Thread Bare: Manscaping above the collar

Body: If you find yourself in a hairy dilemma -- wanting two eyebrows instead of your uni, or just in need of a cleanup that won't result in you looking like Boy George -- you can relax. You're in the right city when it comes to taming your brows. At Threads, all it takes is thin, twisted cotton threads in the hands of Preeti Singh, co-owner of the salon, or any of the other threading specialists there to do the trick. ''Threading is better for men, for anybody really, than waxing, because I have control in what hair I am taking out,'' she says. ''So if you say, 'I don't want to have arches and I don't want really feminine-looking eyebrows,' it's all in my hands.'' ...more

Horoscope: May 15-21, 2008

Horoscope: Heavenly Round-Up: It's not the heat, it's the generally conductive atmosphere brought on by so much moisture. That's some of what's going on, of course. But wait! There's more! There's also an obstacle course for the egos involved. And the judging panel may not be issuing flak jackets to spectators. Think about choosing to be a participant. Since you can't be a by-stander, you may as well be in for a pound and not just a penny. Make your wishes known, clearly. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Aries: Hindsight offers many advantages. But you've never been one to brood about what's past -- right? Okay, maybe you haven't had the easiest time letting go of some of those Pyrrhic victories at the Waterloo of your soul. Could now be the time to release and move on? Maybe. Taurus: Persisting in the face of so many difficulties might be noble. It might also be bull-headed in the extreme. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt, and allow yourself to back away slowly from this latest mega-commitment. You can if you want, but you don't have to. ...more

Toga Party: The Shakespeares Roman Repertory sets the action in the intended time and place and is all the better for it

Stage: If you fall into that demographic of individuals who love reading The Onion and seeing the works of William Shakespeare (we'll not mention your Public Radio tote bag and hybrid car filled with organic produce), you might recall the paper's headline, ''Unconventional Director Sets Shakespeare Play In Time, Place Shakespeare Intended.'' What is it about Shakespeare that inspires creative types to move his stories -- set in Verona and Scotland and ancient Rome -- to beachside communities, contemporary Manhattan and Nazi-era Germany? (More actors have taken the stage dressed as Nazis in the name of Shakespeare than for all the productions of The Sound of Music ever done.) That's why, when you enter a theater like Harman Hall to see a pair of Shakespeare plays written to be set in ancient Rome and see that the stage is actually dressed as a Roman forum, your heart quickens. The Harman is a just-out-of-the-box space. It all but begs for something fresh and exciting. Hammond as Brutus (Photo by Carol Rosegg) And against conventional wisdom, that's exactly what Shakespeare Theatre Company delivers with their Roman Repertory: Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. ...more

Elektrafying: Helmed by a strong cast, Richard Strauss 99-year-old opera, Elektra, is an ode to the murderous slice and dice

Opera: As anyone with a pulse knows, Hollywood -- both the A and the B list -- continues to outrage the arbiters of good taste with an increasingly flamboyant passion for blood; be it Sweeny Todd, No Country for Old Men, or Saw III, it is all about the blood. Sprays of it, rivers of it, even a fine mist of it will do. If you don't leave the theater feeling as if you've just taken a bath in hemoglobin, you didn't get your money's worth. Blood is the medium of the day and the line between art and exploitation is razor thin, pun fully intended. And yet, as is so often the case with such so-called harbingers of civilization's end, it has all been seen and clucked over before. Unadorned bloodlust as entertainment, either lowbrow or highbrow, has been around for eons, along with its ability to shock, enthrall and disturb. Revenger's tale: Bullock and Goerke (Photo by Karin Cooper) Take, for example, the Washington National Opera's season-closer of Elektra. Devoid of computer-generated eviscerations or anatomically accurate ketchup-engorged rubber throats -- indeed not a single drop of blood falls upon the stage -- this 99-year-old opera is a veritable ode to the murderous slice and dice. It is a conjuring, a longing, a dissection, if you will, of blood-soaked revenge. Composer Richard Strauss, who also wrote such traditionally melodic and narrative-driven operas as Der Rosenkavalier, like these auteurs of today, saw the envelope and wanted to push it. With Elektra, Strauss left behind the fairy tales and instead engaged with gritty human realities. Musically, likewise, he exchanged the easily-digestible for the expressive and unsettling possibilities of atonality. And the Elektra at the center of this maelstrom is as fascinatingly discordant as the piece itself. Looking like an angry German teenager with a taste for anarchy and possibly women, Susan Bullock is anything but a traditional operatic heroine. When she is not scowling and lurking, she is gnashing her teeth and performing somewhat alarming war dances. When she is not scheming to bring about the gory death of her mother and her consort, she is preying creepily on her sister. And yet from this tortured soul comes the lovely sound of Bullock's soprano moving with power, beauty and pain within the dissonance. And despite some moments that border on the hammy, her wild miming of relief and turmoil at the discovery that her brother/savior is alive, is quite moving. This is a role Bullock has sung often and she crafts a disturbing and memorable presence, one that draws the viewer inexorably deeper into her internal fray. ...more

Sky High: Flight 1639 elevates a standard night-out at Cobalt

Clublife: A months-long teaser campaign for Cobalt's new party stoked confusion. ''For the longest time people thought we were promoting a new gay airline,'' jokes Cobalt general manager Jason Royce. Amusingly rendered ''boarding passes'' will gain you free entry to special-event party Flight 1639, named after the club's street address. But you won't actually take flight: The highest you'll get is two stories above ground. The point is simply to elevate a standard night-out at the 17th Street institution, explains Royce. ''When you see it's a Flight 1639 night, you'll know it's something out of the ordinary for us, a not-to-be-missed event,'' he says. Instead of flight attendants, Flight 1639 will feature out-of-uniform dancers and ''go-go boys shaking their asses,'' as Royce put it. The party will also involve higher production than normal, including nationally known talent, from DJs to performers. This Saturday, May 17, for instance, Flight 1639 is throwing a party for Instinct magazine's 10th Anniversary, with 2xist underwear models and a Las Vegas-bred host prone to stripping down to a bow-tie: Brandon Pereyda, the first openly gay dancer in the Chippendales troupe. ...more