DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: 2007 Washington Jewish Film Festival The Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center’s annual film festival has become one of the largest and longest running of the local festivals. This year’s program encompasses over 40 films, from 11 countries. Nearly half of the selections are films from Israel, in recognition of the nation’s 60th year. The event......

>> Ocean City: Making it harder to score hookers on your beach weekend since 2007. [WTOP] >> Metro is going to start distributing free bottles of hand sanitizer in stations beginning next week, in an effort to prevent the spread of flu germs. Except only 2,000 riders at each station will get them, on a first come, first served basis. We'd like to suggest they distribute them based on filthiness. You should have to......

MONDAY >> Were you out of town this weekend, wishing you were home soaking in the goodness that was the DAM! Festival? Fear not. Tonight there is one more show, and it happens to be the festival's biggest. The chanteuse to give all other indie chanteuses a run for their money, Cat Power, is taking the 9:30 Club stage with the Dirty Delta Blues, and a little help from openers Childballads. $25 or your......

We've known for the last year that famous Georgetown eatery Nathan's wasn't long for its current location. Owner Carol Joynt has been pretty open about her plans to relocate by April 2009, when her lease runs out. Since then, speculation as to what kind of business will nab the prime spot on what's seen as the toney neighborhood's most important intersection has been a popular topic. This morning, an alert tipster pointed us to this......

Written by DCist contributor Ben Schuman-Stoler. You have probably walked by the modest Old Stone House on M Street countless times while in Georgetown, perhaps wondering when it's going to be converted for the next Starbucks. The House, actually run by the National Park Service, has seen nearly two and a half centuries on what used to be known as Bridge Street during colonial years. The plot was purchased for one pound and ten shillings......

Ah, religion. We've all read about its role in public and private life and how fewer and fewer people are going to church these days. Ben Franklin said "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." And in D.C., churches often cause a lot of debate about parking, "newcomers" versus older residents, and abandoned properties. And yet, despite all the distractions of our modern age, some young people in the city are still able to practice their......

The annual National Night Out is set to kick off this evening, with a host of neighborhood gatherings sponsored by the Metropolitan Police Department to choose from. The yearly event is designed to raise awareness about street crime and encourage residents to meet their neighbors by joining in on any of the planned events, or just by staying outside in their front yards or porches late in an effort to deter criminal activity. Mayor Fenty......

From DC.gov: The District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles Georgetown Service Center, located at 3222 M Street, NW in the Georgetown Park Mall - Lower Level, is experiencing an air conditioning outage. Temperatures were at 89 degrees inside the facility at 8:15 am (the scheduled opening time) and will not open for service today, July 19. Seventeen customers were waiting outside the facility prior to the scheduled opening and were allowed to come into......

Welcome back to work, Washington. This week promises not only to feel longer than normal thanks to its coming on the heels of a holiday, but also hot enough that you might want to consider setting up an ad-hoc shower in your office, as there's little chance you'll get there without breaking into a sweat first. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has issued a Code Orange alert because of the heat wave, and......

If you're anything like us, you've been experiencing major geek covetousness ever since Google Maps launched its Street View functionality late last month. The feature (which may seem similar to past users of Amazon's A9.com) shows street-level photos of locations. Users can move smoothly from spot to spot, rotating their view and taking in the sights. Unfortunately, Google Maps' coverage of D.C. doesn't feature any of the blue outlines that signify Street View-equipped roads. But......

Good Morning, D.C. It sure is getting hot in here, and for once, we don't just mean the weather. The Post reports this morning that the Voting Rights Bill is making some progress in the Senate. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), a co-sponsor of the bill, announced that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will vote on the legislation Wednesday. And in a meeting with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Fenty,......

Vapiano: Hopefully Better than the Name Sounds DCist swung by the opening dinner last night at Vapiano, now open at 1800 M Street NW. It's a European-based pizza, pasta, and salad bar that claims to be leading a new trend in the restaurant industry deemed “Fresh Casual" (which was strange, given the greeters at the dinner were dressed to the nines). What does that mean? Vapiano explains it as “somewhere between the nicest of fast......

Hook, now open on M Street in Georgetown, is a restaurant focused on serving “responsibly sourced seafood and local products.” We loved the idea, but naturally had a few doubts. Like: "is it going to cost me an entire week’s worth of pay to dine at another overpriced trendy Georgetown restaurant?" Or, "is there going to be a pretentious presence about the place because they are focused on sustainable seafood and feel that everyone should?"......

FRIDAY: >> Attention all nerds: This is like our Lollapalooza or something. First Person: Stories from the Edge of the World is an event being held tonight by National Geographic Live, which features some sort of "collaboration" between NPR's Neal Conan and Liane Hansen, the Celtic/early music crossover group Ensemble Galilei, and actor Bill Pullman. Together this crew will narrate excerpts from the journals of great explorers such as Jacques Cousteau, George Mallory, and Charles......

With the ink barely dry on the 2007 RAMMY nominations, we pored over the list of nominees searching for one that hadn’t already been reviewed to death or hadn't already been visited by every serious eater in the city. Who wants to read one more critique of Restaurant Eve? Citronelle? They’re amazing, we get it, and as soon as we get that advance from Doubleday we’ll go check out those damned tasting menus. But there,......

Editor's Note: Erin Zimmer, DCist Staff writer, is a senior at Georgetown. Last night, she took part in the festivities following Georgetown's Elite Eight victory over UNC. The following is an account of the proceedings. For all of last night's game, Georgetown townhouses kept their doors open. Crowds of kids huddled around their televisions, jumping up and down at every play. But once the magical three-pointer tied up the game (81-81) with 24 seconds left......

Georgetown's Late Dominance Earns Trip to Atlanta With six minutes remaining in regulation, the Georgetown Hoyas stared at a nine-point deficit. They were going to have to step up their play if they were to reach the Final Four, and do so against the highest caliber of opponent. The Hoyas did just that. They rallied to force overtime and took control in the extra period to come away with a 96-84 victory. The Hoyas' staunch......

Good morning, Washington. We've been hearing some excellent reports from the frontlines of the celebrations in Georgetown last night, after the Hoyas came back from a 10 point deficit to beat the Tar Heels 96-84. Thousands of students filled M Street in their exuberance, chanting "Hoya Saxa" at the top of their lungs. A smaller group apparently ran all the way to the White House, where the Secret Service asked them to keep it down.......

MONDAY Have you ever found yourself sizing up the state of contemporary education and thought to yourself, "Saints be praised that I got out when I did?" You’re sure to feel that way after hearing from David Berliner, author of Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 7 p.m. TUESDAY Whether you're a civil war buff or someone who, much like our editor-in-chief Sommer Mathis, enjoys stealing......

By fashion contributor Rachel Cothran. Find more of her writing and street photography at her web site Project Beltway. In a city where power tends to dictate fashion, instead of the other way around, it is possible to see beyond the power suits and prove that the nation's capital has a style as fascinating as the people shaping its unique culture. Each week we're going to take an anthropological approach to style in Washington, presenting......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Joe Englert wants a parking garage. So it says in the Washington Business Journal, on page four of a six page testament to the change he’s helping spread along H Street NE, once one of the District’s proudest thoroughfares and now in the midst of a facelift. When he hasn’t been opening businesses there himself, it seems he’s been grooming and instructing......

We love how two dimensional this building, on M Street, looks with the sky in the background- making the awning pop out at you in three dimension. There is a clean and geometric aesthetic in the gradients of the blue sky, the lines of the brick, and the perfectly-shaped triangular shadow of the awning. Nice work, Albinoflea. EXIF info can be found here. And this is it -- only two and a half days......

DCist reader David writes in with this important question: Where does one get kegs in D.C.? I've lived here around a year, and have no idea. Online price lists are a plus, as is a NW location. We hear you, David. Sure, we're not in college anymore, but sometimes when you're set to throw a really big par-tay, going with a keg can be the most cost effective and least messy (no bottles to clean......

Yesterday, the Post declared support for 1960s-style urbanism dead. No longer, they say, are we to be held hostage by soaring freeways, concrete office blocks, and the utter deadness of the streets and neighborhoods ushered in by the age of the car. Finally, we've learned how vital it is to encourage pedestrian traffic and to take advantage of our waterfront resources; We understand that you cannot design cities around automobile use. Except where the Whitehurst......

For those of you wondering when Artomatic would finally be scheduled this year, we have bad news for you. Due to difficulties obtaining a venue, Artomatic is being pushed back until 2007. Though their Web site has not yet been updated (and in fact, it's not updated much at all — their "About" page is still gearing up for an exciting 2004 showing), those of us signed up for their newsletter received word that ongoing......

MONDAY >> DCist Martin just saw Chris Robinson walking down M Street, so if you weren't lucky enough to snag Black Crowes tickets for last night or tonight's sold out shows at the 9:30 Club, you could hang out in Georgetown and hope to catch a glimpse. >> "Old Blind Dogs at the Institute of Musical Traditions" was just bulky enough to grab our attention through the mass of concert listings. Some further digging revealed......

With Restaurant Week over, we need another excuse to celebrate. And why not Clinton’s big 6-0? Since he's not too keen on turning the "new 40," we have a duty to live it up for him. DCist proposes a Bill Clinton restaurant crawl on which we'll visit his regular D.C. haunts. Lucky for us, his taste for greasy, down-home grub means we won't need to book many reservations through Open Table. Of course there's......

Things are looking a little down for mainstream sports in the district. The Nats are cellar-dwelling. Our two favorite eccentric stars are sidelined. We can always count on DC United to keep our spirits up, but their success only nudges the District's collective batting average above the Mendoza line. With this in mind, we're eagerly looking beyond coverage of sport's established powers. Fresh off of their most successful season ever, the Washington Renegades men's rugby......

Our friends at Torontoist inspired an investigation of penmanship on daily menus. We call ours the M Street Manuscription. The boutique-happy boulevard running through Georgetown is big on daily menus, but who knows how daily they actually are? Judging by the faded quality of some letters, we suspect they might not be so du jour. More like tous les jours. By aesthetic standards, the Rugby Cafe menu wins for appearing most like a children's book.......

Good morning, D.C. Thanks to everyone who joined us for Unbuckled last night — DC9 was packed for what we think was our best show yet. We had a great time, and we hope that you did, too. If you snapped some pictures while you were there, do us a favor and tag them on Flickr with unbuckled3 so that we can round 'em up in one place. Now that your concertgoing and drinking responsibilities......