Mortified
January 9, at 7:30 PM 
On stage, adults pull out their adolescent diaries, poems and letters to share their most embarrassing true tales from the past with complete strangers (i.e., you). You laugh, cringe, blush and shudder. Musical accompaniment and prize give-aways, too. 
At DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., San Francisco 94103. Tickets $14, 21.

Good Food Awards Marketplace and Beer & Spirits Garden 
January 10, from 8 am
Taste and buy the best charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections, oils, pickles, preserves, honey, beer and spirits from across the country---made by Good Food Awards winners.

The awards honor farmers and producers who craft delicious food and drink with sustainable and socially conscious operations. 
At the Ferry Building, Market St. & the Embarcadero, San Francisco 94111. Tickets $16 for VIP early access to marketplace (8-9 am) or admission to Beer & Spirits Garden (11 am-2 pm).

Omochitsuki! Mochi-Pounding Ceremony
January 10, at 12-1 pm
The group Kagami Kai enacts the lively Japanese New Year tradition of pounding mochi--turning rice flour into sticky-rice cakes--accompanied by music and dance.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free with museum admission.   

FOG Design+Art
January 14-18
Highlighting modern and contemporary design, architecture and art, this fair boasts photography, furniture, fine art and high-end craft pieces presented by 35 art galleries and design dealers from around the U.S. 21POP, a pop-up installation created by local celebrity designer Stanlee Gatti, includes artisans who grow, spin, dye, weave, sew and design with cotton.Other features: a preview gala; food by Cotogna and Jane; and talks by designers, curators and collectors.

Proceeds support the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
At Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion, 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco. Tickets $15, 20.

The Edwardian Ball & World's Faire 
January 16 & 17, at 8 pm-2 am
This celebration of darkly quirky author-illustrator Edward Gorey and turn-of-the-century art, theater, music, fashion and technology boasts San Francisco’s highest concentration of top hats, corsets and absinthe. Entertainment includes an enactment of Gorey's tale "The Beastly Baby," ballroom dancing, burlesque, circus and acrobatic acts, bands, steam-powered machines, curiosities on display, DJs, an antique portrait studio, parlor games and performances by Vau de Vire Society and Dark Garden Corsetry. A vendor bazaar offers period garments and accoutrements.
At Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco 94109. All ages welcome. Tickets $48-100.

Noir City
January 16-25
With the theme “’til death do us part,” the festival’s 25 film noir classics include Julie, Ossessione  The Thin Man, Les Diaboliques and The Bigamist, starring luminaries like Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert,  Barbara Stanwyck and Simone Signoret.
At the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., San Francisco 94114. Tickets $12 per double-bill.

Poets 11 Grand Finale
January 18, at 1-4 pm
San Francisco Public Library’s annual poetry competition and festival ends with 33 poets—three from each of city’s 11 legislative districts—reading one of their works. The never-before-published poets were selected by former San Francisco poet laureate Jack Hirschman, who emcees the finale. An anthology of their poems will be on sale, which benefits programs at the branch libraries.
At the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free.

National Park Fee-Free Day
January 19
All national parks--such as Muir Woods, Sequoia and Yosemite--offer free admission.

SF Restaurant Week 
January 21-30
Formerly called Dine About Town, this annual restaurant promotion program this year offers two-course lunches for $25, three-course dinners for $40 and at some restaurants, $85 "discovery” (tasting) menus that include beverage pairings and highlight new dishes or themes, winemakers and the like. For each cover sold through OpenTable bookings during the week, 25 cents goes to the SF-Marin Food Bank. The restaurants range from AQ to Zero Zero.

Santana Row Wine Stroll
January 22, at 6-9 pm
Taste wines as you walk through Santana Row until 8 pm, and then retire to a reception inside the Hotel Valencia. Benefits the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
Starts in Santana Row Park across from Left Bank Brasserie, 377 Santana Row, Ste. 1100, San Jose 95128. Tickets $30.

Sketchfest
January 22-February 8
SF's annual comedy festival includes tributes to Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Penn & Teller and “Weird Al” Yankovic, Princess (Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum) playing Prince’s music, a The Princess Bride Quote-Along Party Screening, game shows, live podcasts, improv and stand-up, workshops and appearances by Bill Nye the Science Guy, Adam Savage, Margaret Cho, Kamau Bell, Nato Green, Killing My Lobster, Dana Gould and lots others. Many of the events are open to all ages. 
At various venues in San Francisco. Ticket prices vary.

San Francisco Dump Artist in Residence Exhibition
January 23 at 5-9 pm; Jan. 24 at 1-3 pm; and Jan. 27 at 5-7 pm
For four months, Kara Maria, Imin Yeh and Matthew Goldberg  have scavenged stuff from the dump (such as hotel uniforms, artwork, paint and banners) and made it into art. Come see the results. The artists lead a walk through the gallery on Jan. 27 at 6:30 pm.
At Recology San Francisco Art Studio, 503 Tunnel Ave., San Francisco. Free.

Buddhist Art: A Fragile Inheritance
January 24, at 1-2:30 pm
Buddhism’s spread from India to the rest of Asia left great art, and a new film highlights such treasures in Bhutan, Ladakh and the Dunhuang Grottoes on China’s Silk Road. Tourists, pilgrims, fire and floods threaten their conservation. After the screening is a Q&A session with a London-based Buddhist art conservator who oversees projects in India and Bhutan.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free with museum admission.   

Magnificent Magnolia Tour
January 24, at 1:30-3:30 pm
A magnolia expert leads a tour of San Francisco Botanical Garden's collection of rare and historic magnolias, which are in peak bloom from mid-January through March. Pick up growing tips, and expect to take lots of pictures.
At San Francisco Botanical Garden, 9th Ave. at Lincoln Way, or Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. off the Music Concourse, Golden Gate Park. San Francisco 94122. Tickets $10, 20. 

Merola Goes to the Movies: Don Giovanni
January 25, at 1 pm
Watch on screen a Salzburg Festival performance of Mozart’s classic opera about the conquests and decline of the infamous romancer Don Giovanni. The film is preceded by a brief talk about the opera by a representative of Merola Opera Program, San Francisco Opera’s training program for aspiring singers,
At the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free. 

Bold Italic’s Dogpatch Microhood Party
January 29, at 6-8 pm
The Dogpatch parties, with Rickshaw Bagworks, 3rd Street Boxing Gym, Museum of Craft and Design, Recchiuti Confections, Poco Dolce Chocolates, Triple Voodoo Brewing and other establishments in the ‘hood offering special products and deals. An after-party at Smokestack at Magnolia Brewing Company starts at 8 pm. 
At and around 3rd St. & 22nd St., San Francisco 94107. Free.

Carl Djerassi and Michael Krasny
January 29, at 6:30–8 pm
Inventor of the Pill and a Stanford chemistry professor emeritus, Djerassi has turned to writing fiction, memoir and plays in recent decades. He discusses identity and the artist’s life with Krasny, host of KQED’s Forum. Book-signing and a reception follow the conversation.
At the Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., San Francisco 94103. Tickets $5, 10 (includes museum admission).

Pancakes & Booze Art Show
January 30 & 31, at 8 pm-2 am  
Peruse the work of about 100 underground and emerging artists as you munch on all-you-can-eat pancakes. Body painting, music and a no-host bar, too.
At 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna St., San Francisco 94105. Admission $5. Ages 21+. 

Gene Kelly: Dance On Film
January 31, at 7-8 pm
Known for his performances in Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris and Anchors Aweigh, Gene Kelly danced with everyone from Debbie Reynolds to the cartoon character Jerry the mouse and pioneered new ways to portray dance in films. His widow and biographer, Patricia Ward Kelly, presents film clips and anecdotes revealing behind-the scenes stories of the star.
At the Presidio Officers' Club , 50 Moraga Ave., San Francisco. Free, but RSVPs requested. 

SF Live Arts at Cyprian’s
January 31, at 8-11 pm
This music series, formerly the Noe Valley Music Series, presents two acts: Patchy Sanders of Ashland, OR, a six-piece folk band whose sound has been described by Mason Jennings as putting you at “the center of a gypsy caravan”; and the duo Misner & Smith, which combines lyrical songwriting with great harmony singing.
At Cyprian’s, 2097 Turk St., San Francisco 94115. Tickets $17, 20.