12/10/08 ****FREE HANDOUT PHOTO - WITH COPY ON NEWSLINK/MERCURY**** **EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY 13TH OCTOBER AT 00.01AM** PIN: The UK's thrill-capital, THORPE PARK, leading next generation film studio LIONSGATE and TWISTED PICTURES today announced that they will launch SAW - The Ride, the world's first ever horror movie-themed rollercoaster, in Spring 2009. Based on Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures' 'Saw' franchise, the most profitable horror franchise in movie history, SAW - The Ride is the scariest ride in the world. The latest instalment in the series, 'Saw V', premieres on Friday 24th October, and THORPE PARK will be inviting visitors to 'Face Your Fears' on their new terrifying attraction next year. Like the films, THORPE PARK's new rollercoaster will test the nerve of all who dare ride it and visitors will be at the mercy of the series' master manipulator, Jigsaw. The ultimate test of SAW - The Ride will be a 'beyond vertical' drop of 100 degrees from a height of 100ft, making it the steepest freefall drop in the world. Riders will also endure three inversions that will add another dimension to a whole new experience of adrenaline-fuelled fun for thrill seekers. PHOTO: SAW character Billy at the new SAW rollercoaster.

For all of my childhood up to my early 20's (in the mid-1990s), this old-fashioned Dairy Queen roadside drive-in ice cream stand, complete with the classic blue sign, was the only American fast food franchise of any sort on the island of Ile Perrot. It's located at the intersection of Highway 20 and Boulevard Perrot, just a couple of hundred metres west of the Galipeau Bridge linking Ile Perrot to Montreal island. Believe it or not, it's open, at least according to the sign. It's supposed to be spring, but the first Friday in April saw quite a heavy dusting of snow in the Montreal area, and the moisture from the snow would lead to the death of my Kodak Easyshare C643 Zoom digital camera a little while later.