Leisure

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

Leisure

Picasso ducks in to ponder, titillate

When one begins to question the multi-faceted nature of inspiration and creativity, whether artistic, scientific or purely commercial, there are several things that one must keep in mind. First, such a difficult question is best left in the able hands of someone like Steve Martin, and second, any reasonable response must be tempered with a fair amount of dick jokes.

By the October 10, 2002

Leisure

Beck shows different face on new album

Is irony dead? After the tragic events of last Sept. 11, it was easy to postulate that the stock-in-trade of several lettered generations would be thrown asunder in a grand upwelling of earnestness. Even if by all accounts irony remains alive and well, it seems Beck chose to heed that memo regardless.

By the October 10, 2002

Leisure

Stones still alive in photos

Walking through the Govinda Gallery’s current exhibition, Rolling Stones 40×20, you immediately begin to wonder what you’re not seeing. Of course, there’s a picture of Keith Richards snorting coke at Joshua Tree National Park, prints from the wine-soaked debauchery of the Beggar’s Banquet album shoot and countless images of Mick Jagger in various states of intoxication and subsequent hangover.

By the October 10, 2002

Leisure

Sparta hits the road

Matt Miller, the bassist for Sparta, recently spoke to Voice Leisure about the band’s current tour. Formed from the remains of the band At the Drive-In, Sparta has since signed to Dreamworks Records and released an EP, Austere, and a new album, Wiretap Scars.

By the October 10, 2002

Leisure

Workshed!

There are things that happen in October that don’t really happen any other time of the year: Columbus does a little jig in his grave as we celebrate his blatant acts of genocide, little kids run around with Pok?man dolls or Gamecubes or whatever kids salivate over these days, and Safeway beefs up its usually shabby supply of candy so we can continue to be nutritionally deprived, but with a more diverse selection.

By the October 10, 2002

Leisure

Band hits campus, campus hits bottle

If you didn’t make it to the O.A.R. concert on Friday night in McDonough Gymnasium, it’s likely that one of your friends did. In fact, that friend probably called you from his cell phone in the middle of the show and was probably standing right next to me, talking about how he was “sooooo wasted.

By the October 3, 2002

Leisure

A little Love, mostly Anger

Once upon a time, there lived a lawyer who cared. Imagine: A driven, self-serving man from a privileged background makes a name for himself as a partner at a prestigious law firm, then throws it all away to serve the unfortunate and marginalized out of a run-down basement office in the shoddy part of town.

By the October 3, 2002

Leisure

Video Video

Let’s face it. Midterms are starting, and some of us just don’t have the time for full-on cultural revolution. Yet even in the downtime of a revolution, we must still try to keep the hearts and minds of the people. To keep the spirit alive this week if you are too tired to head out to a rock show or check out a museum, hit up a local video store and check out some flicks that have been wrongfully ignored by the masses.

By the October 3, 2002

Leisure

On Instigator, Miller embraces new sound

Rhett Miller is in love. He’s in love in a way that appeals to cynic and romanticalike. He’s so damn in love he can make all 12 songs on his new album, The Instigator, love songs. While references to the likes of Kafka, Air Supply and the works of Don DeLillo might ensure that his songs won’t find wide radio play anytime soon, each of Miller’s love songs is crafted to be instantly singable even if you have yet to learn the words.

By the October 3, 2002

Leisure

Solar sportz

As any mathlete or quiz bowler can tell you, experiencing the thrill, the palpable rush of no-holds barred competition doesn’t require heavy exertion. Racing to solve for x, y, and, yes, z in time to beat the competition and hold on to your lead is as intoxicating a feeling as you’ll find anywhere (outside of three gin and tonics).

By the October 3, 2002

Leisure

Buzz is dead; long live Buzz

Last Wednesday, Buzzlife Promotions announced that Buzz, its weekly club event at D.C.’s Nation, was canceled without future plans to resume. Buzz had been held every Friday night at Nation (1014 Half St., S.E.) for the past nine years and had come to be regarded as one of the premier club events in the United States.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

Ladytron: Rehash or renaissance?

So new wave is back. This whole ‘80s revivalist thing and all its oft-cited trappings?President Bush, corporate greed and, just maybe, a decent Georgetown basketball team?have tracked a parallel course across lesser-known music circles through media spanning from Omaha indie new wavers The Faint to Brooklyn’s electro club renaissance.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

Russian pop legend swept away in tragedy

When James Dean was killed in a high-speed car accident on Sept. 30, 1955 at the age of 24, the actor became a symbol for a forgotten generation of youth living through the marked cultural shift of post-war America. Rarely can one individual embody and express in his art the fears and hopes of an entire generation, and yet today on the other side of the world, we are seeing the tragic story of Russia’s James Dean.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

Feel my pain, but don’t smell my hair

Bright Eyes takes the stage last Sunday at the 9:30 Club. The crowd claps. The crowd looks down, stares at feet. Bright Eyes bangs out first song, lead singer Connor Oberst warbles another epic of woe and, well, more woe. Crowd claps, brushes artificially black hair out of eyes, becomes eerily silent and fixes gaze at feet.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

Bon temps with Bonnard

There are those who will scoff at a painting simply because its subject matter is recognizable, those who will proclaim that it just doesn’t “do anything new.” Although art that breaks boundaries, like Duchamp’s “Fountain” (in actuality, an inverted urinal), are vital in the flux of artistic movements, there is more to art than pure invention.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

Staring into the void

The conventional wisdom about Georgetown is simple: We’re a bunch of overambitious, self-important tools, willing to do anything to get ahead. Jason Ryan (MSB ‘04) and John Menzel (CAS ‘04) don’t buy that for a second. As far as these two students are concerned, this campus should be every bit as laid-back, apathetic and downright indifferent as any other campus, and it’s this slacker Weltanschauung, bubbling under this campus like barely-restrained Mount St.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

A heyday redux

Every city has its heyday. Currently, New York City and Omaha, Neb. seem to be cleaning up with hit bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bright Eyes, respectively. Being a part of that wave is always a rush?somehow it makes you feel like you had a hand in their fame.

By the September 26, 2002

Leisure

Kaydee tested, Mason approved?

As a sophomore, David Appelbaum (CAS ‘03) wrote an article in The Hoya chronicling the lack of academic and technical support for filmmaking at Georgetown. Tonight, having overcome the very barriers cited in that article two years ago, his new film Representing You will premiere in front of a Georgetown audience.

By the September 19, 2002

Leisure

Black House brings slammers to campus

Our ability to use language is one of our defining characteristics as a species. From sounds that become morphemes, morphemes that become words and words that combine to form complex narratives and dialogues, we convey our innermost thoughts and intellectual workings through language.

By the September 19, 2002

Leisure

Studio reveals Privates

In the contemporary world, Europeans and Americans continually search for ways to come to terms with a shameful history of colonialism and domination. Rather than critically examine this embarrassing past, however, most Westerners are content to compartmentalize and bury the sordid topic altogether.

By the September 19, 2002