Silver

A selection of modern African films will be screening in Baltimore this weekend, as part of the Baltimore Museum of Art's 16th annual "African Spirit Series," a celebration of African culture. Tomorrow, the offerings from the African Film Traveling Series include South Africa's Dumisani Phakathi's Don't F*** With Me I Have 51 Brothers and Sisters (noon), chronicling the director's search for his extended family; You, Waguih (1:50 p.m.), French director Namir Abdel Messeeh's look at his Egyptian father's abuse at the hands of Egyptian authorities; A Child's Love Story (2:30 p.m.)

When she envisioned a deluxe newsstand, the kind of place to find glossy magazines in dozens of languages, obscure literary journals and fashion quarterlies that cost as much as $90, Christina Cieri thought of only one location. Harbor East. "If I couldn't do it here, I didn't want to do it," the Harbor News owner says. "Do you see it in Federal Hill? In Mount Vernon? In Fells Point? In Canton? I don't." She felt this neighborhood's promise and wanted a part of it. Here, she says, "it's all about the future."

LOS ANGELES -- Apparently, the Emmy memo went out: Shun the fussy, shellacked up-dos; bypass the bacon-hued faux tans; and be sure to don a variation of red or silver to blend in with almost every other attendee. Clearly, not everyone got that memo, which, quite frankly, is a great relief. The Emmys have never been known for a risque red carpet, and this year was no different, with many of TV's finest choosing to stroll safely into the Shrine Auditorium. With a host about as serrated as a butter knife, did anyone expect otherwise?

Trahan, Burden & Charles has won one of the top awards given by the Public Relations Society of America for its work on the launch of Port Discovery.Another Baltimore-area company, Imre & Associates LLC, also was honored with a Silver Anvil award for its campaign for Ryobi North America, a power tool and outdoor equipment manufacturer.TBC Executive Vice President Sandy Hillman called the Silver Anvil "the equivalent of the Oscars" in the movie industry. "It sends an important message to your clients that you don't have to work with firms in New York or L.A.," she said.

Before Lloyd Daniels took his first shot as a member of the team, BayRunners coach Herb Brown predicted he would become the best player in the International Basketball League.He looked it last night, hitting 10 three-pointers in the BayRunners' 114-107 win over the Las Vegas Silver Bandits in front of 2,683 at Baltimore Arena."I'm getting my timing back," said Daniels, who finished with a game-high 36 points. "And I'm playing with a bad hamstring. But you got to fight through that."I had a bad performance last game.

As Herman Charles Engel Jr. walks through the Kirk-Stieff factory, there is an eerie silence. The formidable hammering machines stand mute, hundreds of tools and dies await reassignment while employees tend to final chores. It's like the lull after a memorable dinner party, a few people reliving the high points while they clear the table.The 76-year-old die maker stops to chat with Patricia Flanagan. She is polishing up the last order of mint julep tumblers, another Kirk-Stieff product that has helped smooth out life's rough edges.

Rivers branches outFollowing in her mother Joan's footsteps, Melissa Rivers has created a line of silver jewelry that recently made its debut on QVC. Rivers has had a hand in designing each of the 24 pieces (most range from $26.50 to $85), including a heart band ring loosely modeled on her own wedding band.We caught up with Rivers to get the scoop on her shining new endeavor.Q: Why QVC?A: QVC has been extremely supportive of my mom. She has a huge following with them. I'm now a division of my mom's jewelry company, and shoppers know they'll get the same quality.

The kooky, dark humor of playwright Nicky Silver may make him somewhat of an outsider among those who favor entertainment-for-entertainment's sake, but he's become a regular attraction at AXIS Theatre, where his comedy, "The Food Chain," opens tonight.AXIS has previously produced Silver's "Raised in Captivity" and "Pterodactyls." Now director Brian Klaas returns to Silver's offbeat world, which is as brimming as ever with neuroses and insecurities. Gina S. Braden, Bethany Brown, Patrick Martyn, Sean Rivers and Dennis U. Scott make up the cast.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- For all the controversy that swirled around this night, the Orioles left town leaving behind no losers.A 1-hour, 49-minute exhibition between the Orioles and their Triple-A affiliate Rochester Red Wings ended in a 1-1 tie even after the Orioles offered a goodwill gesture by extending the scheduled seven-inning game to eight innings. Despite rumors of player defections all Orioles were present for their 23rd game in 25 days. The capacity Frontier Field crowd of 13,307 enjoyed only a fleeting glimpse of most Orioles regulars, but at least the game was played.

"I can't imagine Baltimore without Kirk-Stieff," Charles O. Culver said from his Philadelphia home last week."It was so much a part of the city's heritage. The fine furniture and silver that came out of Baltimore in the 18th and 19th centuries certainly paralleled that made in Philadelphia, New York and Boston," said Culver, an antiques appraiser who grew up in Snow Hill surrounded by ancestral Samuel Kirk & Sons and Stieff Co. silver.In late October, the venerable firm's parent company, Lenox Inc., a unit of the Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman Corp.

Casey Baynes isn't just known for being the founder/executive director of the Casey Cares Foundation, which helps families with critically ill children. Around the office, the 32-year-old Ellicott City resident is also known for her fun sense of style. "I'm always willing to try something new. Sometimes the look sticks, and sometimes I go, 'Oh, that didn't work so well.' " When we "Glimpsed" Baynes at her foundation's annual "Rock 'N' Roll Bash" at Rams Head Live! we found her in rocker chic.

Patricia A. Roberts, a retired Environmental Protection Agency lawyer and an acknowledged expert on Maryland silver who volunteered at the Maryland Historical Society, died of multiple myeloma Dec. 10 at George Washington University Hospital in Washington. She was 66. Ms. Roberts was born in Baltimore and raised on Baker Street. She was a 1960 graduate of Western High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Morgan State University in 1964. After college, Ms. Roberts began working at the National Institutes of Health's laboratory on cerebral metabolism in Bethesda.

The hammer hits the metal with well-placed strikes. Plink, plink, plink. In our mass-produced, throw-it-away society, it's tempting to hear the sound as the quaint signature of yet another dying art. But at her studio in an old Baltimore carriage house, silversmith Martha Hopkins has a more optimistic view as she begins fashioning six silver bar measures used for mixing drinks. To this 48-year-old artisan, the sound is the heartbeat of a craft that, while fading, still has a lot of life left beyond the nostalgic trappings of Colonial Williamsburg.

Baltimore County police have arrested and charged a man and a woman in the stabbing death of a man early Tuesday in Arbutus. Robert James Matthews, 23, of no fixed address and Sharon Elizabeth Grimes, 25, of the 5500 block of Carville Ave. were charged with first-degree murder in the death of Robert Arthur Silver, 48, who was found in the 1000 block of Maiden Choice Lane about 2 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Witnesses told police that they saw a man pull up to Silver in a red sports car and get out. They told police the man approached Silver, assaulted him, then drove away.

pop music Deerhoof: The adventurous art-rock collective from San Francisco offers a more balanced showcase of its sometimes-chaotic style on Offend Maggie, its latest album. Deerhoof's inventive approach will come alive onstage at 7 p.m. Sunday at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. N.W. in Washington. Tickets are $15 and are available through tickets.com or by calling 1-800-955-5566. Rashod D. Ollison theater 'Waiting for Godot': : Samuel Beckett's absurdist masterpiece concerns the plight of two tramps who arrive at a crossroads for a rendezvous with the mysterious Mr. Godot.

Her fourth medal was silver, not gold - but Jessica Long was happy with that. Yesterday, the Middle River swimmer finished second in the women's 100-meter backstroke in a personal best of 1 minute, 19.56 seconds at the Paralympics in Beijing. The performance followed Long's third-place showing Monday in the 100-meter breaststroke - dashing her hopes of winning seven golds in as many races. Monday "was a bad swim for me," Long, 16, said. "I was disappointed, but I came back strong" in the backstroke.

On August 31, 2008, MATTHEW R. SILVER, SR.; survived by wife; devoted father of Marquitta L. March (Gary); Matthew R. Silver Jr. (Emily), Monica Boyd (Thomas), Joseph Silver and Jerome Silver. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Ida S. Wiggins and Marvis Starr and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the Gary P. March Funeral Home, 270 Fred Hilton Pass on Friday from 12 noon to 7 p.m. Remains will lie in state at Concord Baptist Church, 5204 Liberty Heights, Saturday, 9:30 a.m. where family will receive friends from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Funeral services to follow.

BEIJING - Shawn Johnson had dark circles under her brown eyes and a headache, but when she jumped on the balance beam last night, she switched on her smile and defiantly pounded out a gold-medal routine. It wasn't the gold Johnson wanted. She had come here as the favorite to win the all-around title, had hoped to lead the U.S. team to a gold medal, had hoped to defend her world championship in the floor exercise and add to that a balance-beam gold medal. But through a succession of silvers - team, all-around, floor - Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, stuck out her chin, wiped away tears and insisted that silver was just as nice as gold.

BEIJING - The Olympic sprints are officially Jamaica's world, and we're all just spectators at a rollicking party. Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart ran off with an unprecedented sweep of the women's 100-meter dash yesterday, an exhilarating victory that withstood American officials' protest that the field should have been called back after Torri Edwards' admitted false start. It was the first time since 1976 that no American woman finished in the top three in the 100 at a fully attended Olympics.

BEIJING - Katie Hoff won her third medal of the 2008 Olympics, swimming the anchor for the United States on the 800-meter freestyle relay and helping the Americans to a third-place finish today behind Australia and China. The Americans - who came into the event owning the world record - were in fourth place for much of the race after swims by Allison Schmitt and Natalie Coughlin, but Caroline Burckle and Hoff helped the U.S. rally past Italy to win bronze in a time of 7 minutes, 46.33 seconds.