Mid-December has arrived, and with that comes the inevitable flood of best-of lists. The Washington Area Film Critics’ Association has, for the previous five years of its existence, been in the habit of trying to get their own list out ahead of most of the other critics’ societies. We can’t really blame them. Considering the fact that none of the critics from the city’s biggest newspaper are members, not to mention the fact that the…

>> Lieutenant Sean M. Egan of the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department has emailed out a citywide call for blood donations in the wake of four D.C. firefighters having been seriously burned yesterday at a rowhouse fire at 621 4th St. NE. You can find a blood donation center here. >> George Clooney is in D.C., and still hott. [GossipGirls] >> Police are investigating an arson at Western Presbyterian Church on Virginia…

Fishbowl D.C. scooped even the Washington Post’s own gossip columnists on word that Brad Pitt was reportedly visiting the paper’s newsroom this afternoon. Says a Postie: “since word got out, female producers from network news shops are clamoring to stop by and just pay a “visit” to the newsroom to see friends they’ve never visited before in the newsroom.”Patrick Gavin says Pitt was there consulting with Post editor R.B. Brenner in preparation for his upcoming…

>> Author Paul Karasik will be at Politics and Prose to talk about his book, I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets, which chronicles the life of Fletcher Hanks, old school comics illustrator from the 1930s and creater of Stardust, and why he disappeared from comics. 7 p.m. >> Catch up on your parking lot loitering tonight to see Colombian born artist Kata Mejia perform Healing at 1622 14th Street NW. Presented by the Randall…

MONDAY >> Remember the days when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing the Goo Goo Dolls’ hit single “Name”? Yeah, we drink heavily to forget it, too. Well, it turns out the boys named Goo are headlining the 9:30 Club two nights in a row with Augustana. Maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on them; both nights are sold out. >> Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame is going to be rocking the George…

This piece was written by DCist contributor Cynthia Rockwell. Sure, you could bask in the seasonal spirit and check out the classics this weekend, but if you’re looking to escape the incessant holiday cheer, here are a few ideas for cinematic diversion: >>Attention Cate Blanchett fans, we have not one but two films starring the willowy beauty opening this week. First is the slick black-and-white espionage thriller The Good German, Steven Soderbergh’s homage to film…

TUESDAY Lisa Phillips is in town promoting her new book, Public Radio: Behind the Voices. It was unconfirmed at press time whether her reading would be interrupted by Kojo Nnamdi, asking for pledges. Olsson’s Books and Records, 418 7th St. NW., 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY There once was a poet named Trillin, Who, to D.C., came all a-shillin’ He does A Heckuva Job Tossing poetical globs Of poo at political villains. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut…

Written by DCist contributor Andrew Wiseman A good-sized but not overly energetic crowd gathered on the National Mall this Sunday for the Save Darfur rally. Enjoying the beautiful Sunday weather, a few thousand ethnically and geographically diverse folks heard politicians, religious leaders, former basketball player Manute Bol, George Clooney and father Nick, and others talk about the need for action in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Darfur, the western-most province of the Sudan,…

If businesses seem a little slower than usual today, there’s a good explanation — today is the day that millions of immigrants across the United States will boycott work, part of a protest the demonstrate their economic weight and push for sensible immigration reform. The boycott has sparked divisions within the immigrant rights movement, though, with some groups and advocates in the area arguing that the action could turn public opinion against them. Locally,…

Protests in D.C. are a dime a dozen, but demonstrations for causes as compelling as stepping up to save the people of Darfur deserve what little pimping we can give them. This Sunday the Save Darfur Coalition is taking to the National Mall, hoping to mass enough people to push President George W. Bush into taking more firm action to stop what has been referred to as a slow-moving genocide in the western Sudanese…