Friday
Ice Chamber and Ice Castles
Ice Chamber: Le Méridien Chambers Hotel, 901 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
Price: Free
Ice Castles: Mall of America 60 E. Broadway, Bloomington
Price: $10
All day
All ages
Stuff made of ice is cool when it’s purposeful and doesn’t take the form of sidewalks or roads. The Mall of America’s Ice Castles boasts a family-oriented setup that covers an acre and is made from fused icicles. An exercise in wasteful architecture? Sure, but the appearance is pretty slick. Le Méridien Chambers Ice Chamber occupies the hotel’s outdoor courtyard and sports James Bond-themed ice sculptures as well as an ice bar for your martini — shaken, not stirred.
Saturday
HUGE Anniversary Show
HUGE Improv Theater
3037 S. Lyndale Ave., Minneapolis
8 p.m.
$20
All ages
This event marks the passing of two years of improvisational humor at Uptown’s HUGE Improv Theater, an all-volunteer nonprofit. Since this is a special event, the setup is a bit different, but on nights with multiple shows, your ticket is usually good for all of them. This is cool on Fridays, allowing you to pick some improv and skip down the street to Muddy Waters for a bite and a brew. Not to say that you can’t drink at HUGE — they do have a bar. A Grain Belt can come in handy as this is improv, and any night holds the potential to be the next “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” or the next “John Carter.”
Sunday
Body Worlds & the Cycle of Life
Science Museum of Minnesota
120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul
$19-$27
All ages
Walking through the Body Worlds exhibit is about as close as I’d ever want to be to feeling like I was one deranged psychopath away from a kill-scene in a slasher flick. Dr. Gunther von Hagens’ plastination process allows for patrons to see the body in various states of activity and development, all without the interference of skin and various internal necessities. This is the sort of exhibit that puts others to shame by virtue of its sheer shock value — a true scientific anomaly.
CULTURE TO CONSUME
Watch this: “Legit” on FX
With “Archer” as the series’ lead-in, it shouldn’t be hard for Jim Jeffries’ foray into TV comedy to get some traction with fans. The caustic, drunken lout of a stand-up from Australia continues the trend of Louis C.K.’s “Louie.” It is a comic playing himself in scenarios derived from his own stand-up. The first episode revolved around one of Jeffries’ bits about taking a friend’s paralyzed, virgin brother — played to a T by DJ Qualls — into seeing a hooker before he kicks the can.
Listen to this: Chief Keef’s “Finally Rich”
Truly great, bad hip-hop is a thing of beauty. Chicago native Chief Keef, has solidified himself as one of the game’s best of the worst with this first album. His life is a movie in the making: He was arrested for brandishing a firearm at law enforcement, implicated in the murder of a rival rapper, chastised for gang involvement by other Chicago rappers and now he’s being sued for child support — all by the ripe ol’ age of 17. Listening to Keef may lose ya a few brain cells.
Drink/eat this: Honey
Did you know that honey actually is good for coughs? It is not the old wives’ tale that some may think. Research suggests that it helps suppress coughs in the same manner that codeine does. So grab a bottle, and start chugging away — at the very least your lunch-time companions will do a double take.
Read this: “The Way You Wear Your Hat” by Bill Zehme
It’s subtitled “Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin’,” and that says it all. This profile of a true baller is a breeze to read, full of fresh anecdotes and illuminating examples of the way Ol’ Blue Eyes did things. He used to drink a bottle of Jack a day, and his favorite toast was “Here’s to the confusion of our enemies!” Plus, with Frank comes the trappings of the Rat Pack and all of those livin’ shenanigans.
