1. As Alexandra (aka FilmNerd) just posted about a half hour ago, the Northwest Film Forum's Divided Cinema film festival starts tonight, featuring six different German films to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The program (curated in part by Alexandra) zooms in on German reactions to the feeling of division produced by the Wall. Films range from Wings of Desire, the lauded 1988 film that inspired an awful stateside flick featuring Meg Ryan and Goo Goo Dolls, to a documentary about the city in the brief period between the close of WWII and when the Wall went up in 1961.

The programming also includes two symposia with Seattle University and University of Washington professors on December 9th and 16th. FilmNerd will also be offering her reviews and analysis before NWFF screens this week's films.

Tonight's films are Wings of Desire and The Berlin-Schoenhauser Corner, a movie about being a teenager in '50s East Berlin.

The full schedule is here.

Monday and Tuesday nights, starting tonight at 7 pm. Tickets are $9.

2. Chef Daniel Orr will be reading at Elliott Bay Book Co. tonight. Orr makes environmentally-conscious food with simple ingredients. Tickets to the reading include a meal Orr will cook.

Tonight at Elliott Bay, at 7 pm. Tickets are $38.

3. The City Council's Planning, Land Use & Neighborhoods Committee is holding a public hearing at City Hall tonight to discuss changes to the Seattle's Multifamily Building code.

Ultimately, the legislation will be a complete update of the current building code, which hasn't been fully updated in decades. The PLUNC, chaired by Seattle City Council member Sally Clark, is inviting the public to City Hall tonight to talk about the first half of the legislation, which changes height limits, parking requirements, imposes some sustainability measures, and adds some incentive zoning options.

(Clark has shown a particular interest in limiting the development of ugly townhouses during her tenure on the council.)

Tonight at 5:30, on the 2nd floor of City Hall.

4. On Thursday, Capitol Hill's longtime independent bookstore, Bailey/Coy Books, which closed a couple of weeks ago, is holding a "wake," a party and auction that will benefit the store (there's a pretty hefty stack of bills to pay off.)

Tickets are $40, which you can buy here. The list of items Bailey/Coy has grown pretty substantial, including cartoons Matt Groening drew in the staff notebook, a Seattle indie-bookstore shopping spree, and a bunch of first edition books and signed posters.

They're also auctioning off lunch dates with: State Sen. Ed Murray, City Council member—and aforementioned PLUNC chair—Sally Clark, and, uh, Josh Feit and Erica C. Barnett of PubliCola.

Again, all proceeds go toward helping Bailey/Coy shore up the debt they've accumulated over the last couple years of slow sales.

Thursday at 6 pm, at the former location of Bailey/Coy Books, at 414 Broadway. Tickets are $40.