FILM/MUSIC: The acclaimed Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs fame will be performing a live score to a series of Buster Keaton shorts, as part of the S.F. International Film Festival's hugely popular annual live music/silent film pairing event. There are only rush tickets available, so if you don't have advance tickets, get there early to score last-minute tickets. (8 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street)

TALK: The Commonwealth Club presents author David Callahan, who will be discussing his new book, The Cheating Culture, which shows that cheating on every level from the highly publicized corporate scandals to Little League fraud has risen dramatically in the last two decades. (6 p.m., The Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor)

MUSIC: Yoshi's SF presents the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Big Band & the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music Jazz Orchestra of Australia, featuring guests Wayne Wallace, a five-time Grammy nominee, Melecio Magdaluyo, who is the current jazz and saxophone artist-in-residence at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and Eric Dunan, the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music jazz director. (8 p.m., Yoshi's San Francisco
1330 Fillmore Street)

ART: A whole slew of galleries — 11 to be exact — from the Lower Polk and Tenderloin neighborhoods will be open until 10 p.m. as part of the monthly Lower Polk Art Walk. (6 to 10 p.m., Polk & Larkin between Bush and Geary)

LECTURE: At Green City — A CJM Mixtape, local green design innovators will be at the Contemporary Jewish Museum talking about their visions for adapting new ways to integrate urban life with the need for beauty, open space, and beneficial habitats, as part of CJM's current exhibition, Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought. Also featuring live music by Hudi Brenman. (6:30 to 8 p.m., Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission Street)

FILM: As part of its ongoing Great Directors Speak series, YBCA presents a double-feature screening of Marcel Ophuls and Jean-Luc Godard: The Meeting in St-Gervais, which features an intimate and sometimes contentious dialogue in front of a live audience between Marcel Ophuls and Jean-Luc Godard in a small theater in Geneva, Switzerland in 2009, along with John Casavetes by André S. Labarthe. (7:30 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street)

LECTURE: Jonah Lehrer of Wired Magazine and Radio Lab fame will be be talking about his latest book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, which shatters the myths of muses and “creative types” and argues that creativity is instead a variety of distinct thought processes that anyone can learn to use effectively, presented by City Arts & Lectures and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. (8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue)

LITERARY: Litquake presents its 2nd annual Regreturature, featuring members of the acclaimed San Francisco Writers’ Grotto including Katie Crouch, Heather Donohue, Isaac Fitzgerald, Jeff Greenwald, Rachel Levin, James Nestor, Todd Oppenheimer, Caroline Paul, and Mary Roach, who will "sheepishly read works they may now regret, from fiction to nonfiction, blogs, journalism, opinion pieces, even diary entries. Emceed by Litquake co-founder Jack Boulware, with the piano stylings of J. Raoul Brody. (7 p.m., Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Street)

MUSIC: Tonight's installment of the monthly Penny Arcade music showcase hosted by Raul Sanchez will feature The Aerosols, Vows, David Dondero, Pancho-San, and Upstairs Downstairs. (8 to 11 p.m., Make Out Room, 3225 22nd Street)

PERFORMANCE: After a sold-out opening night, theatrical magician Christian Cagigal continues his 13-day run of The Collection, featuring his "special brand of creepiness." No other details have been provided, since the audience at every performance is sworn to secrecy in order to maintain the surprise and mystery of the show. (7 p.m., Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy Street)

COMEDY: W. Kamau Bell & Nato Green present Comedy SuperPAC every Monday through May 7th, in which the mission is to "foist unlimited good comedy on San Francisco audiences and then to funnel unlimited money (or at least a portion of the proceeds) to a great cause — the Applied Research Center known for its online magazine, Colorlines.com. (7 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street)

LECTURE: Ccurator Nato Thompson will talk about his latest book, Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Age of Cultural Production, which explores the work of some of the most interesting artists and activists working today, from cooperative housing to anarchist infoshops to alternative art venues. (7:30 p.m., San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street)

COMPETITION: Air Sex Championships: It might sound like a sexy time, but judging from this collection of Flickr photos, it's more comic than erotic. As Flavorpill notes, "At one recent SF championship, a school teacher simulating strap-on sex won out over a man dressed as a robot who air fucked a blender and a lava lamp." (hot.) (9 p.m., Elbo Room, 647 Valencia Street)

FOOD: Inforum hosts Distilled in SF: How to Drink Like a Locavore, featuring a panel of malt masters who will speak to the art of beverage creation, the modern craft movement, and San Francisco’s rich culinary traditions, followed by a tasting from the best local "boozeries," including Anchor Distilling Company, SFvodka, St. George Spirits, Essential Spirits, Distillery No. 209, Osocalis Distillery, Old World Spirits and more. (hiccup) (6:30 p.m., The Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor)

FILM: Tonight's feature at the weekly French Cinema Class, which pairs French films with wine and conversation, is Le Professionnel starring Jean Paul Belmondo. (ooh, la la!) (6:45 p.m., Alliance Française of San Francisco, 1345 Bush Street)

MUSIC: Hall-of-Famer, funk innovator, and godfather of urban music, George Clinton, is in the house with Parliament Funkadelic at Regency Ballroom tonight. Queue the "Give Up the Funk" earworm; "Gotta have the funk." (8 p.m., The Regency Ballroom, 1290 Sutter Street)

TALK: City Arts & Lectures presents acclaimed photographer Sally Mann, who's best known for her provocative, '80s-era, large-scale black and white images of her young family amidst lush rural landscapes. (8 p.m., City Arts & Lectures, 1955 Sutter Street)

DANCE: ODC's Dance Downtown series continues tonight with performances of three works, including Breathing Underwater (World Premiere) with four female dancers and live music by celebrated cellist, Zoe Keating, Transit (World Premiere), which incorporates three custom built bicycles into the performance, and Raking Light.

BOOKS: Don your favorite spectacles and bow ties and head over to Books Inc in the Castro to meet the adorably sartorial "[r]eality show star, celebrity stylist, and rising fashion icon" Brad Goreski as he discusses Born to Be Brad: My Life and Style, So Far, "his riveting life story with the power to take you to the top of your fashion game." (7:30 p.m., Books Inc. Castro, 2275 Market Street)

THEATER: Do It Live Productions kicks off four nights of its production of Sam Shepard's "jazz-riddled absurdist farce" Suicide in B Flat, as part of Boxcar Theater's season of "Shep in Rep" this month. The show will continue its run at Stagewerx for three weekends after closing at Boxcar. (8 p.m., Boxcar Studios, 125A Hyde Street)

LECTURE: San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler will give a local history lesson at Play Ball! 160 Years of San Francisco Baseball, in which he'll "regale[s] us with tales of the minor league San Francisco Knickerbockers, which began playing in town in 1879. He also speaks about the Mission Reds, where games were played on the site of what’s now a housing project on Valencia," and much more. (7 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California)

MUSIC: Tonight's edition of the monthly Communion club will feature The Driftwood Singers, who are in their early 20s and sing folk songs "that could have been written ages ago but were more likely written in the last few weeks," along with Birdhouse, Lauren Shera, and Infantree. (8:30 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market Street)

LECTURE: Human and baboon expert, accomplished storyteller, and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Dr. Robert Sapolsky, will speak in coversation with Michael Krasny about Primate Behavior: Lessons for Life, regarding his findings surrounding stress and stress-related diseases in humans. (8 p.m., California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park)

LITERARY: This month’s Quiet Lightning reading series presents Neighborhood Hereos, featuring a big line-up of writers, including special guest Miles Karp of The Suex Effect, and art by Gabrielle Wilson-Sealy. (7 to 9 p.m., Elbo Room, 647 Valencia Street)

LECTURE: Acclaimed director Terry Zwigoff will be talking about his work as part of San Francisco Art Institute's Radical Directing Lecture Series, which is free and open to the public and "emphasizes techniques and styles that veer from traditional narratives." (7 p.m., San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street)

FILM: Tonight's likely your last chance to catch Rick Prelinger Lost Landscapes #6, "a feature-length program of historical intervention and carnivalesque celebration," including unique drive-thru footage of the Old Produce Market (now Golden Gateway) in the late 1940s, cruising the newly-built Embarcadero Freeway, grungy back streets in North Beach, the sandswept Sunset District in the 1930s, and newly-rediscovered Cinemascope footage of Playland, the Sky Tram and San Francisco scenes, all in Kodachrome. (7 p.m., CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission Street)

FOOD: The 2012 Cocktails of the Farmers Market series kicks off tonight with Lady Leap Year, featuring an all-female lineup of star bartenders, in celebration of a folk tradition from the early 20th Century when women were encouraged to propose marriage during leap years. (5:30 to 8 p.m., The CUESA Kitchen at the Ferry Building, 1 Ferry Building)

FILM: Harry Belafonte biopic, Sing Your Song, which is an Academy Award Best Documentary Shortlist Contender, takes the viewer on a journey through the life and work of "one of the truly heroic and political figures of the past 60 years," from Harlem to Mississippi to Africa and south Central Los Angeles. (6:45 and 8:45 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street)

MUSIC: Swedish hard/psychedelic rockers Graveyard take the stage at Slim's tonight (show was moved from Cafe Du Nord), along with guests Radio Moscow and Green & Wood. (7 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th Street)

LECTURE: Local historian, author, and tour guide Lorri Ungaretti will give a visual history of San Francisco’s Sunset District, pairing vintage and modern-day photographs from archives and private collections, as part of Arcadia Publishing's Then & Now series. (7 p.m., Sunset Branch Library, 1305 18th Avenue)

FILM: Tonight's Cinema Drafthouse feature is Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam 20, which marked the band's 20th anniversary last year. (7:30 p.m., The Independent, 628 Divisadero Street)

MUSIC: Jimmy Kansau and his Trio will be at The Rrazz Room, performing Kansau's signature blend of early to mid-century Latin American/Cuban music and classic American jazz. (8 p.m., The Rrazz Room, 222 Mason Street)

LECTURE: At Social Media and Peer Learning: From Mediated Pedagogy to Peeragogy, writer, designer, and "first-wave creative thinker" Howard Rheingold will discuss his theories on using social media to teach ourselves and each other. (5 p.m., 210 South Hall, UC Berkeley)

MUSIC: Russian opera diva, Katya Smirnoff-Sky, will be at the Rrazz Room for one night only performing her Holiday Spectacular, a fun-filled evening of "belting, banter, and ball gowns" sure to make your "Yule tide Gay," featuring songs ranging from classic holiday fair, to Popera, and disco. (8 p.m., The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason Street)

ART: Project One Gallery presents artist René Garcia, Jr.'s new exhibition Satisfaction Guaranteed, which is inspired by vintage classifieds and flagrantly sexual marketing tricks and explores the "oft empty promises of fantasy fulfillment and other guilty pleasures" using familiar, craft based techniques to create "meticulously handcrafted work that is deliberately unique by design." (7 p.m. til late, Project One, 251 Rhode Island Street)

SCIENCE: California Academy of Sciences presents as part of its ongoing Leakey Lecture Series, A Debate: Who Was the Hobbit?, in which two eminent biological anthropologists light-heartedly offer countering viewpoints on who the ancestors of "the tiny, small-brained, big-footed Homo floresiensis" might have been. (7 p.m., California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park)

MUSIC: Kill Rock Stars' Thao With The Get Down Stay Down will rock the Independent tonight at the Treasure Island night show, along with Bare Wires and The She's. (8:30 p.m., The Independent, 628 Divisadero Street)

FILM: SF DocFest presents Adventures in Plymptoons!, a new documentary about perennial SF IndieFest favorite Bill Plympton, following his Portland childhood spent drawing indoors to a self-made independent animator and cartoonist. (9:30 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street)

FILM: The Arab Film Festival presents The Birds of the Nile, in which "[a] country guy discovers the ugly face of Cairo as the city turns him into one of its many victims," a "gripping illustration of how the structure of the Egyptian society has changed with the slow disappearance of the middle class." (8:45 p.m., Embarcadero Cinema, One Embarcadero Center)

WORKSHOP: It's easy to forget that we have such a gorgeous and historic green space such as the Presidio right in our backyards. As part of the ongoing Presidio Visitor Experience workshop series, A Walk in the Park: Recreation, Health, and Wellness will focus on how residents can use the area to "have fun, get some exercise, get close to nature, and make the Presidio a part of their everyday lives." RSVP to (415) 561-5418 or presidio@presidiotrust.gov.

6 to 8 p.m. // Presidio Log Cabin (1299 Storey Ave) // free

LITERARY: Aorta Magazine presents the inaugural evening for new queer reading open mic series, Tales of the Sissy: Writing Queer Life in the City. The reading features linguists including "an exquisitely captivating poet, a zinester, film-maker, multi-media artist, social-media sass-master, and a spoken-word savant," followed by the open mic in which the audience is encouraged to "make sweet love to the mic."

7 p.m. // Million Fishes Gallery (2501 Bryant Street) // free

LECTURE: In the face of technological advancement being driven by materialism and consumption, artist and roboticist Raffaello D'Andrea explores the idea of fostering technical innovation for its own sake, encouraging individuals to see innovation as a natural consequence of being creative and playful, rather than a means to utility. Presented by Berkeley Center for New Media/Art Techonology + Culture Colloquium.

7:30 to 9 p.m. // Banatao Auditorium (Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley) // free