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Friday, January 23-Sunday, January 25: Boston Wine Expo

When Oktoberfest is a distant memory and al fresco summer sipping parties are still far out of reach, the 18th annual Boston Wine Expo at the Seaport World Trade Center (One Seaport Lane, Boston) might be just what you need to pull yourself out of your winter doldrums. Swirl and sip your way through the nearly 1800 wine offerings from 450 producers while culinary visionaries — including Ming Tsai, Christina Pirello, and Charles Draghi — offer cooking demos on two stages. Kicking off the Expo is a 7 p.m. Friday-night soiree, Jazzed About Wine, in the Seaport Hotel’s Plaza Ballroom featuring live music, hors d’oeuvres, and various reds from around the world. Tickets to the opening party ($195 before January 16; $215 thereafter) and the two-day expo ($75 to $215) are available at www.wineexpoboston.com and 877.946.3976.

Wednesday, January 21: Super Hunger Chef Fundraiser

New Year, new you. No, we don’t mean a slimmed-down, super-chic, ultra-organized version of your old self (though that wouldn’t be so bad). We’re referring to the do-gooder, do-unto-others type who’s resolved to volunteer some time at a food pantry, or at least donate some gently-worn clothes to Goodwill. Use the Greater Boston Food Bank’s fundraiser, Super Hunger Chef at the Four Seasons (200 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.338.4400), as a very worthy excuse to give your life a little charity-driven purpose. At this year’s installment of the annual epicurean battle, see chefs Anthony Susi (Sage), Gabriel Frasca (Straight Wharf), and Will Gilson (Garden at the Cellar) duke it out and whip up dishes using only ingredients stocked by the Food Bank. Tickets ($200) include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a multi-course meal and are available at www.gbfb.org/shm; all proceeds benefit the GBFB.

Wednesday, January 21-Sunday, January 25: Cirque Le Masque’s Carnivale

Friday, January 16-Monday, January 19: The Films of Youssef Chahine

Few legendary Western filmmakers have been as prolific as Youssef Chahine, who spent his epic career directing movies that paint a vibrant, crystalline portrait of the Egyptian conscious. Few others can claim their films were banned by Anwar el-Sadat, either, or that they discovered Omar Sharif. Beginning in 1950 and until his death in July, Chahine displayed a stunning versatility with movies that ranged from film noir to documentaries to historical epics and even musical comedies. The Films of Youssef Chahine at the Harvard Film Archive (Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, 617.495.4700) offer a rich sampling of his repertoire. Alexandria, Why (Friday at 7 p.m.) is an autobiographical portrait of an artist as a young man during World War II; his breakout flick, Cairo Station (Saturday at 7 p.m.) is a frank look at sex in Arab culture; and The Sparrow (Saturday at 9:15 p.m.) indicts the political establishment as it examines Egypt’s defeat in the Six Day War. Start the year with a dramatic history lesson. Tickets are $8 ($6 for students). Visit hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/ for complete listings.

Through March 31: Holograms for the 21st Century

We’ve long turned to MIT for the skinny on the latest advancements in robotics, computer science, neuroscience, and aeronautics, but lately the university’s museum has gripped us with a science we never even considered a science: holography. The public art exhibit “Luminous Windows: Holograms for the 21st Century” showcases the radiant, 3-D, electron manipulations of six artists from five countries. Night owls, this one’s for you: it’s on display through the windows of the MIT Museum (Mark Epstein Innovation Gallery, Building N51, 265 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.253.5927) every night from dusk to 2 a.m. We’ve seen laser shows before, but this one makes those rock-show displays look like child’s play.

Cooking with class

We usually spend our Saturday afternoons doing the errands we’ve avoided during the week: cleaning the apartment, filling our fridge, nursing a Champagne-induced hangover (okay, maybe that one should be relegated to Saturdays only). But once we have a spotless kitchen and packed cabinets, we’re not exactly sure what to do with them. So we’ve penciled the Celebrity Chefs Culinary Program at the Fairmont Copley Plaza (138 St. James Avenue, Boston, 617.267.5300) into our calendar. The series includes weekly two-hour cooking classes with local chefs, plus the chance to eat your homework and sip cocktails while doing it. To sign up for the January 17 course with Petit Robert Bistro’s Jacky Robert or the January 24 “Taste of New England” lesson with the Fairmont Copley’s Laurent Poulain, call the Boston Center for Adult Education at 617.267.4430. All classes begin at 1 p.m. and are $60.

Wednesday, December 17: Alternative Comedy Festival

What’s so funny about Boston? We can think of a few things (and no, we’re not talking about how  early the T stops running, or out­of­towners’ sorry imitations of the local accent). But if we told you in  print, it wouldn’t be half as side­splitting as what funny folks will say tonight when they turn the Para­dise Rock Club (967 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.562.8800) into a laugh­in at the Greater Boston Al­ternative Comedy Festival. “If anybody would like to see comedians tell jokes about anything besides relationships and cubicles, this is the event,” says Robbie Roadsteamer, an organizer who’ll also per­form. He’ll be joined by Shane Mauss, winner of HBO’s Comedy Festival; Charlestown’s Walsh Broth­ers; Chris Coxen; the Anderson Comedy Group; and Bethany Van Delft. Expect everything you’ve been taught not to expect. Doors open at 7 p.m. For tickets ($15), visit www.livenation.com.  

Friday, January 2-Sunday, January 31: The Year of Magical Thinking

As rational and comforting as the five stages of grief identified by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross may be, when it strikes, rationalization goes out the window. We’ve known songs, books, and movies that strive to capture the anguish and despair, but few have come close to Joan Didion’s crystalline prose in her recent memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, which chronicled the way her world was upended when her longtime husband and fellow scribe, John Gregory Dunne, died of a heart attack at home and their daughter fell mysteriously ill. (In the time during which she adapted the book into a one-woman play, their daughter died.) But as she did in her essays on San Salvador decades ago, she again shows us that casting a reporter’s eye on catastrophe helps the spirit prevail. The Lyric Stage (140 Clarendon Street, Boston,
617.585.5680) offers the New England premiere of this touching work. Local thespian Nancy E. Carroll plays Didion. Get tickets ($25 to $50) at www.lyricstage.org or call the box office at 617.585.5678.

Through Sunday, December 21: Urban Nutcracker

 

Sleigh bells ring, but we’re not listening. Not to sound too bah-humbug, but the whole laughing-all-the-way/chestnuts-roasting/mommy-kissing-Santa-Claus thing can get a little wearisome year after year. That’s why we’re always grateful to Tony Williams of BalletRox for his annual Urban Nutcracker extravaganza. Ain’t no Christmas Miracle like a Christmas miracle set to the music of Duke Ellington. Williams, a vet of the Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, and others, infuses the holiday staple with a diverse array of music and dance styles; his lively interpretation features professional dancers, like Khalid Hill, an original performer in Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk, and about 75 local children. Watch as the Sugar Plum Fairies bring some rhythm and sass to John Hancock Hall (180 Berkeley Street, Boston). For tickets ($20 to $55) call 877.548.3237 or visit www.ticketfusion.com.

Monday, December 8: Malcolm Gladwell Reading

Malcolm Gladwell had us at The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. We love staying on top of the latest trends, but he took the sport of trend-spotting to a level of social science that makes more sense than the revival of neon. When he wrote Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, the New Yorker scribe secured his reputation as someone who’s equal parts intellectual Young Turk and screwball wit. Fast Company put it best when the magazine proclaimed him “a rock star, a spiritual leader, a stud.” Now the Harvard Book Store is bringing him to town to discuss his latest volume, Outliers: The Story of Success. He’ll speak at the First Parish Church (3 Church Street,  Cambridge) tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and available in person or by phone at the Harvard Book Store (1256 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.661.1515). Blink and you’ll miss it. 

Friday, December 5 – Sunday, December 14: The Laramie Project at Plaza Black Box Theatre

Through Sunday, January 4: Tara Donovan

If it looks like a Styrofoam cup and it squishes like a Styrofoam cup, it’s a Styrofoam cup, right? We thought so, too; then we saw the Tara Donovan exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (100 Northern Avenue, Boston, 617.478.3100) and we haven’t been able to look at everyday objects the same way since. With those Styrofoam cups, for instance, Donovan constructed a suspended, dramatic biomorphic, bubble-like sculpture. Buttons are the building blocks of a coral reef-like landscape that appears to have been inspired by a Bahamas snorkeling bender. There are also waist-high block-like sculptures, one of incalculable numbers of pins and another of toothpicks. So innovative and poetic is Donovan’s work that she scored the coveted MacArthur “genius” grant just before the show opened at the ICA in October. See the stuff you throw out transformed into dazzling compositions. It’s included with your admission ticket ($12; $10 for students and seniors) to the museum.

Inner Beauty

 

InsideOut: The Museum School Art Sale (formerly known as the December Sale) has a new name, but its goal is the same: to showcase the work of Boston’s talented artists and raise funds for Museum School scholarships to help put other aspiring artists through school. It’s also a great place for fledgling art collectors to pick up some unique, locally produced pieces. The sale runs November 19 through 23 (noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Thursday; noon to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday) on the first floor of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (230 the Fenway, Boston, 617.369.3204), with a kick-off celebration from 5 to 8 p.m. on November 19. Admission to this rotating show of more than 4000 pieces — including everything from paintings, photographs, and prints to jewelry and sculpture — is free; a $50 purchase at the sale gets you same-day complimentary admission for two to the MFA.

Wednesday, November 19 – Sunday, May 10: “Photographic Figures" at the MFA

Friday, November 21: Video Games Live

Long before there was Xbox and Wii, there was Atari and Game Boy. Given the countless hours you played Ms. Pac Man, Space Invaders, and Super Mario Brothers, the electronic blips, beeps, and crescendos provided what could loosely be classified as the soundtrack of your life. Now Tommy Tallarico, who’s recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for his vast repertory of compositions for video games, has created Video Games Live, which comes to the Citi Performing Arts Center (270 Tremont Street, Boston, 617.482.9393) tonight. The symphonic concert meets music event for drum-and-bass-heads meets light show features orchestras and choirs performing some tunes you’re sure to recognize in ways you never could have imagined. Think: Mozart at the arcade. Score your tickets ($35.50 to $65) at www.citicenter.org, or call 866.348.9738.