Cheap Chick NYC, Cheap and Free Weekend Events, March 11-13, 2011

Friday March 11, 2011

“Stop collaborate, and listen” to Rob Van Winkle’s (aka Vanilla Ice) film turn in Cool as Ice. 10 p.m., 92ndY Tribeca, 200 Hudson St., tkts are $10 and can be bought here: http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5FM18.

Live like the glitterati and have a sip of the good life at Frankly Wines’ Fancy Pants Fridays, where a bottle of the good stuff ($30+) is opened and drinks poured for all! 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., 66 W. Broadway, free!

That all-powerful geek magnet, Nerd Nite, is celebrating its fifth anniversary tonight! Music is the theme tonight, with presentations on musical questions like Who Let the Dogs Out? Out? and the rip-off of African-American cover songs by white musicians. A top-secret presentation with “historical significance” rounds out the lectures. Those wanting to meet their dork in shining armor can sign up for speed dating (sorry ladies, your spots are gone, but there are plenty of spaces left for geeky guys!) 7 p.m. Speed dating starts (must check-in at 6:45), and 9 p.m. for reg. Nerd Nite. Galapagos Art Space, DUMBO, 16 Main St., For more info and tkts go here: http://nyc.nerdnite.com/

Other nerds may want to test their NYC knowledge at the Queens Museum of Arts’ trivia night incorporating its amazing Panorama! Questions will cover geography and landmarks of all five boroughs. Winners receive a year-long museum membership and will have their names engraved on the Panorama Challenge trophy! 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., Queens Museum of Art, Flushing MeadowsCorona Park, enter at 49^th Ave. and111th St., free!

Friday March 11 and Saturday March 12, 2011

Calling all knights of the round table and their spam, there are midnight screenings of Monty Python and the Holy Grail happening this weekend! Midnight, Landmark Sunshine, 143 E. Houston, $10, buy tkts here: https://tickets.landmarktheatres.com/Ticketing.aspx?TheatreID=256!

Saturday March 12, 2011

Women can learn self-defense techniques and increase awareness and self confidence at this free workshop taught by Shihan Ramzy, an 8th degree black belt in Fuji Ryu Jujutsu with over 35 years’ experience in the martial arts and women’s self defense and is the founder and CEO of the Women’s Empowerment Self Defense Academy (W.E.S.D.A.) 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Alfred Smith Recreation Center, 80 Catherine Street, free!

The Sony Wonder Technology Lab is hosting a free screening of the doc Inside Job, which examines the economic crisis of 2008 and is narrated by Matt Damon. 2 p.m., Sony Wonder Technology Lab, Sony Plaza at 56th Street and Madison Avenue, screening is free, but reservations are highly recommended, to make them call (212) 833 7858, free!

Learn about the relationship between the Irish and Hell’s Kitchen during the Hell’s Kitchen: A Political History of the New York Irish walking tour, sponsored by Culture Now. “The tour will discuss the political history of the area, including its evolution from the days when the gentleman mobster Owney Madden (believed to be the inspiration for Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby) ran the liquor distribution in the City during Prohibition (as well as the Cotton Club in Harlem and leading prize fighters) to the days in the 1950's of turf wars between Irish and Puerto Rican gangs (the inspiration for West Side Story), to the ultimately successful struggle in the 1970's by the community in alliance with the Catholic Church to save the area and the adjacent theater district from the proliferation of pimps, prostitutes and pornographic purveyors.” 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., meet at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 5^th Ave. bet. 50^th and 51^st St., tkts are $10 (plus $1.50 service fee) and can be purchased here: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=215444

Explore little-known early 20^th century skyscrapers around the Union Square and Flatiron districts, with the Municipal Arts Society. Stops include buildings by Warren & Wetmore, Bruce Price and Cass Gilbert, as well as John Edelmann, friend and mentor to Louis Sullivan. 11 a.m., meet at the SW corner of Broadway and 13th Sts, $15, pay at tour.

Get in touch with your green thumb at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s day-long Making Brooklyn Bloom: Let's Garden Together program. Workshops include: People, Plants, and Politics in the City, Selling Your Vegetables: Opportunities to Share Your Harvest, Farming in Brooklyn, Keep It Cheap: Making Plants with Neighbors, NetRoots: Using Web Tools for Garden Projects, and Digging Up Dinner: Building Garden Partnerships with Food Pantries. For a full listing of the day’s events go here: http://www.bbg.org/visit/event/mbb_2011/. The program runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (registration is from 10-11 a.m., and you can either purchase a lunch at the café, or brown bag it to attend networking sessions.) Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, 1000 Washington Ave., free!

Did you know that nine of the first ladies were from New York? Find out their stories and relationship to the Empire state with Elizabeth Kahn Kaplan! 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., Morris-Jumel Mansion, 65 Jumel Terrace bet 160^th and 162^nd Sts., free, but advanced registration is required. Call 212 923 8008 to RSVP!

Big Onion helps you discover Irish New York, encompassing “the former "Little Ireland" district of the Lower East Side, between City Hall and Houston Street. This 19th-century neighborhood had more Irish residents than Dublin! Stops could include: the founding site of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Al Smith's home, the Five Points, the first Catholic church in the city, and sites associated with Tammany Hall, Thomas Addis Emmet, and many others.” 1 p.m., meet directly in front of St. Paul's Chapel, Broadway between Fulton and Vesey Streets. $15 (pay at tour)!

Remember, remember the fifth of November or other random words and numbers as contestants compete at the 14^th Annual USA Memory Championship! 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Con Edison Building, 4 Irving Place, bet. 14^th and 15^th Sts, free!

Sounds a little fishy…author Trevor Corson (The Secret Life of Lobsters and The Story of Sushi), will be lecturing about sea creatures at his talk Good Food: Lobster Love, Sushi Secrets and How we can Save the Seas With Smart Eating, 4 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch, Grand Army Plaza, free!

Saturday and Sunday March 12 and 13, 2011

Discovery Walking Tours showcases two upcoming holidays (St. Patrick’s Day-March 17, and St. Joseph’s Day-March 19, 2011), for their Little Ireland and Little Italy History and Tasting Tour! Stops include Five Points, made famous in Gangs of New York, the birthplace of Cardinal Hayes, Mulberry Street, Banco Stabile and the Church of the Most Precious Blood. The sampling of Little Italy’s ethnic specialties range from pizza and prosciutto bread to St. Joseph’s cake. Saturday at 1:30 p.m., and 3:45 p.m. and Sun., 12 Noon and 2:45 p.m. $27, call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place.

Plus the GLBT Expo is happening at the Javits Center! For more info and tkts ($15, pre-register for $5 off), go here: http://www.originalglbtexpo.com/index.php?ref=attendee

Sunday March 13, 2011

In celebration of Women’s History Month, learn about the lives of Staten Island’s most prominent women, from Alice Austen to Joan Baez. 11 a.m., Alice Austen House and Park, Hylan Boulevard and Edgewater Street, free!

Spend a day with Oliver Stone and his films at the Museum of the Moving Image. Screenings include Nixon and Alexander: Revisited and the man himself will be on-hand for introduction and post-screening discussion of Alexander with Salon film critic Matt Zoller Seitz. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue (at 37 Street), Astoria, for all the non-Queens residents, take the R to Steinway St., Nixon is free with museum admission ($10), and Alexander is an additional $15!

The Municipal Arts Society leads a walking tour of the “Bloomingdale Blocks.These quiet, tree-lined streets near the Hudson River, from 96th St. to 110th St., boast some of New York’s finest remaining turn-of-the-20th-century row houses, apartments, institutional structures and public monuments, many designed by leading architects. The tour will focus on two aspects: the fascinating and little known history of the area and its superb stock of architecturally significant, yet mostly unlandmarked, buildings.” 1 p.m., meet at the Straus Memorial on W. 106th St., between Broadway and West End Ave. $15!

What could go better with a movie than popcorn? That’s right, tacos! Future Shorts ONE is screening its international short film festival at Tacombi @ Fonda Nolita. 267 Elizabeth St. (at E. Houston St.), $25 gets you two free beers / cocktails and five mini tacos and cerviches, click here to purchase tickets!

Savor the sweetness of spring at this Cupcake Crawl sponsored by Walking Tours Manhattan, to benefit the Food Bank of New York. Stops include Billy’s, Amy's at Chelsea Market, and Magnolia Bakery! 11 a.m., Meet the tour guide with the red ball cap saying Walking Tours Manhattan at Billy's, 184 9th Avenue, bet. West 21-22nd Street, $5 goes to charity with food purchases optional!

Don’t forget ABC Carpet and Home’s Warehouse sale is going on all weekend long (http://www.abchome.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=DItKRfbaPRQ%3D&tabid=190)!

Also don’t miss any of Sunday’s events, daylight savings begins Sunday at 2 a.m. (http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/rules/usa.htm), remember to spring forward!