Do It: Brush up on tech skills at LCC’s annual Geek Day

SATURDAY

>> Brush up on tech skills at LCC’s annual Geek Day

It’s cool to be a geek these days, and Leeward Community College’s eighth annual Geek Day will help you become one with a dozen free workshops and demonstrations showing you how to become master of your digital domain.

Using a smartphone to take your first photos? There will be an introductory course on basic photo composition. Bring your digital single-lens reflex camera (charged and with memory card) for a workshop on unlocking its secrets to take even better pictures, or another course on do-it-yourself photo techniques, such as using household or other readily available items to create lighting. Videographers can learn how to edit their work on their mobile devices.

Have an idea for an app but don’t know how to build it? An introduction to App Inventor, an online tool created by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, might be the ticket. And in these days of political turmoil, a session on “fake news” might be especially useful. The course offers a nonpartisan approach to identifying false information being circulated as news.

Visitors can also see new apps and get help with computer problems and smartphone maintenance at the Digital Cafe.

Some sessions require you to bring your own digital devices. Check geekday.weebly.com for details.

SUNDAY

>> Longtime punks the Descendents hotter than ever

Seminal pop-punk band the Descendents brings its blend of surf rock and hardcore punk to The Republik this week.

Formed in 1978 in Southern California, the band came out with the album “Milo Goes to College” in 1982; it’s a blast of tough, essential pop-punk, setting guidelines for the genre before pop-punk even had a name.

Ironically, the record referenced the departure of lead singer Milo Aukerman, who was heading out to study biochemistry (he went on to earn a doctorate). It struck a chord with its graphic, aggressive description of the disenchantments of youth — not getting the girl, hating your parents — paired with sardonic wit. “I want to be stereotyped. I want to be classified. I want to be a clone,” goes the tune “Suburban Home.”

Musically, the band brought an element of melody to the speedy, percussive punk sound, producing short songs that shoot out in bursts of energy. The band attributes that to drinking a lot of coffee — its most recent album, the last of seven, is 2016’s “Hypercaffium Spazzinate.” It’s been their highest-charting album, reaching No. 20 on the Billboard 200.

Over the years, the band has gone on extended breaks, but now Aukerman is back with the band, along with co-founder Bill Stevenson on drums. Guitarist Stephen Egerton and bassist Karl Alvarez round out the group.

WEDNESDAY

>> Printmakers hui presents exhibit and other events

Check out the best in local printmaking at the Honolulu Printmakers 89th Annual Exhibition, opening Wednesday at the Honolulu Museum of Art School.

The exhibit features works from local artists working in traditional and contemporary printmaking, as well as hybrids with other art forms. The works were chosen by Amze Emmons, a professor at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and a co-founder of the blog printerest.org. Emmons will speak about his own work, which involves the use of architectural illustrations, comic books, cartoon language, information graphics, news footage, consumer packaging and instruction manuals, and about the jurying process used for this exhibit. His talk is at 4 p.m. Sunday at the art school.

See the art, have a bite to eat and rub elbows with the printmakers at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with bonus entertainment by Aesthetic Surplus Kompany, a group co-founded by University of Hawaii art professor Peter Chamberlain which uses sampled sounds and synthesizers to improvise electronic music. He’ll be joined by Gretchen Jude.

Even if you miss the reception, you’ll have until March 22 to see the show. A panel discussion on the impact of new technology takes place at 4:30 p.m. March 12 at the school.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY

>> Local moviemakers are in the spotlight at a three-day festival

Check out the latest from local girls and women who are making films at the 2017 Women of Wonder Film Fest at the Honolulu Museum of Art next week.

Hawai‘i Women in Filmmaking will present three sessions of short films over two evenings.

The festival begins Wednesday with two sessions of short films made by girls. At 4 p.m. the shorts address topics such as bullying, friendship and illness. At 6 p.m. films spotlight topics like peer pressure, self-esteem and the fashion industry’s influence on standards of beauty. Talks follow both sessions.

On Thursday at 6 p.m., see Cindy Iodice’s “The Bridge,” a ghost story about a young Hawaiian boy trying to save his Caucasian mother; “Late Expectations,” by Laurie Arakaki, about a closeted lesbian who must tell her boyfriend the truth; and “B Movie,” by Alana Bombino, with two elementary students overcoming their personal differences to work together.

Thursday’s shorts will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by a feature-length documentary, “Ovarian Psycos,” pictured, about a group of women who ride their bicycles through the mean streets of East L.A. confronting violence. A member of the group, Pamela Velazquez Avila, will be present for questions after the film.