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A rocket that wont fit in your pocket.
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The Nutcracker
It's hard to think of a more exuberant way to celebrate the holiday season than attending Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker. The production is simply magic. Of course, PNB's dancers would hardly need to move for the production to be a success, so blessed is the ballet company in having Maurice Sendak's intricate, colorful, and whimsical sets. Snow falls on a winter wonderland, Clara and the prince sail to a magical kingdom amid dolphins jumping through undulating waters, and huge dangling lanterns complete an Oriental kingdom where some of the liveliest dances take place. But PNB's dancers do move, and with grace and verve. In the performance I attended, Carla Korbes performs the peacock dance as if she were the animal herself, her lithe and shimmying body framed by a set that has turned an iridescent, dusky blue. It is a transfixing moment. Offstage, the people watching can't be beat, as everyone from 5 to 75 dresses up in a way seldom seen in this casual town. McCaw Hall, Seattle Center, 206-441-2424, www.pnb.org. $18–$108. 1 and 5:30 p.m. Sun.; various dates and times. Ends Dec. 28. NINA SHAPIRO
Thrills
Motorcycle Mania
Get revved this weekend by checking out the world's tallest, smallest, strangest, and most tricked-out bikes at the 26th annual Cycle World International Motorcycle Show. Also at Qwest Field on Friday and Saturday, today's your last chance to see the BUB No. 7 Streamliner (pictured), a remarkably macho piece of machinery that recently set a record speed of 354 mph in the Utah salt flats—though it won't be tearing up the Seahawks' stomping grounds, of course, as a display-only fixture here. Meanwhile, mortal adventurers can check out 2007 street-ready models from all the usual suspects, and even get advice on learning to ride—and ride safely—at a new welcome area. Should next summer be as bright and clear as our last one, the tips might come in handy. Or you can always daydream about someday being the dude in the "Ball of Steel" stunt cage, too. Qwest Field Event Center, 800 Occidental Ave., 800-331-5706, www.motorcycle shows.com. $13 adults/$5 children 6–11, children 5 and under free. 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Also Fri., Dec. 1–Sat., Dec. 2. RACHEL SHIMP
OMG
U2charist
Whether you consider Bono an insufferable blowhard with a God complex or an angel in wraparound shades, there's no denying the good work he's done (with at least some of his millions), or the scope of U2's cultural influence—now reaching even to Episcopal communion services nationwide, which are decidedly not the stuffy versions your grandma used to snooze through. Started by a priest in York Harbor, Maine, last year, the U2charist (we know, we can barely believe it, either) involves displaying U2 lyrics from songs like "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "Bad" on a screen by the altar as parishioners approach for the symbolic body and blood. Lest you think this merely a new ploy to get teens into the church, nobody under 25 is listening to the band anyway. But seriously, all donations from the service benefit the causes Bono & Co. are most passionate about, going toward the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals to fight extreme poverty and global AIDS. St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 8398 N.E. 12th St., Medina, 425-454-9541. 6 p.m. RACHEL SHIMP
