1. The Belfast Comic Arts Festival started yesterday and runs through Sunday, and whoa, what a lineup of events! There are comedy movies being shown all day each day at the Colonial Theatre, as well as performances from Tim Sample, Robert "The Humble Farmer" Skoglund, Scot Canon, the Mark and Tim Show, Rob Steen, Tom Clark, and Tom Hayes. Films featuring Belfast and Waldo County will get the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment from local comedians at 9 p.m. on Friday, and full-on showing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is set for 10 p.m. on Saturday, complete with rice and underwear. Jam-packed with laffs, laffs, laffs. Visit www.comicartsfest.com for a full schedule.

2. Hey, here's some shameless self-promotion: there's a poetry reading and slam from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday at the Charles Inn in West Market Square in downtown Bangor, and yours truly is hosting it. So come out and read, or enjoy hearing other people read. I promise it will be entertaining. I can guarantee it.

3. The Student Art Show at the University of Maine opens Friday night, with a public reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Lord Hall Galleries. It's always a lively, colorful affair, with remarkably diverse, thoughtful art. Worth a visit.

4. The Brew are a bunch of totally excellent musicians who play straight up, no bull jam rock. And that, friends, can be a very satisfying thing indeed. They are playing at the Unity Centre for the Performing Arts at 9 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $10 bucks, call 948-SHOW for more info. Or, in other musical happenings, you could hold off and go see Jefferson Starship for three times as much money at the Grand Theatre in Ellsworth on Tuesday. Because, um, they built this city on rock n' roll. And you totally want to pay 49 bucks to get to meet Paul Kantner. Right.

5. Movies this week: "Be Kind, Rewind," the new Michel Gondry movie starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Mia Farrow, is at Movie Magic in Bangor. So is "Run, Fat Boy, Run," with Simon Pegg from "Sean of the Dead." "The Ruins" opens this weekend, which I've heard is really scary and awesome, in the vein of "The Descent." Oh yeah, and "Prom Night." Ha!

6. Extra thing to do this weekend: ReggaeFest at Sugarloaf starts tonight. One last chance to hit the slopes and then party all night. This year you've got Mile 21, Pressure Cooker, Vibe Wise, the Well, Toussaint and the Trauma Unit, Hot Like Fire, On the Drop, Ini Souljah, Big Mountain and Stream all bringing you three and a half days of non stop reggae action. Visit www.sugarloaf.com/reggae.html for more info.