Blog Posts

Magazine Spotlight: Best of Issuu.com (Part I)

Tiffany Wong | Nov. 21, 2013

You love AmLit. I love AmLit. We all love AmLit, but for those of us who need some sort of creative stimuli as we await the next release of our beloved semiannual student publication, Issuu.com is a great gift. On our college budgets, dismal and meager, pretty interest magazines published on premium card stock with minimal advertisements are usually out of our financial reach. Issuu.com, an online hub of self-produced publications, is here to help you bide your time before AmLit’s December release. Here are a few free magazines featured on the website that’ll quench the literary thirst of the curious.

Location Review: Kramerbooks & Afterwords

Mia Saidel | Nov. 14, 2013

“Esteemed city institution” and “DuPont’s replacement ritual for church” are among the words of praise for the long-running bookstore and café, Kramerbooks & Afterwords, a D.C. must-see nestled comfortably on the cosmopolitan Connecticut Avenue. A well-oiled machine, the establishment first opened in 1976 and has since been coined as the first bookstore in the country to feature a full bar and an adjacent restaurant.

NaNoWriMo is Here!

Jessica Perry | Nov. 13, 2013

November is a lazy month for most. Football, turkey-induced naps, and shopping trump any real world obligations. Meanwhile, several hundred thousand others spend the month slumped over a laptop with cup after cup of coffee.

On Campus Event: How to Make Money Selling Drugs Screening

Nolan Miller | Nov. 12, 2013

American University’s chapter of React to Film is a documentary film club geared towards raising awareness about important social issues through organizing free documentary screenings on campus twice a semester. How to Make Money Selling Drugs was shown this past Tuesday (11/5) for the club’s last film of the semester. Even after cramming in a few more additional rows of chairs and having standing room in the back, there was still barely enough room to fit everyone. Apparently students at American University are looking at every avenue possible for ways to cut down on their ever increasing tuition fees. The film itself describes how to “level up” through the ranks of the illegal drug trade, from recreational user all the way to cartel lord.

Art Exhibit Review: First Fridays on R Street

Tiffany Wong | Nov. 5, 2013

On the first Friday of every month, DC art lovers gather in Dupont Circle for First Fridays, a night when galleries stay open later than usual to debut new works. Free wine and snacks are served, but, more importantly, visitors can meet the artists themselves and even snag some art firsthand.

Film Flashback: La Notte

Jeoffrey Pucci | Nov. 2, 2013

With the opening scene of La Notte (“The Night”) (1961), Michelangelo Antonioni (director) challenges how the modern subject is seen. Beginning within an empty reflection of an elevator, gliding down the side of a Modern skyscraper without emitting sound of its own, one must become aware to the metaphor of modernity: Alienated romance.

Artist Spotlight: Mattea Falk

Emma Bartley | Oct. 31, 2013

Amid the sea of SIS and Public Affairs majors at AU, relatively small pockets of literature-loving students can be found floating around campus. We aren’t too hard to find (just look in the Dav on any given day or, better yet, come by an AmLit meeting). I decided to sit down with AU junior Mattea Falk last week in the Mudbox for a morning chat about her passion for both reading and writing poetry. She has been writing poems since sophomore year of high school and recalled her first poem with embarrassed laughter: “I specifically remember that it was about driving somewhere, and I was listening to Konstantine by Something Corporate.”

Film Review: Muscle Shoals

Jessica Perry | Oct. 30, 2013

Two boxes are now checked off my bucket list: I watched an art house film in an indie theater and took myself on a gratuitous movie date. I’ll admit I only saw “Muscle Shoals” because I scored the ticket for free from the movie’s public relations department. Not to mention I was curious after hearing about the documentary through Spotify advertisements. Why not work on that list? So I headed to West End Cinema.

Art Exhibit Review: van Gogh Repetitions at the Phillips Collection

Vera Hanson | Oct. 28, 2013

Aside from the Phillips Collection’s impressive permanent collection, the current Vincent van Gogh exhibition, titled van Gogh Repetitions, made for a lovely afternoon of art. On display through January 26th, the Phillips Collection is lucky enough to currently have some of the artist’s best-known works under their museum’s roof. The exhibition is especially interesting because it’s not simply showcasing van Gogh’s works, but instead diving into his tendency to create multiple versions of the same painting.

Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective

Mia Saidel | Oct. 19, 2013

photo credit: FilmyrI have learned to believe in magic. Not in the form of frivolous card tricks or Houdini-like hoaxes, but through hand-drawn images coming to life. Many do not understand this magic, this immense joy that is animation. “How can I relate to characters who are two-dimensional in form, how can I grasp any tangible emotion?” With all due respect and the credibility of John Lasseter (chief executive officer of Pixar and Walt Disney) to back me up, I beg to differ. No filmmaker has given human life more consideration and provided more parallels to the 3-D reality of our world, than the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.

Location Review: District of Columbia Arts Theater

denis sgouros | Oct. 18, 2013

Jay Bowman, House ManagerMy last weekend had only one saving grace. On a rainy Friday night I took the X3 bus in Tenley to Adams Morgan and got off on 18th St to visit the free District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC). All I expected from my visit was a little bit of art. I got magic. Thanks, in no small part to certain Extremities. The DCAC, located just above the hookah shop on 2438 18th St, is the hidden gem of Admo.

Performance Review: Six Characters in Search of an Author

casey simmons | Oct. 17, 2013

For their first show of the season, the AU Players, a student-run theatre group, staged Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of An Author, directed by sophomore Claire Tietze. The play, known for it’s metatheatrical and absurdist nature, tells a story that can be messy and hard to follow for those unfamiliar with the plot. Pirandello’s play is about a cast rehearsing for a show called The Rules of the Game when a new cast, who are “characters” themselves enter and begin performing a show that is not just a show, but also their “real” lives. Confused yet?

The Journals of Chuck Darwin, 2

luke ramsey | Oct. 16, 2013

By Luke Ramsey

Magazine Spotlight: Lucky Peach

Tiffany Wong | Oct. 15, 2013

With the rise of interest magazines, such as the community table-driven Kinfolk and the interior design savvy Apartamento, it’s hard to find a publication that doesn’t seem like it was put under the Valencia filter or shot exclusively with a disposable camera. And that’s where Lucky Peach comes in. A magazine that seamlessly weaves food and writing together, this quarterly adopts a theme for each issue, such as the Apocalypse, American food, and Chinatown. Talented photographers and artists are showcased, including Christopher Boffoli, a photographer/artist who’s famous for his “Big Appetites” collection, a series of photographs featuring miniature figures set in a food-filled scene.

Upcoming Shows: October EDM

Ben Philz | Oct. 10, 2013

Each month will feature upcoming EDM shows in the DC area at an affordable price.So if you love EDM and can spare less than $20 then check out these acts.

Location Review: Baked and Wired

Jessica Perry | Oct. 8, 2013

Problem: You’re burnt out from your D.C. Solution: Take the Metrobus toward Georgetown. Get off between 30th and 31st streets. Walk to 1052 Thomas Jefferson Street NW past the C&O Canal. Where are you? The place looks like a hole in the wall at its back alley location. Step inside, though, and you’ve found an indie Mecca. Welcome to Baked & Wired. This popular coffee shop and bakery is as youthfully electric as its name implies.

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Oct. 6, 2013

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Film Flashback: L'Avventura

Jeoffrey Pucci | Oct. 4, 2013

This is the first of four articles that will consider the movements and developments of Michelangelo Antonioni within the paradigm of Postreligion and early Marxism/Feminism within cinema. In this series, I will consider the trilogy of L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L’Eclisse (1962), in addition to the Deserto Rosso (1964). Tracing the developments of Antonioni and his view on modernity, I locate a primary inlet into this viewpoint through his strong female lead Monica Vitti. As Vitti infamously starred in five of Antonioni’s films throughout the 1960s until the 1980s, I regard Vitti’s early roles within a Feminist standpoint as the most complex and powerful component to Antonioni’s radical way of constructing and unfolding a cinematic narrative.

Location Review: Blind Whino

denis sgouros | Oct. 2, 2013

It’s Sunday. I’m up and at work an hour early with bags under my eyes a hazy recollection of last night and the delightful presence of a nasally pressure in my head. Like most college students in the D.C. metro area, I may have made some mistakes last night. Let me tell you about the one thing I did proper yesterday. I went to the free and open-house local art gallery, Blind Whino. If you so choose, you may take the Orange/Blue line to L’Enfant Plaza and embark on an 8-10 minute stroll to “Blind Whino.”

The Journals of Chuck Darwin, 1

luke ramsey | Oct. 1, 2013

As a quick intro to my comic series: Chuck Darwin is a vaguely whale/fish-like creature who doesn’t go outside his house.