Who: the National Press Foundation’s annual dinner

Where: The main ballroom at the Washington Hilton

When: Thursday, February 28, at 6:30 PM

Scene: The NPF dinner always stands out among the spring whirlwind of press dinners/grown-up proms for two reasons: 1) The journalism awards are the central part of the evening, not lame jokes by a tired comedian or politician; 2) the dinner ends on time—last night it went over its scheduled 9:30 close by just seven minutes. Anyone who has sat through a gala as it passes 10 PM and drags towards 11 knows what a glorious treat punctuality can be.

“The kind of writers I love are writing on the backs of cocktail napkins.” So says David Simon, creator of The Wire, the acclaimed HBO Baltimore drama now in its final weeks. The former police reporter at the Baltimore Sun joined a roomful of journalists for dinner and a Wire screening Wednesday night at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association Theater near Union Station.  

Smartly dressed in jeans and a sport coat, Simon received a hero’s treatment, a rock star among the media brethren. Many prefaced their questions with gushing praise (“Thank you for creating the most wonderful work of art in modern memory”).

If you’ve seen The Wire, you might agree with the chorus. If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and start now. With five seasons and sixty episodes, you’ve got a lot of work to do to catch up to the most relevant drama in television today. Simon is a storyteller in the truest sense, always looking for a deeper explanation for the seemingly inexplicable. The Wire is full of murder, government and police corruption, drug use and traffic. But in the deep, contextual portrait he draws, it is near impossible to define the line between black and white, protagonist and antagonist, good and evil. And in the end, some of today’s best ideas are scrawled on bourbon-stained napkins in smudged ink. Here’s what Simon had to say:

What: Second Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Pink-Tie Party

Where: The Madison hotel, 1177 15th St., NW

When: Wednesday, February 27, 6 to 10 PM

Ticket price: $150

Who: The 250-person sold-out event was packed with DC tourism-industry folks, including reps from Cultural Tourism DC, the Washington DC Convention and Tourism Corporation, and Guest Services—you know, those people in the kiosks on the Mall. The event’s sponsors—Target, Mitsubishi, and Southwest Airlines, among others—also had a strong showing. Boldface names were hard to come by, but DC’s deputy mayor, Neil Albert, made an appearance, as did Steve Moore, the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s board chair and president and CEO of the DC Economic Partnership.

28,480—Number of campaign TV ads aired in New Hampshire in the run up to the primary, according to Nielsen.

$400,000—Amount raised per hour by Barack Obama’s campaign just after winning the South Carolina primary.

48—Amount, in millions, spent by Rudolph Giuliani in his presidential bid. He didn’t win a single delegate.

$1,500—Asking price for a ticket to join Senator Frank Lautenberg at the February 28 Bon Jovi concert at DC’s Verizon Center.

528,468—Miles traveled by Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean to reach all 50 states since he was elected in February 2005, according to U.S. News.

$227,000—Average amount the Republican National Committee raised per day in 2007.

$2.23—Amount spent by Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2007 for every dollar spent by John McCain’s campaign.

$135.50—Highest-priced public ticket for theBon Jovi concert.

Collaborations, launched by management consultant Angela Drummond, seeks to meld the best of sports, entertainment, dining, and a private club. With rates as high as $250,000 a year for six people (three-year minimum membership required), she’s finding an audience.

The club was created when the Verizon Center ripped out eight luxury suites on the third level of the arena and Collaborations renovated the 5,000-square-foot space into a venue one could easily confuse with a power setting like the Tower Club in McLean. Dark-paneled walls and an expansive bar overlooking the National Portrait Gallery greet the club’s members, who can amuse themselves during events with a pool table, conduct business in a conference room, dine in a room on food prepared by a chef hired from the Ritz-Carlton, or just watch the game from large leather seats. Don’t want to sit for the game? Flat screens broadcast the entertainment throughout the club—even in the men’s restroom.

Drummond says she hopes to sell 60 to 70 memberships—she’s about a quarter of the way there—targeted toward such dealmakers as developers, lawyers, recruiters, and government contractors.

Moviemakers often turn to gimmicks to generate some buzz, but sometimes it’s done the old-fashioned way. Predawn darkness and freezing temperatures at the Sundance Film Festival didn’t stop a group of Washington filmmakers from making the rounds with their posters declaring LEN BIAS: THE LEGEND YOU KNOW, THE STORY YOU DIDN'T.