Leisure

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

Leisure

Short films measure up

As the digital age hems in the average American attention span, short films have become an immensely gratifying form of entertainment. A little over 10 minutes each, the short films of this year’s D.C. Shorts Film Festival allowed for a wildly entertaining celebration of the concise. The festival, the largest of its kind on the East Coast, ended this Sunday after featuring 145 films from 23 countries. It attracted hundreds of professional filmmakers and thousands more film enthusiasts to venues across the District

By September 20, 2012

Leisure

Critical Voices: Kanye West Cruel Summer

The goal of Kanye West Presents GOOD Music: Cruel Summer, was to show that Kanye West can transcend his larger-than-life ego and make room for members of his label, GOOD Music Records, to pen the quippy rap hooks ready for pop radio. Unsurprisingly, Kanye couldn’t handle being in the background—his hands are all over this album, dominating every track either lyrically or in production. As a result, when taken as an effort to promote GOOD Music as a roster of legends, this album is mediocre at best.

By September 20, 2012

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Killers, Battle Born

Four years is a long time to keep fans waiting, especially with the crazed fan base that the Killers enjoy. The band’s last album, Day & Age (2008), turned out one major smash hit, “Human,” with a chorus that unfailingly inspires sing-alongs while creating confusion about how “dancer” is somehow the opposite of “human.” However, on that electronia- and disco-inspired album, the band otherwise failed to produce the kind of sweeping, energetic anthems of 2004’s Hot Fuss and 2006’s Sam’s Town which made them such a deservedly successful group.

By September 20, 2012

Leisure

Idiot Box: Only American Idol’s got talent

To members of our generation, there were a few common debates that raged among middle-schoolers: Backstreet Boys or N*SYNC? Pokémon or Digimon? And, perhaps the most divisive, Britney or Christina?

By September 20, 2012

Leisure

Haute Mess: Fashion your seatbelts D.C.

As New York Fashion Week comes to a close, the 16th annual Spring/Summer D.C. Fashion Week is just kicking into high gear. At the ceremony’s opening this past Monday, Mayor Vincent Gray expressed his hopes for a more sartorial District. “When you think of Washington, D.C. the first thing that comes to mind is a government town,” said Gray.

By September 20, 2012

Leisure

Pulitzer-nominated wrestling play is a major knockout

We’ve known it all along, though we still revel in every outrageous, distorted reflection of true life that is thrown at us—in television, “reality” is a term that should be taken with a sizeable grain of salt. The world of televised wrestling, powered by the sheer volume of entertainment that raw human conflict can provide, is surprisingly no different from the carefully engineered documentations of beauty pageants or Kardashian daily living pervading programs which ought to be inviting skepticism.

By September 13, 2012

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From Billie Holiday to Lady Gaga, Women Rock the NMWA

Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion and Power was born out of an oft-asked question in American cultural history: “Where are the women?” While this query may seem largely irrelevant to a generation that grew up with Madonna and Beyoncé, Women Who Rock, the newest exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, reminds audiences of the long struggle female artists have endured while seeking to break the barriers of the boys’ club that is rock and roll.

By September 13, 2012

Leisure

Losers win at Washington Post HQ

In the current election cycle, we are seeing a myriad of campaign signs, with loud colors and clever catch phrases trying to convince us of a candidate’s merit. Come November, these signs will be taken down, thrown away, and only the winners remembered. Artist Nina Katchadourian is out to change that. In her current street art display Monument to the Unelected, she gives proper—albeit comical—acknowledgement to all 56 presidential runners-up.

By September 13, 2012

Leisure

Welcome, Union Market

This past Saturday, Union Market, an artisanal bazaar housed in an industrial warehouse, opened up its doors for the first time since 1989. Located on 1309 5th Street near Gallaudet University, Union Market has a long history of serving as a farmer’s market that has catered to its customers by providing the finest local ingredients served by exceptional local artisans.

By September 13, 2012

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Critical Voices: Little Big Town, Tornado

Nashville-based country quartet Little Big Town has seldom aimed for fame and a mainstream sound; instead, the band, which consists of two male/female couples, has released four albums centered on harmonies and a rotation of lead vocalists. But with their fifth studio album, Tornado, the band members have begun to rely heavily on electric instrumentation—the obvious result of a recent partnership with producer Jay Joyce. The result: a southern-rock-meets-bluegrass summer record perfect for a backwoods Mississippi barbeque.

By September 13, 2012

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Critical Voices: David Byrne and St. Vincent, Love This Giant

While David Byrne and St. Vincent might seem an unconventional match, Love This Giant, their first collaborative release, makes for a noteworthy album that builds on the songwriters’ distinct backgrounds.

By September 13, 2012

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You’ve Got Issues: Love’s labours and Leo’s

Dear Emlyn, I am under 21 and don’t have a fake ID. I tend to like the older ladies here at Georgetown, and sometimes I snag a gorgeous junior or senior and take her out to coffee. Here’s the issue– when it’s time to step it up from a coffee date and take her for a nice dinner, I sort of hit a wall. I can’t buy her wine at a restaurant, can’t take her out to a bar or a club, etc. It sucks. Help please! —Young Luv

By September 13, 2012

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Plate of the Union: Guess who’s coming to dinner

I probably should have followed my mother’s advice: never take food from strangers. But that’s exactly what I did last week, as I rang the doorbell of a Dupont apartment and made my way up a flight of tiled stairs. A woman I had never met before welcomed me into her dining room and offered me a glass of water as the smell of grilled halloumi cheese wafted in from the kitchen.

By September 13, 2012

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Georgetown alum’s Sundance breakout is no snooze

“Remember: you’re on my side.” In his closely autobiographical film, Sleepwalk with Me, Mike Birbiglia (COL ‘00) plays a struggling comic who seems to realize that he’s not always very likable. A pizza addict and sleepwalker with dangerous tendencies, who makes countless slip-ups while questioning an idyllic relationship, Matt Pandamiglio (Birbiglia) can seem quite a pathetic specimen of humanity.

By September 6, 2012

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Steinmetz soars in Nat Geo Exhibit

George Steinmetz may reside in the uninspiring state of New Jersey, but he overcomes his underwhelming surroundings with entertaining and adventurous photography. In Desert Air: Photographs by George Steinmetz, his new exhibit in the National Geographic Museum, Steinmetz captures the world, from bathers in the Dead Sea to flamingos in Iran, from his own special vantage point—strapped to a 30 mile-per-hour motorized paraglider.

By September 6, 2012

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Del Frisco’s Grille overdoes its NY strips and its service

Adjacent to the Mall, the White House, and Pennsylvania Avenue’s countless white-marble federal edifices, Del Frisco’s Grille is everything you would expect of a corporate-esque steakhouse that lives by the maxim “Meat Up. Drink Up.”

By September 6, 2012

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Critical Voices: Stars, The North

“Well, the only way I see this happening is in an extended ride North.” This spoken-word introduction, borrowed from Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s 1967 documentary The Idea of North, begins The North, the sixth studio album from Toronto indie outfit Stars. The intro hearkens back to the group’s origins and the success of 2004’s Set Yourself on Fire, and indeed could not be more appropriate—a return to the basics results in an album that, while somewhat formulaic, is emblematic of a sound best described as uniquely Stars.

By September 6, 2012

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Critical Voices: Imagine Dragons, Night Vision

Imagine Dragons is one of those bands that you find filling in the spaces on the radio, garnering DJs’ marginal interest but constantly outplayed by the Katy Perrys of the world. Obviously, airtime does not equate to musical quality, but Imagine Dragons deserves to get some commercial success.

By September 6, 2012

Leisure

Idiot Box: Television’s Breaking Point

In 2008, television audiences met the world’s most pitiful man: an overqualified and underpaid high school chemistry teacher, 50 years old and the breadwinner for his pregnant wife and disabled son. And to complicate matters, he’s just been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. In his quest to secure enough money for his family to survive—about $700,000—Walter White pairs up with a junkie-cum-former student to cook crystal meth.

By September 6, 2012

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Haute Mess: Fall into Georgetown fashion

This year’s fall collections showcased everything from quintessentially British garb to traditional American heritage looks. Although some high fashion is a little too avant-garde for school, there are some looks that will keep you looking fit for the runway, and for class.

By September 6, 2012