Monthly Archives: July 2008

Entertainment
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Social Calendar: July 24 – July 30


“metro_yellow_line” by Ghost Bear

This week’s Calendar is prepared from a hotel room in California. Please forgive the brevity, and definitely chime in if you think I missed anything! Thanks!

Thursday, July 24: There is a lot going on tonight. Of all of it, though, I would probably pick Statehood at Fort Reno. It is the “night of a thousand cakes” – so bake something and celebrate the recent cancer freedom of singer Clark Sabine.

Friday, July 25: The Wasabassco Traveling Burlesque Revue makes a stop at Palace of Wonders. Go and find out if they can back up the claim of “another full evening of risqué-fun, saucy striptease, rat-pack style hosting, inebriated shenanigans, near-nekkidness, and the best Wasabi Hot Pepper Sauce on the eastern seaboard.”

Continue reading →

Adventures, Fun & Games, Travel
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Beyond the Beltway: Natural Bridge

Photo courtesy of tsmyther
Natural Bridge, courtesy of tsmyther

We’re starting a new series that we’ll post twice a month, looking at various locations, attractions and other fun spots to hit that exist within a half-day’s drive from the Beltway. It’s a way to give you ideas for some fun outside our little circle of asphalt here on the East Coast, without costing you any more than a tank (or less) of gas. Well, aside from tickets, food and the inevitable souvenir, that is.

I figured I’d kick off our first entry with a place that involved good ol’ George; you can never go wrong with our first President. So where in Virginia did George leave his mark early in his multi-faceted career?

Natural Bridge, Virginia. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Last Minute: War Games 25th Anniversary

War Games NORAD

War Games, the quintessential geek movie of the 80s, is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary tonight with showings on the big screen. For those of you looking to relive the good old days of 300 baud phone-coupled analog modems and a military industrial complex unconcerned with security breaches that could wreak a nuclear holocaust kind of havoc with a simple game of tic-tac-toe, tonight’s your night. (Also, you’ll get to see a young Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick.)

I’ll be heading to the Tyson’s Corner location with a group from HacDC, but you can look up the closest theatre to you on Fathom Events website. (Unfortunately, it seems only theatres in VA are participating. I couldn’t find any in DC or the MD suburbs.) Tickets for most showings are still available online.

Life in the Capital, Sports Fix, The District
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Kastles Trump Aces After Rain Delay

Anna Kournikova by Max Cook

The Washington Kastles ended their regular season last night with a 22-17 win over the Western Conference’s last place St Louis Aces. Unfortunately, a beautiful night of tennis turned into quite a rainstorm. The sold out crowd was invited to stay dry in the VIP tent in hopes that the rain would pass, but as soon as the storm got worse and the tent started flooding, team owner Mark Ein made the call to move the match to the East Potomac Tennis Center at Hains Point. Once play resumed, sets of mixed doubles and women’s doubles were split between the two teams, forcing the match into overtime which was won by the Washington-Jones women’s duo.

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The Daily Feed, The Mall
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Natural History Ocean Hall Time Lapse

Via DC Metrocentric, we find that the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has a Flickr stream, to which they have posted a a time lapse video of construction progress on their upcoming Ocean Hall:

The Ocean Hall opens in September 2008. Being an avid scuba diver and admirer of all forms of marine life (in beauty and taste), I look forward to this eagerly.

Talkin' Transit, The District, Travel
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Diamond Lanes at Dulles

My job puts me on the road.  A lot.  And, because I fly from DC, I’m a United Airlines Frequent Flyer.  For those of you in the know I’ve been a 1K for five years now. For those of you that don’t know what that is – let’s just say I get in a lot of airplanes. So one day Tom asked me “what is it like to travel out of DC?” and after a lengthy explanation he asked me if I would blog about it. So here goes…

Dulles is always under construction. Let’s just assume that is a constant. The benefit is that construction means that there are always new things happening and changing at the airport. Normally they fall in to the category of “oh no” or “not again”. I’m sure I will write about a few of those later.

Imagine my surprise to find a good change! Dulles has something new called the “Diamond Lanes”. These lanes are supposed to be for “frequent travelers (2 or more times a month)”. And – put down your coffee before continuing – the lines are really short! That’s because they are difficult to find. The Diamond Lanes are downstairs in arrivals (baggage claim). To find them, head over to Door 4. There, about 50 feet from the Clear lanes and the Employee lanes, is a new security section. Voila, you just found the back door. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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The Uptown Line for.. Popcorn!

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

How hot is the Dark Knight? How many movie goers want to see it on a random Wednesday?

So many that this is not the line for tickets. Fandango killed those a while ago. This is the line just for overpriced popcorn, drinks, and snacks.

Note its two lanes wide and hits the front doors and circles back on itself. If only the Uptown would open the upstairs snack bar too…

Entertainment, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Last Minute: monochrom

If you’re looking for something entertaining this evening, check out Monochrom: Law and Second Order tonight, hosted by HacDC, at 8:30 PM at St. Stephen’s Church in Columbia Heights (16th & Newton NW). It’s sure to be a wild and absolutely crazy show. The rumour is they spent yesterday in Pennsylvania Amish Country shooting an Amish porn video after a weekend performing at The Last Hope, a hacker conference in NYC.

monochrom is a worldwide operating collective dealing with technology, art, context hacking and philosophy and was founded in 1993. So to sum up, monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism. Their mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom released a leftist retro-gaming project, established a 1 baud semaphore line through the streets of San Francisco, started an illegal space race through Los Angeles, buried people alive in Vancouver, and cracked the hierarchies of the art system with The Thomann Project.

News, Talkin' Transit, The District, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: Four More Years!

Photo courtesy of brianmka

Metro Center, courtesy of brianmka

No, no, this isn’t about the current administration.

We’re talking WMATA and their plan to rehabilitate the Red Line during a four-year stretch. Meaning that aside from rush hour, the most-used line in the system will see off-peak and weekend delays for an entire presidential term.

And if approved, it’ll come right at the time when daily ridership records are falling left and right like so many dominoes. Continue reading →

Downtown, News, People, The Daily Feed
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Beware Bob’s Black Corvette!

So I was running a bit late for work this morning and took a cab. As we passed through downtown, WTOP on the radio warned of traffic around 18th and K Streets NW, as a pedestrian had been hit by a car around that intersection. As luck would have it, the taxi had just arrived there, and sure enough there was a backup of about half a block — nothing too bad, and I got to work just fine.

Well, guess who hit the pedestrian: Robert Novak, in his black Corvette. He says he didn’t even know he’d hit anyone till a passing biker told him. Police detained Novak on the scene for about an hour and gave him a citation (no arrest); the pedestrian, as yet unnamed, was brought to GWU with arm pain. WJLA has posted a raw video interview with Novak immediately following his emergence from an MPD cruiser.

Update: Additional info, commentary, and schadenfreude from Washington Post, DCist, Politico, TMZ (where he blames NPR for distracting him), Think Progress, Wonkette, and The Carpetbagger Report.

Technology, The Daily Feed, The District
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Post Puts Out CityGuide iPhone App

cityguide.png

Unlike the first DC-related iPhone app, this one seems to be a real winner. It’s a mobile version of the Washington Post’s City Guide for your iPhone. It’ll give you the basics of the Post’s resources, as well as buttons to call ahead to your favorite places, as well as store a group of favorite restaurants and bars and clubs and get directions from anywhere.

Oh. And it’s FREE. Thanks much to Couch on Twitter for bringing it to our attention.

The Daily Feed
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Late to the Party


Congrats on Being Late, Fox 5
Originally uploaded by tbridge

As I was walking out of Murky yesterday, I caught a Fox 5 reporter and her cameraman going in. Damn if I wish I couldn’t have stuck around. According to the baristas I talked with this morning, the reporter hadn’t done her research, and was being a general nuisance. They finally asked her to leave.

Fox 5, the real story was at Murky 9 days ago, not today. Showing up without having done your research, and being jerks to the staff at Murky…well, I suppose it’s par for the course for a station that follows the “If it bleeds, it leads” story model.

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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Didn’t He Suffer Enough Punishment Already?

Miles Harrison

Miles Harrison

As he’s being charged manslaughter, I’m wondering if Miles Harrison has suffered enough already. There’s no way I can see any court-imposed punishment coming close to the beating he gives himself every waking moment.

To bring everyone up to speed, let’s review his case with a little help from the WashPost article:

Continue reading →

Featured Photo
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Norton Hears Union Station Fools

union station hearing

From left: David Ball, USRC; Bryant Chambers, Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc., and Daniel Levy, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, as captured by Erin M

Some days our elected yet non-voting Representative does me proud. Yesterday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) took on Union Station’s non-policy on photography with a good grilling of David Ball, President of USRC, Daniel Levy of Ashkenazy Acquisition, and Bryan Chambers of Jones Lang LaSalle. (Norton’s meeting recap.)

Before you get confused, Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC)is the federally chartered nonprofit that is redeveloping Union Station, which leases the non-Amtrack portion of the station to Ashkenazy Acquisition, which subleases retail areas (and maybe security) to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Why do these fools matter? Because the security guards are harassing photographers in Union Station despite it being a public space – in action and maybe still in legal parlance. And as DC area photographers know from Free Our Streets, photography is a First Amendment right in public space, even if its leased to a private corporation.

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Interviews, Life in the Capital, Music
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District Mixtape: Zulu Pearls


photo of Zulu Pearls at the Black Cat by flickr-rickr

Being a musician in this town can be a challenge. Just ask Zach Van Hoozer, founder of Arlington-based pop band Zulu Pearls. “It seems like there is just no continuity, nothing that holds things together,” he remarks. Indeed, “D.C. can seem like it is just a carbon copy of an actual scene from a bigger city.”

Nonetheless, Van Hoozer, who grew up in the area, leaving only to attend college in Richmond, VA before returning, feels that the iconic, DIY sprit of D.C. has permeated his approach to making music. “If you do not feel that DIY attitude about things,” he remarks, “you just aren’t paying attention.” In a similar, do-it-himself vein, he has also launched YESORNODC, a great website chronicling pop culture, with a special focus on the Washington area.
Continue reading →

Adventures, The Mall
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Newseum: Worth $22 per Ticket?

newseum
Photo by v1rotate

While Carl is bitching about the beer prices at Nationals Stadium, I’m wondering about prices at another DC attraction: The new Newseum.

In the land of free Smithsonian museums, the Newseum is charging $20 per adult ticket with Carl’s favorite – a $2 convenience fee for those that dare buy online.

So at $22 per ticket, is the Newseum worth it?

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Business and Money, Media, The Daily Feed
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HowTo: Blog to Press & Glory

Wayan Vota on 60 Minutes

Wayan Vota on 60 Minutes

Straight from the WeLoveDC Shameless Promotion Department, I’m leading a workshop on Thursday that should excite marketing managers in the DC nonprofit community:

Get Featured in Mainstream Media (RSVP required)

Learn how to spike your organization’s message with high-impact, low-cost marketing tactics and technologies with Wayan Vota. He’ll share lessons learned that have him on 60 Minutes, NPR, and the Economist only using blogs, emails, and old-fashioned shoe leather.

Your take-away: a ready-made mainstream media publicity plan for your cause.

The discussion is part of OneWorld’s workshop series, free for OneWorld membership, which is just about every major nonprofit in DC, and $50 for everyone else.

Get Featured in Mainstream Media
OneWorld Workshop, RSVP required
@ Benton Foundation
1625 K St. NW, 11th floor
Washington DC (map)