Category: General

Well, another 24 Hour Play Writing Challenge, hosted by Nakai Theatre, is over. By my count, this is my tenth.

I approach these with the same outlook, namely that I’m never going to make as much progress as I planned. Frankly, expecting to write a complete play in such a short period of time is unrealistic. I have written first drafts and frameworks for plays in that time, and have often used the event to edit existing works in the mill.

This was my approach this time around. As per usual, I did not accomplish everything I had hoped, although I did manage to complete a full first draft. Much of the draft is pretty rough, needing some additional dialogue as well as having some removed. More importantly, there was a transition that I have be agonizing over for months. At 4 AM, the way to make this just clicked and, if there were no other benefits of the Challenge, this made it worthwhile by itself. In short, I think this year was a success.

I hit a bit of a milestone today. I never really thought it would go this far, but I did the 100th painting of the day this morning.

I suspect that I, like many, didn’t think the lock down for COVID19 would last any real length of time. But, it, and the activity I chose to fill it, has gone on. It probably will for some considerable time.

I spent the last two days wondering what I would do for the 100th one, and decided to paint one of my favourite places. This is Mount Vanier at Kusawa Lake. It is plainly visible from the campground, craggy and textured, and appears different throughout the day as the light changes. I picked a picture I shot in late evening in August of 2016.

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Several people have asked me about my social media postings on doing a painting a day. Here’s a bit of an explanation.

The Coronavirus lock down and physical distancing has led us to trying to find activities to keep ourselves busy. The stress and uncertainty have played havoc with the mental health of most of us.

A friend, who is a professional artist, attacked this problem and challenged herself to paint a small (4×6 or 5×7) watercolour each day.

The challenge intrigued me, so I decided I’d give it a try.

Before we go much further, I will preface this with the following disclaimer: I am not a professional artist, and have only been painting, after a 45-year break from oil painting, since December. My wife is highly allergic to fumes, so I decided to try paining in watercolour instead.  I’ve had two lessons.

My hope was that this would give me some structure to this time and allow me to improve my skills.

I decided to try to do a local painting every day.

I have missed a few days, but not many. Sometimes, you just don’t feel up to it, given the current situation. Lately, the siren call of nice weather and a backlog of yard work has interfered.

So, I hit my photo collection and started painting. Yes, some have been duds, but some have turned out nicely.

I’ve had to turn to internet pictures for additional details when my shots didn’t have what I needed. Some local photographers have also been kind enough to allow me to do one of their photos when I found the subject interesting and didn’t have a photo of my own.

This little project has had a few benefits:

• I usually need something to do, or I will get into trouble. Idle hands are the devil’s toolbox and I’ve managed to stay out of mischief… so far.
• I am getting rather good a fixing my painting mistakes, because I have made more than my fair share.
• I have made it a point to learn the actual names of some of the mountains I’ve just taken for granted. In a reverse of how it seems to work, I’ve even managed to learn the English name of a mountain I only knew by its Tutchone one.
• Most of these are not finished. Some could use touching up or adding a bit more detail, but I can get to that later.
• Most importantly, of the places I’ve lived, this is the easiest place to find a beautiful piece of scenery to paint every day. We are lucky to live here.

My paintings can all be seen on Instagram, @doug.rutherford.

I don’t know how long this challenge, or these circumstances, will last (so far, I’ve done 89 paintings). But, if the lock down has gotten you down, you can find something to pass the time. Just do something you enjoy. You don’t have to great at it. I’m proof.

I have been reasonably busy painting recently. A friend decided to do a small painting a day as something for structure during the COVID-19 lockdown. I decided to follow suit. Here’s a few.

Warning: Spoilers.

Some were right. Some weren’t even close. But, I suppose if you are one of those who wanted an alternate ending, you could just use these…

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As I mentioned, I was going to write down my predictions after Episode 2 of Season 8. Here they are:

I know a lot of people think the Night King is going to win at all and end up on the Iron Throne. If so, the sheer bulk of major characters wouldn’t be in Winterfell but rather at King’s Landing for that “winner-take-all” battle. Sorry about those folks guess but the Night King dies in Winterfell setting up a final push for the Iron Throne.

The end of the Night King will come with a few other deaths, though. Theon started the show as a pretty miserable person. Dying defending Bran is probably the glorious end he deserves. It will probably be in vain, as I suspect this is the end of Bran as well. The last of the Children died defending the last Three-Eyed-Raven, and with the Night King gone, is another one needed? And, given the closeness they showed last week, and since you should never get attached to any of the characters, Sansa probably dies at the same time as Theon.

Who kills the Night King? Since the plan is to lure him to the courtyard and kill him there, a little stealth would be a pretty handy skill. Why have a trained assassin in the family if she isn’t the one to kill the Night King. By the way, Littlefinger’s Valyerian steel dagger is how she does him in.

The remainder of the main characters all survive to move against Cersei at King’s Landing. I think (see later prediction) Jaime is responsible for saving Brienne’s life during the battle with the dead and Tyrion saves Jaime during the battle as well.

Okay. Who else dies? We know, based on the prediction, that both Varys and Melisandre will die. How? I can’t guess.

For the rest, we move on to the final push to take the throne. One fact is sure: Cersei dies. The fortune teller said she would have three children and outlive them. Don’t expect her to survive to have the fourth. She is either going to be killed by Jaime (not the first ruler he’s done in, after all) or Ser Jorah.

If you remember from last season, and from the animation for this season, the large crossbow built by Qyburn is going to be important, probably for shooting Daenerys dragon and she dies in the fall. Jon gets revenge by frying Qyburn, who really deserves it anyway. If no other theme comes from Game of Thrones, it’s “revenge is good.” And, no, I don’t think Daenerys wins the throne. If this is the case, then I think Jorah gets to have his revenge by killing Cersei.

What happens to Jorah? He gets killed by the Mountain, who is, in turn, killed by the Hound. It’s the revenge thing.

I mentioned Tyrion saves Jaime’s life earlier since, I think Bronn will try to meet his job of killing both of them in the first episode, with the crossbow Tyrion used to kill Tywin. I can see Bronn shooting at Tyrion and Jaime getting in the way, dying to protect his brother. Jaime started the series as a miserable person, and the sacrifice would seem to be appropriate as a way of making amends. To be perfectly fair, Bronn dies after combat with Brienne.

There’s a lot of dying here, isn’t there? Who lives? Jon, for one does since he will have an important role to fill later. For those wondering, so does Ser Davos, since he has an important role, as well.

I suppose I should say who I think ends up on the Iron Throne here. Despite his royal blood, it’s not Jon. He’s probably going to return to Winterfell to rule as either Warden or King of the North since no other family member is left to rule. Wait, does Arya survive my predictions? Yes, but I think she’s stay in Kings Landing with the only other remaining character of royal birth. Martin does seem to like things being cyclical, and, since the series starts with a Baratheon on the Iron Throne and end the same way. Gendry, as the bastard son of Robert Baratheon, is going to end up as king. Jon is going to ensure that those who know he is a Targaryen hide the knowledge. I think anyone watching from the beginning suspects that Jon has no desire to be anywhere but the north.

Well, since I wrote this on April 24th, I wonder how I did. We’ll know in four weeks for sure, and by this Sunday evening if I’m even close…

There are four more episodes of Game of Thrones left and it’s time for wondering how this all pans out. I’ve made a few predictions about who would end up on the Iron Throne over the years; however, these have changed over time.

I’ve made some major changes after the last episode, keeping in mind George R. R. Martin’s penchant for (politely put) surprises. So, I’m going to write mine down this week and see how close I am to guessing the ending. Who lives? Who dies (and how)? Who ends up on the Iron Throne? What happens to the major characters?

No, I’m not going to post these until after the final episode. I hate spoilers and suspect many others feel the same way.

Maybe, everyone else who wants should do the same (and, no, don’t post them). Think of this as a contest with no winners and no prize. I would be curious to see, though, how close every one came. I’ll post mine a few days after, just to make sure everyone has seen the final episode…

Tickets are now available for the Whitehorse run of The Last President of Canada. These can be purchased at the Yukon Arts Centre box office or online.

Tickets for the Atlin show can be purchased at the door or through email.

My latest play, The Last President of Canada, is being produced this spring. We are doing four shows in Whitehorse at the Old Fire Hall, May 23-26, and one show at the Globe Theatre in Atlin, BC on June 1, with a lot of help from the Residency@YAC program run by the Yukon Arts Centre. This is my chance to tune up any issues that need work before hopefully running it in one or more fringe festivals next summer. I have already applied for the Ottawa in June and have to get around to putting in for Winnipeg in July. More news to follow as things firm up.