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Arusi Persian Wedding

Thurs., Feb. 26, 6:30pm. Free, reservations requested. Bonnell Auditorium, Community College of Philadelphia, 1700 Spring Garden St. 215.351.0511. www.whyy.org/memberexperience

Iran is coming to dinner. Papa Obama said so. You know your manners, right? Sit up straight, elbows off the table, and come up with some good questions to ask. Can't think of any? That's probably because Iran has been completely expelled from our cultural and historical education. Remedial lessons start here: Marjan Tehrani's doc Arusi Persian Wedding follows her American-born brother's journey to their father's birthplace to have a traditional Persian wedding ceremony (with his American wife). To complicate matters further, brother and sister were raised in the U.S. by their Iranian father and Jewish mother. A panel discussion of Iranian-American cultural and academic leaders follows the film. Learning about cultural identity is good; knowing what the hell Obama and Ahmadinejad are talking about is even better. (Jeffrey Barg)

Red Herring

Barrymore Award-winning performer/director/choreographer Lee Etzold helms a cast of Drexel students in a new production of Philly playwright Michael Hollinger's Red Herring. Set during the Cold War, Herring combines mystery, murder, marriage and musical theater in a sly comedy. (J. Cooper Robb)

Scopitone Party

Before the music video, there was the scopitone. A '60s craze that originated in France, the scopitone was a visual jukebox that played 16 mm music shorts in cafes. Secret Cinema unearths a host of old scopitone clips, ranging from Nancy Sinatra to the unsettling British Elvis impersonator Vince Taylor. (Matt Prigge)

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Still crushed by Pluto's humiliating 2006 demotion from "planet" to mere "dwarf planet"? If so, pop physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson is responsible for a large part of your anguish: The frequent Colbert Report guest spearheaded the move to banish the lil' beige rock, arguing that it had more in common with the Kuiper Belt's cosmic losers than our system's VIPs. On Tuesday he'll defend the slight at the Free Library, where he'll discuss his 11th book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet. And he may just persuade you: He won NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, was one of Time's "Most Influential People" in 2007, and trounced Steven Hawking for People's coveted "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" title in 2000. By Saturn's rings, is there nothing the man can't do? (Jacob Lambert)

Dionicio Jimenez

A rising star on Philly's restaurant scene, chef Dionicio Jimenez hews toward the bold and extreme. A special mid-March pre-Hispanic menu at Xochitl, his haute-Mex spot off Headhouse Square, promises grasshopper tacos, breaded veal brains and the relatively tame Mexican broccoli cakes with mole negro, among other selections. (The theme is a tribute to Benito Juarez, the first indigenous president of Mexico, born on March 21 in 1806.) The food at his upcoming class at Foster's Homeware won't be as polarizing. He aims to show that the preparation of sophisticated restaurant fare (three types of guacamole, scallop and watermelon ceviche, and stuffed poblano peppers topped with creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate) is no more daunting than the pronunciation (so-cheet) of his restaurant's name. (Dan Packel)