This is a big week for the comic book industry. On Friday (at midnight!), the first of the summer blockbusters, The Avengers, opens in the U.S. The Avengers is, of course, one of three superhero actioners to be released this summer, with The Dark Knight Rises and the reboot The Amazing Spider-Man on deck. Then on Saturday, it's Free Comic Book Day, with free offerings from publishers, big and small, hopefully drawing in hordes of potential customers to stores. As comic book writer Fred Van Lente told me, “It’s a good annual promotion to get fresh faces in the stores. I was flown in to at an event at [...]

In the wake of the Summer of Death and the colossally major news that Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion (a number that means "death" in Cantonese and is therefore avoided at all costs-not in enumerations of 4, obvs-in addresses, car license plates, cell phone numbers, etc., and, cue ominous, chongy music) and because Mr. Nasir "Nas" Jones says that sleep is the cousin of death, we must report the (in some circles, equally) important news that the soporific in Nyquil (doxylamine succinate) is found in much higher doses elsewhere. Namely Unisom (25 mg per pill vs. 6.25 mg in a 15 ml dose).

"D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) has now asked that the gay marriage bill be reconsidered. He didn't realize what he was voting on before."

If you fall into Washington Life magazine, and why wouldn't you, you would know that not only was there recently the Bachelors and Spinsters Ball (which we presume was a feminist take-back of "spinster"? Right?) but there was also a party called The Young and the Guestlist. Which, wow! It's like Sex and the City 3: I Peed Myself Waiting for a Mojito up in D.C. these days! In part probably because the new administration actually now sometimes hires people of color, I think, as well as that peculiar old D.C. standby, the lantern-jawed white man, there's definitely a frisson of fun in our nation's capitol! Too [...]

The month of August in Washington, D.C., is dominated by uneventful fare with the most noteworthy happenings going down outside of the beltway. Perfect timing, then, for an adorable celebri-teen to show up and maximize media exposure for his pet cause. The photogenic subject in question was Nick Jonas of the pop group the Jonas Brothers. This week, he took to a much smaller stage than he's used to at the National Press Club to promote awareness for Type I Diabetes. There, like out of some cruel joke, a soft, moist chocolate cake was present at each table.

It's a funny thing, newspapering. Last Saturday, for example, the Washington Post carried a dour dispatch in its business pages announcing that the DC unemployment rate ticked up another half a percentage point in October. This was "its highest level in 34 years of record keeping," noted reporter V. Dion Haynes. While the 11.9% jobless rate is in line with that of other major cities, there's also a peculiar lag in the employment scene here; even though employers in metro DC have added 10,200 jobs in the more credentialed end of the service industries, such as education and health care, they make a poor match for the District's labor [...]

If anyone has an extra seat at the White House Correspondent's Dinner itself for our D.C. correspondent, let us know! We will give you cupcakes. And editorial consideration. CONFUSING NEWFANGLED EMOTICON GOES HERE.