To Do: 'Tis the Season of Seated Shows

Friday

* PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Tobias Wolff and Adam Haslett are honored, read at the Folger. Signing & reception to follow. $15 at 8PM. [ Folger ]

* 1940's Film Noir Series at AFI (December 8th- 14th) includesThe Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Out of the Past, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred PierceandThe Big Sleep. Ideal date before your holiday takedown. [ AFI ]

Saturday

* Taint presents CRACK III at DC9. Irrevernet/outrageous performances and dancing. $10. [ DC9 ]

Sunday

* Japan'sIt's Only Talk"depicts, with great tenderness and sympathy, the relationship between a reclusive thirty-five-year-old manic depressive and the four men in her life: a self-professed "pervert" she meets on the Internet, a depressed yakuza gangster, an impotent former college classmate, and a cousin dealing with his own personal troubles." Free at 2PM. [ Freer ]

* Shopping & drinking. Local artists sell their work at Palace of Wonder's Blue Xmas Shopping. Free at 7PM. [ Brightest Young Things ]