Leisure

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

Leisure

Idiot Box: The renaissance of reality TV

Earlier this week, I kept running into news about the all-important story of the week: Gene Simmons is getting married. Well, not actually—apparently the ceremony already happened on October 1. But on Monday and Tuesday, Simmons’s wedding was televised in a two-night special edition of his reality show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

By October 19, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Justice, Audio, Video, Disco

Do you ever wish you could return to the straightforward goals and limited social interaction of an old-school arcade? If so, the French electro-house duo Justice may have created the album for you. With an overwhelming ‘80s vibe, the band’s second album, Audio, Video, Disco, is crafted mostly from the sounds of the synthesized background music of our video game-playing youth. But while its resemblance to the Pacman anthem may excite quarter machine wizards, the album’s eternally retro quality is frustratingly inconclusive. Though its synthy nostalgia might strike a sentimental chord, its artistic value is significantly less certain.

By October 19, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

When Anthony Gonzalez, also known as M83, promised to release an album that he described as “very, very, very epic” earlier this year, he was setting the bar especially high. After all, critics had used the term to describe all five of M83’s previous albums’ glorious electro dream pop. But Gonzalez manages to deliver on his promise, making Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming the best M83 album to date, and a huge one at that, clocking in at 22 tracks on two separate discs.

By October 19, 2011

Leisure

Festival shows one act can rule them all

A musical number set on a flaming oil rig and a sober reflection on the Egyptian revolution, united on the same stage on the same evening? That’s this year’s Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival. The festival’s two productions, Peaches and Freon and #Courage, are an unusual combination, but together they show off the strength of original student work at Georgetown.

By October 13, 2011

Leisure

Gainsbourg is the trip of a lifetime

Toward the beginning of Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, the biopic’s subject, little Lucien Ginsberg, later to become the prolific and infamous singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, is bopping down the streets of Nazi-occupied Paris. The Jewish son of Russian parents, Lucien is surrounded by frightening posters of anti-Semitic propaganda, featuring a large-headed, caricatured Jewish man with insulting French slurs written across the bottom. As Lucien walks by, the figure in the poster springs to life and climbs out of the portrait—a jarring moment for the audience, but not for Lucien. The figure, a Tim Burton-esque, short-legged cartoon strolling the real-life Parisian streets, interacts with the boy, who does nothing to hint that this is outside of an everyday occurrence.

By October 13, 2011

Leisure

What’s up with this Thing?

Walking into the screening for The Thing, a prequel to the beloved 1983 John Carpenter film, you’d expect to witness a crowd-pleasing scary movie with terrifying special effects. But The Thing ends up just as generic as its title.

By October 13, 2011

Leisure

M Street Treats

Save room for your stomach this weekend: it’s that time of the year again. The 18th annual Taste of Georgetown kicks off this Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

By October 13, 2011

Leisure

Whiskey Business: Typing under the influence

We all know how it feels. You’re sitting down in front of your computer, about to start on the 15-page paper you have due in three days, when all of sudden you remember that there’s still half a bottle of whiskey in your freezer. Suddenly, you find yourself wrestling with the ultimate collegiate dilemma: to drink or not to drink?

By October 13, 2011

Leisure

Byte Me: A not-so-tempting Apple

Let’s talk iPhone. Apple fanatics waited to hear these words for 16 months since the debut of the iPhone 4. As if there were not already enough rumors surrounding the launch of what most people hoped to be the iPhone 5, the announcement that Apple would be hosting an event at its Cupertino campus to “talk iPhone” sparked a firestorm of speculation. Unheralded bloggers and world-renowned news sources alike all released their lists of what we should count on for the next-generation iPhone. And with 66 percent (according to an August survey by RBC capital) of current iPhone owners planning to upgrade to the new model, sight-unseen, people were listening.

By October 12, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Real Estate, Days

Brooklyn-based Real Estate is due for some attention. After a pristine debut album, the group has made a smooth transition into its sophomore release, Days, solidifying Real Estate as one of the chillest, melodically pleasing bands around. Although it’s not a significant improvement from the first LP, Days’s fresh material possesses a lackadaisical charm that splits the difference between ‘60s surf-pop and modern indie.

By October 12, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Mayer Hawthorne, How Do You Do

After making an electric debut with 2009’s A Strange Arrangement, Mayer Hawthorne has been moving up in the world. From a collaboration with retro-rap duo The Cool Kids to a... Read more

By October 12, 2011

Leisure

The Ides of March treads on beaten path

Politics is a dirty world. Just ask George Clooney, who co-wrote, directed, and starred in the new political drama The Ides of March. With a title referencing the betrayal of Julius Caesar and one of the most impressive casts you’ll see this fall, The Ides of March is a time bomb waiting to erupt into a meaningful, edge-of-your-seat political thriller. The problem is, before this film has time to give its plot a life of its own, the credits have already started rolling. In the end, the film only makes a point that could have been illustrated just as well by watching an hour of CNN—politicians are bad, bad people.

By October 6, 2011

Leisure

Phillips Collection displays Degas’s dancers

As a celebrated impressionist painter during the rise of the movement in the late 19th century, Edgar Degas gained a reputation for his ability to portray fleeting scenes with remarkable artistry. “They call me the painter of dancers. They don’t understand that the dancer has been for me a pretext for painting pretty fabrics and for rendering movement,” he once said.

By October 6, 2011

Leisure

What’s with this waffle?

Anyone hoping for a classic American waffle floating in sweet syrup and topped with a glistening pat of butter will leave Wicked Waffle disappointed. “No Butter, No Syrup” reads the tag line for the new restaurant near Farragut Square. Instead, Wicked Waffle claims to represent centuries of European culinary tradition with its waffle sandwiches, soups, salads, and desserts—an ironic assertion, considering the shop is designed for the busy American on the go.

By October 6, 2011

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