Here's what's going on this week:
Thursday, April 24

• Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day where "people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day." Stop by Writers and Books between 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. to "pick up a poem, or share your poem with others." [source: Writers and Books website, 2014-Apr-21]
• This evening at 6 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre is photographer Anna Shteynshleyger.
  

  Brooklyn-based artist Anna Shteynshleyger will discuss her latest work, as well as her City of Destiny photographs. The series explores the artist's negotiation of a complex set of identities: a Russian native born in Moscow in 1977, she moved to the United States in 1992 and began practicing Orthodox Judaism shortly thereafter. Her work is a poignant testament to the complicated interaction of family, religion, and society in daily life.

  [source: Eastman House calendar, 2014-Apr-21]

• The Dryden will screen Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, U.S. 2002, 95 min., 35mm) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  In a bold career move, Adam Sandler ditches his funny-guy persona to play Barry Egan, a lonely, repressed owner of a plunger and novelty-item wholesale company. Prone to fits of rage and social awkwardness, Barry's life begins to turn around upon meeting Lena (Emily Watson), a friend of his sister's. This brilliantly photographed and elegantly paced comedic romance-drama holds a special place for fans of Paul Thomas Anderson's work. Remarkably pared down, Punch Drunk Love recalls cinema greats Altman, Truffaut, and Godard while taking on a look all its own.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Apr-21]

• Wicked fun, saxophone-driven, percussive groove-rock band The BuddhaHood will be at Dinosaur tonight starting around 9 p.m. [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que website, 2014-Apr-21]

Friday, April 25

• Starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Little, the High Falls Film Festival presents The Rochester Premiere of From the Rough (Pierre Bagley, U.S. 2013, 92 min.) followed by a Q&A with producer Michael Critelli and Dr. Catana Starks, "whose real-life story inspired the film" (which may actually happen at Lento Restaurant).
  

  From the Rough is a fitting title for a film that deals with overcoming the uphill challenges that life places in our path. It is based on the inspiring true story of Coach Catana Starks, the first woman to coach an all-men's collegiate team, and her seemingly insurmountable journey to inspire a team of young athletes profoundly enough for them to believe in themselves and become champions – in their own lives.

  [source: High Falls Film Festival e-mail, 2014-Apr-11]

• Peter Jemison will speak on Environmentalism in the Tradition of the Seneca at the Gandhi Institute as part of the Gandhi Distinguished Lecture Series at 7 p.m. [source: UofR website events calendar, 2014-Apr-21]
• Tonight at Writers and Books from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. is a Conversation and Book Signing with Joanne Larson, author of Radical Equality in Education: Starting Over in U.S. Schooling. [source: Writers and Books website, 2014-Apr-21]
• This week's 7 p.m. movie at the Cinema is Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 (Lars von Trier, Denmark / Germany / France / Belgium / U.K. 2013, 118 min.)
  

  A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating. Movie contains graphic sex scenes.

  [source: Cinema coming soon page, 2014-Apr-23]

• The Dryden will screen Witness (Peter Weir, U.S. 1985, 112 min., 35mm) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  In honor of the exhibition of photographs by Robert Weingarten, Another America: A Testimonial to the Amish, the Dryden presents Witness, Australian Peter Weir's American feature debut. When a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas) accompanies his young widowed mother (Kelly McGillis) to the big city of Philadelphia, he becomes witness to a brutal murder. Seen-it-all cop John Book (Harrison Ford) suspects foul play at the highest level of the police force and is wounded searching for answers. Hiding in the Amish community, Book finds himself increasingly attracted to the young mother, with dangerous consequences for both.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Apr-21]

• The Infrared Radiation Orchestra with Greg Prevost perform at the Lovin' Cup tonight starting around 9 p.m. [source: Lovin' Cup website, 2014-Apr-21]
• This week's 9 p.m. movie at the Cinema is Nymphomaniac: Volume 2 (Lars von Trier, Denmark / Germany / France / Belgium / U.K. 2013, 122 min.) … which makes the double-feature the 4-hour-movie von Trier originally set out to do.
  

  The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adulthood, obsessions and what led to her being in Seligman's care. Movie contains graphic sex scenes.

  [source: Cinema coming soon page, 2014-Apr-23]

• Starting around 10 p.m. at Abilene is 5HEAD. [source: Facebook, 2014-Apr-21]

Saturday, April 26

• Today from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Gandhi Institute is a Facilitator Skill Share Day "with a focus on addressing racism". [source: Gandhi Inistitute website, 2014-Apr-21]
• The Yards present Yard(s) Sale today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring "art and crafts vendors, music, goodies." [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2014-Apr-21]
• Today at 10:15 a.m. in the Duryea Room of the Brockport-Seymour Library is a lecture by Dr. John Daly titled The Long Civil War: Why the War Lasted til 1877.
  

  The new history of the Civil War written over the last 15 years extends its dates past 1865. Twelve years of brutal partisan and guerrilla war continued in the south from 1865-1877. The new history throws open the conventional wisdom about what the Civil War accomplished and even who won.

  [source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Apr-21]

• Today from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Rundel Auditorium on the 3rd Floor of the Rundel Library Building is a presentation titled Hogtown and the Flower City: The Underground Railroad's Twin Terminals on Lake Ontario by Karolyn Smardz Frost, archaeologist, historian and award-winning author. [source: Friends of the Public Library e-mail, 2014-Apr-21]
• At Writers and Books from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. is Poetry, Potluck, and Pinot. "Join us for readings by poets and members of the Writers and Books community. The afternoon and evening will celebrate our literary community with a sharing of poetry, food and drink." [source: Writers and Books website, 2014-Apr-21]
• Starting around 4:30 p.m. at the Flying Squirrel is the monthly Community Dinner. [source: Flying Squirrel website, 2014-Apr-21]
• The Dryden will screen Traviata et nous (Becoming Traviata, Philippe Beziat, France 2013, 120 min., French and Italian w/ subtitles, DCP) tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 2 p.m.
  

  A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the staging of a major operatic production, Verdi's masterpiece La Traviata, starring world-famous French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay and directed by the celebrated Jean-Francois Sivadier. Over two months, filmmaker Philippe Beziat follows the production's development from opening rehearsals to glorious realization, with music performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Louis Langrйe.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Apr-21]

• Starting around 10:30 p.m. at the Bug Jar is Kopps, Well Worn Boot, humorous novelty rap band Garden Fresh, and Rexx. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Apr-21]

Sunday, April 27

• Today from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Peacework Farm is the May Day Party. "Come dance around the Maypole, explore the wildflowers in the woods, see the beginning plants in the greenhouse, and share a potluck meal." [source: Peacework Organic CSA website, 2014-Apr-10]
• Over at the Lovin' Cup from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. is witty, accomplished acoustic soloist Brian Coughlin's "Are You With Me" CD Release Party. [source: Lovin' Cup website, 2014-Apr-21]
• Today from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Vertex is the Vertex Late Risers Alternative and Gothic Garage Sale. "The garage sale for people who like to sleep in. Find clothing, records, comics, artwork, oddities and eclectic collections for everyone." [source: Facebook, 2014-Apr-21]

Monday, April 28

• Today from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Brighton Memorial Library is a Holocaust Remembrance Month Book Talk on The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler written by Ben Urwand, reviewed by Phyllis Kasdin. [source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Apr-21]
• At 7 p.m. on the NextStage at Geva is a Regional Writers Showcase featuring Dad's Aquarium by Mark Jabaut. [source: Geva Theatre ticket website, 2014-Apr-15]

Tuesday, April 29

• Updated: Today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Classified Shredding Services (425 Paul Rd., Chili) is Community Shred Day. [source: Classified Shredding Services mailing, 2014-Apr-28]
• Today starting around 12 p.m. in the Kate Gleason Auditorium of the Bausch and Lomb Library Building is another Books Sandwiched-In with Jennifer Litt reviewing The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. [source: Friends of the Public Library e-mail, 2014-Apr-21]
• The Dryden will screen Oddities (various, U.S. 1921—1957, approx. 60 min., 16mm, 35mm, and video) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  The Dryden is proud to present an evening of Rochester-related curiosities from the Motion Picture collection. Footage of Marcus Loew and a stable of stars visiting the Eastman Theatre, images of the Rochester centennial, fragments of Rochester newsreels, and rare historical footage of George Eastman House are among the many surprises in store. These films and fragments have rarely been screened before public audiences, if they have even been shown publicly at all. Please join us for this rare opportunity to see regional history alive on the big screen. Full program list available at screening.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Apr-21]

Wednesday, April 30

• Today from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Kate Gleason Auditorium of the Bausch and Lomb Library Building, Janet Zandy will speak on her book, Unfinished Stories: The Narrative Photography of Hansel Mieth and Marion Palfi.
  

  Her book presents a parallel study of the lives and narrative photography of Hansel Mieth (1909—1998) and Marion Palfi (1907—1978). Mieth was the second woman staff photographer employed by Life magazine. Palfi's photo of Henry Street Settlement kids was the first cover of Ebony magazine. German born émigrés who never met, they constructed remarkably similar photo narratives of unseen America. They were visual storytellers, artists, and citizen-photographers who do not fit easily into contemporary categories of photojournalism or documentary photography. Unfinished Stories offers a fresh and theoretically informed eye on representational photography. It forges a place for Hansel Mieth and Marion Palfi in the history of photography and in the history of American race and class struggle.

  [source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Apr-21]

• Tonight at Writers and Books from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., is Lightning Rounds, "a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and you talk along to the images." [source: Rochester Improvement Society e-mail, 2014-Apr-22]
• Today at 7 p.m. at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church is From Exclusion to Power: New York Dairy Farmworkers Organizing for Justice with José Cañas, farmworker and organizer with the Justice for Dairy Farmworkers Campaign, Carly Fox, organizer with the Worker Center Justice of New York, and Rebecca Fuentes, organizer with Workers' Center of Central NY. [source: Facebook, 2014-Apr-22]
• From 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Vertex is Alex Ng's Pixel Bash. "Help us celebrate the birthday of the host of WBER's Electrobank in videogaming style!" [source: Facebook, 2014-Apr-21]
• The Eastman Wind Ensemble performs in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2014-Apr-21]
• The Dryden will screen The Groove Tube (Ken Shapiro, U.S. 1974, 75 min., 16mm) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  Long before Saturday Night Live, there was Channel One, a New York—based comedy troupe featuring a young Chevy Chase that "broadcast" a 90-minute videotaped sketch show in a loft theater. Eventually, Channel One gathered its best material for the feature-length The Groove Tube, an outrageous grab bag that satirizes sports announcers, commercials, and cooking shows from a decidedly countercultural perspective. One of the clarion calls of underground comedy and an immediate favorite on college campuses, The Groove Tube is appealing as both a trippy, raunchy time capsule and a still-funny predecessor to SNL and SCTV.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Apr-21]

• Starting around 9 p.m. at the Bug Jar is Love is a Secret Domain. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Apr-21]