In regards to the title of this post- Gotham City was the first thing I thought of when I thought of a place with a lot of crime. Thanks to Domino’s Pizza for characterizing the city as such in those Dark Knight commercials.

Ok so any who Fritz Hahn over at the Washington Post just wrote about the rising crime in the popular night time destination. Reading the post made me connect the dots on a lot of stories I’ve heard in the local news. Fellow bloggers are also taking notice.

Hahn makes a really good point that I wanted to emphasize- it appears that a lot of the incidents are happening not on the heavily traveled 18th and Columbia streets- but the shady side streets that surround the area. It only makes sense, unless you are Pacman Jones, there probably won’t be anything happening around bouncers, secruity, and crowds of drunken people. Now I meant robberies when I write this- I’m sure lots of things are happening around drunk people, especially in Adams Morgan.

Adams Morgan has never been known for its saftey record- but I’m not saying stay away from the place as we all begin the long Columbus Day weekend. I’m just saying use your head and common sense and be safe if you do decided to walk down 18th street this weekend.

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Famous for his work on Comedy Central’s Root of All Evil, and roaster of Bob Saget, Flavor Flav, William Shatner, Pamela Anderson, and Jeff Foxworthy, Greg Giraldo takes his stand-up talent to DC this weekend for five shows at renowned comedy club DC Improv. I really wish I could make it- this guy is excellent.

Tickets range from $17-$20 depending on the show, and there is a two item minimum for everyone in the showroom. I recommend dining there. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night tickets are available here. For a sample of Giraldo, check out this Youtube clip. And please let me know how the show is.

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jrspeaks/Flickr

I don’t go to many concerts.

When it comes to paying for concert tickets I mostly stick with my favorite artists: Dave Matthews Band, Guster, and Ben Folds. I recently saw the latter at Constitution Hall. Now it’s not that I’m not open to checking out new music or artists- it’s just that when I go to a live show, I appreciate knowing at least some of the material on display.

Sitting down at the show I expected to hear some new and unfamiliar material- but I didn’t expect an entire show of unknown songs. Folds played all relatively unknown material; waiting til the “encore” to play a few familiar tunes.

After the show I could tell that the general reaction from the audience was mixed. Some appreciated to hear the new material that will end up in Fold’s newest album (which was not released yet at the time of the show.) Others were angry they didn’t get to hear familiar songs like “Brick”, “Army”, and “Rocking The Suburbs.”

I identify myself with the haters.

Now I enjoyed listening to the new songs and I will try and recognize a few when I buy the new album, however I would of enjoyed singing along to some songs I knew- which is something I do at all the DMB and Guster shows I attend.

Josh Eiserike at Inside Nova attempts to defend the show by brining to attention how terrible a concert at Constitution Hall is:

Constitution Hall has to be one of the worst places in D.C. to see a rock concert. It’s a seated venue, which pretty much sucks all the energy out of the room. Folds show are best when everyone is packed like sardines, singing along and feeding off the energy on stage. Seats are for the National Symphony Orchestra, not a guy who plays piano with his stool.

I strongly agree that the venue wasn’t that great- my date couldn’t resist to the urge to dance and wasn’t used to being restrained to a seat. She spent a lot of the concert dancing in the aisle, attracting the attention of other patrons and security. So if you want to know who brought the weird girl that was the only one dancing at the show- that was me.

Constitution Hall is probably not the best place to see a show but I still have to put some of the blame on Ben Folds- he could of mixed the material up a little better. Perhaps play more of the crowd favorites in between new material. However as a fan of Ben Folds I will not jeer at him like others might have that night- I am a fan of his music, not just his hit songs.

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“Congratulations to the Washington Nationals for not being the first to lose 100 games this year.” Those are the paraphrased words that can be found in in my colleague Patrick’s recent season wrapup for the Nats. Now the team is faced with an important off-season during which they will have to rebuild. There are some important things I’d like to note about the coming off-season. Please feel free to weigh in.

• The Nationals MUST re-sign Odalis Perez (SP). Though he did not win as many games as was expected (7-12), he is cheap, and most importantly he wants to be here. Not many clubs in the situation of the Nationals can boast a veteran pitcher who wants to stay despite the lack of contention. His influence on young pitchers has been phenomenal. Re-sign him now!

• The Nats must let go of Aaron Boone. As a recent transplant from the New York area, I can sympathize with Boone. He gave me, along with millions of others, one of baseball’s greatest moments. But it is difficult to ignore the fact that he gets hurt an awful lot, and does not regularly make it through the season. His veteran influence will be missed, but there are others who can fill his shoes.

• First draft pick this year goes to the Washington Nationals. Think about how similar the Nats of today are to the Devil Rays of the not-so-distant past. The youth movement is alive and well in DC.

• A look at the Nationals depth chart reveals a strong set of position players, especially when you consider what guys like Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, Emilio Bonifacio, Ryan Zimmerman, and even Nick Johnson will contribute in the near future- they are headed into their prime. There are several faces that need to go, though I’m not sure it will happen in this off-season. Outfielders Willie Harris and Ryan Langerhans are heading into their thirties, and neither have made the transition to the major leagues. The Red Sox ruined Wily Mo Pena by benching him for two years, and he doesn’t fit in DC anyway. Dmitri Young is (unfortunately) locked in through next season, but Nick Johnson is the present and the future. Young’s career is in a nose-dive.

• Pitching is a much more difficult scenario. Though Perez should stay, he is not an ace. Tim Redding is washed up, and he must go. The rest of the staff is very young, and very under-prepared. It is likely that many of them would only be getting spot starts on just about any other major league team. But keep them, and keep them in the majors. They will mature as players, and some may become exceptional. In the meantime, sign two front end pitchers- not necessarily CC Sabathia type aces, but winners.

• I have faith in the Nationals bullpen. They have been shaky, but not horrible as a whole, and the combo of Chad Cordero and Joel Hanrahan promises to be impressive in years to come.

• So here’s my free-agent shopping list for the Washington Nationals this year:

1. Odalis Perez (SP): Resign him.
2. Ivan Rodriguez (C): He is not needed by the Yankees anymore since Jorge Posada will be back. Though Pudge is experiencing a downturn in career numbers, he has a tremendous talent for working with the young pitchers who make up the vast majority of the Nationals staff. He will contribute by getting on base, and he has always performed best on teams outside of the spotlight. He will also come at a bargain price after his mediocre performance in Pinstripes.
3. Adam Dunn (LF): I rarely disagree with Tim Dierkes, but I simply do not believe the Nationals are at the beginning of a “long rebuilding process.” I think that they are nearing the end of one. Nats GM Jim Bowden likes Dunn (they were both Reds at one point) and wants to inject the team with power. That is exactly what the Nationals need. Dunn will drive in a ton of runs, create the kind of adrenaline and fan involvement that only a home-run hitter can, and he will help the Nationals grow into its big market. I don’t really know what there is not to like about Dunn in DC.
4. Freddy Garcia (SP): Now is the perfect time for a club like the Nats to make a move on Garcia. He recently recovered from an injury and pitched fairly well for the Tigers in three games. He will be a major bargain given his time on the DL, but there will be teams after him, especially Detroit. If the Nationals make a bold move and outbid the bargain-hunters, promising Garcia the ace slot, he can be won. Remember, this is a guy with a world series ring who has won between 14 and 18 games five times. Go get him!
5. Oliver Perez (SP): He has not yet mastered consistency, but he is still young- young enough to live up to the tremendous potential that this 180 strikeout season represents, but also old enough to help guide the younger pitchers. Perez will thrive where he can be a leader, as well as a student. He will also have a lot to learn if the Nationals can manage to pair him up with Pudge Rodriguez.

There are very few people who are willing to watch an atrocious baseball team. The Rays, Nats, and Royals can all attest to that. But Washington DC has the potential to be a massive market, particularly with the ease of travel that the Metro system offers. All that is required is some wise money spent along with continuous nurturing of the phenomenal youth movement taking place in the Nationals organization.

And in case anyone is interested, my prediction is Red Sox vs. Dodgers, Dodgers in 6.

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A year ago I was excited to see that there would be a Madame Tussauds in Washington DC, now a year later the wax museum is celebrating it’s 1-year birthday. According to the Going Out Gurus you can visit museum for only $1 (which is a whole lot cheaper than the standard $20 ticket price.)

There is a catch however- you have to sing happy birthday to the museum.

Call me spoiled from all of DC’s free museums but I am not a big fan of the expensive prices of some of the other museums here and I will definitely take advantage of this deal while it lasts (it ends Saturday.)

Now time to find someone that can actually go out during the museum’s tourist (but not local resident) friendly hours.

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Well tonight is the 2nd Presidential Debate at Belmont University. I know the a lot of us in DC will be watching and tonight I will try and blog live from DC Metblogs during the debates- providing the “joe six-pack” view. Maybe I’ll even crack open a six-pack; I’m sure good amount of viewers will have their drinking game sheets in hand.

If things go well I’ll be back before the debates and I encourage those to keep DC Metblogs up during the debates and feel free to comment away during the debates!

8:24 PM: Hi everyone (or maybe just myself)! I just emptied my bladder, grabbed a slice of pie, and I’m

settled down to watch this debate. I’ll be watching the feed from CNN tonight- I don’t know what people think of their use (or overuse) of timers, graphs, and polls. I could definitely feel overwhelmed with information with all that junk up there. However I love it.

Wolf Blitzer just said Al Gore is in the house and so is John King with the magic wall. Who knew that in 2008 we would be analyzing the news using a “magic wall”?

8:39 PM: I won’t be some of the few out there in DC drinking along with the debates but I did decided to track a couple of buzzwords: “Maverick”, “Change”, “Main Street”, and my personal favorite “voted with bush 90% of the time.”

8:50 PM: 10 minutes to go! Listening to talk on the format of tonight’s debate- it will be a town hall format where the candidates will be talking to an audience of undecided voters. Tom Brokaw will moderate and questions will be selected from the audience as well as e-mails that Brokaw selected before hand. CNN just reported that there were over 6 million thousand questions submitted. I didn’t hear that they were looking for questions.

9:00 PM: Here we go, 90 minutes of fierce talking point delivery!

See the rest of the night’s live blog underneath the more tag…

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As G. and I drove back into DC late on Sunday night, I commented that “there’s nothing like a weekend in New York City to make you feel like you live in a backwater town.”  The lack of cars! The empty sidewalks!  The open sky!  DC was so… peaceful after the jam-packed-24-hour-ness of NYC.

Okay, so their Chinatown trumps ours.  But a brief comparison between the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market revealed similar pricing for at least the basics we looked over.  And we didn’t see anything there we don’t get here, so perhaps our lower population density isn’t always a disadvantage.

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image found here.

Dear Metblog readers, indulge me in a brief personal story and the use of this forum to say thank you to someone.  Hopefully you’ll just find it a heartwarming little story about how good people can be in our area.  

Dear Random Girl who eventually got off at the Naylor Rd. Station:

Thank you for finding my Iphone.  Although I’ve never met you or saw you or know anything about you-I appreciate your finding my Iphone.

See, I was heading home to drop off the comic books I had bought at SPX and to get changed to go out for the evening.  In my fervor of comic book delightedness I must have only half-heartedly put my phone into my sweatshirt hoodie pocket after checking it (like I always do) coming over the river on the yellow line bridge.  Questions of whether to go all the way to Clarendon or not coupled with handfuls of newly signed books must have distracted me as I left my train at Crystal City because it wasn’t until I got outside and reached for my phone again that I realized it was gone. 

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This past weekend (very last minute or I would have altered alerted you dear MetBlog readers) I found myself at the first ever Buffalo Battle-aka the “War of the Wings.”  The scoop?  J. Paul’s Chef Darrell “Big Wing” Hughes faced off against Old Glory’s Chef Richard “The Pit Master” Brooks in a four round cook off to see just who has the better wings.  For the price of admission spectators got two complimentary drinks and (wait for it) all the wings you could eat.  Proceeds went to the very worthy cause of the DC Central Kitchen.

As a native Western New Yorker, both hungry for wings and willing to donate to a good cause, I felt uniquely qualified to show up at this event and cast my own judgment on these so called “Buffalo Wings.”  Yes much like the native of Philly who is fond of saying ”that’s not a real cheese steak”, the Chicago transplant who says “ugh! you call this pizza?” and the New York City tourist that can’t wait to tell you just how much ”better the <fill in just about anything> is in New York”-I too become a food snob when wings are brought into the mix.   Especially when someone calls them “Buffalo Wings.”   

So on this, the alleged anniversary of the Buffalo Wing (Happy 44^th!) allow me to share my thoughts with you:

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Hey, have you gone to your local ANC meeting lately?  Everyone should go at least once, in the interest of seeing the sausage made.  DC.gov even has a handy page where you can find your local ANC meeting calendar. 

R. went to 1C last night to hear the public safety report, after the hilarious attempted armed robbery on the street renamed two and a half years ago that wasn’t in the 911 system.  (But is now.)  And he wanted find out about plans to shut down the uptick in crime the past couple of weeks, but that will be at the Public Safety meeting on Friday.  The stats passed out last night show a 3x rise in assaults and a 5x rise in robbery with a gun in the last month, just in our little PSA.  Wow.

But there were good things, too.  Public art to be installed at 18th and Columbia.  It won’t affect the Kiosk, which is apparently the third rail of 1C politics.  And–bonus–SmartBikeDC is expanding into Adams Morgan.  Groovy!

The Kiosk, surviving traffic lane construction with aplomb.

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You’ve probably noticed it even if you aren’t conscious of it directly.  Iron Man (on DVD as of yesterday) was the biggest movie of the year by far (edit: at the time).  Then The Dark Knight came along (edit:  which then become the biggest movie of the year).  In between Hellboy II and Wanted both came out and this book Watchmen on the best seller’s table at Borders.  Make no doubt about it my friend-comics are coming out of the long boxes in our basements and into the mainstream-so you better get hip and quick.

In your quest for comic book literacy there is only one thing better than going to your local shop and asking for a copy of Sandman or Maus:  Discovering the next great episode of graphic literature of course!  The place to do that just happens to be in our own backyard of Bethesda at the Small Press Expo.  This Saturday and Sunday the best and brightest of the comics newest and/or Indie talents will be on hand to sell you comics and sign your stuff.  I’ve gone to SPX a few times over my six year stay here and it is a great event for fans and non-fans alike.  Very often creators are happy to just talk with you for a while, sign books that you buy and give you deals if you buy a few (hey these guys are out there making a name for themselves!).  Also a great way to disabuse yourself of the notions that “comics are for kids” and “comics are all about super-heroes.”  They aren’t-and nowhere is that better done than in the small press. 

I’ll be there Saturday (super-geek that I am) so be on the lookout…for a bunch of people more famous, creative and important than I am that is!  You’ll almost certainly walk away with something you’ll enjoy reading and might even have a “Oh her? Yeah I met her back at SPX 2008″ story to go with it some day!

Beer-That is all you need to know

If comics are not your speed (or even if they are-Saturday is a long day) The Commonwealth (particularly Shirlington) will play host to “Oktoberfest” hosted by Cap City.  After I’ve loaded up on comic books I plan on heading back across the river to get…well…loaded.  Responsibly of course!  For a mere $25 you’ll have access to over 30 local breweries and their 4 oz beer samples.  That’s 120 oz of beer for $25 (if you only go to each tent once that is!) also known as a deal.  If you don’t drink the event is free and there will be music and food available for all-so it might be worth stopping by anyway. 

I again will be there and will eventually be the guy either sitting down reading comic books trying not to spill beer on them OR the guy getting into a loud angry discussion about which of Earth’s Green Lanterns was actually the coolest. 

Author’s note:  If you do decide to go to both places you might want to do comics first only because impulse shopping goes up when you’ve been drinking and it’s much safer (and far more legal) to drive having bought too many comics then it is to drive having drank too many beers.

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Another debate, another time to drink. For those that treat the debates like a college football game can check out The Washingtonian’s After Hours blog for a guide of places to watch the debates. I especially like Ventnor’s $1 shots when you hear a buzzword. Fritz Hahn over at the Post also has a guide on the Going Out Gurus blog.

For those that want to stay home and drink should look at Associated Content’s Sarah Palin drinking game- it’s written for use with Moosehead but I think you should be able to substitute with no problems.

UPDATE: It appears I’m not the only one thinking of ways to play games while watching Sarah Palin- a friend told me to check out Sarah Palin Bingo, for those that are probably skipping their Thursday night at the VFW hall to watch the debates.

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I have noticed that Rock Creek Park has recently finished some construction to repair some sections of parkway- now there’s a possibility there may also be a big crater in the middle of it.

I was watching the local news and there was a breaking news story on a suspicious package that could possibly be a grenade.

WJLA says that 16th Street between between Longfellow Street NW and Colorado Avenue is closed and police are on the scene.

You may want to avoid that area today.

UPDATE:The Washington Post reports that it the grenade, which was real, was taken care of by the military. Always helpful having those types of people around Washington DC for situations like this.

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Do you ever wonder what scientists do when they’re not doing…. science?  Cafe Scientifique is “a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology.”  The concept started in the UK and now they are springing up all over, bringing folks from all walks of life together to debate and discuss what’s new.  Science-types and English majors are both welcome.

We have two cafes in our transit-shed, lucky us.  One in Annapolis, where Cy Jones from the World Resources Institute is going to discuss water trading tomorrow, September 30.  Like carbon trading, only wetter.  Another in Arlington on October 7, where Dr. Don Wilson from the Smithsonian Institution going to talk about Bats: Myth and Reality.  It’s at the Front Page, in Ballston.  If you’ve ever thought about putting up a bat house, this is your chance to ask all those questions. 

Could be a nice addition to the ‘hood.  If the neighbors aren’t too freaked out, that is.

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FotoWeek DC’s photo contest ends tonight 11:59 p.m. PDT, so East Coast amateur and professional photographers have until the early morning hours to submit their best images for Spirit of Washington DC, Best of Show and Gold, Silver and Honorable Mention awards in categories including commercial/advertising art, architecture, fine art, personal project, photojournalism/editorial and wedding. Prizes total $37,000 and include cash and goodies like Chrome Imaging and Penn Camera shopping sprees. Finalists will also be exhibited at FotoWeek’s central hub in Georgetown.

The city’s so-called “premier photography event of 2008″ could arguably transcend any other from any year. Featuring a slew of sponsors from the national and regional photography, art and culture scene, the November 15-22 event will feature citywide lectures, workshops, exhibitions, portfolio reviews and will end with a Saturday gala at the National Geographic Society’s Grosvenor Auditorium.

The DC Fotoweek Blog highlights sponsors, exhibit spaces and event news.

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