Leisure

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

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

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

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

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

Leisure

That new fall feeling

The Fairline Parkway’s self-titled debut album off Atlanta-based Lazyline Records is meant for autumn. It is a “comfort album” for when the weather starts to get chilly and the schoolwork starts to pile up. Like an overcast day, The Fairline Parkway makes you want to turn off the heat, curl up and contemplate the mysteries of life with your closest friends .

By the September 19, 2002

Leisure

Buzz closes after nine years

In a sad turn of events for District clubgoers, Buzz, a weekly dance party that has been held at Nation (1015 Half St., S.E.) for the past nine years, has unexpectedly closed, effective immediately. Buzzlife Productions, which ran the event every Friday night, announced the closing on its website Wednesday evening.

By the September 19, 2002

Leisure

Cinema & spice

For all those D.C. residents who want to check out the Kennedy Center but don’t have the desire to see the National Symphony Orchestra or Shear Madness, the next two weeks provide you with a perfect reason: The American Film Institute Theater is hosting the fifth Latin American Film Festival from Sept.

By the September 19, 2002

Leisure

Anthems examines D.C. a year on

Washington is a city that often seems to lack a unified voice. From Anacostia to Capitol Hill, from Adams Morgan to Georgetown, there could hardly be a more disparate half million people. In the wake of last September, the question of a common identity for Washington has attracted new attention, and in its first show of the season, Arena Stage seeks to find an anthem befitting our impossibly diverse city.

By the September 12, 2002

Leisure

Egypt comes alive … well, not literally.

Many people would jump at the chance to see the pyramids in Egypt or the treasures of Tutenkhamen’s tomb. Just about anyone would if given the opportunity to see such wonders up close, but there’s always some excuse not to up and fly to the Middle East?school, work, geopolitical upheaval.

By the September 12, 2002

Leisure

Kurosawa classic hits AFI

When watching one of the “greatest films of all time,” there is often a troubling disconnect between the amount of pleasure one gets and the amount one thinks one should be receiving. It is difficult to fully enjoy a film with the sword of praise constantly dangling over one’s head.

By the September 12, 2002

Leisure

O-ska-ma bin Laden?

Dan Geller and Amy Dykes are more attractive than most indie rockers. Geller’s chiseled features and Dykes’ head of platinum-blond hair do nothing to suggest them as unintended victims of last year’s terrorist attacks. But the’ve paid a price?the duo call themselves “I Am the World Trade Center,” and have recorded under that name for several years.

By the September 12, 2002

Leisure

Photo realism

I can’t seem to find words eloquent enough to describe the emotions I felt a year and a day ago. Perhaps some of you can’t, either. But on that day, hundreds of people found something that could speak for them: They picked up a camera, be it film or digital, still or video, and allowed that device to capture what their eyes could not or would not believe.

By the September 12, 2002