The view from here

...from the corner of 11th and Irving Streets, technically. I shot this same item nearly a year ago, but never thought to give it the inverted twist it was begging for.

Columbia Heights seems to be reveling in the extreme Dada of summertime. It's hot and humid, and we are thirsty. To that end, we're looking forward to our newest neighborhood watering hole, which is set to open this Friday. We've done the anxious neighbor bit of peeping through the windows during construction, and the bar looks gorgeous. With any luck, they'll do a great amount of business without becoming hopelessly mobbed.

They're building thirty billion condos on that block, so the bar-mobbing potential is real. We should learn from our spiritual leader Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and come armed with tasers in the event of mass crowding and a lack of seats. Nothing says "no really, sir, I was just leaving anyway" like 50,000 volts of stunning palpitations to the heart muscle.

Just kidding.

But speaking of varying degrees of Fear and Loathing, this Saturday is DC's very own super-sized Caribbean Carnival, the third largest festival of its kind in the nation. It will be total madness, with an overwhelming array of music, food, and costumed Jamaicans, jigging their way down Georgia Avenue like horny, feathered, rum-soaked aliens... I made the huge mistake of trying to DRIVE somewhere during the festival last year and vowed NEVER AGAIN. It took about five hours to crawl the six miles from Columbia Heights DC to Silver Spring, MD.

So this year, no plans. Just dive into the mash with camera and see what menacing joy and terror I can capture.

Watch this space for the result.