Wednesday 12/21
The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show
(HOLIDAYS) The holidays are saved! Well, first they're ruined, but then they're saved, by Jinkx and DeLaâs latest incarnation of their traditional show. These formerly local treasures-turned-international-sensations will be swinging back to their once-hometown to regale us with songs, jokes, and almost definitely a kickline or two. The gals are great about updating their show with new twists every year, so even if youâve attended in the past, there will be plenty of surprises to knock you back in your seat. With their holiday show, Jinkx and DeLa occupy a crowded field, since it seems like every drag performer has some take on the season. But theyâve got unique expertise, to the point that they made an entire movie about it. They serve up new insights about the nature of chosen family, traditions worth re-examining, and the stress of year-end obligations in the most appetizing manner possible, with music, dance, and crowd work galore. Whether you arrive expecting to laugh or cry, you wonât be disappointed. (Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave, Dec 21-24, 8 pm, $35.50-$295.50) MATT BAUME
Thursday 12/22
Menorah Lighting & Gelt Drop in Ballard
(HOLIDAYS) On Thursday afternoon, for the first time ever, Ballard Avenue will transmogrify into a Hanukkah village! Thanks to Chabad of Northwest Seattle! This is so exciting, not only because thereâll a menorah lighting, a scavenger hunt for kids, crafts, games, a gelt drop, live music, and a raffle, but also because there will be LATKES and DOUGHNUTS. You all probably know about latkes, which are reason enough to show up, but thereâll also be sufganiyot, AKA Israeli doughnutsâa crispy-pillowy cross between a pÄ czki and a beignet. Like latkes, theyâre fried in oil and are eaten to celebrate the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days instead of one in the Hanukkah story. And I wanna eat them so bad, also like latkes. Who will help me eat all the latkes and doughnuts? Will it be you? (Bergen Place Park, 5420 22nd Ave NW, 4 pm, free, all ages) MEG VAN HUYGEN
UPDATE: Because of the especially cold weather, the menorah lighting and gelt drop has been moved indoors to Leif Erikson Hall (2245 NW 57th St).
Friday 12/23
Nina Chanel Abney: Fishing Was His Life
(VISUAL ART) Are you parents in town for, like, the second or third time and you've run out of tourist-y things to do with them? Never fearâart is here to save the day. I strongly urge you to take your family on a trip to see Nina Chanel Abney's Fishing Was His Life, which is up at the Henry Art Gallery right now. Abney is an incredible artist who uses bright colors and geometric shapes to compose collages that parse out the intersections of race, politics, economy, and sexuality. Inspired by photographer Gordon Parks's series on East Coast fishermen in the 1940s, Abney made the works in Fishing Was His Life to center Black fishing communities and history that often goes untold. In addition to the works shown inside the museum, Abney also made a mural of a fishing market on the outside of the Henry's east façade. Cruise through this show (stop at Donna Huanca's Magma Slit while you're at it) and head over to Pike Place to pick up a fish of your own. (Henry Art Gallery, 15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, open Thurs-Sun, through Jan 5) JAS KEIMIG
(FILM) Artists always face this real danger. A work (film, book, song) may not be recognized by the society they find themselves in. No matter how great it is, it is out of time. Its place is not in the now but the future. Such was the case with one of Jean Renoir's three masterpieces, The Rules of the Game. Made in 1939, and concerning a French upper-class world that's in declineâand containing one of the most vivid hunting scenes in the history of cinemaâit's hard to believe the film was a major flop, and was even censored. Artists fear being too good for their own good. (SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, various showtimes through Dec 29, $13-$14) CHARLES MUDEDE
Saturday 12/24
(FILM) I know, I knowâthis is the second time this week I'm recommending a three-hour movie. BUT! I'm telling you, it's worth it. Damien Chazelle's Babylon is a period epic covering Hollywood's transition from silent films to "talkies." In an interview with RogerEbert.com, Chazelle laments the way silent films got cut off at their peak, and, in the movie, he reproduces the decadence of the era with humorous depravity. Giant piles of cocaine, sweaty orgies, excessive drinking, sultry dancing, and elephant shit fill up nearly the entire first whole third of the movieâthe party energy nearly oozes off the screen. Babylon follows several main characters over the years as they try to navigate the film industry's hard shift into the toxic, extractive force it is today: aging star Jack (Brad Pitt); saucy and chaotic ingenue, Nellie (Margot Robbie); an aspiring film star Manny (Diego Calva); trumpeter-turned-actor Sidney (Jovan Adepo); cabaret singer Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li); and Jean Smart as a shrewd gossip columnist, Elinor. The film is simultaneously a hysterical yet rich examination of that weird transitional era and also a melancholy love letter to the business itself. (SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 805 E Pine St, various showtimes, $11-$14) JAS KEIMIG
Sunday 12/25
Where to Eat and Drink on Christmas
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(FOOD & DRINK) If you're still looking for a place to eat on Christmas, run don't walk to EverOut for a full list of the day's tasty holiday offerings. Some favorite swanky spotsâGoldfinch Tavern, the Georgeâare taking reservations for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners, and there are also a few cozy and casual options like Lost Lake, where they'll be serving a special menu from 10 am-8 pm that includes eggnog French toast and a classic turkey dinner (with vegetarian and vegan versions available thanks to the miracle that is Field Roast). Today is also the eighth night of Hanukkah, and EverOut's got that covered, tooâtheir listings include a tip on where you can grab some noodles from Uptown China and hear klezmer music ahead of a sing-along screening of Fiddler on the Roof. (Find even more holiday dining options on EverOut) MEGAN SELING
Monday 12/26
Tarantino Week at Central Cinema
(FILM) It's Tarantino Week at Central Cinema. For those five quiet days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, the theater is showing some of the director's best films, providing the perfect violent comedown from all the saccharine holiday movies you've been shoving into your eyeballs for the past month. (I'm not the only sucker who gorges on made-for-TV Christmas movies this time of year, right?) The festivities begin Monday with Inglorious Basterds, the 2009 war film where something like 280 nazisâincluding Adolf Hitler himself!âare brutally murdered by nazi assassins. Delightful! Jackie Brown, Django Unchained, and Pulp Fiction follow, and the week is capped-off with a Grindhouse double feature featuring Planet Terror and Death Proof. Because Central Cinema serves food and drinks, you can even make a game of it! Every time there's a gratuitous shot of a foot, eat a fried cheese curd! (I guess you could take a drink, too, but cheese > booze, imo). (Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave, Dec 26-29, $12) MEGAN SELING
Tuesday 12/27
Finish the Shit You Started
(CRAFTS) This is it. There are only a few days left in 2022. Before the fresh start of a new year, grab one of those unfinished projects that you've shoved into a drawerâand the deepest, darkest cavern of your brainâand take it down to Monster in Ballard for the shop's Monthly Craft Social. You will be among friends as you sew, embroider, or glue together that half-hearted attempt to feel like a capable human being for once in your godforsaken life. Don't have a craft project? Monster has all kinds of kits for sale, so you can busy your hands, relax your mind, and feel a sense of accomplishment while putting together the world's cutest otter. (Or narwhal, anatomic heart, or placard that reminds you to calm the fuck down.) The year is almost over, but there's still time to get something done. You don't want to carry that unfinished latch hook project you got as a gift last Christmas into 2023, do you? Finish your shit. (Monster, 1716 NW Market St, 6:30 pm, $5) MEGAN SELING
