Leisure

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

Leisure

Nic Cage: Convict from Hell

The trailer for Drive Angry 3D proudly and brazenly plugs one of the more ridiculous plots in recent cinematic history—Nicolas Cage breaks out of hell and fights with a vengeance to save his infant granddaughter from a murderous biker cult. With an almost self-parodying premise (and grammatically questionable title), you might expect a certain level of self-aware schlock. For the first 10 minutes, it seems to have just that—you’re poised to make a two-hour descent into the guiltiest B-movie pleasure ever, as a hard-eyed Cage chases and dispatches three unknown evildoers. Cars blow up, cheesy dialogue is exchanged, and disembodied, three-dimensional limbs fly out of the screen straight at the viewer.

By March 3, 2011

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Critical Voices: Alex Ebert, Alexander

Alexander suggests that Alex Ebert has finally made up his mind about where he belongs in the music spectrum. Though currently fronting indie-hippie outfit Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Ebert previously spent time as lead singer of L.A. powerpop band Ima Robot, and even attempted to pursue a rap career. His solo debut, however, is clearly in the same vein of his most recent work, sounding much like he does when backed by his Magnetic Zeros. And although Ebert clearly has a talent for indie-folk, listening to Alexander all the way through will make the listener think that maybe he could do with a change of genre.

By March 3, 2011

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Critical Voices: Peter Bjorn and John, Gimme Some

In the age of iTunes, cover art is an oft-overlooked piece of an album’s appeal. This is an unfortunate casualty, because frequently cover art can offer insight about what kind of music to expect from the album’s tracks. Take, for instance, the cover of Peter Bjorn and John’s latest release, Gimme Some. It carries the image of a “funk mitten,” or a three-thumbed foam finger. This rather bizarre, colorful picture reflects the sometimes confusing pop-rock sound on the Swedish trio’s energetic but disjointed sixth album. Gimme Some, on the whole, is intriguing—it contains an almost equal number of praiseworthy and skip-worthy tracks.

By March 3, 2011

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Internet IRL: They see me trollin’

Those who take advantage of free speech can be inspiring. They can also be really awful, and sometimes really, awfully interesting. One of the greatest enjoyments I’ve derived from editing Vox Populi is observing how commenters respond to different posts. Many posts float by without being noticed, but others quickly erupt in an avalanche of opinions, humorous one-liners, and royal personages. And then, of course, there are the obligatory trolls. Trolling demonstrates the full potential of the first amendment in a domain where censorship is focused on larger problems, like covering up nipples and taking the fun out of hit singles by Cee-Lo Green

By March 3, 2011

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Banger Management: Mixing up success

In 2008, Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, declared that “free has emerged as a full-fledged economy. Offering free music proved successful for Radiohead, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a swarm of other bands on MySpace that grasped the audience-building merits of zero.” Although Anderson cites artists of various styles, in no genre is “free” more prevalent than hip-hop. Mixtapes, which don’t directly generate any money for rappers, have become just as important to hip-hop stars as studio releases—if not more so.

By March 3, 2011

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Tenn Cent Fest opens with Menagerie

Most are familiar with Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. In honor of this prolific playwright, this March the Davis Performing Arts Center is presenting the Tenn Cent Fest, a month-long celebration and exploration of Williams’ work and legacy. The first component of this festival, The Glass Menagerie—a play that characterizes Williams’s southern-gothic tone—opens this week. It’s a big, complex undertaking, and the Department of Performing Arts manages to pull it off with impressive skill and execution.

By February 24, 2011

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Sheen and Estevez visit G’town, talk Nixon

On Friday, actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez visited Georgetown to discuss their upcoming film The Way, a story about a man traveling the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage in Spain. Interview transcribed by Leigh Finnegan. Did you decide to come to Georgetown because it’s been too long since St. Elmo’s Fire? Estevez: I haven’t been here since then! We got in so early this morning I haven’t gotten a chance to look [around].

By February 24, 2011

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Lez’hur Ledger: Salsa, ¡aye caramba!

“We’re going to take you on a mambo-salsa cha cha cha ride!” With a voice lifted right from Vince Schlomi of ShamWow commercial fame, emcee Earl Rush of StuckonSalsa.com goaded a group of nervous, mostly thirty-or-forty-something couples onto the dance floor, and cued the DJ. Though it may have been dark, windy, and oppressively cold outside, the bright lights of the ballroom of Rosslyn’s Artisphere bathed the auditorium in reds and yellows. Starting this week, the urban arts center is hosting weekly Tuesday night salsa lessons, followed by a large live band that was made up of about as many musicians as there were people on the dance floor.

By February 24, 2011

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Critical Voices: Radiohead, The King of Limbs, pro

With the release of their eighth full length album, The King of Limbs, Radiohead has found itself more pigeonholed than ever. Everybody seems to have a preformed opinion about the band’s impressive, critically-acclaimed cannon, and projecting that opinion onto Limbs. This is a standard reaction for a Radiohead release—as a result, most of what people say about Limbs will likely reflect opinions they had before album opener “Bloom” crescendoed past its initial piano loop. But these eight songs deserve to be looked at in their own right.

By February 24, 2011

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Critical Voices: Radiohead, The King of Limbs, con

“King of Limbs is boring.” That’s a popular refrain regarding Radiohead’s briefly-anticipated LP, already a polarizing album less than a week after its release. Lacking the band’s trademark dynamism, Limbs shows Radiohead in rare, understated form. Taking this approach now is strategic—with Arcade Fire as the new bombastic fearmongers for the smarter-than-you set, it sets the group up to brush off accusations of dullness: “We meant for this to be a mellow record, it’s you who doesn’t get it.” But this implication skips over a lot of things.

By February 24, 2011

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Fade to Black: Cage against the machine

The glamorous world of Hollywood has always had its ups and downs. But no matter the industry’s condition, one man has managed to keep audiences and insiders on their toes. Defined by his notable voice, characteristic facial expressions, and dramatic range rivaled only by Daniel Day Lewis, Nicolas Cage has done it all. His work has earned him roles in films by the Coen Brothers and David Lynch, and even an Oscar. Yet the later works in the Cage canon—films like Bangkok Dangerous and this Friday’s Drive Angry 3D—prompt one of the most-pondered questions of our day: What the fuck is Nic Cage doing?

By February 24, 2011

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Amuse-bouche: Living on a shell-tered diet

Today’s kitchen kingpins really bust their thesauruses to describe eggs. In various cookbooks and TV segments, I’ve heard eggs lauded as rich, hearty, creamy, savory, decadent, delicate, firm, tender, runny, flexible, lively, interesting, versatile, vibrant, fudgy, super-loose, zesty, fatty, buttery, brothy, foamy, piquant, nutty, inspired, and spirited. Egg descriptors have even bordered on the sexual: arousing, tantalizing, voluptuous, titillating. Self-proclaimed eggophile Wylie Dufresne once told New York Magazine that he would like to rub Hollandaise sauce all over his body.

By February 24, 2011

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Heather Raffo brings Iraq to the Davis Center

On Monday evening in the Davis Center, Heather Raffo looked like the quintessential American woman. Dressed in a fashionable, artsy getup with black jeans, riding boots, and a creamy tunic, the striking blonde was the epitome of Western style. So one might be surprised to learn the subject matter that the acclaimed actress-playwright was presenting about the lives of her fellow Iraqis. Raffo, who claims that her distinctly non-Middle Eastern appearance helps her “get under the radar” to promote her art, performed this week in a program entitled “Performance as Cultural Diplomacy.”

By February 17, 2011

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Shorts at E Street

With any mention of the Academy Awards, an argument about the merits of Black Swan versus The Social Network usually ensues. But while the Great Debate about Best Picture rages on, the oft-overlooked category of Best Short Film has generated Oscar buzz of its own at D.C.’s E Street Cinema. Too often, even the winning short films sink back into obscurity after the Academy Awards, and during the ceremonies, audiences scratch their heads at lists of nominations they have never heard before. Through ties with various cinemas as well as iTunes, the Academy has worked hard to change this attitude, making Best Short Film nominations available to theatergoers and iPad owners alike.

By February 17, 2011

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You won’t need 3D glasses

What’s the difference between “The Birth of Venus” and “David”? The answer seems obvious: one is a painting, the other a sculpture. But to abstract expressionist David Smith, the difference between the two art forms was not so vast. He sees them as separated by just one, easily adjustable distinction: dimension. The manipulation of that difference is the premise of David Smith Invents, a new exhibition open in DuPont Circle’s Phillips Collection through May 15. The exhibit features works of varying media—from clay to canvas to steel—which display Smith’s blurring of the line between two dimensions and three.

By February 17, 2011

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Gallery cafe is buono, costoso

If you’re looking to add some culture to your routine, the National Mall’s various scientific, historical, and artistic attractions have all you need. And the National Gallery’s Garden Cafe is the place to head if you want to supplement your cultural nourishment with some actual food. The Garden Café marries art with cuisine, especially when, for particularly special exhibits, it recruits renowned chefs to create new, complimentary menus.

By February 17, 2011

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Critical Voices: Nicholas Jaar, Space is Only Noise

You might have heard some unavoidable Internet buzz about this new release. After dropping a smattering of genre-bending EPs in 2010, this experimental producer—barely old enough to drink—is releasing his debut. He’s got a keen ear for space and silence and his vocal-centric work suits headphones more than dance floors. No, I’m not talking about James Blake—this is Space Is Only Noise, the first full-length to come from 21-year-old Brown University undergrad Nicolas Jaar.

By February 17, 2011

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Critical Voices: Toro y Moi, Underneath the Pine

Today’s indie music is somewhat dichotomous: on one side are the simplistic, folksy, vocally-driven bands, and on the other there are chillwave electronic maestros. But on his 2010 debut Causer of This, Toro Y Moi (real name Chazwick Bundick) managed to slip between the cracks, landing in an altogether undefined genre with a combination of catchy melodic vocals and trippy electronic samples.

By February 17, 2011

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Banger Management: Singing the iTunes blues

During my four years of college, I have discovered a common musical phenomenon—the scattered, disorganized, and unlabelled iTunes libraries of my peers. Again and again, I have been amazed to find that my friends had not taken the same time to painstakingly organize their music collections that I had, filling in every piece of information iTunes accepts, from album year to artwork.

By February 17, 2011

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Internet IRL: Up Next: High-tech walkers

As a 20 year-old in 2011, I grew up with adults critical of new gadgets and gizmos. Game Boys were “stupid,” computer games were “a waste of time,” and smart phones may still be “expensive and unnecessary.” I always shrugged these comments off as ignorant skepticism, but recently I’ve come to a realization—it’s not that adults are intolerant of technology; technology is intolerant of adults.

By February 17, 2011