5 Things

France! England! Ireland! Vietnam! We have so many things planned for you this weekend, no passport required.

March 21, 2013; 7:51 AM • by Susan Howson

Seriously? I feel like I just wrote last week’s 5 Things.

1. The Royal Ballet School with Richmond Ballet II

Click on the above link for groundbreaking interviews and hard-hitting reporting on Leap Week’s grand conclusion (plus a chance to drink free wine and make a fool of yourself in front of graceful people). “But I hate clicking links!” you say. Well, firstly, life is going to get pretty tough for you, as I’m not sure the Internet is going anywhere. And secondly, if you must know, The ACTUAL Royal Ballet School OF GREAT BRITAIN is performing a mixed repertoire with Richmond Ballet’s new company this Friday and Sunday. Don’t miss it.

• Fri. Mar. 22 • 6:30 PM and Sun. Mar. 24 • 2:00 PM
• Richmond Ballet, 407 E. Canal St.
• $65 – $100 (but did I mention free wine?) (Friday only)

2. The 21st Annual French Film Festival

How cool is the French Film Festival? Not only does it bring together two schools who have invented a rivalry that seems to just involve tweeting hateful and false things about each other, but it actually owns the URL “frenchfilmfestival.us” Yeah bitchez! It’s THE French Film Festival, and it’s in our city, and we get to hobnob with famous French actors, writers, and directors, but we FINALLY get access to films that people in New York may not have seen a year ago?? It’s truly exhilarating, and the amount of quality cinema packed into one weekend will make you despise this post-Oscar Hollywood dry spell that much less.

• Fri. Mar. 22 – Sun. Mar 24 • see site for times
• The Byrd Theatre, 2908 W. Cary St.
• $15 for tickets to individual films, with VIP passes available from $65 – $115

3. Church Hill Irish Festival

‘Tis March! And the Irish Festivals don’t stop! This particular fest is known for its bands, family activities (I mean, you’ll probably want to err on the side of early if you’re bringing kids), and a big shamrock spray-painted on 25th and Broad. The weird thing this year is that parking is expressly forbidden in front of my house. Yeah, I dunno! It’s so bizarre. Guess we gotta abide by these crazy laws!

• Sat. Mar. 23 – Sun. Mar. 24 • see site for times
• Just head towards Church Hill, you’ll find it
• $5

4. Mekong’s 18th Anniversary – Festival of Barrels and Woods

Mekong, the incredible combo of fantastic Vietnamese food and obsessively curated beer has become a national and, dare I say, _inter_national treasure. Just scanning the list of the beers being tapped to celebrate the delicious Vietnamese restaurant’s coming-of-age party has made me a little tipsy. Monday is owner An’s kickoff spectacular and features the first of four bands as well as, hopefully, as much clay pot tofu as you care to order. Oh, and beer. I hear he’s into beer.

• Mon. Mar. 25 • 5:00 PM
• Mekong, 6004 W. Broad St.
• Free to attend, beers’ll cost you

5. The Comic Stylings of Duncan Trussell

Have you heard of Duncan Trussell? Would you like to? This popular comedian/writer/man-about-town is scheduled to be a man-about-our-town this Tuesday. His credits include MAD TV, Curb Your Enthusaism, some other stuff you like, and his popular podcast, the Duncan Trussell Family Hour. You have plenty of time to check it out online, but wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to come see the real deal, especially since he’s being supported by rad local comics.

• Tues. Mar. 26 • 9:00 PM
• Strange Matter, 929 W. Grace St.
• $15

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Future Things

We recommend you take a good, long look in the mirror and seriously consider what you’re doing with your life…on the days that the Things listed below take place. With seats selling fast, we thought we’d let you know about these gems now. As always, if you’ve got more suggestions for your long- and short-range-focused fellow readers, leave ‘em below!

• 25th Anniversary production of Les Miserables at the Landmark Theatre – Mar. 26-31
• Aziz Ansari at the Carpenter Theatre – April 1 (encore show added at 9:30 PM)

Photo by: kanonn

March 21, 2013 7:51 AM 0