There have been several local news pieces lately about the prospect of two 40-foot electronic signs that are slated to go in at 7th and G St. in the heart of Chinatown. I’m certainly not the first to comment on this topic, but each time I read more about it, I just get more and more laughs. WTOP even asks, Is DC getting its own Times Square?” oh the horror ! Please, people. We’re talking about more signage in Chinatown, not Georgetown. It’s ridiculous for residents to complain about this… did they not have their eyes open when they moved in and signed their leases? We’re talking about the touristy entertainment district of The District. Anyone who was wanting less than LCD screens and neon lights galore should have opted to live in… well… ANY other neighborhood in DC. There is even a ridiculous Stop the Billboard campaign, which opens with these words: “…unless we stop them, these huge, moving-picture billboards will make cherished parts of our beautiful city look more like Times Square.” Chinatown is a “cherished” part of our city??? Did they forget what it was like there 15 years ago? The National Mall is cherished, Rock Creek Park is cherished, and there are 50 other areas I would call cherished before I would think of Chinatown… which, by the way, I think it could stand to be more like Times Square.

Some alleyway lights and shop windows in Georgetown, from the last time we wandered over there a few weeks ago. We had every intention to make it over there yesterday, but it was snowing (again) pretty hard by the time we stepped out the door, so conditions for taking more photos were pretty lame. Instead, we decided to go get some homemade pizza. Only we couldn’t find the place we were looking for. So we got some noodles instead. yum yum nom.

On another note, happy birthday to JJ (“Free the Tacos.org”) one of Juxtaexposed’s biggest readers and possibly our biggest fan.

Well, Bowser saw his shadow when I took his outside this morning, and we all know what that means. More winter. But it didn’t really appear just outside our door, where the sun wasn’t shining. Only when I walked him into the alleyway where it was sunnier, so… I dunno, I never understood the whole “groundhog” day tradition. And what if he decides to sleep in? There would be a lot of disappointed people hanging out in Pennsylvania for no good reason. Well anyways, more winter is not so surprising seeing that there is snow in the forecast not only today, but this coming weekend as well.

And now, an interesting little tidbit for some of our readers and fans who are currently skipping out on what is definitely a colder, harsher winter than we have here in DC… According to Wikipedia: “In Alaska, February 2 is observed as Marmot Day rather than Groundhog Day because few groundhogs exist in the state. The holiday was created by a bill passed by the Alaska Legislature in 2009 and signed by then-Governor Sarah Palin that year.” brilliant!

A cool shot of the lights at The Warehouses at Union Row, 14th and V Street NW, shot with an Olympus XA.

This shot is a closeup of “Lightswept,” a neon light sculpture by artist Craig Kraft , that sits outside HR-57 on 14th Street. I wasn’t a huge fan of this piece at first, but in reading more about his process through his website, I can at least appreciate his craftsmanship, as well as some of his other public installations, much more now. I never put it together that this would be the same artist who created a similar neon sculpture, Lightweb, in Downtown Silver Spring, a piece I see nearly every day. I guess I like the Silver Spring sculpture a great deal more because it is integrated with the elevator shaft and seems to sweep around the existing structure. The one in front of HR-57 seems much more arbitrary, like it is sitting out in the open as an afterthought. Nonetheless, public art is a great thing that we shouldn’t take for granted, and I’m sure I will come around to this piece more in the future — maybe it will require another visit to HR-57 for an evening of jazz very soon.