Results tagged “rockcreekrambler”

>> Bobby Boswell sounds off with a strongly worded criticism against ESPN's refusal to acknowlege a fantastic game of soccer in favor of nonstop coverage from the "Beckham Cam." [D.C. Sports Bog] >> Fare thee well, Rock Creek Rambler. >> Late Wednesday afternoon, a portion of the ceiling on the underside of the outdoor overhang in the “lower plaza” area of the State Department's Columbia Plaza complex fell down, damaging several cars parked underneath....

A residency at DC9 is no shabby way to send off a band, but seems like strange timing. Monopoli has been gigging constantly around the D.C. area and, more recently, all around the world since 2004. They've made a name for themselves filling rooms with fans and their polished, radio-ready sound. Collecteing accolades and great reviews, selling out the first pressing of their E.P. and pushing themselves to tour and play as much as possible, the band is going out on a high note. Monopoli seemed ripe for a record deal, so it's a real shame to see them say goodbye so soon. What could have caused such a sudden end? Rock Creek Rambler suspects Anna Nicole Smith and Scooter Libby may have had a part. As for the guys in the band, we suppose they're getting started on that whole life of leisure thing. Good luck to you all, and thanks for the good times.

>> It's not tough to earn the ire of Rock Creek Rambler, but when you make it this easy, we have to wonder whether or not you're doing it on purpose. Though we have to hand it to you, the line, "Let me just say, it was to hard to organize resistance to you!" will go down in history as the one that made the entire DCist staff snort Diet Dr. Pepper through their noses simultaneously. [Missed Connections]

We’re mourning the latest casualty of the war on jukeboxes, as news comes to us via Rock Creek Rambler that earlier this month Fox and Hounds took the plunge and replaced their jukebox with a new-fangled super computer known as the Touchtunes digital music player. While the old jukebox was beloved by many for its rustic charms and eclectic CD collection, the Touchtunes cares not for the trifling whims of mortals. The ersatz jukebox is not really a box at all, nor does it juke. It is a flatscreen portal hanging on the wall, and rumor has it that if you stare at it for too long you start involuntarily singing “Fergalicious.”

>> New Police Chief Cathy Lanier on being a woman in the Metropolitan Police Dept.: "Lanier says she wants to tell her story so it will help other women who face similar challenges. She describes how she faced a constant barrage of sexual harassment when she first came on the force in 1990. 'I've had police officers expose themselves to me riding around in a patrol car. {I was} assigned with a training officer who...

>> The Yellow Line is back in full service after an accident killed Leslie A. Cherry, a veteran Metro employee from Maryland, while he was conducting a routine track inspection. Another Metro employee is currently in critical condition at an area hospital. Our thoughts are with the families of both employees, as well as the train operator involved in the accident. >> Don't forget to head to down to Ireland's Four Fields Pub in Cleveland...

>> Okay, not technically voting news, but we're convinced that Britney Spears is filing for divorce today in order to sway the elections in some manner. Perhaps going on a campaign of "Don't Marry Total Effing Idiots"? [TMZ]

>> Robocalling — the new hotness? Over on his personal blog, DCist Tom explains just how it's done — and just how easy it is to do. Please don't try this at home. Seriously. [Manifest Density]

>> Representation: a right that even those in remote Tajik villages get to have. Meanwhile, here in D.C., we just get to sit around and be bitter. [SueAndNotU]

>> The GOP — could they possibly, POSSIBLY, be realizing the fact that the same sex marriage ban is completely and utterly embarrassing, humiliating, and totally stupid, amongst many other adjectives we could think of? Ehhh...probably not. [piece of ass]

>> Want to feel all inspired and patriotic? Check out the hundreds of "I Voted" pictures floating around on Flickr. It'll give you the warm and fuzzies. [Flickr]

>> Tired of the status quo here in D.C.? It may be a bit too late now, but consider a write-in campaign for a candidate who recommends that "Smith Point should be fire bombed." Sounds good! But on the other hand, he believes North Cleveland Park is a neighborhood. [Rock Creek Rambler]

>> We've been hearing that "I voted" stickers aren't being handed out at some polling places in the city. Which, outrage. Maybe that's what happened to the man in Pennsylvania who destroyed a voting machine with a metal cat statue. Which is the awesomest sentence we've typed in a long time. [Wonkette]

Photo from Flickr user hey-helen

Via the always delightfully surly Rock Creek Rambler, we learn that the proud Navy town of Norfolk, Va. has lifted its 56-year ban on tattoo parlors within city limits.

Sixty years ago, Norfolk's East Main Street was world famous for its tattoo parlors, taverns and burlesque palaces. In 1945, there were about a dozen parlors to choose from. That ended in 1950 when the City Council approved a citywide ban on tattoo parlors. Tattoos were branded unsanitary and generally undesirable, even "vulgar and cannibalistic."

And isn't that just the thing about cannibals. They're always flaunting their so-called "alternative lifestyles" in our faces by getting garrish tattoos, no doubt in order to advertise themselves to other cannibals so they can run off and meet in dark alleys to consume human flesh together. It's madness!

Around 7pm at 17th and R St NW, a police officer spent valuable taxpayer money and time ticketing people for crossing the street without waiting for the walk signal. As dangerous a threat jaywalking is to the citizens of DC (and I am sure this is better than the cops illegally parallel parking to get to Chipotle or car surfing after-hours) aren't there tougher challenges at hand: like the rising murder rate? I saw him write two tickets and instruct a father and son about the importance of following proper cross-walk protocol. I feel much safer with this new crack down.

As you may recall, blogger Rock Creek Rambler had much the same reaction when he was recently caught driving without a seatbelt on, and we chimed in when a friend of ours was actually handed a written warning for jaywalking in late March. Don't police have something better to do than hand out tickets for minor violations? Aren't there murders, assaults, robberies, and rapes to be solved? Criminals to be apprehended? What gives?

So apparently DC has instituted seat belt traps. I found this out yesterday when I pulled onto Park from 14th, and was commanded to pull over by an officer in the middle of the street. I joined the other 5 cars pulled over to the side of the road and received my $50 punch in the balls. Should I have been wearing my seatbelt? Sure, I guess, but considering I was only a block from my house and doing 5 mph circling the block looking for parking, I thought I was safe from flying through my windshield. What pisses me off more than the state charging me $50 for not protecting myself is the fact that, in this city, I'm 100% POSITIVE there is a better use of the time of three police officers.

RCR, we're torn between wanting to sympathize with you and wanting to tell you that you got what was coming. You're right — you were only going 5 mph. But did the police know that you were slowly circling? Couldn't you just as well have torn down the street at 50? But you are right about this — those three cops could have been doing something a little more productive. Giving tickets for traffic infractions tends to serve the purpose of generating income for the city as much (or more) as it does in increasing the public's safety. Cops could always be used elsewhere, especially walking the streets and dealing with more pressing crimes.

FRIDAY:

What is it about the joke-tee that is so potentially alluring? Could it be the irresistible opportunity to shock and offend? Is it tied to the indie-culture affinity for semi-obscure references? The combination of the two? Is it the same hope for wit by association that drives people to quote Will Ferrell movies or put MR. PIBB + RED VINES = CRAZY DELICIOUS in their away messages (or on their t-shirts)? Whatever the case may be, such shirts are not only prevalent, but their online cottage industry is quite lucrative. Though they may be a few steps farther up the evolutionary fashion ladder than sparkly “Princess” t-shirts, their tacky brethren, most “humorous” tees fall more than short of funny into the realm of simply corny, crass, and cringe-inducing. So naturally we were a little anxious to read The Rock Creek Rambler’s recent post about a brand-new source of comic hipster tees, almost all emblazoned with some sort of DC theme.

We never believed the myth that bloggers were asocial. Sure, we spend hours and hours hunkered behind our keyboards pouring out our thoughts to our little obscure niches of cyberspace, but we've been known to go to bars occasionally, where a few people have even been known to join us. We've observed that D.C.'s blogosphere is fairly fragmented, and contains little niches of activity here and there. We were excited to see two D.C. blogs...

From Rock Creek Rambler, we are reminded that Jessica Cutler, aka(fka?) Washingtonienne (the fallen Capitol Hill intern/entrepreneur-turned-blogstar-turned-author from the last year's intern season) is still around. And her book -- "The Washingtonienne: A Novel" (Hyperion Books) -- is on Amazon! Rock Creek Rambler says that those who have already purchased Ms. Cutler's book fall in the same demographic that have purchased books like "XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits" by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders; "I Am Charlotte Simmons" by...

On its front page today, the Post writes about the increase of iPod thefts from apartments and cars and how it can be a real bummer for one's playlist to be instantly gone. We can surely understand this trauma. But nowhere in the article was there word of what happens when an iPod is forcibly taken from one's person. Unless we're missing something (Update, we did miss something, see comments), the Post seemed to neglect to report Friday's shocking news where a man was stabbed from behind while walking on Macomb Street in Cleveland Park around 1 a.m. According to the AP, via WTOP, the two to three masked perpetrators were after the victim's "mp3 player." (Whether it was an iPod is unclear ...)

Thanks to Rock Creek Rambler, we learn that Pizza Mart, home of 18th Street's original jumbo pizza slice (or something like that depending on what pizza entrepreneur you talk to) was shut down recently for health code violations including, according to the Post's culling of municipal reports, "debris, no certified food supervisor and unclean food contact surfaces and equipment." If we read the report correctly, the restaurant was closed two Fridays back and reopened that Saturday.

This DCist is home sick today with a splitting headache, bad cough and congested sinuses. We would try to rest more, but we can't get much sleep because of low-flying helicopters over our apartment. Despite being bed-ridden, we're very thankful for laptop computers. So we thought we'd take care of some minor housekeeping and update some of our links to D.C.-area blogs we've been looking at as of late. -- The Upstate Life ... We...