This week it’s all about Quentin Tarantino, as his long-gestating, long-anticipated Inglourious Basterds arrives on the scene. Speculation runs high. Is this going to be a “great” film, another of the filmmaker’s trashy pop-culture masterpieces? Or is this going to be the mess that a lot of early reports have claimed? And even if it is a mess, will it be a glorious mess or just a plain old mess?

Two local companies — First Light Solar Energy and Innova Homes — were recently awarded $61,000 and $51,160, respectively, from the North Carolina Green Business Fund.

Buncombe County’s move to reinstate zoning will continue at Tuesday’s meeting of the board of commissioners. The board plans to decide on whether to pass zoning maps on to the county planning board for review.

An Asheville woman was stabbed to death Sunday outside a Montford home. Police say the killing stemmed from a domestic dispute, and have charged Rodney Lamar Robinson with first degree murder.

Treat yourself to an evening of laughs with SART’s The Foreigner.

In an e-mail to Xpress, the director of the Environmental Quality Institute challenges numbers supplied by UNC-Asheville, and says the university profits from the center.

Flash flooding, better beer brewing, jam skating and even a link to an old video shot at Vincent’s Ear… and more.

Parenting when you’re sick or in pain can be difficult. Most of us have to just muddle through the burden of taking care of kids while trying to heal ourselves.

This is an evening (Thursday) I wouldn’t normally be at home, but owing to the onslaught of this ague, here I am in the company of Humphrey Bogart in In a Lonely Place (1950) on TCM. It’s not a favorite of mine, but it’s not an inapt choice simply because if anyone ever had star power Bogie qualifies, and star power is what I’m thinking about today. The question in my mind is whether or not it actually still exists—at least in anything like the form it once did.

For 20 years, Asheville attorney Joe Connolly has served as Buncombe County Attorney. But an Aug. 7 e-mail announced that the Board of Commissioners will interview new candidates for his job.

Win two guest-list spots for the final Transfigurations show on Saturday night at the Grey Eagle. Featuring Akron/Family, War on Drugs, Circulatory System and Jonathan Kane. Wow wow wow!

Only two giveaways left, and here’s one of ‘em: Win guest-list for the Saturday evening Transfigurations show at Diana Wortham, featuring The Books, Mount Eerie and Villages.

In a 4-3 vote, Council declined to pass a proposed 100-foot zone around Pack Square Park that would force Council approval of new construction there.

Start the weekend early. Thursday has a ton of not-to-be-missed events, from a local short film festival to Vendetta Creme in Saluda. Then ease on into the weekend. Got 5 bucks? Catch a punk show at the Boiler room or a rock band at Mo Daddy’s. Got 3 bucks? Check out a gospel festival or a Dead cover band. Got nothin’? Relax: there’s plenty to do for free, too.