‘CapMac Food Truck (side)’
courtesy of ‘justgrimes’
It’s snooooooowing. Don’t ask me why the trucks are out in full force when it’s snowing, but not when it’s raining. (Probably because it’s not really snowing, but whatever.)

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‘A few footsteps’
courtesy of ‘Aaron Webb’

Ok, the headline is over the top given that it only very light snow is possible, but the National Weather Service did issue this warning this morning. Brace yourselves: after all, what would this town be without hyperbole?

VERY LIGHT SNOW POSSIBLE THIS MORNING…

A BAND OF VERY LIGHT SNOW WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION BETWEEN 9 AM AND NOON. MOST LOCATIONS WILL SEE ONLY A FEW FLAKES… BUT WITH COLD TEMPERATURES TO START OUT THE MORNING… A FEW AREAS THAT RECEIVE A FRACTION OF AN INCH COULD SEE SLICK SPOTS UNTIL TEMPERATURES RISE ABOVE FREEZING.

‘Law Books’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

As a DC resident who writes things on the Internet (and been threatened with frivolous lawsuits about it from time to time), I am gratified to note that in the DC Council’s legislative session on Tuesday, the Council passed the Anti-SLAPP Act of 2010.

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, which just means a lawsuit designed less to actually be won on its merits, and more to intimidate the defendant into backing down just to avoid the costly process. Maryland has had one, but DC did not. Now that the bill has passed the council, it’s on to the Mayor’s office. And then of course to Congress. But Anti-SLAPP laws are becoming an increasingly common remedy now that the Internet allows anyone to publish to the whole world, so while it’s not a done deal, there won’t likely be any holdups, and before long, it’ll be a lot easier to stand up to lawsuit-wielding bullies in DC.

‘2010 06 06 – 7984 – Washington DC – Fojol Bros’
courtesy of ‘thisisbossi’
Good news! The Fojol Bros finally have tops for their to-go boxes. Makes getting your lunch on these windy days a bit less exciting.

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‘Transformer Gallery Protest 9807’
courtesy of ‘yospyn’

This morning, National Portrait Gallery commissioner James T. Bartlett resigned in protest of the museum’s decision to remove a video from its now controversial “Hide/Seek” exhibit.

The four-minute video, “A Fire in My Belly” by David Wajnarowicz, was initially removed after conservative groups protested a brief clip that showed ants crawling over an image of Jesus. The move immediately sparked condemnations of censorship, and launched a variety of organizational and individual actions. Transformer Gallery installed the video in their storefront, and organized a silent march to the NPG last Thursday. This weekend, two activists were detained after playing the video on an iPad at the entrance of the exhibit. According to DCist, the two men, Mike Blasenstein and Michael Dax Iacovone, are currently seeking out permits to install the video in a pop-up space outside the NPG.

The National Portrait Gallery had no other statement at this time.

‘Every Food Fits: Don’t Bother Us, We’re Crabby!’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

A few weeks ago, it seemed Arlington’s Quarterdeck was done, and those searching for crabs this close to the district would be searching out on there own quest. Last night, a curious comment popped up on the original post where we discussed it here at We Love DC:

QUARTERDECK HAS NEW LEASE

For a while, it looked like we would have to close. This was finally settled today. We have another 15 year lease. It seems that the landlord, who has also been my friend for the last 15 years, and I had trouble reaching an agreement; it took 3 months. In retrospect, it reminds me more of a family disagreement; now, everything’s back to normal.

I want to thank all of you for the kind emails and the memories of the Quarterdeck you shared. Like you, I have always loved the Quarterdeck from my first visit, which was over 3 decades ago. The most moving story was from someone who lamented she would not be able to bring her children to the QD, as her parents had done with her.

Patrick Morrogh, a nine year veteran of the QD and a manager, will take over the day to day operations. I think the younger folks need to implement fresh ideas. At 62, I will still be in charge of something, but I don’t know what.

We will be updating our website: www.qdrest.com .

Thanks to all of you

Lou Gatti

According to ARL Now, this is the text from an e-mail circulated last night on the same listserv in which Gatti initially announced the closing. It seems pretty legit, so go ahead and make those reservations for a few buckets this April.

Two Virginia posts in one day? I may get my We Love DC card taken away. However, this is one of those late day videos that gets you through until the whistle finally blows.

Over the weekend in Richmond, some locals just wanted to get together and ring in the season with a festive parade. And then, well, the above happened when the merry paraders tried to maneuver the giant character balloon under a streetlight.

Rudolph <takes off sunglasses dramatically>, I guess you really did go down in history. Yeaaaaaaaaah!

‘Picture on the wall of Adam Richman from Man vs. Food with the owner of Katz’s’
courtesy of ‘TheGirlsNY’
In the epic battle of man versus food, it looks like food has won. Adam Richman, of The Travel Channel’s Man v. Food,is changing up the format of his show to move away from overeating and near-heart attacks to something a little more dignified. Though the description is still vague (leading this girl to believe even the Travel Channel isn’t sure of the format yet), it looks like Richman will be touring cities and sampling their food culture under the new show moniker Man v. Food Nation.

That is where you come in. The Travel Channel is holding an open online audition process for the eaters of the United States that “love where they live, the food, and its culture and are excited to experience a Man v. Food challenge.” Again, no further explanation of what that challenge would be, but if you love your city and its food, all you need to do is upload a video on YouTube explaining why, and you may just get your smiling face on a nice low-numbered cable channel.

So what would put D.C. over the top? Speed hard shell crab eating? A Five Guys hamburger as tall as the Washington Monument? TWO brick sandwiches from Eastern Market?

‘Profanity1’
courtesy of ‘FunnyBiz’

In what has to be one of the most (sarcasm) academic projects of this time of the year, Business Insider posted the results from their research to identify the most “obscene” city in the country. Their methodology: “To find the most obscene cities in America, we plugged the “seven dirty words you can never say on television” — made popular by George Carlin — into Google Trends. We gave each city a score for each of the seven words, assigning more points to cities ranking higher up on each list.”

DC suburbs out in Virginia made the list not once, but twice, in the top three. Perhaps it’s all the District folks talking online about not wanting to cross the F’n river. Congratulations to America’s third and first most obscene cities, Herndon and Ashburn, respectively. (There’s actually a pretty good reason for this: the nature of the research is looking at the location of Web traffic – and, as the many tech-minded people here at WLDC have discussed – most east coast traffic passes through MAE East in Herndon and Ashburn).

In honor of this news, I immediately went to the vault of YouTube to pull one of favorite vulgar clips, an outtake from ABC’s dead sitcom, Better Off Ted. Seriously, if you are in any way easily (or, perhaps even somewhat easily) offended, just go ahead and skip to the next post:

‘Seth Meyers and Andy Samberg by David Shankbone 2010’
courtesy of ‘david_shankbone’

Seth Meyers better learn from Conan and be careful about following too closely in Jay Leno’s footsteps. It was just announced – even if there is still some lingering thoughts about whether or not the Royal Wedding will impact the date – that Seth Meyers will emcee the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner next April, an event hosted by Leno last spring.

Until April 30 and the 2011 “Nerd Prom” gets here, the questions will continue to be, “What celebrities/personalities will be at Westminster instead of the dinner?” Well, unfortunately for now, it’s still just wait and see.

via Romanesko

‘Rebel Heroes’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
Today’s food truck picture is in honor of our fallen friends, the Rebel Heroes. News came through today that Rebel Heroes wouldn’t be making it back on the streets next summer. And don’t keep your hopes up for a soap opera-style reprieve, Rebel Heroes has sold their truck to The Big Cheese, the grilled cheese food truck hitting the streets next week. So pour one out for your banh mi homies today.

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‘Delicious fish tacos’
courtesy of ‘julesjulesjules m’
Nation’s Restaurant News (consider them the Variety of the food service industry) has come out with a report that 2010 was the year of the fish taco. In a study done by Technomic, a research group out of Chicago, they found that the number of fish tacos on menus around the country rose 22.5% in the first half of 2010, compared to 2009. Now, Restaurant News points to fine establishments such as Long John Silvers and California Pizza Kitchen as new fish taco purveyors, but that’s not my scene. Here are some of my favorite places in D.C. to celebrate the Year of the Fish Taco:

• Surfside – I’ve been over it before, the tacos here are the best.
• Tacqueria National – This may be some of the most stressful ordering in town, but well worth it.
• Tacqueria Poblano – If I’m willing to go to Virginia for tacos, you know they’re good.
• Oyamel – A little pricier, but Jose Andres does a great version here.

Where do you get your favorite fish tacos?