Wait a second... it's already Friday? Gotta love that short week. Yeah fine - I'll be honest - those four days still felt more like seven, but at least it's finally time to relax. This one might not be quite as extensive as usual, as I need to run and get a quick haircut before I'm thrown in front of a high school class next week. Or should I keep the shag so I seem more 'relatable'? Or should I stop including personal details in my arts reportage? Shut up! It's a blog! Write your own! Ahem, lots of stuff to do this weekend...

Music

• So last weekend was pretty dead in terms of music, but this one is packed solid. Head on over to From Blown Speakers for the full rundown, as Quinn continues to provide.
• One that's missing there is Halifax-based percussionist Jerry Granelli's jazz-rock-blues improv outfit The V-16 Project, tonight at Ironworks.

• I recommended No Gold in last week's column, and I'll have to do it again as they're playing with Gang Violence, Ballz (of Basketball), and Candles at the Peanut Gallery on Saturday. Sounds killer.
• Also Saturday is the Canadian electronics duo Megasoid. From their myspace: "We mostly make glitchy hiphop bangers and destroy songs that you might recognize, but also keep it tripping balls on the regular." The New Yorker likes it so much they're coining a new genre: "lazer bass". Assholes. (via Saelan)
• As always, I'll do my best to alert you to the best big shows before they sell out. So don't sleep on it, Rita MacNiel's Christmas tickets are on sale now!
  

Film

• Now that VIFF is over, the Sun's spiffy new online movie guide only makes me snore. I guess I shouldn't really ignore Passchendaele... but yeah, I probably should: "The awkward scenes include the absurd battlefield consummation of Sarah and Michael's romance, accompanied by mortar fire, and Michael's last-minute display of heroism, overlaid with intrusive Christian symbolism. The scenes may be embarrassing, but at least Gross can't be accused of playing it safe... This kind of chutzpah is necessary, though unfortunately not sufficient, to create the kind of good popular entertainment we can call our own." No, it's not.
• If you're really offended by the Gross schmaltz, you could always go pay for Sex Drive in protest. Or dissuade yourself by watching the first ten minutes online. I haven't, but here's a great graphic that cops an image form the film. And goddamn it, Ebert still produces: "This movie doesn't contain foul language. The foul language contains the movie."
• Otherwise, I've heard good things about Religulous, while Burn After Reading was a blissful punch to the paunch of Hollywood moviegoers... dodge the guilt by downloading it.
  

Visual Art

• I'm loving the look of Vancouver-based painter Holger Kalgburg's new work. I'll certainly be visiting her new showing at the Monte Clark Gallery sometime in the near future.

• Local artist, writer, and blogger Christopher Olson is having a solo showing at the Plank Gallery, with an opening reception tonight at 7. While the description of the exhibit couldn't be more absurdly pretentious (srsly lolz), the photographs certainly do intrigue.
• In association with Wack! at the VAG, The Western Front presents The F Word, a collection of feminist and gender-based video-art.

Theatre

• An interesting alternative to Oliver Stone's W biopic opens on Wednesday at the Firehall Arts Center: Stuff Happens, a political drama with Bush, Rumsfeld, and Rice as its primary players. I dunno, I'm sure it'll probably be 'powerful'... and while I love a good French Revolution or Vietnam War film, some things just never need to experienced again on stage or screen. I think I'd sooner watch a theatrical adaptation of the leadup to the Janet Jackson Superbowl scandal. Aside: that wikipedia page makes me weep.
• I'm more intrigued by Mourning Dove at the Pacific Theatre, a drama inspired by the Robert Latimer story. When they call the comedic relief 'bracing humour', you know they're taking their subject seriously.
  

What you sayin'?

photo by knightmusik, in the BR flickr pool. See our interview with her from last year.