Imelda

Charlene Rene Clark may dress in paint-splattered basics, but open her closet doors and watch out. You may get hit by a purple corset.That's if the Eva Gabor wig cap doesn't get you first. You name it -- hats, gloves, long-line bras -- Ms. Clark collects it. Not to wear, mind you, but as inspiration for her paintings and papier-mache art. Being surrounded by leopard-skin collars, vinyl boots and fishnet stockings often helps the 41-year-old Baltimore artist accurately depict her imaginary subjects -- show girls and exotic dancers.

Bay Theatre Company opens A Man of No Importance today, the second musical in the troupe's four-year history. The reasons, said company co-founder and artistic director Lucinda Merry-Browne: The cost is significantly higher than the typical show's budget of $20,000 to $30,000, and the 11-member cast is as big as the stage can comfortably accommodate. However, this show was irresistible. "This is a beautiful, uplifting show celebrating love in all forms with 24 lilting musical numbers brought to life by music director Anita O'Connor and choreographer Jen Kohlhafer," Merry-Browne said.

The Paris haute couture shows for fall and winter have ended.Doesn't it seem like just a few months ago that you saw those frivolous French frocks in the papers and magazines? No, those were the ready-to-wear showings, very different. Ready-to-wear clothes are actually manufactured and can be purchased by mortals who have enough confidence and cash -- say, the equivalent of two mortgage payments for a skimpy little sweater dress.Couture clothes are special, one of a kind.They are the theater of fashion and can only be had by women who can pay the high-ticket prices to be part of the play.

IN NO special order, here are 61 reasons President Bush might be right about the perils of human cloning: 1. Osama bin Laden 2. Everybody on Temptation Island 3. Tom DeLay 4. Dennis Rodman 5. Anybody who's ever gone on Maury Povich's show to get a paternity test 6. Mohamed Atta 7. Adolf Hitler 8. Saddam Hussein 9. Marilyn Manson 10. The World Wrestling Federation 11. The 2001 Florida Marlins 12. Genghis Khan 13. Eminem 14. Darva Conger ...

Matthew Porterfield, whose Hamilton was one of the breakout hits of the 2006 Maryland Film Festival, hasn't finished his next film yet - in fact, all he has is some test and audition footage. But he's bringing what he has to this weekend's 11th annual festival anyway, unwilling to pass up any invitation to show his work - ny work - to a receptive audience. "It's so tricky, trying to get films made right now," Porterfield said from New York, where he was busy doing pre-production work on the new film, to be called Metal Gods.

FACING A NEW YEAR, let's not line up resolutions -- so trite, so improbable, and who ever keeps them, right?Let's think about some things born of 1990 and before that we might have to say goodbye to in 1991:* Prosperity: You know that good feeling from being able to sell your house and get a deal, or from being able to send your 17-year-old to college. You know, that feeling that just maybe "recession" was a word the media made up.* The Lambada: No one I know ever did the dance. It seemed like a revamped, dirty version of the tango.

Anne-Imelda Radice, the new head of the National Endowment for the Arts, has been on the job only a few weeks and already she is a focus of controversy. Not that controversy is anything new to the NEA: Ms. Radice became acting head of the agency after her predecessor, John Frohnmayer, was fired by President Bush to appease right-wingers who threatened to make federal funding of "dirty art" an issue in the presidential primaries.Ms. Radice seems determined not to repeat Mr. Frohnmayer's sins.

IMELDA HERZINGER of ArnoldVolunteer work: Mrs. Herzinger is chairwoman for Holiday Sharing, a program coordinated by the Medical Society Alliance of Anne Arundel County.About the volunteer: Mrs. Herzinger has been a resident of Arnold since 1976. Her husband, Raymond, is a urologist at Anne Arundel Medical Center and North Arundel Hospital.Mrs. Herzinger, who has led Holiday Sharing since 1982, was recently presented with a proclamation by County Executive Robert R. Neall, lauding her dedication.

Belinda Simmons works for Long and Foster Realtors and can PTC hardly wait until the economy starts booming again. When she's not showing property, she's doing something athletic like working out at the spa, aerobics, dancing, soft ball and puttering with golf.How would you describe your taste in clothing?Classy, but I dress in things that look good on me whether they're in style or not. I watch my colors and buy clothes in my favorite colors (black, white, fuchsia and red). I never buy a color I don't like just because it's in style.

CARLA D. HAYDEN richly deserves the coveted "Librarian of the Year" award from the Library Journal. Since taking over as director of Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library in 1993, she has performed a miracle by turning a poorly run and demoralized system into an institution that is a "new model for libraries in the old Eastern cities," as the Journal put it.The improvements are noticeable in the Central Library and the various neighborhood branches....