There’s probably still a dirty patch of snow or two left on Capitol Hill but things are decidedly back to normal. Go stomp in a puddle. Add your Capitol Hill events to the CHS Calendar.

Thursday, January 26

• The 2012 Children’s Film Festival Seattle opens at 12th Ave’s Northwest Film Forum tonight. CHS is a proud co-sponsor. Plays through the weekend and into the week. And there are still tickets left for Saturday’s pancake breakfast.

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Northwest Film Forum is pleased to announce the 7th annual Children’s Film Festival Seattle, to be held January 26 through February 5 at the Film Forum’s cinemas in Seattle. The largest children’s film festival in the Pacific Northwest, Children’s Film Festival Seattle celebrates the best and brightest in international children’s cinema with a 10-day extravaganza of more than 100 films from almost 30 countries. This year’s edition includes a mind-blowing blend of programs that include live performances, animation, features, shorts, historical films and fantastic hands-on workshops for the filmmakers of tomorrow. 

Additional screenings for school and childcare groups are scheduled on Friday, January 27 and Mondays through Fridays February 6 through February 24. 

This year’s festival will begin on Thursday, Jan. 26 with the Seattle premiere of Michel Ocelot’s “Tales of the Night,” a film that wowed audiences at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. The festival fun will continue on Friday, Jan. 27, with a rockin’ pajama party for ages 3 and older, featuring a sneak preview of animated films from the festival, and a concert by Caspar Babypants, a high-octane kids’ band fronted by Seattle music legend Chris Ballew, of The Presidents of the United States of America. Other Festival highlights will include “Fire and Ice,” a retrospective of animation from Russia’s famed SHAR Studio and Animation School, founded in 1993 by a group of top Russian animators; a live performance of “String,” a new theater piece for very young audiences by Seattle movement artist Mary Margaret Moore; and of course our popular Pancake Breakfast.

Tales of the Night

• Deathcake Tasting Party at Cupcake Royale. 5-7p: “ABSINTHE from Pacific Distillery (at Cap Hill)”
• Art Walk Awards at Melrose Market Studios
• Cheap Wine & Poetry at Richard Hugo House
• CiNEOKE! debuts at Central Cinema
• EastPac community crime meeting
• Washington and Oregon wines at 12th and Olive Wine
• Wine in the Key of C tasting at Vino Verite

Friday, January 27

• Electric Tea Garden celebrates a birthday
• Gary Marcus on Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning at Elliott Bay Book Co.
• 3rd Annual Mozart Birthday Toast at Town Hall Seattle
• David Schmader’s A Short-term Solution to a Long-term Problem continues at Hugo House
• Guest lecture series at Gage Academy

Saturday, January 28

• Weekly indoor flea market at Century Ballroom, 11a-3p
• Weekly children’s story time at Elliott Bay, 11:30a
• Urban Tanuki Samurai continues at WET. Meanwhile, The Callers also continues.
• Lunar New Year Festival at Hing Hay Park
• Shared Walls — A history of Seattle apartment living and tour with author Diana James. Starts at Elliott Bay.
• Seattle Baroque Orchestra: Matthews & Schenkman: Common Ground at Town Hall Seattle
• City Hall open house, 10a-2p
• Blues reading series at Faire Gallery

Sunday, January 29

• I’m Getting Married to 10th and Union Warehouse! Community POTLUCK!
• “This Sunday afternoon reading features Bill Porter, renowned translator (as Red Pine) of ancient Chinese texts, and chronicler of the old ways in a China undergoing massive change (Road to Heaven, Zen Baggage), and poet/novelist Eric Paul Shaffer, visiting from Hawai’i.” — Elliott Bay Book Co.
• Awesomesauce Triathlon at Cal Anderson Park
• Star Trek Trivia at Theater Schmeater
• Stripping for your lover class at Babeland
• Hangover Flea Market returns to the Comet

Monday, January 30

• Silent Movie Mondays: First Academy Awards — Street Angel at the Paramount