1. Start your week off with the New York Obscura Society’s evening of “talks, tentacles, and merriment”: Cephalopod Night. There will be short films new and old, a talk by Science Friday host Ira Flatow, and, naturally, squid-ink cocktails. (Monday, Sea Witch, $18)
2. Or start it off with some cultural and racial analysis at Talking White Privilege, a discussion with former Daily Show supervising producer and bestselling author Baratunde Thurston and actor and comedian Judah Friedlander. (Monday, Brooklyn Historical Society, $10)
3. Get melodic on one of the longest days of the year: Make Music New York Summer features more than 1,200 free live performances all across the city, from reggae in Coney Island to hip-hop in Brownsville to brass bands in Dumbo. (Tuesday, all five boroughs, FREE)
4. Nurture your competitive side at the Death By Video Game Party, co-presented by Melville House and Word. Simon Parkin launches his new nonfiction book about people who play video games to death, and then everyone will play video games together and try not to die. (Tuesday, The Diamond, FREE)
5. Give yourself a new kind of straphanger delight at Platform: Creative Musings on Mass Transit, an evening filled with site-specific works of theater, art, storytelling, and puppetry. Plus a special offer for Brokesters: get $5 off plus a free beer with code BROKE10. (Wednesday, NY Transit Museum, $15)
6. It’s what’s on the inside that counts, right? Prove it at the fifth annual Inner Beauty Pageant, pitting a dozen “warm-hearted oddballs” against each other based on interviews, talent, and homemade swimsuits. This is a Jo Firestone production, of course. (Wednesday, Littlefield, $5)
***Bonus event! JoinBrokelyn and Think Olio for Dinner and a Movie, where top professors analyze a classic film, with drink specials. Tonight is The Prestige, part 2. (Wednesday, Berg’n, $20)
7. Celebrate companionship at the House of Yes Circus Review: Love + Trust, an evening of partnered acts from Anya Sapozhnikova and Melissa Augerre, Angela Butch and Yoni Kalai, Jelly Boy the Clown and Fibi Eyewalkwer, and more. (Thursday, House of Yes, $15)
8. Stand strong at Duck Down BBQ, a showcase of artists on the iconic hip-hop label including Buckshot, Smif N Wessun, A-F-R-O &, Marco Polo, and Chelsea Reject. (Thursday, Betsy Head Park, FREE)
9. Honor one of the queens of country at Puppet Playlist #21: Dolly Parton: a series of shorts by puppeteers and musicians based on or reinterpreting one Dolly song apiece. (Friday, Triskelion Arts, $15)
10. Click your heels three times, then head to No Place Like Home: Pride Friday, with DJ Jessamess on the decks, Horrorchata behind the bar, and plenty of queers and queens to be proud with. (Friday, Happyfun Hideaway, FREE)
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