Leisure

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

Leisure

Critical Voices: Muse, The 2nd Law

Before Muse’s latest album dropped, front man Matthew Bellamy announced it as a “Christian gangsta rap jazz odyssey, with some ambient rebellious dubstep and face melting metal flamenco cowboy psychedelia.” That may sound like a bunch of attention-starved gobbledegook, but the album The 2nd Law lives up to this bizarre description. Managing to sound both like an iconic Muse album and an amalgamation of only the most diverse musical styles, 2nd Law descends into chaos while miraculously preventing the absurd mixture of influences from becoming repulsive.

By October 4, 2012

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Critical Voices: How to Dress Well, Total Loss

Nick Krell, under the moniker How to Dress Well, is at his best when his music feels personal and heartfelt. And on his sophomore release, Total Loss, Krell is undoubtedly at his best.

By October 4, 2012

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Idiot Box: I’ve seen those English dramas

This summer, I found myself taking a class at Fordham University that converted me from a skeptic to a believer. No, it wasn’t the standard philosophy or theology class that usually leads its students to classroom epiphanies. This was a class on early 20th century British literature, with a professor who was merciful enough to show movies or television shows during one of our inhumanly long classes per week. And I didn’t find God or purpose, but I found Downton Abbey.

By October 4, 2012

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Haute Mess: The runway in the White House

Fashion and politics lie on opposite ends of the spectrum, right? It is difficult to imagine that these two could possibly go hand in hand, since a ‘strong political figure’ is one who wears solely black and gray suits with an occasional touch of color in the form of a tie.

By October 4, 2012

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Pig Iron Theater Company partners with Georgetown

It’s not often that an experimental play touting a mix of Thoreau and reflection on Japanese natural disasters comes to Georgetown’s campus, but one has arrived--an autobiographical piece by avant-garde Japanese playwright Toshiki Okada, Zero Cost House is the product of a collaboration between Georgetown and acclaimed Pig Iron Theater Company. With the company coming to campus straight from the play’s premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, the Davis Performing Arts Center will be host to a weekend of actors doing everything from wearing rabbit costumes to playing the ukulele as they ponder Okada’s evolving attitude toward Walden in the context of Japan’s recent environmental disasters.

By September 27, 2012

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Lez’hur ledger: Women, diplomacy, and all that jazz at Kennedy

If you just glanced at the ads for the 2012 Thelonious Monk International Drums Competition you might have thought it was going to be just another jazz show at the Kennedy Center—buttoned up and impersonal, but still a straightforward show and contest.

By September 27, 2012

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Growing pains become pleasures in Chobsky’s Perks

The transition from book to the big screen is one widely feared by authors and audiences, as movies almost universally fail to live up to their printed predecessors. Proving the exception to this rule, The Perks of Being a Wallflower shines in the film adaptation of this coming-of-age tale, bringing heart and a star-studded cast together to capture the emotional roller coaster that is growing up.

By September 27, 2012

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Critical Voices: Lupe Fiasco, Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album

Lupe Fiasco has come a long way since his pop-rap days of “Touch the Sky” and “Superstar.” With a shift in focus towards social consciousness—and a new hairdo making him look like an older Chief Keefe—Mr. Fiasco has become a more aggressive and sophisticated hip-hop artist. This new style and attitude was first displayed in his mix tape Friend of the People, released last Thanksgiving. Friend was heavily criticized in a review on Pitchfork for being “sour, half-assed, and defensive,” and for failing to use “viable rap beats.” With his new album, Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album, all eyes were on Lupe to see if he addressed these faults.

By September 27, 2012

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Critical Voices: Mumford & Sons, Babel

Following three years of tours, Mumford & Sons is at last set to release its sophomore album. In a method contrary to popular practice, the English folk band has been road-testing material for the latest album, Babel, to perfect an already well-recognized sound. Though it is familiar, the resulting cacophony of acoustic instruments and front man Marcus Mumford’s rough, agonized vocals grows exhausting.

By September 27, 2012

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Plate of the union: It’s time to holla for challah

This summer, I found myself between an aisle of pan-Asian foods and shelves of Tex-Mex trying to recount the story of Passover to a salesclerk at Safeway. I needed matzo for breakfast, because I refuse to eat cereal as the most important meal of the day, and I know how to whip up matzo brei in less than 10 minutes.

By September 27, 2012

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You’ve got issues: ‘I’ve just got a lot of feelings.’

Dear Emlyn, I have a freshman who is in love with me. Is it ethical for me to make him take my laundry to the dry cleaner’s? Kisses, Jackie “Launderin’” DeGioia

By September 27, 2012

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Blimey, mate, these fish and chips are bloody brilliant

Given the predominance of exotic, ethnic style eateries opening by the dozen in the District, The Brixton, an upscale British pub on U St., may seem out of place. However, by paying tribute to the diversity of modern London and offering an extensive selection of British beers and spirits, The Brixton manages to bring a taste of authentic London to D.C., if not offering us the tastiest or most well-balanced bite.

By September 20, 2012

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No one knows what The Master is, but it’s provocative

Every so often, one comes across something—a book, a piece of art or music, a film—that intimidates and challenges to the point of breaking a kind of mental barrier. The Master, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s astounding new film, undeniably falls into this increasingly elusive category.

By September 20, 2012

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Disabled artists explore social issues

Although we can’t really generalize what makes a talented artist, many assume good health and a strong mind are both prerequisites. But the Ripley Center’s new exhibit, Sustaining/Creating: A National Juried Exhibition for Emerging Artists with Disabilities, Ages 16-25, which opened on Sept. 11 and runs until Jan. 2013, works to test this hypothesis. A single corridor on the third floor of the gallery features the works of 15 artists with disabilities. The collection, as the title notes, explores the theme of sustainability. Each artist shares his or her own viewpoint on the issue, in turn prompting the viewer to reflect on societal customs and social responsibility.

By September 20, 2012

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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