Saturday Happenings

Places to Avoid

-- The time of year has returned for folks to take off their pants and ride the T. The event is sponsored by the Boston Society of Spontaneity, whose idea of spontaneous fun includes eight paragraphs of neurotic instructions. Various MBTA stations, the Red Line (thank God), 3 p.m. More information.

Going Green

-- The very awesome Boston Building Materials Co-op and the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance co-sponsor today's Energy Saving Open House. It's a free opportunity to learn how to save on your energy bills by improving the efficiency of your house. Roxbury Community College, Room 129, Academic Building, 1234 Columbus Ave., Roxbury, 10 a.m. Free.

Movies

-- Start your cinematic 2009 off right—with a couple of movies about dead children! The Sweet Hereafter (1997) is Atom Egoyan's quiet adaptation of Russell Banks's novel about the effect a school bus accident has on a small town. A meditation on blame and guilt. It screens with Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), the story of three sexually represeed schoolgirls who disappeared during a trip to the Australian outback. Bring Prozac. Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge. Tickets and showtimes.

Drone

-- Twisted Village has the Bostonist seal of approval. It's an old fashioned record store with everything we look for: great prices, weird music, and devoted employees who are not snobs. Tonight it's also a music venue. Blues Control, a Queens NY drone outfit, will blanket the store with a soft layer of psychedelia, just as the snow starts falling outside. Twisted Village, 12 Eliot St., Cambridge, 8 p.m. Cost: a donation or your soul, you pick.