In a cauldron, pour a large can of bloody tomato sauce.
Add five-fingered flesh, seared by torches.
Pour in a can of carrots and a can of potatoes.
Season with spiders.
Serve to your not-so-favorite neighbors.
Cackle afterward.

Of the 38 percent of the population eligible to give blood, only 5 percent do so, according to the INOVA Blood Donor Services fact sheet. That leaves a huge gap between the number of people who need blood, and the number of people donating it. Does this mean we should demand that those 5 percent go out and give blood over and over until creating a legion of blood-deprived walking dead? No, it doesn’t.

NOVA’s intramural golf tournament, organized by Dr. Muhammed Basit, the Executive Assistant to the Dean of Students at the Annandale campus, took place on Oct. 7 at the Penderbrook Golf Course near Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, under the auspices of the NOVA Student Activities Office of Brian Anweiler.

For those of us who love the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot and the whisper of cold weather to come as the air turns crisp, now is the time to get out and find fall-themed activities to enjoy with a cup of hot apple cider in hand. There are many such attractions in the Northern Virginia area, one of which I was able to attend and report on, which was the Pumpkin Playground in Burke.

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, 2010 recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts, announces auditions for its 2011 Honors Conservatory, an intensive, year-long conservatory offering exceptional training for those serious about entering the acting profession.

It’s a common scene in movies: one person sacrifices himself for a loved one, takes a bullet meant for another or jumps in the way of a blade. Perhaps it was fate that on Sept. 4, Relic Entertainment Games’ lead designer, Brian Wood, reenacted such a moment when he managed to save the lives of his wife and their unborn child

The NOVA women’s volleyball team played its first home match of the year on Sept. 16, at Annandale’s Ernst Gym and defeated a tenacious Cecil College Seahawks team, three games to zero.

Coco Chanel once famously quoted, “Before leaving the house, a lady should stop, look in the mirror and remove one piece of jewelry.” For the 2010 fall season, designers took this mantra to heart, paring down not only accessories, but entire collections.

“Let’s play some volleyball!” they shouted. The NOVA women’s volleyball team did just that during the week of Sept. 20, squeezing in three single matches in four days.