weird

Arlington’s Most Outspoken Restaurants on Twitter

By ARLnow.com

Some restaurants say the darndest things… when they go on Twitter.

Buttoned-up and professional inside, these restaurants become your chatty pal when you follow them on Twitter. Sometimes outspoken, sometimes outrageous, sometimes attention-seeking, and occasionally Tweeting about something legitimately restaurant-related, these eateries have a personality on social media that has little to do with to the experience of going there and having a meal.

We have selected L.A. Bar and Grill (2530 Columbia Pike), T.H.A.I. In Shirlington (4029 Campbell Avenue) and The Front Page (4201 Wilson Blvd) as Arlington’s Most Outspoken Restaurants on Twitter.

Whether it’s pontificating on the off-season signings of the Washington Capitals, telling someone who just went to a competing restaurant to “try us… next time” or calling Comcast a bunch of “a–holes,” these restaurants are unafraid to deviate from the normal sales pitches that one might find on the Twitter accounts of larger, corporate-owned restaurants.

“It’s just something to have fun with, not to be too serious,” said Sean Deloatche, general manager of L.A. Bar and Grill. “A lot of our regulars, to be honest, aren’t on Twitter. It’s more towards our younger crowd.”

Deloatche, who runs the restaurant’s Twitter account, says that it’s not about trying to sell more food or drink, it’s about having a conversation with customers.

“Every bar has to be more serious on Twitter, but that’s not the way we talk to our customers anyway,” he said. “We can say things that every other bar wants to say, but can’t. We are like a neighborhood dive bar, and we play to our strengths. We don’t try to be anything that we’re not.”

See examples of Sean’s nontraditional Tweeting, and the Tweets of the two other “outspoken” restaurants, after the jump.

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For Sale: 18-Foot Tall Topless Wooden Mermaid

By ARLnow.com

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a huge, wooden mermaid with big, exposed breasts, now is your chance. All you need is three grand and a chainsaw.

The 18-foot tall mermaid has graced the front yard of Leeway Overlee resident Paul Jackson since 2004, when Paul and wife Nancy had the bright idea to carve something out of their dying 100+ year old white ash tree. Nancy, in a moment of benevolence, suggested a mermaid, to satisfy Paul’s dual loves of fish and women. The final product, carved by Frederick, Md. artist Scott Dustin, featured what the Washington Post’s Laura Sessions Stepp described as “a shapely derriere and bare breasts that must be at least size DD.”

The busty mermaid, named “Damaged Goods” or D.G. for short, has attracted neighborhood and media attention ever since her controversial creation. She received the aforementioned Washington Post write-up shortly after Labor Day 2004 — in an article entitled “Majestic or Monstrous?” — and, more recently, she was the focus of a Connection Newspapers piece entitled “From Controversy to Landmark.” She’s also listed on RoadsideAmerica.com, an “online guide to offbeat tourist attractions.”

All is not well in paradise, however. D.G.’s roots are weakening and Paul has decided to sell rather than watch her teeter. He’s asking for $3,000, and not a dime less.

“Buyer is responsible for ‘slicing her off’ and transporting her to her new home,” he writes on his Craigslist ad. If you want to inspect the goods, D.G. can be viewed from the street or the sidewalk, on the south side of the 6200 block of Lee Highway.

Hat tip to M. Crider

Airport Altercation at Reagan National

By ARLnow.com

Two women were involved in an unusual altercation in Terminal A of Reagan National Airport this morning.

The alleged scuffle started around 8:40 a.m. when one of the women inadvertently struck the other with a suitcase, according to airport spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis. The woman who was holding the suitcase later told airport police that the woman she struck then stood up and hit her several times.

While airport police were escorting the suitcase holder to the Arlington County Magistrate’s Office to swear a warrant against the other woman, the alleged attacker claimed that she was injured, Mickalonis said. Arlington County paramedics were called to treat her.

No word yet on whether any charges will be filed in connection to the altercation.

File photo

Pair in Covered Wagon Heads Down Rt. 50

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) A Tea Party member from rural Georgia traveled down Route 50 in a horse-drawn covered wagon this afternoon, en route to “get some answers.”

With his travel companion, 33-year-old Missy Wilkerson, and his cattle dog, “Blue,” Ralph Casey is heading to D.C. to get answers for “the Small Businessman” from “someone in charge.” The nearly six week journey through the byways of small town America has garnered media attention, words of encouragement and offers of free food and lodging for the 69-year-old horseshoeing school owner.

Fast-moving traffic was able to maneuver around Casey’s wagon as it traveled at 5 to 10 miles per hour down the highway. Read more about his journey from the Madison County, Va. Eagle newspaper. Casey can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The Day of Reckoning is Coming, According to RV Convoy

By ARLnow.com

A slow-moving convoy of recreational vehicles drove through Arlington this afternoon declaring that the “day of reckoning” is coming.

A man with a bullhorn barked pronouncements of doom in passing, in case motorists were not able to see the graphics on the side of the half dozen RVs in the convoy.

We spotted the convoy driving south on Route 1 in the Crystal City area around 3:45 p.m. No word on where they were headed.

Update at 4:45 p.m. — Commenter CW has identified the likely culprits, who believe the apocalypse will come on May 21.

Calling All Mullets to the Clarendon Metro Station

By ARLnow.com

A local woman is hoping to round up area mullet-wearers for a photography project in Clarendon this weekend.

The woman, who would only identify herself as “Irene,” posted an ad on Craigslist to publicize the event.

“I think mullets are interesting and I think, although not in line with popular opinion, that mullets look great on those that choose to have them,” Irene wrote on the site. “I want to take your picture and ask you a couple of questions about why you have your mullet and what you think about mullets and yourself.”

The posting asks mulleteers to show up at the fountain in the park next to the Clarendon Metro station, between noon and 1:00 on Saturday.

“Be there or be square!” the ad beckons.

We asked Irene via email why, of all the possible subjects for artistic exploration, she chose mullets.

“I have been thinking about mullets for I would say 3-4 years now,” Irene wrote back. “I don’t know why I decided on mullets except that I kind of feel like so many people are stereotyped and hair has a lot to do with it, you know?”

“Mullets I feel are totally funky but I bet the people are varied and probably have a lot to offer and we all just see them as honky tonks,” she continued. “I really want to know the mullet wearer and what they are all about and hope to have it exhibited in some way in the future, assuming anyone shows up.”

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Whacky Russian News Program Visits Arlington Gas Station

By ARLnow.com

Because of today’s breaking news, we had to push our article on last night’s very, very long discussion of the East Falls Church development plan to tomorrow. As a way of making amends, we bring you a segment from the English-language Russian propaganda news channel Russia Today, which you may be able to find in a dark corner of your extended digital cable service.

In the clip, a reporter interviews some folks at a Shell station in Arlington about America’s “addiction” to oil (spoiler: people at a gas station are in no hurry to ditch their cars). But the real reason to watch is for the American anchor’s lead-in to the reporter’s story:

And when it comes to the topic of petrol, and America’s appetite for it, we’re like heroin addicts. And as the color of the waters of the Gulf turn from a murky blue to a poop brown, RT’s Lauren Lyster asked Americans, “Can you kick the habit?”

That’s right, comrades, we’re heroin addicts and our water is poop brown. Courtesy of a TV network from the world’s largest oil producer.

As if to make the setup to an otherwise perfectly normal news story more ridiculous, before you press play you’re treated to a photo of a drunk Uncle Sam holding a gas pump.

Enjoy.

Twittering Food Truck Hits Wrong Button

By ARLnow.com

It’s not easy being a food truck operator.

Running your own business is hard work. Handling lunchtime crowds in hot and humid weather is exhausting. And nowadays, if you run a popular mobile food business, you need to keep your loyal fans apprised of your every move lest an online  revolt breaks out.

District Taco is one of the more prolific food truck vendors on Twitter. They’re total social media pros — answering questions and retweeting customers’ feedback.

But even Twitter pros will sometimes send an errant tweet. Today, @districttaco was trying to answer a question about how someone got a t-shirt. Unfortunately, they clicked the wrong retweet button.

@districttaco He bought it, amigo!RT @washdcnews Hit-and-Run Victim Remembered as Hard-working Family Man

An apology quickly followed.

The Unusual Case of the Stolen Wig

By ARLnow.com

Police are looking for a a 6’2″ transsexual who ran from a South Arlington beauty store with a pilfered wig, hopped into a car and sped off onto Columbia Pike.

Usman Minayar, manager of the Crystal Beauty store on South Edgewood Street, said the suspect tried to stealthily put the $17 ten inch honey blond wig in a purse while her friend, a local stripper, distracted him.

When Minayar saw what was going on, the suspect made a mad dash for the door. He didn’t try to stop her.

“I was a bit scared… [s]he’s a big guy… [s]he might knock me down, you know.”

The suspect was wearing a black shirt, a bandana and “booty shorts” at the time of the theft, Minayar said.

He said he’s confused by the theft because both the transsexual woman and the stripper, a biological female, have bought items at the store before.

Crime Report: Chef Burg-Lar-Eee Edition

By ARLnow.com

This week’s Arlington crime report is especially long, but that’s just because it details incidents from the past two weeks (as opposed to the normal one).

The report includes the bank robbery and the armored truck robbery that we reported on the Friday before last.

It also features the intriguing case of a man who allegedly broke into a business in Ballston and started whipping up a meal:

BURGLARY-ARREST 04/30/10, 4100 block of Fairfax Drive. Between 4:30 pm on April 29, and 6 am on April 30, a person entered a business and cooked food. The suspect was located by police and arrested. Clifford Robinson, 27, of Burke, was charged with Burglary. He was held on a $5,000 bond.

The full report, after the jump.

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