COOLEST PARTY IN TOWN: Tonight's the night when Cap to the Hill throws their $10K party in the parking lot of Havana. To back up and explain, Creature, a Capitol Hill ad agency, had a contest last month to find someone who could throw a really awesome, $10K party to produce material for a JanSport campaign. Cap to the Hill won, and now they're having a party celebrating the old Pine St. corridor, when the Bus Stop, Bimbo's, and the Cha Cha were all destinations. That said, the party's not open to the public, just to 400 or so of Cap to the Hill's closest friends, so you can either beg them, or turn up and hope someone's got a +1 for you. more ›

Of all the quintessentially American genres, hardboiled crime fiction is the one that's lasted the longest, but in a strange twist of cultural fate, that longevity owes at least as much to the French as it does to the people here at home. The attraction to noir (they even gave it the name!) is pretty obvious: These are the stories of the American urban wasteland, born of the early- to mid-twentieth century cities, teeming with immigrants in bitter competition, ruled by corrupt political machines, manipulated by a dark underworld of gangsters. While the middle class could live in a comfortable world of increasing prosperity with the option of deluding themselves with happy, moral stories that reinforced that worldview, noir represented the popular dissent. Good doesn't always win, women aren't always virtuous, things are essentially bad and not subject to change, and heroes are frequently less than heroic. more ›