In which we share some thoughts on being a state and a little-d District. more ›

Every election year, the cliche that somebody should or should not begin measuring the White House drapes gets trotted out. But eight months in to their new life at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., it looks like the Obamas may finally have brought in some help for the job, in the form of fashion personality and Barney's New York creative director/window dresser extraordinaire Simon Doonan. You may recognize Doonan from his appearances on America's Next Top Model and VH1's I Love the ____ shows. more ›

A formidable two-story brick house stands in Georgetown; its exterior gives no hints as to what awaits inside. Once a school for boys in the 1840s, the historic home located at 3014 P St. NW was completely renovated and given over to 15 area interior designers to create the 2008 DC Design House, benefiting the Children's National Medical Center. The interior is a showcase of sophisticated design, style and luxury; perfect for the neighborhood. more ›

The exhibition, of course, is about cultural traditions. It features some 55 dresses and more than 200 accessories, all of which are meant to express the depth and development of Native women’s identities. more ›

Channel 9 reporter Bruce Johnson has broken the story on the dust-up at the Washington Post this past week. Classical music critic Tim Page, winner of a Pulitzer prize, has long been one of the best writers in the Style section, making the paper's shrinking coverage of classical music all the more shameful. In response to a mass email from the staff of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, which was sent to Page apparently... more ›

Good morning, Washington. In case you didn't believe us when we first told you that this tax office corruption scandal was going to get bigger and badder as the week went on, just check out the trio of stories on offer from the Post this morning on the widening scandal. First and foremost, it turns out Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus allegedly worked together to steal $4 million more than originally thought, bringing the grand... more ›

>> Don't forget: thousands of dirty hippies and the gun-toting maniacs who hate them are getting together for a big ol' hootenanny down on the National Mall tomorrow morning. It's the War on War on War. >> At the Washington City Paper, editorial assistants who make mistakes aren't just named, they're taken out back and tortured with one million paper cuts using the latest issue while Erik Wemple screams "you're not good enough to... more ›

>> The Frederick Douglass Bridge is expected to re-open this Thursday, a week ahead of schedule. [WTOP] >> Nationwide S.A.T. scores fall, but local students fare worse than others; however, more students are taking the test than ever before. [Post] >> The Post revamped their Style section this week, and according to yesterday's online chat, it will include a new "Studio" feature that will showcase local artists and galleries. The City Paper is not... more ›

>> SiteProjects DC, which we reviewed last month, is ongoing throughout the 14th Street NW stretch, with special events sporadically showing during its run. Since Tuesday, Kathryn Cornelius has been performing her Art Services (Waste) at venues along the corridor. Tonight find her at Hemphill Fine Art from 4:30 to 5 p.m., then at Gallery Plan B from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Tomorrow see the act at Adamson Gallery from 4:30 to 5 p.m., then squeeze into the 2nd floor bathroom in the same building to see her between 5 and 5:30 p.m., and finally in the almost similarly sized micro-gallery, Curator's Office, from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Check out the web site for the SiteProject DC artworks and other upcoming events. more ›

By DCist contributor Paul Ghosh-Roy Artist? Junglist? Selector? Hip-Hop DJ extraordinaire? DCist cannot answer this question. Maybe the best title, should DJ Spooky choose to pass out a DC style business card, would simply read, “Paul D. Miller, Turntablist.” Because, if a turntablist uses the tables to create new music and improvise, and not just play records, then Washington, D.C.’s native son Paul D.Miller (nom de disc, "DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid") claims the title... more ›

The weekend's almost here -- with all its school painting, free comic books and tequila toasting -- and frankly, it's hard to spy sunshine through the window and imagine spending the day inside. Commuters who use MARC's Camden Line (Baltimore-D.C.) have the perfect excuse for blowing off work. For the second day in a row trains are running at least 40 minutes late due to signal problems. It sounds like a major hassle, so... more ›

We're gobsmacked that we forgot to mention Tim "Make it Work" Gunn's planned whirlwind visit to the District this weekend. A native of Washington, he's a veteran of Corcoran College of Art + Design and hit the big time as a mentor to aspiring designers on Bravo's oddly addictive Project Runway. Along with co-author Kate Moloney, Gunn comes to town promoting his new fashion manifesto, Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style.... more ›

This post by DCist Food contributor Analiese Bendorf more ›

Between the creepy name and the glowing spermatozoa in the logo, readers can be forgiven for looking at the graphic on the right and assuming that washingtonpost.com is dabbling in creating Frankensteinian abominations/superbeings. Perhaps an alien/Katharine Graham hybrid that can squeeze secrets out of administration sources with its deadly tentacles? There's room for all sorts of mischief in that Arlington skyscraper. Sadly, that's not the case. The project, entitled "onBeing", is actually a new series of video essays that the Post will be adding to every Wednesday. Here's how they describe it:

onBeing is a project based on the simple notion that we should get to know one another a little better. What you'll find here is a series of videos that takes you into the musings, passions, histories and quirks of all sorts of people. The essence of who they are, who we are.

Hmm. It sounds slightly questionable, particularly given the past year's cuts to the Post's news-gathering staff. But we do genuinely enjoy the Style section's Life Is Short feature, and this sounds like it's cut from the same cloth. Maybe it won't be so bad. The site itself is an extremely slick Flash video player — it's worth clicking through just to check out the interface. And the clips are all nicely shot in a style cribbed from Errol Morris (you might recognize it from those "Switch" commercials that Apple ran in the 90s). But the actual content is less than compelling. Right now there are four videos on the site:
• A Georgetown nun talking about how she always sort of wanted to be a nun
• An affable cheesemaker discussing cheesemaking ("at high altitudes you need less rennet")
• A kid edited together into an incoherent ramble about a number of things that sort of sound profound, if you're easily fooled

What do you do when you, the dutiful copy editor, is are forced to adhere to an in-house style that flies in the face of the rules of grammar you hold in such high esteem? You blog about it. more ›

It's been a busy year in the world of D.C. media. People have come and gone, newspapers have struggled to salvage their readership, and blogs are more the rage than ever. Blogging's the New Black Everyone's blogging these days, and the D.C. media is no exception. The Post led the charge in 2006, throwing blogs at every issue that came its way -- 29 to date. While some have received rave reviews -- the D.C.... more ›

Waiting for a bus to NYC at 6th & Eye: more ›

The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one. -Bostonist discussed two big state issues-- what sort of math constitutes a marriage and what kind of alcohol can be sold in most grocery stores. And the politically minded Curt Schilling went on "Jeopardy!". -Chicagoist celebrated the election news... more ›

Among local journalists, no one had the blogosphere reaching for their sarcasm tags like the Washington Post's Laura Sessions Stepp. You may remember the apex of her collected letters from last May, when the Style Section editor condemned numerous column inches to death by publishing her infamous "wingman" article. The article, deemed by Rusty at Why.I.Hate.DC to be "The Most Asinine Article" ever, casts Stepp as an odd amalgam of The Glass Menagerie's Amanda Wingfield and Heinlein's Valentine Michael Smith--a sort of hyper-prudish, endlessly fascinated alien being struggling to grok Earthly mating practices that the rest of us pinks figured out two decades ago. A brief perusal of her past works confirms her presence on our planet since at least 1999. more ›

By DCist Contributor Morgan Hungerford. DC is not a city of sample sales and trunk shows, so when we have one fashion-related event worthy of attendance it is Very Exciting; when we have two it is a Big Deal. And three? Well, you lucky, things, let’s just say you’d better take advantage. Tonight is the Third Thursday MidCity Shopper Social; shop the U Street Corridor and 14th Street for special deals at Junction. Wild Women... more ›

Ouch. For anyone who recently moved into one of the many apartment buildings rising along Massachusetts Avenue between Mt. Vernon Square and Chinatown and read the Post yesterday, it may have been a bit of a shock to find the city's newspaper of record heaping criticism on the developments. In an article gracing the front page of the Style section and titled "The Mediocre Mile," Post writer Philip Kennicott left little debate over what he... more ›

How can it be Labor Day already? That’s the question we ask ourselves when the end of August comes into view and we know we have one last hot date with the grill before we need to bring along a sweater. Here is a Labor Day menu to celebrate American workers that should earn you some extra time off and won’t leave you exhausted. Beer Can Chicken with Hot Pumpkin Seed Rub Roasted Asparagus and... more ›

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on... more ›

FRIDAY: >>Today is Bastille Day, which commemorates the Fête de la Fédération of 1790, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille July 14th, 1789 — basically it's all about sticking it to the man and rising up as a French nation. But as all noble foreign holidays seem to be celebrated in America, we've turned it into an excuse to eat and drink too much. Last year we put together a... more ›

Yesterday, we received an e-mail that nearly fell to its death in the spam filter. Hidden among Nigerian flim-flam scams, phishing attempts, and advertisements for products purporting to be able to enlarge our manhood (this morning's: "Does 8 incches enough 4 U?") was a message advising us that DC Style magazine seemed to be holding a "10 Hottest Chefs in DC" competition. more ›

It’s no surprise that "A Bud for the Ladies" is one of the most emailed articles of the day on the Post's website. Younger readers in particular must be sending it to each other asking why, if wingmen have been around so long, its worthy of such a lengthy feature today. Maybe it’s simply to point out that once this year’s college graduates start work and join the real world, "They may actually have... more ›

By DCist contributor Ari Charney more ›

In this election year, there are legions of political analysts, consultants and pollsters desperate to find the key to winning their respective races. Is it substance? Style? Money? Patronage? Or might it be something much more simple than that? One resident thinks they've got it. As submitted to D.C. Appleseed's "Solving District Problems" online initiative: more ›

Christmas and Hanukkah both drop on 12/25 this year, and as we get closer to that date, retailers of fine books begin to put their energy behind that last big sales push of the year. This means a dearth of author events until we clear Epiphany. All the same, we got the hook-up with what’s out there. MONDAY There are those that say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Yet most of the people... more ›

While we continue to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster that just over a week ago brought untold death and destruction to New Orleans and other cities and town along the Gulf Coast, we are similarly overwhelmed by the generosity of Americans and the international community alike. Individuals, groups, and organizations have led the charge in the Washington metropolitan area with a variety of fundraisers, more of which we feature here: -- Head... more ›