Category Archives: The Daily Feed

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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We Love DC Does Top Chef DC: Episode 2

Photo courtesy of
‘Classic school lunch. Yum.’
courtesy of ‘Ben+Sam’

Top Chef is off and running after a lackluster premiere, in fact the lowly 1.8 million that tuned in last week was the show’s lowest premiere since the beginning of the season. When you take into account the lower than usual turnout for the Real World DC premiere, one would have to think if DC is the place where reality TV goes to die. I certainly hope not! Producers are right to think that the Washington, DC backdrop is sexy- I mean where else can you have a National monument in every B-roll shot? Also where are you going to find cool guest judges like White House chef Sam Kass?

The cook for the Obama family prepared meals for the family in Chicago and moved to DC after the election. He’s a self-starter with no formal training or experiencing running a restaurant or hotel. Instead he’s more of a working chef that continues to cook for the First Family while also advising and supporting Michelle Obama’s healthy living agenda.

I bet you didn’t know that about about Mr. Kass. The again you might have been too busy staring at him wondering if it would be possible to get trapped in an elevator with both him and Tom. In 2009 Kass was listed in People’s “100 Most Beautiful People,” yet another reason to get this White House official on camera.

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The Daily Feed
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After Strasmas, D.C. Gets New Wall’s Day

Photo courtesy of
‘Arenas lets it fly’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Yesterday was a little bit of a busy sports day. Landon Donovan, an epic Wimbeldon match (to the point where “epic” doesn’t actually do it justice), Strasmas 3, and, oh yeah, Landon Donovan. Why should the fun stop now? Tonight is the 2010 NBA Draft, and your Washington Wizards carry the first pick.

All signs are pointing towards a selection of John Wall, who played one season as point guard from Kentucky. Wall would be a great boost for a team that has drifted into low relevance in a town that has moved from Redskins quarterback-shuffling to a brief Caps playoff run and along to Strasburg’s heralded debut for the Nationals. When the Wizards lucked into the number one draft pick last month, it represented a pretty banner day for District sports fans, and John Wall would stand as a worthy addition to the Mount Rushmore of prospects that have come to the DC area in the last years.

Coverage for the draft beings at 7 tonight, and you can catch it all on ESPN. The clock will start around 7:30, and Wall very likely will be a Wizard shortly after that.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Ovie, Theodore Walk Away With Hardware

Photo courtesy of
‘Theodore Warms Up’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Last night at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, the Washington Capitals did not come away empty-handed. Both winger Alex Ovechkin and goalie Jose Theodore (who won’t be back this year) nabbed individual awards, with Ovie also being elected to his fifth-straight First Team All Star honor.

Theodore won the Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy, which honors the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Theodore, who lost his son Chace last year to respiratory complications, created the “Saves for Kids” charity to benefit the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s National Medical Center in DC. “Obviously, it was a tough year emotionally, but I’m really proud of the way I handled myself,” Theodore told NHL.com. “Then winning this award just brings back some tough memories or good memories, it depends, but it’s tough. With all the support I had, it was just fun to see people around me that cared for that.” He presented a check for $35,000 to Children’s at the beginning of May after pledging money for each save, win, and shutout he made during the season. The donation also included matching donations and support from the Capitals organization and fans.

Ovechkin led off the awards ceremony, winning the Ted Lindsay Award (formerly the Lester B. Pearson Award) as the players’ MVP for the third straight season. However, Ovie didn’t collect his third Hart trophy (the NHL MVP) as expected; that honor went to Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin.

Mike Green was a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy (outstanding defenseman) but lost to Chicago Blackhawks Duncan Keith.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Fall to Royals, 1-0

stras.jpg
Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News

Looking for the sweep today, the Nationals brought out their ace, Stephen Strasburg, to cement a winning streak and build some momentum, going into the weekend series against Baltimore.  Sadly, the team’s offense couldn’t deliver, in a game fraught with mistakes and misplays, in some cases over-sliding bases, and in others sliding too early, and they fell without scoring, 1-0.

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News, The Daily Feed
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DC’s Baseball Academy

Photo courtesy of
‘Catcher’
courtesy of ‘bp6316 is alive’

In Fort Dupont Park, in Ward 7, there are a few beat up old baseball fields that are about to get a facelift, thanks to the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the Washington Nationals.  This afternoon, I talked to Council Chair Vince Gray at the Nationals game, and he filled me in on a few details.  The City has completed the land transfer with the Park Service, and the Nationals have committed to spending $1M on the academy to get things started and $250k/yr to run the youth academy, designed to get kids active in baseball.

Talking about the academy, it’s clear this is a project near and dear to Gray, who went on about his own time playing at Dunbar High School (he boasted a .500 average his junior and seniors years).  To Gray, getting youth active in baseball is in tandem to getting them employed in the summertime, which could do a lot to keep young people engaged in the community and out of trouble.  He’s also hoping that it might spur on the growth an adult league. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see the Council Chair out in the field some summery night in the future, bat in hand in an adult league?

The Daily Feed
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DC Crafts: Find Of The Day

courtesy of esty user Artmonger

Today’s Find Of The Day celebrates the beauty of our Capitol building in a 3D watercolor collage by hometown born Artmonger. The artwork requires a multi-step process involving gridwork, painting, computer rendering and foam mounting to give the piece it’s 3D look.  The collage is the perfect gift or decoration for a DCite or even political junkie.  It’s neat-o.

The Daily Feed
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On The Third Night Of Strasmukkah: A $100k Baseball Card

Photo courtesy of
‘100 MPH!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

In about an hour and a half, Stephen Strasburg will take the mound at Nationals Park for the third time, the fourth overall start in his debut season. Sure, it’s going to be a hot one, and people are selling off tickets en masse on StubHub.

If you’re going to stay home or at the office, enjoying the air conditioning, I have a fun game for you. It’s called: “Watch This eBay Auction for A Signed, Rare Stephen Strasburg Baseball Card.” Current total, as of 3:04 p.m. – $100,800.00. As Chris Littman notes over at The Sporting Blog, the bidders seem legit, too.

The Daily Feed
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Shaking Buildings in Old Town, Related to Earthquake?

oldtown

Through two separate reports, we’ve heard that at least one building in Old Town experienced very noticeable shaking today right at about the same time as a relatively major earthquake hit Ottawa and Quebec in Canada. People from Toronto, Detroit, New York and Ohio have reported experiencing some effects from this quake. Is it possible it actually caused shaking in Old Town Alexandria in Virginia?

@thelastgoodnight on Twitter reported it happening at 2:00pm today. It was also reported as being experienced on S Alfred St. Did anyone else feel it?

UPDATE 2:41pm: Apparently there was also shaking felt in Greenbelt, MD. Starting to sound less like strange coincidences and more like very small ripples being felt from the quake up north.

The Daily Feed
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Our First Two Blanks Winners – And Two More To Find

Earlier this week, we held a little contest asking WLDC readers to share their favorite TV themes for a chance to go see The Blanks (from Scrubs among other things) at the Arlington Drafthouse. From the great submissions we got (and I was delighted that I am not the only one who loved the Greatest American Hero), I’m pleased to announce our first two winners, chosen by random among those who commented. Congrats to Robert Lintott and Patty, who each will get a pair of tickets to go see one of the shows. For your afternoon listening pleasure, the TV themes they chose are below.

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The Daily Feed
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Halls Of Fame @ DC Design Center

Photo courtesy of
‘Door to somewhere’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

If you have never entered the DC Design Center I would highly recommend that you remedy that, especially to check out the 2010 Halls of Fame Design House. 

Every Spring and Fall the Design Center invites local designers to showcase their work in the design house by placing their aesthetic mark on a room, and currently the Design Center is featuring an elite eight.   The eight designers featured are Frank Babb Randolph, Kelley Proxmire, Victor Shargai, David Herchik & RichardLoomin, Rita St. Clair, Nestor Santa-Cruz, Michael Roberson, and Olivia Demetriou Adamstein.

Each room is completely different, reflecting every designer’s personal style and vision.  A perfect way to find some inspiration!

The 2010 Halls of Fame Design House will be open till December 11, 2010.

Admission is free and open to the public.

The Daily Feed
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New Arts Middle School Draws Fancy Pants Names

Photo courtesy of
‘Rockstar’
courtesy of ‘Abhisek Sarda’

A star-studded Blue Ribbon Commission has been appointed to help plan DCPS’s new arts middle school. Set to open in fall 2011, the school will serve grades six through eight, and aims to follow in the prestigious tradition of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, DC’s selective arts high school.

So far, DCPS has done a pretty good job with the prestige part. The new planning commission includes arts glitterati such as jazz icon Wynton Marsalis, Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, Septime Wembre, Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet, and Fred Bollerer, COO of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. More than a dozen others are on board as well, each doing their part to ensure the school turns heads…and teaches kids too.

The Daily Feed
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Folk Life Festival starts tomorrow!

Photo courtesy of
‘Folk Life Festival 09 – Clay Hand – 7-3-09’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

You guys, the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival starts tomorrow. I KNOW, it crept up on me too, usually because that’s usually about when DC gets really hot and nasty and we’ve already been dealing with that for weeks.

This year’s Festival focuses on the cultures of Mexico, and Asian/Pacific Americans, as well on the actual work done by staff of the Smithsonian to preserve cultural and natural treasures. There will also be some special events focusing on Haiti and the Apollo Theater.

My favorite part of the Festival is always the performances, so this year is going to combine some of my favorite things- mariachi, martial arts demonstrations, and Asian/Pacific dance. I’ll be there with my camera, and hope you all will share your photos with us in the Flickr pool.

Fun & Games, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Quick Survey: World Cup

Photo courtesy of
‘American and English fans react as they watch World Cup match at Ireland’s Four Courts Pub’
courtesy of ‘TDLphoto’

Today is do or die for the US World Cup team.  If we can beat Algeria, we move on to the next group and get one step closer to the finals.  I’m guessing that work places are finding themselves slightly under staffed today and so I thought I’d do a quick poll.  Who took off or is taking off to watch the match today? Me, I’ve got my ESPN3 steaming as we speak and I’m definitely taking an early lunch to watch the second half.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Ciccarelli Going to Hall of Fame

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_2775’
courtesy of ‘Uncleweed’

The NHL announced its Hall of Fame inductees yesterday and former Capitals player Dino Ciccarelli will be the fifth Capitals player inducted into the NHL’s shrine of hockey history. Ciccarelli joins women hockey players Cammi Granato and Angela James in the player category.

Ciccarelli played four seasons with the Caps, from March 1989 when he joined the team near the trade deadline thru 1992. During his Caps career, Ciccarelli knocked in 112 goals and 209 points across 223 career games. All four seasons with the team, Ciccarelli and the Caps made the playoffs where Dino was among the top two playoff goal or point scorers every year. “This is a tremendous honor that I will cherish for the rest of my life,” Ciccarelli told ESPN. “I really appreciate the support of my coaches, the fans and mostly importantly my family throughout my 19-year career.” Dino’s 19 year NHL career was with four other teams after the Caps: the Minnesota North Stars, Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Florida. Over his career, he recorded 608 goals and 592 assists in 1,232 games.

With the inclusion of Ciccarelli, the Capitals now have five members of the Hall who played on the team, joining Mike Gartner, Rod Langway, Larry Murphy, and Scott Stevens.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats With Bats Revive Stats

A humid Washington evening in the early days of summer is a bit of a difficult environment for baseball.  You never know when a storm will break out.  Tonight, the Royals were the recipients of a pair of storms: one from the Nationals’ bats, and the other from Mother Nature herself.  A 49-minute rain delay couldn’t shake Luis Atilano, who picked up his sixth win of the season in 5 1/3 innings.  Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps would do their eponymous routine on Clipp & Save T-shirt night here at Nats Park.

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The Daily Feed
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Explosion at Farragut West


(DC DDOT webcam capture from nearby 18th and I Streets NW)

Getting some buzz about a possible explosion at Farragut West. Latest from DC Fire EMS Twitter:

manhole fire – heavy smoke – 18th & I St NW -PEPCO needed – expect some traffic issues

Manhole explosions are not an unknown phenomenon for summer time in DC.

Latest update from DC Fire EMS:

update- elec feeder line (underground on fire and smoking ) Metro NOT affected, but near a Metro station I st closed btwn 17th & 18th St NW

Traffic is pretty bad around the affected area so if you’re driving, plan accordingly. Or take a break and wait it out.

The Daily Feed
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DC Crafts: Find Of The Day

courtesy of etsy user PinkyCrafts

Get pumped DC!!! The US Men’s Soccer Team takes on Algeria tomorrow morning needs our good karma and mojo. For the Wednesday 10am game bring your camera to the pub, snap some pictures and capture some memories, of what will hopefully (please God!) be a epic win, in this awesomely cute and patriotic Red, White and Blue America Scrapbook page.  The creative, hard-stock based page can be used in either scrapbooks, photo albums or as a background to a photo frame.  Perhaps throw in a cutout soccer ball and you’re all set.

The Daily Feed
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Madeleine Albright’s Jewelry

 Photo courtesy of
‘Smithsonian Castle 2’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

When I heard about the new exhibit at the Smithsonian Castle I wasn’t quite sure what to think.  A collection entirely dedicated to Madeleine Albright’s personal jewelry? Really? 

Anyway, boy was I wrong.  Based on this behind-the-scenes video where the former U.S. Secretary of State talks candidly about five of her featured pins, I have decided that this may actually be some pretty interesting stuff.  What do you think?

YouTube Preview Image

Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection will be on view through October 11th at the Smithsonian Castle. 

Smithsonian Castle is located at 1000 Jefferson Drive SW.

The Daily Feed
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Obama Takes Stand Against Wave By Sitting


Image originally appeared at Power Line

I hate the wave. I’m going to come right out and say it. I may or may not have yelled at the section next to me during Strasmas 1 when they attempted to start it. I was quite lucky that my section approved of my view against the monotony of this Hokey Pokey, Stand-Up-Sit-Down version of crowd participation.

I do not stand (sit?) alone. Last Friday, while taking in the opening game between the Nationals and his hometown team, the Chicago White Sox, an opportunistic photographer caught President Obama passing as the wave passed right on by. Did he really refuse to participate? I’d like to think so.

via Deadspin

The Daily Feed
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Parenting.com Gives DC the Shaft

Photo courtesy of
‘3/365: The Sky is Falling 1/3/10’
courtesy of ‘@heylovedc’

I can’t explain this one.  Parenting Magazine put Arlington at #1, while dropping the District to #71. For Arlington, they cited the prevalence of local historic markers, sprawling parklands, and many diverse activities, as well as low crime and “very few registered sex offenders.”   For the District, they cited…local historic markers, sprawling parklands and many diverse activities.

P.J. Orvetti tackled it yesterday, Sara Libby tackled it today, and looking at the incredible similarity of the raw data for Arlington and the District, I can’t quite wrap my heads around why they might put Arlington at the top of the list, and DC down in the bottom quartile.  Libby thinks it might be latent racism on the part of Parenting Magazine, while I tend to ascribe this more with an image problem that DC Schools has.  Arlington was praised for its 14.9 student to teacher ratio, but DC got no credit for its 13.2 student to teacher ratio. DC has a higher per-capita number of Blue Ribbon schools, and seven times the number of pre-schools on per-capita basis.

DC gets slammed for its lack of open spaces, which means I guess they missed the Mall, Rock Creek Park, the parks along both our rivers, Hains Point, the National Arboretum, Fort Dupont Park and all of the little parks that dot our squares and circles.  In the meanwhile, Arlington likely gets credit for the wealth of museums and art installations, and I’m fairly sure they don’t mean the Navy League’s paltry gallery in their new building.  They mean the Smithsonian collected museums and the Newseum and the Spy Museum.

I don’t mean to bag on Arlington here, it’s definitely a great place to live, but it’s a great place to live because of its proximity to DC.  I’d say having now lived in both DC and Arlington, there’s no way at all that Arlington is #1 while DC is #70.  Something’s deeply broken here, and I’d love to know what.  I won’t come out and accuse Parenting of anything short of faulty math and bad writing.  At least, not until they return my email.