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When the book Game Change came out two years ago, the political-media industrial complex spent a few weeks in a tizzy, with everyone fact-checking the “deep background” scooplets authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann had dug up while reporting on the 2008 presidential campaign. (Some held up, others were unverifiable.) Which was exactly the sort of book it was: Deep insights into the way American government functions were missing, but there was a ton of good dirt. The authors promptly snapped up a $5 million advance to write a sequel, and HBO picked up the Hollywood rights. Now, most of the gossip in the book has been forgotten, but the movie version—starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin—premieres Saturday night. Today, Halperin and Heilemann preview the movie and talk about the 2012 election—but presumably, they’ll save the best stuff for the book. The authors speak Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Newseum’s Knight TV Studio, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Access included in $21.95 museum admission. (888) 639-7386. (Mike Madden)
FRIDAY
Relive Benjamin R. Freed‘s nightmares: Journopalooza is back! 7 p.m. at the Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.
Hole in the Sky, a DIY space in Eckington, shut down a year ago, and this weekend it’s back. Mondo Ray performs in a show sponsored by stalwart local garage label Windian Records. 9 p.m. at Hole in the Sky. Google the address, intrepid arts consumer.
Local goth-gazers Screen Vinyl Image headline a strong lineup (The Foreign Resort, Last Remaining Pinnacle, Teething Veils) at Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW. (202) 462-3213.
SATURDAY
Up-and-coming art punks Southern Problems play with (WCP contributor Ryan Little‘s band) Tereu Tereu and Moonlight Bride at The Dunes, 1402 Meridian Place. (202) 436-9118.
SUNDAY
Comic strips suck. Not inherently so, but the daily schedule is such a grind on most gag-based-comics creators that their work is usually smirk-worthy at best or, more likely, fling-the-newspaper-with-rage bad. But Dan Piraro’s beautifully drawn syndicated strip, Bizarro, isn’t just regularly funny; it’s downright LOL. His humor usually takes a common subject—say, buying a pastry—and turns it on its ear with a slightly surrealist bent: A man at “Sin-A-Bon” is asked by the devil-clerk, “May I hurt you?” Piraro has drawn more than 10,000 strips in his 25-year-career, and he’s celebrating the achievement with a series of anniversary gigs. The transition from drafting table to comedy stage may seem difficult, but Piraro’s one-liners are stand-up worthy, and his long-running live show incorporates puppetry, music, and, of course, images from the brilliance that is Bizarro. Piraro performs Sunday at 8 p.m. at Riot Act Comedy Theater, 801 E St. NW. $15.riotactcomedy.com. (202) 697-4900. (Christopher Porter)
GALLERIES
For her exhibition at Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Jae Ko doesn’t deviate much from her formula. That’s not a bad thing. The sculptor, one of the Washington area’s most consistent, has tapped an active vein with her rolled-paper sculptures, which she treats with glue and sumi ink. The works stand on the knife’s edge between sculpture and drawing, and with every return to this format, she pushes them in one direction or another. These latest works fall decidedly along the drawing end of the spectrum. In black sumi and red calligraphy ink, these paper sculptures are elongated versions of works she has done in the past, like unwound springs; the twisting forms represent nothing so much as some sort of calligraphic script. And they look like the result of painstaking work, much as many drawings do. But the works are grounded in sculpture, too, with symmetries and rhythm that resist perfect regularity, just as in nature. The exhibit is on view 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays–Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays at Marsha Mateyka Gallery, 2012 R St. NW. Free. (202) 328-0088. (Kriston Capps)
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