Thursday, August 9

• Today at 12:15 p.m., Mikaela Davis will perform at Granite Mills Park at High Falls, so if I'm downtown, I'll be sure to swing by. [source: RocWiki events, 2012-Aug-6]
• The Bertrand Russell Society meets this evening at 7 p.m. at Writers and Books and often provides a spirited philosophical discussion. [source: Writers and Books website, 2012-Aug-6]
• What About Bob? (Frank Oz, US 1991, 99 min.) is what happens when you pit Richard Dreyfuss against Bill Murray, both close to the peaks of their respective careers. It's screening at the Dryden starting late at 8:30 p.m. as part of their "Odd Couples" series. [source: Dryden website, 2012-Aug-6]

Friday, August 10

• I don't get out to the Record Archive much, but an art opening is always a good excuse: Meddle Up Your Glass presents Breakin' Glass Part 1 opening tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. [source: Record Archive e-mail, 2012-Jul-24]
• Tonight at MuCCC is a happening titled Love and Suffering at 7:30 p.m. From the MuCCC website:
  

  Some say, love is who we are, and what we're made for. Others say, love is a madness! It causes us to open all the doors that have been shut, making us vulnerable to suffering. In the end perhaps we learn that, "Only love can break a heart; only love can mend it again." Local authors will read short stories about the many faces of love, the lessons learned, and the joys savored.

  [source: MuCCC website, 2012-Aug-6]

• In lieu of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Dryden will be screening Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, US 1993, 127 min.) tonight at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at 2 p.m. This is one of those films I recall being "pretty good" but I haven't seen it in more than ten years, so that review is long expired. [source: Dryden website, 2012-Aug-6]
• Krypton 88 will perform at the Lovin' Cup tonight starting around 9 p.m. [source: Lovin' Cup website, 2012-Aug-6]

Saturday, August 11

• The Pageant of Steam concludes today from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 3349 Gehan Rd., off Rt. 5 & 20 in Canandaigua. [source: Freetime website, 2012-Aug-6]
• Updated: This evening from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the new venue FOCUS (945 S. Clinton, on the corner of Comfort) for an Evening of Poetry, Music, and Comedy, an awareness and fundraising event for the venue. [source: Culture Starts With Art Yahoo! Group, 2012-Aug-9]
• Clever sketch-and-improv troupe Polite Company returns to the MuCCC tonight at 8 p.m. for a show titled Surfs Up. I got my friend Jeff in touch with them a few months back and I gather tonight is his debut as their musical improviser. [source: MuCCC website, 2012-Aug-6]
• Tonight at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Dryden are screenings of El Bulli: Cooking in Progress (Gereon Wetzel, Germany 2011, 108 min., Catalan/French/English w/ subtitles, Digital Projection). From the Eastman House calendar:
  

  Often hailed as the best restaurant in the world, Spain's now defunct El Bulli was also one of the most exclusive. This fascinating documentary following the creation of celebrated chef Ferran Adrià's wildly innovative menu is the next best thing to dining there.

  [source: Dryden website, 2012-Aug-6]

• Tonight at Sticky Lips Juke Joint in Henrietta starting around 10 p.m. is the solidly good bar-rock band with a country twang Blue Jimmy. [source: Sticky Lips website, 2012-Aug-6]
• The nicely harmonious rock band Walri, Coyote Campus, good country-based rock from The Josh Netsky Band, and The Doctor's Fox will perform tonight starting around 9 p.m. at Water Street Music Hall. [source: Water Street Music Hall website, 2012-Aug-6]
• Joywave, Summer People, High Drags, and Cottage Jefferson will be at the Bug Jar tonight starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2012-Aug-6]

Sunday, August 12

• Updated: MC Lars, Adam WarRock, Math The Band, Reason, and (just added) excellent, superfast, synth-pop, novelty songs from Worm Quartet will be at Water Street Music Hall tonight around 8 p.m. [source: Worm Quartet Facebook post, 2012-Aug-10]

Monday, August 13

• With the Dryden closed on Mondays, I'm making a habit of going to the Little, in part because it's $5. Tonight at 7 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. is Ruby Sparks (104 mins.) which opens this week. When I saw the trailer, I thought it seemed kind of stupid — adequately summarized in the Little's own e-mail:
  

  Calvin (Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.

  Okay, so guy makes manic pixie dream girl? So what? But then I read an interview with writer-and-star Zoe Kazan which sold the movie on me (but be warned it's full of spoilers.) In short, consider what happens if a woman writes a role for herself as if she were a male writer creating a manic pixie dream girl? It all seems a little more self-aware to me, and I'm interested to see if all that works out. Alternatively, what if a movie centered on a MPDG were able to pass the Bechdel/Wallace test? [source: Little Theatre e-mail, 2012-Aug-8]

Tuesday, August 14

• This evening at 7 p.m. at the Little is a screening of the One Take: Stories through the Lens series featuring The Source which "examines a cult in 1972 where the members lived in a Beverly Hills mansion instead of in a commune." The film will be followed by a Skype discussion with the director. [source: Little Theatre e-mail, 2012-Jul-30]
• The Dryden will be screening The Window (Ted Tetzlaff, US 1949, 73 min.) tonight at 8 p.m. From the Eastman House calendar:
  

  One of the most sought-after cinematographers of Hollywood's Golden Age, Ted Tetzlaff directed this heart-pounding adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Little Bobby Driscoll thinks it's fun to tell tall tales…until he witnesses a murder, and no one but the murderers will believe him.

  [source: Dryden website, 2012-Aug-6]

• Over at the Bug Jar, solid acoustic rock from Caleb Spaulding, nice sounding acoustic duo Dave and Marrissa, The Michael Vadala Trio, and Cammy Enaharo starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2012-Aug-6]

Wednesday, August 15

• This evening from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Golisano Hall, Room 1400 at RIT, Dominic Barter will present a lecture titled Toward Conflict: A Conversation about Restorative Justice. [source: Restorative Rochester Yahoo! Group, 2012-Jul-31]
• Morocco (Josef von Sternberg, US 1930, 92 min.) screens at the Dryden tonight starting at 8 p.m. Part of the "Dietrich" series this month, the Eastman House calendar has this to say:
  

  A disillusioned singer (Marlene Dietrich) finds herself torn between a womanizing Legionnaire (Gary Cooper) and a wealthy gentlemen. In her first American feature, Dietrich steals the show from the start with her risqué performance of "Quand l'amour meurt."

  [source: Dryden website, 2012-Aug-6]

• At the Bug Jar is NeedleDrop Records Night with Hunting for Teeth, the thick, bass-driven noise of Tuurd, and Foot and Mouth Disease starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2012-Aug-6]