Romance

I f you want to fall hard for a movie, and a movie star, this weekend, check out the ravishing new print of Elia Kazan's romance-cum-social drama, "Wild River" (1960), set in Depression-era Tennessee. Lee Remick had an undercelebrated run in gnarly pictures, from her debut as a drop-dead-gorgeous majorette in Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd" (1957) to her weathered turn as an ex-con's wife in Robert Mulligan's "Baby the Rain Must Fall" (1965). She's an unself-conscious dazzler in "Wild River," which she called her favorite movie.

It's long been known that one surefire way to draw a crowd in Harford County is to hold a vintage car and hot rod rally and show. Saturday was no exception. Under bright blue skies, scores of beautiful cars and hundreds of people converged on Jarrett's Field in Jarrettsville for Romancing the Chrome, a show put together by the Harford County Public Library and the Jarrettsville Lions Club. The show was organized to help promote the exhibit "Cars: A Harford County Love Affair" that opened April 12 at the Jarrettsville library and runs through May 19. The show also provided a perfect prelude to the annual Night Out at the Jarrettsville Library that evening which featured an appearance by Earl Swift, author of "The Big Roads," a history of the interstate highway system.

If you're looking for romance, Paris is definitely a winner. Just ask the guy from The Bachelor. But what if you're trying to find a romantic spot here in Maryland? Would you go to St. Michaels? Cumberland? We want you to tell us the best place to go for a romantic getaway in Maryland. Please e-mail your responses to travel@baltsun.com.

Coming unstuck in time, Pamela Regis was investigating the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime. When the clocks struck 13, she dreamt she went to ... to Manderley? — no, McDaniel. Strange as it might seem, Regis' dream of jumbled-up literary genres will come true this August. In a manner of speaking. Aided by grants totaling $200,000 from the Nora Roberts Foundation, McDaniel College in Westminster is about to launch what is possibly the nation's first academic minor in genre fiction: horror, sci-fi, romance, fantasy, mystery and Westerns, as well as graphic novels.

CELEBRATING another wedding anniversary the other day so soon after the death of Arthur Murray, I decided to irritate our children. They are now adult enough to endure a little irritation, and afterward when I've gone off to bed it probably enhances their sense of maturity to sit around the kitchen table complaining that they have a lot to put up with.Romance was on my mind for obvious reasons: wedding anniversary, Arthur Murray, dancing cheek-to-cheek, etc. Also the Washington Post had run a good feature that morning about Murray, ballroom dancing and popular songs of long ago which tirelessly flogged the idea of "romance."

Avon J. Bellamy draws on the healing power of words and aims them like Cupid's arrows at the hearts of black women.With poetry, he tries to soothe the pain in relationships among blacks, ease tension between men and women and, most of all, revive romance. He says his poems are meant to tell black women something they're told too rarely -- that they're special."We've lost respect for ourselves and our women in a way that we wouldn't have allowed to happen when I was a teen-ager," says Mr. Bellamy, 53, a Baltimore native.

If you're the truly last-minute type who is often without reservations or a gift on Valentine's morning - and you have a sweetie who appreciates a Baltimore brand of dressed-down romance - take a lunchtime stroll through the Cross Street Market. Start with a plate of raw oysters at Nick's Inner Harbor Seafood. Stop at the juice bar Juicephoria for "ecstasy," a blend of pineapple, orange, lemon and mineral water. For dessert? Two scoops of Hershey's Ice Cream or some Valentine candy at the Sweet Shoppe.

"QUICK," I SAY TO A COLLEAGUE, "what's the most romantic thing that ever happened to you?"Her answer comes back with the speed of an arrow shot from Cupid's bow."This may sound really ridiculous," she says, "but I think it was when a guy I was dating kissed me while I was brushing my teeth. He had been away on a trip and rushed over to my house when he returned. He barged into the bathroom, said he was so happy to see me and started kissing me -- even though I had a mouthful of Crest."Hmmmmmm.

Decorating for romance is as much about making a personal statement as it is hearts and flowers, according to Nancy Lindemeyer, editor of Victoria, arguably the most romantic magazine on the marketplace."

The two stars reportedly hated each other during the filming, but Richard Gere and Debra Winger sure made convincing romance on screen in "An Officer and a Gentleman" (8: 05 p.m.-10: 50 p.m., TBS).Director Taylor Hackford's 1982 film follows Gere as he maneuvers his way through Naval Officer Candidate School, despite two strikes against him: his attitude (he's quite the operator) and his drill instructor (Louis Gossett Jr.), who's hardly his biggest fan.Gere has never been better; he and Winger generate plenty of heat (some of which will be toned down for commercial TV)

News Roundup •••• The 26th edition of the Game Developers Conference kicks off in San Francisco today. Follow the official #GDC tag on Twitter for a bunch of people reporting on how hung over they are. [ GDC ] •••• Valve is reportedly working on a “Steam Box” gaming console to pair with their crappy PC game purchasing service (which inspired the name of our Friday rant feature ). Doesn't “Steam Box” sound like something that would blow up pretty quickly?

WESTMINSTER - McDaniel College in Westminster announced this week that it has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Nora Roberts Foundation to advance research and study of romance literature. This is the second year the college has received funding from Roberts, a best-selling author of more than 200 romance novels. Officials said the grant will support McDaniel's academic minor in romance fiction and an online creative writing course on the subject. The college's Hoover Library has a specific American romance collection, and McDaniel is considered one of the few centers for the study of the romance genre.

Annapolis resident John Frenaye's Twitter account, @eyeonannapolis , is pretty standard fare. Frenaye tweets about events in town (the Silopanna festival) and breaking news (car accident in Crofton). And there are some personal details, like when a recent stop at Taco Bell “hit the spot.” But there's nothing on his account about what he looks like - or what he looks for in a romantic partner. He wasn't looking for love, at least not through Twitter. But love followed him. Bridgett Rheam, who lives near Harrisburg, Pa., frequently visited Annapolis and was intrigued by Frenaye's tweets - and his personality that shone through.

With all respect to reader Ralph Schmidt's opinion about Paul Revere, the facts bear out neither his nor Sarah Palin's portrayal of Revere's ride. Ms. Palin attempts to paint a picture of Revere as a provocateur, waving the proverbial red flag in front of a bull to get it to charge, warning the British not to mess with the colonies. However, Revere's own hand betrays Palin's inaccuracies: In a letter written about his famous ride, Revere describes himself and his company (Revere was not alone in his efforts)

On May 28, after a three-month absence of major jazz concerts in downtown Annapolis, local music enthusiasts celebrated the appearance of major jazz artists at a new venue, O'Callaghan's Hotel, where the vocal jazz quartet Mad Romance played to a capacity audience, filling all seats at every table. In setting up the show, legendary bassist Joe Byrd, who retired from performing in December 2008, continues to keep jazz alive in Annapolis with his wife, jazz entrepreneur Elana Byrd.

I love the knack Croatians have for taking a humble stretch of rocky shoreline and turning it into a wildly romantic bar or cafe. At Valentino Bar in the coastal town of Rovinj, the woman who runs the place hands out pillows as you arrive, an invitation to find your own nook in the rocks overlooking the bay. As the sunset fades and the flames on the old-time candelabra seem to brighten, you realize that you don't need to be rich to enjoy a luxurious moment...

Romance novels have taken on a different shade, and tonight Baltimoreans can meet some of the publishers and writers of uniquely African-American heart-stoppers."

Lucia St. Clair Robson's first and biggest selling novel opens with an Indian raid on a small settler outpost in 1830s East Texas — page after page of killing, scalping, torture, bondage and rape during which the 9-year-old female protagonist is carried off by the Comanches. Robson has since written about the American Revolution, and further war and occasionally other massacres in the American West, in Florida, Mexico and feudal Japan. And yet, nearly 30 years and nine published novels later, the Arnold resident is somewhat puzzled to find herself often grouped with writers of "women's novels," and even "romance novels," although she means no disrespect to these categories.

Each week, The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. Use it in a sentence in a comment on his blog, You Don't say, and the best sentence will be featured next week. This week's word: PHILTRUM Here's an opportunity to become better acquainted with your own body. Touch your philtrum. It's the little furrow, common to all mammals, that runs from the nose to the upper lip. In medicine, it is called the infranasal depression, a term that lacks the romance of the older term.