moodiness that precipitated endless spins of Depeche Mode’s Violator. Maybe we relive the magic through Behind the Music’s profile of 1982.

By the Voice Staff February 6, 2003

Leisure

Bash delves, emotes, disturbs

For a campus where fraternities and sororities do not officially exist, there has been a recent influx of things Greek at Georgetown. Bash, Neil LaBute’s examination of psychology on the edge, is laden with allusions to ancient Greece: fate, mythology, classical tragedy and even a “Delphi University.

By the Voice Staff January 30, 2003

Leisure

Arena stages play gone Wilder

Some productions bear down on you with a fierce, unblinking eye. Others feel so lifeless, you find yourself wishing they’d blink, just once, to indicate that they haven’t totally expired. Theophilus North, the latest from Arena Stage, possesses flashes of the former category’s power but large doses of the latter’s docility. A jaunty tale of light angst, the play is adapted from the novel of the same name by Thornton Wilder.

By the Voice Staff January 30, 2003

Leisure

City of God–an evil god

After watching City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles, one leaves convinced that the scariest thing in the world is a child with a gun. “A kid? I smoke, I snort, I’ve killed and robbed a man,” says one anonymous character. Groups of single-digit-aged boys run rampant and buck the hell out of each other. With little remorse and fueled by pot-induced bravado, there’s no telling what these brats can do.

By the Voice Staff January 30, 2003

Leisure

Voice Leisure retro reads

Looking for something awesome and totally rocking to chase away those winter “blahs” and other emotions best expressed by non-words? Try a good book. Or, better yet, try the good book. Or just read the Bible. This “blast-from-the-past” has it all—action, adventure, betrayal, smiting, psalms, zombies, giants, Pharisees, morals and sects. Lots of hot, steamy sects.

By the Voice Staff January 30, 2003

Leisure

Find the fish

If you like seafood, gritty urban warehouses and legendary Washington traditions, then take some time this weekend to check out two of the more culturally diverse places to be found within the District’s auspicious confines—Maine Avenue Fish Market and Capital City Market, also known as the D.

By the Voice Staff January 30, 2003

Leisure

Protest fashion worth fighting for

With an estimated 259,342 people in attendance, this weekend’s anti-war protests grabbed the attention of many a District resident. However, none were more impressed than D.C.’s fashion gurus, who were stunned by the arrival of this season’s protest couture.

By the Voice Staff January 23, 2003

Leisure

Roberta Flack: singer, storyteller, enchantress

Roberta Flack performed Monday on the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration sponsored by the President’s Office. The performance set an attendance record, drawing over 8,000 students and other fans of Flack’s music together to celebrate the life of Dr.

By the Voice Staff January 23, 2003

Leisure

Mugging at the library

The Corp’s most recent business endeavor, a caf? on the second floor of Lauinger Library, opened Tuesday to mild, librarian-approved fanfare. Midnight Mug brings the number of caf?s on this campus to four, if you count the Starbucks in Leavey.

If the number of caf?s per capita is an indicator of general pleasantness, it would seem that as a university, we are doing fairly well.

By the Voice Staff January 23, 2003

Leisure

This German festival lacks sausage

What would you do with a hundred dollars? You probably wouldn’t make a short indie film in German. And that’s exactly why you’re not featured in 99 Euro Films (euro is the European word for dollar), a collection of shorts being shown as part of Visions Cinema’s week-long New Films from Germany series.

By the Voice Staff January 23, 2003

Leisure

Shake that thang

Remember when you were a little kid and there just seemed to be absolutely nothing to do? You would walk around sighing, lamenting your existence because life was so damn dull. Remember what your mom, clearly oblivious to your utter unhappiness, used to give as “advice”? Let me refresh your memory—”Make your own fun!” Interestingly enough, Mom’s words are coming back to haunt all the indie rock kids, because kids are sick of moping (Chris Carraba eat your heart out).

By the Voice Staff January 23, 2003

Leisure

Audience touched by Angels

Controversy is always hot, and the one surrounding Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: Millennium Approaches is alone enough to incite interest in Mask & Bauble’s newest production. A drama that circles around the theme of homosexual love, Angels in America is directed by Caitlin Lowans (SFS ‘03), who proposed producing the play after the disappointing outcome of the LGBTQ resource center campaign.

By the Voice Staff January 16, 2003

Leisure

Film websites the perfect cure for the work ethic

One week into the semester and you’ve already run out of ways to procrastinate? No problem. A couple of websites exist that, once discovered, promise to kidnap and murder every second of your free time—Ifilm.com and AtomFilms.com. The former advertises itself as possessing the “world’s largest collection of short films and movie clips available to watch online” and the latter is semi-serious, chock full of truncated pieces of cinematic glory.

By the Voice Staff January 16, 2003

Leisure

Morcheeba–ha, get it?

The term trip-hop, for those readers who are neither British nor constantly depressed, refers to a style of music consisting of mellow, bass-heavy hip-hop beats and vocals that ranging anywhere from soulful, sultry singing to rapping with emphasis on flow (depending on the group).

By the Voice Staff January 16, 2003

Leisure

Porkestra plays music, comes w/ rice

Tonight the Grog & Tankard bar in Upper Georgetown will feature three local bands-The Bicycle Thieves, Alfonso Velez and Moo Shoo Porkestra-in a benefit for D.C.-area AIDS relief organizations. Composed largely of Georgetown students, Moo Shoo Porkestra is a five-piece rock band that includes lead guitarist Dave Salvo (COL ‘05), guitarist Aaron Shneyer (COL ‘05), bassist Justin Shuster (COL ‘05), trombonist Ted Berg (COL ‘03) and drummer Matt Harty, a senior at American University.

By the Voice Staff January 16, 2003