by LORRAINE CARPENTER
Over 100 events make up the fifth annual Nuit Blanche, the climax of the Montreal High Lights Festival, and nearly all of them are linked by a free shuttle bus system, courtesy of the STM. From skating, ice sliding and sugar shacking to painting, photography and film to live music, dance and theatre, there’s certainly something for everyone, and too much for anyone. If the unprecedented size of this year’s cultural smorgasbord is messing up your brain, goodness knows these suggestions will steer you right. Do it!
The Belgo
(372 Ste-Catherine W.)
Among the 10 options within the walls of this art hotspot are a DJ-led dance-o- thon from noon–3 a.m. at the Joyce Yahouda Gallery (#516), also featuring the paintings of Paul Abraham. And in #223, catch Véronique Miljkovitch’s live graffiti on silk, for fans of DIY ’80s fashion. 8 p.m.–2 a.m., free.
Boy’e Gallery
(4872 St-Denis)
Watch and wonder at the live creation of comix, toys and figurines, photos, paintings and sculptures. Artists include Mirror Noisemaker Jonathan Himsworth, artist/designer Roxanna Brongo and toy man Olivier Petipas of Camion de pompier. 8 p.m.-2 a.m., free.
Café Campus
(57 Prince-Arthur E.)
Two club nights under one roof, with the electro-flavoured Beatitude downstairs (9 p.m.–5 a.m., $12), and Campus’s resident DJs and live music from Thunderheist upstairs, amid the old-school sci-fi décor of the Paranormal party (8:30 p.m.–5 a.m., $5).
Cinéma du Parc
(3575 Parc)
Perhaps whetting the appetite for the upcoming Festivalissimo (March 12–27), La Noche de los cortos features short films from all over the Spanish-speaking world, with subtitles in “English or French.” 9 p.m.–midnight, $8.
Darling Foundry
 (745 Ottawa)
Explore the sinister universe of Secret Societies, wherein the work of photographer Jean-François Bouchard will be viewable by flashlight, 8 p.m.–3 a.m, free.
Émilie-Gamelin Park
(between Berri and St-Hubert,
Ste-Catherine and de Maisonneuve)
Dada Diffusion teams up with the city to bring live, “extreme” snow-sculpture to this summer-festival space (behind Berri metro). Whatever they mean by “pink barbarians,” it’s said to be “for adult eyes only.” 9 p.m.–2 a.m., free.
Lion d’Or
(1676 Ontario E.)
Celebrate the local music scene with MIMI, the Montreal International Music Initiative. The 11th edition of the ever-changing awards event features live performances by Mirror cover stars the National Parcs and the Hot Springs, as well as numéro#, Mathias Mental and Figure 8. 11 p.m.–5 a.m., $10.
McCord Museum
(690 Sherbrooke W.)
The “trilogy from centuries past” encompasses mask-making and a masked ball at the McCord (8 p.m.–2:30 a.m.) to launch their exhibition Reveal or Conceal?, as well as flashlight tours (at 9 and 11 p.m., and 1 a.m.) of the Redpath Museum (859 Sherbrooke W.) and a tour of the McTavish reservoir with les Amis de la Montagne, who will literally illuminate their history lesson with projections. The McTavish tour departs from the Redpath Museum regularly between 8 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Place des Arts
(260 de Maisonneuve W.)
Eight diverse events will occupy PdA this year, among them screenings of short films from the Fantasia festival (Théatre Maisonneuve, 11 p.m.–5 a.m., free) and Popinsomnia, featuring 90-minute performances by Québécois pop chansonniers Alfa Rococo, Jérome Minière and Misteur Valaire, in that order (foyer of the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, 11:30 p.m.–5 a.m., free).
La Petite Licorne
(4559 Papineau)
Collective Catharsis invites Montrealers to blow off some steam with such activities as pillow fighting, primal screaming and wailing away on a punching bag, with a live music soundtrack. 11 p.m.–2 a.m., free.
Planetarium
(1000 St-Jacques W.)
Mars is the place explored in this year’s Nuit Blanche space spectacular, with presentations every half-hour from 10 p.m.–5 a.m., free. Note that the commentary is in French only.
Old Port
Between the Jacques-Cartier pier, Place Jacques-Cartier and the Bassin Bonsecours, the Old Port offers skating, ice sliding, a trampoline/bunjee contraption called the “jumpai,” a winter bar (with local electro mistress DJ Mini spinning alongside), more DJs and VJs inside the GiveItYourMinimum AXA Sphere, heating stations, a maple/milk bar and fireworks to kick it all off at 8 p.m. Activities begin between 6–10 p.m., most end at 3 a.m. (the skating rink stays open till 10 a.m.), free.
 
PULLING IN THE NUMBERS AT THE MIMI: numéro#
For more events, details and the shuttle bus
maps, go to www.montrealhighlights.com.
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