OUT AND ABOUT, LIKE A RORSCHACH BAT*: Here’s where I’ll be in the next few days. If your own itinerary looks similar, why not say hello?

Thursday: All-day conference at Heritage on “Religious Practice and the Family: What the Research Says.” This is totally free, they feed you, and I should be able to get an article out of it… and, uh, it’s also a fascinating subject!

Then, at night, I shall venture into darkest Rosslyn (it’s actually about four blocks from the metro, but I am scared of suburbs) to see Synetic Theater‘s wordless adaptation of Dracula. I saw their Midsummer Night’s Dream earlier this month, and it was amazing–funny, sexy, eerie, poignant, all conveyed solely through music and movement. I’d been hearing about this troupe, mostly made up of Georgian immigrants, for years; I can tell you it lives up to the hype. More once I’ve seen Dracula.

Friday: “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror,” at the American Film Institute Silver theater in Silver Spring. Again, a short (though uphill) walk from the metro. Scary movie with live music. I’ll be at the 9.30 screening.

Saturday: Halloween!

Sunday: “Night Editor,” AFI, 12.45 pm–tickets only $5! Noir, and I’m hoping the title indicates that there will be at least a bit of newspaper-noir, a subgenre I can never resist.

(Also, this is All Saints’ Day, of course, so I will be churchifying.)

*Possibly the second-most obscure blog heading I’ve ever used. That Hattifatteners quote might still be the most obscure.