Three former University of Richmond students are trying to make it easier for homeowners to sell their houses. The three—Mike Gray, Mark Hickman and Andrew Ryan—have launched RichmondHomeBuzz. The company starts doing business today. Friends since college, the three started the company as a way to help homeowners who want to sell their houses but don’t want to pay commissions or have little experience with the for-sale-by-owner process.

Local filmmakers are competing this weekend in the 48 Hour Film Project. Teams have that amount of time to write, shoot, edit and produce a film. The clock started at 7 p.m. yesterday after teams drew their film genres out of a hat. In addition, they learned the character, prop and line of dialogue that must appear in each film. Completed films have to be dropped off at The Camel, 1621 West Broad St., at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. The films have their world premieres July 25 at the Byrd Theatre, at screenings at 11 a.m., 1:30 and 4 p.m.

The electric atmosphere surrounding the inauguration of Barack Obama resonated beyond Capitol Hill and Washington’s borders yesterday. Venues across the Richmond region welcomed those wanting to witness the historic event and share the moment with others.

A few hundred people, most of them appearing happily sober, populated the sidewalks of Carytown early last night waiting for the big lighted ball to be hoisted above the Byrd Theatre. As many as 20,000 people were expected for Carytown’s third New Year’s Eve party, but the crowd appeared well below that with four hours to go. Some 4,000 attended the first event and last year’s crowd was estimated at 14,000.

Planning to ring in the new year in Carytown on Wednesday night? Plan on bringing your wallet. The third annual street party promises to be bigger and more organized than ever. It’ll be so big, in fact, organizers say they are having to resort to asking for a $2 donation (under 12 free with adult) to help pay what’s expected to be a $125,000 to $130,000 bill—including nearly $60,000 for security—to stage the event.

In honor of the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Byrd Theatre, organist Robert Lent will present a special show at the Wurlitzer organ at tonight’s 7:15 screening of the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.“ Tomorrow’s 7:15 and 9:45 p.m. screenings of the same movie will feature Bob Gulledge, who usually performs only on Saturdays. Both nights’ showings will include Christmas-carol sing-alongs.

A few hundred people, most of them appearing happily sober, populated the sidewalks of Carytown early last night waiting for the big lighted ball to be hoisted above the Byrd Theatre. As many as 20,000 people were expected for Carytown’s third New Year’s Eve party, but the crowd appeared well below that with four hours to go. Some 4,000 attended the first event and last year’s crowd was estimated at 14,000.