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What's been cool in DC this week, and what's coming up

2/25/2014

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Last week has been a delightfully varied week of DC fun - and I'm not just talking about the weather. Tuesday night kicked off with the latest in the Smithsonian Associates 'behind the science with NPR's Joe Palca' series. I confess I wasn't absolutely in the mood for detailed discourse on planetary science (unusual for me, and not even being facetious!) so after an interesting musing on magnetospheres and what we can learn from an expedition to Mercury, my lovely wife and I sneaked out in favor of what I believe to be DC's very best martini (when made by Dmitri), the Basilica, at Unum. Highly recommended. Ahem. Back to science. There is one more in the series, on neuroscience on March 18th. Details and tickets here.

You may recall in one of my last blogs I lamented that all these cool Smithsonian Associates events are peopled almost exclusively by pensioners. Well, in the last couple of weeks, Smithsonian at 8, the people behind the cool after hours drinks parties in museums, have started using their Facebook page to promote all the cool stuff the Smithsonian Associates is doing. They're posting a little too vigorously right now, but on the other hand, they'll figure it out, and it's a great way to keep up to date with all the great stuff they're doing. Worth a 'like' if you're that way inclined...

I anticipated last week would be film festival week and indeed I got to two of the events. The animated shorts as part of DC Indy Film Festival were largely very entertaining and often charming. I liked the one called Sausage best, I think. I always think the Naval Memorial is an odd place for film festivals. But it's more convenient than the Atlas, which would possibly be my favorite DC arts venue if it wasn't peskily located far far away in the hip part of H Street. Amidst their Intersections Festival, which is on til March 8th, they screened Rewind, a retrospective of the best films from 10 years of the DC Shorts film festival. It was an inspired, beautifully curated choice of films and I had a delightful 100 minutes - and even happened to run into one of our most dedicated Perfect Liars Club audience members! Not only that, but Atlas have all sorts of cool free performances in their foyer as part of the festival. You can see them again on March 7th. But if you're not going, you can watch my favorite, Pigeon Impossible, here.

Since we were in H Street anyway (having cycled all the way there from Georgetown, and noting the new tram lines which are quite the bike wheel hazard!), we decided to take advantage of some other H Street delights. We joined the line at &Pizza and were delighted to conclude it was just as delicious as its reputation. And we did something that has been my dream since first coming to DC: minigolf at H Street Country Club! Sure enough, it lived up to my hopes. They have 9 cool, fun DC-themed holes, and if anyone should ever be trying to date someone very like me, I'm just saying this would be a brilliant choice of date (perhaps combined with an Uber...). I am already looking forward to going again (having had withdrawal symptoms since the Building Museum ended their summer minigolf), and hoping Pinstripes or suchlike further west DC establishments might be inspired to add a minigolf course closer to my house... Did I mention - I think minigolf is fun.

But if you're in a more arty frame of mind, I also had a fun time at the Corcoran museum on Wednesday night, at a Hitchcock-themed Corcoran Uncorked event. While disappointed that they hadn't advertised the time they were screening films so I missed them, I very much enjoyed constructing a finger puppet bird from The Birds, and screen printing a silhouette of Hitchcock himself, and stealing some of my lovely wife's wine and popcorn after foolishly claiming I didn't want any. I also had fun at American Cool, the latest big popular exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. But my advice to you: leave it a few weeks before going. It's on til September and currently (well, at the weekend), it is absolutely mobbed. You have to stand in line just to see the pictures. You're trampled as you try to read the information. And if you're anything like me, you'll flee, feeling harassed. Which is a shame as the concept of 'what is 'cool'?' is an intriguing one. My conclusion from the exhibition: if you want to be designated 'cool' by the Smithsonian, you had better be a musician (ideally jazz), or at a pinch, a film star. I'm concerned this may foil my inclusion when they're curating the 21st century version... amongst other things.

My literary event of the week was Literary Death Match - this group's sixth visit to DC. I caught them twice before, at DC9 and the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. The ambience of Sixth and I wasn't quite right - it lost some of the irreverent energy and fun this show usually has. But I still love the concept of pitting authors against each other, judging them on silly criteria, and having a finale based on, in this case, Jewish literary Pictionary. Inspired. And a great way to showcase local authors. (I also enjoyed drinks in Hogo, the tiki/rum conjoined twin of The Passenger (which was full that night). Odd ambience due to the bright lighting, I think, but delicious cocktails (and, ahem, fries...). 

And finally, of course we had to enjoy Sunday's spring preview. In the beautiful sunshine, my lovely wife and I cycled to Dupont Circle and strolled around the farmers' market munching crisp, farm-fresh apples, and onward to Blind Dog Cafe for lunch (and the city's best chocolate chip cookies) on their sunny patio, before strolling through Meridian Hill Park, and cycling back to Georgetown through Rock Creek Park. Sometimes Washington can be truly idyllic. 

Some cool things coming up in the next week 

Tue 25th - I'm going to DoubleX Love Fest at Sixth and I which was postponed due to snow on Feb 13th (hope it doesn't happen again!). It's at 7pm. If you like female-themed talkshow podcast things (okay I really don't know what it is but it sounds quite cool) I imagine they'll have spare tickets due to the rescheduling. $15. If I wasn't going to that, I'd be tempted to check out the new comedy night at The Brixton, Tuesdays with Funnie or go to General Assembly to learn about how Brightest Young Things became 'the locus of Washington's new cool art and music scene.

Thu 27th - The Science Club has a new 'educational comedy' night at 8:30 called After Class. Actually, it's not that new now, but I still haven't checked it out. Maybe this will be the week. Oh, also the Washington Jewish Film Festival starts tonight, and goes on til 9th March. 

Friday 28th - It's mid-afternoon, sure, but I'm looking forward to sneaking out for a talk by one of the inventors of the cellphone at the American Museum of History at 2:30. 

Monday 3rd March - It's Perfect Liars Club! If you have tickets, see you there! Doors from about 6pm. If you don't have tickets, come put your name on the waitlist from 6pm, tickets will be sold from 6:45pm til we're full! It's going to be great!
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What's been on in DC this week, and what's coming up

2/18/2014

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An impressive amount of snow (for this low-snow-experience Brit) fell in DC last week, and while lots and lots of things were cancelled or postponed, amidst some controversy, the Smithsonian At 8 people decided the show must go on! Prospective attendees stranded in the far reaches of the DMV area ranted bitterly about it not being postponed. Metro-adjacent attendees gloried in its stoicism. And down in Georgetown... I couldn't quite decide what to think. But my lovely wife and I donned our dresses and our Uggs, and strode gamely into the night. Only for me to immediately fall over in the snow and spend the whole night soggy. But an icy trek to Foggy Bottom delivered us to the train, and before long, we were feeling very delighted that we had persisted. 


I love the idea of Smithsonian at 8 - essentially cool, after-hours events at Smithsonian museums. Its execution can, I've found, be patchy... The venue in this instance was the Postal Museum, perhaps one of the more obscure of the Smithsonian's offerings. And yet as soon as I stepped in it was clear that this is a fun museum. Lots of cool, hands-on exhibits, including one about Amelia Earhart which I really liked, and plenty of trains and delivery trucks to climb into, airplanes to ogle, postal dogs to appreciate... The lighting was evening-ish. The music was thumping DJ beats (that perhaps those more youthful or cool than I might enjoy - but frankly I'd have liked more of a Valentine/Post themed musical repertoire). The Smithsonian at 8 crowd seem to have learned from their disastrous hour-long lines to the bar at their last event and this time had several bars with minimal waiting. And they had various cool things to do, including making my own postal stamp on a computer, crafting a Valentine's card, doing a scavenger hunt, and a 30 minute Story League show about 'missed connections' which was great. We'd splashed out on VIP tickets and I was excited to not only get cocktails but also a little buffet of cakes. (To clarify: there are few things that excite me more than a buffet of cakes). I felt bad for the people who couldn't make it, and lucky that I could - it was really lovely. One of the best nights I've had in DC for ages, and I am making vigorous plans to return to the Postal Museum to see more of the exhibits!


Which is very much more than can be said for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre's latest show, We Are Proud to Present... I was excited to see this show which boasted a few (inexplicable) good reviews, and I went along to their intern benefit. The Woolly Mammoth has a great-sounding intern program, and they had a lovely little pre-show reception with, you guessed it, a cake buffet. Oh what a happy week for me... But the show? Oh dear. Essentially it's about a group of actors trying to workshop a play about the events of the genocide of the Herero tribe in Namibia during German colonization. It's about how ordinary people can come to commit atrocities. It's about how we deal with traumatic history, particularly when it's fueled by race. It's certainly a very worthy, socially relevant play. But, ladies and gentlemen, that doesn't mean it's actually good. As I sat there sneaking looks at my watch (it's 2 hours and 10 minutes without an interval, and almost impossible to sneak out surreptitiously), and counting the audience members opposite me who had fallen asleep (seven), I mused upon my five key impressions: self-indulgent, self-important, preachy, patronizing, shouty. 


One of the reviews I read said Woolly Mammoth is the 'very definition of daring and relevant'. I think there's a risk that audiences start assuming that on this basis, everything they see at Woolly Mammoth is in some way brilliant, even if they don't actually enjoy it. But daring means risk-taking. Sometimes they get it very right. I have loved some shows at Woolly Mammoth. But if you're spending your money on theatre tickets this month, Tribes at the Studio Theatre has a better script, with better staging, better acting, more nuanced messaging, and I didn't see anyone sleeping during it. Just my opinion...


The most fun I had this week was performing in Speakeasy DC's Valentine's Day show, Sucker for Love. While this was not a very romantic way to spend Valentine's Day for me (I took my lovely wife to The Gibson for cocktails afterwards - definitely one of the best and coolest cocktail bars in DC)... I had a great time. I've performed with Speakeasy DC before, but this was at the 9:30 Club, which made everything cooler. From green room glamor to 9:30 Club cupcakes (oh yes!) to the massive, sold out audience with my lovely friends in attendance, I was quite charmed by the whole experience! And performing was a lot of fun. I heard the audience laughing so hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did... (even if they didn't get the cupcakes. Gosh - this really was a good cake week for me). 


Other fun things I did this week included going to see the Animated Oscar-nominated Shorts at the lovely Landmark E Street Cinema (I'm rooting for the brilliant, charming Mr Hublot), and walking round Roosevelt Island which is absolutely delightful in the snow. 


What I'm looking forward to in the coming week


Tue 18th Feb - Behind the Science with NPR's Joe Palca is about Planetary Science tonight, interviewing Sean Solomon who sounds very cool. I love the concept of interviewing top scientists about what they love about their field... It's at the S Dillon Ripley Centre (next to the Smithsonian Castle) for $20-25. 


Wed 19th Feb - The Corcoran is having one of its Corcoran Uncorked evenings, and this one's Hitchcock-themed. Tickets and info here. Oh, and DC's independent film festival starts today and goes on all weekend. Hooray!


Thursday 20th Feb - The show to see tonight is Literary Death Match. I've seen it twice now and it's a mad mix up of writers reading things, and being judged on silly categories. I can't explain it but it works and is brilliant. It only occasionally comes to DC. It's at Sixth and I. Tickets and info here. 


Fri 21st Feb - Atlas Intersections festival is happening from 21st Feb - 8th March. A little something for everyone down in H Street... Will have to split time between here and the Independent Film Festival this weekend...


Sat 22nd Feb - DC Shorts is doing a retrospective at the Atlas Intersections festival. Sounds good! It would be reasonable to make this whole weekend a film festival weekend. For example, if you just can't get enough of animated shorts, check out Saturday afternoon's animated shorts at DC's independent film festival!
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Some extra fun things for the weekend

2/14/2014

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This weekend there are so many cool things to do that I didn't notice when I wrote the blog earlier this week that I thought I'd do a mini-blog update just to make sure you've seen some of them.

Friday 14th Feb
I already told you about Sucker for Love, Speakeasy DC's annual Valentine's Day spectacular at the 9:30 Club. I'm performing in the 7pm show which is sold out, but there's still tickets for the 10pm show
 here. 

But if I wasn't going to that, I'd be tempted to head to Artisphere for a showing of Amelie, the most charming romantic French film in my film-viewing memory (I do also love Populaire - but more for the speedtyping than the romance). Romance in Rosslyn, tonight at 8pm. Hard to resist... Details here. 

Saturday 15th Feb
I love when DC goes all quirky and thinks it's London. I don't really get exactly what Quiet Cabaret is but it's just the sort of quirky event I used to go to in London. If I wasn't off to a dinner party, I couldn't resist.

And if I were the sort of girl who could prop her eyes open sufficiently for a midnight movie, Landmark E Street Cinema is showing Harold and Maude! A very offbeat, cult romantic comedy, from 1972, this is one of my favorite films ever. The last time I saw it on a big screen, I was 18. Which was the same sort of time I was a huge Rocky Horror fan - which, coincidentally, is on at the same time in the same place, with live shadow cast the Sonic Transducers. In fact both of these are on Friday AND Saturday at midnight. No matter your quirky midnight movie persuasion, you are spoilt for choice at the Landmark E Street Cinema this weekend, ladies and gentlemen. (and if you don't fancy late night movies, the Oscar animated and non-animated shorts are on all through the day - I loved the animated ones last year).

Sunday 16th Feb
I already told you about Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company annual intern benefit and show for the bargain price of $20 including a drink. Tickets and details here.
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Brit About Town: What was fun in DC last week - and what's coming up

2/12/2014

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Last week was a bit of a pathetic DC going out week for me because I was entertaining my dear parents in Las Vegas for almost its entirety. Yes, I saw the dancing fountains, and won $21 on roulette, and viewed the Grand Canyon, and experienced the 'sensual side of Cirque de Soleil' - but what of Washington, I hear you ask?


Well, I was still here on Tuesday, and after a truly alarming 2-minute period of selling every advance ticket for next month's Perfect Liars Club (if you didn't get one, come try your luck on the door!), it was off, with parents in tow, to Coco Sala for dinner - the only place in DC where my cocktail has included a giant chocolate-covered strawberry. I found this highly satisfactory... More satisfactory than my sense of direction, as I'd chosen it for being near our next stop, the Folger Shakespeare Library, which of course it is not! Luckily Uber whisked us up to Capitol Hill and got us there in time. 



The Folger Shakespeare Library is a quite brilliant and mad building, unlike any other building in Washington. I only got to see some of it, of course, but the outside is decorated with cool stone carvings of scenes from Shakespeare's plays which are quite lovely and worth a peek if you have any knowledge/interest in his plays. We were there for their obscurely advertised PEN/Faulkner reading series. This is run by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Essentially what they do is bring together American authors and American readers to promote a love of literature. In a city that has only very occasional real literary events other than Politics and Prose, it is confusing to me that it's taken me so long to venture to this series, which, with its mission and its amazing venue, and its reasonable $15 price tag, should by rights be a sell-out extravaganza; in fact it was just moderately full. Our event in question featured three biographers of famous authors, of which one was cool and witty and fascinating, one was reasonably interesting, and one left my mother unsubtly snoring next to me. Which is not a bad line up for a reasonably obscure genre of authors... I do wonder why more people don't know about this literary series (or attend it). What was particularly cool was the little Elizabethan theatre where the event took place. I don't even know how to describe it, except to say it was a sort of combination of Shakespeare-time theatre-in-the-round and mad old temple design. I cannot emphasize enough that it is absolutely worth going to an event here to admire the theatre alone! As though all of that was not compelling enough, afterwards we all retired to a huge vaulted hall with quirky little Shakespeare displays and more cool architecture for free cheese and wine. The next one's on February 24th. I see a presumably much larger theatre in the building is also currently showing Richard III - doesn't tempt me personally but I'd love to see if that auditorium is also exciting, and there's lots of other stuff. Details here. 


After a long gap for Vegas, we staggered in the door on Sunday night and a combination of excessive Vegas buffets and a chill too harsh to tempt me to my regular YMCA exercise classes had me checking out the free Monday 6pm boot camp style class at Athleta in Georgetown, just round the corner from my apartment. I love that stores are doing free fitness classes, even if our stretching at the end was accompanied by a pitch for the gym that provided the instructor. About ten women attended the Athleta class this week (the more hardcore people go down a few blocks to Nike) and actually the class was quite good. I was impressed. Two days later my muscles still hurt from all those squats... Much as I cursed them at the time, I may even return for another class! Rumor has it they also do yoga and zumba...


But far more tempting to me in the loosely-defined exercise (for lazy people) category is ten-pin bowling. This weekend, after great anticipation (by my lovely wife and me, anyway), Pinstripes opened! This bowling/bocce/bar/bistro chain has set up shop in the old Georgetown mall, and looks to be a fine addition to the entertainment-within-a-five-minute-stroll-of-my-house line up. My dear wife and I ventured down en route home from Las Vegas - literally with luggage in hand - to check it out, and then returned yesterday to actually do some bowling. And so far, we are excited! It's a curious venue in some ways - it doesn't really feel like its primary purpose is bowling. They make a lot of their dining options, which you walk through to get to the bowling. And the alley itself is bright, pristine, with comfy leather sofas instead of benches by each lane, decorated with cool old bowling photographs. Waitresses come by to take food and drink orders - and they have a nice drinks selection, especially local beers. The only thing that sort of disappoints me can be summed up in one word: beige. It just seems an incongruous color scheme for a bowling alley. It feels a tiny bit like an office. I'll be interested to see what they do with lighting etc in the evening to bring a bit of atmosphere to the bowling alley. At any rate, a great addition to Georgetown's entertainment options, and a grown-up bowling experience which I really enjoyed - despite losing to a wife who was having to bowl with her left hand due to a shoulder injury. Hmmm... But with bowling $3-5 per game (plus $4 shoes) I think it'll become a regular haunt.


In food and drink venue round-up, we had a tasty lunch in Cafe Bonaparte - their weekends are always so crazily busy that I can't be bothered to wait in line, but midweek, their $11 soup-and-sandwich/crepe lunches and their lovely French ambience made for an excellent birthday treat for me yesterday. I hear they do live jazz on second Wednesday of the month evenings too... 


The big treat of the week though was Rose's Luxury. The first time I went, a few months ago, I had no hesitation in saying that in my view, this is currently DC's best restaurant. I loved their beautifully executed, innovative, exciting food. I loved their ambience. I was impressed with their stellar service. I felt special that I got in, as unless you turn up at 5:30, the lines are intimidating. I told everyone I knew to try it. So of course, I couldn't wait to return (at 5:30pm prompt) for my birthday dinner. And I'm afraid that while their food was still beautifully executed, their ambience still lovely, their service still stellar... I was a bit disappointed. The chef has removed many of the most exciting/quirky/truly innovative-feeling dishes from the menu, and pared down the vegetarian options so that there's now a much meaner selection. I wonder whether the chef lost his nerve after the Washingtonian review was a bit rude about his popcorn soup... at any rate I almost wept when I found it has been abandoned. Our lovely waitress did everything she could to keep us delighted, bringing us beautifully executed off-menu dishes (and an amazing little birthday cake). Her efforts moved us from frustration to happiness. This is an excellent restaurant. You should still go. You should still stand in line. You should still grin in anticipation. This food is still some of Washington's best. But it probably is no longer the most exciting. I hope they get their nerve back soon.


Finally, a shout out to a little bar billed as an East London gastropub, Duke's Grocery on 17th Street. While it in no way feels like any East London pub I've ever ventured into, it is a charming little venue with nice decor, ambience and staff. Worth checking out. I'll definitely return.


What's happening this week


Clearly there is a correlation between Valentines and storytelling. Snow-permitting, you can go to a run of fantastic storytelling events this week:


Tonight, Wednesday 12th Feb
There are still tickets left for Mortified, the story type show where people read pages of their angst-ridden teenage diaries to great comic effect. I can't make it but I went to one of these shows and it was hilarious. It's at Town tonight. I also like the sound of the National Museum of Women in the Arts Wine, Twine and Valentine happy hour tonight - if you're a crafty person with $20 in your pocket, it might be fun!


Thursday 13th Feb
Spoilt for choice here, ladies and gentlemen. There's DoubleXLovefest at Sixth and I, a talkshow/podcast type thing about women, culture, and love. I have no idea what it will be like but it sounds intriguing... then off to the Postal Museum for a Smithsonian at 8 Valentine's event featuring Story League, called Signed, Sealed, Delivered. It sounds like potentially one of the Smithsonian at 8's best events to date - I can't wait. The Story League performance bit is at 9pm. 


Friday 14th Feb
The hot ticket is Sucker for Love, Speakeasy DC's annual Valentine's Day spectacular at the 9:30 Club. I'm performing in this, and can personally assure you there have been lots of rehearsals to make sure this show will be really good. The original show has sold out, but they're now doing a second show at 10pm so if you're a late bird, there are tickets available here. Alas I am only performing in the early show as I have promised post-show romance around DC for my lovely wife. But the rest of the cast will be abandoning their beloved for your late night story pleasure... 


Sunday 16th Feb

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company do an annual intern benefit. It's $20 and there will be music, a free drink, and entry to their new show, We Are Proud to Present... A good deal and a good cause. Tickets and details here.
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Brit About Town: What's been fun in DC last week - and what's coming up

2/4/2014

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The theme of last week seemed to be watching American institutions on television in public places. First up last Tuesday I was of course treated to State of the Union, and what improves the State of the Union? Beer, nachos and the convivial ambience of Busboys and Poets - much fun and just the right sort of ambience for a hungry and politically interested Brit About Town, though I did regret not going to one of the State of the Union bingo parties I saw advertised - that would have been fun. But I was amused to note, when I took my parents to watch some of the Superbowl, at Penn Social on Sunday, the two events have a lot of parallels. Large crowd of people gathered around televisions in a bar with beer and snacks. Some dull bits. Exciting bits signposted by the people in the bar suddenly jumping to their feet and shouting. People high five-ing each other. Empty streets in DC. And then everyone goes home en masse to read Twitter comments and come up with intelligent remarks about it for the next day. It's been an exciting week if you like that sort of thing.


But of course, with my parents here on their semi-annual visit from Spain, I have been under extra pressure to deliver a delightful experience of all that is good about life in Washington. On Friday night we walked down, past the frozen Potomac, to the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage - the little stage in the foyer of the Kennedy Center that has free performances every night at 6pm. I sheepishly admit I hadn't been there since my parents' last visit, but they demanded a repeat experience, so I set off with them to a potentially promising show that I knew very little about but that was convenient to our schedule: the 20th Anniversary celebration of the It's Your Mug poetry night. I had no idea whether it would be brilliant or... less brilliant. When I arrived, I realized that I was quite alone in not really knowing what it was - the place was crammed full of old-time Washingtonians who used to go to this U Street area coffee shop institution every week for their fix of fantastic poetry slams and performances. The It's Your Mug veterans onstage described a spoken word utopian Washington of yesteryear where the U Street area was full of coffeeshops with exceptionally popular poetry nights happening several times a week, a hundred people crammed into the little spaces to hear and perform their poetry. It sounded very cool, and so were their performances at the show. They didn't just stand up and recite poetry - they wrote it, they exuberantly performed it, the musicians provided backing beats, and it was an hour of compelling inspiration and brilliance. On the way home I took all the praise from my parents about my excellent taste in choosing events, and felt very pleased with taking a random chance on this talented, transfixing bunch of people. I wish these coffee shop poetry nights would rise again!


I took my parents to Gypsy Sally's later that night (exhausting them I fear) and while the particular music wasn't to my taste, I really love this venue. If you haven't been yet, Gypsy Sally's is a relatively new live music venue, right next to Malmaison on an otherwise fairly deserted stretch of the Georgetown waterfront, under Key Bridge. They have all sorts of country, blues, Americana type acts every night, and it's a really lovely, relaxed, unpretentious, atmospheric place to hang out, with table service, drinks, food, and people dancing down at the front of the stage. Recommended if you like that sort of thing! (and on an aside, Malmaison is doing a lovely cafe-style situation during the day currently with coffees, fresh fruit juice smoothies, and fantastic pastries - delicious). 


My dear parents, having survived their multi-part Friday night, were awoken bright and early on Saturday morning for the treat of sitting in a draughty 9:30 Club, the lucky spectators of the dress rehearsal for Speakeasy DC's Sucker for Love Valentine's show, at which I'm telling the story of how my lovely wife and I got together - along with more stories about love from Perfect Liars alumni Pierce and Cara. (Tickets are still available.) They were rewarded by seeing Gravity with all the IMAX and 3D trimmings (definitely worth splashing out for!) and a tasty Thai meal in Bangkok Joes. 


Sunday daytime was a bit of a write-off, thanks to the bottomless champagne at the Bombay Club's excellent brunch, but that evening we were excited to get to see the Upright Citizens Brigade, a renowned comedy improv group from New York and LA, who took over the basement of Sixth and I (where many good things happen) and made us laugh vigorously. I'm going to be bold and say that of the genre of visiting-acclaimed-performing-comedy-improv-groups, I prefer Second City, if the two are comparable, which I think they are, except that Second City is partly scripted and partly improv, while UCB is all improv. On Sunday this worked very well in the first act sketches - as for the second act, I always think it's risky to commit to a whole 40 minute sketch on one premise... but the UCB guys are very talented and absolutely worth getting a ticket when they're in town.


We polished off the week with a tasty dose of Perfect Liars Club - another really fun evening last night, and you can read all about it and admire the pictures here. Make sure you get your tickets for next month!


What's coming up in the next week


I wouldn't know - I'm taking my parents to Las Vegas. Wish me luck!


But if I was here, I'd be particularly interested in the Folger Library's Whose Life is it Anyway? Literary Biography event tonight, Tuesday 4th February, the Create at the Corcoran event on Wednesday 5th, the Nordic lights-themed Phillips After 5 event on Thursday 6th, and the free Capital One comedy night at the Kennedy Centre on Monday 10th. Enjoy!
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    What is this blog?

    Every Friday, Perfect Liars Club MC Layla laboriously curates a list of all the coolest English-accessible things happening in Tokyo for the next week for your delight and entertainment. If you live in Tokyo and like attending great events, you had better sign up.

    How to suggest an event to be included

    Tweet @perfectliarstky or email Layla with details and a link.

    What sort of events does this listings guide include?

    ​Recommendations are biased towards things Layla personally enjoys, like theatre, cinema, sciencey talks, book things, storytelling, comedy, art and random quirky activities.

    Come to my event, Layla!

    You can email Layla to invite her to something cool.

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