Reviews and things...
Rental Car - 2007 Prius. (For the last 10 years I have been a happy Audi A4 Driver I got a Prius as rental) Overall not half bad. Not as much power (Acceleration) as I would like but generally it did ok. For all but the worst 15% of merge situations it would likely be fine for me. Handling was a little sluggish under speed but again not awful. Who ever put that real time fuel mileage dash as the default was a market genius because it does make you feel really good! Comfort was decent. Ergonomics was not bad but the shift system and positioning was a bit weird and I admit I pressed the park button accidentally and put the car in neutral on the fly. The controls on the steering wheel (climate and radio) made a lot of sense and were very intuitive. Not really my cup of tea but still a decent and quite serviceable car.
Ray's Hell Burger (Arlington VA)
Ambiance: Definitely a hole in the wall. Love the movie posters, hate that it is another concrete box with really bad noise reflection. There is seating but it leans towards groups of 2 or 4, I am not sure I'd try to get seating for more then 4 though we did see one group that managed it. The place was packed when we were there (7:30-8:30 on a Wed Night)
Service: It is counter service and there can be some hiccups but in general the place seems to run like finely tuned chaos. Churning out a burger in a time that easily matches 5 guys.
Your Tasty beverage: If you like root beer you are in good shape it is on tap in a variety of sizes. I think there was also two kinds of juice/lemonade. If you like coke/diet coke you will be paying $2 for an eight ounce bottle. It is a nice glass bottle but really I'd like 12-16 ounces.
Starters/sides: There no fries and that makes me sad. They server Route 11 chips which are darn tasty. The mac and cheese was quite tasty but served lukewarm instead of hot. (don't know if that was intentional or not)
The main course: I ordered my burger seared and crusted with peppercorn and american cheese. I can say it was certainly on of the best burgers I have ever eaten. I t was juicy and very flavorful. The burgers are 10 ounces which is a big burger. IF you put a lot of toppings on it you may have trouble eating it :) The bun was decent and held up well during the eating.
Dessert: The have ice cream that looked tasty but I was way to full of tasty tasty cow!
All in All I am going to go back (especially since I want to try the blackened burger style as well as the regular burger style [grilled]). I recommend you check them out if you are in the area. Pricing other then soda was very reasonable but they only take cash! (They have a no fee atm on site which is a nice touch)
The Underpants (Olney Theater) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Underpants)
I am a sucker for Steve Martin dialogue I loved Picasso at the Lapin Agile. We had front row seats which were nice. I thought it was well acted and had some crisp dialogue, very funny in places. Overall the plot did not really pull me along and the ending was a bit weak. I think I like my plays with more character growth.
Olney Alehouse (Right across from Olney Theater in lovely Olney)
A lovely accident delayed it us to the point where I was not sure we would have time for dinner. They were quite busy but did a good job getting folks seated. We ended it up at the bar but that was not too bad. Service was acceptable especially for bar service in a busy place. The fries were great ad was the hot wing sauce. The steak and cheese was merely ok. When we asked for some of there bread we got two slices which did not even look like the half loaves they were giving to folks with the non sandwich entrees. Overall just a C+ but I am willing to give them another chance on a less busy night because I think they can do better.
Burn After Reading (movie)
Well it is a Coen brothers movie so you will get pretty much what you expect ;) The acting is good. The script is decent and the dialogue works. For me the problem of course is that some characters I just really can't like and thus I am not really interested in what happens to them. That said the movie has nice pacing and moves along smartly. I'd give it a B-
Fringe (TV - Pilot)
It has potential. The main problem I see is that unlike X-Files they will likely be more focused on a series of related events so the "conspiracy" will be in your face every week. I think that limits what the show can do. The cast seems solid though I think the writing/dialogue is a bit muddy and forced in places. Giving it a provisional thumbs up and will re-evaluate after two more episodes.