Salomé: A Restorative Perspective on a Biblical Tale

Conor MacVarish reviews the National Shakespeare Theatre production of Salomé, a refreshing narrative of the biblical character directed by Yael Farber.
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Suffragette: Took a Stance, but Not Enough

Tova Seltzer takes a look at the newly released film Suffragette, a movie that highlights the British women of the late 19th century who spearheaded the movement for women's suffrage rights.
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"It Takes a Village": How Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer Created Spotlight

FILM REVIEW AND INTERVIEW: Brandon Latham speaks to writer/director duo Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer about the work and integrity behind Spotlight, slated to premiere in November.
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Beltway Poetry Slam: Intimacy in Confrontational Slam Poetry

The Beltway Poetry Slam ensemble gave a showcase at the Shaw Library--an example of many arts events in DC that go overlooked. Maya Simkin paid the library a visit for some poetic justice.
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SUNSET CINEMA SERIES: INAUGURAL SUMMER LINEUP

Blogger Brandon Latham reviews the Georgetown Waterfront Sunset Cinema Series, running every Tuesday night from July 7 through August 4.
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FILM REVIEW: BEST OF ENEMIES

Best of Enemies, directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville, debuted as the opening film at the AFI Silver Docs Film Festival. It offers an unprecedented, in-depth look at the clash of two of America's most dually contested public figures of the 1968 presidential election, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal.
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FILM REVIEW: ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl has the look and feel of a movie that was made with the conscious effort to be unlike any other movie out there, and it works, and it is one of the truly great viewing experiences I have ever had
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REACT to Film AU Screening: Matthew Shepard Is a Friend of Mine

REACT to Film AU featured a film screening of award-winning documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine on April 8, followed by comments made by director Michelle Josue. Inspiring, tragic, and profound, the documentary is an artistic homage not only to Shepard's short life, but to the rising community of anti-sex hatred activists that are emerging out of the LGBT community.
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Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence

Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence is a beautiful homage to the seminal works of the highly regarded Florentine painter of the fifteenth century who experimented with the supernatural while also producing remarkable Christian works.
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Stand Up Review: Craig Ferguson Live

I waited in a line that wrapped around the block of the prestigious Warner Theatre on Feb. 7, a fiercely cold evening, to see a wildly eccentric yet brilliant Scotsman who has been in the late night show business for years. This would mark the second stand-up show for Craig Ferguson in the District since his exit from ‘The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,’ a CBS late-night talk show that ran from 2005 to 2014. The excitement of it all was like holding an ethereal golden ticket; my permanent grin made my elation all too obvious. After darting in and out of the chaos to find my seat, the show began.
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On Campus Event: The Play’s the Thing: Vaclav Havel, Art and Politics

The cinema in the 1960s was an arena for Czechoslovakian political dissent, where film directors enjoyed a state-supported film industry and increased creative license. Among these visionaries was Vaclav Havel, a gifted playwright who later became the first president of the democratic Czech Republic. The 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and Havel’s presidency coincides with this year’s Czech film series titled The Play’s the Thing, brought to the Malsi Doyle Theatre by the Embassy of the Czech Republic, the National Gallery of Art, and the AU School of Communication.
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LOCATION REVIEW: CAPITOL HILL BOOKS

Quirky, eclectic, and not for the accident-prone, Capitol Hill Books in Eastern Market has earned a reputation as a small but venerated space.
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DCIFF REVIEW: WILDLIKE

Directed by Frank Hall Green, Wildlike is one of many films in the much anticipated D.C. Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) that will continue from February 25 through March 1. The film stars Ella Purnell, Brian Geraghty and Bruce Greenwood.
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Forget Superman, Read Penance: Relentless

Some books, like Marvels, have deconstructed the notion of the helpless citizen constantly relying on the superhero to save them. Other graphic novels have even gone so far as depicting the depressed superhero hoping for forgiveness for a mistake in his or her past (Kingdom Come shows white-bearded Superman in such a state: retired in self-imposed exile). Yet, no graphic novel has gone to the lengths Penance: Relentless does to defile the superhero genre hope motif, one that Superman is the prime example of. Read More
Art Exhibit Review: Portraits of Planet Ocean at the Natural History Museum

To quote a well-loved movie about a clownfish searching for his son, Portraits of Planet Ocean at the Natural History Museum was both “big and blue.” But despite the small children screaming “Nemo!” every few minutes, Brian Skerry’s photography was far more profound than an animated film. Skerry is an established photographer for National Geographic who has used the digital medium to forward issues regarding wildlife protection. Read More
Feature Interview: GRL VS creator Steph Pettit

Steph Pettit is a senior at American University making a triptych of zines as her senior capstone project for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I talked with Steph about her motivations and goals for the project. Read More
Art Exhibit Review: TIME Covers the 1960s at the National Portrait Gallery

A boxy glass case containing a colossal, caricatured paper mache sculpture of the Beatles is a startling and intriguing greeting to the display of original cover art that graced Time Covers the 1960s at the National Portrait Gallery. A photograph of the sculpture was published on the September 22, 1967 Time cover and was the genius of English cartoonist Gerald Scarfe (ironically she was former fiancé of Paul McCartney). Yet irony worked as one of the core themes of this unique exhibit. The display did graceful justice to the interplay between culture and politics characteristic of the time.
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