Radioactive video stars

There's no shortage of entertaining material in the brilliantly presented exhibition Video Heroes at the Saidye (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine). Curator Sylvie Gilbert has chosen 15 shorts by DIY artists who create music videos from the other extreme of the music industry - the one with no big budgets.

David Armstrong Six emulates the format in his rap "I've Been Thinking," Benny Ramsay mocks the genre as he plays all of the singing and dancing boys in his humorous "I Am a Boyband," and Anne McGuire's performance hijacks the medium with her 1950s lounge singer who has imbibed too much in "I Am Crazy and You're Not Wrong."

This show will give everyone who sees it some sort of flashback. I got mine with Nikki Forrest's "My Heart the Rock Star," in which she talks about becoming aware of Patti Smith, which brought back memories of religiously studying the cover of Smith's album Horses, copying her outfits and throwing away my razor.

If you think you're an overlooked video hero, it is not too late to submit your homemade gems for a special section of the exhibition. Also, on Dec. 13, the gallery turns nightclub with five local bands and a full bar. The exhibition runs until Jan 11, 739-2301. » Christine Redfern

Eyes wide shut

When Anne Le Beau stepped on stage to dance in the Danse Cité series 20 years ago, she didn't think for a moment that she'd be at it again 20 years later. She performs this week in Le Beau fait la bête, an evening of choreography at Espace Libre (1945 Fullum) tailored for her for this year's Danse Cité

"At 40 years old, I'm glad that I'm doing this," she says. "If I had done this show at 30, it would have been very different. I feel more mature now and can offer something more consistent."

Le Beau invited three artists, Alain Francoeur, Dominique Porte and Brigitte Haentjens to create three pieces for her. Their creations form a trio of very different worlds. In one piece, Le Beau dances with her eyes closed the whole way through. Another is an abstract duet based on interpretations of communication. And in the last piece, conventional images of women are manipulated and deconstructed. Dec. 3-6 and 10-13 at 8 p.m, 525-4191. » Marites Carino

Staples and tension

Bringing the Cumulus Press anthology Rising to a Tension to the public involves more than just getting it back from the printers. Publisher Dave Widgington faces a week of hand-stapling pages into the wee chapbook nestled in the front French flap of the book.

"It's a story by Elisabeth Harvor, previously published in the Hudson Review back in 1970," Widgington explains. Harvor's story compliments the international batch of new stories by 13 authors, all under 25, inside the anthology. Contributors reading at Saturday's launch include Maritimers Katharine Wrobel and Paul Comrie, Toronto's Bess Winter (via Sackville, N.B.), and Montreal's own Veronique Dorais and Sarah Steinberg. With musical interludes by Dante's Flaming Uterus. November 29, 8 p.m., at Zeke's Gallery (3955 St-Laurent), free. » Vincent Tinguely

Come, ye sinners

Everybody's doing it. Giving in, that is, to reprehensible acts of pride, envy, sloth, gluttony, greed, lust, anger and misc. - which also happen to be the eight categories of sin at Notproud.com. Since the year 2000 of our lord, Montrealers Gary Brazier and Scott Huot have culled more than 15,000 anonymous confessions into their addictive online emotional junkyard. Now they've got a book. This Friday, Nov. 28, 7-10 p.m., marks the launch of Murder, Incest and Cat Food Sandwiches, a compilation of the most hilarious, scandalous, pathetic and bizarre from the board. A few online snippets get you warmed up: "I lie." "I study acting in New York and I have huge boobs and I am the queen of blow jobs, and I am way too proud of all of these things." "I read the confessions at this Web site to make me feel better about myself." Launch at Blizzarts (3956A St-Laurent) with the book on sale for $15 (comes with a free drink!), or at www.amazon.com, $14.95 (U.S). » Matthew Woodley

Is it Art?

BOOZE BREATH: From ramming your car into a post to one-night-stand disasters and unnecessary late-night poutine extravaganzas, owning a Mini Keychain Breathalyser could save you from a whole lot of trouble. Blow into the shot-glass-sized device and one of three lights feeds back your blood-alcohol level: green for less than 0.05 per cent, yellow for .05-.08 per cent and red for above .08 per cent, the legal limit for driving. It also comes with a built-in static-electricity eliminator and mini flashlight. $44.95 (U.S.), www.superdealz2003.biz/product/breathalyzer/breathalyzer.htm to order.

ArtsHole

TORTURE THEATRE: Last chance to catch the Roy Street Collective's production of The Scavenger's Daughter, written by Joseph Strange and directed by Alison Darcy. The comedy, put on by a solid cast of theatre locals, features life-sized torture machines! Nov. 27-30, 8 p.m., (111 Roy E.), 284-5211. • OUTSIDE AND ONLINE: A virtual exhibition of works by and profiles of several local outsider artists can be seen in the Societé des arts indisciplinés' online exhibition, Champs libres: à la poursuite de l'art brut, which will be launched on Nov. 25 at www.sai.qc.ca/expo. • HOLY PIEROGI! A schwack of films and several notable directors hailing from Poland are in town this week for the fourth edition of the Polish Film Festival at the Cinémathèque québécoise (5570 Waverly). The fest includes a North American premiere complete retrospective of Roman Polanski, www. polishfilmfestival.com for more.

ARTISTAT: Number of years spanned in the Musée Pointe-à-Callière's exhibition, Dreams and Realities Along the Lachine Canal, a look at the lives of people who lived and worked along the waterway, running until April 25 (350 Place Royale): 100

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