A month ago, the Washington Redskins needed to win out the rest of their season and receive a ton of help from the rest of the NFC in order to make the playoffs. And it needed to start in the short week between a Sunday's loss to Buffalo and a Thursday night game with Chicago. And then it needed to start after Sean Taylor's funeral. And then it needed to continue despite losing starting quarterback......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: 2007 Washington Jewish Film Festival The Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center’s annual film festival has become one of the largest and longest running of the local festivals. This year’s program encompasses over 40 films, from 11 countries. Nearly half of the selections are films from Israel, in recognition of the nation’s 60th year. The event......

The guitarist for the pop-punk band Hawthorne Heights passed away before the group's show at the 9:30 Club over the weekend. Casey Calvert, 25, was found dead on the band's tour bus at around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, parked outside the venue in Northwest D.C. A cause of death has yet to be determined, but Calvert's bandmates have been quick to defend against speculation that drugs were involved. They posted the following message to their......

FRIDAY: >> Local comic book store Fantom Comics is celebrating the grand opening of their new Union Station store tonight with a party from 6 to 10:30 p.m. They'll be serving up free pizza on the early side and the comedy stylings of the Geek Comedy Tour during the second half of the night. There will also be a trivia contest with $500 gift certificates up for grabs. The party is inside the Union......

FRIDAY: >> Two shows for DAM! Fest tonight, with events at Rock and Roll Hotel and the Red and the Black. The former includes an appearance by recent Three Stars subject the Beanstalk Library, plus The Exit, Dragons of Zynth and The Teeth. Stick around for the free afterparty, We Fought the Hej, a combo of two of our favorite DJ nights, Hej Hej and We Fought the Big One. >> Don't forget to check......

DCist is proud to be the official media sponsor of Cultural Tourism DC's free event this Saturday, Sept. 29: WalkingTown DC offers a wealth of free walking tours all day long to get Washingtonians out and discovering new things about their city and neighborhoods. The Temperance Tour, hosted by volunteer Garrett Peck, author of The Prohibition Hangover, begins at the Cogswell Temperance Fountain at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 1 p.m. and wraps......

FRIDAY: >> Octogenarian fiddler Joe Thompson (at right), said to be the last black traditional string band player, plays a free show at The Kennedy Center's The Millennium Stage with fellow folk musicians Wayne Martin on fiddle and Bob Carlin, a clawhammer style banjoist. 6 p.m. >> Space rockers The Gulf sold out their D.C. show in April, and are coming back to play at the Red and the Black with the Joonies, Twin Earth,......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

>> Three Stars alumni Greenland take the Black Cat's backstage tonight, with Mikal Evans Band and A Northern Chorus. $8, 9 p.m. >> Best Cellars co-founder Joshua Wesson hosts The European Tour of Wine tonight at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Wesson promises to illuminate the art of pairing wine with cheese, with eight wines and cheeses served throughout the evening as examples. 7 p.m., $60 ($50 for Corcoran members). >> D.C. United opens SuperLiga!......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Drivers in Montgomery County, beware! The AT&T National golf tournament, hosted by the sport's superstar player, Tiger Woods, began today at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. The tournament should to make your drive home today, and the rest of this week, hideous beyond reason. Of course, the event being here isn't all, or even mostly, bad news. For starters, D.C. was in danger of not having its own golf tournament at all. For 20 years......

MONDAY: Min Jin Lee will be at Politics and Prose to read from her debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires. No, it doesn't promote welfare for the wealthy. It's actually about a first-generation immigrant trying to find balance between the ways of her parents and American culture. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: We don't know what to think about 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. His win last year was surrounded by controversy over whether he......

'Tis the season for outdoor venues, and it just so happens the greater D.C. area has a plethora of them. Outside the confines of our beloved Fort Reno, Wolftrap, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Nissan Pavilion, and a few more decent venues all exist within an hour of the District. They might require a bit of a hike, and usually a car, but if you have the means, might as well pick up a cheap lawn seat......

>> Spoil your senses at Night #2 of the current WPA\C Experimental Media Series. Curated by Brandon Morse, whose own work we've recommended again and again, the one-night exhibition will include video and audio works by a slew of talented newcomers. And though this series is part of ColorField.remix, if we've got Morse pegged correctly this will be a kick in the pants to the usual staid, stripe-y paintings you may associate with the......

Written by DCist Contributor Gayle S. Putrich It’s springtime in D.C. and apparently, if you’re a rock star chef, that means it’s time to open a moderately priced, bistro/brasserie/kinda casual place. Thanks to this little trend, I’ve managed to score some seriously good eats without going broke. But if you haven’t got the cash or the time to take the Tour of Bistros right now, stick with one of many reasonably priced delectable dishes at......

The kitchen's closing, and it's last call. In less than one week, I leave my native Washington, D.C. for the San Francisco Bay Area. For someone who loves food and drink, the move means fabulous produce (some, ideally, from the fruit trees in my future backyard), proximity to wine country, wonderful restaurants, and burritos, burritos, burritos! But it also means leaving family, friends, and food memories here in the District. So before I skedaddle, I'm......

>> Celebrate the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a discussion of Japanese cinema and culture at the Freer Gallery. Film scholar Tom Vick presents film clips illustrating changes in family dynamics and Japanese society throughout the 20th Century. [Jefferson Dr. at 12th St. SW, $18, 7 p.m.] >> Catch the latest installment of Geek Comedy Tour 3K at Riot Act Comedy Club (aka HR-57). This collection of nerds waxes poet on......

Last Saturday morning, under grey skies and whipping winds, DCist rolled out of bed to take a walking tour of Embassy Row, one of the 60 free tours being offered in this weekend's WalkingTown DC, an event offered by Cultural Tourism DC. Like Sommer, I was initially sceptical that there was much to learn about the Dupont Circle neighborhood, a familiar stomping ground for many Washington young people. But on the Embassy Row tour,......

>> Artomatic continues with a bevy of daily events. Tonight Ellyn Weiss leads a "Colorfield Intermix Tour of Artomatic", showing visitors works influenced by the Colorfield painting tradition. Even if you're not well versed in art movements, it's a good chance to get an overview of this month-long art extravaganza. [2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Va., Free, 8:30 p.m.] >> Trumpeter and composer Chris Botti brings his pop and jazz standards to the Warner Theater.......

It's the Ides of March and there's not much to fear, D.C. As long as we don't step on any cracks (and therefore break mothers' backs) or allow black cats free reign, we might not jinx our chances for voting rights. Stay tuned for full DCist coverage on the debate/vote today. On a more personal note, for all those who succumbed to the irrational exuberance of sartorial selection this week, temperance is due; it's back......

If this piddling little excuse for a snowstorm keeps you indoors this evening, maybe you don't deserve to go meet the crew of Road to Roubaix tonight at Warehouse for the film's fundraiser. The century old road race is no Tour de France with its fancy paved streets and three weeks to make up for break-downs and falls. No, the one day Paris-Roubaix is for the hard core cyclists who like their jaws ringing like......

We mentioned it in the morning roundup, but it's worth celebrating this news with a post of its own: D.C. is getting a golf tournament. And not just any golf tournament! No, as the Post reports, we've somehow lucked into hosting a new PGA Tour event put on by the Tiger Woods Foundation. The Post sports folks are beside themselves — both Boswell and Wilbon have columns today rhapsodizing about the new event. We can't......

You might know him as, “the handsome grandson,” “the outta work superhero,” or by the name on his birth certificate, “Dathan Harbor.” But chances are you’ve never heard of Flex Mathews by any of his many monikers. You may have no idea that, since he moved to D.C. in 2002, a rising star has been right under your nose. The rest of the country seems to be noticing. In 2005, URB magazine named Flex one......

>> Where, oh where, to get your art and beer this week? There may not be many openings around town, but all you need is one big one, and Dr. Dremo's is command central for the weekend's launch activities. More than an art show, the Counter Culture Festival has music, dancing, and food to keep your creative side abuzz all evening. The festival is organized by DC Conspiracy, a group of comic creators, artists and......

See what happens when you give the guys picked last for dodge ball a microphone and some stage time. Tonight at 10:30 p.m., Warehouse Theatre is hosting Geek Comedy Tour 3000 — the nerdcore musings of twelve local guys, plus solo comedian Herbie Gill. Naturally, these grey matter-types wouldn’t have anything better to do on a Friday night. And admit it, neither do you. They speak to the closet geek inside us all. They’re the......

By DCist contributor Celeste Dawn Mitchell Two thousand of the khaki crowd's finest came out to party Thursday at Friends of the National Zoo's Young Professionals' (or FONZ YP's, if you will) sold-out Brew at the Zoo. Proceeds went toward its Asian elephant conservation project. Just in case patrons forgot they were partying for a cause, four-ounce fill-lines on souvenir mugs intimated that this was a classy tasting affair, not a frat kegger. Though......

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on......

Score one more for the heatwave. Metro trains running less frequently, air conditioners failing under the pressure, and now, the cruelest cut of all: Sleater-Kinney fans denied on the D.C. stop of their (Please Don't Call It A) Farewell Tour. Arriving at a show to find a fire truck parked by the front door and firemen looking sternly into an open manhole can never be a good sign. (A manhole cover that, we’ve heard, housed......

August is notoriously a dead month for theatregoers. Truth be told, we're glad to take a breather after wearing ourselves out during the first Capital Fringe Festival. But we still can't wait until September, which marks the start of so many companies' seasons. In the meantime, there are a few shows to tide you over. >>Kennedy Center spends the summer months highlighting the talent of teens, with their workshop production of Muzical! showcased by Cappies......

Forget Paris. There's no stage more iconic to the Tour de France than the one that includes the brutal Alpe d'Huez. The steep "hors categorie" ascent up the Alpine peak to end the stage separates potential champions from mere mortals, as the weak fall away from the peloton and the expert climbers push ahead through the fan-crowded hills. In other words, even if you're not so addicted to the Tour that you TiVo coverage of......