Leisure

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

Leisure

3D can’t save Sanctum

How does one of the world’s best-known directors follow up the most commercially successful film in cinematic history? For James Cameron, director of mega-blockbusters Avatar and Titanic, the answer is surprising. Taking a break from fantasy and iceberg-smashing romance, Cameron signed on as executive producer for Sanctum, the tale of a father and son on a life-threatening cave expedition.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Hercules and Love Affair, Blue Songs

Blue Songs, the new album by Hercules and Love Affair, is awful. I’m not going to mince words here: it’s brutal, terrible, miserable, abominable, abhorrent, and appalling. And it’s really a shame. The band’s 2008 debut was rightly praised as one of the best albums of the past decade. Mixing old school house and disco, the group brought a surprisingly fresh twist to DFA Records’s aging nü-disco shtick.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Boxer Rebellion, The Cold Still

In today’s alternative music scene, too many indie groups have abandoned their original sound in favor of mass appeal. So when a band can deliver emotion that is both honest and unpretentious, and stays true to the successes of its past albums, it’s grounds for major commendation. London quartet The Boxer Rebellion achieves just that on The Cold Still, with unassuming but powerful lyrics and melodies, the band rises above the rest of the indie pack.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Banger Management: It’s all about the Benjamins

Hip-hop has always been a regional art. Seminal groups such as Run DMC of Hollis, Queens and N.W.A. of Compton represented their neighborhoods with songs chronicling local troubles and lifestyles. But in the early 1990s, rap’s focus shifted and hip-hop crews began forming record labels to better promote their own music. All of a sudden, the West Coast had Suge Knight’s Death Row Records, which included the likes of Tupac and Snoop Dogg, while the East had Puffy’s Bad Boy label, which centered on Notorious B.I.G.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Internet IRL: This is your brain on Tumblr

Studying can be difficult when your most important tool is also your biggest time waster. All of us are familiar with being holed up in the library, intent on doing homework, only to catch ourselves surfing the net. It is virtually impossible to stay focused with the giant bag of potato chips that is the World Wide Web at your disposal. Betcha can’t click just one.

By February 3, 2011

Leisure

Activism finds a “voice” at Busboys & Poets

On Sunday night at the K Street Busboys and Poets restaurant, Chris Shaw, an eloquent, friendly-looking, middle-aged man, recalled one of the strangest compliments he had ever heard. “He said to me, ‘You’re a homeless bum talking like Shakespeare, man.’” In a sense, this praise that Shaw, a George Washington University grad school alumnus, received during his years as a homeless man in D.C. could summarize the entire open mic night. It was the first monthly installment of the 2011 Voices of a Movement series, which D.C.-based nonprofit One Common Unity is staging to spread awareness about pressing social problems.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

“Pixel Vision”: A digital decade of Georgetown art

Think about the computer your family had in 2000. Can’t remember it? That’s understandable. Technology has advanced so rapidly in the past 10 years that the digital world of turn-of-the-millenium seems completely foreign in today’s world of iPads and e-books. But if you want a refresher course on just how far technology has come, you’re in luck—“Pixel Vision: The First Ten Years” opened in Georgetown’s Spagnuolo Gallery on Jan. 19.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Jones, Affleck in good Company

September 18, 2008, starts out as normal as any other day for The Company Men’s three main characters. The hunky, 30-something breadwinner (Ben Affleck) arrives at the office in his silver Porsche, followed by his 60-year-old coworker (Chris Cooper), who has worked there for decades, and the company’s curmudgeonly old executive (Tommy Lee Jones) looks weary from the pressures of the markets falling around him.

By January 27, 2011

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Critical Voices: Cold War Kids, Mine is Yours

The second track on Mine Is Yours, the latest album from Cold War Kids, is entitled “Louder Than Ever.” That could be the mission statement for the whole album, whose anthemic songs are filled with sweeping riffs demanding to be played at full volume. However, lest they grow stale, Cold War Kids intersperse their louder songs with pockets of calm melody.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Fujiya & Miyagi, Ventriloquizzing

Fujiya & Miyagi’s latest release may challenge its audience with some pre-listening confusion—what do you expect from a band whose name was lifted from that of the martial arts master from The Karate Kid? Apparently, it sounds like a talented duo of British synth masters. And with this week’s release of Ventriloquizzing, the group’s fourth studio release, Fujiya & Miyagi deliver a series of edgy electro compositions and artfully layered beats that would make even the staunchest of karate masters tap his foot.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Amuse-Bouche: As long as it’s not in a box

This past December, I resolved to graduate to big-girl wine. I was growing tired of buying bland, acrid magnums of Little Penguin and Barefoot, and with Safeway just four blocks away and stocked with hundreds of wines at decent prices, there was simply no excuse not to upgrade. This posed just one problem—the Georgetown Safeway sells hundreds of wines. The three solid rows of bottles are foreboding and seemingly without an entry point.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Fade to Black: No Oscar grouchiness

The Golden Globes, a catastrophic mess of erroneously categorized nominations, are finally over. And although the awards ended up in the right hands, the Hollywood Foreign Press has a long road to restoring its image. As if to counteract that embarrassment, the Academy released the Oscar nominations on Tuesday, and, proving that good taste still exists somewhere, left trash like The Tourist and Burlesque out of its pool.

By January 27, 2011

Leisure

Yes puts the fun back in dysfunctional

In a pivotal scene of House of Yes, two reunited former lovers, a little drunk in a room that’s rife with sexual tension, begin a bizarre, morbid, and extremely uncomfortable role-playing session. She’s Jackie O, decked out in an iconic pink suit and pillbox hat, and he’s JFK. A fake gun blast goes off, “JFK” collapses onto the couch in feigned pain, and Jackie rushes next to him for support. Then, they have sex.

By January 20, 2011

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Watch art get unstuck in time at the Smithsonian

Time-based art is on the rise. The formerly little-known movement, consisting of art that changes as you view it, is rapidly gaining popularity among contemporary artists. A clear reflection of the ways in which technology has influenced society, the time-based genre presents a marriage of art and technology that makes for a dynamic visual experience.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Seth Rogen won’t save you

While scheming up his vigilante alter ego, Britt Reid, the man behind the mask in The Green Hornet, muses to his sidekick that the crime-ridden streets of Los Angeles need more than a mere superhero. “The city needs our help,” he declares. “We could be heroes! We will pose as villains to get closer to the bad guys. That way, no one will suspect we’re really the good guys!”

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: James Blake, James Blake

Well before he even announced his debut LP, James Blake’s narrative was written. The 22-year old London producer put out three of the most buzz-worthy EPs of 2010, and his prolific release of these experimental but highly melodic dance tracks earned his debut a preemptive label of “groundbreaking” before anyone had heard a single note—James Blake would own 2011 no matter what James Blake sounded like.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Critical Voices: Tennis, Cape Dory

Escapism is a prevalent theme in today’s music scene (I’m looking at you, Katy Perry enthusiasts). But how many artists actually live out the messages of their songs about the teenage dream? Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, the married couple who make up Tennis, are some of the few who do.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Banger Management: Lil Wayne’s swag with Bieber’s youth

Once on the cutting edge of social and political commentary, lately rap music has become boring and stagnant. Rappers like Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame make millions by pairing pedestrian lyrics with grandiloquent beats. Lucky for disillusioned listeners, there is now Odd Future, an unconventional rap crew out of Los Angeles made up of 11 teenagers.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Internet IRL: But still no wireless?

This week, speculation has been mounting about the possible release of the iPad 2 this April—just one year after that of its groundbreaking predecessor. In a world where innovation and change in consumer technology are moving faster than ever, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to realistically keep up with every new product that promises to change their lives.

By January 20, 2011

Leisure

Tiny Furniture brings little to the table

Indie films tend to isolate their fans. While some audience members will cry “genius!” most will call bullshit. With her new production, Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham has created a shallow micro-budget flick that, despite a few bright spots, fails to break away from the pretentious culture it came out of. Tiny Furniture follows Aura, played by writer-director Dunham, as she moves back into her family’s expansive TriBeCa apartment after her final year of college.

By December 9, 2010