Leisure

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

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

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

Leisure

Al-Ani brings the desert to life at the Sackler Gallery

At Georgetown, you can’t walk through Red Square without meeting someone who’s lived in the Middle East. But beyond foreign-service-oriented institutions, there is a popular conception that the Middle East is an uninhabitable wasteland, immortalized by Gulf War news photography and Lawrence of Arabia. Iraqi-born artist Jananne Al-Ani aims to change that.

By August 30, 2012

Leisure

LaBeouf’s Lawless fails to ‘shine

Any film starring Shia LaBeouf sporting a questionable southern accent is already at a disadvantage, and it’s a handicap that the well-meaning Lawless fails to compensate for in the ways... Read more

By August 30, 2012

Leisure

Luke’s Lobster claws its way to the top of Potomac St.

In just three years, Luke Holden (MSB ’07) has shaken up the seafood scene in New York and Washington, D.C., bringing a bit of fresh and affordable Maine down the coast with the widely acclaimed Luke’s Lobster.

By August 30, 2012

Leisure

Critical Voices: Wild Nothing, Nocturne

The multitude of bands emerging in the dream pop genre mirrors an unfortunate truth about dreams: some are memorable, and some are not. Fortunately for Virginia Tech graduate Jack Tatum, his project, Wild Nothing, achieves the former on its second full-length release, Nocturne.

By August 30, 2012

Leisure

Critical Voices: Poor Moon, Poor Moon

With the success of 2011’s Helplessness Blues, any Fleet Foxes side project could easily have resulted in a successful mimicry of the original band. Members Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott, however, refused to succumb to this temptation while writing as Poor Moon. With the spin-off group’s debut self-titled album, Wargo, Wescott, and brothers Ian and Peter Murray have created a remarkable, self-standing LP.

By August 30, 2012