DC Cherry Blossoms Festival 100 Year Anniversary

One of my favorite parts of living in a D.C. suburb is when April comes around and it's time for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. This year it was a particularly big deal as it marked the 100th year of the festival.  It was also a big deal because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go, and I haven't missed a Cherry Blossom Festival in years; my husband and I make it our business to go every year together.  My new job at an accounting firm requires me to work on Saturdays during tax season and his new job requires him to work on Sundays, so our chances were looking bleak... but fate intervened and I ended up having a surprise Saturday off (Yay people unexpectedly filing for extensions and lightening my weekend workload!).

Sadly we missed the peak cherry blossom weekend and most of the blossoms had blown away, but there is always a tree in bloom somewhere - and plenty of people congregating around the one and only tree blooming next to the tidal basin.

If you walked a little further away from the tidal basin it was possible to find more trees, although the FDR Memorial (which can usually be relied on to have blossoms long after the wind has swept the tidal basin clean) was also sadly sparse.  Still, we managed to find a small grove and snap some pictures.

It was also a perfect day for kite-flying, which was fortunate for the Kite Festival that was going on that day next to the Washington Monument.

This year, with the actual blossoms being so sparse, I ended up people watching more than anything, and what I saw made me really happy. Sometimes, reading and watching the news, especially in the aftermath of Treyvan Martin and with all of the political in-fighting going on and Rick Santorum calling Obama a "Nigg-" before he caught himself, it's easy to think about how awful people can be and how different we all are and how can we possibly get along as one country?  Then I sat and people watched at the Cherry Blossoms Festival and I came away feeling a whole let better about the state of things.

There were so many different kinds of people, speaking different languages, wearing different styles, coming from different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and walks of life, and yet we were all drawn together to see a thing of beauty.  It wasn't just people from the D.C. city and suburbs, citizens from all over the nation travel to the festival every year, and this year in particular. We were all there, together, and everyone was more than just respectful of their fellow-festival goers, they were helpful. Everywhere you could see people pausing in their walks so that they didn't interrupt a stranger's picture, or even accepting a request to take a picture of a stranger. Skin color didn't matter, no one asked if you were gay or straight, no one cared if you spoke perfect English or no English at all. Everyone was there together enjoying the beauty of the day, and it really hit me how absolutely wonderful that is.

#73 Attend a Live Comedy Show

I really lucked out for particular Day Zero Goal.  My friend Dru won free tickets for our group of friends to Baltimore's Comedy Factory... sure there's a two drink minimum, and the tickets were only $17, but I'll still take a free ticket over a $17 ticket any day!  Although it would have been worth the money, just FYI.

We had to get to the venue early to receive our free admission, but that turned out to work out in our favor because it's a seat yourself venue and we had a pretty big group.

We sat at those two long tables on the right hand side of the picture, right next to the stage. Because it's easiest to get made fun of if you're right next to the stage. =) The first performer, whom I'm guessing is a Comedy Factory mainstay / emcee kind of guy, had a couple conversations with us, mostly because when he asked who in the audience is married my husband and I were the only ones willing to raise our hands (although there were other married couples in the room).

The warm-up act, Alabama, had a fantastic time mocking one of our guys for his "Justin Timberlake" hat, and he particularly enjoyed another one of my friend's fantastically loud and expressive laugh.  She made a good counterpoint for another patron's laughter who was sitting opposite from us on the other side of the stage.

Alabama had us rolling. He spent most of his time interacting with the audience and kind of making things up as he went along, although he had a few observations / things to say that were obviously pre-planned - and absolutely hilarious.  While talking politics he mentioned President Obama and started talking about how cool and hip and good-looking Obama was when he was first elected. Then, Alabama went on to say, "I saw him on TV yesterday and I thought it was Morgan Freeman up there!"

Much hilarity ensued.

I was actually rather disappointed to realize that he wasn't the main act... that is until the main act got up there and started. Tony Woods was an absolute riot.

He had hilarious jokes, witty observations, and a fantastic feel for the audience. There was some interaction with the audience... he stuck with his spiel but had absolutely no trouble at all side-lining and changing things up in order to accommodate what was happening in the room. Granted, I was a few drinks in at this point, but I was also crying I was laughing so hard at some parts of his routine. His description of a bison - "I know what a bison is, it's a cow with an afro!" and his subsequent demonstration of how eating bison meat makes you feel, had us rolling.

I really hate going into Baltimore. I avoid it as much as possible. It's a bit of a drive, in addition to the fact that I find the streets hard to navigate. But it was well worth it for this. Comedy clubs are now high up on my list of things that are a lot of fun to do!

#72: Attend a professional live theater performance of a show I've never seen

This is not a show I was ever interested in seeing, to be perfectly honest. My husband has seen it and it's not one he was ever interested in seeing again. Both of us had an incredible time watching Olney Theater's production of it.

The show was fun, funny, nostalgic and heart-touching. It was like reading the comic strips all over again. Every scene was just another little comic strip vignette... was there a plot? I'm not sure. Obviously Charlie Brown was searching for something, a little light in his life, a little direction for himself, and I'm not sure if he ever found it, but I really enjoyed watching him and his friends just live out their daily lives.

The stage was a little sparse at times, but the acting was fantastic and the props, costumes and set all contributed to the comic-strip feel. My husband really enjoyed the production because this production made little modern day tweaks to the script which brought some of the most surprisingly and delightful moments to the stage - such as Snoopy and Sally's rabbit hunt where they suddenly broke out in Beyonce midway through.

I was also delighted to walk in and see someone I knew onstage... the incredibly talented Vishal as Shroeder, rocking out with amazing vocals as usual - and also fantastically obsessive about Beethoven.

My number one favorite character, however, was Sally. That is a ridiculously amazing part. And the actress was fantastic, great comedic timing and her squeaky yet growly voice cracked me up.

all in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable show, a great date night, and it made me want to get out and see more theater more often, especially at Olney where all the seats are close to the stage!

#70 AFI's Top 100 Movie List: #94 Goodfellas

"Goodfellas" is, predictably, about a group of guys who think of themselves as "good fellas," which, the main character explains in the movie means a "good fella to know."  Personally, after watching the movie I'm not sure why anyone would want to know any of them. While they have their own moral code, which is strictly followed, and lead fantastic lives of wealth and privilige (for a time, anyway), they also live in constant danger from both law enforcement and each other.  

 

 

There were a lot of great things about this movie.  Most interesting to me is that it was based on a true story, as told by a mobster turned Protected Witness, who was still alive and in the Witness Protection Program when the movie came out. Normally I'm not a big fan of mobster movies, but I really enjoyed this one. Part of it was the acting, which was fantastic, and part of it was the storyline. It was fascinating even before the end of the movie when I found out it was based on a real man's life.

The movie begins with a lot of class and glamorization... 

 

Henry Hill is the main character and he narrates the majority of the film (occasionally parts are narrated by the voice of his wife, Karen).  

 

We hear from the beginning how Henry always wanted to be a gangster, dreamed of it even. He was impressed by their clothes, their lifestyle and their power. He started by running errands for the local mob and was taken under the wing of the mob boss, Paulie, by the time he was in high school - not that he was going to school.

 

 Although he eventually rose to be a respected and well-liked mobster, he could never be officially "made" (which I guess is kinda like being inducted into a leadership position) because he wasn't Italian. But he made enough money and had enough power that he never seemed to mind.

 

I don't want to give away too much of the story. Suffice to say that the acting is fantastic, I really enjoyed watching all of the characters (even Joe Pesci's, and he tends to seriously get on my nerves). I thought the way the movie went from glamorizing the lifestyle and the power of these men to showing Henry's decline into drugs and the gritty reality of violence and death within the mob was great.  The plot was smooth and seamless, transitioning to a kind of fairy tale into something almost nightmarish. With friends like his, who needs enemies? 

 

 

Mostly I appreciated that it wasn't the kind of in-your-face graphic violence that I see so much of today in the movie theaters. Violence is one thing, but it shouldn't be the main point of the movie and the plot should never play second banjo to the graphic effects. In Goodfellas you get an intriguing and exciting story, just the right amount of violence, and some seriously good acting.  I'm really glad this movie was on the AFI's Top 100 list and that I got to watch it for my blog! Even though it wasn't one I was really interested in, it drew me in and kept me there anyway.

#33 Friend Recommended: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

I think I need to get more book recommendations from Courtney, we obviously like reading a lot of the same things!

 

I'd never heard of Darkfever before she recommended it to me, and I didn't look up anything about it before I started reading.  I saw it on Amazon's Daily Kindle Special for .99 and jumped on it - what a deal! Even more of a deal when I started reading and found out how good it is. Although Karen Marie Morning apparently usually writes romances, she's stepped away (just a little) from that genre with this wonderful fantasy novel... that has a lot of seriously sexy romance in it. But it's not your typical romance novel, not even your typical fantasy romance novel, because this book has more blood, guts and violence than it does sex.

 

Now, I don't want to hype this book up too much, especially because about 1/3 of the way through Darkfever, although I was enjoying the plot line and all of the side characters, the main character, Mackenzie aka Mac, was seriously grating on my nerves. She's 22, extremely shallow and completely convinced that she can take care of herself and take on anything and anyone... even though she's never been anywhere more dangerous than occasional trips from her small town in Georgia to the nearby city of Atlanta. *face palm*

 

Still. The interesting plot and other characters kept me going. See, the Unseelie Sidhe (evil fairies for those of you who aren't up to date on your fantasy) are escaping the prison the Seelie Sidhe (good fairies... if there is such a thing) put them in and are invading our world through a portal in Dublin, Ireland.  Mac gets involved after her sister is murdered and she goes to Dublin to seek justice, never realizing that in order to do so she's going to have to immerse herself in a fantastical world that she's never believed in and always thought was stupid... however, it's hard to ignore a Sidhe when you're staring it in the face. Most people woudn't get the chance to but, lucky Mac, it turns out she's special kind of human, a sidhe-seer... the term is pretty self explanatory so I'll leave it at that.  So she's searching for her sister's murder and getting caught up in a world that she wants nothing to do with, and realizing that her sister had already been somewhat immersed in this world really plays havoc with her sense of reality.

 

And in the middle of all of this are the two walking sex-pots of the series, Jericho Barrons who is... someone? Something? helping Mac. Or is he helping her? Or is he just helping himself? The man is a frustrating mystery of walking sexiness. Although Mac isn't interested in him (she likes a man with good moral fiber, and makes the quip that the most fiber Barrons gets is when he walks down the cereal aisle at the grocery store).  V'lane is the other posssible romantic interest: a Seelie Prince with the power of sex. But Seelie doesn't mean he's a good guy, because sex with a fae is addictive and can be deadly (I really appreciate that Ms. Morning actually researched her Sidhe lore and didn't just make something up, the mark of a good fantasy novel!).  Both of them are possessive over Mac, but not just because she's pretty (although there's def some male territorial hilariousness going on), but because she's the first person they've come across that can sense the evil they need to find and destroy (I'm summing up here, it's so much more complicated than this).

 

Now... you might think that I've given you a whole bunch of spoilers here. Nope. You'll get all this information in the first third of the first book. This is not a quick and easy romance. It's not even a quick and easy fantasy series. The series is 5 books long (I love reading an already completed series) and is full of twists and turns and unexpected developments. Plus, some seriously fantastically drawn out sexual tension. 

 

Even though I was unsure about the first book, I'm glad that I didn't put it down, and I was completely hooked by the end of the second book. In fact, I enjoyed this series so much that I bought them all and have added them to my bookshelves. This is a big deal because I've been trying NOT to add books to my bookshelves, that was the whole point of getting the kindle! But for my favorite books, I like to have them around so I can read and re-read, and this series has now been added to that list.