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ONGOING: We think of noir as an American art form, like jazz or the Broadway musical or making truly great hot dogs. But in fact, the Brits — well, we won't say they've surpassed us. There's no British Humphrey Bogart. But you can see various sterling examples of the genre produced across the pond at AFI for the next couple of weeks.
» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through April 1; 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy AFI
1) Lips Serviced
Winter weather might finally be — fingers crossed! — in the rearview mirror. But we're still suffering the beauty roadblocks of the interminably cold season. Itchy skin. Dry hair. And, please, do not call attention to our cracked, chapped lips. Enter Shiseido's new Perfect Rouge lipstick collection ($25, department stores), which boasts a light-yet-moisturizing formula that feels as pucker-replenishing as ChapStick but — in a range of 20 rich, perfect-for-spring shades — slides on much, much prettier.
2) Dude, Step it Up
Baggy suits, blousy button-downs and mile-wide power ties came under attack in fashion expert Tom Julian's first book with Nordstrom on men's style, out last year. Now, Julian takes on puffy khakis, fraying fleeces and other out-of-date casual wear in the "Nordstrom Guide to Men's Everyday Dressing" ($18, Chronicle Books), out Saturday in Nordstrom stores and online. The savvy handbook offers stylish-but-wearable ideas — like classic-cool penny loafers, a vast improvement from the holey sneaks you've been sporting since college.
SURE, THE FRENCH love Jerry Lewis, but for homegrown physical comedy, they turn to actor/director Jacques Tati's signature character, Monsieur Hulot. The symbol of French provincialism clumsily navigates encroaching modernity in the AFI Silver's contributions to the Environmental Film Festival.
The opening credits to Tati's Oscar-winning masterpiece "Mon Oncle" (1958) are first overlaid on an ugly urban construction site, then quickly shift to Hulot's gorgeously rendered small town of cafes, outdoor markets and kids who make adults bump into lampposts. (Trust us, it's really funny.)
SATURDAY: Since the universe is speeding up — seriously, they have wireless on planes now — theater has to speed with it. Play In a Day has six local theater companies (including Keegan Theater, pictured above) each writing, casting and rehearsing a 10-minute play in the space of 24 hours.
You can see the fruits of their labors Saturday night at Imagination Stage, but don't bring the kids. Actors are a foul-mouthed bunch when they're in a rush.
» Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Avenue, Bethesda; Sat., March 20, 8 p.m., $15; 301-215-6660. (Bethesda)
SATURDAY: You may not have seen the Atlas Obscura yet, but soon it'll be your new worktime procrastinating tool. This online database collects information on bizarre landmarks throughout the world — and now they're getting into the community feeling with a worldwide Obscura Day.
D.C. and Baltimore have both organized expeditions to strange museums — the D.C. contingent will visit the National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed — so check those out to hang out with your fellow oddities enthusiasts.
» Various locations; Sat., March 20; Atlasobscura.com/obscura-day.
Photo courtesy National Museum of Health and Medicine
WHEN SOMEONE COMPLAINS a music style is dead, it's more a comment on how that person engages with the genre rather than an impartial diagnosis. Said person likely just stopped caring about hearing bands that sound like, say, The Velvet Underground, even though it was once thrilling to listen to groups in that psychedelic-garage-rock lineage.
But like the blues or folk, garage rock is eternal, and music doesn't need to be "new" to be "good." A scene can be recharged simply through an influx of fresh listeners not yet saturated by a particular sound.
So, while there's nothing new about the two young bands playing Quarry House on March 23, each breathes enough poisonous snarl into the garage-rock genre that you'll want to huff their fumes in this Silver Spring basement bar.
Norway's Pirate Love is named after the Johnny Thunders jam, and the group evokes The Cramps filtered through Jesus and Mary Chain. England's Thee Vicars is a similarly crunchy quartet that sounds like early Who mixed with late-'70s British punk.
Because no matter their age — or yours — gutbucket chord changes, smashmouth rhythms and unhinged ferocity just don't get old.
Listen to Pirate Love and Thee Vicars after the jump.
» The Quarry House Tavern, 8401 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, Md.; Tue, March 23, 8 p.m.; 301-587-8350 (Silver Spring)
Continue Reading "Forever Young: Pirate Love & Thee Vicars Mine New Nuggets" »
EVERYWHERE YOU TURN, there's a college basketball expert saying there's no powerhouse in this year's NCAA tournament.
The field, they say, is wide open.
I'd agree with them except for the small detail that their whole argument is madness.
Let's start with Kansas. The Jayhawks have been atop the Associated Press poll for the bulk of the season. They've lost only two games and beaten one of this year's No. 2 seeds — Kansas State — three times. If that's not a powerhouse, what is?
Continue Reading "Jayhawks Should Rock in Big Dance: NCAA Tournament Picks" »
ONGOING: Though period diaries and oh, let's see, LINCOLN'S SPEECHES, explain and describe the Civil War in exhaustive detail, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is filling a different niche. "The Unwritten War" is a collection of Civil War photos and artifacts — representations that require no reading at all.
» Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown City Parks, Hagerstown; through March 21, free; 301-739-5727.
SPRING CLEANING SEEMS like a cause championed by June Cleaver throwbacks and the makers of Borax. Yet many modern folks refuse to chuck the concept in the dust bin, even though the original reasons for warm-weather scouring frenzies — the grime left behind by coal-burning stoves and kerosene lamps — died around the time Queen Victoria did.
"We see an uptick in requests for deep cleaning during the spring — especially after such a harsh winter," says Mia Gallina, owner of Arlington's the Green Mop. Type A's who prefer to do their own dirty work find advice at Housekeepingchannel.com, which reports its heaviest traffic in March, April and May.
"I love the idea of a cleaning that is beyond everyday dusting," says Laura Heinle, 44, a mom of two in Silver Spring. "There are so many parts of the house that you can ignore." With mildewed grout, dusty fan blades and crumby cabinets all vying for attention, some wonder whether it's worth starting something they can't finish. "I like the idea of spring cleaning," echoes Laura Nelms, 36, an environmental consultant on Capitol Hill. "But ... I know I'd be doing it by myself. And cleaning, in general, is not something I like to spend a lot of time on."
Experts seem to unanimously agree that baby steps are best when it comes to tackling your own dust heap. Too bad most checklists seem so all-encompassing. "Really, I'm going to flush out the water heater every spring?" scoffs Erin Rooney Doland, the Reston-based author of "Unclutter Your Life in One Week" ($15, Simon & Schuster) and editor of the popular blog Unclutterer.com.
Instead of taking an A-to-Z approach (arrange stacks of magazines, zap shower mold), chip away at the following chores to make the maximum visual impact. Because who notices the sediment in the water heater, anyway?
Continue Reading "The Clean Season: Spring Cleaning Solutions" »
AS PART OF "Taiwan to the World" documentary series, the Asia Society presents "Kungfu Secrets." A chronicle of a struggling tradition's attempt to evolve in a ever-changing world, the film traces the development of kung fu in Taiwan. Following three contemporary kung fu masters, the story maps their individual struggles to adapt their particular form of martial arts to modern Taiwan. Master Wang Jin Fa is head of the last secret chapter of the Hong Men society. His story and the stories of two young women in search of Taiwanese Olympic glory interweave to tell the tale of kung fu's glorious but hush-hush existence.
» 1957 E St. NW; Thu., 6:30-8:30 p.m., $15; 202-833-2742, asiasociety.org/centers/washington-dc. (Foggy Bottom-GWU)
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