Courtesy of Flickr User Kyle Walton

I just found this ad on the Washington, DC Craigslist:

We have two long running pickup ultimate frisbee games that are looking for a few new players. A number of the regular players have recently headed off to new and exciting lives involving international travel, marriage, grad school or longrunning saturday morning hangovers, so a few new regulars would be welcome.

The pickup games are ALL skill level and very laid back. We have everyone from overweight shorter guys to incredibly sneaky and fast women to 6 foot 5 former college athletes and total novices. We welcome all ages and genders, and we generally don’t keep score. The spirit of ultimate frisbee is collegial and fun, and we try to make sure that everyone has a good time. Its just good exercise and a ton of fun.

I’ve seen these guys playing on the Mall before and it always looks like they are having a great time. Stop by and get some frisbee in. You might just see me there one of these days.

Saturday Game Location
Saturdays from 11am to 1pm
In the Field of Garisson Elementary School on the Corner of S and 11th NW-two blocks from the U street metro

Tuesday Game Location
Tuesdays from 6-8 pm
On the Mall in front of smithsonian air and Space museum. Corner of 7th and Jefferson SW

The possibility that a large homeless shelter may be closed will go before City Council amid accusations by opponents that the homeless are being forced out to make way for developers and the big business that people are used to seeing on K Street.

Watch the Fox5 report here.

To the public, major mortgage companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had mixed records. On one hand, the past few months have been marred with reports that reckless lending to unqualified borrowers has left the company in shambles, with all borrowers and investors affected.

And on the other hand, Washington, DC knows first hand that the mortgagors were involved in a great deal of charity work, perhaps despite their inability to afford it in the last couple months. According to an NBC 4 story, the women’s homeless shelter N Street Village is now worried that their donations could end now that their biggest supporter, Fannie Mae, is controlled by the federal government.

Their concerns are legitimate. The federal government has already said that the investors are out of luck, that dividends will no longer be paid, so where is room for charity? Maybe the Feds will feel bad and put N Street Village on “welfare.” But it is a real shame that the government did not let events with Fannie Mae play out.

Without a government takeover of Fannie Mae, the company would have been forced to make some really difficult decisions- they would have had no choice but to slash their mortgage load to disinclude unqualified borrowers. They would have had no choice but to tell the world that borrowing does not make you rich enough to buy a McMansion, it makes you poorer.

If unable to fix their horrendous business mistakes, they would have gone out of business, and new entrepreneurs would have filled their gap in the market, likely with a better game plan, and the need to reach out to the community with charity like Fannie Mae.

But instead, look what has happened. Our federal government has grown by leaps and bounds, with mortgaging soon to be as poorly run as DMV. Instead, every charity that Fannie Mae supported may be out of luck. And instead, all the taxpayers and not the businessmen at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will be financially responsible for almost $5 trillion in faulty mortgages.

The Eastern High School marching band has been invited to perform at the Pro Football Hall of Fame festivities next week.  Problem is, they’re having trouble raising funds for the trip.  According to a great piece over at City Desk, the band was counting on checks from summer jobs to pay for their bus tickets to Canton.  If you haven’t heard, there was quite an issue with the District’s payroll system and now the band has $500 total.  Unsurprisingly, the Redskins organization “doesn’t do smaller grants” and basically isn’t helping, even though the band is representing the District (what, the Redskins are in Md now, so I guess that doesn’t count?  The school’s practically in the shadow of RFK, but hey, those days are over?) and 2 of the 6 inductees for 2008 were Redskins players (Darrell Green and Art Monk - Green, as you probably know, spent his entire career with the Redskins).

Their plan is to leave at midnight Friday.  If you can, please help by contacting band director James Perry at James2081[at]comcast[dot]net

An occasional series where my friends and I go out to eat. And then tell you about it.

At the urging of a friend from school, we ventured to Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn’s new restaurant on Capitol Hill: The Good Stuff Eatery on Friday night. As yet another entry in the DC burger scene (recently chronicled by the Post’s Tim Carman), I found myself wondering if a celebrity like Chef Spike could move product. The answer, as proven by the crowds on the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Ave. SE, is unquestionably “yes.”

Full review after the jump.

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Yesterday, when leaving the noontime showing of The Dark Knight at the Uptown Theatre, a friend and I noticed the queue for the next showing.  Eager Batman fans braved the muggy heat, winding all the way round the corner and up the hill on Newark Street NW.   I was already nearly crippled by nostalgia; the first Batman film opened on the day before I graduated from high school, and I waited in just such a line for hours on end.  My friend, however, was thinking back on more recent times.  She remarked that it put her in mind of the lines we’d stood in over the years.  Various Star Wars films, Independence Day, the all-day Lord of the Rings marathon.   We always want to sit on the right side of the balcony, and time our arrival at the theatre (queuing as needed) accordingly.  I can’t think of a better place to see movies (epics, action, sci-fi) in all their larger-than-life glory.  If only it had digital projection…What are your favorite Uptown experiences? 

If you, like me, are a resident of the City of Alexandria City, you may have noticed a terse letter from Mayor Euille in the Alexandria news bulletin that arrived in your mailbox last week.  The Norfolk Southern Railroad has established an ethanol transloading facility at its yard in the West End neighborhood.  Now, apparently they own the facility and have gotten the National Surface Transportation Board to override at least some local ordinances.  The City Manager and City Attorney have admitted that communication (internal and external) was badly handled and the City Council has opened up their records and documents for public inspection.

In short, the City folks are displeased about this facility!  It is apparently located thisclose to an elementary school, and is also near the Beltway and the Blue line.

NSRR has bought some fire equipment for the City, including providing a quantity of the special foam that would be needed in the event of a fire, and conducted some training for Alexandria FD.  They’ve also agreed to certain time restrictions on the number of trucks coming and going from the facility.  I’m not sure what to think, myself.  I wonder how much of this issue stems from NIMBY-ism?  Did the railroad really just unilaterally plop an ethanol facility 600 feet from an elementary school and think no one would notice?   How real is the security concern? (IMO, not very, but then I am quite jaded about “security” these days.)  How real is the risk of fire or explosion?  We have all seen enough news reports of chemical factory or fuel dump explosions - with horrific effects - to worry about it, even though the probability may be incredibly low.

In any event — Alexandria has put together a website where you can read documents and correspondence, or look at a map of the facility and its neighborhood.  What’s your opinion — should we be concerned?

If you walked by Greater Goods, the all things eco-friendly store on U Street, tonight and glanced in the window you may have wondered what all those nerdy looking guys and girls were doing with soldering irons huddled around several large tables. They were doing what any self-respecting geek in DC could be doing on a Thursday night: attending one of Make:DC’s first organizational meetings and putting together a tiny circuit board useful for controlling motors like those found in robots.

Make:DC is a new group organized by local mechanical engineer Adam Koeppel as an offshoot of the popular MAKE Magazine. According to the website, the group aims to “inspire and organize the Washington, DC community of makers for greater collaboration and learning.” From tonight’s meeting, it seems they’re well on their way.

I went into the meeting not having used a soldering iron since shop class in middle school, and through some expert assistance and liberal borrowing of tools, I was able to build one of the $20 DC Motor Driver Board designed by one of the group members. (If you’re not sure what a DC Motor Driver Board is, fear not, I wasn’t entirely sure either. But in future meetings, we’ll be using them to control motors, build small robots, and do other neat things with them.) If you’d like to find out more, visit the group’s website at MakeDC.org. The next meeting is June 19, and other activities are advertised on the website.

What can I tell you about The Shakespeare Theater Company’s productions of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra? You don’t come here for Shakespeare criticism and I’m not up to the challenge. There’s some things to say about the players on stage - Suzanne Bertish is spot-on, Andrew Long, Aubrey K. Deeker, Dan Kremer and all the other locals are good as well - but so what? We know STC isn’t going to put any stinkers up on stage and truth be told, if you’re inclined to go see either of these plays you’re probably not going to see any one person. These are not the avenues to catch a tour de force blow-the-doors-off piece of acting - the roles don’t lend themselves to it and they’re both huge ensembles - I stopped counting during the Julius Caesar curtain call when I got to the thirtieth performer.

So then, what can I tell you? Odds are good you read one or both of these in your high school careers, and they haven’t changed. Nor has STC altered their placement in time or location: these are the Roman plays as they were written; no movement to World War I or modern day New York City. Both have the same problem for us as modern audiences as they did for us then - it’s hard to find someone to root for in Julius Caesar, as full of connivers and killers as it is, or Antony and Cleopatra, with person after person making foolish and impulsive decisions.

You either are or are not the kind of person interested in seeing one of these plays, so what I say won’t sway you on the merits of the text. What I can tell you is that if you’re inclined to go, you’re going to be satisfied. If you’re not inclined, there’s not going to be something new or unusual there to overcome your reluctance. Somewhere in the world someone is going to stage Julius Caesar in a way to draw the parallel to American preemptive Middle-Eastern intervention, with Brutus and most of his cohorts being prodded into making a well-meaning decision by an arrogant and petty Cassius who’s been spending too much time on the New American Century website. Once they go down that bloody road they’ll discover that the aftermath isn’t as easy and painless as they expected and not everyone is convinced that their reasons were sound or sufficient.

This is not that production of Julius Caesar.

Neither is this Antony and Cleopatra evocative of a modern married government leader who thinks with parts south of the border and makes decisions that endanger his position to the point where he finds himself at odds with his peers and fighting to hold on to his power.

What these are, instead, are faithful classic productions set in the Harman’s lovely spaces with fairly minimal but highly effective staging. Caesar goes little beyond tapestries and hangings, where Antony and Cleopatra add some tables and pieces that more evoke a ship than represent it. The costuming is stunning and the music near perfect. There’s only two quibbles I’d make, both with the production of Julius Caesar, but they’re minor.

The boxes at the back of the Harman’s stage are a nice location for semi-hidden participants like percussionist Martin Desjardins normally, but during parts where performers are on the upper level he’s a little too prominent. If you’re not an actor I don’t feel like I should be able to discern your facial expressions during the production - it’s distracting. More bothersome but come and gone more rapidly is the bit of foolishness that someone felt they needed to pop into the scene where Brutus and Cassius face off across the battlefield from Octavius and Antony. While Antony is supposed to be a bit cavalier and light-hearted, it’s jarring to see him good around while eating and apple while Brutus and Cassius determine if they’re going to enter into a bloody battle. Having him wordlessly and goofilly offer the man who they’ve just determined to fight a bite before walking back to his own camp is just grating, particularly so short a time after we’ve seen him deliver an impassioned speech about his friend who was murdered by the very person he’s trying to share his snack with.

These are little things, however, and won’t ruin your experience if it’s one you want to have.

Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
Sidney Harman Hall 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
through July 6th, 2008.

While I’m not really a proponent of fast food intake on a regular basis (and am all for a fast food tax), I do love me some Taco Bell.

It’s been a huge part of my life since I was, oh I dunno, 10 years old? My best friend and I would ride our bikes to the Border after a long day of fishing for Bluegill in Denver. He always got the pintos and cheese which I thought was a disgusting choice. I much preferred the Taco Bell Grande, minus the tomatoes. In high school my friends and I would hit up the Bell after a crazy night on the town and laugh hysterically about the gas that ensued. One friend purposely tried to maximize the amount of refried beans he consumed, purely for the fire power. As a poor college student, my friends and I would walk across campus in our pajamas to feast on a twelve pack of tacos. I guess you could say that it’s been a staple part of my diet for a long time now.

But now living in DC I am deprived of the grade F meaty goodness. Please don’t tell me to eat at the Taco Bell/KFC combo at 14th & U. That place is a disgrace to the Taco Bell establishment. “Yes, I’d like a burrito supreme with a side order of hepatitis. Oh, and a Mountain Dew with extra mildew in my ice cubes.” Luckily we are fortunate to have a nearby state called Virginia that is full of strip malls and fast food restaurants, enabling me to treat myself to a Mexican Pizza now and then, and for that I thank you*. My stomach thanks you.

If you’re listening, Taco Bell, hear my plea. We have McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and entirely too many Subways. All I’m asking for is one good Taco Bell. Trust me, my friends and I will keep you in business.

* - I also thank Virginia for the hot women who seem to migrate into the city during the night and vanish when the sun comes up.

Photo by Porky Jupp.