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LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO THIS WEEKEND NEAR BOSTON?

Every Friday, I coordinate a page called Seize The Weekend, in which I cull together whatever info I have on events and happenings around the Hub and decipher them for you, dear readers with room on your weekend schedules. This is also why I go on NECN on Friday afternoons. It's been a while since I posted a sample of said work, so here goes...

Have you seen the foliage? (blogging note: always open with an introductory haiku, I say!)
All the leaves are gone,
But the sky is blue, not gray,
So hip, hip, hooray!!

TODAY
’TIS EARLY FOR THE SEASON
Still three weeks to Thanksgiving, and already Boston’s World Trade Center is hosting the 19th annual Christmas Festival, where you can check out arts and crafts and the great gingerbread competition, in which Boston chefs sculpt homes, snowmen and other holiday items out of gingerbread. They’re judged then sold, with proceeds helping Rosie’s Place. Hours: Today from noon to 7 p.m., tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets cost $8-$10 (free for children younger than 14).
617-385-5000, www.christmascraftfestival.com

DIGITAL YODA, YOU SEEK
How did they turn Yoda from a muppet in Episodes V and VI into a leaping, fighting digital Jedi hero in Episodes II and III? The man with the plan tells all, as Rob Coleman, Lucasfilm’s animation and development director, discusses the implications of replacing living actors with animated ones. His talk, “Puppets to Pixels: The Digital Transformation of Yoda,” is at 7 tonight at the Museum of Science. Tickets cost $10, separate from museum admission to the “Star Wars” exhibit ($17-$20 timed tickets).
617-723-2500, www.mos.org

FIRST FRIDAY ROCKS AT MFA
What happens when you put members of indie darlings The Arcade Fire and The National into separate, classically minded bands? Find out tonight at 7:30 when the Museum of Fine Arts hosts Bell Orchestre and Clogs. It’s First Friday, so the MFA already will have the party vibe going at 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Tickets cost $16-$20.
617-369-3306, www.mfa.org/concerts

ALSO: Ireland’s Cross Border Orchestra brings peace and harmony to Symphony Hall; Chicago house DJ Roy Davis Jr. spins at Redline; Jeff Glor from WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) hosts a benefit in Hull for displaced pets of Hurricane Katrina; and Aberdeen City’s CD release party is tonight at T.T. The Bear’s Place.

TOMORROW
SWEDISH PARADISE
LL Cool J says don’t do it, but Shout Out Louds say, “Let’s call it a comeback,” and we’re all for that. The quintet from Stockholm performs tomorrow night at the Paradise, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, with openers Essex Green and The Sun. Show starts at 9 p.m. for ages 18 and older. Tickets cost $10-$12.
www.shoutoutlouds.com

COMEDY NEAR COPLEY
Steve Sweeney may have said goodbye to morning radio, but that means hello again to nighttime stand-up comedy. Sweeney and Dick Doherty have opened a new comedy club - Steve Sweeney’s Comedy Cafe - that officially debuts tomorrow night inside Jae’s restaurant at 711 Boylston St., Boston. It’s about a block from Copley Square. Sweeney, Doherty and other favorite veterans of the Boston scene should be dropping by on a weekly basis.
800-401-2221

DATES FOR SALE
The Arthritis Foundation has rounded up some of the Hub’s “best” bachelors and bachelorettes for a date auction tomorrow night. The semiformal black-and-white event starts at 6 p.m. at Embassy on Lansdowne Street - each date comes preplanned. With Bob, you get floor seats to a Celtics game, dinner at Strega and a six-month plan at Forever Fit; with Heather, it’s bowling at King’s, dinner at Dillon’s and a massage. The three highest bidders get to have lunch with J.C. Monahan and Chris Collins (though that’s not a date). Tickets cost $35-$40. 800-766-9449, Ext. 120, www.bidforbostonsbest.org

ALSO: Boston Billiard Club hosts Beanpocket 2005; it’s open studio time for Waltham Mills Artist Association; and fellow comics roast Annette Pollack for her 50th birthday at F1 Boston in Braintree.

SUNDAY
STANDING UP FOR LITTLE PEOPLE
Many interesting films to choose from at the 17th annual Boston Jewish Film Festival (continues through Nov. 17). Israeli comedian Edan Alterman, himself 5-foot-4-inches tall, explores the meaning behind being small in his documentary, “Short,” which screens at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. Alterman also is expected at the screening. Tickets cost $9-$10.
617-244-9899, www.bjff.org

SHAPELY SHANGHAI
Dozens of acrobats, gymnasts, dancers and jugglers find their inner and outer “Chi” in this show directed by a former Cirque du Soleil choreographer. The action begins at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum, One Hamilton Place, Boston. Tickets cost $30-$40.
617-247-7200, www.worldmusic.org

REMEMBER THEIR NAME
Don’t be thinking The Fame is a band based on the movie, the TV show or even the artistic New York City high school, although these four guys are based in the Big Apple and there is more than a hint of “I Love the 1980s” about them. They provide everything you like about pop rock music from the ’80s, without the bad hair. They perform Sunday at the Abbey Lounge, 3 Beacon St., Somerville, along with Animal Hospital, The Rabbit Ears and Broken River Prophets.
www.abbeylounge.com

ALSO: The New England Revolution host the Chicago Fire for the right to go to the MLS finals, 3 p.m. Sunday in Foxboro while Don Gavin hosts the “Grin & Share It 3” comedy benefit for My Brother’s Table, at the Montvale Plaza in Stoneham.