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Thursday, December 11:Free wine, anybody? Domasoteca, in Rosslyn’s Hotel Palomar, hosts a complimentary mulled-wine tasting from 5 to 8. For additional information, call 703-594-5104.

Drinking for the holidays and for charity? That’s certainly something we can get behind. It’s happening this evening at the Adams Morgan bar Bourbon, when Bartending 4 Change hosts a happy hour  to benefit Hands on DC; 6:30 to 8:30.

Monday, December 8:
The Library of Congress’s Frank Zappa mini-festival continues tonight with a screening of 200 Motels. Directed in 1971 by Tony Palmer, Charles Swenson, and Zappa, the film captures life on the road with Zappa’s band, the Mothers of Invention, and its performances with the Royal Symphony Orchestra. Theodore Bikel and Ringo Starr make guest appearances. Showtime is at 7 in the James Madison building’s Mary Pickford Theater. Call 202-707-5677 between 9 and 5 to reserve a seat for this free event.

Tuesday, December 9:
The Sackler and Freer Galleries present “Performance Five Directions: A Korean and American Jazz Excursion” tonight at 7:30 in the Meyer Auditorium. Three New York musicians, Ned Rothenberg (clarinet, shakuhachi), Erik Friedlander (cello), and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion), will be joined by three Korean musicians, Yoon Jeong Heo (geomungo/zither), Kwon Soon Kang (vocal), and Young Chi Min (flute, chang-go), in the collaboration. Call 202-397-7328 to reserve tickets or show up at the auditorium door one hour before the performance to claim tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis.

This time of year usually means planning holiday parties, attending soirées, buying gifts, decorating . . . the list is exhausting. With all the stress of the holiday season approaching, why not take time for a new hobby? Sure, you’re about to be loaded down with all those extra tasks, but some of these holiday hobbies come with perks: They’re relaxing, and the result can often be given as a gift. If you’ve always been interested in knitting, try a beginners’ course that will teach you to make a scarf. Knitting can be done during the Metro commute or when unwinding with a glass of wine on the couch. On  weekends, take the kids to a baking or pottery class, or try a workshop to find new ways to spice up your holiday dinner party.

Saturday, December 6, through Saturday, December 13: Ornament-Decorating Workshop
The Alexandria Archeology Museum invites families to the Torpedo Factory Art Center to decorate holiday ornaments. Create clay ornaments using different shapes, colors, and patterns, and take them home for yourself or to give as a gift. Saturday, December 6, 1 to 4; Sunday and Monday, 11 to 7; Tuesday through Saturday, December 13, 11 to 9. Free; call 703-838-4399 for more information.

Monday, November 17
Author and environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams discusses Finding Beauty In A Broken World at Politics and Prose at 7. The book chronicles her travels from Italy to the American Southwest and Rwanda as she searches for a meaningful understanding between man and nature.

Tuesday, November 18
Classical music expert Rob Kapilow’s book, All You Have To Do Is Listen, teaches readers how to listen to music from a composer’s point of view. Kapilow will explain his listening method at Borders’ L Street location at 12:30.

Wednesday, November 19
Terry Gilliam’s 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas screens at 6 in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s McEvoy Auditorium. Johnny Depp brings the cult-classic novel to life with his masterful performance of the drug-crazed gonzo journalist. Benicio Del Toro co-stars as Oscar Z. Acosta, Thompson’s lawyer and partner in crime.

Photography by Paul Fetters.

If you happened to be strolling around the Mall Thursday night near the National Museum of the American Indian, you might have noticed something unusual dancing across the building’s multi-story facade: A slideshow of photographs playing in cinematic magnitude.

The display is part of FotoWeek DC—the first-annual celebration of regional photographers that kicks off tonight—and the visual outdoor presentations, dubbed NightGallery DC, will continue through next week across the walls of some of Washington’s institutions, from the Corcoran Gallery of Art to the Newseum to the United States Holocaust Museum.

The idea to have FotoWeek came from Theo Adamstein, owner of Georgetown’s Chrome Imaging. He was thinking about photography when two things hit him: “One was that Washington photographers have never been awarded for their city work,” he says. “And two, since living here since 1992, there’s never been a citywide show of local photographs.” So he gathered a team of volunteers and launched a photo contest. After a huge response from the community and 5,000 entries, the festival exploded. National Geographic came on as a sponsor and is hosting a gala on November 22, and a youth contest was created in partnership with the Washington Post. For NightGallery DC, the idea was simple: The Smithsonian paired Adamstein with Marc Herring, executive producer and designer of Herring Media Group—the guys behind Al Gore’s Live Earth concert last year who will also be responsible for a massive display for January’s Inauguration. Adamstein explains, “One of our ideas was, wouldn’t it be great to light up the city?”

Washington has never before seen a spectacle quite like NightGallery DC. Over the span of the eight-day festival (November 15 to 22), eight establishments will be hosting a total of 21 visual presentations, accompanied by the appropriate music for each (last night’s opener had native American drumming issuing from the speakers). Each museum is curating its own show, while Georgetown’s EastBanc will host a slideshow of work by FotoWeek contestants. Speaking from last night’s presentation, Herring remarked, “I’m standing here below a three-story projection of Sitting Bull, and it’s hard not to be intimidated by this guy, even though he’s 200 years old. Now I’m looking at Geronimo and he’s looking right back at me.” The Newseum will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning work by photojournalists on its 75-foot wall where the First Amendment is scrawled, and visitors to the Smithsonian American Art Museum will see contemporary photographs focused on the American landscape.

Monday, November 10
Tim Noah, husband of the late Washington Post and Vanity Fair writer Marjorie Williams, brings his wife’s second posthumous collection, Reputation: Portraits in Power, to Politics and Prose tonight at 7. Noah will be joined by Vanity Fair editor Todd Purdum and Post columnist Ruth Marcus. The book profiles some of the figures that dominated politics and the media during the final years of the 20th century.

Tuesday, November 11
Did you know that Native Americans, by percentage, have served more than any other ethnic group in the US military? Take a long lunch and head to the National Museum of the American Indian from 1 to 3 for a discussion with historian Herman Viola. His book, Warriors in Uniforms: The Legacy of American Indian Heroism, chronicles the American Indian’s military service from the Revolutionary War to the Iraq War. A book signing follows the event, which takes place in the museum’s Rasmuson Theater. 

National Museum of American History

After an $85-million renovation, the museum reopens November 21, bringing new light—thanks to a five-story atrium—to some of the 3 million objects in its collection. Visitors can see the Star-Spangled Banner displayed in greater glory than ever while learning about the Battle of Baltimore, the capture of Washington, and Francis Scott Key, who wrote the poem that became the national anthem. Also on view is a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, on loan from the White House until January. Constitution Ave. between 12th and 14th sts., NW; 202-633-1000; americanhistory.si.edu.

National Museum of African Art

In “Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography From the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection,” see how Berber artisans used coral, amber, and silver to make hair ornaments, bracelets, earrings, and fibulae—brooches used to keep clothing fastened. Some of the objects are simple, others quite intricate. 950 Independence Ave., SW; 202-633-4600; africa.si.edu.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The late Joseph Hirshhorn dreamed of creating an art museum in Canada surrounded by a utopian city. That never happened, but artist Terence Gower, while researching the history of the Hirshhorn Museum, found architect Phillip Johnson’s plans for the city and its museum. Included in “Public Spirit: The Hirshhorn Project,” opening November 5, are photographs of Johnson’s plans, sculptural models, and a video projection that takes viewers on a tour of the proposed town and museum. Independence Ave. and Seventh St., SW; 202-633-1000; hirshhorn.si.edu.

Walters Art Museum

The museum’s collection of jewelry—including a sapphire-and-diamond Tiffany brooch in the shape of an iris that won first prize at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair—is on view in “Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry.” Museum admission is free; the exhibit is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, $4 for students. Jewelry Fair 2008 takes place November 20 through 23. Twenty-one contemporary jewelry makers, including Emma Villedrouin of DC and Alchemic Synthesis of Annapolis, will show and sell their work. Admission is $10. 600 N. Charles St., Baltimore; 410-547-9000; thewalters.org.