Leisure

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

Leisure

Critical Voices: Los Campesinos!, Hello Sadness

Welsh indie-pop band Los Campesinos! has just put out their fourth album in four years. While some artists choose to evolve their sound dramatically between each release, Los Campesinos! have opted to stay more or less the same. Hello Sadness is in many ways the same album as the band’s first effort, Hold on Now Youngster—lead singer Gareth Campesinos! is still rambling through eclectic lyrics about love and loss.

By November 17, 2011

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Critical Voices: Childish Gambino, Camp

After putting out several free mixtapes in the past two years, comedian-cum-rapper Donald Glover is releasing his debut album, Camp, under the moniker Childish Gambino. Glover’s intelligent and creative lyrics are often as hilarious as his stand-up comedy and as crowd-pleasing as his character Troy on the NBC comedy Community.

By November 17, 2011

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Throwback Jack: When students had it maid

As CHARMS surveys and roommate agreements attest, a major factor in creating harmonious living arrangements is a mutually agreeable cleaning regimen. Nowadays, who cleans what and when is an issue that students must work out among themselves, but for Hoyas of the 1950s and ‘60s, roommates never needed to quarrel over cleaning duties. They had maids. And when the maids stopped coming, they rallied together and quarreled with University administrators.

By November 17, 2011

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Whiskey, cigarettes, and suicide

With smoking ashtrays and half-empty whiskey glasses littering the set, it would hardly seem shocking if Don Draper strode across the stage for The Deep Blue Sea. A dark domestic drama set in post-war England, The Deep Blue Sea gains its strength through a meticulous attention to detail.

By November 10, 2011

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Whiskey Business: Where the streets have no laws

Having spent the last spring and summer abroad, I often find myself reminiscing about my golden days in Europe. Yes, the scenery was beautiful, the art collections were often mind-blowing, and the accents were charming, but that’s not what I find myself dwelling on most often. It’s drinking in public.

By November 10, 2011

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Byte Me: Facebook’s evil twins

The Winklevoss twins are at it again. The first time they infamously took on Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for an exclusive collegiate social network, they walked away with a $65 million settlement in exchange for dropping all charges against Facebook. The settlement, three years later, is now valued at $200 million. But why stop at $200 million when you can get $650 million? The Winklevii are back, claiming that Facebook overvalued their stock when they made the first deal, which, had it been valued correctly, would be worth $650 million today.

By November 10, 2011

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Critical Voices: Atlas Sound, Parallax

Bradford Cox can sing. This may come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Deerhunter front man, whose musical modus operandi has proven for years to consist of complex, experimental instrumentation coupled with muffled, ambient vocals. But on Parallax, the latest album from his solo project Atlas Sound, Cox allows his mostly unaltered voice to take the center of attention on multiple tracks, making for an album that is a little bit more normal without feeling uncharacteristic.

By November 10, 2011

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Critical Voices: Mac Miller, Blue Slide Park

Malcolm McCormick, better known as the rapper Mac Miller and formerly known as the rapper Easy Mac, is just another Internet rapper. However, despite his small label—Wiz Khalifa’s Rostrum Records—and his seemingly standard weed-heavy blog-rap approach, he has managed to separate himself from the pack and gain a massive following. With his debut, Blue Slide Park, Miller’s fame will probably pile up, but there could be no lower form of unwarranted fame.

By November 10, 2011

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Make sure to track down the Hunter

A Child Shall Lead Them: Making The Night of The Hunter is a play that makes you feel like you’ve just watched a movie.

By November 3, 2011

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Got me feeling Like Crazy in love

In Romeo and Juliet, the titular lovers are threatened by a deep animosity between rival families. In Like Crazy, lovers Jacob and Anna’s relationship is threatened by immigration officers, as rising stars Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones play a young couple struggling with the strife of a long-distance relationship.

By November 3, 2011

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Thumbs up for Crumbs

There’s no denying the fact that the “cupcake culture “ has hit the D.C. area in full throttle. We’ve all rolled our eyes at the seemingly endless line that extends outside of Georgetown Cupcake’s doors. We’ve listened to our friends get into heated debates about whether the treats at Sprinkles or Baked and Wired are superior. What is it exactly that makes people do such crazy things in the name of a muffin-shaped cake doused in buttercream frosting? Beats me. But for all you loyal cupcake fans, I have good news: yet another cupcakery has just opened up. And it’s worth getting excited about.

By November 3, 2011

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Idiot Box: You are not the father

Think about something someone could tell you that would make you really, really excited. You’d whoop, scream, get out of your chair, and do a victory dance while a crowd of people cheered you on. But the information you were just told wasn’t that you’ve just won the lottery, or you’ve become an overnight international celebrity. It’s even better—in the case of this 14-month-old baby, you are not the father.

By November 3, 2011

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Throwback Jack: Clocks and robbers

Halloween at Georgetown is full of traditions: watching The Exorcist in Gaston, exploring the underground tunnels below campus, or taking part in spreading old rumors about the supposedly haunted fifth floor of Healy Hall. But what about the story that attributes wails in Healy to the ghost of a student who was crushed to death between the clock hands in the clock tower? This story may originate in another Georgetown tradition: stealing the clock hands straight off the tower as a prank.

By November 3, 2011

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Critical Voices: The Decemberists, Long Live the King

After 2009’s prog-influenced rock opera The Hazards of Love added a sludgy, blues-metal lower end to the Decemberists’ literary indie-folk, the band seems to have settled into a country motif over their last two releases, The King is Dead and the recently released Long Live the King EP. But where the western influences on The King is Dead felt like a natural extension of the Decemberists’ already folky style, Long Live the King seems to be built from awkward outtakes from the album, many of them failing to materialize into fully convincing songs.

By November 3, 2011

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Critical Voices: Lou Reed and Metallica, Lulu

On the first of November of the 2,011th anniversary of the alleged birth of Christ, Lou Reed and Metallica, henceforth malevolently referred to as Loutallica, released the collaborative double album Lulu, proudly proclaiming that, in no uncertain terms, “Rock is dead. We killed it.” Though this unholy union did not shout this proclamation from the rooftops, the 87 minutes of pure rubbish do all the talking (literally—most of the album is spoken word). All puns aside, Lulu is by far the worst album in rock history.

By November 3, 2011

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The Spooky Screen: Our favorite Halloween movies

#1: The Shining, Stanley Kubrick,1980 Watch The Shining by yourself. Just keep an extra pair of pants handy. Kubrick’s attempt at horror is as terrifying as it is gorgeous. The ominous twins, the bloody elevator, and the ghost of an old English gentleman set the scene for Jack Nicholson’s dip into insanity. There is no shortage of iconic imagery in this film, but the sheer terror of a psychotic father bent on killing his wife and metaphysically talented son is what makes this the best Halloween film of all time.

By the October 27, 2011

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The Rum Diary not very intoxicating

Johnny Depp is not a pirate. A simple fact, but he seems to forget that at times. To Depp fans’ delight (and four-year-old Captain Jack fans’ chagrin), his work in The Rum Diary returns the actor to the world of author Hunter S. Thompson, whom Depp craftily portrayed in the cult favorite Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The Rum Diary, an adaptation of Thompson’s novel of the same name, is a fitting tribute to Thompson’s work, but its sluggish plot progression and burdensome editing stretch what should be a concise adventure-comedy into a vapid two-hour feature.

By October 27, 2011

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Get away from the Hilltop this Halloween

If Leo’s orange-frosted pound cake hasn’t gotten you into the Halloween spirit yet, don’t worry. From embassies to theme parks, D.C. offers plenty of chances to don a costume and forget about those last few midterms for the weekend.

By October 27, 2011

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Whiskey Business: Girl, what you sippin’ on?

Let’s be honest: I write a drinking column. I like going to bars. I like the décor, the loud music, the varied atmospheres, the availability of alcohol. I like to see friends or people I haven’t seen for a while, and I like meeting new people.

By October 27, 2011

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Byte Me: A decade after the iPod

On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs took the stage in Cupertino, Calif., to announce what he called a “breakthrough digital device”—the first iPod. It had five gigabytes of storage and cost $399. Critics were not convinced. The name iPod itself was mocked as “Idiots Price our Devices” and “I Prefer Owning Discs.” But the iPod was not just another MP3 player, like many people claimed. It was the first device that made the music industry’s transition to the digital world possible.

By October 27, 2011