College basketball fans on the Hilltop and in College Park are pleased, while the ones in Foggy Bottom probably wish they hadn’t turned on the TV. The Hoyas pounded Belmont and will face Boston College, while the Terps handled Davidson and will face Butler, and the Colonials were clobbered by Vanderbilt, losing by 33. And over at the DCist Reader-Staff Bracketfest, Kyle Mahaney is in the lead, having picked every game except Butler over…

A few hours spent with the Essex Green’s back catalog, and you get to wondering if they weren’t born a couple generations too late. A number of indie bands may be an exercise in “spot-the-influence,” but with the Green it’s often hard to make up your mind exactly which 60s band they’re aiming for. For example, is the intro of “Snakes in the Grass” more Paul Revere and the Raiders (think “Indian Reservation”) or Monkees…

Ah, Silver Spring. Even the name suggests silver lining optimism. Despite that it’s the ‘burbs, plenty of former city dwellers are making the commitment to buy real estate, open restaurants, and set up shop in what was previously considered a place to pass through as opposed to a destination. Perhaps Silver Spring is growing into what Clarendon wanted to become, before condos and retail chains began chipping away its character. In five years, will…

Summertime in D.C. brings three things: heat, interns, and outdoor movies. The First Baptist Church at 17th and O Streets NW is providing one of those, sponsoring Movies by Moonlight, a free movie series benefitting local charities. Tonight’s movie is Spiderman, starting at 8:30 p.m., with donations going to First Helping, a D.C. Central Kitchen program that feeds the homeless. There will also be free popcorn and drinks, so bring a few dollars and help…

The weekly Ist wrap-up is written by Seattlest editor Dan Gonsiorowski. Gothamist posts on the capture of a NYC perv thanks to Little Brother and a camera phone. They also scour the city for vodka martinis and Shamrock shakes and spot the friend from the Wonder Years at a city law firm. New York police think that Littlejohn is their man. Houstonist is no stranger to megachurches or stripmalls or mega-strip-churchmalls. The children of Houston…

Two weeks ago, a stirring home win over the Philadelphia Eagles resulted in the Washington Redskins notching a respectable 5-3 record. Entrenched in the NFC playoff picture, Head Coach Joe Gibbs lauded his team’s play and spoke of the opportunity they now had to compete in “big games” instead of desperate games. That was two weeks ago. Circa today, the Redskins are nursing their wounds after a second critical late-game loss placed their season in…

DCist walked into National Treasure last weekend with high hopes. Although the Post may have maligned it as a “‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ for people who slept through American history class,” as a guilty fan of quasi-historical action flicks, we were expecting to be entertained. On that count the film didn’t disappoint — for the most part, the whizzes whizzed, the bangs banged, and the nonstop action was sprinkled with enough plot twists and…