Silence of the Lambs on Pier 54; William Shunn Reads; Restored Metropolis; Women w/Guns; Swim the Mighty Hudson; Wilsey/Pruzan/Parsa at KGB; Canadians Enliven Shea; St. Salgado's Polio Pics

William Shunn is best known as a sci-fi writer, but his Missionary Man is something quite different: a memoir of his life as a Mormon, including his stint doing missionary work in Canada?and being arrested in an airport bomb scare a few years pre-9/11. So maybe there's a little sci-fi aspect to it after all. He'll explain all that when he reads Weds., July 17, 7 p.m., at KGB. 85 E. 4th St. (betw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.), 505-3360; free.

It's one of the handsomest, visually most inventive films of the 20th century, and certainly one of the all-time great sci-fi films, as well as a pretty powerful?if now dated and silent-film-maudlin?parable about wage slaves in the Machine Age, and greed, and lust for power, and just plain lust. Unfortunately, maybe a quarter of Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis (1927) as it was originally screened was lost or cut over time. Through July 25, Film Forum is showing a beautiful, thoughtful digital restoration in 35 mm, without question the best-looking and most complete Metropolis seen in a couple of generations. New title cards indicate the missing pieces, and the magisterial original orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz is back in place, driving the film forward in some of its slower silent-film-epic moments. A must-see. 209 W. Houston St. (betw. 6th Ave. & Varick St.), 727-8110, [www.filmforum.com](http://www.filmforum.com)

Our Great-Aunt Winnie (who wears a white leather 10-gallon hat, only dates "cowboys" and always carries a bottle of scotch in a ziplock baggie inside her purse) sees no problem with firearms. Her daddy had a shotgun propped up against the bedroom door, and now she does too. But we thought the whole point of civilization, even in Texas, was to evolve (and we don't mean better bullets). Yet as everyone is still hell-bent on carrying handguns in this country, folks might as well learn how to use 'em proper. On that note, the NRA sponsors a Women on Target event, an instructional shooting clinic for girls of all ages, plus food (natch), this Sat., July 20, 8:30 and 11:30 a.m., at the Westside Rifle & Pistol Range. Be sure to check out the poster with Chuck Heston surrounded by several rainbow coalition kids pondering the eternal question, "Register to vote, or register your guns?" 20 W. 20th St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), RSVP 243-9448, [www.nrahq.org/women/wot.asp](http://www.nrahq.org/women/wot.asp); free.

Well, we wouldn't swim in it, but if you're crazy, brave and hardy enough, check this out: the Hudson River Swims offer two opportunities to do your dog-paddle in that mighty stream. The long version, "Race for the River," is a 2.4-mile route from Hudson River Park's Pier 62 at 23rd St. down to North Cove Yacht Harbor in Battery Park City. For pussies, there's a half-mile race from BPC's South Cove to North Cove Marina (North End Ave.). It's this Sun., July 21, with swimmers' check-in at 11:45 a.m. for the long race, 3 p.m. for the short. The fee to race is $80 for the long one and $50 for the short. 267-9700, [www.nycswim.org](http://www.nycswim.org).

Yeah yeah, you're so over all those pesky, "quirky," relentlessly self-hyping McSweeney's writers and their overproduced three-ring readings. But a trio of good ones is reading Sun., July 21, at KGB (yeah, we know you're over the KGB scene too; get over yourself while you're at it), and we suspect they'll be rather more low-key than some of their colleagues. There's Sean Wilsey and Todd Pruzan, and then there's our old pal T.Z. (aka Tim, aka Zach) Parsa, who, when not lording it over Mexican peasants, hobnobbing with the polo crowd or phoning in snoozers to New York, is a fine writer of fiction. 85 E. 4th St. (betw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.), 505-3360; 7, free.

There're lots of different reasons to go to Shea for the Mets/ Montreal series that begins Mon., July 22: Maybe you want to be in the thick of the Mets' resurgence; or, more likely, say farewell to Leiter, Alomar and anyone else tossed into the pre-July 31 fire sale; or say adieu to the only team whose home park measures home runs in pieds, not feet, as they face postseason contraction; or maybe you just want to cheer on the home team, baseball's best-loved underdogs. But the real reason to go is to see one of the most exciting teams fielded today. Yes, the second-place Expos, by bringing Bartolo Colon and now Cliff Floyd to play with Vidro, Guerrero, Galarraga and Tatis (who as a Cardinal in 1999 hit two grand slams in one inning) will make Flushing baseball exciting again, if only for a few days. Mon.-Weds., July 22-24, 7:10 p.m. nightly. 126th St. (Roosevelt Ave.), Flushing, 718-507-8499, [www.nymets.com](http://www.nymets.com); $12-$43.

Far as we know, no saint ever carried a Leica, but if photographers could qualify for canonization, the leading candidate would be Sebastião Salgado: The Brazilian do-gooder is on a lifelong crusade to document the ravages of the disenfranchised of the world. Of late, as a UNICEF special representative, he's lent his very considerable photographic talents to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. If looking at exquisitely photographed views of polio victims from India, Pakistan and Somalia, and their would-be saviors, is your idea of a pleasant way to spend an hour or two, you've got until Aug. 16 to see "The End of Polio: A Global Effort to End a Disease" at Aperture magazine's cozy Burden Gallery. It's not a cheery show, but you'll feel better about yourself for seeing it. 20 E. 23rd St. (betw. B'way & Park Ave. S.), 505-5555.