Category Archives: DCIFF Shorts – R. Imrie

DCIFF Short
January 27
We are virtually through with the selection process of selecting which films we’ll be screening for you. Think you can expect to see the information going up here in the next few days. Stay tuned.

DC Short

Dec 26

Russ Imrie

An interesting dinner in Reston this evening. A birthday for an unfortunate soul with their day on Christmas – a murky few days throughout her life. Talk went around about Social Security, that fool that didn’t make the Virginia Republican primary, and about the real meaning of Daniel Craig’s role in the just-released “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

It was a well-filmed-up crowd and everyone had seen both the 2009 Swedish Release and the latest English one. While all loved the original, the intriguing choice of Daniel (007) Craig led all to search and dig for the meaning behind casting the über manly and pleasant Craig and the final twist of abandonment he unconsciously dumps on Lisbeth.

What do you think? A deliberate final twist of the épée?

Downtown DC Starbucks – OCCUPIED by Coffee Shop Nation

a DCIFF Short

In downtown DC, the Starbucks found every few blocks all have their personalities. You don’t find the independents you see in Northern California I am familiar with. Not even a Pete’s (yes I know, NOT an independent.) But despite DCIFF’s natural penchant for independents in all things, this corporate shop does a good job.

The one at 18th and K Streets is small, and there’s always space. The one over on I Street is half vacant but a good Plan B for when you need wifi and a coffee and some quiet. But this one, at 15th and K is ground zero for Coffee Shop Nation. It’s in the heart of the “Golden Triangle” district. Down the street is the White House.

I meet there regularly with the DCIFF Exec Dir or to gather notes after a think tank presentation. It’s more like a Santa Cruz independent coffee shop than any other place in the District. The occupydc settlement is across the street. It’s also business, think tank, and lobby central. So there is quite a mix of people and Starbucks is handling the throng pretty well.

Bloggers, journalists, and occupiers dressed like Earth First activists amiable login to free wifi along the window counters, or outside at tables when the weather is decent. The bathrooms get heavy use but don’t bear the marks (and graffiti) you’d find at any establishment in Santa Cruz….
The Washington Examiner reporter who talked to me Wednesday was interested in the occupydc collateral effects on the shop. My remarks did not make the cut but you can read the article here.

It’s such an interesting scene, I wonder an American University student is not writing, or blogging, it up.