Seriously, don’t forget about the Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival starting this Wednesday. If you haven’t passed through this lovely amalgamation of all things folk art, music, culture, and food, now’s the time to make good. Featured this year are the nation of Bhutan, NASA, and Texas. Daytime events run from 11 to 5:30, with evening activities (a lot of Texas/country-style dancing) starting at 6.

The Library of Congress’s Mary Pickford Theater is an unheralded gem for random movie screenings. This week has the five-time Oscar nominee Mary, Queen of Scots on Tuesday at 7 and the Japanese film The Eternal Monument (“the story of a group of female high school students assigned to the [Okinawa] army field hospitals”) on Thursday at 7.

Hang around Borders Books and Music (18th and L sts., NW; 202-466-4999) this Tuesday, August 14, to meet hip-hop artist Common at 12:30 PM. He’ll be signing copies of his new CD, Finding Forever.

This is Common’s seventh album and features collaborations with D’Angelo, J.Dilla, Will.I.Am, and Kanye West, who produced the CD. Common won a Grammy in 2003 for his duet with R&B artist Erykah Badu and was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 for best rap album and best rap solo performance. There will be limited time with Common—so sorry, fans, no personal photos.

For more information, visit Borders’ events Web page.

If you want to hear Harry Potter speak, go no farther than the Borders bookstore at White Flint Mall (11301 Rockville Pike, Bethesda; 301-816-1067) Wednesday at 7 pm. Broadway actor Jim Dale has gained a whole new audience by giving voice to Harry, Hermione, Severus Snape, Voldemort, and more in the audio versions of the book series. The 17-disc audio set of the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is selling almost as quickly as the book.

Washington Muggles, take note: Something wickedly awesome this way comes as the area gets ready for the release of the seventh and final installment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows won’t be released until midnight on Saturday, June 21, but events anticipating its arrival have already begun.

Last Wednesday’s film premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—which has already grossed a record $140 million—kicked off the Harry Potter mania. It continues with the “Harry Potter and the Silver Screen” series at the AFI Silver Theatre (8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring; 301-495-6720).

Beginning today, the theater will be screening all previous four Harry Potter films—from The Sorcerer’s Stone to The Goblet of Fire—as part of a weeklong special engagement.

Starting at noon on Friday, the films will be shown back to back, leading up to a Grand Hallows Ball that evening. Organized by Borders bookstore, the event will transform Ellsworth Drive—a quick walk from the theater—into Diagon Alley, with local businesses such as McGinty’s Public House and Ben & Jerry’s doubling as shops from the books.

UPDATE: We just received an invitation to a cape-making party at Marimekko in Silver Spring. You can get a cape made to represent the Hogwarts house of your choosing. For event details, and to RSVP, click here.

The AFI Silver Theatre will also have back-to-back screenings on Saturday.

Other Harry Potter events in the area include midnight parties at these stores:

Olsson’s Books. At 9 PM on Friday, the Arlington-Courthouse (2111 Wilson Blvd.; 703-525-4227) and Old Town Alexandria (106 S. Union St.; 703-684-0077) locations will hold prerelease parties. Refreshments and games are promised, and wizardlike attire—for adults and kids—is highly encouraged. Free.

Barnes & Noble. In addition to hosting a Midnight Magic Party throughout most of its area stores (check barnesandnoble.com for starting times), a live video stream of the New York City event will be available for online viewing.   

Did you catch the interesting profile in today's New York Times about Project Runway guru and celebrity Tim Gunn? You may want to read it as preparatory materials, because the well-loved and well-spoken design honcho is going to be in the DC metropolitan area at the end of next week.

Gunn will be dishing out advice on fashion and design to the masses through his recently-published book, Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style. And he's making two appearances in DC to promote the tome.

First up is Friday, April 20, 2007 at 7pm at Olsson's in Penn Quarter (418 7th St., NW). Then on Saturday afternoon, he'll be at Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave., NW) at 3pm.

Make sure to show up early for these events; judging by the popularity of "Project Runway" and Gunn's packed appearance at the Corcoran last fall, the fashionistas will be out in force.

Why should Saint Patrick’s Day be just about green beer? There’s lots of brilliant Irish culture out there, too, and Solas Nua, a local Irish arts organization, wants to make sure you get some of it. This Saint Patrick’s Day the organization will have representatives at locations throughout the metropolitan area distributing books by Irish authors to anybody who wants ‘em—free. That’s right—free!

Why is Solas Nua doing this? In the group’s own words: “Solas Nua’s mission is to seek out both feted and obscure work by contemporary artists in Ireland to promote awareness of modern Irish culture in Washington, DC.”

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. If you want to pick up your own bit of modern Irish culture, click here for the list of locations where Solas Nua will be distributing books. And click here for the full list of books being distributed.