Best of the Week: Our Picks for November 16-20, 2015

Welcome to Best of the Week, our recommendations for what to check out around town this week. If you’re wondering what to do in Boston this week, check out these events.

A preview of Brass Union’s ‘Movie Night’ lineup

MOVIES
Monday, November 16
“Movie Mondays” at Brass Union

The wrong way to watch holiday movies: alone, in a rundown motel room, while a bucket of takeout slop slowly congeals on a cigarette-burned table. The right way to watch holiday movies: in a festive neighborhood bar, surrounded by good company, good food, and good cheer. Oh, and free popcorn. This week, Brass Union debuts “Movie Mondays”—an evening of cult films projected on a 70-inch screen—and its 2015 roster is jam-packed with holiday favorites: Planes, Trains & Automobiles (November 23), Home Alone (November 30), Elf (December 7), Scrooged (December 14), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (December 21), and Trading Places (December 28). They’re kicking things off with the John Candy classic Uncle Buck. To enhance your nostalgia experience, they’re throwing in complimentary popcorn—plus an a la carte menu of “themed food and beverage specials that have been designed to capture the essence of the evening’s film.”

Mondays, November 16-December 28, 8 p.m., Brass Union, 70 Union Square, Somerville, 617-623-9211, brassunion.com.

Hojoko menu items / Photo by Jared Kuzia, for “At Hojoko, It’s East Meets West Meets East Again”

DINING
Tuesday, November 17
Boston Magazine’s Taste 2015

Been drooling over our “25 Best New Restaurants” issue? Puzzling over how you’re going to have time to try all these places before our 2016 edition comes out? Well, we made the process a whole lot easier for you, with our 2015 Taste event: an all-you-can-eat-and-drink event featuring top-tier grub from 20 buzzed-about chefs. Try tom yum soup from chef Tiffani Faison’s soon-to-open Tiger Mama; soused bluefish on brown bread from Loyal Nine chef Marc Sheehan; a fried miso cod sushi roll from Hojoko chef Hart Lowry, and more.

November 17, VIP admission ($115) 6-9 p.m., regular admission ($85) 7-9 p.m., Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress St., Boston, bostonmagazine.com/taste.

Shamir by Trans Musicales on Flickr

MUSIC
Wednesday, November 18
Shamir

When we live in an age of Chap Hop and vaporwave, rare is the new song can make us stop in our tracks and say “What is that?” Late last year, 21-year-old Shamir and his falsetto vocals Shazam’d his way into our hearts (or at least our most recent earworm) with the catchy, cowbell-accented “On the Regular.” Now the Las Vegan is bringing his album, Ratchet, to one of our favorite music venues.

November 18, 8 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge, 617-547-5200, sinclaircambridge.com.

Eugene Mirman photo by msiew on Flickr

COMEDY
Thursday, November 19
Jesse Eisenberg and Eugene Mirman

It’s not a stretch to stay that Jesse Eisenberg and Eugene Mirman both have had very weird careers: Eisenberg’s first artistic effort received a cease-and-desist letter from Woody Allen’s people (ironically, he’d go on to star in a Woody Allen movie only a few years later). And long before Bob’s Burgers, Mirman was a stand-up comic who once toured opening for rock concerts, doing a show in Worcester so hostile that the audience heckled the performers by throwing pineapples at them. Other similarities between Eisenberg and Mirman? Well, both are published authors, for instance—and both are vying for your attention on November 19. Since you probably won’t be able to see both of them in one evening, you’re going to have to take sides here. Choose wisely—or, for the really intrepid, do both! Eugene Mirman has spoken.

Jesse Eisenberg: November 19, 6 p.m., Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, 617-661-1515, harvard.com. Eugene Mirman: November 19, 8 p.m., Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, 617-562-8800, crossroadspresents.com/paradise-rock-club.

Gold letters photo by THOR on Flickr

FONT OF INSPIRATION
Friday, November 20
What’s Your Type?

If you heart Helvetica, shun Papyrus, and laugh at Comic Sans for reasons other than the fact that it reminds you of comic strips—well, do we have an event for you. This Friday, font fans unite at the Peabody Essex Museum for “What’s Your Type,” an evening of drinks and impeccable kerning. According to the PEM, visitors will “form human letters, experiment with different types of fonts, watch live chalk and sign painting demos, and get an inside scoop on graphic design with PEM’s Creative Services team.” For the event, they’re partnering with The Scarlet Letter Press and Gallery, whose offerings should delight both typography nerds and lit nerds alike.

$10 (members/Salem residents free), November 19, 6-9 p.m., Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem, 978-745-9500, pem.org. More event info available on Facebook.