weekend event planner

Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston this weekend

Millions of Lego bricks make for cuddly animals at Bricklive Houston: Animal Paradise.

Photo courtesy of Brick Live Group Limited

This weekend, baseball fans will be rallying around the Houston Astros as the team looks to close out the series against the Boston Red Sox either Friday or Saturday.

But before and after the games, plenty of happenings are vying for your attention. Look for a limited-edition bourbon party, a night at the symphony, a bike trip around Galveston Bay, cuddly animals made of Lego bricks, or a celebration of chocolate — perfect for Sunday Funday.

Here are your best bests for the weekend.

Thursday, October 21

Bayou & Bottle Bourbon Release Party
This exclusive event will debut Bayou & Bottle’s four-and-a-half-year-old single barrel, picked in partnership with Garrison Brothers master distiller Donnis Todd and Four Seasons Hotel Houston team Tom Segesta (general manager) and Michael Rodriguez (director of food and beverage). This limited, single-barrel release yielded a total of 48 bottles, so bourbon lovers beware. If you would like to taste this creation, this is the only place it will be featured this year. 5 pm.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston presents 33rd Annual Great Futures Dinner
The Great Futures Dinner is the premier annual fundraiser of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston. Included in the festive evening will be the silent and live auctions, the Big Board, pre-event cocktails, a seated dinner and entertainment provided by BGCGH Youth. All proceeds benefit programs of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston to ensure that all Club members are on track for success and great futures. 5:30 pm.

Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino presents Liz Cohen: "The Poet" opening reception
Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino presents the gallery's first solo exhibition for contemporary artist Liz Cohen. Cohen's constructivist installation Him features photographs, collages, weavings, and masks that grew out of the collaborative research project and 12-hour improvisational performative environment produced by the artist in collaboration with her friend Eric Crosley, a poet who began a failed gender reassignment surgery 20 years ago, which "explores the constantly shifting definitions of 'self' of both artist (Cohen) and subject (Crosley)." On display through Saturday, December 18. 6 pm.

Friday, October 22

Bricklive Houston: Animal Paradise
Bricklive Houston: Animal Paradise is Houston's first and only animal safari paradise that will feature animals made out of more than a million bricks. As guests explore the imaginary plains, they'll see an array of life-size, brick-built animals, including breeds of alligators, dolphins, elephants, pandas, giraffes, rhinos, lions, tigers, bears, and more. Through Friday, December 31. 11 am.

Alley Theatre presents 72 Miles to Go…
The play follows one family over a decade as they come of age, fall in love, fight in wars, and fight for each other, against the backdrop of deportation, DACA, and changing immigration laws. The gripping family drama by Hilary Bettis returns to the Alley following development in the 2019 Alley All New Festival and its world premiere Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company. Through Sunday, November 14. 8 pm (2 and 8 pm Saturday; 2:30 and 7:30 pm Sunday).

Houston Symphony presents Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony
Houston Symphony presents Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, where audiences will be transported to a world of ancient ruins and windswept Highland beauty, inspired by the composer’s trip to the British Isles. Acclaimed British conductor Jane Glover leads these performances, which also feature music of Ethel Smyth, and Prokofiev’s effervescent Symphony No. 1. Plus, principal bassoon Rian Craypo shines in Variations on an Arietta by Pergolesi. The Saturday performance will be available to livestream. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, October 23

Galveston Bay Foundation presents Bike Around the Bay
Galveston Bay Foundation, a non-profit conservation organization that works to preserve and enhance Galveston Bay as a healthy and productive place for generations to come, will highlight the natural beauty of Galveston Bay during this fully supported, two-day, 175-mile ride. This unique cycling event takes riders in a complete loop around the largest and most productive estuary in Texas. A one-day, 97-mile option is also available. 9 am.

Daughters of the British Empire presents 47th Annual British Bazaar
Over at Arabia Shrine Center Ballroom, this British Bazaar celebrates all things British. Local Anglophiles will enjoy performances from the Houston Highlanders Pipe Band, traditional British food, a pub lunch and afternoon tea service, along with several British-themed vendors. There will also be a raffle featuring 75 door prizes. 10 am.

Levy Park presents the Prelude Concert Series
Families with young children are invited to sing and dance as Levy Park presents this concert series, sponsored by Primrose School at Greenway Plaza and Primrose School of Upper Kirby. For 45 minutes, babies, toddlers, preschoolers and their grown-ups can join in live music classes with a curriculum aimed at nurturing creativity, self-expression and the development of children through a variety of musical styles. 4:30 pm.

Sunday, October 24

The Women’s Fund for Health Education and Resiliency presents 11th Annual Rockin’ Resiliency Luncheon
The Women’s Fund for Health Education and Resiliency, along with Luncheon co-chairs Lara Bell and Aliza Dutt, and honorary chair Edna Meyer-Nelson, will present the 11th Annual Rockin’ Resiliency Luncheon. The afternoon will feature Olympic medalist and world champion boxer Marlen Esparza as the keynote speaker, a silent auction, a baubles and bubbles champagne raffle, and more. 11:30 am.

Emery Entertainment presents An Evening with C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien
An Evening with C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien is a play set in Oxford’s Eagle & Child pub. Aging and legendary authors Tolkien and his great friend Lewis meet for what turns out to be the very last time. They were lions of 20th century British fantasy, giants of a literary genre that reached millions of readers, young and old alike, with mystifying adventures to entertain and deep truths to move people’s hearts. 2 pm.

Cosmic Creature Events presents Melt My Heart: A Celebration of Chocolate
Melt My Heart will feature a special selection of chocolates all made by Cosmic Creature Events, one of Houston’s very own bean-to-bar chocolate makers. A ticket will include a chocolate merch bag, two signature chocolate bars, a sample pack of chocolate tea (five-count package), stickers, BOGO coupon, and access to the chocolate fountain buffet. 3 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Elizabeth Holmes' doc You Can See Everything is an audacious genre-bender

Photo courtesy of A24

Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes in You Can See Everything.

Elizabeth Holmes faced one of the most public downfalls in recent history after she was accused of defrauding investors in her health technology company, Theranos. Her subsequent indictment and conviction drew the interest of many, including, it seems, comedian/actor/filmmaker Nathan Fielder. Fielder somehow convinced Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, to make a documentary about her final days of freedom, called You Can See Everything.

It’s not immediately clear why Fielder — who only has one previous feature-length documentary to his credit — is interested in profiling Holmes, but the approach that he and co-director Lance Oppenheim (Primetime) take is one that puts Fielder in the spotlight as much as her or Evans. Fielder looms over the couple — sometimes literally, sometimes from afar — as they care for their children, make meals, try to re-establish business relationships, and prepare for Holmes’ prison sentence, which is due to start about a month after the film begins in 2023.

Fielder quizzes Holmes and Evans about predictable subjects — such as how Theranos worked, her relationship with COO Sunny Balwani, and her conviction — and ones that are slightly off-kilter, including the miniseries The Dropout, which dramatized Holmes’ rise and fall. He is met with seeming openness by both of them — the title of the movie is uttered by Holmes at one point — but there are times where their idea of transparency doesn’t jibe with Fielder’s expectations.

Through it all, the quirky reputation that Fielder has from TV shows like Nathan for You, The Curse, and The Rehearsal colors his participation, as well. He appears sincere, if surprisingly intense, in his questioning, but there are more than a few moments where it’s fair to wonder if the whole thing is an act of performance art. That suspicion grows in the second half of the nearly three-hour film as Fielder and Oppenheim go down roads that stretch the definition of what a documentary is or can be.

The film is utterly fascinating as the filmmakers go on what seems to be a full-on exploration of the meaning of truth. Holmes and Evans, either intentionally or unintentionally, carry on conversations with Fielder with wide-open, unblinking eyes, something that conveys honesty and creepiness in equal measures. Fielder meets them with squinting expressions, looking like he’s trying to determine how candid they’re actually being.

One of the biggest things the film reveals (or does it?) is that — if she’s not a sociopath — Holmes might be someone who’s either oblivious or naive. As cryptic or strange as she can be in words and actions, Evans is even more so, and as the film progresses it’s him whose motives and ideas are called into question. Control over the narrative of the film wobbles back-and-forth between Fielder, Holmes, and Evans, and even at the end it’s unclear whose perspective has truly won out.

There is no way to accurately get across what it’s like to watch You Can See Everything for the first time. The motives of everyone involved are up in the air, resulting in a roller coaster ride that’s full of astonishment, laughs, and a number of surprises. It’s an audacious film that can’t be categorized, one that will challenge the thinking of voters when it comes time for awards season.

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You Can See Everything opens in theaters on October 16.

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