12/21: Champagne Tasting, 43rd Annual Messiah Sing-In…

…and John Carpenter’s cult classic “They Live”

BUBBLES: We don’t much care for the gifts, the Nutcracker or any of the other trappings of the holidays, but we do go in for the monthlong champagne bender. At The Ultimate Toast: A Champagne Extravaganza, City Winery pairs dinner (poached lobster, oysters, foie) with flights of bubbly from three of Champagne’s most famous houses: Bollinger, Roederer and Taittinger. 7PM.

HALLELUJAH: Once of the great holiday traditions has to be attending a performance of Handel’s Messiah, but there’s a time to listen to the operatic tale of the birth of Christ in reverential silence, and a time to sing along. The 43rd Annual National Chorale’s Messiah Sing-In, an interactive jubilee led by 17 different conductors with soloists at Avery Fisher Hall, is very definitely the latter. 8PM.

NO-BRAINER: John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi/horror film They Live—about aliens brainwashing us through subliminal messages in advertising—deserves every drop of cult classic status it’s earned. Tonight at the IFC, attend a screening followed by a fannish panel discussion of sorts led by comedian/PC John Hodgman and author Jonathan Lethem. Christmassy! 8PM.

--EB

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