Word count 38,340.

Went to the Fringe on Friday with my sisters. First time I've ever done that -- usually I go with either Mom or my daughter. (Actually, we are all going together on Saturday) It was an interesting experience, seeing it though eyes that haven't been in a while. It is a lot of fun! The carnival atmosphere can't be beat! And good food, plus great lemonade, plus the plays, of course.

I like to go down with no preconceived notions about the plays -- in other words, haven't read a review or watched much on TV. I just like to gather handbills, and decide from the "pitch" whether I will go to that particular play or not. (Unless Mom's in a play -- then I go to it, for sure. I love the fact that she used to go to my plays while I was growing up, and now I go to hers.) However, my sisters had a different plan. We bought a program guide (!) organized our potential viewing times around when we'd eat, and what they'd heard, review-wise. Ah well, must be flexible about this sort of thing!

We caught two. the first one, "87% True ..." (Walterdale Playhouse check your own schedule for times etc.) was fine. Not a disappointment, just a tad slow. With a little tightening, it would have been really good, I think. (I must admit, this one was my choice, I'd gone to their blog and been entranced.) The second one, "Teaching Shakespeare 3" was great. Great great great. Venue's not good (It's in Studio B, grab the chairs if you can, because the benches are murder) but the play worked on so many levels! Hilarious until it got so creepy I just couldn't laugh anymore. But he timed it so wonderfully that by that time, the play was done. It was a difficult topic (gee what a surprise, a difficult topic at the Fringe!) but Keir Cutler (author plus cast) did a fantastic job.

Am going back on Saturday with daughter and mother -- hoping for an all day all night thing, and to catch as many plays as I can. We will see how that goes.

Concerning my writing pace-- it's painfully slow. Want my excuses? I don't have any. Not any that will hold water, anyhow. But I have a newfound respect for those who write science fiction on a regular basis. This world building thing is pretty darned hard. There is just a ton to think about. All that stuff is built right in if you plop your story (as I usually do) on Earth somewhere. Everybody knows the rules and we go from there. Man, I hope I remembered everything! This is a bit like travelling to a country you've never been to before -- and nobody you know has been there before, and you can't find anything on the internet, so you really don't know if you can actually pick up a toothbrush there, and if you can just plug in your portable computer -- or if they even have electricity -- andl, when you really don't know, you tend to overpack. I think that's what I'm doing. Overpacking. Ah well, today's the day. Out of my old familiar world and into Lois's.

Saw 2 movies this weekend -- Bon Cop, Bad Cop (spoilers follow, just so you know.) I support Canadian films when I can find them. This one was not spectacular -- and I LIKE buddy cop movies! The French English stuff was really very funny, but the action sequences bugged me (that jerky crap drives me crazy, makes me think the director's scared we'll be able to tell he's used doubles. We know. Get over it.), and the hockey thing threw me over the edge. I was hoping for more -- and I felt like I didn't get it. I had such high hopes when the two main characters were each hanging on for dear life to the dead guy, who was draped over the sign delineating the Ontario Quebec border, and the dead guy rips in half (pretty much forcing them to work together). I understood it was going to be over the top and filled with cliches -- those types of movies are usually just a bunch of cliches strung together, anyhow, even if they're playing it straight (see 16 Blocks if you don't believe me). But then the hockey crap started, and I had trouble caring after that.

HOWEVER, two scenes were spectacular (not counting the sign scene, which was screamingly funny.) The scene where the Quebec cop tells his estranged wife that their daughter was kidnapped -- that was so well done it was painful. But painful in that good way. That scene kept me in my seat until the (cliche riddled) end. And the scene where the Toronto cop is attacked in his own house, that was another good one. Juxtaposing the sex and the violence. Really well done. REALLY well done. All right, now you see, there was enough good there that what I saw as bad REALLY galled me. Or maybe I don't have a sense of humour about the hockey thing, anymore. Can something be "overcliched"? I don't know. (And yeah, I see the irony of someone from Canada bitching about the cliche of hockey, when her blog STARTED with the Stanley Cup Finals.)

The second movie "Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang" was really quite good. Really. No spoilers here. Just rent it, and enjoy.