Royal drama: The Charlottesville Opera’s Camelot is complete with suits of armor and ornate sets that pull you into the fantasy of King Arthur’s court. In this all-new rendition of the award-winning play, the principled and supremely honorable King Arthur must react to chaotic reality when Guenevere falls for Lancelot, a knight of the Round […]
Royal drama: The Charlottesville Opera’s Camelot is complete with suits of armor and ornate sets that pull you into the fantasy of King Arthur’s court. In this all-new rendition of the award-winning play, the principled and supremely honorable King Arthur must react to chaotic reality when Guenevere falls for Lancelot, a knight of the Round […]
The first question that will inevitably come up regarding Spider-Man: Far From Home is: How does it compare to the other screen portrayals that followed Sam Raimi’s landmark films? But let’s be honest, that train of thought goes nowhere useful. In terms of superhero movies and blockbusters in general, almost nothing is on par with […]
In the Anthropocene, what does it mean to paint the landscape? Pristine, unspoiled wilderness no longer exists (even places that look “untouched” are affected by climate change), and we’ve learned to cast a suspicious eye at bucolic pastoral zones, now that we know how often they involve Roundup runoff and soil erosion. This isn’t meant […]
Funkin’ up the coast: Providing music for the GoGo Indépendance crew, Mental Attraction Band 2.0 brings go-go from its native Washington, D.C., to cities along the East Coast. With 20 years of experience, the 13-piece band blends funk, R&B, and hip-hop to create an exciting live performance. The team of veteran musicians includes the bass […]
Various artists Lullabies for Catatonics (Grapefruit) The U.K. rock scene’s initial response to LSD tended more towards pastoral reverie than paranoid fever dream (not having a Vietnam War helped). But psychic unraveling quickly followed, as chronicled on Lullabies for Catatonics, a transporting crate-dig from excellent reissue label Grapefruit. Covering 1967-1974, this triple-disc set is lovingly […]
Celluloid hero: In defining its summer film series Pure Formalism, The Bridge PAI states, “In the spirit of Stan Brakhage, we stand face-to-face with the image itself—and absorb.” Brakhage was a highly influential experimental filmmaker whose career spanned five decades beginning in the ’50s. His six-minute short The Dante Quartet, a silent film of images […]
DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid. Two chains coiling around one another, a spiral ladder of genetic material we inherit from our parents. It informs, on a biological level, who we are—how our bodies develop, both inside and out—the strength of our heart muscles and the shape of our bones, the color of our eyes, our hair, our […]
When a horror movie reaches a certain level of pedigree or critical acclaim, it’s common in some circles to find any word other than “horror” to describe it. “That was just a really scary drama.” Or, “I think it was more of a thriller,” a genre that can overlap but is still distinct. “Post-horror” is […]
Do you know where your oxygen comes from? Trees, shrubs, grass, sure. But scientists estimate that at least half (and maybe even up to 85 percent) of all oxygen on planet Earth comes from phytoplankton, one-celled plants that live on the surface of the ocean, gobble up ocean nutrients and sunlight, then photosynthesize, producing oxygen. […]
Indie rewind: No longer confined to the house party basements that inspired its name, Six Foot Ceilings is moving up. The local band gives in to nostalgia but always with an indie tonal twist, offering everything from a moody “Hit Me Baby One More Time” to a haunting “Cry Me a River.” But don’t fret, […]