Monthly Archives: July 2008

Music
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District Mixtape: Re:sonance DJs

sonance djs

re:sonance djs

Friend-of-the-blog Michael Darpino is 50% of Re:sonance djs. He wrote in with this contribution to our “District Mixtape” series. You can see him and his dj partner at the awesome Jimmy Valentine’s this Saturday – and congratulate Michael on his recent graduation when you see him!
– Brittany

Re:sonance DJs are Michael Darpino and Chris Diamond. They are throwing a party at Jimmy Valentine’s Lonely Hearts Club this Saturday and want you to be there.

Darpino and Diamond have each lived in the DC area and been enjoying its ever-shifting music scene for over fifteen years. It wasn’t until these two like-minded music geeks met eight years ago that they decided that they wanted to become a part of it. With neither of them possessing a lick of musical talent but both owning ridiculously large and wide-ranging music collections their entry methods of choice were the internet and the DJ booth.
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Arlington, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Four Mile Run Stream Full of Shit Again

Another sewage spill into Four Mile Run Stream. This seems to happen every few months. What the heck is going on and why can’t Arlington’s seem to fix the real problem here?

From Arlington County Alert:

A sewage spill into Four Mile Run Stream near Westover Park is affecting waters and parks all the way to the Potomac. Residents are advised not to fish in or have any contact with the waters – including wading or swimming – until further notice.

So it’s not even safe to swim or wade in shitty water? Thanks, Arlington County, for telling me not to wade into sewage but not fixing a repeat problem.

Business and Money, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Write a Limerick, Win a Diamond…

From the guys over at the Mervis Diamonds Blog, you can now win a diamond for writing a limerick:

Tell us your stories of love, dating, and diamonds in the District and you can win a diamond pendant! Did you meet your true love under the cherry blossoms? Did she say yes right after a spending bill passed? Was the ring presented at Ben’s on a half-smoke with everything?

The best limerick wins a $500 diamond pendant! The winning entry will be funny, clever, romantic and include the flavor of DC.

May I humbly present my entry?

There once was a fella named Mervis
Who hocks the stones most imperv’ous
He sold me a rock
and a ring from his stock
and now we’re engag’d and pretty nervous!

Not bad for a first attempt, I guess. Okay, yeah it sucks. Sorry.

The Daily Feed
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Who’s gonna be the one to call CPS?

Photo courtesy of Me

You see a lot of interesting things on Freecycle, but this one’s a first on me. I’m tempted to write it off as a typo but you never know – those little ankle-biters can be frustrating.

If you haven’t used Freecycle it’s an interesting resource, though the sheer volume of stuff can be overwhelming (the website claims just shy of 15,000 active members for the DC-specific group) and some things go amazingly quickly. Unless it’s a kinda off-the-wall item I don’t much bother with anything posted more than 3 hours back, but I have gotten some worthwhile things. More importantly to us, my darling fiancée and I have managed to give some working old things away to good homes rather than put them in the trash.

But is it house trained?, courtesy of Me

Entertainment
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Social Calendar: July 31 – August 6


“Union Station” courtesy of erin_m

Thursday, July 31The many photographers among you will likely enjoy this week’s Phillips Collection Artful Evening. Showcasing the current exhibition “Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow,” gallery talks at 6 and 7 will discuss the abstract, organic work of the noted photographer. The Collection continues the Artful Evenings series when it stays open until 8:30 on Thursday nights throughout August.

Friday, August 1: You probably already have tickets to see Bon Iver but will recommend something less Bob Boilen-y since tickets are long sold out. Try Liberation Dance Party at DC9. The long-running indie-pop-heavy night is probably the event of most-frequent “hey, I know this track!” outbursts, which is sometimes a good thing.

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Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, Travel
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Reagan Runway on the Move

WTOP is reporting that the main runway at DCA will be moved 300 feet south and made longer in order to keep planes from ending up in the drink and to comply with current FAA rules. That sounds simple enough, especially since they have until 2015 to complete the job. Yep, 7 years to move a runway 300 feet south. Clark Construction could build two or three stadiums in that amount of time.

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All Politics is Local, Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed, The Hill, WTF?!
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Uncle Ted Pleads Not Guilty

Senator “Uncle” Ted Stevens has plead not guilty to charges of taking bribes. Of course, this has Alaska all nervous as he’s been great for funding Alaska’s economy, but perhaps bad for the Internet (it’s a series of Tubes. Not a truck.) and now he’s facing serious corruption charges.

I hate to see members of our government, and guests in our town, flaunt so badly the laws that govern the ethics of the body. Oh well, right?

The Daily Feed
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The Chinese Embassy calls in for “Take-Out”


Chinese Embassy
Originally uploaded by connave

Last night saw the opening of the new Chinese embassy (or the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China) in the Van Ness diplomatic compound. Designed by two sons of I.M. Pei (who’s known for the Louvre and our own east wing of National Gallery of Art), it takes up a heady southwest corner area of that plot of land. It’s now well out of public view, as was not the case with their old digs on Connecticut Avenue just north of the Dupont Circle area and south of Woodley Park. That embassy had been the target of vocal and not-so-vocal protests from human rights activists to Falun Gong supporters nearly every weekend.

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The Daily Feed
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Feel Better, Mayor Fenty

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I just want you to know, Mayor Fenty, that we’re all pulling for a quick recovery from your biking-related injury that is keeping you out of the public eye for a few days. Sure, you might’ve injured your foot playing “beach football,” but we figured you’d be manly enough to just rub some dirt on it, spit on it, and go back to what you were doing.

Silly doctors, keepin’ our mayor down.

Get better Adrian! If you want to send your own eCard to Mayor Fenty, you can send them to mayor@dc.gov

The Daily Feed
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Checking out at the D.C. Public Library


D.C. Public Library – Langston
Originally uploaded by bohdabinket

As reported on several news outlets, due to a $2 milion dollar shortfall, the D.C. Public Library system will be shuttering it’s doors on Fridays and will be possibly closing some kiosk branches city-wide. This is due to a projected shortfall in the 2009 budget for staff. The budget cycle begins in October, so these closings will begin around that time. This will also come at the beginning of the school year, putting teachers and students in a bind for other research materials. While libraries in the computer-age may be a loss-leader for city budgets, it’s also needed resource in cities that have a significant poor and working-poor population.

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The Daily Feed
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“Local” at Harris Teeter


“local” at Harris Teeter
Originally uploaded by tiffany bridge

We’ve been incorporating as much locally-produced food into our diet as possible at Hacienda Bridge. Between our trips to the farmer’s market and our CSA share, we find that we’ve only occasionally been buying produce at the grocery store. There are lots of reasons for this, some of them are debatable political/economic points that I am constantly reevaluating in light of new information, but the fundamental reason that never seems to change is what I like to call the “Delicious Ideology:” Continue reading →

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Fire Destroys Six Flags’ Haunted House

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Image from Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department

A major fire at the Largo, MD Six Flags amusement park destroyed their haunted house building last night. As the Haunted House attraction is only open in October, no one was inside, and no one was injured as the building burned.

I’m waiting for someone to point at Dan Snyder, as he owns the floundering Six Flags franchise, as having a role in the fire. Conspiracy Theorists in 3..2..1..

The Daily Feed
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Northbound Georgia Ave Closed

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

Hot tip for those headed home via Georgia Avenue NW up past New Hampshire Ave: an accident just closed north boundlanes at Upshur Street.

It just happened moments before my arrival and now the cops are detouring cars through side streets.

I would suggest North Cap or 16th as alternate routes till 7pm.

Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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WMATA’s Having a Rough July

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The overturned vehicle we mentioned this afternoon on I-395 in DC? Yeah, it was a WMATA van, transporting disabled passengers. They’re having a bad month over there at Metro, what with the Escalator issues, a Multi-failure Day, a busted Yellow line, and many other issues we’ve all talked about here.

I wonder, is there any place we should send our condolences for their rough month? What exactly do you get that friend that somehow manages to screw up every part of their core competency in just a few weeks?

Comedy in DC, Entertainment
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Comedy in DC: Festival Time!

Many professions and art forms have festival events, where the up-and-comers try to get noticed, get to mingle with the Big Names, and where enthusiasts for that particular art form or profession get to geek out to their hearts’ content- Defcon, Cannes, Dragon*Con, at heart, they’re all about the same thing- people who love something getting together to celebrate it. Comedy is no different- there are multiple comedy festivals each year, days-long binges of laughter where comedians get to perform for each other, talk about the craft of comedy, and educate one another. Toronto, Las Vegas, and Aspen are the most famous, so you may not know that here in DC, we have our very own comedy festival that draws some serious talent while showcasing some of our own finest local comics.

The DC Comedy Fest starts next week and the schedule is packed with sketch comedy, standup comedy, panel discussions, and classes.  Their site has the full listing, by performer and by event, as well as tickets for individual shows, passes by venue, and a full-festival pass. They’ve got shows downtown, shows on U Street, shows in Arlington. There’s really something for everyone, but here are my picks for particular highlights:

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Life in the Capital, Talkin' Transit, The District
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Ah-ha! Scramble Intersections

I was buzzing around the Internets today (as I do), looking for interesting photos, reading up on celebrity gossip, browsing through drink recipes, Googling people’s names – you know how it goes. Little did I know that when I clicked on one of my RSS feeds I would be slapped in the face by what seems like a brilliant idea: Scramble Intersections!

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Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, The District
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395’s a Mess

Due to an overturned vehicle on 395 through the District, with two lanes o westbound 395 and one lane of eastbound 395 closed. Paramedics are on the scene, but if you need to come through the District today, use surface streets, not 395. I would bet that they’ll still be cleaning this one up going into evening rush tonight, so start looking at alternate routes.

Crime & Punishment, Fun & Games, Special Events
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Well, of course sex worker advocacy is fun.

I’d actually put tonight’s Grind the Vote event at BeBar into my calendar several weeks ago because it sounds like a good time for what I consider a good cause. For a suggested at-the-door donation of around $10 – you can use your own discretion based on how well heeled you are – you get to watch striptease, drag, and burlesque acts while enjoying music and drink specials.

Unfortunately, in the time since I first took note of this event, the world has provided a textbook perfect case of why this kind of event is necessary. On July 23, ending almost a year-long spree, suspected serial rapist Mark Humphries shot himself rather than be arrested. By that time nine different women had been raped and threatened with death if they told.

As it turns out, that was almost superfluous. The WaPo story spends its early paragraphs covering the more True-Crime-Drama of Humprhries’ interactions with the police as he attempted to do counter-intelligence on his pursuers, so it’s not till you’re fifteen paragraphs in before the story shows why organizations like HIPS and Different Avenues are so necessary: Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, WMATA
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Metro Birding

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If you’re like me, you probably wake up every weekend morning thinking, “I’m tired of seeing only pigeons, sparrows, seagulls, starlings, and other parasitic and invasive avian species in this urban environment! But I don’t have a car! If only there were Metro-accessible places to see more diverse species of indigenous birds in the DC area!” Well, despair no more! John Beetham of the DC Audubon Society has posted Birding By Metro, your guide to bird-spotting locations easily accessible by DC public transportation.

Birding By Metro. Go do it. Seriously. Bring back pictures.

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, The Hill
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The Hill Hotness?

Never forget that we’re a crowd that can turn on a dime, here in Washington. Today’s example? The Highlights of the Hill Hotties. We could talk a lot about policy in this town, we could talk at length about legislative achievements, but instead we’re going to talk about fortunate genetic results. I love how this town just goes straight back to junior high when it feels a need for a solid dose of “Oh God, Look at the SHINY!”

[Edit] One quick edit here: I’m complaining here about the lameness of the Hill, not of DCeiver’s commentary, which is hysterically awesome, and probably how we should react when serious journalists go all beauty contest on us.