Reader Amber Lupin writes in: I love DCist. You guys know more about D.C. than I could possibly fathom and for that reason, I come to you. Every day I drive up and then down Route 1 in Virginia from about Old Town to the Memorial Bridge. A few weeks ago, multiple airplanes and jets appeared on the side of the road. They are in varying styles, ranging from old-school designs (near the entrance......

This review was written by guest poster Eric Nuzum, a local pop culture commentator and author of The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula. Here's the reason why there have been more than 600 vampire films produced in the past 85 years: Vampires are the perfect metaphor. Tradition says that vampires don't cast reflections. But vampires are, in fact, reflections of what terrifies or titillates us, as well as what we......

Written by DCist Contributor Andrew Chriss Enjera Eritrean Restaurant opened in Crystal City in May 2007. On an early visit over the summer, the restaurant was not very inviting from the street level, which was disappointing due to the vast amount of outdoor seating space available. The menu was crudely assembled from what seemed like loose-leaf, and the signage for the restaurant did little to sell the restaurant besides intrigue passersby to ask, "What do......

>> We would have liked to have read about "The Best Bars in DC For Ensuring That You Will Not Run Into a Single Person Even Vaguely Connected With Politics or Media (crossposted to Gridskipper)." Good luck to you, Pareene. [Wonkette] >> A fire will be set Saturday morning on Metrorail's bridge over the Potomac River as part of an emergency-response drill involving 100 firefighters from seven area jurisdictions. The Yellow line will be shut......

California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has declared September “California Wine Month” for the third consecutive year. Since September is almost over we thought we would get into the spirit and raise a glass to the California wine industry (not that we think they need their own month). We would have celebrated sooner but we were busy getting tipsy off our own local Virginia Wines, as you may recall. The Wine Institute, a.k.a. the self-proclaimed “Voice for......

Clockwise from top left: Comet Ping Pong, Red Rocks, 2 Amys, Bebo There are many factors that affect a pizza. The type of flour used for the dough. The temperature of the oven. The quality of the toppings. The skill and hands of the maker of the dough. The vigilance of the pizzaiolo (the person manning the oven). D.C. may not be known as much of a pizza town, but a few of the......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: This is England After receiving accolades galore at a number of major film festivals, British director Shane Meadow's autobiographical film is receiving a limited one week run in D.C. starting on Friday. Based on his own experiences coming of age in the UK in the early 80's, This is England follows 12-year old Shaun, a......

There are certain defining moments in the relationship between any father and son. Times when a father passes down the wisdom gained through the years, when a son asks those burning questions he doesn't feel comfortable asking his buddies, the guidance counselor, or the older guys in the gym locker room. And the father sits his son down and they talk long into the night. About why you should get flowers for a girl when......

The longest day of the year has just passed us by, the solstice bells have rung out, and far to the north they've seen the sun at midnight. Here in Washington, we brace for the brutal heat we've only just tasted up to now. There is some consolation for the misery mother nature heaps on D.C.'s coming dog days. For many lucky office drones, in summertime the living truly can be easy. That filing that's......

MONDAY: French journalist Sylvain Cypel will speak about his book Walled, a look at relations between Jews and Palestinians in Israel and the barriers — both cultural and physical — between the two groups. Politics and Prose, 7 p.m. D.C.-area Star Wars geeks will want to check out Olsson's Arlington/Courthouse, where science-fiction author Karen Traviss will be talking about her new novel Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice. We love Han, Chewie and the gang as......

MONDAY: Cullen Murphy, the Atlantic’s managing editor, will be at Politics and Prose to talk about his new book Are We Rome? Murphy is of course referring to spreading corruption in Washington, our imperialist tendencies and the outsourcing of government work to private contractors. Personally, we'd rather read a book comparing our government with a different empire, but we won't hold our breath on that one. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Dancer and award-winning actress Victoria Rowell......

>> Artomatic comes to a close this weekend, after five long weeks of inundating us with massive quantities of art, free performances, lectures, concerts, film series, demonstrations and workshops, and spirited community building that even your old summer camp counselor couldn't match. If you haven't gone down to Crystal City yet, the old Patent Office location is only a few blocks from the metro, and the art fair only rises up every two (sometimes three)......

Flickr user andertho caught these brilliant colors in a perfectly composed shot, as a group of teeny-tiny window washers scale a Crystal City building. Of course, it's the rebel with the green bucket on the right that really makes the photo. EXIF.......

Have you made it out to Artomatic yet? Flickr user EPMD, who captured this great shot of the entrance, is just one of hundreds of local artists showing their work in this year's space in Crystal City. The show is open until May 20th, so you've got plenty of time to stop by. EXIF.......

MONDAY Richard Preston, fresh off his Daily Show appearance, where he confounded Jon Stewart, brings his unique perspective on some of America's oldest residents, California redwood trees, in The Wild Trees. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 7:00 p.m. TUESDAY With the glut of celebrities proclaiming themselves Buddhists, it's sometimes hard to pin down the historical and ethical roots of this ancient religion. Author Lama Surya Das, who the Dalai Lama calls 'The American......

Inevitably, you find yourself at that moment. When youth fashion confuses you, when you prefer to spend the time between bands at the 9:30 Club resting in the back rather than staking out a spot right up front, when you realize that there are people about to graduate high school who were born in the 90s. Suddenly you feel old. But when children are already declaring anything from the 20th century ancient (which, presumably, includes......

Imagine a well-renowned D.C. glass artist, a gallery-experienced (and ColorField.remix contributor) abstract painter, and at least seven people we already know are pretty talented photographers putting their work next to mermaids made out of garage sale rejects and Tic Tac sculptures, and you'll start to get the essence of Artomatic. This chaotic jumble of an art fair where "Fire" gets its own category has infamously drawn ire from some of the city's fine art critics......

We recently visited the Crystal City Jaleo, to not only partake in watching the now famous “Iron Chef: America - Andrés vs. Flay in battle Goat” but also to support one of Andrés favorite charities, D.C. Central Kitchen. We certainly enjoyed watching José Andrés pummel Bobby Flay, but we got even more satisfaction from eating a couple (okay, more than a couple) of Jaleo’s delectable offerings. This left us with the difficult task of choosing......

Good morning, Washington. After five straight days of frost warnings, temps will claw their way back into the 50s, though you'll still need a parka as you head off to work. We guess it could be worse; the Nationals could be driven out of town by a foot of snow. The Cleveland Indians have been forced to cancel several games and play this week's home games in Milwaukee by the fluffy stuff. Yikes, if......

Spring seems to be here to stay this time around, and that means swimsuit season can't be far behind. Here at the Overheard office, before we dust off the old Speedo, we're aiming to set a personal record for failed fad diets in a single month, figuring that if the average dieter loses the will to continue within the first week, then if we just start a brand new diet every week, we might actually......

It's hard to know where to start this week, given all the news in Washington's food world. Chef changes, award nominations, scandals, and battles have enveloped us without us even noticing. Let's dig right in, juicy stuff first. Review Not, that Ye be Not Reviewed A couple weeks back we told you about a fight between New York Times critic Frank Bruni and restaurateur Jeffery Chodorow. Now, close your eyes, replace Frank Bruni with a......

>> The Corcoran is the place to be for art this weekend when they open the mammoth exhibit Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914-1939 on Saturday. The show will appeal to more than straight-up art lovers — wannabe urban planners (we know we've got some of those around here) will find a survey of industrial architecture; politicos can engage in an examination of the era's struggle for national identity; fashionistas can check out the styles......

>> We always suspected Maddy Albright was much like Santa Claus -- not so much due to a reputation for gift giving as for being magically able to keep her eyes locked on our every move in order to judge whether we have been naughty or nice. Safeway, ye know not what ye have done. [Yeas and Nays] >> Art-o-matic will take place this year after all, from April 13 through May 20 this......

Dine Out For Life On March 8 If you've been feeling guilty about all your meals out lately, get ready to wash that all away next week. The annual Dining Out For Life benefit will take place next Thursday, March 8. If you're unfamiliar with the charity affair, it's one day each year when dozens of area restaurants donate at least 25% of their profits to local charity Food and Friends. The event, which takes......

MONDAY It’s anybody’s guess as to whether Mark Twain would have approved of Jon Clinch’s Finn, the dark, call-it-a-prequel, story of Huck Finn’s father, depicted herein as a degenerate bigot. But you know what? Suck it, Twain: you’re dead! At Olsson’s in Crystal City, 2200 Crystal Drive, 7 p.m. TUESDAY If your two favoritest things in the whole wide world are crayons and burlesque shows, then DCist is finally ready to offer an event that......

TUESDAY Got someone in your life who neatly fits within the Young Adult demographic? They’d be pleased as punch to meet China Mieville, whose new fantasy novel, Un Lun Dun, reads like a Pan’s Labyrinth without all the blood-spatter and heavy overtones of European fascism. And, yeah, you grown-ups will probably dig it as well. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY There was a time when “hooking up” really meant something.......

If Alexandria officials are to be believed there has already been some impressive upside to their recruitment of the Patent and Trademark Office from the canyons of Crystal City to Carlyle, a neighborhood west of Old Town and north of the Capital Beltway. "We are now the intellectual capital of the world,'' says Stephanie Landrum, acting executive director of Alexandria's economic development office, according to the Washington Post. In addition to the over 7,000 employees......

By new DCist contributor Analiese Bendorf Ducks and Creeks Fans of Bethesda's calorie-conscious Rock Creek Restaurant will soon be able to nosh on guilt-free grub at a second location in the District, where owners Tom Williams and Judy Hammerschmidt plan to open Rock Creek at Mazza Gallerie. Tom Sietsema reports in this week's Dish that former 1789 chef, Ris Lacoste, will lend a seasoned hand by interviewing potential chefs for the Mazza location, before turning......

>> There's no doubt that we're relieved that the Metro passenger who was struck by the outbound Blue train at Rosslyn this morning did not sustain serious injury. But, we can't stress this enough, people —don't crowd the edge of theplatform! We'd like to keep all of you around. [Washington Post] >> That said, let's be glad we seem to be made of sterner stuff than New York State Senator Carl Kruger, who'd like to......

What would D.C. look like if Congress took away the restrictions on building height? We’ve pondered this question before, and so have a lot of others. It’s one of the favorite parlor games of D.C.’s professional (and amateur) urban planners. The subject arose again in yesterday’s Post, when business columnist Dana Hedgpeth noted the recent comments of a land use expert questioning the wisdom and necessity of D.C.'s height limit. The expert cautioned that the......