WEDNESDAY: It has actually been a year since the day Barack Obama was elected president. We can't believe it either. Where are the flying cars? Where are the jetpacks? We were promised fingerpainting!
Anyway, a panel of experts, including White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and journalist Chuck Todd, will offer their insight into the changes of the past year tonight.
» National Museum of American History, Baird Auditorium, 10th St. and Constitution Ave. NW; Wed., Nov. 4, 6:45 p.m., $40; 202-633-3030. (Smithsonian)
Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
THURSDAY: The Freer Gallery hosts a screening of Chinese artist Sun Xun's video works, followed by a conversation with the artist, who will discuss the videos and his creative process. Xun combines China's past and present in his complex, evocative works, which are put together from various sources, drawn or painted and then filmed.
» Freer Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW; Thu., Oct. 29, 7 p.m., free; 202-633-1000, Asia.si.edu. (Smithsonian)
Photo courtesy the Freer Gallery
THE FREER GALLERY'S Meyer Auditorium hosts the mini film festival Bringing the World Home: The Global Film Initiative, beginning on Friday and running through Nov. 8.
The first presentation is the visually dazzling "Opera Jawa" at 7 p.m. on Friday; it's an adaptation of a story from the Hindu saga "The Ramayana" set in lush Indonesia. On Sunday, the down-to-earth Filipino film "The Bet Collector" screens at 2 p.m.
» Freer Gallery, 1050 Jefferson St. SW; opens Fri., Oct. 23, through Nov. 8, free tickets distributed one hour before showtime; tickets can be reserved for a cost at Ticketmaster, 800-551-7328. (Smithsonian)
"Opera Jawa" image courtesy the Freer Gallery
THE NATIONAL MALL has become a neighborhood of futuristic houses, at least for this weekend. It's playing host to the Solar Decathlon, in which 20 university teams from around the world bring solar-powered houses to the Mall to be judged.
Teams spend two years designing and building their structures. The Department of Energy gives research grants to the top 20 teams, which then compete (this weekend concludes the judging) in 10 categories including architecture, market viability, energy use and comfort level.
Real inventions and innovations come out of the contest. This year, Team Ontario is patenting an aluminum frame that holds up three layers of glass that conduct sunlight. Team California uses bamboo to make I-beam support posts for its house.
Continue Reading "The Mall Lets the Light In: Solar Decathlon" »
WEDNESDAY: This year, the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, is worth celebrating — and no one does that with more joy and more internal rhyme than Richard Milner.
His one-man show, "Charles Darwin: Live at the Smithsonian," brings the hero behind modern thought to singing, dancing life. Milner, a latter-day Tom Lehrer, certainly puts the fun in "fundamental theories of science."
» National Museum of Natural History, Baird Auditorium, 10th & Constitution Ave. NW; Wed., Oct. 7, 7 p.m., $23; 202-633-3030, Residentassociates.org. (Smithsonian)
Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
SATURDAY: Whether you love books or just want to see Michelle Obama's sculpted arms in person, the ninth National Book Festival, hosted by the president and first lady, is the place to be this weekend.
Authors from all over the country will descend upon the National Mall on Saturday, reading and signing their works. Headliners include John Grisham, Junot Diaz and Judy Blume, but don't miss out on Douglas Brinkley, who once taught an art class on a bus tour of the U.S., or America's number one butter-lover, Paula Deen, who will be lending a bit of Southern charm (and a few thousand calories) to the Teens and Children Pavilion as well.
If you can't make it out to the Mall or just want to avoid the crowds, the Library of Congress will be posting live podcasts of the event on its Web site.
» National Mall, Sat., Sept. 26, 10 a.m., free; 888-714-4696. (Smithsonian)
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post
BIBLIOPHILES SHOULD HEAD down to the National Mall on Saturday for the ninth annual National Book Festival, which is bringing dozens of notable authors to D.C. From cookbook author and Food Network chef Paula Deen to novelist John Irving, readers of all ilks and tastes can find something to flip through at this year's festival.
While the format doesn't chang much from year to year, this year the festival is going high-tech — the Library of Congress will be disseminating information through Twitter and Facebook. If you follow the Library on Twitter, you can get day-of updates, or else join the Library's Facebook page. And you can also head over the festival's Web site, where you can find podcasts with interviews with festival authors.
Continue Reading "Read All About It: National Book Festival" »
MONDAY: If you've never read a book by Joyce Carol Oates, you're probably either deliberately avoiding her or you've been living in a cave. Welcome to the world; here's a copy of "We Were the Mulvaneys." Oates is justifiably one of America's most acclaimed living authors — her prose is reminiscent of Sylvia Plath, if Sylvia had more guts — and she'll be speaking at the Freer Gallery tonight.
» Freer Gallery Meyer Auditorium, 1200 Jefferson Drive SW; 7 p.m, $25; 202-633-3030. (Smithsonian)
Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post
AUTUMN IS THE SEASON for literary blockbusters, when publishers haul out the biggest authors — and sometimes their weightiest tomes — for readers who left their thrillers and romances on the beach. This year is no different, and, locally, autumn means big events that are musts for bookhounds.
HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT. Sou'Wester, the Mandarin Oriental's latest restaurant concept, blows into town this month featuring -- besides breathtaking views of the Potomac -- American eats with a Southern spin. Bask in the wind while gobbling up traditional as well as interpretive takes on classics such as fried chicken and coleslaw or hush puppies with honey butter.
The Southern sweet tooth won't be left behind -- fried apple pie and carrot cake fill out the menu.
» Sou'Wester, 1330 Maryland Ave. SW; 202-787-6868, madarinoriental.com. (Smithsonian)
Photo of sauteed perch with Old Bay chowder courtesy Sou'Wester
Addison Road