1
See a movie. Hollywood producers know that you don’t really want to spend too much time with your family this holiday weekend, so they’ve kindly packed local multiplexes with no fewer than 11 new releases. Want to feel better about your messed-up family by spending time with one that’s much more dysfunctional? Check out Margot at the Wedding. Feel like getting lost in silly blockbuster fantasy land? See National Treasure: Book of Secrets (pictured). Looking for some gore to combat all that Christmas cheer? Try Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Take the whole clan to laugh at teen pregnancy in Juno, or engage your solo misanthropy with Sweeney Todd. No matter your taste, you’ll find something under the theater’s tree.
2
See blobs. German surrealist artists Julia Venske and Gregor Spånel are masters of creating chaos. Their installations—which have traveled the world—focus on the material of our lives and interrupt it with huge, lumbering structures of marble shaped to look like everything from melting globs of goo to ornate-looking boxes that match the color schemes of an environment. At On It, an exhibition by the two artists showing at Dust (1221 S. Main St., 880-3878), several pieces of the duo’s work along with photos of their pieces in New York City, Sydney and Brazil confusing masses fill the Downtown Vegas gallery. Sure, it sounds snooty and highfalutin enough to attract art snobs, but there’s something about huge ornate globs of junk in public places that just plain-ol’ looks cool. Through February 3. Open Wednesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Art can be found at www.eingriff.com.
3
Skate through life. Nothing says, “I’m enjoying the holidays as if I were starring in a romantic comedy!” quite like skating on a frozen pond. So, here’s your Vegas opportunity: Hit the floating ice-skating rink at MonteLago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas. It’s open Saturday-Sunday, noon-9 p.m., and Monday-Friday, 3 p.m.-9 p.m., through February 17. $12-$15; 564-4700, www.montelagovillage.com.
4
Check up on Saldana. Has he written any new jokes? Has he stopped drinking (or at least considered cutting back)? Is he still constantly mistaken for Russell Peters? And most important, how did that whole man-crush-on-Tourgasm’s-Robert-Kelly thing play out? Find out when local boy-made-internationally-good comic Mark Saldana [revisit our August 9 feature on his Just For Laughs Comedy Festival exploits at LasVegasWeekly.com] yuks it up for the holidays at the Riviera Comedy Club. And if you’re feeling really inquisitive, don’t forget to ask about the time he drunk-dialed Dave Attell ... December 24-30, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., $20. Riviera Comedy Club, 794-9433.
5
Ball. In many cities, this is pretty much how Christmas Eve goes down for the Jewish population: Chinese food and a movie. But in metropolitan cities like NYC, Boston, Boca Raton, DC, Chicago, Miami and Seattle, it’s the Matzo Ball that attracts the young, single Jews out that night. Vegas’ own version (we have to be different), the Bagel Ball, goes off Monday, December 24, 8 p.m.-midnight at Ghostbar at the Palms. Sponsored by the JCC and Southern Wine & Spirits, the semiformal event features dancing, schmoozing (of course!), raffles and a free Bageltini. Tickets are $25 in advance at www.jccsn.org or $35 at the door. Who knows, maybe next year someone might throw a Challah Hop!
6
Double your DJs. You house-heads are likely to get a headache this Saturday, December 22 when you take a look at the Hot Spots. Big-ticket house-music favorites Bob Sinclar and
Sharam Tayebi of the famed duo Deep Dish will be spinning at Empire Ballroom and Jet that same night, respectively. But with careful planning, one could theoretically catch both big sets, as Sharam goes on right at 1:30 a.m. at Jet while Bob Sinclar could go on “anywhere between 1 and 3 and will then play for 2 1/2 hours” over at Empire Ballroom. Likely, Sinclar will be on the later end of that spectrum. So throw the Mirage valet a few $20s and tell him to keep your car handy, and you just might make it!