UPDATE: I just got off the phone with the Freer Gallery– they apologized profusely for sending us on a wild ticket-chase. It is only possible to reserve "free" tickets for CONCERTS. Never for films. They weren’t supposed to include the ticketmaster information with this listing.
The good news is, the official I spoke with said we should be fine IF we show up at 1pm for truly free tickets. We are allowed two per person. He said that the Sri Lankan films generally don’t "sell-out", if such a thing can be said about free events. 🙂 The reason Born into Brothels did is because it won an Oscar. Got that? No reserving tickets– it’s not possible. PLEASE GET THERE EARLY TO REQUEST FREE TICKETS AT 1PM, ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW.
= = = =
After our left-coast counterparts paint the town Sepia on Saturday night, DC is going to get its culture on via our ninth meetup. Quality AND quantity…that’s how chocolate city do. 😉
First, we’ll head to the (Smithsonian) Freer Gallery, which is screening the Sri Lankan film “Against the Tide” in its Meyer Auditorium. Tickets are FREE. Once we’re spiritually nourished, we’ll head to Vapiano restaurant (1800 M Street N.W.), where we can drink wine, poach the free gummi bears or actually order Italian food (and the strawberries and cream, because it’s the best dessert there):
Vapiano is an innovative European concept serving made-to-order fire roasted pizzas, fresh, house-made pasta and hand tossed gourmet salads. [v]
The unique thing about Vapiano is that everyone who walks in gets a card, which tracks what you choose from the various salad, pasta, pizza, dessert/bar areas; when you leave, you return the card, they scan it, and voila– separate checks, no muss or fuss. 🙂
That’s an extra welcome concept considering what happened at our last meetup, at the underwhelming Nirvana. Three of you forgot to leave money before you left (though one of you realized this and apologized profusely and tried to make it right). That is the ONLY time that has EVER happened at a DC meetup, though, and all the remaining mutineers immediately chipped in and covered for you so I wouldn’t have to. See? Vapiano. Brilliant.
Okay, more to this post soon, but here are the barest details, so you can sharpie this in to your schedule:
Meet at 1 pm (that’s when they distribute the FREE tickets to the film).
See “Against the Tide” at 2pm.
Meet outside at around 4pm.
Take Metro to Vapiano (red/blue/orange lines) and eat. 🙂More info re: the ticket situation:
Free tickets are required for most performances in the Meyer Auditorium…Two tickets per person are also distributed (for no service fee) at the Meyer Auditorium beginning one hour before showtime, on a first-come, first-served basis.
I think I’m going to reserve tickets in advance, just becauseI’m going to be there at 1pm to snag two tickets, because I want to make sure I see the film. Has anyone attended one of these programs at Meyer? Any advice to us museophytes? 🙂
Wait, is Sri Lanka part of South Asia? [ducking]
Looks great! I’m coming down to DC for the National Arboretum Orchid Auction on Sat., so if my schedule permits me to stay ’til Sunday afternoon (it normally would, but I’ve got some hectic stuff going on right now, so I’m sorry to say I’m not entirely sure) I will see you on Sunday!! Woot!
A N N A –
So wish I could make it to one of these DC meet-ups, but alas…I shall be out of town this weekend. Have a great time!
Oh, yes….you should definitely reserve tix in advance. The Meyer Auditorium is awesome and it showcases some wonderful film festivals…I’ve noticed the South Asian-flavored films tend to sell out…I remember the line for “Born Into Brothels” extended all the way up the stairs, winded around the ground floor halls and reached the door of the museum…
I will have to Netflix this film.
Awww, campmuir! This is just the first of the four films in the series! I’m going to the ones next week, too, if you’re in town. 🙂
Umm…. Anna… I have been reading the Sepia Mutiny blog like it’s my Job. Six months now. Can I come? (I am an MFA writing student visiting the area from the midwest.) I would write more here to convince you how much I want to hang out, but I am afraid I would come across as being nutty and or brown nosing.
aalokika, Everyone is welcome to these meetups…commenters, lurkers, old and new readers. It’s a pretty welcoming atmosphere.
Anna, I want to come, but we’re in the middle of finals, so…
Blast! I’ll be in DC for the two weekends after the meetup.
Y’all have fun, and I’m going to go look up that film festival…
ANNA, why is the District so far away?
I’m in DC. Monday night, my friend dragged me out to some spoken-word/open-mic night event. Saw some wonderful performances–never knew that Portugese is the secret language of S. Asian hipsters.
Proceeded to down a few G&T’s and watched a hottie dance with d*ckheads. Sigh. Some things don’t change regardless of what coast you’re on.
I really wish I could have stayed for this event. Will be flying out early Sunday morning 🙁
Hope you guys have a wonderful event. Vibe out here in DC seems to be strong and postive.
That would be “Subcontinental Drift”, which was held at the historic Bohemian Caverns on U street. I was there. 🙂
I was watching that, too. She was new to DC, trashed, and all of 21. We wanted to make sure she got home safely. And if you’re talking about her lighting up the floor with the curly-haired guy, he’s gay, or as he put it, gay-si. He was hilarious, too, and the only reason I stayed. It was standing-room only and my ankle couldn’t handle it. I was reluctantly about to leave when he found me an ottoman and made sure I was comfy, the whole night, though we’d never met. Oh and beyond all that, he was definitely my favorite stand-up comic of the night. 😉
sad!! i can’t make this one thought it sounds awesome! i’m off to New Orleans to do legal aid for a week with other students. hooray legal aid!
shameless plug: come watch south asians in the arts! What: Tempus Jazz When: March 14th from 9-11pm Where: The Space, 903 N St. NW, washington d.c.
Have you ever seen a Kannada girl sing the blues?? now is your chance!!
let’s do another meet up soon. yay!
If this is a typical Sri Lankan film it is going to be long and boring and very likely a film with nothing to talk about afterwards. And there will be no song and dance sequences. Not trying to be a troll here, am Sri Lankan myself and this is my personal opinion. The good Sri Lankan movies were the oldies, the new ones are largely junk.
A N N A
that sounds like a plan….i will email you offline tonight?
The Meyer events are pretty low-key but if you wanna roll up elementary school style so we can all sit together, you best get there early, ie NOT DESI STANDARD TIME.
Very, very excited to see everyone!!! Anna, where’s the post about Ben’s Chili Bowl?
Anna,
Is the movie subtitled (like Closed Captioning for the Deaf)? I am interested in the movie, but can’t follow without subtitles 😉
I have been an avid reader of Sepia Mutiny. Id love to attend this event! Thanks Anna, for sending the invite on facebook!
we’re two months into 2008 and i have yet to be sacrificed at a meetup. count me in.
How about a Denver area meetup?
If I’m in DC this weekend will try and make it for the film and lunch.
Actually I just walked by Vapiano last night and saw this group of people in line to pay their bills. At the time it was one of those scratch the head moments since the restaurant didn’t look that full at 10pm at night. Thanks for the clue-ing in on how Vapiano works.
aalokika, kenyandesi is absosmurfly right—no justifications or requests necessary, all are welcome! Looking forward to meeting you. 🙂
Blue, like I said, I’m trying to go next weekend, too, so if you are in town, join me (and campmuir, possibly!)
Camille, 🙂
Ylrsings, thanks for the info! I’ll try and make it. 🙂
Akila, trust me, there is ALWAYS something to talk about at meetups, and keep in mind, we usually don’t have an activity before meeting at the actual venue! If all else fails, as we learned long ago at Heritage India…there is always porn. Porn is our friend. 😉
Campmuir, yay, please do!
Koppakabana, thank you so much for the additional info! Very helpful of you. I think I’m going to reserve tickets, to be on the safe side. And as for Ben’s, if I can figure out a brown angle… 😉
Thamizhan, not sure, will try and find out. 😉
Priyanka Prakash, can’t wait to meet you! And I am TOTALLY sold on Facebook when it comes to their events feature. So much easier and cleaner than Evites. I’m glad you found our posting it there helpful. 🙂
Weasel. WEASEL! Your comment made me go digging through my flickr sets, to figure out when you were last ritually assaulted…it has been MONTHS! Five, to be exact. Can’t wait to rectify that situation. 😀
Opie, whenever a mutineer travels, if their schedule permits, they host a meetup in that city. So if one of us is ever in Denver… 🙂
Lion- glad to be of assistance. 🙂 It’s a unique concept, so I can understand how it must have seemed odd w/o prior knowledge of what was going on in there.
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I think I’m going to reserve tickets, just to be on the safe side, since the demand at these screenings is high. I’ve heard from a few of you offline that just showing up ain’t gonna cut it. 🙂 Since one person can reserve up to four tix, I’m going to ask Namita, Christine and Krustymol if they want me to do that for them, that way everyone isn’t paying the service charge.
Chicago! WHAT about CHICAGO! Don’t.forget.flyover.states.
21 · Kam said
FORGET? We have our best and brightest (and tallest!) stationed there. Having said that, bug Ennis, since he’s the vindy-city-mutineer. 😉
Is anyone else having trouble just FINDING the event on the Ticketmaster website? I wanted to reserve a couple tickets and can’t do it over the phone since I’m at work. (Somehow playing online all day is fine but making a personal phonecall is verboten. Go figure.) If it’s on there and I’m just blind, point me in the right direction! 🙂
23 · Melissa said
Yes and I’m calling the Smithsonian, now…
Okay Mutineers- I’ve updated the post. They made a mistake– there is no way to reserve tix in advance. Show up at 1pm to claim up to two tickets per person. They don’t anticipate running out, so if we get there by 1pm, we should be fine. Got that? 🙂
maybe + baby*.
ANNA and Campmuir, I’m all for meeting at one of the later films. I’m flying in and out of DC on Sundays (9th, 16th) so the only one I would be able to catch would be Electric Shadows, Friday, March 14 at 7:00.
Since I’ve got the comment box open, I’m going to hijack the DC post ever-so-slightly… this isn’t SepiaCraigslist, but I’m planning to relocate to DC in a few months, so… if anyone knows anyone who might need a good housemate/roommate, my email is prettybluesalwar AT gmail DOT com. (I’m vegetarian, very tidy, and I do take off my shoes when I go inside the house.)
/hijack
25 · A N N A said
Myself and honored guests will be there. Not so sure about how long we’ll stay afterwards but definitely long enough to get in a meal and some chaat (haha, chat, chaat..nevermind).
Waaah! We really need to have one in NYC now. Have fun you guys!
blast it! i have something around 1pm but hopefully that won’t last long. i’ll try to sneak into the film during the screening (if that’s allowed), or just meet you guys at vapiano. i’ve lately been horribly deficient on my servings of sepia…
muralimannered, you will be glad to know that I can hear the Colombo army (what are the loud Sri Lankan supporters called?) playing Surangani loudly in the background during the Aus-SL game (I remember that you linked to that song a long time ago).
This sucks so bad. The ONE weekend all semester that I go to see my parents. sigh Have fun, everyone!
Out of town. Sorry going to miss the film and the restaurant!