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Get Out and Do This: Surreal MoMA, New Yorker Fest and a Hendrix Classic

By Daniel Jumpertz | September 30, 2013 7:23am
 We've got your schedule set with great events and activities for the week.
Get Out and Do This - Events Mon 30 Sept
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Sit back and relax — DNAinfo New York has your week's activities sorted.

Monday, Sept. 30
Calling all novelists, sci-fi enthusiasts, dreamers, children's book writers, mythologists and anyone else who has a story to pen. Today is the final day to sign up for The Fiction Project 2013. Write, illustrate and tell your work of fiction in any way you're inspired by the theme "Tell the World a Story." New and original works of fiction will be added to the collection at Brooklyn Art Library in this limited edition project open for the first time since 2010.

Off Broadway week is underway and over 40 quality shows are offering 2-for-1 tickets.

Tuesday, Oct. 1
"Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926–1938" is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the breakthrough Surrealist years of Belgian artist René Magritte. Beginning in 1926, when Magritte first aimed to create paintings that would, in his words, “challenge the real world,” and concluding in 1938, the exhibition brings together 80 paintings, collages and objects, along with a selection of photographs, periodicals and early commercial work. MoMA has created an interesting program of related events including lectures, gallery talks and performances for the exhibition which runs through to January 2014.

Wednesday, Oct. 2
Beginning this evening at 6 p.m. The Met is launching a series of four evening talks that look back at European arts and culture as it was 100 years ago. Hosted by the New Yorker's Critic at large Adam Gopnik, each talk studies 1913 and attempts to put this striking period into context — and perhaps find parallels with our own time. This evening Gopnik looks at "Why Europe Committed Suicide," an overview of the cultural life of Western Europe and America on the eve of World War I.

"Chris Burden: Extreme Measures" is an expansive presentation of influential American artist Chris Burden’s work that marks the first New York survey of the artist and his first major exhibition in the US in more than 25 years. Working in performance, sculpture and installation art and occupying all five floors of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, “Extreme Measures” offers an opportunity to examine the ways in which Burden has continuously investigated the breaking point of materials, institutions and even himself. 235 Bowery, at Prince St.

Thursday, Oct. 3
Brooklyn Brainery is accessible, community-driven, crowdsourced education created by some folks who were tired of paying too much to take classes around NYC. They host sessions covering all sorts of things from physics to Australian desserts, from HTML to shorthand and just about every nook and cranny in between. Tonight's course, "DNA, RNA, WTF: Basic Cellular & Molecular Biology," is geared towards refreshing basic knowledge for those who have been out of school or away from science for a long time. 190 Underhill Avenue, Prospect Heights. Other upcoming classes include Shibori Tie-Dye, Intro to Home Canning, Storytelling 101: How to Tell an Amazing Tale, How to Play Chess, The History of Scotch Whisky and Serial Killers!

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Central Park Zoo has opened registration for family, youth and camp programs for the 2013 - 2014 fall and winter seasons. All programs include age appropriate hands-on science activities, animal encounters, exhibit visits and arts-and-crafts. Some programs, including the Teen Internship, include meeting zoo keepers.

Friday, Oct. 4
The New Yorker's annual celebration - The New Yorker Festival - kicks off today in various venues throughout the city. The Festival is a heady and eclectic mix of interviews, talks, screenings, tours and performances. Selected events include on Saturday "An Evening with Funny or Die," featuring new videos and surprises from the comedy Web site, and an advance screening of the actor and comedian Aziz Ansari's new comedy, "Buried Alive," followed by a conversation between Ansari and Andy Borowitz. Interviews include musician Paul Simon and Paul Muldoon, and artist Marina Abramović and Judith Thurman. "Without a Script" will feature actors who started their careers in improv, including Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live); Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman," & "Best in Show") and Aubrey Plaza (April on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation").

Saturday, Oct. 5
The Tour de Staten Island is a cruisy cycling event on roads open to traffic. The 22 mile tour will start and end at the Tompkinsville Square, less than 1/2 mile away from the Staten Island Ferry.The route will showcase Snug Harbor before heading inland to the rest stop at Historic Richmondtown, followed by a challenging climb through the greenbelt and a jaunt following the southern coast with dramatic views of New York Harbor. $5/$10

Around 20,000 years ago, New York was buried beneath massive glaciers. When the ice receded, it left behind the characteristic sketch of Van Cortlandt Park. Today New York City's third largest park is a magnet for active and inquisitive New Yorkers, with facilities for football, baseball, softball, soccer, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, horseback riding, running, and hiking. Bird Walks focus on wildlife in the park and are led by NYC Audubon experts or the Urban Park Rangers. (from 8 am every Saturday, Van Cortlandt Nature Center). Afterwards at 10 a.m., hike with the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park in the Northeast Wood, (meet at the Woodlawn Playground) or help create biodiversity by fixing trails, planting native species and taking out weeds with the park's restoration crew (Mosholu Avenue & Broadway in Van Cortlandt Park). All activities are free.

The NY Gypsy Festival celebrates the exciting diversity of Gypsy culture and music. As the Festival's final event, it's worth remembering (in the words of the Village Voice) that "No one parties like a gypsy." Join India's Rhythm of Rajasthan, a unique collective from the desert of Rajasthan, the area which is the birthplace of gypsy music. At Drom on 85 Ave A (Between 5th and 6th Streets).

Sunday, Oct. 6
Classic Album Sundays is a communal, listening experience that takes you inside a landmark musical work. The concept was created by English music nut Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy and has recently been transplanted to Brooklyn, where the sessions are hosted by Output, a music venue with an awe inspiring sound system. Today Classic Album Sundays amplifies a New York City recorded classic, "Electric Ladyland," the third and final album of new material by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released 45 years ago. 4 to 7pm, The Panther Room at Output, 74 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn. Tickets are $10 on the door.