DC Museums and Stuff

I've been enjoying my trip to DC. On Thursday, I went to the International Spy Museum. I did the interactive mission tour, where they have the group solve puzzles, search rooms, run surveillance, escape in a simulated truck, and direct the mission. That was a blast! The museum itself was pretty cool. They had lots of short films on lockpicking, sabotage, historical spies, etc and a wealth of display items. There were also computer terminals with exercises in code breaking and disguise spotting and other cool activities. One of the most interesting was about deciphering the Navaho code used by the US during WWII. They had displays on ancient spymastering in China, Japan, and Greece, as well as during Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Cold War, and Modern times. While there was a lot of balance between male and female spies, I found it interesting that there was very little regarding people of color, although they definitely highlighted what little there was. I spent over 5 hours there and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In the evening, I went to see the play that B. was performing in. It was an adaption of Camus' Caligula. I thought it was terrific and that B. did a great job. The lead was phenomenal and several of the other actors were able to match or reflect his intensity. It's a very disturbing nihilistic play, but I was quite entertained.

Today, I went to the American Indian Museum. They have an incredible cafe that showcases cooking from each different region. I went to the Pacific Northwest booth and had salmon that was roasted and glazed along with corn pone and mushrooms and a salad of wild rice and cranberries. Yum! The museum itself was fascinating. It was presented in a nonanthropological style, meaning that items made 10 years ago were beside items from 100 years ago and that there were no historical narrative blurbs. Instead there were videos of people telling stories about the things on display. It created a feeling of timelessness, which I suspect was the intent. While I was there, a dance troupe performed a set of tribal dances. The troupe consisted of almost two dozen men, women, and children (some carried in papoose type pouches) as well as drummers and singers. They created a real sense of community and at some points even had the audience join in. Very cool. There was a special exhibit on dressmaking and I now know how to tell the difference between a dress made from one hide, two hides, or three hides.

Next I went to see the Impressionism by the Sea exhibit at the Phillips Gallery. It was very impressive and featured an audio tour that you could take using your cel phone. The colors and textures they used to evoke sea and sky were simply breathtaking. I did the tour and enjoyed the exhibit and the rest of the museum. There was a Rothko room, which both amused and impressed me.

I must have done something to my ankle, because it began hurting while I was walking. Combined with the intermittent rain, this was enough to convince me to return to M. and B.'s house to rest for awhile. M. and I then met some of his friends for a drink and then went out to dinner at a Middle Eastern place called Skewers. We shared Hummus and Baba Ganoosh appetizers and I had Beef Biryani which was very tasty. M. and I were too tired to go out clubbing, so we came home and met B. who had just returned from his Friday night performance. After a nice chat, and some computer typing, everyone is now off to bed.

Last Day in DC

This morning, M. went for a run with his Frontrunners group and I joined him for coffee afterwards. I've been being good to my ankle and it has been feeling better, but I think it was wise that I declined the invitation for a morning run or stroll. Some more of his friends came for coffee and then he went off to the gym with one of them and I went wandering.

I went to the Renwick Gallery of American Crafts and saw a fascinating exhibit on quilting during the pioneer era. The detail, innovative fabric choices (one quilt was made out of neckties!), colors, themes, and craftsmanship were quite amazing. The blurbs talked about how quilting was one of the few means of artistic expression available to frontier women and how they formed community around the activity.

I met up with M. in Dupont Circle after pokng through Kramer Books, the CD/DVD store, and Lambda Rising. We had a late lunch of Mexican food and then M. and I went to the National Gallery to see the Edward Hopper special exhibit. It was incredible. Hopper is the American artist who among other things did Nighthawks (that's the one where several people are sitting at Phillies Diner late at night), Automat, and Chop Suey. He specialized in painting unusual views of cities and towns inhabited by individuals depicted as tense or lonely or engaged in their own thoughts. He masterfully rendered sunlight and shadow to create dramatic tension in depictions of lighthouses, rooftops, and windows. It was a full retrospective of many of his major works and very crowded. I was very glad to have seen it.

Next we went to the E Street cinema to see The Darjeeling Limited. We both really enjoyed it and spent most of our time talking about it over a yummy Ethiopian food dinner at Zeds. It is about a group of broken people's search for family. It's the sort of film that one should see twice to be sure to catch everything. Well acted and well directed, it also featured one of my favorite foreign songs Les Champs Elysee at the end. It's a cerebral comedy and I'd recommend it to those who like that sort of thing (If you liked I "Heart" Huckabees or The Royal Tannenbaums then you'd probably like this movie).

Tomorrow, I get up early in order to take the Metro to my friend's place, where I will ride up to Philly with them to play D&D and have wine and cheese all day. It's been being a very satisfying vacation!