I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a sane Black Friday.  Here’s what to do this weekend and beyond!

• All Weekend:
  • The Brattle is showing the Hitchcock classis ‘The 39 Steps’
  • Regent Theater in Arlington presents the ‘Mary Poppins’ Sing Along.
• Friday only
  • Jeff Dunham will be at the Agganis Arena   Doors open at 7.  Show starts at eight.
  • F.A.T. Chain Reaction.  Imagine combining dominos with the game ‘Mousetrap.’  You have the idea.  And you can even participate.   Rockwell Cage Gymnasium at the Zeisger Sports Center 120 Vassar St.  Cambridge.  1-4.  $10 or $5 for children.  Admission is free for MIT students.
• Saturday only: Dragonforce will perform at the Palladium 261 Main St. Worcester.  8 PM
• Sunday only:
  • The Chelmsford Comic Book Show will be at the Radisson Hotel 9-3.  $1 amdission.
  • The Coolidge is showing The Barber of Seville in HD.  11 AM.

This weekend will be action packed.  Sure, there’s not a lot listed, but each event is spectacular!

•   All Weekend:
  • United Fan Con presents the New England Fan Experience at the  the Hyatt Regency Cambridge.  Experience five cons in on: sci-fi; pop culture; anime and kaiju; gaming; and science and technology.  One ticket gets you into all five!
  • As an alternative, try the Super Boston Megafest Saturday and Sunday at the Sheraton Framingham.  Special appreaences by celebrities like Richard Kiel, George the ‘Animal’ Steele Jonathan Frakes, Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz, Pete Best, thee actors who played Jason in Friday the 13th, a whole slew of wrestlers and more!

• Friday: Video Games Live:  Friday 8 PM at the Wang Theater with a pre show festival staring at 7.  A full orchestra and choir performing music from Final Fantasy, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Hearts and more!  Experience special effects, synchronized video, live action and crowd interactivity!
• Saturday:
  • Your Move Games hosts a Pro Tour Kyoto Magic the Gathering sealed deck event at the Brighton Knights of Columbus, 323 Washington St.  Brighton, MA.  Doors open at 9AM.  Entry Fee $30.
    The winner receives invitation and travel award to Pro Tour Kyoto.
    Other top finishers win booster packs.
  • The ‘Arvard ‘Ardboyz will host a Warhammer Fantasy Doubles at Pandemonium from noon to 10 PM. Entry fee is $10 for all players, $5 for ‘Arvard ‘Ardboy club members.  Bring your 1250 points of whoopass!

• Sunday:Also at Pandemonium is another Magic the Gathering event.  This one is a World Championships qualifier.  Get your ticket to the big event this December 14th in Memphis!  The qualifyer format is Sealed Deck and the entry fee is $30.00 per player.  1-9 PM

This is going to be a comparatively quiet weekend.  There are no major Pandemonium events this weekend and what I have listed below is not really SF.  Still there are things to keep you busy all weekend, including a trio of interrelated fairs. Anyhow, next weekend is going to be big.

•   All Weekend:
  • For the literate TARDs, try the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Hynes.  Friday night will have a preview.  This $15.00 preview ticket is good all weekend.  Alternatively, you could come in on Saturday or Sunday with a one day admission for $8.
  • For the artsy sorts, try Craft Boston Holiday: a show of contemporary art crafts and design at the Westin Boston Waterfront (425 Summer St.)  General admission is $15.
  • The third of these related events is the Boston International Fine Arts Show at the Cyclorama
  • For those of you who prefer Doyle, Poe and Christie over Asimov, Heinlein and Verne, have we got something for you to investigate!  Snoop on down to the New England Crime Bake: A crime fiction convention at the Dedham Hilton.  The guest of honor is Harlan Coben, author of  ‘Hold Tight’ and ‘Tell No One.’
  • Frustrated film makers, take a look at the Ruff Cutz Indie Film Conference a conference for filmmakers who show their unfinished product and get feedback from their peers.  Detials at the website.

• Saturday:
  • Saturday: Japanese calligraphy at the Prudential Center Food Court 1-6.
  • For those who have been very naughty or plan to be so, head on down to Sin-O-matic 10:30 to very late at 1254 Boylston St. in Boston.  This monthly fetish party has a strict (heh) dress code- all black at a minimum.

• Beyond the Weekend:
  • Joe Haldeman, Jeff Carver and Chris Howard will be signing at Pandemonium this Thursday the 20th 7-8:30
  • The Regent Theater (7 Medford St. Arlington) will screen the silent classic ‘Metropolis’ at 8 PM.  Admission is $15-18.

I saw Quantum of Solace last night (Thanks, Rich!).  In some ways I am a traditionalist when it comes to Bond.  I love the original Fleming novels and stories (except for ‘007 in New York’ the deservedly obscure short story whose only highlight is a recipe for scrambled eggs.  But I digress.).  When a new Bond film comes out I go see it on the big screen.  QoS was fun and had enough fights, bombs, babes, chases and gunplay to keep the ‘Bourne’ fans happy.  Bond fands will note the lack of gadgets (unless, like me they recall that Bond almost never used them in the original novels)  Still, after the hard hitting punch of Casino Royale a slight confectionery that you will not recall a few days later.   Craig broods well, but all he seems to do is brood.  It does seem as if he goes through the film slightly bored.  Dame Judi Dench remains the sort of actress I would happily pay to hear read froma phone book.  Her exasperated M continues to delight.

The movie gets its title from a story in ‘For Your Eyes Only,’ the Bond anthology.  Unsuprisingly, there are no elements of the movie in the story.  The story, such as it is, finds James Bond, after a dull dinner party, listening to a senior civil servant tell the tale of a disasterous marraige.  The quantum of solace is the piece of love and comfort between two people that allows them to forgive. When that evaporates, the tragedy happens.

One note, I do recomend reading the James Bond novels with a few caveats.

1. Flemming had the prejudices common to the British upper/educated class.  They are visible throughout the book and just within the wince inducing parts of ‘Live and Let Die,’ to use his most notorious example.
2. Read them in order.  And yeah, I include ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ after ‘Thunderball.’  And you may want to read ‘Octopussy’ before ‘The Man with the Golden Gun.’
3. The movie versions are often very different from the the original Flemming.  In those cases, almost always Flemming is better.

If any of you go to an event after hearing about it on the T&R show or this blog, please leave feedback.  I am egotistical enough to desire the feedback.

It’s going to be a weird, wacky and eventful weekend.

•  All Weekend:
  • The Pandemonium 19th Anniversary Sale!  Just about everything will be 19% off (fancy that!) at Pandemonium in Central Square Cambridge.  In addition, there will be special events, like…
    • Writer Elizabeth Bear will be signing her new book ‘All the Wind Wracked Stars’ at 7-11 PM Friday.
    • Michael Burstein will be signing his anthology, ‘I Remember the Future’ from 7-11 PM Saturday.
    • And there’s the Pandemonium Potluck dinner from 6-8 Saturday night.  RSVP tyler -at- pandemoniumbooks -dot- com.  (There will be a ten dollar admission if you come empty handed)
      
  • A little further afield (OK, a LOT further afield) is Carnage Con northern New England’s foremost gaming con being held up in the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee Vermont.  There will be miniature games, board games, RPGs, collectible card games and LARPS.  There’s even a Diplomacy tournament.  At the door admission is $60 for the weekend and $30 for the day.
    
  • Counter Productions debuts Minus one‘ a stage adaptation of 1950s sci-fi radio dramas.  The show will be staged weekends until the 23rd, at 8PM Friday and Saturday and 2 PM Sunday.  Admission is $20, or $15 to students and senoirs.
  • Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘N’ Roll will make its Boston debut at the Huntington tonight and plays until December 7th.
• Friday only:  Good Vibrations is proud to present the Third Annual Amateur Erotic Film Festival at the Coolidge Corner Theater tonight.  There will be a pre-screening party at their store at 308 A Harvard Street beginning at 7:30 (enter from the rear parking lot- and no, that was not an entendre).  Admission is $12 at the door or $10 at the store or online.
• Saturday Only:
  • Chris Onstad, will be signing copies of his new Achewood collection,’ Great Outdoor Fight.’ from 2-4 at the Million Year Picnic at 99 Mt. Auburn Street, Harvard Square Cambridge.
  • From noon to midnight at 111 Waldemar Ave. in Suffolk Downs is a Beer and Food Phest sponsored by a local food critic who works for competing radio stations.  Admission is $5, though.