Wednesday's in a stage 2 heat emergency! Tonight: Feeling discombobulated by the big three-oh? The San Francisco Cody's is hosting the Bay Area editor and local contributors from the latest women-telling-it-to-you-straight anthology, The May Queen, featuring women in their 30s reporting about their lives today. The thirtysomething fun starts at 7 p.m.

Thursday: Feeling discombobulated by the influence of market forces on horror movies? Techsploitator Annalee Newitz is reading from her new book, Pretend We're Dead: Capitalist Monsters in American Pop Culture. If you've wondered why class anxiety drives doctors mad, or why androids rape Julie Christie, take yourself and your ray gun to City Lights at 7 p.m. Thursday night. As Annalee says: "Capitalism is the monster under the bed!" Extra bonus: B-movie trivia contest after the reading.

and Friday: Make it a week of spoken word events and stop by the Shotwell Studios at Shotwell and 19th at 8 p.m. for "an evening of spoken word and dance," featuring Paulina Borsook, who's presenting her new work, "Wired for Sex." We have no idea what this is going to be about or how much it's going to cost, but it seems intriguing, doesn't it?