Monthly Archives: January 2010

The Daily Feed
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Kevin Smith Coming to 6th & I

Photo courtesy of
‘Kevin Smith’
courtesy of ‘jareed’

I have a strange devotion to Kevin Smith. Maybe it stems from my dear friend in high school who kind of looked like him and was indeed a guy named Bob who didn’t say much. But my point is, it’s terribly exciting to me that he’s coming to Sixth & I Synagogue to do Q&A on April 22nd. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster to the general public on Friday the 29th, but there’s a presale on the 28th if you know the password. Which, by the way, is not that much of a password. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you.

We Green DC
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Getting Polluted: These Guys Wrote the Book

Lourie and Smith discuss Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Lourie and Smith discuss Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Call it a science project for grown-ups. One day, as a joke, longtime buddies Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, environmental advocates from Canada, decided to marinate themselves in everyday chemicals for a week — innocent-looking things like shampoos, canned food, sofas with stain-resistant coating — and see what happened.

Why? They had been involved with Environmental Defence Canada’s Toxic Nation project, which has tested and found toxic chemicals in Canadians young and old and from all walks of life. But when those test volunteers asked what act, what product, used on what day had put the chemicals into their bodies…well, there were no clear answers.

So Smith and Lourie spent a week in a condo, trying to get polluted, and not in the alcoholic way, but with chemicals that are part of our daily lives. Said Lourie, “I didn’t drink a beaker of mercury. We did nothing millions of Americans don’t do every day.” Still, this idea “delighted our wives no end,” said Smith.

Last Wednesday in their first U.S. event, they told the tale of the resulting book, Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things, to a packed room at the Busboys & Poets at 14th and V. In one experiment, Smith took lots of showers, using highly scented hair products, soap, shaving gel, lotion, deodorant and cologne. Lourie quipped, “Rick never smelled so good.” But did his phthalate levels go up?
Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Rhee Explains Controversial Remarks

Photo courtesy of
‘I blame the post office’
courtesy of ‘Dvortygirl’

The other day when Michelle Rhee was quoted by Fast Company suggesting that teachers laid off as part of the DCPS RIF were poor performing teachers including those who had sex with students, displayed excessive absenteeism and hit students, it made News. The Teachers Union threatened to sue Rhee for Libel. The Council chair threw a fit and demanded an explanation. Today we got it.

As it turns out, all of those things were true. Some of the RIF’d teachers were on suspension for sexual conduct with students, had served suspensions for striking students, and were absent for lengthy periods without explanation.

The letter to the Council Chair, released to the media today, also had the following damning line: “The progressive discipline procedures contained in the applicable collective bargaining agreements prescribed suspension, rather than terminations, for these situations.”

All of that outrage over teachers in the schools having been disciplined for serious offenses and returning to the classroom, and it’s all right there in the progressive discipline procedure that the contract with the Teachers Union demanded. Who’s supportive of the Union again?

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metrobus to Detour Around State of the Union

Photo courtesy of
‘Metro’
courtesy of ‘mofo’

Tomorrow night is the State of the Union address, and as such, there’s a planned motorcade from the White House to the Capitol and back again, and heightened security in the area near the Capitol. In addition, there will be street closures. Metro has announced the following changes:

Metrobus routes 32, 36 (Pennsylvania Avenue Line), 34 (Naylor Road Line) and the 96 (East Capitol Street/Cardozo Line) will be rerouted from 7 p.m. until the President leaves the area.

So, if you’re heading in that direction on the bus tomorrow night, plan to go a little earlier, or a whole lot later. Streets are likely to be closed south of Louisiana and Mass Aves to the north, and north of Virginia Ave and North Carolina Ave to the south. Full closures will be announced likely this evening.

Update, 4:15p: As expected, the road closures are out, and match up largely with what we’re talking about above.

The Daily Feed
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Crystal City ramps up the deals for Couture week

Photo courtesy of Me

courtesy of Me

Crystal City has been promoting their couture week for a while now; events will include t-shirt printing, various design competitions and a multitude of hair and skin consultations. You can check out the full list on their website along with an improvement over last year’s events: more precise timetables.

I enjoyed taking pictures of the body paint last year – my favorite picture is above –  but today’s announcement is even more pertinent to my interests: deals on food and booze.

Morton’s, Hamlet’s, King Street Blues and San Antonio Bar and Grill will all be running specials starting Monday the 1st through the 6th when the Couture week concludes.  You won’t fund your retirement with the savings but a few specials sound fun – King Street’s etouffee in particular.

The Daily Feed
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DC School “Nutrition” Plan Under Scrutiny

Photo courtesy of
‘Levitating Lunch (187)’
courtesy of ‘dougww’

The Washington Times has a story today examining the relationship between DC Public Schools and Chartwells, the company providing school lunch/breakfast services. DCPS pays Chartwells nearly $30 million a year, but has a spotty track record for food quality and safety. The most disturbing incident was failure to warn school officials about a tortilla recall after serving those same tortillas to students in Racine, WI. 100 students from 5 schools became sick in connection to the recalled food.

The Slow Cook also recently spent a week in a DC Public School cafeteria kitchen, observing the food quality and preparation. While I agree with their overall premise that pre-cooked “beef crumbles” and nacho cheese heated up on a steamer table still in its plastic bag does not count as “fresh cooked” the way Michelle Rhee wants it to be, I think the real scandal is that so many schools don’t have kitchens in them and therefore couldn’t brown their own ground beef or cook their own vegetables if they wanted to. (And to be fair, The Slow Cook sees this as emblematic of a larger problem of school nutrition standards, and not an issue at DC Public Schools specifically.)

The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Three Sisters

ThreeSistersAct4

Nanna Ingvarsson, Amy Quiggins and Catherine Deadman in Constellation Theatre Company's "Three Sisters." Photo credit: Daniel Schwartz

It’s been over 100 years since Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s death. We’re still struggling against a traditional view of how to perform, and indeed experience, a genius that straddled two very different centuries. Last year, Theater J attacked some sacred cows with a lively production of The Seagull. I expected a young company like Constellation Theatre to be able to blow away some of the same cobwebs with their take on Three Sisters. I certainly loved the gusto with which they attacked Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear.

However, this is a very respectful production, full of talented actors making safe choices. The love of the play is evident, but with a few notable exceptions, no one seems willing to break their established view of how Chekhov should be done. If you’re new to Chekhov’s work, then this is a fine place to start. But if you’re looking for any risk-taking, you won’t really find it here. There’s just too much reverence for that.

Director Allison Arkell Stockman makes two great choices from the start. She uses the Lanford Wilson translation, nicely accessible while retaining some lovely poetic phrases. She also has the play performed in the round, which gives the illusion of our eavesdropping on the lives of the Prozorov family – three sisters Olga, Masha and Irina and their brother Andrei. Her direction highlights the trap closing around the family as one by one their dreams of a meaningful, rewarding life are trampled on. Pretty depressing stuff, thankfully lightened by humor (Chekhov billed it as a comedy, after all).

The plot is a journey through several years with the Prozorov family, who live in a provincial garrison town with their daily routines enlivened by the soldiers. All they have is a dream of moving to Moscow and finding meaningful work (both metaphors would be humorous to an audience at the time, now they are symbols for any childhood dream held dear). Little by little, they lose their illusions, and become adults in a drab world. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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For The Greener Good

Photo courtesy of
‘Spring Onions’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

Tonight the National Building Museum will play host to a roundtable discussion with leaders and activists involved with urban agriculture from across the country. They will be discussing the conversion of what are effectively deserts (many urban spaces) into “oases”, or more specifically, urban gardens. Tickets are $12 for members, $20 for the public, and students get in free.

The Daily Feed
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Eat Shrimp Dressed As A Pirate? Why Not.

Photo courtesy of
‘She loves him.’
courtesy of ‘misskelly’

If you can’t wait until Fall for International Talk Like A Pirate Day (Sept. 19) and Halloween to get your fix of shiver-me-timbers goodness, then get your lil’ pirate’s booty to H St. tonight!

Argonaut (1433 H St. NE) is hosting an All You Can Eat Shrimp (& Pirate Party) . If you come dressed like a pirate, you’ll get $10 off the $40 admission price.

And — if you’re decked out to your pirate finest — you’ll even be in the running for a $30 gift certificate for best costume.

You can RSVP to argonautdc@gmail.com. Party goes from 7 to 10.

The Daily Feed
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Hunting for Locavores Class

Photo courtesy of
‘Deer II – Rock Creek Park’
courtesy of ‘architeuthis dux’

After spending a few years growing my own food and buying from local farmers, the next logical step, for me, is to learn how to source the ultimate in local meat: Deer. Jackson Landers, a Charlottesville based insurance broker, started teaching a class last fall and got some coverage in the New York Times about it. He’s just announced a weekend condensed class in February that covers everything from deer anatomy, natural history, gun safety (as well as a trip to the range), field dressing, and final butchering, cooking, and tasting. The course costs $380.

I’ll be packing up my trusty Winchester Model 70 (in ’30-06) and heading down to Jack’s weekend course “Deer Hunting for Locavores” in Charlottesville on February 20-21. There are still a few slots left as of this writing.

The Daily Feed
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Javaris Crittenton Pleads Guilty to Gun Possesion, Gets Probation

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_3434’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

Javaris Crittenton, the less famous gun criminal on the Wizards, plead guilty to a misdemeanor firearms possession charge in District Court yesterday and received a year’s probation for his punishment. In addition, the Wizards’ guard will pay $1,250 in fines, and perform some local community service.

Is this a preview of Arenas’ sentencing in March? Given that Arenas is facing a more serious felony charge, I suspect that the probationary period, fine and service requirement may be larger and longer.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


This is not Oklahoma by katyray

All day long, tourists wear down the stone of our monuments a few microns at a time with each step, each touch, huffing and puffing as they climb the stairs.  As a parent or school teacher you have to keep an eye on your flock to make sure they don’t take candy from strangers or fall into the bushes.  As a kid you wonder how you can get your hands on some candy or just how long you can hide in the bushes before you are found.  After a while spent mulling around, possibly reading the first sentence or two of the engraved president’s speech, postcards are purchased and this site gets checked off the list by capturing a bad camera phone trophy.  Come on kids, let’s head to the Hard Rock Cafe for a burger or a nice pig sandwich.

The night guard flips the sign from “open” to “closed”, radios to his buddies that quadrant four is secure, and soon Operation Foxtrot Charlie Delta (five card draw) commences in the bowels of the monument.  Honest Abe breathes a sigh of relief that he’s made it through another day.  He notices that he’s starting to get dirty, no thanks to the pigeons perched on his shoulders and the smog that saturates the air.  What was once a deafening scene of chaos is now peaceful, serene, and calm.  It’s his favorite time of the day.

Suddenly, far away in the darkness of night, Katy Ray’s camera makes a clicking noise that pierces the air, capturing this beautifully simple, grainy image on her Kodak T-MAX 3200 film.  The guards pause in silence, staring at each other, listening for more clicks.  Honest Abe lifts an eyebrow and scans the grounds for any signs of horseplay.  But after a few minutes, the card game resumes and the photographer slinks away into the pitch black as the scene comes to an end, only to be repeated again tomorrow.  And the day after that.

The Daily Feed
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Manhole Cover Crashes Through SUV Windshield

Photo courtesy of
‘Eastern Market Manhole’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

What a fustercluck on Georgia Avenue yesterday. The foul odor coming from the sewer system brought out the Hazmat teams to figure out what exactly the smell was. It closed lanes on Georgia Ave in Montgomery County for hours. But that’s not what was horrifying.

Imagine that you’re driving along on a busy street, when all of a sudden, the manhole flies up from the street and shatters your windshield and cuts up your face. That’s gotta put a serious dent in your day, not to mention a claim in your insurance. Whew. I can only imagine how messed up I’d be after that. Yikes. Makes Metro look safe, doesn’t it?  (Editor’s note, this post was written last night before the accident on the Red Line, we apologize for any who took offense.)

News, The Daily Feed
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Fatal Accident on Metro Impacts Service on Red Line

Photo courtesy of
‘Nacho #20’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

This is not a repeat.

Overnight, two Metro employees were struck and killed by a Prime Mover, a diesel-powered equipment mover, on the Red line between Shady Grove and Rockville. Metro has stopped all service between Shady Grove and Rockville at this time, stopping the Red Line at Twinbrook for the time being. There is shuttle service between Twinbrook and the affected stations, and it’s unlikely the affected stations will re-open much before noon. The NTSB is on-site between Shady Grove and Rockville, investigating the incident.

It’s not clear what the two train operators were doing on the tracks, or why the Prime Mover did not see them, or stop in time. If you were hurt or a loved one died because of the same kind of accident, you will need a transit vehicle accident lawyer behind you to obtain the compensation you and your family needs to care for the injured.

Metro has released some transit options if you’re transiting near those two stations today. Take MARC, the Bus, anything except rail, it seems.

UPDATE: WaPo reports that the workers were installing new train control equipment in the tracks.

The Daily Feed
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Redskins London Fletcher Headed To The Pro Bowl

Photo courtesy of
‘Suisham’s FG’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

New Orleans might be stoked that their Saints are headed to the Super Bowl versus Peyton Manning and the Colts in a couple weeks, but there’s one person who might be even more excited than every person living on the bayou — London Fletcher.

Thanks to the Saints win last night, the Redskins linebacker — who is also up for this year’s Walter Peyton Man of the Year award — will replace the Saints Jonathan Vilma at next weekend’s Pro Bowl.

This will be Fletcher’s first Pro Bowl in his 12-year career. He will be joined by teammate and fellow linebacker Brian Orakpo.

Adams Morgan, Entertainment, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, Night Life, People, Special Events
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Adams Morgan: The Movie

Photo courtesy of
‘Where have you gone, Philip Marlowe?’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

If there’s one thing Paul DeVeaux and I agree on, it’s that DC lacks what some other major cities don’t – a movie about “us.” There is no such recounting of District life from the perspective of an actual resident — or least none that come to mind at a moments notice.

We’ve seen the White House blown up more times than we can count (anyone remember “2012” or “Independence Day?”) and we’ve borne witness to the ups-and-downs of the political game thanks to “All The President’s Men” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” but what about a movie recounting the lives of all the folks putting their blood, sweat, and tears into making this the city what it is.

“That’s what I’m doing”, DeVeaux said. “This movie is my love letter to DC.”

Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed
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Dear Metro, Please Stop Trying to Drift Race the Subway Cars

multitrack.jpeg

Mashup Graphic Courtesy of Paulo

Today’s Metro kerfuffle involved a train coming slightly off the track near Silver Spring on the Red Line, which has caused single tracking around the incident. Of course, never to miss a good meme, Paulo points out that the train may well be attempting a sweet multi-track drifting technique only possible in manga books.

Either way, avoid the Red Line near Silver Spring til they figure this out.

Fun & Games, News, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The Hill, WTF?!
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Cupid’s Undie Run – Another Excuse for DC To Go Pantless

Photo courtesy of
‘Vintage Kewpie Valentine Postcard’
courtesy of ‘chicks57’

Hey DC, want another excuse to take your pants off? Did the No Pants Party on the Metro leave you wanting more? Your prayers have been answered in form of a pantless run around the Capitol scheduled for Feb. 13.

Registration for Cupid’s Undie Run (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like) is now open and costs $30 to enter. The registration fee includes a commemorative event t-shirt, all day drink specials, post-race food, and the chance to run around DC in nothing but your skivvies.

The party starts at noon at Pourhouse (located at 319 Pennsylvania Ave, SE) and ends with a 1.75 mile jog around the Capitol. Who knows — you just might meet your future ball ‘n chain. It’d sure as hell make a good story for the grandkids!

The DC 100
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DC Omnivore 100: #90, Criollo Chocolate

Bars, beans and pods

Bars, beans and pods

It’s time for another item on the DC Omnivore 100 list of the top one hundred foods every good omnivore should try at least once in their lives.

Finding that the Omnivore 100 contained a chocolate I’d not met was a cause for celebration. After all, most any chocolate is good, right?

A quick search revealed that Criollo is a prized bean said by some to make the very best chocolate. It differs from its cousins Forastero, the most common bean from which the majority of the world’s chocolate is made, and Trinitario, a hybrid of the two.

Criollo is described as being aromatic, delicate, slightly astringent, slightly bitter, complex, noble, and comparable to the Arabica coffee bean. It’s also rare, making up approximately 5 percent of all cocoa beans grown, because the trees on which it’s grown have delicate constitutions themselves.

It sounded like something well worth trying — the crème de la crème of chocolate, perhaps — but tracking it down was the first order of business.
Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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National Archives to Ban Photography

Photo courtesy of
‘National Archives Document Lighting’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

This came to us as a special contribution of one of our photographers, Erin McCann

Via the Post comes word today that the National Archives has decided to ban photography. That means that after next month, unless you are a professional photographer, you’ll be forbidden from using a camera inside the building whose No. 1 purpose is to display the documents of freedom on which our country was founded.

Archives officials opened the issue for public comment last summer with an announcement in the Federal Register. (What? You don’t scour the register?) After two months, they had only three comments, all of which were against a change in policy. Despite this, David S. Ferriero, the chief archivist for the United States, wrote that the agency “does not believe that this rule will create problems for tourists. The agency believes this rule creates a better visitor experience.” Continue reading →