Spare Times for March 30-April 5 Brooklyn Historical Society: Talking Fiction, Talking Fact (Sunday) This series, co-sponsored by the New York Review of Books, examines the fine, sometimes blurred line between fiction and the reality on which it is sometimes based. Two authors will take on the topic in this session: Colm Toibin, whose novel "Brooklyn" tells the story of an Irish immigrant in the mid-1950s, and Mick Moloney, who is an Irish musician and storyteller. At 2 p.m., 128 Pierrepont Street, near Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights, (718) 222-4111, brooklynhistory.org; $6; $4 for students, teachers and 62+; free for children under 12 and members. Hong Kong Art and Design (Wednesday) At this forum, the designers Gary Chang and James Law will be joined by Bob Dickensheets, an associate director of external affairs at Savannah College of Art and Design, and Ingrid Dudek, a specialist in Asian contemporary art for Christie's, to focus on the emergence of Hong Kong as a cultural force and its impact on Asia and the rest of the world. The discussion, beginning at 6:30 p.m. will be moderated by Susan Szenasy, the editor in chief of Metropolis. Tea and sandwiches will be served starting at 6 p.m. Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, (212) 517-2742, asiasociety.org; $15, $12 for students, $10 for members. Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum: "Salute to Women" (Friday and Saturday) These are the last days to take a guided tour in celebration of Women's History Month. The tour, "Extraordinary Stories of Women in Sea, Air and Space," is a companion piece to "Women in Aviation: World War II," a special exhibition in honor of women who have served the nation. Among the women featured are Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War-era doctor with the Union Army usually listed as the sole woman to have received the Medal of Honor; Harriet Pickens and Frances Thorpe, who were the first African-American women naval officers; and Julia Child, the cooking titan who served with the Office of Strategic Services. The tour is offered from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.; $20, or $15 for children 3 through 17, in addition to the museum admission. The exhibition will be up through July 8. Museum hours through March, Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; beginning in April, the hours on Saturdays and Sundays are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Museum of the City of New York: "Winter Thaw" (Friday) This second annual fund-raising event, hosted by the museum's Young Members Circle, creates a party atmosphere while guests stroll the museum galleries. There will be dancing to music by NeverNotWorking, cocktails, mini cupcakes and raffle drawings. At 7 p.m., Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, (917) 492-3328, mcny.org; $40 in advance; $50 at the door; $25 for members; $115 for ticket and Young Members Circle membership. Museum of the Moving Image: Ken Jacobs Screenings and Discussion (Friday through Sunday) Mr. Jacobs, an avant-garde film director, will be on hand to screen some of his works, including "Seeking the Monkey King" (2011) and "Return to the Scene of the Crime" a 2008 digital reworking of his 1969 film, "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son," on Friday at 7 p.m. Mr. Jacobs, to whom the museum devoted its first retrospective in 1989, will also present his own invention, "The Nervous Magic Lantern," a live performance of light and shadow creating 3-D illusions, on Saturday at 2 p.m. Later, at 4:30 p.m., some of his short works will be presented. His "Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World" will screen at 7:30 p.m. The event ends Sunday with a screening of "Star Spangled to Death" (2004), a history of 20th-century politics and culture at 1:30 p.m. 35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, Queens, (718) 777-6800, movingimage.us; $12 for Friday evening screenings, $9 for students and 65+. All other screenings are free with museum admission: $12; $9 for 65+; $6 for children ages 3-18; children under 3 free. New-York Historical Society: The 13th Amendment (Friday through Sunday) On view at the Society through Sunday is a rare handwritten copy, signed by Lincoln, of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Viewing hours are Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $15, $12 for teachers, $10 for students, $5 for those 7 to 13, and free for children under 7; through Saturday, visitors showing a MetroCard will receive two-for-one adult admissions. "Orchid Evenings" continues on Saturdays from 6:30 to 9 p.m., with at least one Friday session on April 20, with music and cocktails for visitors 21 and older; $30, or $20 for members. Special events this weekend include lectures and photography displays on the orchids of Ecuador on Saturday at 1 p.m. and the orchids of Costa Rica on Sunday at 1 p.m.; a 4 p.m. screening of the 2002 Spike Jonze film "Adaptation," in which Nicolas Cage plays a screenwriter struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, played by Meryl Streep; and orchid-care demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Queens Botanical Garden: Opening Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) Celebrate the arrival of spring at this two-day event. Guests can meet at the visitor building at 1 p.m. to tour the gardens. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Children's Activity Table will offer various hands-on craft projects, including origami. There will also be opportunities throughout the day for children to plant seeds in the garden and visit Flora, the garden's colorful mascot. From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, Queens, (718) 886-3800, queensbotanical.org; free with admission: $4; $3 for 65+; $2 for students and children over 3. "The Blood Sport of Politics" (Friday) Mark Ethan, a film scholar and member of the Actors Studio, will host a screening of the 1949 version of "All The King's Men" at 10 a.m. This event, followed by a discussion of the film, is part of a six-week film series examining the quest for political office. 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500, 92y.org; $25, or $120 for all six sessions. Color Photographs of the New Deal (through April 29) After resurfacing in the Library of Congress in the mid-"70s, the color photographs of the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information are on display at the Carriage Trade Gallery. The exhibition consists of images taken within three years of the invention of Kodachrome film and documents Americana from 1939-43. Coney Island Opening Day (Sunday) There may be more thrifty souls than fools - Sunday is April Fools" Day, after all - at the opening on Sunday of the rides at Coney Island. The first 100 riders on line at the Cyclone will get a free ride on the monster, which has had some track replacement, following the seasonal christening of the roller coaster with an egg cream at noon. At Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, half-priced tickets for a ride on the Wonder Wheel will be available to the first 100 people on line, following the traditional blessing of the rides at 11 a.m. And beginning at noon, there is free admission to the exhibitions on view at the newly expanded Coney Island History Project, at 12th Street and the Boardwalk. Coney Island, Surf Avenue and West 10th Street, lunaparknyc.com, wonderwheel.com, www.coneyislandhistory.org. West 22nd Street at 10th Avenue, thehighline.org; free. "Giving Music a Face": Art Exhibition at Deutsches House (Friday) This is the last day to see this exhibition of artwork by David Friedmann, an Austrian-born artist working in Berlin in the 1920s and "30s, who often used musicians and composers as his subjects. Through the efforts of his daughter, Miriam Friedman Morris (the family dropped the second "n" after moving to the United States) and others, some of his early artwork was recovered, and reproductions of it and an original piece are in this display at New York University's Deutsches Haus. It can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Deutsche Haus, 42 Washington Mews, New York University, Greenwich Village, (212) 998-8660, dhnyu.org; free. Philip Glass Retrospective (Saturday) In honor of Philip Glass's 75th birthday, the pianist Paul Barnes will perform a concert featuring his transcriptions of Glass works. At 2:30 p.m., New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (917) 275-6975, nypl.org/lpa; free. "Highlife to Hiplife" (Monday) In collaboration with the Museum for African Art, this discussion focuses on the production of African hip-hop videos as a social and performance genre in urban African communities. These themes are also the focus of an forthcoming exhibition with the same name. Registration is recommended. At 6:30 p.m., Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Lenox Avenue, at 135th Street, Harlem, (212) 491-2040, schomburgcenter.eventbrite.com; free. Ice Theater of New York: "Energy Flow" (Wednesday) The Ice Theater of New York will end its season of free outdoor performances with a show at 1 p.m. at the Rink at Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets. Best viewing is above the rink; the rain date is Thursday. (212) 929-5811, icetheatre.org. The Legends of Disco Live (Saturday) Be transported back a few decades with these live performances from some of disco's biggest hitmakers, including the Trammps, Tavares and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. The dance party gets started at 7 p.m. Guests can purchase V.I.P. tickets, which include access to the "disco den," a balcony overlooking the action and admission to an after-party. Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, Manhattan, (212) 937-7911, tickets.discopartynyc.com; $87, or $152 for V.I.P. package. Macy's Flower Show: "Brasil: Gardens in Paradise" (continuing through April 7) The annual show, this year focusing on the flowers of Brazil, will be centered on the streets outside the store while renovations are going on inside. Macy's Herald Square, 151 West 34th Street, Manhattan, (212) 494-4495, macys.com/flowershow; free. "Openstudios Hudson Square" (Saturday) The second event in a series from Openhousenewyork, which is designed to provide public access to architecture and design studios in New York City, continues this week. At 1 p.m. participants will take in the sights of Hudson Square in a self-guided tour with stops at architecture and design firms. This event, organized in collaboration with the Architect's Newspaper and the Hudson Square Business Improvement District, will be followed by a reception at 5 p.m. at Superstructures, one of the firms on the tour. Check-in will begin at 12:45 p.m. in the lobby of 180 Varick Street, SoHo, where maps of all participating firms will be provided. ohny.org; advance tickets $30, or $20 for students; day-of-the-event tickets $35, or $25 for students. "Rosie the Riveter" Project and Discussion (Tuesday) The real-life women who shared the nickname Rosie the Riveter - women who worked in defense plants and other factories during World War II - are the subjects of a video oral-history project in the collection at New York University's Tamiment Library, 70 Washington Square South, at La Guardia Place. Several of the women whose stories are included in the project will discuss their lives and experiences with the project's filmmakers, Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly, and several scholars. At 6 p.m., with a reception following. Admission is free, but reservations are requested by phone, (212) 992-9018 or e-mail, rsvp.bobst@nyu.edu. The oral histories can be viewed online at dlib.nyu.edu/rosie/interviews. Start Over Smart: A Modern Divorce Expo (Saturday and Sunday) This two-day event will target divorce-related topics in workshops and panel discussions for those contemplating or going through a divorce. Visitors can register for a single day at $75 or for both days at $125. On Saturday, a mixer hosted by the professional matchmaker Amy Laurent will start at 6 p.m. for an additional $35. Events start at 9 a.m. Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street, Chelsea. startoversmartny.com. "Wearing the Lost Generation" (Thursday) The Nouveau Classical Project - a collective of composers, performers and fashion designers - will present "Wearing the Lost Generation," a salon pairing classical music with fashion. This concert marks the premiere of "The Lost Generation," an electro-acoustic work by Trevor Gureckis, as well as a performance of Ravel's "Piano Trio." Hats from Heidi Lee will be custom-designed for the evening's music. This concert is part of "Gertrude's Paris," a monthlong festival celebrating early 20th-century France. At 7:30 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400, symphonyspace.org; $15. Fred Weintraub Book Signing (Wednesday and Thursday) Fred Weintraub, a longtime screenwriter and filmmaker, is appearing at signings for his new memoir, "Bruce Lee, Woodstock and Me." The first event is at the Bitter End, the landmark nightclub he once owned, at 147 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. The singer Judy Collins is the host of the 7 p.m. event. On Thursday at 6 p.m., he will appear at the Barnes &amp; Noble at 97 Warren Street in TriBeCa. On both days Mr. Weintraub will show a six-minute film featuring clips with some of his famous friends. Free. John Zorn at Anthology Film Archives (Friday and Saturday) "Treatment for a Film in 15 Scenes," a 2011 project by the composer John Zorn that features works by four filmmakers - Henry Hills, Lewis Klahr, Joey Izzo and the film team of KimSu Theiler and Andrew Nelson - will be shown both days at 7:30 p.m., with Mr. Zorn and some of the filmmakers appearing on Friday only. Also to be shown both days is Mr. Hills's "Money," a 1985 short documentary about the downtown performance scene of the time. Anthology Film Archives, 32-34 Second Avenue, at Second Street, East Village, (212) 505-5181, anthologyfilmarchives.org; $9; $7 for students, children and 65+; $6 for members. A Dickens Reading with Alan Rickman, Fritz Weaver and Frances Sternhagen (Friday) Alan Rickman, who is concluding his run in "Seminar" on Broadway, will appear with the veteran actors Fritz Weaver and Frances Sternhagen in a free reading of works by Charles Dickens at 2 p.m. at St. Malachy's, known as the Actor's Chapel, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan. Sponsored by the TIPA project (for Toward International Peace Through the Arts), the reading commemorates the 200th anniversary of Dickens's birth. (212) 246-4651, actorschapel.org. "Dwight Eisenhower, Leonard Bernstein and the Cultural Cold War" (Thursday) Jonathan Rosenberg, a professor of 20th-century United States history at Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, shares insight into President Eisenhower's involvement in the cold war and the events of the period. This talk is part of the Presidents Package series at 92YTriBeCa, offering round-table lunch discussions with the speaker immediately following the event. At noon, 200 Hudson Street, at Canal Street, (212) 601-1000, 92ytribeca.org; $40. Literary Events at 92Y (Monday and Thursday) Two authors with new novels will meet with an audience at 8 p.m. on Monday. Lionel Shriver, author of the 2003 novel "We Need to Talk About Kevin," will discuss her "The New Republic" (HarperCollins). Kathryn Harrison will talk about "Enchantments" (Random House). On Thursday, Marilynne Robinson will discuss her collection of essays, "When I Was a Child I Read Books" (Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux), at 8:15 p.m. 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500, 92y.org; $19, or $10 for 35 and under. Staten Island OutLoud: "Yo Twain!" (Saturday) This series of events celebrating the work of Mark Twain continues with a performance at 8 p.m. featuring traditional 19th-century music by Joan and Gary Moore and the ensemble Day de Dada's debut of "We Are Not Dead Yet," a performance arts piece inspired by Tom and Huck's visit to their own funeral. D. B. Lampman, a Staten Island artist, will reprise her latest performance art piece, "Tom and the River." Brighton Heights Reformed Church, 320 St. Marks Place, St. George, Staten Island; free. (718) 907-0709, statenislandoutloud.org. Whitney Biennial Discussion (Friday) Visitors to the Whitney Biennial who would like to hear what art critics think of the contemporary art on view can attend a panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. sponsored by the National Academy museum and artcritical.com, an online magazine. Participating in the discussion will be the art critics Bill Berkson, Will Heinrich and Karen Wilkin; David Cohen, editor and publisher of artcritical.com, is the moderator. National Academy Museum, 1083 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 369-4880, nationalacademy.org; $12, or $7 for students and 65+. "Sacred Havens, Morningside Heights" (Saturday) This Upper Manhattan tour, sponsored by I'll Take Manhattan, includes stops at the Church of Notre Dame and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; it meets at 1 p.m. on the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 111th Street, Morningside Heights, (732) 506-6248; $18. "Soundview: The Gateway to the East Bronx" (Saturday) This tour, sponsored by the Bronx County Historical Society, will meet in the Bronx at 11 a.m. on the southeast corner of Hunts Point and Westchester Avenues. $15, or $10 for members. Reservations are required: (718) 881-8900. Passover Tours (Saturday and Sunday) With Passover just a week away, several tours are helping usher in the holiday. A trip across the Brooklyn Bridge, with a tour of the Lower East Side, will be led by NYC Discovery Tours on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.; it costs $18 with the meeting place given with reservations: (212) 465-3331. On Sunday at 11 a.m., the Lower East Side will be the focus of a tour sponsored by Big Onion Walking Tours, meeting on the southwest corner of Essex and Delancey Street; the fee is $18, or $15 for students and 63+; (888) 606-9255.