This is the true story...

To find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real.

putting the weekend to bed

if you ever find yourself in the Columbia Heights (or its red-headed [and thus hotter] stepsister, Mount Pleasant) area, may i heartily recommend my new favorite dive bar, The Raven, at 3125 Mt. Pleasant St.? tonight was our first foray there, but between cheap beer, a big screen showing the Giants-Steelers game, a BYO food policy, and a jukebox featuring (among others) Patsy Cline, The Cure, the Rushmore soundtrack, and plenty of Dylan (not to mention, was that a Scrabble board i saw on the back shelf?), i'm borderline convinced we've got a new haunt for the winter...

Santana Moss is a certified balla, but i probably didn't need to tell you that. even if Billick can't pronounce his first name to save his life. by the way, between that and Pam Oliver hoping that her crazy-ass jacket would distract people from the fact that she couldn't remember half of what she had talked to Tom Coughlin about 30 seconds earlier, someone needs to call Rupert Murdoch and remind him we have a financial crisis going on, and cutbacks have to start somewhere...

oh, and fyi, in case you needed more proof that every cute guy you've ever met in DC is probably not as interested in you as he is in the guy next to you, Andrew Sullivan has taken the liberty of confirming your fears. (note to Danielle: don't read this.) in a totally unrelated note, the Dupont drag race is this Tuesday!...

lastly, before this blogger (ha!) calls it quits for the weekend, i just started reading Steven Pinker's latest, The Stuff of Thought (excerpt from the book on the New Republic site here.) i bought it the same way i bought the last ten books i've read, which is to say i get sucked into the culture nexus that is Politics & Prose and then spit back out 20 minutes later and 50 dollars poorer. anyway, i'm only 12 pages in, but so far, i'm a fan....

ok, happy end of the weekend! t-minus five days to Halloween, start teasing your Sarah Palin wigs now!

five things i can't get enough of right now

1. Michael Lewis. it's been a while since i read Moneyball and The Blind Side, but his commentary on Bloomberg a couple days ago reminded me of how great he is.

2. Taqueria Distrito Federal. so good and so cheap, in the Central American "tres tacos" tradition. once the market bounces back (any day now!), i'm cashing in my 401k, franchising one of these babies at 18th and Columbia, keeping it open until 4am, and laughing as Julia goes down in flames. for now though, it's a Co. Heights/Petworth hidden gem.

3. ATTEND at the Kennedy Center. if you're under 25, this program is pretty fly. we saw Ivan Fischer conduct the NSO featuring Steven Isserlis in a Haydn cello concerto on Friday, second row orchestra seats for ten bucks. hard to beat. Frost/Nixon in two weeks should be good, too. pre-gaming the Kennedy Center is the new pre-gaming crappy frat parties, and the chances of ending the event with the walk of shame are much lower (no guarantees.)

4. the Washington Redskins coaching staff. instant Halloween costume: speed skates, a coyote fur jacket, an unlined baby face, and a general air of Buddha-like enlightenment. alternately, if you're too low on funds to buy a viola, brush up on your ability to make trenchant metaphors about pregnancy, old cars, fine wines, and urination and go as Greg Blache. this Halloween, be the change you wish to see in your Washington Redskins.

5. IZZEesque. i just had one of these at the Whole Foods in Tenleytown and it was balla. it tastes like the regular Izze and it manages to be low cal whilst also (probably) not giving you cancer (read: no aspartame).