Leisure

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

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Mountain Goats, All Eternals Deck

Listening to All Eternals Deck, the latest album from indie rock institution The Mountain Goats, is a bit like flipping through a photo album chronicling a stranger’s entire life. Each track is a snapshot—a single image, light on context but with an emotional weight that rings clear. Depression, isolation, fear, and despair permeate the album, but are always tempered by lyricist John Darnielle’s trademark touch of guarded hope. So when Darnielle sings “Rise if you’re sleeping, stay awake/We are young supernovas and the heat’s about to break” on “High Hawk Season,” it’s hard not to feel stirred, even if you aren’t entirely sure why.

By March 31, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Belong

When listening to an album for the first time, people often find it helpful to ignore the lyrics to better get a feel for the album’s musical merit. However, in the case of Belong, the sophomore release from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, this proves an impossible task—the trite, clichéd lyrics mar the album from its very start. The album’s opener, “Belong,” sets the tone for the rest of the tracks, complete with uninspired lyrics that sound like they come straight from the pages of a dramatic high-schooler’s diary. Although it begins hopefully with a pop-friendly guitar introduction, it takes a turn for the worse soon thereafter, with scratchily mixed overtones and the murmurs of lead singer Kip Berman’s repetitive and dull chorus of “we don’t belong, we don’t belong.”

By March 31, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: Kicking and streaming

Movie studio execs must be keeping America’s psychiatrists pretty busy. I imagine all their therapy sessions start out with a discussion of the same recurring dream: their spouses have lost all interest in them and have fallen for the small, evil red envelopes that have been moving in on their territory for years. Of course, when they first met, the movie execs thought the envelope was awesome: it babysat the kids, walked the dogs, and trimmed the roses. Then, boom! One day, said executive catches the little red bastard in bed with their better halves!

By March 31, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-bouche: Whole Foods, entire budget

When I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma for a class last week, I violated one of the few rules I live by: eat in near-complete ignorance of where your food comes from. As a rule, I don’t want to know how my chicken was treated before it became a component of my McNugget, which species of fish are farmed unsustainably, or which vegetables are still awash in pesticides when I buy them at the supermarket. I don’t eat any foods specifically for its locavore … ness, and I just barely can argue that I eat healthy.

By March 31, 2011

Leisure

Stellar expectations for Tenn Cent Fest

These days at Georgetown, it’s all about Tennessee Williams. A flag proclaiming “A Season Named Desire” has been flying over the Davis Center since the beginning of last semester, mysterious signs for the “Glass Menagerie Project” have popped up all over Red Square, and the Department of Performing Arts is bracing itself for an influx of Williams scholars, actors, and enthusiasts this coming weekend. All this hubbub seems a tad confusing at a school with few theater majors and no affiliation to the playwright. It’s this confusion that Performing Arts Artistic Director Derek Goldman hopes to eradicate with this weekend’s Tennessee Williams Centennial Festival, or Tenn Cent Fest—the climax of the Williams- focused “Season Named Desire,” and the first large-scale festival in the history of Georgetown’s Department of Performing Arts

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

All Win Win does is win

Produced in an industry where the average blockbuster offers a surreal narrative alien to daily life, the low-budget Win Win centers on the meaningful relationships formed around rather unremarkable circumstances. The film follows a familially frustrated high schooler and a financially unstable lawyer-cum-high-school-wrestling-coach as they form an unlikely bond. And while there is nothing too profound or exciting about the premise, the film’s down-to-earth characters and ability to remain light-hearted yet poignant distinguish Win Win from the average feel-good comedy.

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

Texas BBQ from NY

There are two ways to approach a meal at Hill Country Barbecue—you can get one meat, or you can get every meat. So when I stopped by the new, Gallery Place location of this Texas-style BBQ joint, I opted for the greasy, heart-clogging latter. Since opening its first location in New York, the restaurant’s aim has been to recreate the down-home feel of an old-fashioned cookout. Hill Country cooks all of its meat sans-sauce, opting for dry rubs cooked over hickory. Traditional sides compliment the cuts, from corn bread to delicious green bean casserole.

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

The Sweetlife of a new D.C. music fest

Perhaps as a side-effect of the beautiful weather, spring in the District boasts an impressive collection of outdoor music festivals. And this year welcomes a brand new, highly anticipated addition to the annual repertoire—the Sweetgreen-sponsored Sweetlife Festival on May 1, 2011, aptly described as “a festival with a conscience.” With its humble beginnings in a parking lot behind the DuPont Sweetgreen, Sweetlife’s organizers are thrilled to be holding this year’s event in a much more accommodating venue, Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Located smack in the middle of the 40-acre Symphony Woods, this venue creates an appropriately green atmosphere for the environmentally-focused festival.

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Wiz Khalifa, Rolling Papers

Wiz Khalifa has his own “line” of rolling papers. His breakout mixtape was called Kush and Orange Juice. In 2010, he bragged in an interview, “I might spend, like, ten grand on weed a month. Easily.” Cool story bro. It’s not that drug-obsessed rap is inherently bad—Jay-Z made his name repping a drug dealing past and Clipse’s coke-rap opus Hell Hath No Fury is a certifiable classic. Even non-peddlers like Gucci Mane can turn massive amounts of consumption into something genuinely intimidating: a 6’3”, 220-lb former convict on codeine is not the kind of person most of us want to mess with. Bragging about weed, though?

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Of Montreal, thecontrollersphere

Thecontrollersphere, the latest EP from indie pop staple Of Montreal, is in many ways a compilation of rejects. Clocking in at only 23 minutes, the five-song record was primarily composed of tracks cut from their last release, the critically-acclaimed False Priest. Sadly, while False Priest witnessed the band successfully blending funk, electronic, and R&B influences, the tracks that made it onto TCS don’t mesh nearly as well, and the EP feels discordant as a result. But the news isn’t all bad—in fact, this lack of cohesion makes TCS interesting, in a clinical sort of way.

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

Internet IRL: The Internet is for porn

Whether you’ve been looking for it or not, I am going to make the rash assumption that at some point, you’ve seen porn on your computer. It’s there. Your most skewed sexual fantasies are your Google search bar’s command. What once could only be found in the pages of a secret stash of dirty magazines or vaguely-labeled, grainy videotapes is now available in unlimited—not to mention free—quantities. And it’s not just of your normal, interpersonal variety. From bestiality to tentacles, extreme porn that used to be seen as a unique fetish now has an audience.

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

Banger Management: Empire state of rap

In today’s rap scene, it might appear that we’re witnessing the Swag Revolution—exemplified by newcomers like Lil’ B and Odd Future Wolf Gang, it’s a movement largely defined by Internet hype and a “fuck the mainstream” attitude to fame. However, there are still some out there who have avoided this path. Among these deviants are a handful of rappers from New York City out to resurrect the classic sound of ‘90s Big Apple hip-hop. And so far, they are doing a pretty convincing job. Underground heavy-hitters like Roc Marciano, whose debut LP Marcberg received impressive reviews across the Internet, have spearheaded this throwback styl

By March 24, 2011

Leisure

Film festival provides good, green fun

In our generation, going green has gone from a hippie-centric fad to a full-blown industry. From celebrity-designed reusable totes to trendy organic food stores, it seems that “saving the planet” is, to some degree, on everyone’s mind. But beyond our Sigg water bottles, what do we really know about the problems facing the environment today? For those yearning to learn more, look no further than D.C.’s 19th annual Environmental Film Festival, which runs Mar. 15-27. With 150 events taking place in museums, libraries, theaters, and universities all over the District, the film festival invites viewers to step back and join in a “celebration of the natural world” that is both varied and thoroughly 2011-pertinent.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Inside Tennessee’s Bedroom

After a long day of class or a stressful all-night cram session, the sight of your bed is a comfort and a relief, representing a haven of well-deserved rest. But to troubled playwright Tennessee Williams, his bed lost all symbolism of warmth, and came instead to embody loneliness, insomnia, and substance abuse. This unfortunate association is the subject of Service of My Desire, a 15-minute solo performance which runs this weekend in the Gonda Theater as part of The Glass Menagerie Project.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Get wired in Portrait Gallery with A New Language

History may have awarded John Hancock and Queen Elizabeth with fame for their bold and ornate signatures, but sculptor Alexander Calder deserves points for creativity—when signing his works, Calder brandished cold copper wire as elegantly as any calligrapher. In sculpting wire portraits of famous people, which lack any trace of a brush or a stone surface, Calder marked each of his wire sculptures with an inventive inscription. Woven behind an earlobe, under a chin or at the base of a neck, Calder looped wire to form his signature on each of his whimsical wire portraits.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Strokes, Angles

After five years of silence, solo projects, and anticipation, The Strokes have reunited and reemerged with Angles, their first release since 2006’s First Impressions of Earth. During the interim, the band had become characterized by tensions between frontman Julian Casablancas and his bandmates, who accused him of being a creative tyrant. Angles was a joint attempt to mollify these tensions. It was the first of The Strokes’ albums to be composed collectively. But if you’re a superfan, don’t get too excited—Angles will disappoint anyone looking for more of the Strokes’s trademark electronic dance vibes.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Travis Barker, Give the Drummer Some

It’s hard to think of Give the Drummer Some, the solo debut from Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, as a product of the man who helped craft the sound of one of the most quintessential pop-punk bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Instead of Blink’s power chords and whiny vocals, the drummer’s solo effort is a rap-rock project, packed with A-list vocals and production—with the latter category including Barker’s own talent. While the album lacks consistency, it displays Barker at his best, showcasing his undeniably brilliant drumming skills while blending his own sound with the distinctive styles of his featured artists.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-bouche: Green beer, black out

Between a boyfriend and boyfriend-wannabe is not a comfortable place to sit. But about two years ago, I had just that unfortunate experience. The former hailed from Beverly, Chicago, the last Irish stronghold of the Chicago South Side, the latter from Breezy Point, a Queens neighborhood so Paddy it may as well be Galway. And that was pretty much the meat of their conversation. “We’re 95 percent Irish,” my boyfriend said. “We’re 99 percent Irish.”

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: Lights, camera … action?

Last summer, Hollywood brought out its big guns for The Expendables, a hedonistic bullet-fest that claimed to be nothing but that. But the movie did have one sizable surprise: its cast of aged veterans— Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Willis—felt oddly refreshing. The disheartening truth is that the classic action movie, with its dual-wielding protagonists, blond Russian enemies, and unforgiving muscles, is at a low point in its existence. Recently, studios have managed to churn out some movies in this dwindling genre, but superhero and comic book films have gotten a stranglehold on the good ol’-fashioned blockbusters in which the aforementioned California Governor thrived.

By March 17, 2011

Leisure

Pay to cook your own pizza … and like it

If you’ve gone out looking for HomeMade Pizza Co., you very well might have walked right past. Tucked into a small, unassuming location across from Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue, this new restaurant hides an unconventional pizzeria behind its minimalist storefront. And despite the menu’s mouthwatering toppings—including chèvre, marinated artichokes, and poblano pepper—not a whiff of bubbling parmesan greets hungry customers. In fact, there is not a table in sight, nor any indication of a wood-fired pizza oven. Though chefs in white toques spin soft, flour-dusted dough into enticing, round pies behind the counter, HomeMade advertises itself based on the very service it does not offer

By March 3, 2011