Excellent weekend!
Jun. 23rd, 2003 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electriclandFriday: finally got out of work, still feeling a tad fragile. Wandered up St-Laurent (closed for the street festival), signed in for my volunteer shift and ate some pizza to ward off starvation (the problem with hangovers is that starvation sneaks up on you out of nowhere).
My Friday shift started at Venue 4, which is right next to the park with the beer tent. I bounced up to the venue manager all full of newbie enthusiasm: "So, what do I do?"
"Mostly you sit."
"I can do that."
He was making things out of wire -- he had a fantastic pair of dragons on the table and was trying to figure out what do do with the little ball he'd made this evening. I suggested an ant. I hung out and did very little until it was time to take tickets (for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oblomova's show) -- sold 4 at the last minute, that was good. Then it was back to sitting. Then a panicked call came over the walkie-talkie for help at the box office and I guess he noticed me quivering with anticipation ("do you want to go help out?") so over I went. Time passed much more quickly over there -- my task was to pull the right tickets out of the box and have them ready until they were written down, at which point I could hand them over -- the box office was pretty busy and there were four of us mocking the walkie-talkie chatter, so that was good. Then I alphabetized bits of paper, and then I signed out and went home.
Saturday: roasting. Thirty degrees or so. My apartment is never as hot as outside so I never know these things until it's too late, and I was hauling my leather jacket around with me all day (until about 5:30, when I bought a jean jacket for $5 and was hauling both of them around). However. Caught the metro to Mont-Royal and walked over, melting slowly. The unfortunate volunteers at Venue 4 were on the east (therefore sunny) side of the street and doing their best to hide from the full blast-furnace effect behind a fat pillar that sits on the sidewalk. I guess it was better than nothing. Bought a ticket for Last of the Red-Hot Dadas and wandered over to the buzz wall to try and figure out what to see later, but failed. More fun to play it by ear anyway (although note to self: next year, start earlier in the week!).
Last of the Red-Hot Dadas was great, very funny and biting and honest -- I did my best to talk it up on all my volunteer shifts so I hope it helped!
Walked up to Venue 6, which was a good 15-minute hike, to discover that Star Wars Survivor was sold out. Shame. Walked back down via Preloved and bought a halter-neck top cut down from a grey Maryland football sweatshirt -- it's extremely cute, and there was a sale on. Wore it out of the store being careful to stay out of the sun as much as possible.
Wandered back to the beer tent and caught the first half of the Drag Races; left abruptly when someone started fondling my ass (groping is not the word, it was a very light, almost flabby feeling, but it was definitely not accidental), and headed back to Venue 4 to see Roller Girl. Rough in spots, but sweet; reminded me a little of Strictly Ballroom with hints of the Karate Kid, only in Thunder Bay.
Then weighed my options and headed down to the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, which got mixed reviews but which I thought was hilarious. I particularly appreciated the guy's impression of the 20th Century Fox logo, not to mention this little exchange:
Alec Guinness: "...which is why your sister remains safely... anonymous."
Mark Hamill: Pause. "Leia. Leia's my sister!"
Still Alec Guinness: "Well, she's the only woman in the movie."
Yeah, well it played better in person. The venue was boiling though, the poor guy was absolutely dripping with sweat (as was I, and I just had to sit there).
Signed in for my shift and made the trek back up to Venue 6. This was definitely getting old. The theatre was originally a swimming pool: the stage is in the deep end and the audience sits on the part rising to the shallow end; most unusual! Not a whole lot to do most of the time, the venue manager and I sat outside and chatted about shows we'd seen and family and work and ate trail mix and drank all the cold liquids we could get and watched the reflected sun go down and, eventually, the nimbus of the fireworks down at the Port (the fireworks themselves were hidden by buildings). Occasionally, we sold tickets and chatted to Fringegoers. Moliere than Thou and She's Not Well got decent houses, but we only sold about 5 tickets for The Pugilist -- however they seemed very cheerful about it ("Did you sell any tickets for our show?" "Yup." "Really?!" "Really." "How many?" "How badly do you want to know?" "I reeeeally want to know." "Five." "Five! Awesome! Hey guys, we sold five tickets!"). All very young. I went to see that one and feel really badly that I couldn't stay awake, but it had been a long day. I kept nodding off and realizing it and waking up again so I'm afraid it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I hope they didn't notice...
Walked back down to Headquarters with the venue manager. Thoroughly sick of the hike by that time. Taxi home. Sleep.
Sunday: thought I was going to be late for my shift but it turned out I was early, or rather I was on time but at the wrong venue. Third time I called in they told me this, but said "Stay there -- we need you more at Venue 9". So I did. Rushed day for them, our tickets didn't arrive for ages... nice lazy afternoon for me though, sat outside (on the shady side, fortunately), chatting to the manager for that venue who was very nice and very attractive and who I probably won't run into ever again, such being life. Unless I go to the closing party, which I'm thinking I should...
Saw all but the first 5 minutes of Devotion (liked it a lot, but wish I'd seen the beginning -- some things just get all out of balance when you miss the front). Saw PRND21 (more because they gave me a flyer and I wanted to reward effort than anything else, but it turned out to be funny and moving). Got in line for tickets to Tyrannous Rex but they ran out four people ahead of me, so went to my backup show, which was Medea. VERY glad I saw that although I didn't always follow everything. The people to my left and right were seeing it for the second and fourth time respectively.
Wandered up to the beer tent, drank some beer (and about bloody time too), caught the last few minutes of the Frankie Awards, failed to snare any cute boys, caught the metro home.
And now I am tired and going to bed. More coherent critiques later maybe, although probably not. Short day tomorrow, I'd skip it altogether but one of our clients wants a conference call.
For those going to later Fringes, shows that were very well spoken of but that I missed:
Sabotage
A Canadian Bartender at Butlin's
Tyrannous Rex
All Classical Music Explained
She's Not Well
Moliere than Thou
Uncalled For
The Power of Ignorance
The Pillow Book
Mixed reviews:
Job II
Gay Samurai Revue
Ninjas Get All the Chicks
Pretty universally panned:
Sluts Are Only Human (shame, it's a quote from Christopher Fry)
Once a Dyslexic Frog
My Friday shift started at Venue 4, which is right next to the park with the beer tent. I bounced up to the venue manager all full of newbie enthusiasm: "So, what do I do?"
"Mostly you sit."
"I can do that."
He was making things out of wire -- he had a fantastic pair of dragons on the table and was trying to figure out what do do with the little ball he'd made this evening. I suggested an ant. I hung out and did very little until it was time to take tickets (for
oblomova's show) -- sold 4 at the last minute, that was good. Then it was back to sitting. Then a panicked call came over the walkie-talkie for help at the box office and I guess he noticed me quivering with anticipation ("do you want to go help out?") so over I went. Time passed much more quickly over there -- my task was to pull the right tickets out of the box and have them ready until they were written down, at which point I could hand them over -- the box office was pretty busy and there were four of us mocking the walkie-talkie chatter, so that was good. Then I alphabetized bits of paper, and then I signed out and went home.Saturday: roasting. Thirty degrees or so. My apartment is never as hot as outside so I never know these things until it's too late, and I was hauling my leather jacket around with me all day (until about 5:30, when I bought a jean jacket for $5 and was hauling both of them around). However. Caught the metro to Mont-Royal and walked over, melting slowly. The unfortunate volunteers at Venue 4 were on the east (therefore sunny) side of the street and doing their best to hide from the full blast-furnace effect behind a fat pillar that sits on the sidewalk. I guess it was better than nothing. Bought a ticket for Last of the Red-Hot Dadas and wandered over to the buzz wall to try and figure out what to see later, but failed. More fun to play it by ear anyway (although note to self: next year, start earlier in the week!).
Last of the Red-Hot Dadas was great, very funny and biting and honest -- I did my best to talk it up on all my volunteer shifts so I hope it helped!
Walked up to Venue 6, which was a good 15-minute hike, to discover that Star Wars Survivor was sold out. Shame. Walked back down via Preloved and bought a halter-neck top cut down from a grey Maryland football sweatshirt -- it's extremely cute, and there was a sale on. Wore it out of the store being careful to stay out of the sun as much as possible.
Wandered back to the beer tent and caught the first half of the Drag Races; left abruptly when someone started fondling my ass (groping is not the word, it was a very light, almost flabby feeling, but it was definitely not accidental), and headed back to Venue 4 to see Roller Girl. Rough in spots, but sweet; reminded me a little of Strictly Ballroom with hints of the Karate Kid, only in Thunder Bay.
Then weighed my options and headed down to the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, which got mixed reviews but which I thought was hilarious. I particularly appreciated the guy's impression of the 20th Century Fox logo, not to mention this little exchange:
Alec Guinness: "...which is why your sister remains safely... anonymous."
Mark Hamill: Pause. "Leia. Leia's my sister!"
Still Alec Guinness: "Well, she's the only woman in the movie."
Yeah, well it played better in person. The venue was boiling though, the poor guy was absolutely dripping with sweat (as was I, and I just had to sit there).
Signed in for my shift and made the trek back up to Venue 6. This was definitely getting old. The theatre was originally a swimming pool: the stage is in the deep end and the audience sits on the part rising to the shallow end; most unusual! Not a whole lot to do most of the time, the venue manager and I sat outside and chatted about shows we'd seen and family and work and ate trail mix and drank all the cold liquids we could get and watched the reflected sun go down and, eventually, the nimbus of the fireworks down at the Port (the fireworks themselves were hidden by buildings). Occasionally, we sold tickets and chatted to Fringegoers. Moliere than Thou and She's Not Well got decent houses, but we only sold about 5 tickets for The Pugilist -- however they seemed very cheerful about it ("Did you sell any tickets for our show?" "Yup." "Really?!" "Really." "How many?" "How badly do you want to know?" "I reeeeally want to know." "Five." "Five! Awesome! Hey guys, we sold five tickets!"). All very young. I went to see that one and feel really badly that I couldn't stay awake, but it had been a long day. I kept nodding off and realizing it and waking up again so I'm afraid it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I hope they didn't notice...
Walked back down to Headquarters with the venue manager. Thoroughly sick of the hike by that time. Taxi home. Sleep.
Sunday: thought I was going to be late for my shift but it turned out I was early, or rather I was on time but at the wrong venue. Third time I called in they told me this, but said "Stay there -- we need you more at Venue 9". So I did. Rushed day for them, our tickets didn't arrive for ages... nice lazy afternoon for me though, sat outside (on the shady side, fortunately), chatting to the manager for that venue who was very nice and very attractive and who I probably won't run into ever again, such being life. Unless I go to the closing party, which I'm thinking I should...
Saw all but the first 5 minutes of Devotion (liked it a lot, but wish I'd seen the beginning -- some things just get all out of balance when you miss the front). Saw PRND21 (more because they gave me a flyer and I wanted to reward effort than anything else, but it turned out to be funny and moving). Got in line for tickets to Tyrannous Rex but they ran out four people ahead of me, so went to my backup show, which was Medea. VERY glad I saw that although I didn't always follow everything. The people to my left and right were seeing it for the second and fourth time respectively.
Wandered up to the beer tent, drank some beer (and about bloody time too), caught the last few minutes of the Frankie Awards, failed to snare any cute boys, caught the metro home.
And now I am tired and going to bed. More coherent critiques later maybe, although probably not. Short day tomorrow, I'd skip it altogether but one of our clients wants a conference call.
For those going to later Fringes, shows that were very well spoken of but that I missed:
Sabotage
A Canadian Bartender at Butlin's
Tyrannous Rex
All Classical Music Explained
She's Not Well
Moliere than Thou
Uncalled For
The Power of Ignorance
The Pillow Book
Mixed reviews:
Job II
Gay Samurai Revue
Ninjas Get All the Chicks
Pretty universally panned:
Sluts Are Only Human (shame, it's a quote from Christopher Fry)
Once a Dyslexic Frog
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 03:19 pm (UTC)Tiny little space, of course, so limited potential audience.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 08:53 am (UTC)I wish they had stuff like that around here...
no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 03:21 pm (UTC)There are many things to be said in favour of cities. Especially this one. What was extra nice was just wandering around the Plateau -- I forget how nice it is, sometimes.
In defence of the country
Date: 2003-06-24 07:39 am (UTC)P.