entertainment

Lumos Harry Potter?

By Alexis Egan | Aug. 5, 2005, midnight | In Books »

"It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind," and so begins the sixth installment in JK Rowling's best selling Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."

A "noteworthy "album

By Eve Gleichman | Aug. 1, 2005, midnight | In Music »

With eleven years of establishment and six successful albums, InToneNation (ITN), Blair's student-run a cappella group, has made quite a name for itself. In this case, the name is "Leave a Message After the Tone," ITN's seventh and most recent release. The album is a live recording from May, complete with nineteen tracks which demonstrate the group's strengths and show their potential for the future.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": Willy weird

By Eve Gleichman | July 28, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

History, grease and plastic forks

By Simon Kanter | July 13, 2005, midnight | In Restaurant Reviews »

In 1958, in the heyday of the African American entertainment district that centered around U Street, Ben Ali and his wife Virginia opened not just a restaurant, but a piece of Washington D.C.'s vibrant history. During the riots that tore through the streets of downtown after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ben's Chili Bowl was the only place still open while the mobs stormed down the avenue. But Ben's has outlived that era, and while the neighborhood around it is slowly drifting towards urban renewal, it has thrived on two things alone: preservation and really good chili.

The White Stripes deliver

By Eve Gleichman | July 11, 2005, midnight | In Music »

"No I'm never, no I'm never, no I'm never gonna let you down now," Jack White promises in "The Nurse," a single from The White Stripes' latest release, "Get Behind Me Satan." He was true to his word. Though Jack and Meg White have held onto a reputation for producing unusual music, this eccentric pair has created an album that is truly in a unique world apart from any of their other releases.

"Aperture" opens eyes

By Eve Gleichman | July 11, 2005, midnight | In Books »

Aperture. The word, in this case, means a scope of some of the most imaginative pieces Blair students have to offer. This year, the literary magazine includes one hundred and four pages of poetry, prose, and even sheet music, paired with artwork and photography to make for a truly inspired and cohesive work of creativity.

Ry Cooder is stuck in a "Ravine"

By Simon Kanter | July 6, 2005, midnight | In Music »

For the last decade, Ry Cooder had been traveling all over the country and the world, accumulating new styles and sounds as he went along. One could say he was attending music school-learning different styles from the masters and then turning around and spinning out new and brilliantly tangled webs of music. His album "Buena Vista Social Club" was a learning experience in conjunction with the Cuban music greats of yesteryear, and the web he spun from that was "Mambo Sinuendo," a fusion of the traditional Cuban music and modern lobby-music-tech-pop.

Cafe Deluxe: Not your ordinary bistro

By Hokuma Karimova | July 3, 2005, midnight | In Restaurant Reviews »

Bethesda is known for its many restaurants that attract people from around the area for its variety in food, price and location. One of Bethesda's well known eateries, located on Elm Street, is Cafe Deluxe. Named the "favorite neighborhood place" by the Washingtonian Magazine Reader's Survey, Cafe Deluxe has plenty to offer.

Phillips: Fresh seafood on the waterfront

By Alex Hyder | June 27, 2005, midnight | In Restaurant Reviews »

Nestled on the waterfront in Southwest DC, only a few blocks from the L'Enfant Plaza, Phillips Flagship offers a hearty meal, a casual atmosphere and views of both the Potomac and the Capital Yacht Club that serve as the perfect complement to the restaurant's offerings. The location is convenient to the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station, and its proximity to the Mall and many of the District's monuments and museums make Phillips the perfect place to dine after a day spent touring DC.

"X&Y" launches Coldplay ahead of the pack

By Kiran Bhat | June 20, 2005, midnight | In Music »

Music that transcends time and space, and actually makes you feel, doesn't come along very often. But with their highly anticipated junior album "X&Y," British quartet Coldplay does just that, for a Beatles-esque third time in a row.

Bob Dylan amazes Maryland

By Emma Zachurski | June 19, 2005, midnight | In Music »

From the very start of his career, Bob Dylan has captured audiences everywhere with his extraordinary music. Now, at the age of 64, Dylan is still a fascinating musician as well as a great performer who continues to deliver excellent concerts to thankful fans. The night of June 14 at Prince George's stadium in Bowie, Maryland was no exception to Dylan's remarkable streak of crowd-pleasing performances. Dylan's concert brought a mixed group of fans together to sing along, dance and cheer throughout yet another amazing show by the incomparable artist.

"Cinderella Man" is a lightweight

By Nora Boedecker | June 14, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

To make a truly great, inspirational and poignant film is an art. Such films are not manufactured, they are born, and when filmmakers try too hard to manufacture a great film-it shows.

Spoon-fed quality

By Eve Gleichman | June 8, 2005, midnight | In Music »

As 10:30 p.m. rolled around on June 3rd, the 9:30 club in Northeast DC was filled to capacity. The headlining act was Spoon, a band which began on an independent label, and has steadily gained notice since their premier on the popular teen television drama "The OC." Not only has the group undergone several facelifts since their first album release in 2002, but their recorded sound has become very methodical and calculated, and I was interested to see how this would translate on stage.

Lost "Kontroll"

By Armin Rosen | May 16, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

Films often achieve cult status either because they don't make any sense whatsoever — "Rocky Horror" definitely qualifies — or because, like "The Matrix" or "Fight Club," they seem to make so little sense that, on closer examination, they make perfect sense. "Kontroll," rookie director Nimrod Antal's existential allegory filmed entirely in the Budapest subway system, falls under the latter and more paradoxical category.

Margaret Cho leaves Warner Stage in stitches

By Emma Zachurski | May 15, 2005, midnight | In Plays »

There was a distinct feeling of anticipation on Friday, May 13 in the Warner Theatre as people packed into their seats to wait for comedian Margaret Cho to take the stage. The audience's expectations weren't let down either. Cho engaged viewers with the hysterical, smart and outrageous performance everyone had hoped for.

"Archer Maclean's Mercury:” an innovative but frustrating puzzler

By Eric Hysen | May 4, 2005, midnight | In Video Games »

"Archer Maclean's Mercury" is innovative, but cannot compare to the PlayStation Portable's first puzzler, Ubi Soft's "Lumines." Had "Lumines" not been released, "Mercury" would be one of the best puzzle games in recent years, but it simply cannot reach the high standards "Lumines" set for the genre.

"Kung Fu Hustle" kicks conventional comedy out the door

By Emma Zachurski | April 25, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

The art of Kung Fu is a serious study that takes discipline and effort. Organized crime gangs are intimidating, violent and ruthless groups who have the ability to throw entire cities into chaos. Now what happens when these two subjects come together? Why, you get "Kung Fu Hustle," the funniest film of 2005 so far.

"The Interpreter": a first class political thriller

By Kiran Bhat | April 24, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

At first it seems like a typical action movie. Secret service agents, gunfights, terrorism, plot twists, it has all the elements. But beneath the surface, "The Interpreter" is a gritty thriller, one that doesn't shy away from the complicated and brutal politics of its subject, postcolonial Africa, and one that explores raw human relationships to the fullest extent.

"Andrei" the giant

By Armin Rosen | April 22, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

Just as no contemporary author would dare to undertake a work of the length, sensitivity, and historical perspective of a "War and Peace," "Don Quixote" or "Les Miserables", so too would no modern director undertake a film with the scope or complexity of "Andrei Rubelev."

A riveting "Piano Lesson”

By Armin Rosen | April 18, 2005, midnight | In Plays »

I was somewhat taken aback when, in a short speech after the opening performance of her production of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson," director Saret Scott opined that the middle-aged Wilson is already one of the great American playwrights. But after seeing "The Piano Lesson" I can find little grounds on which to disagree with her.

Full cast list

By | March 9, 2005, midnight | In Plays »

A vibrant attack on our very own "Ministry of Peace and Justice"

By | Feb. 11, 2005, midnight | In Books »

In his book, "Crimes Against Nature," Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. demonstrates that he is the definition of a true patriot. While the Bush administration attempts to evoke patriotism by fighting terrorists, which evidently includes donning flight-suits to announce the end of Middle Eastern "conflicts" and alerting the public about frightening terror-alert colors, Kennedy focuses on a fundamental issue that citizens could actually exert control over: the environment.

"Boogeyman" should have stayed under the bed

By Nora Boedecker | Feb. 8, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

"Boogeyman"

Go "Sideways"

By Emma Zachurski | Jan. 27, 2005, midnight | In Movies »

Every friendship is full of stories, sentiments and unforgettable moments shared together. "Sideways," the latest triumph by director and writer Alexander Payne ("About Schmidt"), deals with the complex subject of relationships in a way that is moving, intelligent and hilarious all at once.

A gridiron classic

By Armin Rosen | Jan. 25, 2005, midnight | In Books »

The best journalism is undoubtedly that which does not read like typical journalism. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, for instance, wrote in the third person primarily to suck the journalistic tedium out of their Watergate saga "All the President's Men." The result was a modern nonfiction classic. Upton Sinclair is today revered as one of history's most important muckraker journalists. It is both ironic and fitting that his most significant work of journalism was a novel, "The Jungle."