TUESDAY, DEC. 16 2014 >>>

1. Everything has been coming up Stephen Hawking this year. The physicist was a guest vocalist on Pink Floyd's latest album, and the story of his life, The Theory of Everything, is the Oscar bait the world needs, not the one it deserves. In conjunction with his biopic playing at The Grand Cinema, the theater has decided to screen the 1991 Hawking documentary, A Brief History of Time, for its Tuesday Film Series. Directed by the great documentarian Errol Morris, the film is an exploration of the man and his work, with presumably a little more accuracy than The Theory of Everything. It screens at 2 and 6:45 p.m., with the later one followed by a discussion of both the documentary and the biopic. The discussion will be led by ... David Gilmour? It can't possibly be that David Gilmour, but you never know. Stephen Hawking and Pink Floyd are apparently tight.

2. Take a mid-day break, bring your lunch and enjoy a merry mini-concert with Tumwater High School's premier vocal ensemble, The Noteables, at noon in the Tumwater Timberland Library. The group will perform, a capella, a variety of traditional and jazz-infused holiday selections. Holiday treats and beverages will be provided by the Friends of the Tumwater Timberland Library.

3. Franciscan Polar Plaza is the place to be once winter hits. Think you can find something better to do than busting out some ice skates? Yeah, good luck with that. Polar Plaza is on its fourth year of setting up an ice-skating rink decked out in wintery goodness at Tollefson Plaza, just across from the Tacoma Art Museum in downtown Tacoma. With three fabulous years behind them, the Plaza folks put their heads together and found a few key ways to make this ritzy rink even better for 2014. Skate from 4-9 p.m. today.

4. Don't let these dark days get you down, mio amico. Hop in the Christmas Revels' time machine, journey to the Renaissance, and bask in Salerno's bright, cheerful courtyard at 7:30 p.m. in the Rialto Theater. Let a troupe of commedia artists and musicians put a smile on your face. Sing along with a pub song. Wipe away tears from a lush Pater Noster, and kick up your heels to "Madama Doré," a lively canzo a ballo (wedding dance). Have some cocoa. Feel the feels. It's what England's Master of Revels would want.

5. Roald Dahl's 1964 kid-lit classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a dose of moral entertainment packed with enough flights of fancy for a dozen books. Hook up with the Banned Book Club and discuss this book at 7 p.m. in Doyle's Public House, as well as the unearthed missing chapter that discuss the kids finding a room marked Vanilla Fudge, which contains a five-story mountain of the sweet stuff. After frolicking on and around the mountain, it comes time, once again, for some kids to be assholes, resulting in them being whisked off to the chopping and smashing room, which is pretty harsh, even for Dahl.

LINK: Tuesday, Dec. 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area