114TH GOLDEN DRAGON PARADE: It's venerable, very well attended, much beloved, and one of our city's more photographed annual events. It's also the colorful, joyous, firecracker-filled centerpiece to the weekend-long New Year Celebration around Chinatown. Another headline? Organizers need your help in going for a paper-folding world's record. And where will the small pieces of paper go? Into a big snake, of course. The parade's on Saturday, Feb. 16, the festival happens on Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 17.
"STAR TREK" AND "DOCTOR WHO" CONS: It's the mash-up meet-up fictional twosome countless fans have fan-fictioned over the decades: "Star Trek" and a certain blue-box'd Doctor being in the same place at the same time. Only the mega Trek gathering will be in Burbank and the "Doctor Who" doings will be happening near LAX. In another universe, fans, this might happen in the same place. Powers that be? Get to folding space/time. (Of note: the "Who" bash is sold out, so if you're going? Lucky, foresight-filled you.)
SCOTSFEST TURNS 20: The Queen Mary has called Long Beach home for four and a half decades, but she hailed from a land across the planet: Scotland. Each year happy, high-spirited people in kilts gather to raise a dram to the legendary ocean-liner's River Clyde roots. Drams aren't the only thing of note; bagpipes, sheep-herding demos, whisky tastings, and some haggis, too, are part of the party. Don that plaid and quick. Saturday, Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 17.
OSCAR TIME: We feel funny even telling you the Academy Awards are just a week away, given the number of ads and banners and commercials telling us just that. And while time may be short, there are still ways to get your Oscar on. AMC is running two Saturdays of Best Picture nominees, starting with four films on Saturday, Feb. 16. And the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising's annual Oscar-nominated costume exhibit opened on Feb. 12. See it for free on Saturday. Feb. 16 (the show is closed Sundays and Mondays). It runs through the last Saturday in April.
ALL UNICORNS ALL THE TIME: Recent offbeat exhibits at our SoCal galleries have included illustrations for "The Walking Dead" and an art show devoted to young adult novels. Next up? One-horned wonders prance into the WWA gallery in Culver City. And while unicorns certainly still appear on lunchboxes and backpacks, it's a show geared for the grown-up art lover. Things get magical starting on Saturday, Feb. 16.
