A+E

Have you been spending too much time indoors fighting imaginary dwarves and knights online? Maybe you should try fighting imaginary dwarves and knights in the fresh air. Hold onto your 16-sided dice, because on Saturday, April 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Humboldt Botanical Gardens you can throw on your duct taped battle gear for the Age of Dragons event and LARP it out (free with garden admission: $8 adults, $5 kids, free to kids 5 and under).

What's LARP? Live action role play — the grown-up (sort of) version of the costumed battles you enjoyed as a kid running around with sticks, capes and probably not enough adult supervision. If you've got a costume, suit up, my liege, because there are prizes to be won. And if you're not quite ready to throw-eth down, you can just watch the faux carnage of the games, as well as a Humboldt State University Archery Club demo and contact sword fights. Little ones can get their faces painted, catch a puppet show and hear spooky stories from Carpathian. Berserking on your pals with a foam axe is hungry work, so Ethiopian International Café and Lost Coast Brewery will be on hand selling food and root beer floats, respectively. Just wait 20 minutes after eating to maraud again.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

Maybe you're having trouble letting go of Mad Men and shifting back into a world of dudes in sagging jeans and flat-billed hats. Totally understandable. Time to pull up an Eames chair and revel in the chiseled integrity of Gregory Peck as he does the right thing and wears the hell out of a suit. The Humboldt County Library celebrates the man all month with classic Peck films based on books Tuesday nights at 6:30 p.m. (free).

On April 7, Charity Grella presents the Hitchcock favorite Spellbound (1945), with a Salvador Dali set and Ingrid Bergman as a psychiatrist trying to help an amnesiac Peck on the lam from a murder charge recover his memory.

The following week, on April 14, catch Gentleman's Agreement (1947), introduced by Michael Cooley, in which Peck plays a reporter who goes undercover to get the scoop on anti-Semitism and learns some ugly truths.

Then Audrey Hepburn hops on the back of Peck's Vespa in Roman Holiday (1953) on April 21. She's a princess playing hooky from her responsibilities in the Eternal City and he's the reporter ditching his own job to show her the sights. Shamelessly snagged that hosting job myself.

Finally, enjoy Peck's closing arguments and pre-hipster glasses on April 28 when Philip Wright presents To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Just try to imagine Harper Lee's hero Atticus Finch any other way after seeing Peck as the defense for an innocent African-American man on trial in the South.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

Put down that Creme Egg, lick the chocolate off your fingers and get ready for the thrill of the hunt! This weekend, eager youngsters will scamper across grassy fields swinging brightly colored baskets and searching for prized Easter eggs. Nothing encapsulates the joy of spring and renewal quite like squeals of delight and the joyful giggles of children. Parents can revel in the ritual by watching their little ones' excitement grow like a Peep in the microwave.

The pint-sized geo-caching takes place Saturday, April 4, with free Easter egg hunts and celebrations hopping across Humboldt. The Easter Adventure at Carson Park in Eureka kicks of the fun at 10 a.m., McKinleyville's Easter Egg Hunt at the Safeway shopping center also starts at 10 a.m., Southern Humboldt's celebration at the Benbow Lake State Recreation Area goes from noon to 4 p.m., and Ferndale holds its Easter Egg Hunt at 10:30 a.m. at the Firemen's Park (free).

After the kids have eaten their share of chocolate eggs and jelly beans, they can burn off all that energy roller skating with the Easter Bunny at the Eureka Municipal Auditorium from 6 to 8:30 p.m. ($5.25, $4.50 youth).

Most of the celebrations include pictures with the Easter Bunny, face painting, kids' games and more. Hippity hoppity Easter's on its way.

— Kali Cozyris

Need your faith in humanity recharged? Sure you do. Even the steeliest of cynics needs to step away from the online comment threads now and then and focus on the good in the world.

The award-wining documentary Perfect Strangers follows Ellie, a healthy massage therapist who decides to make an altruistic kidney donation — not to a sibling or a friend, but to someone she's never met — and takes "paying it forward" to the next level. Some 500 miles away in Humboldt County, Kathy is one of roughly 98,000 people across the country looking for a new kidney. She's tethered daily to a dialysis machine, crossing her fingers in hope of finding a match after all friends and family have been deemed unsuitable. Ellie and Kathy connect on a website and are on the way to relocating Ellie's "extra" kidney — not without risk, of course — and saving Kathy's life.

See the film at Humboldt State University's Gist Hall at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 (free) and find out what makes somebody literally give of herself to a stranger, and what that gift means to the recipient. Director Jan Krawitz and the local subjects of the film will be on hand for discussion after the screening.

Faith restored.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill