Parlovr - "Hell, Heaven" Alex from Parlovr wrote to me to tell me what "Hell, Heaven" is about. It is about when he was a teenager living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and he fell in love with a girl who lived on a military base. Her father was a helicopter pilot. When Osama Bin Laden threatened to blow up Alex's school, the principal declared a holiday. Alex went to the military base. He went to the girl's house. He sneaked in through her window. They kissed, more than once. She was from Kentucky. They are not lovers any more. He was a teenager. This is a true story, I think. These years later, Alex lives in Montreal. He drinks beers at Casa del Popolo, at least sometimes, and coffees at Café Olimpico. There is no sand, no gleaming bone-white city. There are boulevards garlanded by falling leaves, and places to lock your bike, and girls who say Bonsoir. Alex says Bonsoir back. It means Good evening, and Alex cannot help, now and then, from imagining a hidden bomb. [the Hell/Heaven/Big/Love EP is out October 19 / MySpace]

Hello Shark - "My Life". Imagine if a garage were a person: what sort of life would she have? And imagine if a parking-lot were a person, making rich business. Imagine these dumb ideas. // I was born in a place that I didn't think had any people. The garages were not people; the parking-lots were not people; my friends and parents were not people. I decided when I was eighteen years old that no one was real except for myself. They were all made of asbestos, stuffed with straw. // I was wrong. [MySpace]

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M60: the Montral 60 Second Film Festival takes place this Thursday (tonight!), Friday and Saturday. I'm one of the organisers of this DIY film festival, which sees hundreds of Montrealers making 60-second movies over the course a month. At each of this week's screenings, we'll be showing all 80 completed films - including a movie by me, titled IN COLD BLOOD. Tickets are just $7. It's enormous fun. I hope you'll come.

If M60 doesn't feel right, there are some other options this week: Hello Shark are playing at tonight (and a house party tomorrow), as part of a spoken word night at Lambi. 15 of the city's "best amateur poets" will do short readings. Meanwhile, Mainline Theatre hosts MProv, the Montreal Improv Festival, with the best of local and visiting troupes. The Bitter End - starring Said the Gramophone's own Dan Beirne play tonight.

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