Artisphere Gets Exclusive Photo Exhibit — Artisphere has scored a bit of a coup by becoming the first and only venue in the United States to host an exhibit of the personal photos of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. “These images reveal a little-known side of the artist and lifelong resident of Mexico City suburb and Arlington, Va. sister city, Coyoacán,” Artisphere said in a press release. “The collection of photographs in this exhibition reflect Kahlo’s tastes and interests, the experiences she shared with those close to her, and her complicated, but also thrilling, personal life.” [Artisphere]

General Assembly May Ban Motorcycle Checkpoints — State legislators are considering a bill that would ban police from setting up motorcycle-only safety checkpoints. Arlington is one of the jurisdictions cited as having conducted such a “discriminatory” checkpoint — during last year’s Rolling Thunder ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. [Virginian-Pilot]

Company: Moving Out of Arlington Was a Mistake — The non-profit research firm that’s planning to move in to this soon-to-be-built office development in Clarendon says they’re happy to be moving back to Arlington. “We had a brief moment of insanity and we moved to Alexandria,” a company executive is quoted as saying. “Now we just want to move home.” [Arlington Mercury]

Think spinning a sign by the side of the road sounds easy? Think again.

Sign spinners — they who inform passing motorists of closeout specials and condo sales — undergo training sessions to learn many of their acrobatic routines.

We spotted nearly a dozen spinners from the local Aarow Advertising franchise practicing in a small park near Columbia Pike on Friday. They were getting ready to perform during the next day’s Georgetown basketball game at the Verizon Center.

Mother nature treated us to some spectacular sights last night.

Following a prolonged period of rain yesterday, the sun came out just in time to produce an extraordinary golden sunset and a vivid double rainbow.

Photos courtesy Brendan Lilly (top), BrianMKA (left), and Rich Thomasson (right).

The Anime USA convention, an annual celebration of Japanese arts and popular culture, has brought plenty of colorful, costumed characters to Crystal City over the years.

This year’s convention at the Crystal City Hyatt was no exception — but it also represented what may be the last hurrah for the convention’s tenure in Arlington. Next year Anime USA will be held at the Washington Marriott Wardman, off of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C.

“The Marriott will offer a larger, convienent [sic], and more cell phone friendly location as the [convention] continues to grow,” organizers wrote on the Anime USA blog.

The convention attracts thousands of passionate attendees each year. Below are some of the more memorable costumes we spotted around Crystal City Friday night.

On Saturday, the public will be introduced to the new Long Bridge Park — just north of Crystal City — when county leaders hold an 11:00 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

First-time visitors will be pleasantly surprised to find that the 18-acre park is quite a sight to behold. A year and a half after construction on the park began, what was once a muddy brown field is now a welcoming green space, with picturesque views of Reagan National Airport, the Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, the Crystal City skyline and the Washington Monument.

The $31 million park features three lighted synthetic turf athletic fields, a half-mile long esplanade, a public art piece, a rain garden, a trellis and other public green space.

The esplanade runs parallel to a pair of CSX railroad tracks, used by freight trains, Amtrak passenger trains and VRE commuter trains. Lined with cherry trees, the esplanade will be utilized by walkers, joggers, cyclists and people who just want a scenic place to sit and relax.

Getting to the park will be somewhat of a challenge. Visitors coming to the Crystal City Metro station will have a bit of a hike before reaching the esplanade entrance, at the bend where Crystal Drive becomes 12th Street S. Those arriving by car will be able to use Long Bridge Drive — formerly Old Jefferson Davis Highway — to reach a modest surface parking lot. While Long Bridge Drive was recently renamed, it remains the worst public road in Arlington — with big bumps, ruts and potholes for most of the stretch between 12th Street and I-395/Boundary Channel Drive.

Find out more about the park’s first phase via Arlington County. A second phase of park construction, currently in the planning stage, will add a large new aquatics, health and fitness center, with an Olympic-sized pool and a 10-meter diving platform.

More photos, after the jump.

Some Arlington residents went all-out when it came to dressing up their homes for Halloween. Just before the kids started trick-or-treating last night, we stopped by two local streets that were said to have some of the best decorations around.

On the 700 block of N. Illinois Street in Bluemont, two homeowners were duking it out for the title of scariest house. One home was not only spook-ified on the outside, but the creepy decorations and frightful lighting continued well inside the front door as well.

The 700 block of N. Jackson Street in Ashton Heights was even more festive. One otherwise charming home was converted into a yard of horrors, with freshly-dug graves, cobwebs, leering ghouls and a menacing coffin. Just down the street, neighbors were out taking photos of the N. Jackson Street Cemetery — a house-turned-haunted-house featuring a real, rusted-out hearse, more freshly-dug graves and a small army of free-standing witches, ghosts and skeletons.

How do these compare to the best-decorated homes in your neighborhood?

We’re continuing to follow the Yorktown High School varsity football team’s undefeated season.

The Patriots are now 8-0, having defeated the Falls Church Jaguars 55-6 on Friday night. The blowout is just the latest triumph for the team, which is hoping to close out a perfect regular season after going on the road at Mount Vernon (Oct. 28) and hosting the cross-town rival Washington-Lee Generals (Nov. 4).

The Sun Gazette has a full recap of Friday night’s game.

Fox 5 Morning News anchor Steve Chenevey, 94.7 Fresh FM morning show host Tommy McFly and an Arlington County K-9 police officer were among the guest judges at the ‘Top Dog’ talent contest in Crystal City last week.

The contest was held by the pet-friendly Residence Inn Arlington Capital View, in order to select a new canine mascot for the hotel. Pooches were put through a series of “American Idol”-style challenges, complete with commentary from the judges after each pair of performances.

In the end, Sweet Dee, a pug, captured the top prize.

Thousands jammed the streets of Shirlington on Saturday for the annual Oktoberfest celebration, which features beers from dozens of breweries and food from a number of local restaurants..

While the ID check/ticket lines seemed even longer than usual, the lines for beer seemed more manageable.

Despite the more readily-accessible beer, firefighters told us they responded to fewer intoxication-related medical calls than in previous years.

The Yorktown Patriots are now 4-0 after defeating National District football rival Hayfield before a home crowd Friday night.

Despite a slow start on offense, the Yorktown defense held up and led the team to a 21-0 victory. The Patriots will try to improve to 5-0 this week when the team faces J.E.B. Stuart on the road.

Live music. Dancing. Food. Exhibitors. Kid’s activities. Arts and Crafts. A skateboarding demonstration.

Clarendon Day has a little something for everyone. The annual street fair, held on several streets in the heart of Clarendon, went off without a hitch on Saturday.

Though cloudy, the afternoon was mercifully rain-free, which helped to boost attendance. See the rest of our photos from the event, after the jump.

The annual wine and food festival known as Vintage Crystal: A Taste of Wine and Jazz was held Sunday afternoon in Crystal City.

The event featured tastings of more than 30 types of Spanish and South American wines, as well as free food samples from local eateries like Jaleo, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Kora. There was also live performances of Latin jazz, rumba, salsa, and samba music — complete with dancing.

Here are a few of our photos from the event.