Free (or nearly)
Sketchy details
For those plagued by size issues, ensure that your laughs, at least, will be huge at this month’s final installment of comedy show
Human Giant. Just make a reservation for the 11pm session on Monday Feb 11 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater
(307 W 26th St between Eighth and Ninth Aves, 212-366-9176) and funny men Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer’s mix of short films and sketches should provide both you and your shorty immense pleasure.
This date features: Theater | Comedy | Stage
Art beat
Skip the long lines and crowds that come with cramped First Fridays at popular museums such as the Whitney. Instead, bring your sweetie to gawk with plenty of elbow room at top-notch photography, paintings and mixed-media works along with the legendary
Panorama—a miniature version of NYC—for mere pennies at the
Queens Museum of Art (111th St at 49th St, Flushing, Queens; 718-592-9700). Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, the creative bastion suggests a donation of five bucks, but you can easily shirk the entry fee by coming up with some pocket change. And if you’re worried about appearing cheap to your newly sparked flame, charm your beloved by saying you’re a starving artist in need of a patron.
This date features: Art
Animal house
More exotic and entertaining than watching pigeons peck at discarded pretzels in Central Park are the sea lions gorging on fish at their twice-daily feedings at the
Bronx Zoo’s pay-what-you-wish Wednesdays
(Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Rd, Bronx; 718-367-1010). After watching the ocean mammals satiate themselves, get sweaty in the 75-degree rainforest-like environs of the under-an-acre JungleWorld exhibit before cozying up with your lover in the Himalayan Highlands, a one-acre haven for red pandas, snow leopards and other Nepalese creatures.
This date features: mixed bag
Photograph: Roxana Marroquin
Western union
Dedicate a twangy song to your partner at
Kuntry Karaoke on
Monday nights at 10pm at Hank’s Saloon
(46 Third Ave at Atlantic Ave, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; 718-625-8003). Croon a boot-stomping ditty from a range of honky-tonk, bluegrass and country tunes while backed up by Rob Ryan and live band the Brooklyn Country Allstars. Before belting out George Strait’s “All My Exes Live in Texas,” throw back shots of Jack Daniels for alcohol-fueled courage. There’s also no-charge barbecue compliments of Queens wiener house Soul! Sausage, just in case that liquor starts to burn a hole through your belly.
This date features: drinks | music
School of rock
Class is in session every Saturday from 4 to 9pm at St. Jerome’s
Rock & Roll 101 (155 Rivington St between Clinton and Suffolk Sts, 212-533-1810). Study up on musical documentaries about such bands as Pink Floyd, Fugazi and the Rolling Stones, which are all projected on a wall. If all that sweaty concert footage works up a thirst, $3 Bloody Marys, and $2 well drinks and beers allow you to damage your liver à la Keith Richards.
This date features: film | drinking | music
JellyNYC’s last jam
Are you lacking funds to finance the $30-a-pop tickets for the probably already-sold-out Tibet House benefit concert on Wed 13? The company behind the McCarren Park Pool parties,
JellyNYC, is curating a concert for the Brooklyn Next festival at BAMcafé
(30 Lafayette Ave at Ashland Pl, Fort Greene, Brooklyn; 718-636-4139). On Feb 16 at 10pm, groove to all-female act Effi Briest, retro soul singer Miss Fairchild and calypso-fusion band White Rabbits. DJ Mikey Palms rounds out the night.
This date features:music
Bottle rocket
You might end up with more than seven minutes in heaven thanks to adult-plaything firm Jimmyjane’s version of
Spin the Bottle. On Feb 14 from 6 to 8pm, four NYC W Hotel bars
(starwoodhotels.com) will host the sexy game and entice players with gratis goodies from Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Risqué challenges for couples include “Share your favorite fantasy and run an ice cube on your partner’s wrist or any other body parts that have a w in them.” Hmm…chilled wankers, anyone?
This date features: mixed bag
Beat it
The freewheeling characters in Kerouac’s mostly autobiographical tome might have been boozers, users and losers, but you’ll only come off like a literary nonpareil by proposing to check out the excellent exhibit
“Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac On the Road” with your main squeeze. From
now until Mar 16, the New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library’s first-floor gallery
(Fifth Ave at 42nd St, 212-930-0830) is displaying the esteemed author’s diaries, paintings, harmonicas and his legendary 120-foot manuscript scroll.
This date features: mixed bag
Reader’s picks
“I would like to say, first of all, I’m a cornball deep down. My favorite NYC dates have been ice skating in Bryant Park after 8pm (Sixth Ave between 40th and 42nd Sts, 212-382-2953) and strolling through Washington Square Park, and then walking to the West Side Highway. —Maria, Bronx
This date features:
