Don't say toilet

From NPR and How to Do Everything, in honor of the Royal Wedding.

Hopping down the bunny trail

In celebration of Easter, I went to the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. The two museum share the building (that used to be the patent office), and the building is beautiful. There are three floors so I did my usual routine, which is start at the top and work my way down. The museums are split in a east/west fashion so there are signs to let you know which museum you are visiting. As you might have guessed only portraits are displayed in the National Portrait Gallery, but the portraits are from all over the world. The American Art Museum is limited to the work of American painters and occasionally, (especially during the pre-Revolutionary period), work of European painters that are American subjects or landscapes. I loved these two museums. It was smaller than the National Gallery and a little better laid out (so you could actually work you're way through the gallery without having to backtrack). As usual, I took a lot of pictures, which you can see here, and again, there are captions. There was a wide variety of American Art, from American Impressionism to American folk art (which did contain some pieces that veered toward the world of the probot, but the early 20th century folk was good). The portraits were interesting because there were short biographies of the subject of the painting. However, no pictures were allowed in my favorite exhibit because it was a temporary exhibit and thus no photographs. But, happily, you can see it online. The exhibit was called To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America, which was by the folk art portion of the American Art museum. You can check out the exhibit online here. After spending about 5 hours in the museum, I headed back to my apartment to make my Easter dinner of Lemon-Garlic lamb chops, roasted potatoes, and fresh broccoli. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, full of good food, hidden eggs, and time with family.

Thoughts about a world leader

I must admit that I find Dmitry Medvedev, the president of Russia, kind of fascinating. Late last year, I read this really good book review in the New York Review of Books (which you can read here) of the book The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB by Andrei Soldatov and Iriana Borogan. The book is about the recent Russian presidency, specifically the jockeying for position between Medvedev and Vladimir Putin (current prime minister and former president). Medvedev's first term is going to end in 2012 and it seems Putin and Medvedev can't decide who is going to run for president. When Medvedev was elected as president in 2008, it seemed (to me at least) that Medvedev was kind of a puppet to Putin (and I kind of find Putin terrifying, he was ex-KGB). So I've kind of felt sorry for him because he seemed to not have a huge amount of control of what goes on in his political life. You might wonder why I'm thinking about Dmitry Medvedev today. This is why:


I kind of think he is super awesome now because he can't resist a song with a beat.

Ocean Hall, Animal Skeletons, Ruby Slippers, and Grace Coolidge

Since the government did not shut down on Friday night, it meant that not only would I be going to work on Monday, but that my plan to go to the Smithsonian Natural History and American History museum was a go. I headed to the Metro station at about 9:45 which put me on the Mall a little after 10:30. I went first to the Natural History museum which is chock full of cool stuff. I went through the Geology, Gems & Minerals exhibit first which features volcanoes, rock formation, meteorites, a piece of Mars (which I touched), re-creation of mines, and various gems, including the Hope diamond which, it goes without saying is huge. It was start to get a little crowded of eighth-grader, families with strollers, and what seemed like every single high school senior class in the great DC area so I looked for a less popular exhibit to got through next. And I found it in the special exhibit of artifacts from Cypress which led to a small exhibit hall full of beautiful pottery from Korea. From there I went to the exhibit titled "Bones" which was an exhibit featuring reconstructed skeletons of probably 150 different animals including sea turtles, deer, bushbaby, various species of mice, toads, shrews, voles, moles, sea lampreys, crocodiles, storks, ducks, skinks, skunks, snakes, and even a small grey whale. Suffice to say this was probably my favorite exhibit mostly because I recognized some of the skeletons and I appreciated the amount of time it took to assemble each skeleton. Plus there were short discussions of skeletal development across the different species. I walked through the sneak peak of the upcoming exhibit about Egyptian mummies before going through the Insect Zoo (and reminding myself that centipedes still give me the hebby-joe-jebbies) before heading to Ocean Hall which features models of various marine life. Then it was on to the Mammal Hall before (again) getting annoyed with the huge mass of people and heading downstairs to the Birds of DC exhibit which was (shockingly) not very crowded and (not shockingly) full of various birds native to DC (including one of my favorite birds, the Red-Winged Blackbird). It was around noon, so I walked over to the American History museum, got and map, and when to the cafe for a bit to eat and plan out the order of my visit in the museum. The first exhibit I went through was called Invention at Play which was a mix of toys that focus on inventing as well as inventors taking about what toys they like to play with when they were younger (there were a lot of mentions of Legos!). Then I went through Julia Child's kitchen which was so amazing. They literally made her kitchen into a museum exhibit complete with her books (including 2 copies of the Joy of Cooking), her KitchenAid Mixer (in Cobalt Blue) right down to the magnets on her fridge (including a Magnet from King Arthur Flours!). I really enjoyed the part about the marriage between Julia and Paul. The amount of support Paul gave Julia throughout her work was amazing, it's clear that her cookbooks are a labor of love of the both of them. From there I went through Science in American Life which was full of all sorts of interesting artifacts of recent life in America including early modern lab equipment, examining the increasing popularity of various plastics in post-war life, an exhibit on the development of the birth-control pill, and life in modern cities. Then I went to the exhibit on Paper engineering which was all about pop-up books and the various types of pop-ups used, there are some amazing examples in the exhibit. And all this was only on the West part of the first floor! On the East part of the first floor, I walked through an exhibit about America and the rise of the automobile and highway system which featured lots of different cars and trains (and even a horse-drawn wagon) before heading to an exhibit that focused on American maritime pursuits. I then went to the 3rd floor to see the objects from 1939 (including Charlie McCarthy and the Ruby Slippers), Treasure of Pop Culture (which includes Kermit T. Frog and the Catsuit from Batman), and the musical instrument collection. The collection isn't very big, probably around 40 instruments, but they do have a Stradivarius quartet that are absolutely gorgeous and this amazing guitar that comes with a special case. For there I went through exhibits about Abraham Lincoln (crowded but interesting and had clothes from the Lincolns), American Presidency (which was split up into different aspects of the presidency from being commander-in-chief to the president in popular culture), and one about all wars with American involvement (the posters from World War II were my favorite but the section about World War I was surprisingly short). Then I headed to the exhibit that contains the flag that inspired the Star Spangled banner. The flag is huge with 15 stars and 15 stripes, with 1 star cut out of the flag as a souvenir (which was actually done really early in its history, there was a picture of it at the White House during the turn of the 20th century and the star is missing). The flag is stored under low light and so it gives the flag this ethereal quality because it looks like it glows. The last exhibit I went through was The First Ladies of the Smithsonian which features gowns, pictures, and stories about the First Ladies. The Inauguration gowns of recent first ladies are on permanent display (back to Mamie Eisenhower) while clothes belonging to older First Ladies are in rotation to decrease wear on the gowns (also sketches of most of gowns were displayed. The exhibit was really crowded but totally worth it because you could really see changes in fashion based on the gowns of the women. One of my two favorite were Grace Coolidge because she thoroughly embraced the flapper fashion, her Inauguration gown was a red flapper gown (not on display, just a sketch but there was another gown of hers that was a black lace flapper dress). Here is a picture of her evening dress:

My other favorite was Mamie Eisenhower mostly because I was surprised by her gowns. You don't really hear about the fashions of Mamie Eisenhower but her dresses were really beautiful; her Inauguration Gown was pink with rhinestones and her other gown on display was really beautiful red evening gown:


After that, I headed back to the Metro and back home. Again I took lots of pictures, which you can see here (and captioned this time!)

My top 3 Doctor Who episodes

Let me start by saying that it was really hard to rank these 3 episodes.

3) Vincent and the Doctor
Episode 10, Season 5
Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)
Companion: Amy Pond (Karen Gillam)
Plot: While visiting the Musee D'Orsay to see the painting of Vincent Van Gogh, the Doctor notices a weird creature in the window of a church in one of Van Gogh's paintings. Amy and the Doctor then travel to Arles in Van Gogh's time to determine the origins of the possible alien creature and interact with Van Gogh.
Why I Love this episode: I don't think that the could have picked an artist that appeals to me more than Vincent Van Gogh. I think he is probably the first artist I learned to identify, his style is pretty obvious even to a young child. So for me, the episode is doubly great because if features not only a lot of Van Gogh paintings, but the vistas that inspired the paintings. There is this amazing scene with Amy, the Doctor, and Van Gogh in a field staring up at the sky and as Van Gogh describes his view of the world, the sky becomes "Starry Night". Amy and Van Gogh has some great interactions including a scene were Amy (a redhead) says that if she and Van Gogh every had a child, it would be the ultimate ging. But I think hands down, my favorite scene is an art historian (played by Bill Nighy) says that Van Gogh was not only one of the greatest painters of all time but one the greatest men who every lived because he could turn his inner turmoil into beautiful paintings. I have never enjoyed a Bill Nighy scene so much (and I'm crying a little bit just thinking about it). This episode was written by Benjamen Curtis (who I love), who also wrote Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley.

2) The Unicorn and the Wasp
Episode 7, Season 4
Tenth Doctor (David Tennant)
Companion: Donna Noble
Plot: The Doctor and Donna land in 1926 England to attend a party in a country house, which kind of sounds like a set up to a Agatha Cristie mystery. And it should because Agatha Cristie is a guest of the party, as the hostess is a fan of her work. Soon people are murdered by some alien force and the Doctor, Agatha, and Donna must unravel the mystery. A further mystery is that this house party occurs a few days before Agatha Cristie's real-life 10 days disappearance.
Why I love this Episode: Agatha Cristie and Doctor Who prove to be two great tastes that taste great together. If I wasn't sure a huge Agatha Cristie fan, I probably won't have enjoyed this episode so much, or at least appreciate the excellent way it pays homage to Agatha Cristie. The set-up and unraveling of the mystery is classic Cristie. And then, the script is chalk full of references to the titles of Cristie novels like Nemesis, N or M, Endless Night, They Do It With Mirror, Cards on the Table, A Cat Among Pigeons, Crooked House, The Moving Finger, and Murder on the Orient Express. And again, Donna proves to be the prefect foil for the Doctor (she might be my favorite companion although Amy is really good too). I think this might have been the first episode of the reboot that I made my mom watch as a way to entice her to watch the rest of the series. If you like Agatha Cristie, you should watch this episode, even if you don't watch any other episode of Doctor Who. And this episode was written by Gareth Roberts, who wrote "The Lodger". Gareth Roberts is a self-admitted fan of Agatha Cristie and it is really obvious in this episode.

1) Blink
Episode 10, Season 3
Tenth Doctor (David Tennant)
Companion: Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman)
Plot: In modern-day London (2007), a woman named Sally Sparrow (a pre-An Education Carey Mulligan) enter a rundown house looking for photography subjects but instead find angel statues, one holding a Yale key (that she takes) and a message from "the Doctor" behind peeling wall paper warning her to avoid the Weeping Angels. She returns with her friend Kathy to explore the house further. Kathy disappears and at the same time a man claiming to be Kathy's grandson arrives at the house with a letter for Sally from Kathy. Kathy writes that moments after entering the house, Kathy suddenly found herself in the 1920s Hull. She married and had a peaceful life but want Sally to take a letter from her (Kathy) to Larry, her brother, telling him about Kathy's disappearance. When Sally visits Larry at a DVD store, he shows her a hidden message from a man named the Doctor on 17 seemingly unrelated DVDs. Sally then goes to a police station and meets DI Billy Shipton, who tells her that there are have been several disappearances near the rundown house and shows her a police box that was near the house. However, the police box seems to be a fake because it is not the right and it is locked. Sally leaves but then remembers the key she found and return to the police box but Billy has disappeared. She then receives a call from a much older Billy asking her to visit him in the hospital. Billy explains that saw the Weeping Angels trying to get into the police box and then suddenly found himself in 1969 and met the Doctor. He was convinced to start a DVD business that allowed the Doctor to record the hidden message in the 17 DVD. Billy urges Sally to watch the message and then dies. Sally then realizes the connection of the 17 DVDs, she owns a copy of each of them. Sally rejoins Larry at the DVD store to watch the message from the Doctor. In the message, the Doctor tells them that the Weeping Angels sent the Doctor and Martha into the past and now have the TARDIS in hopes of feeding off the huge energy that the TARDIS contains. The Weeping Angels with only move when no one is looking at them, but they move to quickly, that even in the blink of an eye, they can take you. Sally and Larry are the only ones that can help the Doctor recover the TARDIS, as long as they don't blink.
Why I love this episode: This might be the most tense and excellently paced 45 minutes that I have every seen. The fact that you can't close your eyes for any amount of time is so scary and so that aspect is so effectively terrifying (the BBC ran a warning before the episode saying that this was a very scary episode and that if children watch it, they should watch it with the lights on). So much of the episode depends on the acting skill of Carey Mulligan and she does a really fantastic job. And I love the last names of Sally and Larry, Sparrow and Nightingale. This episode was written by Stephen Moffat who really understands how to pace an episode and ratchet up the tension with out going overboard.

So those are my top 3 favorite episodes. All three are actually a good episode to get introduced to Doctor Who because for most part they are stand alone episodes (with maybe the exception of Vincent and Doctor, where there is any scene with Amy that is the fallout of an incident from the previous episode, but it isn't too confusing). All these episodes are more a fusion of science fiction and a mystery/thriller and or dramatic genre. I hope if you haven't seen an episode of Doctor Who yet, these posts have whetted your appetite and encourage you to explore the world of Doctor Who.