4 THURS RELAX ON THE PORCH: Are the stresses of the city getting you down? Are you starting to wonder if the weekend will ever come? Have you been asking yourself, “Is it all really worth it?”

Tragedy in Norway: Last Friday, July 22, Norway experienced one of the worst terrorist attacks in recent memory. At around 3:30 in the afternoon, a car bomb exploded outside of the office of the Norwegian prime minister in Oslo, killing eight people and wounding many others.

28 THURS GOOD OL’ AMERICAN TUNA: You can always count on the Terrific New Theatre for a funny show. Red, White and Tuna, the last show of their 25th season, is the sequel to their previous play, A Tuna Christmas. It’s a two-man play with over 20 parts about day-to-day life in Tuna, Texas, the “third smallest town” in the state.

Duel to the debt: The battle of the budget has been going on in Washington for months now, but we’re quickly approaching a do-or-die moment. A compromise must be reached by August 2.

21 THURS WAR JACKET AND THE CLAY STATES: War Jacket sounds like a good name for a metal band. Not true in this case. Not at all. War Jacket, with Caleb Chauncey at its core, captures the sweetest, softest folk sound you can possibly imagine.

Rupert on the ropes: A few months ago, it seemed almost inevitable that Rupert Murdoch would take over all sources of news and crown himself King of Media.

On April 20, 2010, at 9:45 p.m., a bubble of methane gas shot up the drill column of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and ignited. The explosion killed 11 of the 126 workers onboard, injuring 17 others, and was visible from dozens of miles away.

14 THURS HAIRSPRAY AT THE VIRGINIA SAMFORD: We’ve all been there. You’re a fat girl in the 1960s with dreams of becoming a famous dancer on a local variety show.

Their jagged stumps serve to mark the areas affected by the tornadoes. We can rebuild homes and pick up the shattered pieces of life in Alabama, but the barren stretches of land where trees were ripped by their roots from the ground will outline the scars left by the storms for long after.

07 THURS TAYLOR EATS SPIDERS AT THE NICK: Taylor Hollingsworth is a staple of the Birmingham music scene.