Sova Looks Fun, Shorts IS Fun, and Lorna Is No Fun

I've been away a little bit - does anyone want to move to Vancouver with me? - so let's jump back into this with a calendar.
Aug. 31 - Pay What You Can preview of Eclipsed at Woolly Mammoth Theater (Sept. 1 as well). People start lining up pretty early, so best to get there by about 6:30.
Theater J (very busy this week!) hosts a Town Hall meeting to kick off their season (8pm). Drinks and refreshments will be served.
Sept. 1 - Movies Under the Stars in Bethesda Row - final one: Chicago 8:45 pm.
Sept. 2 - The Atlas district in Northeast DC has an Open Mike Night at Sova, inviting poets, musician, comics and storytellers toi compete for a $50 prize. This looks like a great new place. On Saturday the 5th they'll be featuring Appalachian Mountain Music with Sabra Guzman and the Blind Tiger String Band. Looks like a blast! And it's just $5. Bring your square dancing shoes.
Sept. 3 - There's live salsa music at the wonderful Kogod Courtyard in the Smithsonian American Art Museum from 5-8 pm
Sept. 4 - Dupont's First Friday features Mentor + Mentee show at Printmakers, Susan Serafin and Nekisha Durrett at Hillyer, a Silent Auction at Foundry Gallery (a good chance to buy original work), Maryland Printmakers at Gallery 10, and an All-Members Show at Studio.
The 2009 Ultimate Karaoke Challenge takes place at Champps on Pentagon Row from 8pm 1:30am

It's worth repeating about the upcoming DC Shorts Film Festival - tickets are now on sale! I got mine for the 7pm Friday night, Sept. 11 show at the Navy Memorial (a very reasonable $13). It includes admission to the opening-night party which provides food, drinks and live music in the Navy Memorial plaza. Jon Gann runs a great festival; his imprint was all over the recent International Shorts Festival as wll, which also lighted up DC for a week. This will sell out.

New on the movie front is Lorna's Silence (nnn) from the gritty and urban Dardenne brothers. I thought last year's Revanche, which was nominated for a foreign-film Oscar, did this story better: the petty criminal involved with the Russian mobsters trying to make a life. That one had a twist. Lorna's Silence is extremely well-done but just too bleak and straightforward for my tastes. Information leaks out and the story proceeds, but don't expect any exhilarating moments.