Leisure

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

Leisure

The joy of eating

As soon as students step foot on campus, Avocado Cafe and its delivery-food rivals make it their mission to litter the school with menus. New to Georgetown, Eat & Joy hasn’t missed out on the race to inundate the lobby of New South with its pamphlets, calling out to Leo’s-weary freshmen who need to stock up on CampusFood.com points.

By August 26, 2011

Leisure

Whiskey Business: Beer eye for the frosh guy

The beginning of senior year is a great time for enjoying kegs on the Esplanade, reflecting on your college experience, and above all, desperately searching for an answer to the question posed by just about everyone you come across: “So, what do you plan to do after college?” I am nowhere near close enough to having an answer to that question, but I do have one way to show the people in my life that I have grown and matured at college: my drinking habits.

By August 26, 2011

Leisure

Byte Me: Pre-frosh poketacular

Each year, after receiving their acceptance letters and sending in their tuition deposits, most of the new crop of pre-freshmen take what must seem like a big step toward becoming part of the Georgetown community: joining the Class of [fill in year here] Facebook group. This group facilitates Facebook stalking at its finest: it’s full of hundreds of complete strangers, all of whom have the potential to be a roommate, classmate, or new best friend. And before ever meeting them, Facebook allows soon-to-be freshmen to imagine exactly where all these strangers might figure into their next four years at Georgetown.

By August 26, 2011

Leisure

Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, True Panther Sounds

Of the litany of complaints that doctors and educators have made about the tolls of the technological age on American youth, one of the most prominent is the obvious shortening of our national attention span. But if Father, Son, Holy Ghost, the sophomore album from San Francisco indie duo Girls, meets any kind of acclaim or success, our nation can rest easy that many of its youngsters are superhumanly attentive—because getting through Holy Ghost’s tediously repetitive 57 minutes in one sitting is enough to make anyone feel like a fifth grader trapped in Catechism.

By August 26, 2011

Leisure

Beirut, The Rip Tide, Pompeii

Considering that Beirut’s Zach Condon once described himself as a musician in search of an “epic melody,” it might seem odd that his band’s third album, The Rip Tide, clocks in at a decidedly non-epic 33 minutes. But despite its brevity, the album once again showcases Condon’s continuing development as a songwriter and the brooding, lyrical instrumentation that has been the band’s hallmark.

By August 26, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Fucked Up, David’s Town

In a little over a month, Fucked Up will release David Comes to Life, the much-anticipated follow-up to the Toronto-based hardcore group’s Polaris Prize-winning Chemistry of Common Life, which promises to have an even broader appeal than that album’s hardcore crossover: more complex melodies, more ornate arrangements, and more guest appearances. And it’s a rock opera.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Thao and Mirah, Thao and Mirah

When two solo artists come together for an album, the result usually falls short of the lofty artistic goals they strive for, but Thao and Mirah, a joint effort from Thao Nguyen, founder of San Francisco alt-folk group Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, and singer-songwriter Mirah is the rare collaboration that truly impresses. The synthesis between the two women’s styles is remarkable, with each track exploring new layers of unity as the vocally-driven artists push each other to greater and greater heights.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Throwback Jack: Senior Week Shenanigans

In a few short weeks, the graduating seniors of the Class of 2011 will happily abandon campus in pursuit of exciting summer plans, relinquishing all of their Georgetown territory to the rising senior class. But before they leave, they’ll spend their last days on campus drinking, dancing, and partying their way through one last University-sanctioned event—Senior Week.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Idiot Box: Baked and Wire-d

During pre-registration a few weeks ago, I was hell-bent on taking one specific philosophy class. It seems odd, considering that I’m not a philosophy major, and generally find the subject to be a pointless, theoretical pain in the ass. But the title of this class alone was enough to make me, and, my guess is, a good chunk of the television-watching population of Georgetown, slide it all the way at the top of my pre-reg list—“Philosophy and The Wire”.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Lincoln-themed restaurant loses the nibble war

Lincoln. Often hailed as the greatest American, the name carries connotations of freedom, perseverance, liberation, and food. Wait, food? Some might assume that Honest Abe’s slim figure was the result of his relentless dedication to performing the duties of leadership leaving little time for peripheral activities such as eating. But that’s where they’re wrong.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Landscapes fails to illuminate

Human life is carried out on diverse backdrops. However, in the drama and hustle of it all, rarely do we get the chance to step back and appreciate these landscapes. A stroll over to the Illuminated Landscapes exhibit at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery on 8th and G Streets allows one to do just that for free.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Freshman rapper Dreams big with mixtape

It’s no secret that Tate Tucker (SFS ’14) loves the west coast. From his lucky San Diego Chargers hat to tracks like “West Coast Girls” and “L.A. Sunrise,” the freshman rapper is constantly California dreaming. In fact, Tucker is so eager to get back to Los Angeles that he cancelled a performance at Dartmouth College scheduled in May after his last exam.

By April 28, 2011

Leisure

Nomadic gets Hot in Walsh Black Box

As its racy title suggests, Jose Rivera’s References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot abounds with passion, sex, and allusions to everyone’s favorite mustachioed surrealist. But while advertising those elements may pique the audience’s interest, the play, which Nomadic Theater chose for their final production of the season, achieves far more than sexy overtones. It explores the complexity of human relationships and the pertinence of political tensions with Nomadic Theater’s fiercely talented cast executing witty, impassioned dialogue, and the play succeeds in both entertaining and touching its audience.

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Don’t believe your health teacher: Rubber is not safe

A few years back, panic abounded when Firestone tires began spontaneously exploding, causing severe injuries to drivers. To most people, this is the extent to which tires can be seen as frightening, life-threatening entities. But most people are not director Quentin Dupieux, who apparently thinks that the malice of tires goes far beyond some technical malfunction. Rather, he takes a bold, completely absurd look at the killing possibilities of this common piece of auto equipment—he makes a villain out of a cold-blooded, murderous rubber tire.

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Meet Metsu at Nat’l Gallery

Gabriel Metsu was a dog person. Sure, he was other things too—a prodigy, a technical master, a champion of capturing human emotion with a paintbrush, and, despite not even living to 40, one of the most prolific of the impressive band of seventeenth-century Dutch painters. But looking at the paintings in Gabriel Metsu, a new exhibition on display in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, it’s clear that the artist really loved man’s best friend.

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Battles, Gloss Drop

Flash back to 2007. Radiohead released their blandest album to date, M.I.A. went from agent provocateur to pop auteur, and Feist’s “1234” was synonymous with “alternative.” That is to say: the underground needed a kick in the pants. And Battles gladly provided, with a blend of math rock, prog, and jazz hard enough to sound fresh but whimsical enough to avoid the standard critiques of R-A-W-K rock. It’s 2011 and not much has changed. Radiohead is still peddling coffee house electronica, M.I.A.’s best work sounds more like Britney than Missy, and, well, at least we’ve all forgotten Feist.

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light

When trying to woo a woman, every man has a different game plan. There’s the flowers-and-candy set, the outside-her-window-with-a-stereo tactic, and, of course, the ever-popular love song. Although they don’t specify exactly whom they’re attempting to snag, on Nine Types of Light, TV on the Radio is apparently opting for this last approach. But before you think that everyone’s favorite Brooklyn experimental outfit has gone soft, be warned that this isn’t your typical acoustic-guitar love-rock—TV remains true to itself the whole way through, blasting their lamenting and lovelorn lyrics with explosions of carefully structured chaos that no indie-loving girl could resist.

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: Fifth time’s a charm

Most football players, once they’ve reached a certain age and reputation, decide that despite offers to keep playing, they should end their careers and settle into their spots in NFL history. Then there’s Brett Favre. Past his prime, and even after a self-proclaimed retirement—no, make that two—he insisted on continuing his career after catching the scent of a hefty paycheck. Hollywood has a nasty tendency of embracing spent characters too, because even as movie series go into their third and fourth installments, they continue to profit from their predecessors’ success

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-bouche: Please drink irresponsibly

Day drinking is awesome. I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve experienced Georgetown Day, or you’re eagerly looking forward to your first. You’ve turned any old weekend afternoon into the most idyllic afternoon you can remember with nothing but a loaded Nalgene, two friends, and a portable speaker set. Maybe you did it on Monday, when all of Georgetown spilled onto Healy Lawn like it was covered in candy.

By April 13, 2011

Leisure

Lez’hur Ledger: International Pillow Fight Day: It’s going “down”

I arrived on the scene expecting a ruckus. After all, it was the spot for D.C.’s celebration of International Pillow Fight Day, right on the Mall directly adjacent to the Capitol Fountain. Given the Mall’s wide, open space, I expected a genuine melee to ensue. The Facebook description gave the impression that the event was deliciously unsanctioned. We were supposed to keep our pillows discreetly stowed away, until, upon some secretive cue, we broke out into a spontaneous spree of bedding-based combat. I had high hopes for participating in some boisterous mayhem, perhaps with the threat of pillow-on-riot-shield action looming over our heads.

By April 7, 2011