Leisure

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

Leisure

Critical Voices: Curren$y, Pilot Talk II

Besides his unspeakably massive cannabis consumption, Curren$y is best known for his incredible prolificacy. Since leaving Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money label in 2008, he has released nine album-length mixtapes and four full albums, whose subject matter rarely deviated from typical independent rap trope: weed, fly kicks, and fucking.

By December 2, 2010

Leisure

Critical Voices: Tigers Jaw,Two Worlds

Born in the basements of Scranton, Pa., Tigers Jaw has bucked indie rock trends and blogosphere pressure to create a sound that is patently their own. Their blend of indie rock and pop-punk is musically complex while still being flat-out fun and relatable.

By December 2, 2010

Leisure

Rub Some Dirt On It: You may not go blind, but…

College kids tend to do a lot of dumb things—some of them pretty unsafe. But when we’re not partying hard or gorging ourselves on Leo’s food, most of us spend a good chunk of our time studying. Doesn’t that count for something?

By December 2, 2010

Leisure

Warming Glow: Giving them the hook

Every pilot season, we media-consuming Americans find ourselves assailed by an endless blast of magazine ads, billboards, and outright shameless publicity stunts that beg us to watch “the next Mad Men/Friday Night Lights/Modern Family!”

By December 1, 2010

Leisure

Post-dramatic stress disorder in the Gonda

Educational video games suck. Even if the kid with the controller doesn’t realize that the “game” he’s playing is actually edutainment and demands higher mental functioning, it’s a pretty safe bet that he’d still rather be blowing up heads in Gears of War than hopping to the next lily pad with a prime number on it. But what happens when the violent, war-driven video games are the educational ones?

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

Lez’hur Ledger: The missing link between porn and monkeys

As a dozen other people and I watched a woman have sex with an ape-man, I thought to myself, “This is not your grandmother’s Washington D.C.” It was a rainy November night, and I had slipped into The Passenger—a lonely 7th Street bar a few blocks north of Chinatown—and edged past the Tuesday night crowd of 20-somethings.

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

Gtown shows off its GAMS

Mentioning on-campus concerts often churns up memories of the “The Coolio Incident,” when in 2007, the crazy-haired rapper gave an acoustically disastrous performance in Georgetown’s gangster’s paradise, or Leo J. O’Donovan Hall. But now, Georgetown students have a reason to thank the University for its mediocre concerts of yesteryear, because they inspired Daniel Alexander to give Georgetown a better show.

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

Reviews, Haiku’d

Faster Smell what he’s cooking? Faster, Billybob! Kill! Kill! The Rock’s gon’ getcha. Love and Other Drugs Given the choice of Love and Other Drugs…and drugs I’d rather OD.

By the November 18, 2010

Leisure

Critical Voices: Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Back in high school, my precocious self had an idea. I was going to write—for Rolling Stone, no less!—an article on Kanye West and his role as “This Generation’s Beatles.” Although most aspects of the story make 2010 me cringe, I’ve got to hand it to myself: 14-year-old me sure had foresight.

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

Critical Voices: Girls, Broken Dreams Club

Next Monday, indie band Girls will release Broken Dreams Club, their first offering since 2009’s creatively titled Album. The EP’s overarching theme is singer Christopher Owen’s unconventional childhood in the Children of God cult—a group that, according to Owens in FAQ magazine, tried “to raise a generation of kids that were not spoiled at all by the world.”

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

Suffer for Fashion: No more knockoff knickers

Times may get a little tougher for quick-to-market fashion designers this January. Under a new Congress, legislation on unethical practices in the fashion industry might get a second wind, and plagiarists have every reason to be shivering in their knockoff Lanvin boots.

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

Literary Tools: Ironically intellectual

The youthful American literary journal n+1 is known for its social, literary, and political commentary, with a particularly keen eye for theoretical musings. The editors claim to embrace theory, but also reject the way academia prostitutes and exploits worthwhile ideas, and criticize the commodification of culture.

By November 18, 2010

Leisure

For films that are really underground

The building at 2301 M Street does not look like a haven for culture. It’s big, gray, and industrial looking, and flanked by two equally bland office buildings. But if you head down a set of concrete stairs to the sub-sidewalk level, you’ll stumble upon a temple to the art of motion picture: the West End Cinema.

By November 11, 2010

Leisure

Four Lions declares a fatwa on your funny bone

What kind of stories does a bumbling, would-be homegrown jihadist tell his son before tucking him in to bed? According to Four Lions, the provocatively dark debut comedy from British satirist Chris Morris, the same children’s stories we all know.

By November 11, 2010

Leisure

Int’l ecoNOMics

At noon on a typical weekday, groggy students coming from their morning classes have formed a slow line in front of the Leo’s wrap counter. On Tuesday, in Copley Formal Lounge, however, a full room of students was snaked around the room in line for Moby Dick catering.

By November 11, 2010

Leisure

Side A/Side B: Kid Cudi vs. Cee Lo Green

Maligned by East Coast hip-hop classicists but embraced by hipsters and alt-rockers, Kid Cudi’s debut album was part of an important paradigm shift in rap music. Swapping Timberland boots and braggadocio for skinny jeans and emotive introspection, Man on the Moon: The End of Days marked the beginning of a more melodic, emotional era for rap music.

By November 11, 2010

Leisure

Rub Some Dirt On It: Teach me how to play

I’m not much of an explorer when it comes to slogging through the University’s course catalog. I know which classes I need to take, I know where to look for them, and I go and get them. For many semesters, this kept me from stumbling across a gem hidden among Georgetown’s other courses: the Leisure and Recreation Education classes.

By November 11, 2010

Leisure

American cuisine from a New York eatery… in D.C.

Who doesn’t love Teddy Roosevelt? He shot bears, he’s on Mount Rushmore, and he had one of American history’s best mustaches. That must be why at the P.J. Clarke’s near the Farragut West Metro stop, the biggest and most prominent of the hundreds of framed, old-timey pictures is a giant painting of our mustachioed 26th president.

By November 4, 2010

Leisure

Georgetown photographers get exposed

In the three years since its inception, FotoWeek DC has become a photography festival recognized worldwide for its gallery exhibitions all over Washington, D.C. It features speakers, workshops, and a competition with 13 categories, ranging from photojournalism to mobile phone photography—meaning that you could go up against pros from all around the world.

By November 4, 2010

Leisure

Critical Voices: Matt & Kim, Sidewalks

On Sidewalks, Brooklyn drum-‘n-keys duo Matt & Kim stick to the formula of enthusiastic pop tunes with a twinge of youthful nostalgia that they established on their 2009 breakout album, Grand. By singing about concrete, sidewalks, and sleeping on rooftops, these wistful teenagers find joy adrift in an urban landscape.

By November 4, 2010