Leisure

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

Leisure

Idiot Box: The truth about the Bluths

This past weekend, Christmas came early for television fans. No, I don’t mean that networks suddenly decided to air March of the Wooden Soldiers and re-run the 2004 classic Nick and Jessica’s Family Christmas. This was, quite possibly, even better.

By October 6, 2011

Leisure

Throwback Jack: A history of Hoya hazing

For Hoyas today, the first week of October is marked by increasingly frigid weather and the imminent onset of midterms. But back in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was marked by an important tradition, the Rat Race. The event, which usually fell on the first Sunday in October, was essentially a school dance that served as the culmination of a week-long hazing process for the freshmen. It was a well-deserved reward for the newcomers since, according to yearbooks, the hazing process included performing menial tasks such as car-washing and shoe-shining for their upperclassman tormentors. A 1951 yearbook also mentioned that “all freshman were required to have their hair cut to a scant half-inch” (the school had not yet gone co-ed) and had to wear “the traditional ‘Beanie’ at all times.”

By October 6, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Rodney Atkins, Take a Back Road

Since his debut album Honesty in 2003, Rodney Atkins has been steadily gaining popularity, with several of his singles topping the Billboard Country charts. Like many country singers coming out of Nashville in the early 2000s, Atkins fell victim to the transition of country music into a more mainstream genre manufactured for a wider range of audiences. His new album Take a Back Road, as its title implies, veers away from this trend and recklessly hurtles into the backwoods of home-grown traditional country laced with a hint of rock ‘n’ roll.

By October 6, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Future Islands, On the Water

It is not often that a title perfectly captures the sound and feeling of an album. However, On the Water, the newest release from Future Islands, does just that. A brilliant collection of 11 tracks that ebb and flow between the band’s characteristic electronic sound and its more recently developed minimalist rhythms, On the Water showcases this Baltimore trio’s best collaboration yet.

By October 6, 2011

Leisure

Mr. Warhol goes to Washington

Andy Warhol, the king of pop art, once asked, “Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?” This query perfectly captures Warhol’s revolutionary take on the... Read more

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

50/50 balances heartbreak with humor

If you caught a TV commercial for 50/50, you’d be forgiven for expecting standard Judd Apatow-esque fare with a macabre plot twist—spinal cancer—providing new and interesting ways for Seth Rogen and company to get laid and/or high. The marketing is a bit of a misrepresentation of the movie’s tone, but it’s not exactly A Walk To Remember, either. Toeing the line between these two emotional extremes is a sincere story about two funny guys confronting a serious disease.

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

Oktoberfest taps into D.C.

Americans are proud of their beer. We name baseball stadiums and theme parks after beer companies, our children know what Budweiser is before they learn how to write their names, and we have made a tradition of cracking open a beer while watching—well, while watching anything. But while Americans are guzzling Bud Light and watching NFL games this Sunday, they’ll be missing out on the greatest beer tradition this world has to offer: Oktoberfest.

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

Whiskey Business: No illusions about absinthe

Ever read any Baudelaire? How about Oscar Wilde? Admired a Van Gogh or Degas? Most famous artists of the late 19th century can attribute their creative genius to one powerful, mysterious type of alcohol: absinthe.

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

Byte Me: Please don’t Google me

In my last column, I argued that with people already overwhelmed by the likes of Twitter and Facebook, Google Plus did not offer enough to justify investing even more time in a social network. It didn’t seem like a controversial statement to me.

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Feist, Metals

Metals sounds as if Feist drove away from home in a car filled with every instrument she could find at the flea market. She went into the Canadian wilderness and made music with anyone she met out there. At least, that’s what it looks like from the album cover with her chilling out on a tree limb.

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Blink-182, Neighborhoods

After eight long years of uncertainty and chaos, Blink-182 has returned with Neighborhoods, the group’s first full-length album since 2003. Though numerous botched attempts at a comeback seemed to signal the band’s dying moments, Neighborhoods explodes from the ashes of heated arguments and broken friendships to proudly declare, as vocalist Mark Hoppus did at the 51st Grammy Awards, “Blink-182 is back!”

By September 29, 2011

Leisure

Free music that won’t get you sued by the RIAA

After a long week of classes and gloomy weather, this weekend comes as a welcome break. But why put yourself through another listen of “Party Rock Anthem” when you could be stomping your feet to lyrical Brazilian “choro” music? Whether you’re a music buff or simply looking for a new and exciting beat, head over to McNeir Auditorium in New North at 1:15 p.m., where Rogerio Souza and his colleagues are sure to deliver an entertaining afternoon. The best part? It’s completely free.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

Don’t let Real Steel‘s robots steal your money

It’s hard to expect a movie centering on the world of robotic boxing to be top-notch cinema, but somehow even Hugh Jackman’s rugged Australian charm can’t save Real Steel, a wannabe action flick with flawed plot and mediocre acting.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

ShopHouse: all spice and no nice

For most college students, Chipotle represents a paradise of fat, guacamole-stuffed burritos, and bowls that satisfy their appetite without murdering their wallet. But fans of the chain’s gloriously simplified Mexican cuisine may be surprised and slightly confused to learn that last Thursday, the company opened a store focused on Asian cuisine—ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen in Dupont Circle.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

China-fest at Kennedy

Surveying the broad developments in Chinese art in recent years, the Kennedy Center is hosting the ongoing festival China: The Art of a Nation this month. Presented in partnership with the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Culture, the exhibition features the work of 300 contemporary and performing artists. The event comes nearly six years after the Kennedy Center’s groundbreaking Festival of China, which brought international recognition to scores of native Chinese artists.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

Idiot Box: The sitcom that wasn’t shit

This week, the Internet has been abuzz with Emmy reactions. “Game of Thrones!” “Why didn’t Mad Men get any acting awards?” “Why do people still think Glee is funny?” But among all this hubbub, when you actually look at the winners, something fascinating comes to light—the night’s most successful show wasn’t a high-budget cable period piece, or a tried-and-true office comedy, or a bloody, serial killer drama (I know Dexter season five sucked, but seriously, Michael C. Hall deserves at least a pat on the back). It was…a network family sitcom?

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

Throwback Jack: When Rats ruled the Hilltop

Today, faculty at Georgetown take the student Code of Conduct quite seriously, doling out fines, written reprimands, and work sanction hours. Yet when it comes to run-ins with the law our 19th century counter-parts were battling a much stricter set of rules. Still, their prescribed punishments did not prevent these distant Hoyas from having their fun.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Wilco, The Whole Love

While the release of a eighth album may suggest a band’s unwillingness to retire, with The Whole Love, alternative veterans Wilco prove that they’re creative juices are still running strong. Continuing to avoid a defining genre, Wilco remains nestled somewhere between pop, alternative rock, and indie, once again incorporating new instruments and experimental sounds to live up to their continuity-through-change reputation.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Hysterical

For a group that started out as an internet buzz band, music blogs have been pretty quiet about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s new album, Hysterical. Where the band succeeded by keeping it simple but original, this new album disappoints by kicking up production and burying its tried and true style, ending up sounding like a singing telegram to later releases by The Killers and U2.

By September 22, 2011

Leisure

Drive blends the bloody and the beautiful

There’s a scene in Drive where Ryan Gosling and his love interest share a passionate, climactic kiss. Then Gosling ruthlessly proceeds to kick a thug’s skull in. This combination of excessive violence and theatrical set-ups gives Drive a gritty, gore-is-good charm. With quiet, tension-building scenes interrupted by gut-wrenching violence, the film pays tribute to classic car-chasers like Bullitt while mixing in the satirical wit of Tarantino. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s final product is a stylish, bold, and brutal film, filled to the brim with superb acting and beautiful cinematography.

By September 15, 2011