This week, the Washington Post released its iPad application. DCist reviewed the application and found it to be less than impressive. However, my favorite part of the iPad app was the video the Post produced to promote it: featuring a confused Bob Woodward learning, from Ben Bradlee of all people, about the basics of using an iPad and its connection to social media. Gawker called the video out as a bizarre way to advertise…

Which D.C. politicians are using social media to the benefit of their campaigns — and who just doesn’t have a clue?

John G. Hanhardt has been working as a consulting curator on film and media at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). He’s had an influential career as one of the pioneering curators of media art in North America, helping shape the way museums look at and receive new media within their galleries and collections — all stemming from his perspective of film’s influence on art and culture in the 20th Century. Hanhardt grew up in…

This city has always produced fine jazz musicians, but the scene has had its ups and downs. In the 1990s, D.C.’s jazz landscape was very different. This was a time before the resurgence of U Street and Adams Morgan as centers for live music, and it also seemed as though there was a dearth of young talent in the city. While top notch national acts always came to the Kennedy Center and Blues Alley,…

Five years ago, Carol Trawick began funding the highest paying art competition in the area at the time. The Trawick Prize, held at Creative Partners, was open to artists working in all media, with the high cash prizes often won by new media artists working in video, digital technologies and installation. Encouraged by Fraser Gallery owner Catriona Fraser, Trawick began a similar competition open only to painters three years ago: the Bethesda Painting Award. The…

With so many large cities boasting their own international fine art shows and biennials, isn’t it high time that the nation’s capital got a piece of that action? Finally, it looks like we have a major fine art show of our very own. You might have already heard the buzz about artDC, but now it’s time to start marking your calendars. The fair’s organizers have announced that the show will be held next April 27-30…

The new gallery season celebrations continue tomorrow, with openings galore. If you can’t make the parties at night, take a Saturday afternoon stroll and check out the shows that opened last week. Friday >> Lycra’s not just for undergarments anymore — now it’s art! Visit Project 4 and see how Alex Gutierrez turns ass-molding spandex into a site-specific installation that is “a sort of ‘bodyscape’ architecture … that is both prison-like and protective.” Who doesn’t…

With so many art galleries featuring recent graduate shows, we couldn’t resist scouring the walls for a few of our choice picks. Today we begin a brief series featuring local artists who look prepared to make some strong waves in the art world. Growing up in Annapolis, Maryland, Brian Twilley was always pulled towards the visual arts and, particularly, photography. “Miserable” as a business major, he quickly switched to fine arts and never looked back….

In more news involving emails sent our way by faithful DCist readers, today we find that the students and faculty at George Mason University’s History Department are looking to document their university’s surprising run through the NCAA tournament in what they are calling the George Mason Basketball Digital Memory Bank: Please visit http://hoops.gmu.edu and tell us your experience, or send us your picture, about George Mason University’s unbelievable run in basketball. Be a part of…

Good morning, Washington. We hope your commute your commute to work yesterday was better than ours. We ran into snarled traffic in two different locations thanks to newspaper machines that had been blown into the street. Chalk another one up for the new media: we may not have sources, offices or salaries, but we’re indisputably less susceptible to wind. Today looks to be about as cold and blustery as Thursday was — WAMU says…