Scene

'Moderate' explores rock styles

With generous guitar riffs, twangy vocals and fun hooks, local indie rock band The Moderate create the type of heartfelt show you want to drink a beer and dance with your friends to. Their Friday night performance at the Rock and Roll Hotel opening for The Milkstains and The Breakups was no exception, with an audience full of dancing, enthusiastic fans.

Slasher climaxes early

Donkey Punch, directed by Oliver Blackburn and David Bloom, is a kinky porno/horror thriller that tells the unlikely story of seven college kids who face their doom while kicking back on a luxurious yacht off the Mediterranean coast. The adventure begins on the Spanish island of Mallorca, when three British girls - Kim (Jaime Winstone), Tammi (Nichola Burley) and Lisa (Sian Breckin) - party hard during their weekend getaway from Leeds, England.

That's fierce!

'Lungs' debuts lack fresh air

Benjamin Bear "Lungs" (Self-Released) Sounds like: That weepy kid who sat next to you in geometry glass, given his first piano Grade: B Benjamin Bear describes their music as "stargazer," but they don't shoot nearly that high. On "Lungs," their debut album, the team of Mychal Cohen on piano and David Stern on drums creates a layered sound while working within the limited confines of their instruments, but clearly seem to hold back in their effort to create the feeling of looking up at stars.

D.C. cinemas give glimpse of local culture

Sitting in the darkness and munching on popcorn as you stare up at the screen with the greedy desire that you will be moved by the images that will soon appear before you, the thoughts occupying your mind typically aren't the physical people or location that currently surround you.

Douglass animates Black History Month

As the cliché goes, "legends never die - or are at least resurrected as robots." An exhibition featuring a robotic life-sized Frederick Douglass will take place in Southeast D.C. during the first week of February for Black History Month. This exhibition, however, promises to be more than a simple gimmick.

NGA scenic art exhibit evokes golden history

The National Gallery of Art is going Dutch. Pedestrians ambling along Amsterdam canals; boats filling the harbor; vintage maps with smoothed-out folds: the newly-opened exhibit at the NGA offers sweeping Dutch cityscapes with dazzling attention to light and detail.

Local theaters offer sale price cinema

When you're on a tight budget, the first thing you cut out of your life is a $10.50 movie ticket. For movie junkies, though, this can be extremely heartbreaking: no comfy stadium theater seats, no buttery popcorn and no 24 oz., $12 sodas. For those who can't stay away from the silver screen, D.C. offers a handful of small theaters that play the classics or almost-new films for reasonable prices when it's too cold for Screen on the Green. Here are the movies offered this weekend, along with what kinds of films to expect next month and where to find out more information.

Sister cities find shared love for fun, food, dance

The Chicken Dance, floral arrangements and enormous pretzels, between skyscrapers and glass fa?ades - it's the spirit of Munich on the Ohio River. Since 1976 the citizens of Cincinnati have crowded a two-block area downtown to celebrate the annual "Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati.

The Week in Fun Calendar

Thursday, Jan. 29 Dancing with the Stars 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Verizon Center, 601 F St. N.W. METRO: Gallery Place-Chinatown (red, green and yellow lines) INFO: Yes, the tickets are expensive, but just think to that day in the distant future when you'll brag to your grandkids about seeing that one girl from 90210 kind of dance.

District duo turn Black Cat club golden

Jason Hutto, the keyboardist and vocalist for the D.C. duo The Aquarium, is a full-body performer. Coaxing the perfect sound out of the keyboard, he kicks his legs wildly behind him and shakes his shaggy hair. At the band's Sunday night show at the Black Cat backstage, Hutto and drummer Lauren Harris performed facing each other on stage, each one feeding off the other's sound skillfully, resulting in high-energy harmony.

'Cherry Orchard' branches off into active comedy

Somewhere in a maze of highway out by the Pentagon there is a side-road, and down that side-road - through the overgrowth and past an abandoned car and a moldy couch - is a crumbling brick building with the word "PLAYHOUSE" in giant letters painted across it.

The best of the worst: closet favorites

The room is dark. The lights of the television screen flicker. The flashes illuminate the ear-to-ear smile that occupies your face. However, you're nervous. Your finger is hovering above the pause button on the remote, should someone walk in and interrupt your private happiness.

Davis hits 'blue' note in reissue

Nickel Eye "The Time of the Assassins" (Rykodisc) Sounds Like: The Old West in a pinstriped suit Grade: B+ Nickel Eye, the solo project of Nikolai Fraiture, The Strokes' bassist, will release "The Time of the Assassins" on Jan. 27 to high expectations. And other than a few moments of "haven't I heard this before?" boredom, fans won't be disappointed.

Performers' gaffes, glories garner must-see TV

Following the boozy lounge show of the Golden Globes, the upcoming Academy Awards are the pinnacle of movie award season, rewarding the best films of the year in a celebration worth watching as much for its frequently cringe worthy awkwardness as for its glitz and glamour.

The Scene's 2009 Oscar rundown

As Oscar season approaches, there is a lot of hullabaloo in Hollywood over which films and actors fared best in the Academy's nominations. Though the Golden Globes are typically considered the blueprint to who and what will be nominated in the Academy Awards, there were a few surprises and clear front-runners in the Oscar nominations announced Thursday.

Give hamburgers gourmet twist

The term "gourmet" for this dish is debatable. But gourmet or not, this dish is easy to make and is sure to be a favorite for you and your friends. Some of the ingredients and cookware you should already have. If not, your friends and neighbors most likely have them.