Day 363/365 - I Feel Like Bustin' Loose...

...bustin' loose. Gimme the beat y'all!

This statue by Michael Lantz is entitled "Man Controlling Trade." It was sculpted in 1942 and, along with its twin, it bookends two sides of the headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC. But to me, as I near the completion of my 365 project, this statue instead brings to mind a song by another Washington institution -- the Godfather of Go-Go, the Dean of the DC Music Scene, Mr. Chuck Brown!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 318/365 - Hammering

It was raining again at Nationals Park tonight. The Nats aren't going to set a record for losses this year (thank heavens), but it's starting to look like they may set a record for rain delays. If it weren't a bobblehead night, I probably would've just stayed home.

It was though, so I ventured over to the ballpark, picked up my Frank Howard bobblehead, bought a Jesus Flores t-shirt from the team store, had a beer and an order of chili cheese fries to counteract the salad and diet Snapple I had for lunch, and then gave up and came home.

It was raining when I left the ballpark and still raining when I got home. Hang on, let me check and see if they've gotten around to starting the game yet...

Yikes! It's the second inning and Milwaukee is ahead 7-0. So much for turning on the tv to watch the game. I originally intended for the title of this post to be a bit of a play on both the rain coming down and the blistering Frank Howard's statue at Nats Park is giving the ball in the photo above. Now I guess it's also a reference to what's happening to the Nats on the field. Bummer.

I'm not really sold on this statue or its two brethren (Walter Johnson and Josh Gibson), btw. They're all done with the same "motion tracking" style. Big Frank's statue is supposed to capture his swing and give a sense of energy to what is typically a very static art form. It's a good concept and all, but it really just makes him look like the six-armed bastard child of a Hindu deity with seaweed clinging to his bat.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 285/365 - Nerdvana

This is one of the bronze lion statues flanking the entrance to the Corcoran Museum in Washington, DC. Given the look of wide-eyed wonder on his face, he seemed the perfect subject for today's shot. Tonight I attended a rather interesting lecture about Howard Carter, the discoverer of King Tut's Tomb, at the Corcoran. It was delivered by an author who had recently written a biography of Carter tracing his life from his childhood as the poor grandson of a gamekeeper who drew portraits of people's pets for money, to his becoming the most famous archaeologist of all time and a man who charged $10,000 per speaking engagement.

As tonight's outing goes to show, yet another of the innumerable advantages of living/working in the DC area is the fact that, if you were so inclined, you could attend a lecture or presentation every night of the week and twice on Sunday. There are lectures on art, science, history, books, politics, music, and a thousand other things. They are held at museums, galleries, coffee shops, bookstores, offices, and an endless stream of other locales. No subject is too esoteric, no topic too wonkish, and no theory too farfetched. It's like geek heaven (or maybe given that most lectures cost to attend, Disneyland for dorks).

The statement that "DC is like Hollywood for ugly people" gets thrown around ad nauseum, but I think it might be more accurate to say that Hollywood is like DC for dumb people.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 217/365 - Next?

Bad day for DC's sports teams. The Caps got knocked out of the NHL playoffs in a blowout loss to the Penguins and Nationals' third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's 30-game hitting streak came to an end in San Francisco. Oh well, at least the Nats won for a change.

This is one of the statues in the sculpture garden at the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art in Washington, DC. I stopped by there today during my lunch time walkabout. This piece is called "After Balzac" and it's by a woman who's name I can't recall.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Scarlet Woman

This week's bonus photo from my archives is a shot I took of a statue of Eve at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. I love that the walls in this room are red.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)