MUSIC
Barbra Streisand
"Listening now, I think to myself, 'the girl wasn't half bad.' " So says the buttery singer Barbara Streisand, in the liner notes attached to her album of rarities (and one new song) out Tuesday. Release Me, so named for the material apparently demanding to be heard, arrives one day after the balladeering Babs starts a North American tour that brings her to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver later in the month. (Oct. 9) Brad Wheeler
THEATRE
Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata
The 50 million free ads posted on Craigslist each month have decimated newspaper classified sections, brought hapless sex partners together for trysts, and can even offer a weird, wonderful peep into our humanity in this staged 90-minute song cycle by a charming pair, Bill Richardson and Veda Hille. (Kay Meek Centre, Oct. 6; Surrey Arts Centre, Oct. 9 through 20) Michael Harris
FILM
Seven Psychopaths
After the white-hot intensity of In Bruges, writer/director Martin McDonagh gets delightfully "meta" here, with a crime thriller as recursive as it is clever. And often hilarious too, not least because four terrifically idiosyncratic actors rank among the seven psychopaths – Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and, drum roll, Christopher Walken. They're all having wicked fun – better yet, it's contagious. (Oct. 12) Rick Groen
VISUAL ART
Judith and Norman Alix Gallery
Sarnia's new Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery opens its doors to the public this weekend. Two years and $10-million in the making, the striking structure sits behind the brick facade of a 119-year-old building in the city's downtown. The facility's home to more than 1,000 works of contemporary and historical Canadian art, including paintings by Emily Carr and Tom Thomson. (Oct. 6) James Adams
TELEVISION
Frontline: The Choice 2012
If you believe the pollsters and pundits, next month's U.S. presidential election could go either way. By now a quadrennial viewing tradition, this Frontline report examines the respective resumes of Democratic president Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Merging archive footage with more than a hundred interviews, the film rewinds Obama's life all the way back to his days as a pot-smoking Hawaiian teen. PBS, 9 p.m.
(Oct. 9) Andrew Ryan