HBO begins airing its movie Recount in late May—a dramatic replay of the vote-counting battle after the almost-tied 2000 presidential election.

The role of Ron Klain, onetime chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, is played by Kevin Spacey. Spacey is now 49 and balding; Klain was in his late thirties and looked even younger in 2000. Or, as Klain’s wife, Monica, observes, “He may be better-looking than you and more glamorous—but you have a full head of hair, and he doesn’t!”

Klain, a former partner at O’Melveny & Myers who now is general counsel to Revolution LLC, says he didn’t have approval over the movie and was never asked who might play him. Nor did Spacey try to learn his mannerisms. But Klain did get out of the deal a photo of Spacey with Monica and their three children.

Good morning, Washington, and welcome back from Memorial Day! Here's what we're reading around the web this AM. 

Hungry? You will be after you check out our Cheap Eats slideshow. 

Cabbies beware—if you haven't had your meters installed yet, do so now, as tickets are starting to be issued. 

A motorcyclist was found dead on the GW Parkway. 

You can now find out the "walkability" of your neighborhood with this handy tool.  

The National Museum of Crime & Punishment officially opens today, but last night we got a sneak peek of the latest addition to DC’s Penn Quarter neighborhood at a preopening reception and museum tour.

We had no idea what to expect—the museum’s name told us everything and nothing at the same time—but the invitation promised a go-round on a high-speed-police-chase simulator, so we were game. And apparently, we weren’t the only ones: The doors opened at 6:30, and when we arrived at 7 a long line had already formed and was snaking halfway down Seventh Street.

Out on the sidewalk, we were greeted by McGruff the Crime Dog and orange-jumpsuit-clad museum staff. Inside, we found a well-stocked open bar—not a usual fixture of the kid-friendly museum—where we helped ourselves to a glass of red wine before being ushered upstairs to the exhibit hall.

The museum follows a similar track as the International Spy Museum, its neighbor, where exhibitions start at the top of the building and work their way downward. They snake through Disney-like exhibit halls built like movie sets, complete with soundtracks and appropriate lighting, to make a visit feel like more than just a few hours at a museum—it’s an entire “experience.”

We won’t spoil the whole thing, but the National Museum of Crime & Punishment boasts a number of high points. Our favorites:

Miss out on some of our blog posts from this week? Worry not—we're here to fill you in on what the most popular blog posts were from the past seven days. See below for our top five.

Would billionaire Washington businessman Steve Case have good White House entrée if Barack Obama becomes president?

Case and Obama are graduates of the same high school, Punahou in Honolulu, although Case was a few years ahead. Case’s attachment to the school is more than academic: He has given more than $10 million to its building and endowment funds, and Punahou’s middle school is named for Case’s parents.

In interviews, however, Case has made it clear that his generosity wouldn’t extend to supporting his fellow alum’s campaign. Case, a resident of McLean, once identified himself as a Republican, but now says he  is an independent. He says he has nothing against Obama, but won't be contributing to any of the candidates on a personal basis.

It's the weekend! If you're not going out of town to the beach, take a gander at our weekend nightlife guide. There's plenty to do.

And if you're staying in town, also watch out for the Rolling Thunder motorcycle tribute—it's likely to make traffic tricky.

PQ Living reminds us that Jazz in the Garden starts tonight.

More than 100 Post journalists have taken the paper's buyout offer. For more, see Harry Jaffe's videos on the media.

D.C. Confidential profiles the Dumbarton House.

Worried about the weather? Looks like a lovely weekend. 

Head back to our blog for more daily news on dining, fashion, events and more.  

Ellen Miller wants to open up Capitol Hill to outside eyes.

Ellen Miller has spent decades around Capitol Hill looking at money’s influence on Washington. In the process she founded two groups focused on money and politics: the Center for Responsive Politics—the force behind the campaign-donation-disclosure database OpenSecrets.org—and Public Campaign. Now, as cofounder of the Dupont Circle–based Sunlight Foundation, she works to combine the open-source-technology movement with the open-government movement.

• Sunlight was founded two years ago to harness the Internet and social media to shine more light on Congress, to digitize existing political information and put it online and into the hands of citizens. We want to create 21st-century-style accountability for lawmakers and help facilitate better connections between lawmakers and their constituents. We think about our work as handing out tens of thousands of flashlights to people rather than focusing one single spotlight on the inner workings of the Hill.

• One of our goals is to have every report filed by a member of Congress posted online in real time. We want to expand the reporting requirements too so that the work of Congress is an open book. We know there are some on Capitol Hill who are open to using technology, but there’s a cultural resistance—slowly, slowly breaking down—to revealing more and revealing it faster.