Last night I went for a picnic down at the Leslie Street Spit and had one of the most magical art moments of the entire summer. After making my way through what seemed to be a good half-mile of eye high wild flowers, I stumbled out upon a beautiful hand hewn patio. The patio had been created out of old rocks, bricks, and bits of concrete. Elaborate circles of terracotta and blonde rocks spun their way down towards the water's edge. A homemade fireplace was constructed out of slabs of dragged concrete and abandoned I beams. (For those of you who aren't familiar with Leslie Spit, it's a landfill in Lake Ontario constructed out of disposable waste. It's got a wonderful post-apocalyptic feel with bits of wildlife bursting from the nooks and crannies of old plastic, iron, concrete and metal.)

The waves crashed as I surveyed a vast collection of Druid-like stone, glass and metal sculptures. There must have been at least 30 sculptures of varying size dotting the beach. Some were miniatures -- a mere six inches high -- while others towered to about my own height of 5'9". Old bicycle wheels with seagull feathers spun in the wind, supported by long extrusions of pipe, poking out of elaborate bases of rock. The camp has been created by a group of fringe artists who hang out here winter, summer, spring and fall. They do it for no other reason than to create wonderfully ephemeral wabi sabi art. There's a feeling when you're here of being a wild Celt or a member of Huck Finn's secret club. It's artistic fringe dwelling and it's fantastically free and non-commercial.

I met a group of my pals and we sat in a burlap hut further down the shoreline, drinking wine, throwing stones and planning our own hut for next year. You know you don't have to have a cottage three hours out of the city to get a vacation. You'd be surprised at how easily, with some creativity and time, you can build your own Eden in the centre of a supposed wasteland. It's pure magic, and I'm going back as soon as I get the chance.

Read Aloud
The Atlantic Fringe Festival begins tonight with 290 performances over the next week at various venues around Halifax, NS … One of the highlights is an experimental show, Cover Her Face, which uses everything from "Elizabethan verse to stand-up comedy and beyond to illuminate its rich themes of madness, mortality, sexuality and deception." This one you can find at the Eye Level Gallery.

Atlantic Fringe Festival
Aug 30 to Sept 4 2000
Halifax, Nova Scotia
(902) 471-7081
1-800-565-0000

Fine Tuning
Toronto director Gail Singer traveled all over North America to film Wisecracks in 1991. The result was a hilarious and poignant look at the world of female standup comics. It's an old movie, but with some historical perspective that makes it rather timeless. See Ellen DeGeneres before TV and Anne Heche made her famous. Pioneers Phyllis Diller, Whoopi Goldberg, Sandra Shamas, Jenny Jones and Paula Poundstone contibute their insights and wisecracks. 9 p.m. ET on Bravo TV

There are few experiences in life that one never forgets. The finest wine of your life. A Beethoven symphony. The first time you cracked what became your favourite book. Well if you haven't had the pleasure of indulging yourself in Federico Fellini's 8 ½, then you're missing an incredible cinematic experience -- plus the opportunity to watch Fellini experiment with filmic autobiography. "In it, his alter ego is Guido Anselmi, a film director overwhelmed by the large-scale production he has undertaken. After his international smash La Dolce Vita, Fellini found himself saddled with a case of director's block and he conveys that despair in this film. Fellini cast many of the people in 8 ½ to play themselves, or at least be addressed by their real names, making the film part documentary and small part fiction. The title refers to the number of movies Fellini had directed up until that point: 8 features and 1 short film." If you haven't seen 8 ½, watch it or tape it. It's seminal cinema. Fellini's 8 ½ airs on Bravo! at 1 a.m. ET.