Wednesday Happenings

Awkward Lectures
Cory Arcangel's best known artwork Super Mario Clouds turns the world's first scrolling video game into a digital environment of placid repetition. It percolated on the internet and spilled into the Whitney's Biennial, making Arcangel a digital art superstar. But his true calling may have been as a lecturer. Whether the topic is hacking old electronics or copyright; his willful ignorance of art history or his place in it, Arcangel always entertains. Riley Seminar Room, Museum of Fine Arts, 12:30 pm, free.

Art
The Boston Athenaeum will host an exhibit featuring itself. A show by photographer Thomas Kellner, "All Shook Up," will start at the Athenaeum today and run through April 19. The example above seems to put the Athenaeum through a funhouse mirror. 10 1/2 Beacon St.

Music
--Bostonist adored Opera Boston Underground's last gig at the Lizard Lounge, and we'll be going back for more with its short-opera Valentine's Day "quickies." Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge, doors 7:00, show 7:30, $8. Get there early if you want to get in.

Ethics
Princeton philosophy professor Kwame Anthony Appiah has devised a unique and popular ethical voice by stressing the old liberal value of cosmopolitanism. Avoiding the ethics of identities -- but recognizing their compelling value -- Appiah challenges people to build an ethics that crosses cultural divides. Tonight he discusses the philosophic impact of moral psychology. First Parish Church, 3 Church St., Cambridge, 7:00 pm, free. Presented by Harvard Book Store.

Kosher Booze
It's the beer that can make a shlemiel seem like a mensch. Schmaltz Brewing Company, the makers of He'brew (the "Chosen Beer of the Chosen People"), host a tasting tonight. Big City, 138 Brighton Ave., Allston, 7:00 pm, $10.

Rick Sawyer contributed to this post.