Seven Ways to Make You Squirm

[ FILM ] Reel Affirmations Returns The city's gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender film festival (which features parties, filmmaker brunches and dozens of films) returns tonight with "Breakfast With Scot," about a gay Canadian hockey player and his partner raising a young boy. Other highlights: Family Day, with GLBT-themed films including "Dottie's Magic Pockets" and the animated "Buddy G: My Two Moms and Me" and "Tomboy." $10 for individual screenings; opening and closing-night films, $20-$40. Through Oct. 25. Venues across the District and Montgomery County, including the Goethe-Institut and AFI Silver Theatre. For details, visit http://www.reelaffirmations.org.

[ LITERATURE ] "Submersion Journalism" With Barbara Ehrenreich and Others This panel tonight at Busboys and Poets, pegged to the book "Submersion Journalism: Reporting the Radical First Person From Harper's Magazine," brings together writers such as Ehrenreich, who became a low-wage worker to research "Nickel and Dimed." She and others will discuss what it means to shed the notion of objectivity in order to get a story from a different point of view. Also at tonight's event: Ken Silverstein, author of "Turkmeniscam"; Congressional Quarterly editor Chris Lehmann; and the Washington City Paper's Angela Valdez (who memorably ripped the Late Night Shots social-climbing social network last year). Free. 6:30-8 p.m. (Get there early; the events at Busboys often fill quickly.) 2021 14th St. NW. 202-387-7638.

Tomorrow

[ ON STAGE ] "Love Lessons From Abu Ghraib" Jennifer Schelter used detainee interviews and movements derived from yoga to create a one-woman show about Abu Ghraib survivors. The show is at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. $20. 7 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday. 545 Seventh St. SE. 202-547-6839.

Saturday

[ EXHIBIT ] "Regime Change Starts at Home" This politically loaded new show at Irvine Contemporary, opening Saturday, boasts the work of media artist Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky) and new prints and paintings by Shepard Fairey, the RISD grad and graphic designer whose propaganda-inspired "Obey Giant" street-art campaign spawned the Obey clothing line. Also look for works by Al Farrow, a metal sculptor who fashions religious symbols from gun parts and bullets. Free. The reception is 6 to 8 p.m. Through Dec. 6. 1412 14th St. NW. 202-332-8767.

MARYLAND

Today

[ THE SCENE ] Markhoff's Haunted Forest This weekend, the scarefest, with spooky scenarios built into the already ominous MoCo woods, expands from one trail to two, both with new elements for the forest's 16th season. Each trek is 20 minutes, give or take the few minutes you'll have to stop to get your heart rate down. Afterward, hang out by the bonfire. The trails are each $25; $20 for children under four feet tall (bring cash; they don't take credit cards). Dusk-9 p.m. tonight, to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Schedule varies through Nov. 1. 19120 Martinsburg Rd., Dickerson. 301-216-1248 or visit http://www.calleva.org.

Saturday

[ FESTIVALS ] Chesapeake Real Ale Festival This bash held in Baltimore by the Society for the Preservation of Beer From the Wood celebrates not Oktoberfest but plain old beer. Twenty brewers in all, including the Brewer's Art, Victory Brewing and the very Halloweenish Raven Beer (named in honor of Baltimore's own Edgar Allan Poe), pour samples from real casks. $35 in advance; $40 at the door (though organizers suggest the event often sells out in advance). 1-6 p.m. The Wharf Rat, Camden Yards, 206 W. Pratt St., Baltimore. Get tickets in advance at http://www.spbw.org/realale through tomorrow at 5 p.m.

[ CONCERT ] Candlelight Concerts: Eroica Trio The concert series in Columbia brings in the Eroica Trio, a top all-female chamber music ensemble featuring pianist Erika Nickrenz, violinist Susie Park and Grammy-winning cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio. The glam trio was nominated for Grammys in the late 1990s for the record "Dvorak/Shostakovich/Rachmaninoff." Saturday night, it presents a program that includes Édouard Lalo's Piano Trio No. 1, Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 and other works. $29; seniors, $26; students, $12. Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 10431 Twin Rivers Rd., Columbia, 410-997-2324. (Virginians: Note that the Eroica Trio also performs tomorrow night at the Barns at Wolf Trap at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35. Call 877-965-3872.)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

Today

[ FILM ] Spooky Movie Festival Expect Halloween-season screams with a healthy dash of camp at the Spooky Movie Festival, which opens tonight for its third year at Fairfax's Cinema Arts Theatre. Washington's own vampire emcee Count Gore De Vol hosts the first night's screening, which includes such gems as "Foet," about the hautest handbag to hit New York, made of something fashionistas would never expect. And through Monday, you can expect more of the weirdest scenarios imaginable in horror, from homicidal twin sisters to, um, "Tofu the Vegan Zombie"? Tickets for the festival are $8-$12 per screening; a festival pass runs $30. The first screening is at 7 tonight; the festival continues nightly through Monday. Cinema Arts Theatre, Fair City Mall, 9650 Main St., Fairfax. 703-978-6991. For a full schedule and tickets, visit http://www.thespookymovie.com.

[ EXHIBIT ] Talking "Uncommon Beauty" This exhibition at the Ellipse Arts Center features pieces by Mary Coble, who has, among other performance pieces, had the names of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender victims of hate crimes etched into her body with a tattooing needle; and photos by Jason Horowitz and Frank Hallam Day. Taken together, the works explore the concept of beauty. Tonight, see the show and hear from Coble and Kay Chernush (who made a series of self-portraits after her double mastectomy) talk about their work in a discussion titled "Personal Identity and the Disjunction of Public Perception." Free. 7-9 p.m. Ellipse Arts Center, 4350 N. Fairfax Dr., 703-228-7710.

Saturday

[ THE SCENE ] Tour Arlington National Cemetery: Tales and Tombstones The Smithsonian's Resident Associates program hosts a tour led by historian Jeanne Fogle, who guides participants to some of the cemetery's famous markers, including the tomb of Pierre L'Enfant. The two-hour tour is offered Saturday, and includes a lot of walking, so leave the four-inch heels at home. $30; Resident Associates, $23. (Not recommended for children.) Saturday at 10 a.m. Meets at the Visitors Center, Arlington National Cemetery. Get tickets at 202-633-3030 or visit http://www.residentassociates.org (in both cases, the reference code for the event is 1GW-A03).