Scene

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Scene brief: Kennedy Center will host live simulcast of opera

By Vanessa C. Mueller | November 3

Aching for some opera but can't afford the $50 ticket? Love the Kennedy Center but prefer to enjoy the last nice days of autumn outside? The Washington National Opera has found a solution. In honor of their 50th Anniversary, the opera will host a free simulcast performance of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" on the National Mall this Sunday, Nov.

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News

'Cavalia' horses no 'Cirque de Soleil'

By Blair Mersinger | November 3

Put on the blinders and saddle up for Cirque de So-Lame. From the artistic mind of Normand Latourelle, creator of Cirque de Soleil, comes "Cavalia," a perplexing circus-like spectacle that blends passable acrobatics with melancholy horsemanship. The show's premise is poignant in theory and inherently Cirque-esque; that is, it traces the evolution of man's relationship with his equine counterpart in 18 five-minute vignettes.

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News

Out of context

November 3

"Anyone who disses on Harry Potter is a snob." -Professor Kelly Joyner to a man, in a creative writing class Halloween brings out the best in everyone. Case in point: an anonymous tip-dropper claimed two females and a male were seen throwing toilet paper in the general direction of Ben Ladner's residence around 2:15 Sunday morning.

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News

DJ group Ishlab brings hip-hop, go-go back to Bethesda

By Ben Lozovsky | November 3

Whatever happened to D.C. funk? That banging, bass thumping, conga-pounding groove that used to permeate out of second story balconies and basement windows. Has it gone to nostalgia like the purity and social impact of mainstream hip-hop, only to be replaced by flavorless chunks of preservative filled, radio-friendly fluff? It's a tough question to address, but it's one to which the hip-hop band-turned-musical collective Ishlab has an answer.

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News

Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep are 'Prime' for success with new movie

By Melissa Beal | November 3

Two New Yorkers fall in love despite the chaos that surrounds their relationship. Not quite a new premise, but take off the typical Hollywood ending and it works. "Prime" (so called because both lovers are in their sexual prime), from writer/director Ben Younger ("Boiler Room"), follows the relationship of fashion photographer Rafi (Uma Thurman), a recently divorced 37-year-old Upper East-Sider from a broken home, and Dave (Bryan Greenberg), a 23-year-old hip-hop loving Jewish painter from Brooklyn who lives with his grandparents.

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News

Foreign tongues excite, but not in Pizza Hut

By Blair Bryant Nichols | November 3

In my first social anthropology lecture, the professor introduced the way we perceive other cultures by saying, "We are initially tantalized by the exotic." I found this phrase provocative and surprisingly accurate for the way we approach foreigners. When I arrived here it was hard not to be aroused by the multitudes of accents speaking our purported native tongue.

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News

Slip into some slacks

By Annie Rebekah Gardner | November 3

Adolescent girls may be the last people on earth who haven't yet noticed Seven Jeans are so over. Here are six premium denim brands to check out and, quite possibly, make an investment in: *Editor's pick* Paper Denim & Cloth - Well-fitting and superbly made, Paper Denim & Cloth jeans are a favorite among fashionable Japanese girls.

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News

Cinematically beautiful 'Jarhead' takes inside look at war

By Marissa Newhall | November 3

If Kevin Spacey's Lester Burnham from 1999's "American Beauty" had been born later, bypassed college and enlisted in the Marines, he could have been a stand-in for Jake Gyllenhaal's Anthony Swofford in "Jarhead." Sam Mendes's latest follows the memoir of real-life Anthony "Swoff" Swofford, a 20-year-old Marine who spent several months in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.

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News

Horoscopes

By Tamara Brown | November 3

Aries (March 21 - April 19) There will be a peculiar noise coming from your refrigerator on Tuesday. You will ignore it until an odd smell surfaces around Thursday. You will totally intend to investigate it on Friday afternoon, but by then it will be too late.

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News

Frightnight picks

October 31

"Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge" Buena Vista Games Rated "E" for Everyone For PS2 $39.99 C- Why it took 11 years for the 1994 film "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to be re-imagined in video game form isn't that surprising. At first only moderately popular, the brilliantly inventive film gained an impressive cult following over the last five years.

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News

'Much Ado' deserved for clever British play on Shakespeare

By ERICA LEMASTER | October 31

Eyes will water, sides will hurt and pants will be wet from laughing too hard at the Folger Theatre's production of William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." Director Nick Hutchison placed this comedy about two people who were tricked into admitting their love for one another in the early days of post-WWII England, with the return of Don Pedro's American soldiers to Leonato's English country estate.

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News

The Hit List

October 31

1. R. Kelly's "Trapped in the closet: Chapters 1-12" R. Kelly takes the first step into his transformation from the sex-obsessed hit-maker into the Sufjan Stevens of R&B, compiling the first 12 chapters of the awesomely bad hip-hopera detailing the sordid sex lives of Sylvester, Rufus, Cathy, Chuck, Gwendolyn and so many more into a DVD that drops Tuesday.

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News

Tech bits

October 31

"Grand Theft Auto" maker angers Brits with new game British Parliament member Keith Vaz last week protested "Grand Theft Auto" developer Rockstar Games' upcoming new title, "Bully," in which players can beat up fellow school children. According to BBC News, Vaz suggested to the House of Commons that the game should go before the British Board of Film Classification.

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News

Disney princesses: Classy or trashy?

By Hillary Beulah | October 31

Disney princess costumes are wildly popular among young girls at Halloween, but with the exception of the three classic princesses (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White) created before the 1980s, the rest of the Disney women are eligible for a reality check.

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News

'Beard' boasts great acting and writing

By Lindsay Marburger | October 31

Watching Romeo flee Verona, William Shakespeare's Juliet sorrowfully gushes, "Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb." Well, no one has died - save mayhap from laughter - but the play "The Beard of Avon" at the Sanctuary Theatre personifies lowness - low humor, that is.

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News

DCist.com editor blogs District cool for the masses

By Rebecca Armendariz | October 31

Rob Goodspeed knows what's going on. And why shouldn't he? He's got a whole network of specialized editors to tell him every day. As editor of DCist, a fast-growing weblog documenting the District's events, Goodspeed has to be on the alert for what's happening so faithful readers can plan their social lives.

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News

Ghosts, ghouls and goblins...ensuring Halloween treats don't get too tricky

By Hillary Beulah | October 31

"Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." -"Mean Girls" It's that time of year again. Kids of all ages don costumes to go trolling for candy or gain admittance to a variety of events.

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