The week ahead
A peek at the enormous installation that opens at MASS MoCA this week.
Here are a few things to keep in mind, look ahead to, or take care of this week -- from the weather (no surprises), to short days, big art, and the best gift.
Weather
It's winter. This will sound familiar. Here's the paraphrased forecast:
Monday: Sunny. High around 30.
Tuesday: About the same, with a small chance of snow in the afternoon and evening.
Wednesday: A touch warmer. Again with the small chance of snow. Cloudy.
Thursday: About the same, minus the snow.
Friday: Some sun. High around 30.
Christmas Weekend: Temps around 30. Chance of snow.
It's official
Winter officially begins at 6:38 pm on Tuesday. It's the shortest sunlight day of the year -- 9 hours 2 minutes and 28 seconds (the sun will set at 4:24 pm). Sure, there are months more of cold weather, but the daylight starts getting longer, too.
That's big
A new exhibit at MASS MoCA opens this week: Katharina Grosse's installation "One Floor Up More Highly" will be revealed Tuesday evening. The installation involves 700 cubic yards of soil in the museum's huge Building 5 Gallery. You might be able to get a sense of the installation's direction from Grosse's earlier works. It's $8 for non-members to attend.
Cinema
The next two weeks could be the best time of the year to catch a movie -- because you'll have time off and there's a whole bunch of interesting stuff out.
The Spectrum is already showing Black Swan, Client 9, Howl, 127 Hours, and The Social Network (that ends Friday). The Coen brothers' True Grit and Little Fockers start Wednesday. And The King's Speech starts Christmas day.
Also: The Palace is showing the holiday classic A Christmas Story Monday night. Tickets are $5.
Music
+ Handel's Messiah Rocks, a live show "melding of Handel's original work for orchestra and voice with the contemporary vernacular of rock," will be at Proctors Tuesday night. You can judge for yourself whether those are two things that should have been melded. Tickets start at $20.
With Christmas on Saturday there's not a whole lot going on this week. Here are two shows to keep in mind for next week:
+ The Wu-Tang Clan will be at Northern Lights on December 27. Really. Tickets are $40.
+ Mike Doughty -- of Soul Coughing fame and himself fame -- will be playing The Linda December 30. Tickets are $22.
To-do list
A short list this week:
1. Spend time with family and friends. They'll appreciate it more than anything you buy for them.
These are a just a few things for this week. Know of something people should be looking forward to this week? Please share!
We'll have a few things later this week about stuff to do between Christmas and New Year's Day.
The Palace advertises on AOA.
photo via MASS Moca
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Comments
Do you have (or will you make) a list of what's open on Christmas Eve and Christmas? I heard today that New World Bistro is open both days, but what else? Can we safely assume that we can have the traditional Chinese food dinner this Christmas? Thanks!
... said iEatDC on Dec 19, 2010 at 10:01 PM | link
Lunar eclipse early tomorrow morning!
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/17/final-lunar-eclipse-of-2010-set-for-early-morning-of-december-21/?hpt=C1
... said Diana on Dec 20, 2010 at 9:28 AM | link
A unified list for places open on Christmas qwould be nice but you can already find a lot of that info on the TU's Table Hopping blog.
... said mirdreams on Dec 20, 2010 at 9:54 AM | link