Leisure

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

Leisure

Quartet overcomes off-key moments

The feel-good movie about retirees making the most of their twilight years has practically become a genre in itself, one that has seemed to reach an apex recently with the release of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Hope Springs, that Meryl Streep flick involving a week of old-age marriage counseling and its accompanying awkwardness. Though sure crowd-pleasers for the senior contingent, these films rely a little too heavily on predictable carpe diem tropes to pass the test of time for younger generations. Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, however, manages to avoid such pitfalls.

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

Wake and First Bake

Of the few things worthy of a 7 a.m. wake-up, the new bakery and coffee shop First Bake at parent restaurant Farmers Fishers Bakers is one. I discovered the shop one sleepy, misty morning walking down to the harbor for some coffee and a quiet study spot.

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

Smithsonian’s Nam June Paik puts the “vision” in television

There’s something to be said about the guy who coined the term “Electronic Superhighway” before Facebook was around to help you keep you in contact with your roommate.

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

Critical Voices: Tegan and Sara, Heartthrob

An indie act’s transition into the mainstream is often fraught with risk, the familiar accusation of “selling out” typically bubbling to the surface before you can say, “radio single.” Treading this pop-laden path deftly is a daunting task, one that Canadian twins Tegan and Sara, unfortunately, fail to achieve as they make a deliberate effort to infuse more pop and electronic influences into their sound.

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

Critical Voices: Ducktails, The Flower Lane

Albums seldom take the form of a holistic work—from the cover art to the music—in a culture geared toward chart-topping singles. This idea of a whole product at times proves detrimental if treated as an end in itself. Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile’s solo project Ducktails, for instance, delivers a fourth studio album with a clear focus on unity of the LP without the benefits that often accompany such strategies. In spite of solid production and an aura best described as pleasant, The Flower Lane falls short of memorable.

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

Paper View: Hardly a trivial pursuit

As a young child, I can fondly remember rushing to finish my dinner and guzzle down my glass of milk to get in front of the TV. “Finish your veggies, Keaton,” my mom would say as I shied away from the mound of asparagus, “and then you can go watch television.” But unlike other seven-year-olds eager to catch the latest episode of Even Stevens or Hey Arnold!, I was stoked about my half-hour daily trivia session with Alex Trebek on Jeopardy!.

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

Loose Cannon: Beer is good, people are crazy

After the physical stress of 11 days of straight boozing that is add/drop week, my body was in some serious pain. I had clearly had around 15 too many Hot Chicks and not nearly enough sleep. I knew that the only thing that could make me feel like a human being again was a serious detox, but I wanted my detox to be something cool, trendy and obviously not something anyone else had done before. (Because if anyone else had ever done it, I would be just like every other unimaginative soulless pre-professional Barbour coat-wearing Georgetown student.)

By January 31, 2013

Leisure

A meal fit for schmiels

DGS Delicatessen aims to bring classic Jewish cooking to Dupont Circle. Advertising itself as a “Restaurant, Sandwich Shop, and Bar,” the deli takes a modern approach to Jewish cooking. While such an approach may seem refreshing, however, it renders the word “delicatessen” almost arbitrary.

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Ballin’ at the Inauguration, or, Stevie for president

At first, when I woke up the morning after the Inaugural Ball, I thought the cheeky bloggers over at Buzzfeed had stolen my angle for this Lez’hur. There it was at the top of my morning Twitter feed: “The Inaugural Ball Was Just Like Prom.”

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Renwick: Gallery of the 21st century

It’s not often that yarn sculptures foretell the future of art, but the Smithsonian’s latest exhibit hardly meets one’s traditional expectations of craftsmanship. The 40 under 40: Craft Futures exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery arrives to D.C. 40 years after the museum’s founding in 1972, showcasing a vast range of craft art made post-9/11, when the “20th century effectively ended.” The exhibit effectively demonstrates to viewers the new directions of art in the 21st century, combining every medium from ceramics and metalwork to industrial design and installation art.

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Mark Wahlberg introduces mediocrity into Broken City

The game of good cop/bad cop is a familiar one, having been played countless times by directors in the detective genre. Our protagonist shifts from one side of the law to the other, bringing a question of ethics to the forefront of a film’s consciousness. The Book of Eli director Allen Hughes’ Broken City is hardly a departure from this ho-hum yet satisfying formula, but it muddles the narrative structure by thrusting a complex and intricate corruption drama into the mix for the viewer to digest. Themes of sex and power, good and evil in a corrupt city unfortunately become lost in the shuffle that is an unsustainably convoluted web of stories.

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Critical Voices: Ra Ra Riot, Beta Love

As is the case with all instruments, synthesizers demand moderation and proper place within a finished musical product. Such devices are hardly appropriate in a full-blown experimental framework, particularly one that lasts hardly 30 minutes. Syracuse-based Ra Ra Riot, however, ignores these practices on the indie rock band’s third studio album, Beta Love, bringing an unpolished, unnatural, and chaotic creation into the world.

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Reel Talk: Taking care of showbiz

We live in a sad world when Twilight sequels sell out weeks before they are released. Fortunately for the film industry, however, a new generation of production and distribution companies has turned heads with the innovation of profitable art house films.

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Critical Voices: Bad Religion, True North

After almost two years of rumors and speculation, Bad Religion has finally released their 16th album, True North. Since their start in 1979, the punk rock band has become known for their three-part harmonies, intellectual lyrics and religious commentary and their latest opus is no different. As in the past, they continue to use their music to tell a story. For this album, the narrative is all about finding one’s way in the world, using an internal compass to find the way to “true north.”

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Bunanameh more than ‘meh’

Buna Alkhas experienced 25 years of estrangement from his motherland, Iran, and from his father, the renowned Iranian-Assyrian artist, poet, and translator Hannibal Alkhas. This exile transformed Alkhas while he made his way around the world, while back home Iran was pulled through a totally polarizing metamorphosis.

By January 24, 2013

Leisure

Theater J brings Israeli politics to the Davis Center

Boged (Traitor): An Enemy of the People, showing in Davis Performing Arts Center from Jan. 15 to Feb. 3, is an inspiring play, covering delicate themes of corruption, greed, and power. Largely based on Henrik Ibsen’s late nineteenth century opus, Boged effectively moves Ibsen’s story into contemporary Israel, but the relatable narrative could very well have taken place here in America.

By January 17, 2013

Leisure

Zero Dark Thirty includes total of zero dull moments

Arguably the most incendiary scenes in Zero Dark Thirty, the remarkable new film from Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, are in the very opening shots. The image of a political prisoner suspended from the ceiling by chains and subjected to waterboarding has incited a flurry of controversy across a range of both media and political platforms, establishing itself as a lightning rod for the discussion of torture’s role in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the ethics of using such methods at all.

By January 17, 2013

Leisure

Americanization: What the pho?

When I left my small Midwestern town and moved to D.C., I promised myself I would embrace the cultural diversity of my new metropolitan home. So when I heard of the recent opening of Sprig & Sprout, it was with an exotic culinary experience in mind that I decided to make the trek up Wisconsin to indulge in some student budget-friendly Vietnamese-American food.

By January 17, 2013

Leisure

Critical Voices: A$AP, Long.Live.A$AP

A$AP Rocky’s momentum since he first released his mixtape Live.Love.A$AP a year and a half ago is somewhat of an enigma. A little time and a $3 million record deal with Sony later, the 24-year-old Harlem native released his debut studio album, Long.Live.A$AP, chronicling his rags to riches stories, addressing beef in the industry, his love affair with fashion, and, of course, his love of women.

By January 17, 2013

Leisure

Critical Voices: Yo La Tengo, Fade

From its roots in Hoboken to its namesake as the Spanish translation of a baseball outfielder calling, “I got it,” Yo La Tengo emerges as a distinctly American band. In spite of this tradition and a nearly 30-year track record of releasing quality material, YLT has earned the undeserved reputation as a cult band with a narrow niche. The indie outfit’s 13th studio album shatters this perception, transcending the predictable formula that often comes with such lengthy existence. Fade instead becomes a universally appealing, whole, and startlingly vibrant LP that fails to exhibit a single weakness.

By January 17, 2013