Category Archives: The Features

These are our features. They come back either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

The Features, We Love Arts
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Art Spiegelman: Comics From Mickey Mouse to Manga

def: comic

On a large screen behind legendary comic artist Art Spiegelman is an image of a page from the dictionary. A fat red loop lassoes the definition of “comic strip.” “comic strip. A narrative series of cartoons.” The comic strip, Spiegelman explains is an inherently narrative form and their story-telling capability puts them at the heart of our culture. “And any definition of comic strip that is illustrated by Nancy is getting something right,” he joked of the marginal picture.

This was “Comix 101,” or, as Spiegelman retitled the Corcoran’s Argentina Copello Dudley Lecture, “What the %@~*!! happened to Comics?” It was a walk through the halls of the museum of comics and culture, the walls lined with panels of characters both familiar today and obscure: Little Nemo, Donald Duck, Little LuLu, Charlie Brown, and – of course – those poster boys of the comic book – Batman and Superman. Spiegelman, winner of a Pulitzer-prize for his Holocaust narrative Maus, traced the graphic evolution and influence of comics as well as underlined the politics of the genre. Continue reading →

Comedy in DC
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Comedy in DC: A Week of Free Laughs, Redux

Photo courtesy of
‘Stand-up’
courtesy of ‘Aaron Webb’ , used with permission

So I was flitting around the interwebz, trying to come up with something to recommend to you this week in the world of local comedy, and ran into… a wasteland.  A lot of the local comics I pay attention to have been touring, so are either out of town or, well, sleeping. I checked the Improv, and there’s not a single Lounge show on their calendar for the next month; even the mainstage is full of people I couldn’t get excited about until the first weekend in June. (Russell Peters. He’s hilarious.) I checked Facebook and mostly found stuff happening way out in the nether regions of Maryland.

I checked DCStandup.com,  and while there wasn’t a ton listed for new shows that weren’t ALSO in the nether regions of Maryland, they did mention that open mics and the like are seeing a resurgence. With the economy in the tank, suddenly regularly-scheduled, free entertainment is seeming like a better deal to bar and restaurant owners.   So since these shows are constantly passing into and out of existence, I decided it was time to update the week of free laughs:

Sunday: There’s still an open mic at the Palace of Wonders on H Street every other Sunday.  Since the organizer keeps the total number of comics low, the sets are longer. That’s handy, since a 5 minute set is barely enough time to get warmed up. Continue reading →

Foggy Bottom, Interviews, People, Special Events, The Features
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He Loves DC: Antonio Burrell

Antonio from Commonwealth

It’s been a wild ride for Antonio Burrell, the Chef de Cuisine at CommonWealth Gastropub. Since the opening in August of 2008, the British food joint CommonWealth has fast been popular with foodies and Columbia Heights regulars. I was able to catch up with Burrell, talk through his opinions on the DC food scene, find out what he does in the city on his days off, and discuss what his ideal food day in the city would be composed of.

Katie: How long have you lived in DC?

Antonio: I moved to DC in October of 2000. I actually took two months off and took a nice vacation, stayed in North Carolina played a lot of golf and fished a lot with my Dad. For the first year and a half I lived in Alexandria, but have lived in DC since then.

Name the best part of DC, in your opinion?

I like a great many things about DC, chief among them are the people I have met and its central location to Manhattan and my extended family, who live in North Carolina. However, the best part of DC is all the great cultural things you can do. The Smithsonian Institute Museums are a great way to spend a day, topped off by a nice stroll down the Mall, taking many stops along the way, especially to dip your feet in the fountain at the Korean Memorial.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Foodie Roundup, The Features
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Foodie Round-Up: Mother’s Day Brunch Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Mother & Child’
courtesy of ‘nathangibbs’

I want to be my Mom. No, seriously. I do. You know when you read those things that are all like “Oh no! We are turning into our mothers!” – to that I say, YES! Can I please? This is because my Mother is phenomenal. She’s the wisest person I know, and she always knows just what to say to give me a new perspective on something, or make me feel better, and she and my Dad are the only people I can call about some problem in my life who will care as much as I do about it.  She is basically just is the best person to ever exist, period.

So I can’t put together a foodie round-up for Mother’s day and not get picky. I’ve been told about a lot of brunches, practically every restaurant in the city is doing something for Mother’s day brunch, I’m not joking. I’ve been inundated with menus, options and press releases. So instead of just listing them out for you like I did for Easter, I’m going to get more selective and only tell you about the brunches that I’d take my own rockin’ Mother to. So with that, a very subjective short list of brunches worthy of Katie’s Mother, in no particular order. Continue reading →

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

P020109PS-0339 by The Official White House Photostream

I thought I’d take a breather from highlighting a photo from our WLDC pool today.  As Tom pointed out last week, Pete Souza and the White House photography team have begun sharing some of their photos on Flickr, giving us unprecedented insight into Obama’s daily life and legitimizing his belief that “to help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative.”  He was voted into office as a man of the people, as an agent of change, and by sharing these photos with us, whether they be of a stuffy cabinet meeting or a putting practice session with Joe Biden, he brings us one step closer into his world.  We’ve had White House photographers for many years, but this is the first administration to understand the importance of social media.

Continue reading →

24 in DC
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24 in DC: Episode 19 (4:00 to 5:00)

JackBauerII.jpg
Jack Bauer II by browserd

Just four hours left. That’s what I keep telling myself. Over and over. Four more hours until Jack Bauer and his cronies stop giving DC the business. We can do this. Stay strong.

Recap time: The container escaped! Almeida’s a traitor! Time to interrogate Hodges! Li’l Taylor loses her shit! Redheaded Evil and Tony get all hot and bothered over framing a local.

Tony and Redheaded Evil plant a bunch of crap on Innocent Local’s computer. They hang the Universal Banner of Islamic Terror and threaten IL’s brother if he doesn’t make terrorist love to the camera. Continue reading →

The Features, Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 5/1 – 5/3/2009

Photo courtesy of
‘Swings #9’
courtesy of ‘andertho’

Happy Monday, DC. This weekend was mostly grey, and a little soggy. Had I not had guests in town, I would have been happy to snuggle up with our cat and watch a Sex and the City marathon.  It was just one of those.  But happy for us,  you all resisted the lethargy and still got out there with your cameras, bless your hearts! From the wedding that closed down the streets, early Cinco de Mayo celebrations, to the Embassy open houses, our flickrattzi captured the weekend in a fantastic fashion. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The DC 100, The Features
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DC Omnivore 100: #4, Steak Tartare

Kitfo at Dukem

If the idea of marauding hordes of Tartars riding with raw meat under their saddles to tenderize it just in time for a nice snack after some pillaging sounds appetizing to you, then you’ve probably tried steak tartare. Ok, we don’t really know if that’s the origin of the dish, but that’s the historical rumor. As most cultures have their own version, who can say for sure?

So, in our continuing quest to conquer the Omnivore 100 list, we’ll explore a couple of variations.

The usual definition of a traditional steak tartare is finely chopped or diced (not sliced) raw beef marinated in wine, and served with accompaniments like capers, onions and a raw egg on top. But this classic version has long been left behind by adventurous chefs putting their own stamp on it, so that now it’s common to see steak tartare listed on menus with the only similarity across the board being the raw beef itself. Continue reading →

The Features
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Congratulations Don & Darling Wife!

Don & Susan Whiteside

It is my distinct pleasure to introduce for the first time on the Internets, or at a bare minimum, this blog: Don & Susan Whiteside. It was a real delight to see them married on the beach in Ocean City yesterday, and though we’re all fighting a bit of a party hangover today, I had to get this up for everyone to see.

Congratulations Don & Darling Wife, we’re so happy for you both.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Eastern Conference Semifinals: Caps vs Penguins

Photo courtesy of
‘Ovechkin and Malkin, Friends at Last, Friends at Last’ courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

I’m in hockey nirvana.

When the NHL playoffs were finally set, one of the first things many fans here and in Pennsylvania did was figure out when and if the Capitals would actually face the Pittsburgh Penguins during hockey’s “second season.” It was a bit convoluted to work around, since both teams were highly seeded, and it looked – for about a week – that this year wouldn’t see the match-up we all secretly wanted (and dreaded). But then the Caps figured out they were actually in the playoffs and executed a very stressful and tense comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to stuff the Rangers.

And when Carolina shocked New Jersey with two quick goals in the last two minutes of their own Game 7, it was as if the hockey planets aligned. The match-up the NHL slobbered for had arrived.

Penguins. Capitals. Eastern Conference Semifinals.

And it promises to be one extremely wild, crazy, emotional ride for both cities. Find out why after the jump. Continue reading →

The Features
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Gettin’ Hitched

Photo courtesy of
‘happy birthday, Amanda!’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

I’m going to be [even more] scarce around these parts for the next week, as my darling fiancée and I are tying the knot tomorrow afternoon. Any of you with magical anti-rain powers can consider this your official last-minute invitation to the wedding. The rest of you, I’m afraid, will have to settle for being in our thoughts. If you want to feel like a part of the event, you can head over to Georgetown Cupcake and get yourself a chocolate&vanilla or a vanilla&chocolate, which are what we’re serving in lieu of cake. Watch this space for a review about how well the cupcakes handle a three hour drive to Ocean City.

If anyone expresses an interest I may write a little about our venue searching from last year and some of our experiences making this happen, but before our big day I wanted to take a minute and write a little about the situation and options for same-sex couples looking to partner up in our area, or for straight couples who, for whatever reason, need to protect themselves without marrying.

And if you’re a long-term partnership, gay or straight, you do need to protect yourself. I won’t belabor the point beyond saying that last year I saw two different people lose their young and otherwise healthy partners to a fatal aneurysm. Loss can come unexpectedly and ignoring the possibility doesn’t make the inevitable consequences go away.

Continue reading →

Monumental, The Features
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Monumental: National Japanese American Memorial To Patriotism During World War II

Crane and Barbed Wire 2
Crane and Barbed Wire 2 by tbridge

The National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II stands on a small triangle of land just north of the Capitol between D St NW, New Jersey Ave and Louisiana Ave. The beautiful bronze crane in barbed wire rises above the low cement landscape, a 14-foot statue designed by Nina Akamu, in demonstration of the Japanese-American’s plight during the second world war. While you might be more familiar with the larger World War II Memorial on the Mall, this monument stands in admittance of the difficult situation that Japanese Americans were placed at the start of hostilities against the Empire of Japan in 1941.

By 1942, many Japanese Americans were placed in Internment camps throughout the Western United States, often in the midst of deserts and other wastelands. Their names, like Manzanar, Topaz and Jerome, are inscribed into the western retaining wall, along with the number of American citizens contained therein. Over 110,000 people, three quarters American citizens, were detained by the United States Government during World War II in these camps. The blanket actions were meant to discourage espionage by those who could be loyal to the Japanese Empire inside the United States. In 1988, President Reagan signed into law an apology on the behalf of the American Government to those who were interned in those camps, and paid out a $1.6B reparation to the families and survivors. Continue reading →

Music, The Features
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May Concert Preview

Photo courtesy of
St. Vincent comes to Black Cat May 22. ‘.’
courtesy of ‘Beard Papa’

Here we are again, with another completely subjective installment of everything worth seeing in May, according to me. Did I miss anything you’re super excited about? Leave it in the comments!

Start May off on a hilarious note by hitting up Super Diamond— the Ultimate Neil Diamond Experience at 9:30 Club Friday, May 1 ($22).

Amazingly, there are still tickets for Gavin Rossdale at 9:30 Club on Sunday, May 3 ($25). Reasons to see him: he’s pretty sexy and is married to Gwen Stefani, plus even if you’re not a fan of his latest single (“Love Remains the Same”), what if he plays that 90’s staple “Adrenaline”? Ah, that brings me back. Good times.

Continue reading →

Thrifty District
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Thrifty District: Buying Eyeglasses Online

Photo courtesy of
‘salamin’
courtesy of ‘dcfdelacruz’

I hate buying eyeglasses. I broke a pair once when I didn’t have health insurance and had to pay full price… and whimpered. I just wanted to have some acuvue contact lenses. The next pair I bought cost more than $150 even with insurance, and I did NOT have it to spare, being a fabulous-but-underemployed twenty-something at the time.

I’m no longer eating ramen to pay for a new pair of glasses, but as it became increasingly clear that I was past due for an updated prescription, I got irritated. I can always think of something I’d rather do with a few hundred dollars than drop it on two pairs of glasses (don’t forget the sunglasses).

I was endlessly procrastinating making an optometrist appointment when I read a Slate article about buying glasses online. Yes, picking out something like a pair of glasses without trying them on is a bit of a risk, but I’ve been buying my shoes online for years. Besides, for $35, getting a pair of glasses I wasn’t crazy about was an acceptable risk. Finally I had no excuse, and made my appointment. Continue reading →

News, Talkin' Transit, The Features, The Mall, We Green DC, WTF?!
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Talkin’ Transit: The Great Pedicab Predicament

Photo courtesy of
‘Pedicab’ courtesy of ‘afagen’

Yesterday, we received a late-day heads-up from a reader that there was an issue brewing with the pedicabs that offer rides to tourists and residents along the National Mall.

The entire issue seemed odd, as pedicabs have been operating on the Mall for a couple years now and haven’t had any issues up until yesterday, when they were told they would be arrested and their bikes impounded for soliciting and servicing customers on Madison and Jefferson streets, the two main boundary avenues of the Mall.

If the Park Police was correct, the Mall was going to lose a 100% eco-friendly form of transportation that serves hundreds of riders each week. The cabs provide jobs for the area and a friendly ‘green’ option for people to utilize. Taking away the Mall from them would kill a sizeable portion of the pedicab business.

So I set out to contact Ben Morris, the owner of National Pedicabs (and the company affected by this), and his DC operations manager, Danny Cochrane, as well as Sgt. David Schlosser, the National Park Service’s Public Information Officer, to find out just what the heck was going on.

Continue reading →

News, Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Joe Biden, Sad Panda: Amtrak, MARC Penn Temporarily Suspended

Photo courtesy of
‘Locomotive’
courtesy of ‘wfyurasko’

I have no idea how Joe Biden is going to get home tonight.

Apparently, the train tracks at BWI are flooded, which has suspended train service between DC and points north. Amtrak is reporting a water main break near the tracks at BWI which has rendered the area impassable. It’s likely there won’t be a fix until this afternoon at the very earliest, from what we’re hearing on Twitter.

The MARC Penn line is also affected.

Technology, The Features, We Green DC
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We Love DC Green: Getting 70 MPG on GW Parkway

Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company
Wayne explains more, courtesy of Ford Motor Company

I have to admit–when I think of driving on the George Washington Parkway, fuel efficiency isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. I think more of the feel of the car rolling along the gentle hills and curves, of sneaking glances out at the river and up at the thick green web of leaves, and of blasting the music.

But last Saturday, I got to experience the parkway from a whole new perspective. The crew from the 1,000 Mile Challenge was in town, attempting to eke 1,000 miles from a single tank of gas in a Ford Fusion Hybrid, and world record hypermiler Wayne Gerdes was giving driving lessons.

The idea behind hypermiling is that the way you drive can greatly affect your gas mileage, and that by using special driving techniques you can coax more mileage out of each gallon of gas. Wayne and the Challenge team proved this point nicely. The Challenge began on Saturday morning at Mt. Vernon, with team members driving the Challenge car round the clock. That one tank finally ran out at 1,446 miles.

Meanwhile, I hopped in a replica with Wayne, PR maven Nicole, and a guest from Earth911.com to find out how hypermiling works. Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Fedorov, Hero

Photo courtesy of
‘090127 Fedorov’
courtesy of ‘Dan4th’

Big night for Sergei Fedorov, who put in a beautiful goal with just 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd to sink to the Rangers and send the Caps onward to the 2nd round of the NHL Playoffs for the first time since 1998. I’m not sure what exactly Coach said to the Caps in the 2nd intermission, but I suspect it was the kind of pep talk that involved biting the head off a bat or something.

Looks like we’ll be facing the Pens in the second round. Sorry Ben Rome, your boys are going DOWN!

History, Interviews, People, The Features
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Scribblings: Paul Chaat Smith

Paul Chaat Smith 4/18/09

On one of the first springtime Saturdays in April, I managed to slip down to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian to catch its associate curator, Paul Chaat Smith, read from his latest book Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong. Not exactly an event to herald the death of a wet, extended winter, but the book title and press release had my attention. I wanted to know more about the book – and the man behind it. Spring, for the moment, could wait.

I wasn’t disappointed.

To understand the author is to understand the book that much more. It’s less a cohesive treatise on any particular point – and if you’re looking for a “top ten” list based on the title, you’ll be sorely disappointed. As Paul stated, “It’s a book title, folks, not to be taken literally. Of course I don’t mean everything, just most things. And ‘you’ really means we, as in all of us.”

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Night Life, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Black’s Bar & Kitchen

Black's Entrance BEST

Known as  one of the best happy hours in the northern Metro area, Black’s Bar & Kitchen is situated a few blocks from the Bethesda Metro station. WLDC author Acacia and I were headed to Bethesda to review Menopause the Musical (which you can read all about) and we decided we could make it a double feature – a We Love Arts and a We Love Food, all in one trip.  I would recommend you replicate our Bethesda trip, I enjoyed the play, but I will probably look back with even more fondness on our eats.

We stepped into Black’s and basically halted, it was absolutely packed. The interior is sleek, stylish and clean. The bar features two and four-seater booths are built into the back wall with a few free standing tables between the booths and the bar. Large windows look out onto Woodmont Ave. and the patio featuring a small modern pond. We couldn’t find a seat in the bar area, and it was one of those pre-spring days too chilly to sit outside, but we had plenty of time to waste before the show so we decided to wait it out. Soon thereafter a table opened up, but the wait gave us time to survey the crowd. Around 6 p.m., we were bringing down the median age – it was mostly a 35-55 aged crowd, complete with power suits and ties. But by the time we left around 7:15,  the average age had lowered considerably, and there were plenty more jeans and after-work twenty-somethings mixed in the crowd.

Black’s is also an oyster bar, with the goods laid out on display when you walk in the door. I was eager to try the seafood, so we grabbed beers and gave our order. Continue reading →