By Wayan
Walking through Dulles, what do I spy but a desert only a Washingtonian could really appreciate: Change Chocolate sporting the likeness of our current President. Yes, I even bought a few bars to celebrate the sweetness of political success. Wouldn’t you?
By John Athayde
‘Ground Contamination’
courtesy of ‘thetardigrade’
4,000 gallons of toxic coal ash spilt upriver from the District today. There is no information yet on when this will reach DC, but if you’re a boater or swimmer, this would scream “off limits” for the river in ways the cold water just can’t.
By Jenn Larsen
Jolene Nenibah Yazzie (Navajo), "Beautiful Shield" 2006. Digital print. Courtesy of the artist.
Upstairs in the intimate Sealaska Gallery at the National Museum of the American Indian is a fascinating exhibition on the intersection between Native culture and a uniquely modern art form. “Comic Art Indigene,” now through May 31st, highlights over 35 artworks of various mediums from the earliest rock art and clay figurines through to classic comic strip panels. Containing images both humorous and provocative, it’s well worth a visit.
If you’re interested in the history of how traditional methods of storytelling evolved into using comic art as a means of Native expression, the beginning of the exhibit clearly outlines this process. I just urge you to make sure you move beyond that initial area to the back walls and pay careful attention to the incredible pieces by Diego Romero, Mateo Romero, Jolene Nenibah Yazzie, and Rose Bean Simpson. These artists collectively pack a powerful graphic suckerpunch.
Jolene Nenibah Yazzie (Navajo) was a skater girl in high school, and her childhood inspiration was Wonder Woman. Both facets are evident in her supersaturated color contrast and strong female images. I loved “Beautiful Shield” – reminding me of a bit of Patrick Nagel (though these women could kick Nagel’s to the curb!). If I could own one piece of artwork from the show, this would be it. Continue reading
By Don
‘Employment Wanted’
courtesy of ‘jeffmcneill’
If you’ve recently – or not-so-recently – fallen victim to some downsizing and lack quality printing at home, you might want to stroll over to one of our many FedEx locations today. They’re running a giveaway where you can get 25 copies of your resume printed for free. Oddly they’re limiting it to single-sided, but you can come in with the original in printed or electronic form.
Just don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish; this is roughly a $2 giveaway, so if you’re not already going to be close to a shop you can probably get the same service done for less than the cost of parking or metro fare.
By jasmine
‘111: Cheap Sunglasses’
courtesy of ‘niseag03’
The AP is reporting this morning that employees of a Navy Federal Credit Union in St. Mary’s Co, MD asked to serve a Muslim woman in a back room because of her head scarf. I’m sorry…what?! She apparently put up with it once, and then demanded that she be served like the rest of the customers, as well she should. What the heck, NFCU? Religious freedom and understanding, anyone? Bueller?
By Don
‘King Street Metro’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’
Well I guess there are weirder places to get your news. The on-again off-again rail to Dulles romance seems to have entered a more serious phase of the relationship, and hopefully this will make it harder for these crazy kids to call it off again: Mark Warner just twittered* “At Dept. of Transportation w/ Sec. LaHood and Gov. Kaine for signing of Dulles rail funding agreement – finally!”
* I refuse to say ‘tweeted’
By Max
Pinup by flipperman75
One of the things I love about photography is the choice you have when it comes to the tools of the trade. I personally shoot only digital, but many others enjoy shooting film and while I have no desire to do it myself, I admire them for that. In the digital world there are many different cameras to choose from, ranging from camera phones to point and shoot cameras to fancy DSLRs. Once you have your image, you can modify it with your choice of many different software packages (e.g. Adobe CS4) in your “digital darkroom”. Photographers who shoot film employ more organic, hands on practices in their own darkroom such as dodging and burning and various other processing techniques. Even the choice of film dictates how the final image will appear.
The above image combines both worlds in a way, in that it looks like it was shot using a film camera (a Polaroid to be exact), but it was actually achieved using a free piece of software called Poladroid. The software allows you to import a digital photo and then manipulate it by giving it that familiar border, nostalgic coloring, and even a thumbprint. Note that there are several applications for the iPhone that do roughly the same thing, one being CameraBag.
Nuts and bolts aside, I really love this photo for its composition and color and because it’s not a typical DC shot even if it was taken on U Street. I’m becoming more and more fascinated by dark and creepy photos, and this fits the bill perfectly. The mannequin is sitting there stripped to her bare essentials, enjoying a nice day out on a bench, almost inviting you to come site beside her. For $50, she’s all yours.
By Don
Jack Defends LoC
courtesy of tbridge
Since it’s just me this week I’m gonna eschew the CoverItLive software and kick it old school, like we did back in the old days of… two weeks ago. Hopefully we’ll spend more than 3 minutes of the episode out of the White House set so I’ll actually have something to snark about.
9:06 8:06 and we’re still in a series of twisty rooms, all alike. I could mock the silliness of a supposed internet video feed that can’t be blocked – tell it to Verizon, who manages to block my feeds all by themselves – but what fun would that be?
9:09 8:09 oops, Bill just cost the taxpayers a whole lot of stimulus money. The White House is gonna need some screen doors and a whole lot of paint.
Whoops! Jerked up the time. Fixed now. My desperate prayers for some actual DC or supposed-DC scenery continues after the jump. Continue reading
By Wayan
Could the recent parking meter hike be reducing the number of parked cars in downtown DC? Looking for a spot today, it seems that spaces are plenty. More than I have ever seen on New Hampshire Avenue before.
Maybe it is a combo of beautiful afternoon perfect for walking and an increase in Metro ridership. Or just a random Monday fluke.
By Wayan
Snow blower drag racing
One week ago today, I was at IAD after a half-day flight snow delay. On a people mover, we stopped mid-trip to let a funny convoy pass – runway snowblowers coming back from the March morning task. In the middle of the orderly progression, a race was on! Two snowblowers were going for the gold in the last winter blast.
Anyone else miss the snow yet?
By jasmine
‘Game on’
courtesy of ‘cruffo’
As it starts to get warmer, I know I’m not the only one thinking that I should be getting outside more. I know about the prolific kickball leagues in the area, but are there any regular pickup games that you guys know about and could share? And not just baseball, folks–anyone know where a girl can get her cricket on?
By Ben H. Rome
Flags at the monument, courtesy of Gogonaş
Less than a week after “snowpocalypse 2009” we welcomed with wide open arms the first taste of spring. That, and suffering the loss of a precious hour of rest.
While we’re still looking at a chilly week ahead, it’ll be a snap compared to the cold we dealt with last week. Only a little bit longer, DC, before the cherry blossoms appear and spring takes a firm hold on the area.
Meantimes, here’s a smattering of what all of you were up to over this glorious weekend… Continue reading
By Donna C.
‘IMG_0566’
courtesy of ‘staypuftman’
Yep, it once again sounds like spring on the trails around DC.
Let me say first off that as a runner, I’m a looong way from setting any land-speed records. But I do run outside all winter, and every year during the first warm weeks I notice the same thing. As the birds begin to sing and the frogs to croak, the runners migrating back to the trails make their own special springtime sounds, louder than any I’ve heard for months: whoof, choof, hee, haw, gasp, huff, gaaaaah.
While I sure do sympathize, I admit to getting a little kick out of this. Go, runners! It’ll ease up soon.
Moving right along in the Omnivore 100, I was delighted for any excuse to make Huevos Rancheros. Huevos Rancheros combines two of my great comfort food loves: Breakfast food and food accompanied by tortillas and salsa. Can there be anything better than a dish that consists of breakfast food on tortillas with salsa? No, of course not.
Traditionally, it’s corn tortillas and tomato-chili sauce, though to get hung up on what’s “traditional” versus what’s “Americanized” seems to me to miss the point. You don’t make huevos rancheros when you’re feeling snobby about food. You make huevos rancheros when you don’t want to spend a lot of time on dinner, you want something a little more interesting than fried eggs and toast, and you had tacos for dinner recently. Continue reading
By Wayan
Check out the bbq action in Petworth. Over at a friends house we are getting all pro on the grill. We got apples with cloves coming up on the charcoal. Next are plantains and kabobs. Desert is gluten free brownies.
This is the only way to enjoy a 70 degree Sunday in March.
By AcaciaO
‘Three years of correspondence’
courtesy of ‘L. Marie’
So, not surprisingly, President Obama has been getting a letter or two. What else do you expect to happen when you ask for everyone’s input in how you do your job? Its that whole, you know, open government business.
How can you help? By reading and responding to President Obama’s mail. I don’t know about you, but this sounds fascinating. There’s got to be a whole spectrum of reasons people have for writing to their president at this moment in time and so many stories they want to tell. Mail reading will be going on from 6-9 on Thursday nights. You can sign up here if you’re interested.
By Tom Bridge
Seeds 2 by tbridge
Starting your garden can happen many ways. You can get seedlings, or full-blown adult plants from the many DC nurseries, and most of the time, this is a pretty good way to go, but if you really want a good place to start for not a lot of dough, then starting from seed packets is the way to begin.
What kind of seeds should I buy?
Well, I guess that depends on what you want to grow. Assuming you’ve figured out what you’re going to be growing, and you just want to look at seeds, you’ve got a number of choices. You can hit up any garden store or garden section of a hardware store and find seeds, but what about trying something a little more local, and a little more unique? Here are two places we recommend:
Continue reading
By Donna C.
Had enough American Idol and The Bachelor drama this week? Let’s give reality movies a whirl instead.
The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital starts with a special event next Tuesday and runs through March 22. It stars 136 films, with oceans and sea life as this year’s theme.
Local faces and places on the big screen include Restaurant Nora’s owner, Chesapeake Bay oysters, a toxic dumping site under Northwest D.C. (who knew?), and a plan for ick-free area rivers (hear, hear). Just the break we need.
By AcaciaO
‘Clocks’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
You’ve begun to feel it — spring is looming. No longer is it dark both when I enter work and when I leave it. This Sunday marks Daylight Savings time so put your clocks forward an hour (remember: Spring ahead, Fall back). I know will gladly loose an hour of sleep to give me another hour of sunlight daily.
Maximizing the amount of daylight has very practical purposes: more sun later means less lights turned on and less energy used. Time was standardized with the advent of the American railroad system at the onset of the twentieth century. Before then, telling time was somewhat arbitrary — a fact that gives daylight savings and time-keeping more of a romantic feel than one might expect in our very punctual day and age. Continue reading
By Rebecca
courtesy of the New York City Ballet
This weekend the Kennedy Center is hosting a very special guest: The New York City Ballet. The group will be performing three mixed programs choreographed by their founder George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp. There are 5 shows this weekend, including Saturday and Sunday matinees. If you have never been to the ballet before, this would definitely be a fantastic and memorable first time experience.
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