Best Bets: Thursday 11/26
8 pm: Swing
Dance those holiday calories away to the swingin’ sound of the Dino Martinis, the Calgary-based, seven-piece jump ensemble that makes its first L.A. appearance tonight. Need to brush up on your steps? Free dance lessons will be
offered during the first hour.
* The Dino Martinis, The Derby, 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., 8 p.m. $7. (323) 663-8979.
All day: Movies
If you’re lucky enough not to be cooking today and you’re neither a parade nor football fan, there’s a slew of new movies to see. Take the kids to either “Babe: Pig in the City,” the sequel to the charming 1995 Australian fable, or Disney’s “A Bug’s Life,” now in wide release and “the insect-themed computer-animated film to see if you can only manage one,” according to Times film critic Kenneth Turan. Don’t take the kids to “Very Bad Things,” a pitch-black comedy starring Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz and Jon Favreau that is the writing and directorial debut of “Chicago Hope” actor Peter Berg.
* “Babe: Pig in the City,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Very Bad Things” are in general release.
All day: Ice Skating
The advantage to ice skating in Southern California: You don’t have to shovel snow off the pond. Just show up at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza’s Winter Wonderland on Ice starting today, strap on some skates and push off. But before you try that triple axel, you might want to take a spin through Peter Carruther’s Skating School, offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m. and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m.
* Winter Wonderland on Ice at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Mondays-Thursdays and Sunday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fridays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. $2 admission. $2 skate rental. Group reservations, call (805) 449-2590. To register for classes, call (310) 576-2400.
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FREEBIE: It’s the Laugh Factory’s annual Thanksgiving dinner for struggling and/or lonely comics, actors and the rest of the entertainment community, 8001 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Four seatings. Reservations: (323) 656-1336.