Weekender Spotlight

GARDNERS — Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge.

For the past year or so, I’ve been enthralled by this passage from Nick Davis’ book “Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, a Dual Portrait”:

NEW YORK — The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration.

STROUDSBURG — The stage show HYPROV: Improv Under Hypnosis is coming to the Sherman Theater this September, starring master hypnotist Asad Mecci, Colin Mochrie from “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and a handful of lucky volunteers from the audience.

Men shouldn’t have friends. Or should they? That is the tagline from the freshest film coming out of my favorite studio, A24, to hit the cinema so far this year. I don’t know about you, but the conundrum I find trying to make friends as an adult in this day and age is most of our interactions come from our work environments. Well, that and Facebook, but we all know that is an alternate reality.

LOS ANGELES — On a spring afternoon in 2005, the members of OK Go dressed up in tacky suits, gathered in front of a video camera and awkwardly danced their way into history.

OLD FORGE — With a King Tut coffin and hieroglyphic mural designs, Black Earth Magical Cafe is like being inside a pharaoh’s home — or final resting place. Paintings on the wall depict dogs as pharaohs, just some of the Egyptian-themed restaurant and sanctuary’s decorations.

SCRANTON — Hardcore for Husvar is a benefit concert taking place at St. Mary’s Center over Memorial Day Weekend to honor the life of NEPA-native Neil Husvar as well as raise funds for Suicide Prevention.

DICKSON CITY — For spice lovers and chicken lovers alike, there’s a new HOT spot opening in Dickson City. The vibrant air of the casual dining restaurant smelled like pickles and good times — or good brine I should say!