Here's what's going on this week:
Thursday, January 9

• Tonight at 6 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre is a Wish You Were Here lecture with Donald Pettit presenting An Astronaut's Guide to Photography in Space.
  

  NASA Astronaut Donald Pettit, PhD, a three-time space explorer, was the first astronaut in the history of space exploration to successfully enter a commercially built and operated spacecraft docked in the International Space Station (ISS) while in orbit. During his time in space—logging more than 370 days orbiting Earth and over thirteen EVA (spacewalking) hours—Pettit amassed an extraordinary portfolio of long-exposure outer space photos he calls "star trails."

  [source: Eastman House calendar, 2014-Jan-6]

• The Bertrand Russell Society, hosted by Phil Ebersole, meets tonight at 7 p.m. at Writers and Books with Howard Blair, and Ted Lechman speaking on Reason and Belief. [source: Writers and Books website, 2014-Jan-6]
• Starting at 7 p.m. at the Flying Squirrel is New Year's Resolutions for Green Revolution with the Green Party of Monroe County. "As Greens, we seek change through our activism and our electoral politics. Please join us for our first meeting of the New Year, where we'll discuss these strategies for political transformation and how they intersect." [source: Facebook, 2014-Jan-6]
• Starting at 7:30 p.m., the Eastman Youth Chamber Soloists perform in Kilbourn Hall. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2014-Jan-6]
• The Dryden will screen Eraserhead (David Lynch, U.S. 1977, 85 min., 35mm) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  Lynch's feature film debut was greeted with massive acclaim on the midnight movie circuit and stands as one of the most haunting and renowned cult classics of American cinema, introducing audiences to the director's unique, unsettling aesthetic. Set in an eerily dark, fetid industrial landscape, the film follows a young couple (Jack Nance and Charlotte Stewart) as they struggle with married life and the arrival of an unexpected and hideously deformed child. Nightmarish hallucinations, adultery, and violence follow as the family dissolves in their squalid existence. Meticulously constructed sound design and visceral black-and-white cinematography create a grotesque and surreal cinematic experience, foreshadowing Lynch's later mainstream successes which plumb the vile and insidious depths of the American family.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Jan-6]

Friday, January 10

• Starting at 6 p.m. tonight in the Firehouse Gallery at Genesee Pottery is the Opening Reception of Hand to Hand.
  

  Curious about clay? Wonder how printers achieve those unique effects using a letterpress? Come to the Firehouse Gallery at Genesee Pottery to see Hand to Hand, showcasing the work of our fabulous instructors in both the Pottery and Printing and Book Arts Center. During our opening reception Friday, January 10 you'll have the opportunity to sit down at a potter's wheel and try it yourself! Head across the hall to the Printing and Book Arts Center and pull your own print using a letterpress.

  [source: Genesee Center for the Arts website, 2014-Jan-6]

• Also at 6 p.m., next door at the Joe Brown Gallery at the Printing and Book Arts Center is the Opening Reception of At the Riviera by Amanda Chestnut.
  

  From artist Amanda Chestnut: "The images are used to create a meditation on the objects we choose to preserve, and what state we choose to keep them in; a contemplative path of memory, value, and mortality."

  [source: Genesee Center for the Arts website, 2014-Jan-6]

• Tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the MuCCC is a Staged Reading of Kind Souls Chasing by Justin Rielly.
  

  On the eve of his new play, writer Matt Bennett reflects on the friendship he shared with actress Ophelia Jacobs — from their high school days to reconnecting through a local theater group.

  [source: MuCCC website, 2014-Jan-6]

• Tonight at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2 p.m., the Dryden will screen Prince Avalanche (David Gordon Green, U.S. 2013, 94 min., DCP).
  

  David Gordon Green (George Washington, Pineapple Express) returns to his indie roots with this heartwarming comedy. Oddball Alvin (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend's naive brother Lance (Emile Hirsch) spend the summer together repainting traffic lines on a back road ravaged by a wildfire. Secluded in this unique setting, the two find themselves disagreeing on almost every point. As they progress down the road, however, they begin to understand each other deeper than they ever expected. With a soundtrack by Explosions in the Sky and cinematography by longtime Green collaborator Tim Orr, this story of friendship finds Rudd and Hirsch at their dramatic best.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Jan-6]

• Very good medium-tempo progressive rock band Sirsy performs at the Lovin' Cup tonight starting around 9 p.m. [source: Lovin' Cup website, 2014-Jan-6]

Saturday, January 11

• Tonight at 8 p.m. at the MuCCC, Polite Ink Sketch and Improv presents A Well Mannered New Year.
  

  Polite Ink., or PI as we affectionately call it, is made up of people. Funny people to be precise. Funny people who perform comedy. Sketches and improv that is. PI's unique themed shows are never the same (that would be boring). Our improv is based on your suggestions and our sketches are based on whatever insane ideas pop up in our heads. What can you expect to see at our show? Well, in addition to sketch and improv, we also feature singing, occasional video shorts, constant silliness, non-stop laughing, and Lots of audience participation! So bring your spouse, parents, friends, a date, or distant cousins and be a part of the hilarity. You. Will. Laugh.

  [source: MuCCC website, 2014-Jan-6]

• The Dryden will screen Du zhan (Drug War, Johnnie To, China/Hong Kong 2012, 107 min., Mandarin, Cantonese, and sign language w/ subtitles, DCP) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  This is not your usual Hong Kong action flick—it's adult crime fiction at its very best, with more realistic, darker undertones. It takes place in mainland China, where the film was partly financed. Its "hero" is a criminal who's cornered by the police into begging for his life. His hunt for the couriers of a drug cartel takes place in a stark suburban landscape, where cinematic volcano Johnnie To builds an intricate visual symphony of deceit and despair, featuring a gang of deaf-mute traffickers and an eerily laughing boss known as "Haha." There's a masterful set piece of climatic mayhem toward the end, but watch out for the movie's last sixty seconds—the real sting is there.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Jan-6]

• Starting around 10 p.m. at the Banzai Sushi and Cocktail Bar is Vision, "chillwave, experimental, wonky electro". [source: Facebook, 2014-Jan-6]

Sunday, January 12

• Today at 2 p.m. at the Memorial Art Gallery is a screening of The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show (Michael Maglaras, U.S. 2013, 90 min.) "Director Michael Maglaras of 217 Films introduces his new documentary that explores the controversial exhibition that changed the way Americans look at art." [source: MAG website, 2014-Jan-6]
• Tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Gandhi Institute is the first of a six-week course titled Going Beyond the Headlines.
  

  This six week course is designed to establish a conversational framework that allows for safe, open discussions while critically examining social issues of the world. In addition, this course will provide an opportunity to voice one's individual connection to these social events using creative tools for self-expression and social engagement. Sundays, Jan. 12 to Feb. 23.

  [source: UofR website events calendar, 2014-Jan-6]

• At 7 p.m., the MuCCC will host a performance of Justin Rielly's in Sex and Death to the Age 14 by Spalding Gray.
  

  On the tenth anniversary of Gray's death, playwright-performer Justin Rielly will direct and star in a staged reading of Gray's inaugural monologue — a funny and moving recollection of his growing up in a Christian Scientist family in Rhode Island.

  [source: MuCCC website, 2014-Jan-6]

Monday, January 13

• Tonight from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Gandhi Institute is the start of a Nonviolent Communication Practice Group centered around the book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg. [source: Gandhi Inistitute website, 2014-Jan-6]
• Tonight at 6:30 p.m. is a screening of Aliyah (Elie Wajeman, France 2012, 88 min.) in the Fisher Meeting Room of the Pittsford Community Library. [source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Jan-6]

Tuesday, January 14

• Today from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in the Kate Gleason Auditorium of the Bausch and Lomb Library Building is another Tuesday Topics featuring Jackie Farrell, and Diane Eggert discussing the Emerging Popularity of Public Markets. [source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Jan-6]
• Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen The Epic that Never Was (Bill Duncalf, U.K. 1966, 74 min., 35mm).
  

  Four decades before the widely celebrated television series starring Derek Jacobi, Josef von Sternberg was directing a film adaptation of I, Claudius starring Charles Laughton as the emperor and Merle Oberon as Messalina. Produced by Alexander Korda, the film was set to be the major achievement of his career. One month in, however, the production was plagued by the clashing personalities and wild rumors circulating on set. The shooting was abandoned and the film was never completed. Narrated by Dirk Bogarde and featuring astounding edited footage from the unfinished film, The Epic that Never Was documents what went wrong and shows just how volatile even the most promising of productions can be.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Jan-6]

• J. Schnitt, nice, solid acoustic rock from Archimedes, Archimedes, Crows and Jays, and Devall Music perform at the Bug Jar tonight starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Jan-6]

Wednesday, January 15

• Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg, U.S. 1931, 91 min., 35mm).
  

  Sex, espionage, and betrayal form the story for Sternberg's provocative WWI spy-thriller. Marlene Dietrich stars as secret agent X-27, an Austrian war-widow charged with using her feminine wiles to obtain intelligence on Russian military operations. But going deep undercover entangles her with her targets in ways she never expected, forcing her to choose between her love for a handsome Russian colonel (Victor Mclaglen) and love for her country. This follow-up to The Blue Angel and Morocco, the first and wildly successful collaborations between Sternberg and Dietrich, showcases the immense cinematic talents of both players, and helped to solidify their careers as mainstays in Hollywood's Golden Age.

  [source: Dryden website, 2014-Jan-6]

• Starting around 9 p.m. at the Bug Jar is Abigail Williams, Erimha, Circus Grenade, The Gutted, and Arthurian Shield. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Jan-6]