Downtown-Chinatown galleries and studios keep their doors open late for Third Thursday, from 5 to 8 tonight.

The free event gives people a reason to stay and play downtown on a weeknight, while learning a little about the arts from the artists themselves. It's designed as an arts-focused and mellow alternative to the now regularly mobbed First Fridays.

Among the attractions: Artists of "Hot August Knights," Mat Kubo, Saint Marko, Carl F.K. Pao, Chris Reiner and Anson Tsang, who host an artists' talk and barbecue from 7 to 8 p.m. at The ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nu'uanu Ave.; a reception for painter Russell M. Davidson in "One Night Stand" — and feline art by 24 local artists in "Catwalk" — at the Louis Pohl Gallery, 1111 Nu'uanu Ave., 521-1812; and a wine and chocolate reception for Christopher St. John's "The Cloud Eaters" at Bethel Street Gallery, 1140 Bethel St.

Other galleries in the vicinity will also be open for viewing.

FINAL WORD

"I never even touched a snake while we were shooting ('Snakes on a Plane'). My agents put into the contract: 'No snakes within 25 feet of Mr. Jackson.' They were more scared of the snakes than I was."

Samuel L. Jackson | in Entertainment Weekly