Oh, the woes of sixth week. The weather is beautiful, the campus and the city are bustling with amazing happenings, and suddenly—midterms. Hopefully you’ll have better luck than I will in getting out to take advantage of a few of these events.
Friday, April 28
Chicago Society presents a colloquium today and tomorrow entitled “China and the Future of the World.” It starts tonight at 6 p.m. with a U.S. business and government panel and stretches through tomorrow. Keynote speakers include Wang Guangya, ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations; Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs; Peter Rodman, U.S. secretary of state for international security affairs; and Merle Goldman, professor emerita of history at Boston University. (5 p.m. on Friday and 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, unregistered guests should arrive one hour before the conference, free, International House.)
The Classical Entertainment Society promises erotic poetry, erotic fruit, and presumably non-erotic pizza at an open mic event at the C-bench this evening. (4:30–7:30 p.m., free, bench outside Cobb.)
I saw a poster yesterday with an image reminiscent of my childhood, a reminder of days spent lost in innocent enjoyment of poetry and sunshine…and then saw that the text beneath was “The Giving-Up Tree,” and realized that I had spent the entire day at the Reg, didn’t get a single thing done, and hadn’t read anything truly touching in a hellishly long time…and a little part of me died inside. But you should go see the Off-Off show anyway. (9–10 p.m., $4, University Church, 5655 South University Avenue.)
Saturday, April 29
The Hyde Park Art Center celebrates its move to a new location with a 36-hour bash stretching from 9 in the morning until 9 Sunday night. This institution has been providing a home for the arts in Hyde Park for over 60 years; if you haven’t taken advantage of all it has to offer yet, this is a great chance to get acquainted with it. For a full schedule of events, visit www.hydeparkart.org. (9 a.m. Saturday to 9 p.m. Sunday, free, 5020 South Cornell Ave.)
Here’s an event that speaks directly to my spend-happy heart: the Billion Dollar Babes sample sale. Tons of designers will be showing off their summery wares. Be careful not to enjoy the free wine too much; you don’t want to wake up Sunday morning with three maxed-out credit cards and a roomful of clothes you have no recollection of purchasing. RSVP for the event by Friday at 4 at www.billiondollarbabes.com (8–6 p.m., 1956 West Grand Avenue.)
Hip hop and kung fu make as natural a combination as peanut butter and jelly, at least according to the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, which presents Hop-Fu tonight. A collaboration between DJs, Hop-Fu presents hip-hop performances against a screening the 1982 Chinese film Prodigal Son. (7:30 p.m., $20 with student ID, 220 East Chicago Avenue.)
Sunday, April 30
Cheer on the Chicago Maroons this afternoon while enjoying the tasty offerings and spring weather at the Phoenix Phanatix cookout. The men’s baseball game against Washington starts at 12:45 p.m., and the women’s softball team takes on UW–Whitewater at 1 p.m. The men play another game against Case at 4 p.m. (12:45 p.m., free, behind Ratner.)
Monday, May 1
UT’s “New Work Week,” a showcase of student writers and directors, begins today, with Ramiro Castro’s Choctese Bunny and Drew Dir’s Spacewriters. Check out ut.uchicago.edu for a full program of events. (8–10 p.m., $5, $10 for a week-long pass, Reynolds Club Third Floor Theater.)
Tuesday, May 2
Head to Doc tonight for a screening of Slow Jam King and a question-and-answer session with director Steve Mallorca. Slow Jam King chronicles a shy college student who embarks on a new, rougher life replete with kidnapping, road trips, and a country wedding. (7 p.m., $4, Max Palevsky Theater.)
Wednesday, May 3
So, your “roommate” is addicted to WoW or D & D or some other acronym-based game that sucks him away from scholastic life for days at a time. Worried about whether this might be affecting your—er, his—social or mental life? Drag him along to “The Culture of Gaming: A Glimpse Into the World of Simulated Reality,” an interdisciplinary panel of Columbia College professors discussing the varied implications of computer and video games. (6 p.m., free, 78 E. Washington Avenue.)
Thursday, May 4
In conjunction with Festival of the Arts, which doesn’t actually begin until the 12th, UChicago HYPE presents “A Night of Student Art” at the MCA. If you only go to one event this year, make it this one. There will be tons of art from students, alumni, staff, and the greats already at the MCA. There will be circus, dance, and musical performances. There will be fashion, film, and the release of a new issue of your favorite student porn magazine. Plus, everyone who buys a ticket automatically gets a $30 voucher from STA Travel (which essentially means that you get all this and earn money on top of it). For those who are 21+, the price of admission also gets you into the after-party at Le Passage. (7–11 p.m., $20 presale, $25 day of event, transportation provided from the Reynolds Club.)
If you still insist on being geekier than your fellow students (see Wednesday’s entry), get off the bus at the Gene Siskel Film Center to watch Calculation: Pioneers of Computer Animation, a selection of early CGI animations from 1961 to 1985. (6 p.m., $9, 164 North State Street.)
