Cheap and Free NYC Weekend Events, May 4-6, 2012

Friday May 4, 2012
Get your geek on w/ Nerd Nite! Tonight’s topics inc. The Construction of Alien Worlds, The Internet is Totally Screwed, Let Me Show You How, and Atlantic Yards: Why Brooklyn’s Biggest Controversy is as Noir as Chinatown! Come early to compete with fellow trivia dorks! Trivia: Doors at 6:30pm and begins at 7pm sharp, Presentations-only – doors at 8:45pm, lectures begin at 9 p.m., cost: trivia+lectures: $14, just lectures: $10! Buy tkts here!
Judges including Johnny Iuzzini (Top Chef: Just Desserts) and Michael Cirino (A Razor, a Shiny Knife) will preside over local culinary students creating food/art combos as part of the Umami Food & Art Festival! 6:30 p.m., The Brooklyn Kitchen, 100 Frost St., at Meeker Ave., cost: ($15) online here! thebrooklynkitchen.com!
See some real-life bunheads as they enter the Youth America Grand Prix competition in the doc First Position, which debuts today at the IFC Center! The filmmakers will be at the Sat 7:25 p.m. and 9:35 p.m., and the Sun 3 p.m. and 5:10 shows! IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, Cost: $13! Buy tkts here! http://www.ifccenter.com/films/first-position/
Have a “berry good” time at NYU’s Strawberry Festival! Enjoy the world’s largest strawberry shortcake, plus music by the Music Industry! Laura Stevenson and the Cans, Kite Party, and Big Ups! 12:30 p.m. Laguardia Place bet. Washington Square South and W 3rd St, free!
Mix and mingle w/fellow film buffs at the regular Filmmakers Happy Hour Friday! This event features raffle prizes as well! 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., Nitehawk Cinema, 136 Metropolitan Avenue b/w Wythe Ave/Berry St, cost: free!
Plus Mad Sq Eats starts today (http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/things-to-do/calendar/mad-sq-eats-2/),both the exhibit Pura Geometría - Pure Geometry at the Mid-Manhattan Library, and the Activist New York exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York open today, and the Columbia University Film Festival runs today through May 10, 2012 and the Museum of the Moving Image’s Fashion in Film Festival: If Looks Could Kill (http://www.fashioninfilm.com/fff_NY_2012.htm) also begins today and runs thru Sun, May 13, and last, but not least, the New York Polish Film Festival starts today!
Stay tuned for Saturday and Sunday w/e picks!