Countdown

With less than three weeks remaining before "The Hunger Games" movie is released, I thought it was time to join the 20-plus millions who have read books in Suzanne Collins' hit trilogy. (That and the contunued urging of my teen-age niece, K.T.) Collins' tale about the life-or-death competition among youngsters in post-apocalyptic North America was aimed at a young adult audience -- much like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series -- but has swept far beyond that group.

A caption in King Vidor's silent classic from 1928, "The Crowd," reads: "Marriage isn't a word. It's a sentence. " The couples in "Mixed Doubles: An Entertainment on Marriage," a multi-playwright piece from 1969 enjoying an effective revival at Performance Workshop Theatre, have all been altered in some way by the life-term aspect of matrimony, the weight of that whole for-better-or-worse thing. It even affects the first twosome to appear, in "A Man's Best Friend" by James Saunders.

6 weeks to a better body We are now six weeks (!) from the beginning of pool and beach season. But fret not. The plan below details how, by making small changes each week, you can have your body looking leaner and ready for outdoor summer festivities. View the photo gallery Each week, you will be given a new piece to the overall exercise and nutrition plan. As we add new pieces each following week, do these in addition the everything from the previous weeks.

A Friday night celebration had a nice ring to it for the Loyola men's lacrosse team. One with 34 jewels, in fact. The Greyhounds received their NCAA championship rings Friday for beating Maryland, 9-3, on May 28 in Foxborough, Mass. In addition to the jewels, the bands feature a large Loyola "L" in the middle. "This is an opportunity tonight to remember the journey this team went on," coach Charley Toomey said before presenting the rings. "This is a time to remember the successful team this was. " The Greyhounds handed out team awards before the ring ceremony.

Total games remaining 13 Home games remaining 7

I am getting married in 100 days. I've had a hard time feeling like this whole wedding thing is real. It has at times seemed too adult, too overwhelming, too far away to actually be a thing that is going to happen. My overall disbelief has been peppered with moments that yank me out of the cloud and whip my head around. I was at a work meeting, making conversation with someone I had just met, and heard my voice saying, “I'm getting married on October 6.” I'd said that before, but not to someone who didn't already know I was engaged.

6 weeks to a better body We are now six weeks (!) from the beginning of pool and beach season. But fret not. The plan below details how, by making small changes each week, you can have your body looking leaner and ready for outdoor summer festivities. View the photo gallery Each week, you will be given a new piece to the overall exercise and nutrition plan. As we add new pieces each following week, do these in addition the everything from the previous weeks.

At mealtime, the South Campus Dining Room on the University of Maryland's campus is more town hall than eating space, a meeting spot abuzz with the goings-on of class, nightlife and, of course, Maryland sports. So when an electronic "BEAT WILLIAM & MARY" countdown clock inside the dining room began ticking down the days until Sept. 1 earlier this week , the discussion inevitably turned to the beleaguered program expected to dispatch that same Tribe, A.J. Francis listened in. The nose tackle shook his head at what he heard.

With less than three weeks remaining before "The Hunger Games" movie is released, I thought it was time to join the 20-plus millions who have read books in Suzanne Collins' hit trilogy. (That and the contunued urging of my teen-age niece, K.T.) Collins' tale about the life-or-death competition among youngsters in post-apocalyptic North America was aimed at a young adult audience -- much like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series -- but has swept far beyond that group.

At half past noon on New Year's Eve, slivers of yellow confetti littered the main lobby of the Maryland Science Center , where employees worked to sweep them up. There, the ball had already dropped - long before the stroke of midnight which, for most, would mark the beginning of 2012. But the midday revelers Saturday said the annual tradition offered by the Science Center, and another at Port Discovery , allows kids - and some parents - to enjoy the traditional New Year's countdown and still get a full night's sleep.

Although the first voting for presidential delegates is still four days off in Iowa, the political crystal-ball gazers are already speculating which Republican candidates will survive and which will fall off the cliff into oblivion. It's being said that if Mitt Romney wins in a state in which he only began to campaign in earnest in recent days, and then goes on a week later to repeat the feat in the New Hampshire primary, the ballgame will be over. If, on the other hand, Mr. Romney falls short in Iowa, it will be said that victory in New Hampshire will be vital to his hopes, and the other Republican candidates may live to fight another day. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was expected to sweep through Iowa, but he showed up only on the weekend before the state's precinct caucuses and got bloodied by the hard-working team of George H.W. Bush.

After four nights of watching Keith Olbermann, there are two things I can say with some certainty. First, he has put together a first-rate production team. Current TV is producing a more focused and faster moving “Countdown” than MSNBC did. That is either high praise for a relatively little outfit like Current, or a harsh indication of how slipshod things sometimes get editorially and production-wise at MSNBC, especially with some of its, shall we say, less focused hosts likeChris Matthews.

After a quick countdown led by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, 28 strands of LED lights — 16,000 bulbs — lit up the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon on Thursday for the 39th annual lighting ceremony. As the colored strands illuminated, the crowd cheered. Fireworks and green laser lights lit up the night sky while people, bundled in winter coats and hats, watched. "It's a real city event. People come from all parts of the city for this," said Mike Evitts with the Downtown Partnership, which organizes the event with the city and other sponsors, including BGE, which donated the bulbs.