Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart announced that the location for the Rally to Restore Sanity will be between 3rd and 7th Streets NW, so across the street from the Capitol Reflecting Pool, essentially.
Stewart also asked viewers to donate to the Trust for the National Mall because it’s “the people’s space,” which we wholeheartedly support, and he made one other suggestion about how to respect the Mall, but I’ll let you watch the video for that. Continue reading
By Don
James Luna, from the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian website
Native American performance artist James Luna will be outside Union Station on Monday – Columbus Day – taking pictures with passers-by in an art project called “Take a Picture with a real Indian.” Past press releases about the presentation indicate that Luna interacts with the audience, asking them to choose what cardboard cutout portrays the “real” Indian. He’ll be near the statue of Christopher Columbus with his presentation for about 90 minutes starting at 4:15p.
I’m a little disappointed they’re shooting outside; I’d have been amused to see two of our local institutions butt heads as the notoriously openness-averse Smithsonian knocks heads with the photo-phobic Union Station management.
By Tom Bridge
Today starts the Curbside Cookoff, a fiesta of food trucks down at the site of the old Convention Center at 11th & H Street NW, which means two things:
1) Our Food Truck Tracker is taking today & tomorrow off, because all of the trucks are in one place at the Cookoff
2) Voting!
There’s going to be SMS voting for your favorite food truck starting today after the cookoff gets going. Check out the Live Vote Tallies thanks to DCRA, who’s cohosting the event. Look for live dispatches from Katie and Ashley on our new Live Events Twitter Account, @welovedclive.
By Ben H. Rome
‘DSC_4847’
courtesy of ‘photopete’
Just to update a note we had in yesterday’s preview – the Capitals have placed goalie Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve for an undisclosed injury. Speculation is that he’s being hindered by a nagging groin pull, but nothing has been confirmed. Varlamov can be recalled from IR at any time and is expected to travel with the team to Atlanta for the season opener tomorrow.
The move, coincidentally, drops the Capitals’ roster to the league-mandated 23 man limit. Rookie Michal Neuvirth is expected to start tomorrow and will most likely dress for Saturday’s home opener against New Jersey. Recently signed Dany Sabourin will be Neuvirth’s backup.
Varlamov hasn’t played since the Sept 22 preseason game, though he did participate in skating practice yesterday.
By Dave Levy
‘Cheverly – Rabbit – 7-31-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’
A clever McSweeneys article this morning about underheard phrases in New York got the We Love DC Authors thinking: What are some quips that you just don’t hear enough in DC?
I proudly present, our attempts at #UnderheardInDC:
“You know, Chinatown really captures the spirit and history of a cultural neighborhood like any other city.”
“My cabbie tonight was so awesome! He spoke perfect English and I didn’t have to give him directions!”
“Getting tickets to tonight’s Wizards game was so hard.”
“All the parking meters are reasonably priced and in working order the majority of the time!”
“The HHS building fits so perfectly with the architectural character of downtown DC!”
“Waiting in line to get into a club is so worth it!” Continue reading
image of found baseball cards courtesy of MPD
So… did you lose/throw away a big box of baseball cards recently? According to an alert MPD is circulating around its various mailing lists, these cards were found in East Potomac Park near the tennis area and were turned in as found property of potential value.
MPD has made some photos available to help the owner identify his or her property, but the alert also specifies that the owner will need to provide additional information about the contents of the collection beyond what’s visible in the photos in order to claim the box.
The former baseball card collectors among the WLDC authors insist that the collection is worthless, but it may have some sentimental value for someone. Or they could have been trying to pitch it and it just ended up in the wrong place.
Are they yours?
Photo Courtesy of ObamaAndMe.Com
Have you ever wanted to go on a road trip with President Obama? Or maybe take him to the grocery store? Or perhaps all you want is a quiet afternoon with POTUS, where you can set him on your knee and tell him hilarious stories about your childhood.
If any of the above scenarios sound desirable, then good news: you can now take Obama with you wherever you go — AND have photographic evidence of your adventures. There’s a new iPhone app called ObamaAndMe, which allows users to drag, shrink and enlarge an icon of the President across photos taken with their iPhones. This could potentially make for endless hours of hilarity, particularly at parties where alcohol is involved. It also seems like a powerful tool for Facebook profile pics.
The app is $1.99 and is currently available for iPhones only. A version for Droid should go on sale within the next few weeks. Not a Democrat? Not to worry — the brains behind the app have plans to introduce other politicians into the mix as well.
By Tom Bridge
‘Blizzard of Foreclosures’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’
Eleanor Holmes Norton today called for a moratorium on foreclosures due to malfeasance at national banks concerning the documentation surrounding many mortgages. Citing specifically J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Ally Financial, the District’s delegate to Congress requested a moratorium “until they can assure residents here that they have systems in place to prevent improper foreclosures.”
The issue here is that in many circumstances, legal documents required by banks as part of foreclosure proceedings have been improperly certified by staff at these lenders. Planet Money has been running some excellent stories on the issues that are surrounding these documents, and they’re worth a read.
DC is a special case because there is a non-judicial foreclosure process, whereby the courts are avoided entirely, and the process is handled through the contract that you sign when you take out the loan on your house. Norton’s call for a moratorium could likely buy families time to avoid these processes, but given the rate at which banks are not modifying loans, I’d say a moratorium isn’t going to save too many homes.
By Dave Levy
‘Gilbert Arenas’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’
A few years ago, Gilbert Arenas was the prince of the Verizon Center. After joining the Wiz from the University of Arizona, Gil was an all-league all-star who was contributing night in and night out for the Wizards. The playoff runs and the birth of the rivalry with LeBron’s Cleveland teams in the middle of the decade may really be the only bright spot of the history of the “Wizards” era of the Bullets franchise.
Injuries and controversy in the last years brought Arenas down from All-NBA to “Are you kidding me?” The bottom of the valley was last season’s bizarre gun situation, leading to a season down the tubes via suspension. If not for the luck of the draft lottery and the arrival of John Wall, it isn’t entirely clear whether or not the new ownership would keep Arenas around even for the start of the season, even though his contract runs through 2014. Continue reading
By Ashley
‘young griller’
courtesy of ‘woodleywonderworks’
Food & Wine has their “40 Big Thinkers 40 and Under” in November’s issue, and four of D.C.’s finest have made the cut. Coming in strong at number three on the list is 31-year-old White House chef Sam Kass, who is recognized for his “unprecedented” role as chef and policy adviser. With the White House influence on public school lunches and the eradication of childhood obesity, he has obviously got a lot on his plate (ha!).
You have to venture a little further down the list to find the rest of the D.C. representation, but in the grand scheme of things, coming in at number 34, 35 and 36 in the country is pretty respectable. Georgetown grads Nicholas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru and Jonathan Neman (you know them as the Sweetgreen guys) are called out for having investors with an environmentally friendly tilt, such as Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stoneyfield Farms. Eater has the entire list here, in case you want to check and see if you made it for your ground-breaking Wheat Thin nachos.
By Ashley
‘HIP_300645419.993051’
courtesy of ‘iwantamonkey’
This will be the last food truck tracker for the week, almost all your favorite food trucks will be at the Curbside Cookoff tomorrow and Friday, so check them ALL out there.
And this week is the last for Rebel Heroes for the year. Catch them in Ballston today, Courthouse tomorrow and Friday in Rosslyn. Eat banh mi or forever hold your peace.
By Tom Bridge
‘258/365 – vince gray, dc’s next mayor (unless adrian fenty runs as a republican?!)’
courtesy of ‘dracisk’
Last night’s nearly full house at the Community Academy Public Charter School on First Street in Bloomingdale was the first of eight Town Hall events put on by the Gray Campaign to help unite the city behind the democratic party candidate for mayor. Following Gray’s campaign mantra of uniting the city, the event last night was part Q&A, part pep rally, and though it started late, it didn’t underdeliver in terms of access to the candidate.
Questions came from all sides on all issues, running the gamut from school reform to economic issues to social services to budget priorities, and there wasn’t a single question that stumped Gray. There wasn’t a single number that Gray couldn’t come up with last night, and even if a few of them were suspect (His answer on Hardy Middle School’s AYP figures was incorrect, the school has not met AYP each of its last ten years, it missed in 2003 and 2010 for Reading and 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2010 in Math) the democratic candidate was quick with both statistics and analysis in his responses. At one point, he quipped, “there are glib answers [to these questions], but I refuse to give them.”
By Ashley
‘Georgetown’
courtesy of ‘citron_smurf’
This Saturday marks the 17th annual Taste of Georgetown extravaganza. Thirty of Georgetown’s restaurants will have booths at this year’s event, including personal favorites of mine like Bangkok Joe’s, Tackle Box and 1789 and newcomers like Thunder Burger and Crepe Amour. A full list of participating restaurants can be found here. In addition to the restaurant booths, there will be a wine and spirits pavilion serving wine, beer and cocktails mixed by area mixologists.
Taste of Georgetown will take place on Wisconsin Ave. between M & K Streets, on Saturday October 9th from 11am-4pm. Tickets for food are $5 for one tasting, $20 for five tastings, while tickets for drinks are $10 for four tastings.
By Rebecca
Zozo: International Walk to School Day! from Streetfilms on Vimeo.
Perhaps on your commute today you noticed an increase in the level of munchkins and parents walking around the city. That’s because today is National & International Walk Your Child to School Day.
Beginning in 1997, the Partnership for a Walkable America sponsored the first National Walk Our Children to School Day in Chicago, modeled after the United Kingdom’s lead. The event’s mission was simply a day to bring community leaders and children together to create awareness of the need for communities to be walkable.
In 2010, the event has gone completely global and it’s goals have slightly expanded: To Create Safe Routes, To Engage Kids of All Abilities, To Enhance the Health of Kids and To Improve The Environment.
By Patrick Pho
Happy NBA 2K11 day basketball fans! While you maybe lining up to get the latest 2K b-ball title, excited to play as Michael Jordan (before he joined the Wizards,) let’s not forget that the real-life Washington Wizards can still be as electric as any video game franchise.
Thanks to John Wall.
Just take a look at this clip of John Wall from the Fan Fest scrimmage:
Can the 2K11 version of Wall do this? Maybe, but it’s way more fun to see it in real life.
[h/t Wizards Extreme]
‘Morgan Fairchild to Speak at DAP on World AIDS Day’
courtesy of ‘Jayel Aheram’
Free HIV testing rolled out today at an unlikely location: the Department of Motor Vehicles. For the next year, the DMV’s Penn Branch office will offer free oral swab HIV tests, as well as $15 off DMV services for all individuals who opt to test. The program, which The Washington Post reports is the “first of its kind,” will be managed by Family Medical and Counseling, Inc., a non-profit based in Southeast.
It is estimated that up to 3,000 people will take advantage of testing before the year is through. Will this make a dent in DC’s own AIDS epidemic? Well, it certainly can’t hurt. According to the Whitman-Walker Clinic, DC has the highest rate of new AIDS cases per 100,000 population— that’s 12 times the national average. More than 15,000 individuals in the area are infected, and thousands more are estimated to unknowingly carry the virus.
As you may have guessed from our many posts on the topic, we’re suckers for DC-themed art around here. So when the submit-a-story email came through about Big Nickel Graphics’ DC Metro posters printed on metallic paper, I bought two, before even sharing the info with you, our readers. How’s that for selfish?
Kyle Smallegan, CEO of Big Nickel Graphics, attended George Washington University and took the Metro everywhere he went while living here (9 years, including the time at GW). He says, “Waiting for the trains…as you always have to do… gave me plenty of time to stare at the Metro map and I always thought it would make a really cool poster that I could sell (and a better piece of modern art) if you took all of the “crap” off it and just had the colored lines.”
Big Nickel had some success on Etsy, but now they’re trying to make it successful enough to quit their day jobs. To that end, they’ll be introducing some new lines in the coming months, including a series which will feature a city’s flag design, formed out of various nicknames for that city. Which means in a couple of months I will be sending Smallegan and his partner, graphic designer Justin Duimstra, yet more money.
The posters come in a variety of color schemes and city maps. In addition to the standard colors used on the city’s actual transit map on a pearlescent white paper, more abstract designs featuring single color map markings on a vibrant color of paper are available as well. You can get them as regular posters, mounted on café board, or on gallery-wrapped canvas.
By Ashley
‘159/365’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’
Just back from Munich? Well not to worry because the party continues in Glover Park. With Blue Ridge’s new interest in the sudsier side of alcohol, they are putting together their first Octoberfest celebration this year. Running next week from October 12th-18th, they will be running nightly events to celebrate the oh-so Bavarian holiday with some good ol’ fashioned American craft beers.
Each night’s events are highlighted on their site, but Glover Park locals should look no further than Tuesday, October 12th when the restaurant will host their neighbors from 6-7:30pm for free food and beer (all Glover Park and Georgetown zip codes get you free stuff). Even if you aren’t part of the chosen Wisconsin Ave. residents, you can get free stuff in the form of glasses and tastings the rest of the week. A breakdown of all the week’s events can be found here.
By Dave Levy
‘Summer Event on the South Lawn – White House’
courtesy of ‘R2DC’
As has gone in the fall and spring in the past, garden tours of the White House will be held next weekend, October 16-17. Sure, it’s a little touristy, but it could be a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon if the weather stays in control. It is the White House, though, and FishbowlDC was kind enough to pass on the reminder on banned items on the grounds (emphasis theirs to make sure you leave all balloons at home):
The List of Forbidden Objects
Aerosols of any kind
Animals (except guide dogs)
Backpacks (oversized)
Balloons
Beverages of any kind
Chewing gum
Duffle bags/suitcases
Any pointed object
Electric stun guns
Fireworks/firecrackers
Food of any kind
Guns/ammunition
Knives of any kind
Mace
Smoking
If you leave all those things at home and want to check it out, be sure to get to the Visitor Pavillion at 15th and E early next weekend. NPS will hand out tickets for free starting at 8 a.m. – one per person and first come first serve.
‘the washington post’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’
The big news that has all the local media in a tizzy today is the Howard Kurtz has announced his departure from The Washington Post to go to.. The Daily Beast, an online-only news site. As the Post‘s columnist on media itself (a metacolumnist?) and host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, Kurtz is one of the most recognizable Post figures to local bloggers and other media-nerd types.
Jim Brady, head of TBD.com* and former Post colleague of Kurtz, tweeted, “When I was at WP.com, Howie was among the most open to new ideas and new ways of reaching his audience. So should not be shocked. But I am.”
(*Disclosure: We Love DC is a member of the TBD network. But you knew that from the big honkin’ banner in our right column, right?)
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