Gorgeous

For class with a capital "C," few restaurants in town can top the 26-year-old Brass Elephant, located in a gorgeous 19th-century Mount Vernon townhouse. But two people can easily spend a c-note or more eating there. The solution, for those who want a snazzy atmosphere and delicious food but don't want to spend quite as much money, is the Tusk Lounge, the bar and restaurant on the restaurant's top floor. This is the place for those times you want to eat like a grown-up but pay kid-sized prices.

The rich and fabulous have gone Goth. And Goth has gone chic. You may be used to seeing fashionistas dolled up in diamonds and cashmere and frilly, feminine frocks. But the latest craze to hit the world of the fashion-forwards is decidedly darker. From jewelry to satin scarves, from swimsuits to baby clothes, skull-and-crossbones imagery - of pirate ship popularity - has been popping up everywhere. Once the domain of rockers, bikers, swashbucklers and moody teenagers, the menacing symbol has lately made its way to Seventh Avenue.

NEW YORK -- Fashion shows are performances of perfection. On the runway, gorgeous girl after gorgeous girl comes strolling down, expertly turned out from her perfect hair to her perfect feet. It would seem that it takes hours to produce so much loveliness and precision. But just as one leggy beauty rounds the bend to head backstage, and the audience has oohed and aahed their approval of the model behind her, less than two minutes later, there's that first model again - this time in a different ensemble.

The "Gorgeous Geeks," as they call themselves, were ready for battle yesterday. Sure, they were styling in their matching green T-shirts, sunglasses and beaded bracelets. But more importantly, the all-girl team of middle-schoolers from Beltsville had spent months building and programming a robot. They had stayed up all night putting the finishing touches on this machine no bigger than a remote-control car - and they were ready yesterday to put their colorful, snap-and-click creation up against anybody else's.

Hostel starts off as the best dang Eurotrip two American guys, and their new buddy from Iceland, could ever dream of, then turns into a nightmare of sadism, murder and revenge. Which is too bad for them, but pretty satisfying for those who like to just groove on decadence and mayhem in the safety of a good ol' multiplex. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are hanging with the wackazoid Nordic giant Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson) in Amsterdam when a creepy guy tells them about an extra-special hostel in remote Slovakia, where the women are all gorgeous and melt at American accents.

An electric permanent wave machine. A handmade Barbie doll dress that conforms to Orthodox Jewish standards of modesty. A 1900 wedding dress made and worn by Bertha Rose Manko, who worked at the Schoen Russell Millinery Shop on Charles Street. In the exhibition, Hello Gorgeous! Fashion, Beauty, and the Jewish-American Ideal, these objects and hundreds of others tell the story of how Jews in this country have both adapted to and defined standards of beauty. Opening today at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, Hello Gorgeous!

The story goes that when Pennsylvania businessman Larry Woodin laid eyes on Pine Creek Gorge in the 1920s, he was so struck by its beauty he dubbed it "Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon." The name stuck -- and remains popular in these parts and beyond. Annually, nearly a half-million visitors journey to this region of north-central Pennsylvania, perhaps seeking vistas as lovely as those that mark the natural wonder out West. While they won't find quite the same precipitous drops and etched crevasses of its famous namesake, this gorge is endowed with its own unique beauty and splendor.

June had barely begun, but the legendary French Riviera celebrity bastion of St.-Tropez already had its first scandale of the summer. All across the seaside village, fresh piles of the June 10 issue of La Tribune de St.-Tropez declared the breaking news. From socialites shopping in the Rodeo Drive-like stores along Rue Francois Sibilli to the jet-setting playboys and billionaires trawling the coconut-oil-scented fleshpots along Mediterranean beaches, the summer crowd that arrives early suddenly found a disturbing front-page discovery that would once have been unthinkable.

I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. This touching lament, from the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, is delivered by King David upon learning that his friend had died in a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines. Those seeking biblical acceptance for same-sex relationships obviously can read much into it, while even those who insist there is nothing remotely romantic in this expression of love by one man for another may find it hard to dismiss the poetic power of the words.

Nancy Hubble has been in thousands of homes in her long career as a real estate agent. Now, after 17 moves in a lifetime, she has found her bit of Eden - at a Lutherville cluster home. "Oh no, wait. You can't come in yet," she said. "First I want to take you into my secret garden." Through the garden gate, the distant sound of a waterfall beckons at the end of a blue-stone walkway. Wisteria vines cover a pergola. Abundant foliage, including two plum trees and a golden maple, are lighted from below to create an "other world" serenity at night.