MONDAY, AUGUST 12
FOOD Dine at some of our area’s favorite restaurants at the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s Summer Restaurant Week. Pop by spots like Ambar, Iron Gate, Centrolina, City Winery, and Oyamel for fixed-price three-course meals (brunch or lunch for $22 and dinner for $35, excluding tax/gratuity). Through August 18.
BOOKS Babylon 5 show creator J. Michael Straczynski will be at Politics and Prose on Monday to discuss his four-decade career and his memoir, Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood. In the book, Straczynski reflects on how he used comic books as a child to escape the chaos around him and how he turned to writing about alternate worlds as a career, starting with screenwriting (Changeling, Thor, and World War Z) and then writing comics for D.C. and Marvel. Free to attend (although the post-event signing line is only open to those who have purchased Becoming Superman at Politics and Prose), 7 PM.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 13
LECTURE After a half-century has gone by, it can be hard to remember how 1960s counterculture started. Join Bill Dinges, Catholic University professor of religion and culture, as he explores the rise of hippie culture and American nature mysticism at the S. Dillon Ripley Center. In this Smithsonian Associates lecture (“From Walden Pond to Woodstock: The Transcendentalist Roots of the 1960s Counterculture”), Dinges will discuss which 1960s counterculture dynamics were original and which had roots in earlier American history. $45, 6:45 PM.
FILM The Embassy of Finland is hosting a movie night showing the 2017 comedy Man and a Baby. Based on a novel by Finnish writer Eve Hietamies, the film follows a journalist who becomes a single dad to a newborn when his wife decides that motherhood isn’t for her. Free (registration required), 6 PM.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14
FESTIVAL Enjoy the county fair experience at the Arlington County Fair, running through Sunday at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center. In addition to the fair’s standard offerings (rides, food, and live music), new attractions this year include a butterfly encounter (advanced tickets suggested) and baby goat yoga (tickets). Like any good county fair, there will be a wide variety of competitive events, such as best toffee, best crocheted baby blanket, best landscape photography, and best flower arrangement. Through August 18. Free to attend.
MUSIC Singer/songwriter and poet David Berman passed away last week; he is best known for his indie-rock band Silver Jews (which also included Pavement members Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich). Berman retired from music in 2009 but resurfaced last month with his first studio album in a decade under the name Purple Mountains. He had been scheduled to tour with the band at the time of his death, and while the group’s show at the Black Cat has been cancelled, the venue will be open for a Purple Mountains listening party for anyone who wants to pay tribute to the beloved musician’s life. Free, 7:30 PM.