Washington, DC

Photo of the Day: Day 46

Early Flying Machine, Udvar Hazy Center, July 2007
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo, especially including location of photo when it is not obvious.

Photo of Day Beginning Post and Explanation
Udvar Hazy Aviation Hanger

photo, Udvar Hazy Center, D.C.

This morning I hopped on the Metro and as soon as I exited from the Smithsonian Metro stop around 9:40am I found myself amidst the Festival with volunteers already handing out programs. I got one of the free yellow National Book Festival bags and headed to the Pavilion of States. There I got what they call a Passport, which is a fold out map of the United States. I went around to all the state’s and U.S. territories’ booths collecting the stamps. All the booths also had free stuff including bookmarks, pencils, travel brochures, book lists, and more. One booth even had free shells (I think they are fake, but they are definitely cool) and I got a much needed ruler from the Pennsylvania booth. I was also happy to find a luggage tag at the U.S. Virgin Islands booth, as I seem to have run out of all the ones I used to have for my luggage. Continue reading for more on the National Book Festival and photos. (more…)

Photo of the Day: Day 45

War Plane, Udvar Hazy Center, July 2007
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo, especially including location of photo when it is not obvious.

Photo of Day Beginning Post and Explanation
Udvar Hazy Aviation Hanger

photo, Udvar Hazy Center, D.C.

Today is Cathedral Day at the Washington National Cathedral to celebrate its 100th birthday, so if the National Book Festival is not your kind of thing to do today, then perhaps you may want to check out this celebration. The main event of the Cathedral Day celebrations is the Birthday Cake at 2:15pm. There will be special demonstrations throughout the day that goes from 10am to 5pm. These demonstrations include brass polishing and stained glass artisans. At noon there is a reenactment of the laying of the foundation stone called “A journey back in time…1907.” Starting at 8:30am tickets go on sale to climb the Central Tower for time slots between 9am and 3:30pm. All day there you can do the Triforium visit to see stained glass up close. Check out this link for a full list of the special tours going on today. The Centennial Evening Prayer will be held at 4:30pm. Of course, there will also be food here from places like Robek’s, Armand’s Pizza, and Asian Grille. There is also music throughout the day from a variety of bands including the U.S. Marine Band.

National Cathedral, 100th birthday, D.C.

My topic for my main posts next week is movies based in the D.C. area. Posts will be about different movies that have featured at least some of their scenes in D.C. such as Independence Day, Legally Blonde 2, and the upcoming movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

If there is a weekly topic you would like me to blog about, then please leave a comment on this post to make your suggestion. Even if your suggestion might not make a whole week topic, I may be able to find a way to incorporate it as an entry in a larger weekly theme.

d.c., theme, movies

Photo of the Day: Day 44

War Plane, Udvar Hazy Center, July 2007
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo, especially including location of photo when it is not obvious.

Photo of Day Beginning Post and Explanation
Udvar Hazy Aviation Hanger

photo, Udvar Hazy Center, D.C.

The West Wing first aired on NBC in 1999 and ran for seven seasons until its series finale on May 14, 2006. This show was mostly based in the West Wing of the White House, which features the Oval Office and the offices for the senior staffers, who play roles as the main characters besides the president. It won 26 Emmys overall, which makes it tied with only one other show for the most Emmys won by a television drama series. Throughout the series the shows tie together to follow the Barlet administration from the middle of its first year, the race for re-election, and the election for the next President, which is where the series ends. This is probably one of the most successful D.C. based shows ever that was really based in D.C. and although it was criticized as Left Wing it did not face the problems that the female president series faced, so probably why it lasted so long.

I believe this show still has repeats being played on Bravo. DVDs of all seven of the seasons have been released already.

West Wing, president, D.C., tv shows

7th Annual National Book Festival: I have been waiting for this event since I got the poster for it back on July 5th. That was before I knew for sure I was going to be living in D.C. and I did not know if it was even possible for me to go to this. Well, it is almost here and I most definitely going to make my best effort to get to this event and hopefully that will also mean a special post of my experience and photos from the fair this weekend. The event is being held on the Mall. It goes from 10am until 5pm on Saturday. There will be 70 authors here with book signings, talks, books for sale, activities for kids, and more. Some of the authors include Mercer Mayer (Little Critter Series), Patricia Shultz (1,000 Places to See Before You Die), and Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted).

Crystal City Uncorked: A festival with food, wine, and jazz in Crystal City area of Arlington. Admission is $10, which includes wine sips, food tastes, music & commemorative wine glass.
Designated drivers and kids are FREE

Space Battle the Musical: Maybe an interesting thing to check out at the District of Columbia Arts Center. The description given on the Center’s website is “Not to be confused with “Star Wars: The Musical” Space Battle tells the musical tale of a young man’s journey to defeat an evil empire in a distant galaxy.” It is at 10pm on Friday and Saturday. Price is $5 obligatory donation with $10 being the suggested donation.

These are just few events this weekend. If you have any that you know about in the D.C. area this weekend that you would like to share, then please let us know in a comment to this post.

d.c., weekend, redskins, nationals

Photo of the Day: Day 43

Plane, Udvar Hazy Center, July 2007
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo.

Photo of Day Beginning Post and Explanation
Udvar Hazy Aviation Hanger

photo, Udvar Hazy Center, D.C.

Commander in Chief first aired on September 27, 2005, on ABC. There were only 18 episodes in the series before it last aired on June 14, 2006. It even won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Drama, but it still got canceled. The show started with Mackenzie Allen becoming the first female president despite the president not wanting her as vice president to succeed him when he was on his deathbed. The show then follows through her administration, her husband trying to figure out the role of First Husband, and the tension with the Speaker of the House, who was the one the president wanted to take his place by having Allen resign instead of taking the oath of office. The show was #1 in its Tuesday time slot until American Idol began its season. It was also the #1 new show for a while until Criminal Minds overtook that spot. Basically I thought it was a good show it was doing very well and why it was canceled makes no sense. Part of its downfall was it being moved to Thursdays nights to compete with ER and Without a Trace and thus getting lower ratings, but the best reason seems that there was a lot of controversy surrounding about how the show was too focused on her gender, was left-wing, etc.

The 1985 Hail to the Chief tv series of similar plot line with a female president also faced cancellation for no apparent reason only lasting a few months.

DVDs have been released of all the episodes, though, so they can be enjoyed by those who missed it when it was on. The season is split into Commander In Chief - The Inaugural Edition, Part 1 (Episodes 1-10) and Commander in Chief - The Inaugural Edition, Part 2 (Episodes 11-18).

Commander in Chief, female president, tv shows, D.C.

The Legacy: Spain and the United States in the Age of Independence, 1763-1848 exhibit opens at the National Portrait Gallery tomorrow September 27. It will be on display until February 10 of next year. This exhibit features about 70 paintings that represent Spain’s role in America’s War of Independence. The time period relates to the period from the Treaty of Paris 1763 through the Treaty that ended the Mexican American War in 1848. The exhibit relates to this time period by displaying painting of many of the key figures during this time such as King Carlos III and George Washington as well as Davy Crockett.

portraits, gallery, Smithsonian, D.C.

Photo of the Day: Day 42

Yellow Plane, Udvar Hazy Center, July 2007
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo.

Photo of Day Beginning Post and Explanation
Udvar Hazy Aviation Hanger

photo, Udvar Hazy Center, D.C.

Criminal Minds first aired on September 22, 2005. The show revolves around a team of FBI Behavioral Analyst profilers and the cases the work on solving and capturing the criminal by focusing on the criminal more than on the crime. The show is set in many different places, but the FBI Behavioral Analyst Unit is based in the D.C. area in Quantico, Virginia. There are always at least a few scenes with them being at their offices in Quantico, especially with Garcia who usually (if not always) stays behind there and helps with the technology aspects of finding the criminals and their background. I do like watching this show, but I sometimes feel that too much is on the particular episodes plot and the recurring characters themselves are not really develop or continue to develop. Anyways this characteristic also makes it relatively easy to miss an episode and not be lost in the plot line when the next episode comes on. I will also admit each plot is well done and stand alone very well. It is just the connecting them as a series that while it goes smoothly you can miss several particular episodes and still know all the recurring character’s development.

The show will premiere the first episode of its Third Season tonight on CBS, so be sure to tune in for the one of the last episodes with Gideon, who is my favorite character besides Garcia.

If you have missed Season 1 and/or Season 2 or you really love the show, then you can get both Seasons on DVD. Criminal Minds - The First Season is already out and Criminal Minds - The Second Season is coming out next week on October 2.

Criminal Minds, Quantico, D.C., tv shows

JAG is mostly based in the D.C. area with their headquarters at Quantico, although there are several episodes based elsewhere. The series first aired on September 23, 1995, on NBC. It had low ratings and NBC canceled the show in May 1996, but the show was picked up by CBS and began airing on CBS on January 3, 1997. That is were it proved itself as a successful show and went on to have new episodes until it was last aired on April 29, 2005. The show is based on the what goes on at the Judge Advocates General headquarters and also follows the personal lives of the main characters. The show focuses mostly on the courtroom aspect of Navy military cases, but there is also episodes of adventures of the characters away from the court room or stationed on ships. The current show NCIS introduced its characters in a two-part episode of JAG in 2003.

Repeats of JAG still regularly can be seen on USA Network. JAG (Judge Advocate General) - The Complete First Season, JAG (Judge Advocate General) - The Complete Second Season, JAG (Judge Advocate General) - The Third Season, and JAG (Judge Advocate General) - The Fourth Season have already been released on DVD.

tv shows, JAG, D.C.

Photo of the Day: Day 41

Missile Models, Udvar Hazy Center, July 2007
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo.

Photo of Day Beginning Post and Explanation
Udvar Hazy Space Hanger

photo, Udvar Hazy Center, D.C.