Sparkle

John Allen Muhammad failed to persuade Maryland's second-highest court to overturn his six murder convictions this week, but the sniper did inspire it to issue one colorful legal opinion. "For 22 days in October of 2002, Montgomery County, Maryland, was gripped by a paroxysm of fear, a fear as paralyzing as that which froze the London district of Whitechapel in 1888," it began. "In Whitechapel, however, the terror came only at night. In Montgomery County, it struck at any hour of the day or night.

Looking for illumination? No need to settle for the usual brass-with-a-white-shade formula when it comes to lamps. While lamps have traditionally served as basic household furniture, they've moved into the limelight this season. Designers are offering lamps in a variety of colors, shapes, and textures, so you can creatively brighten that corner or dress up that side table.In contrast to past offerings, today's lamps are expressive and individualized, allowing you to decorate your rooms to reflect whatever interests and hobbies you might have.

DECKING THE home with a mantle of electric bulbs is a pleasure of the holidays that has caught on in the Hampstead community of Robert's Field. Many of the residents there turn the more than 600 homes into holiday greeting cards to be seen day and night.This annual, totally voluntary festival of decoration is applauded by the Robert's Field Homeowners Association, which sponsors awards to recognize the best decoration efforts. Awards are given only to those who haven't won an award in the previous five years.

There's a lot more to costume jewelry than your mother's old Monet circle pin. "Jewels of Fantasy: Costume Jewelry of the 20th Century," which opened at the Baltimore Museum of Art yesterday, is an eye-opening example of the extraordinary creativity craftsmen can bring to objects whose only function is to decorate and sparkle prettily.Costume jewelry is new to fashion history, only coming into its own in this century. The earliest pieces started as pretenders to royal jewels and heirlooms and were copies made to foil thieves.

He's young, he's bad, he's worse than Amy Fisher.One of recent history's first infamous serial killers was 19-year-old Charles Starkweather. In this year of true-crime TV, Starkweather is exactly the kind of character the networks are looking for to give the full historical and gory treatment.Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, went on a killing spree in Nebraska in 1958. In most of the murders, Starkweather didn't know the victims and didn't have a reason for killing them, except that he was a little ticked off. One of the victims was a infant in a crib, Fugate's half-sister.

If mall decorations help make your Christmas more merry, thank Sinclair Russell.The corporate design director for the Becker Group, a Baltimore-based holiday display company, created the gilded holly theme at Towson Town Center, the train motif at Marley Station and many other fanciful spectacles across the country.But a life lived in a mall has its downsides. When Mr. Russell, 47, isn't in a mall, he's traveling to one. Shopping, he admits, is the last thing he wants to do there. And don't look for red shirts, green trousers and candy cane ties in his closet.

During the holidays, it is the small bits of brightness that bring the most pleasure. There's no need to make a seasonal wardrobe overhaul to be dressed for a party. A quick -- of festivity can be had with a pert cocktail hat, some glittery strands and pins on a simple dress, or a shoe that taps time to the fashion of the day and the party music. One special indulgence can do more to add sparkle to a party mood than hundreds of miles of twinkle lights. Enjoy!

Tropical color is warming northern latitudes. We have the hot summers, now we have the hot styles. The tints and frills of rain forest birds will grace pretty shoulders this season. And the coolest way to capture the sparkle of a summer sundown is in pinks, purples and hummingbird blues. Color is a rich natural resource.

We have our gold standards -- a touch is stylish security, a generous -- is a gilt-edged fashion investment. Gold accessories add a polish to black, a finish to white and a sun-kissed sparkle to skin. Look for the light touch in gauzy scarves, bags and slippers. The heavier hand can play with beads, bangles and belts. This is not the year to be a miser.

Q: I am thinking about installing floor-to-ceiling mirrored wall panels as part of a renovation project for an old but spacious bathroom. Can you give me some suggestions on how best to use these types of mirrors? Also, what sort of wall-covering would go well with them?A: Floor-to-ceiling mirrors produce such a dramatic decorative effect that there's no point in installing only one or two of them. I would place these panels on as much of the room's wall surface as possible in order to create a kaleidoscope pattern of refracted images.

Signaled by excessive sniffling, watery eyes and intermittent nose-blowing, the Maryland season we all know so well has arrived. It's graduation time. Some of us thought the weeks of celebratory send-offs would be less emotional with our second or third child. But we were wrong. No matter what, it is always easier to be the one moving on instead of the one remaining behind. After all, the one leaving is infused with an adventurer's energy; he or she can't help but be enthusiastic about the opportunity to live and work in a new environment.

In the nearly half-century since Camelot was first performed, our national self-image has altered. We no longer are as confident as we were in 1960, that we always use might to serve right. Perhaps that explains some of my disappointment in the production of Lerner and Loewe's musical running at the Hippodrome Theatre. But there are other reasons for discontent. If you go Camelot runs at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St., 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays through April 6. $25-$70.

We leave no garish moment unturned," Jack Everly says, as he surveys the gold glitter curtain on the back wall of Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the faux-neon light strip flashing pink along the rim of the stage. Out in the lobby, Everly, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's principal pops conductor, looks over the gaming tables that have been brought in to add extra atmosphere for the "Pops Goes Vegas" show. "Part of me is enjoying this enormously, and another part of me goes, `Oh, dear, have we gone too far?

John Allen Muhammad failed to persuade Maryland's second-highest court to overturn his six murder convictions this week, but the sniper did inspire it to issue one colorful legal opinion. "For 22 days in October of 2002, Montgomery County, Maryland, was gripped by a paroxysm of fear, a fear as paralyzing as that which froze the London district of Whitechapel in 1888," it began. "In Whitechapel, however, the terror came only at night. In Montgomery County, it struck at any hour of the day or night.

The pale-green lamp on the shelves at West Elm is made of common clay but looks as if it's carved, polished jade. At another Los Angeles high-end furniture store, Kartell, Dutch designer Marcel Wanders' plastic stone stools sparkle like chunks of topaz and citrine. And Fendi Casa's crystal chair looks like a cushion-cut diamond. These days, a residence described as a jewel box may actually look like one. Furniture and accessories resembling gemstones on steroids are beginning to bring a little bling into the home.

Standing just inside Copra, a chic restaurant in downtown Baltimore, Mario looks as if he's about to stroll down a runway. The R&B-pop star - lean and disarmingly handsome at 6 feet 1 - extends one hand and slips the other into his loose-fitting dark jeans. He's wearing a tailored, chalk-white shirt with French cuffs. Around his neck and over his shoulder, a thin, chocolate-colored scarf is loosely draped. Pea-sized diamond studs sparkle in each ear. If you go Mario is part of Scream Tour 5, with Ne-Yo, Omarion, Yung Joc and Pretty Ricky, at 1st Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., at 7 p.m. Saturday.

This spring, it's all about the bling. For your summer wearing pleasure, stores are filled with sparkly things, ranging from bejeweled sunglasses to sequined sandals. Jeans decorated with Swarovski crystals, tiered skirts with mirrored discs and rhinestone-studded Ts are no longer considered eveningwear only. "It's one of the strongest, best-selling trends of the moment," says David Wolfe of the Doneger Group, which forecasts fashion trends. On the way to his New York office, he says, he saw a woman wearing jeans, flip flops, a T-shirt and a "solidly sequined" bolero jacket.

Attics and cellars are full of bicentennial garb, but who remembers the Fourth of July the year before 1976? And did Prince ever party like it was 1998? Events that precede big anniversaries can have a tough time of it. So the organizers of the city's 49th St. Patrick's Day Parade, which will be held Sunday, face a particular challenge. They must make this one memorable while still anticipating the coming quinquagenary event. "We're looking ahead, definitely," said Darby Simmons, the parade's organizer.

* Editor's note: An outsider finds love and acceptance from an unlikely source. There was once a man who lived at the top of a tower in the middle of a big city. He claimed he had fallen to the earth as a shooting star, eager to win the riches and power he had seen in his wanderings of the night sky. Riches had bought him half of the city, but he had found neither love nor happiness. Every lonely night he would climb to the top of his tower and gaze up at the night sky, remembering the song his mother had sung to him: Find the star that's a gift from the skies.

Looking for illumination? No need to settle for the usual brass-with-a-white-shade formula when it comes to lamps. While lamps have traditionally served as basic household furniture, they've moved into the limelight this season. Designers are offering lamps in a variety of colors, shapes, and textures, so you can creatively brighten that corner or dress up that side table.In contrast to past offerings, today's lamps are expressive and individualized, allowing you to decorate your rooms to reflect whatever interests and hobbies you might have.