Black Spiders - KISS Tried To Kill Me

        

kiss tried to kill me

This is a great song and video.  Go here to watch it!

The Warriors (1979)

I saw this first in 1984, though I remember hearing about it when it was released.  It was considered very controversial at the time, since it was about gangs and set in present day New York.  Which is pretty ridiculous looking back now, because if it had been a western and had settlers fighting through different Native American tribes it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.  There's only one gun used in the entire movie.

Zero Monsters and Gargantuas

This awesome double feature is happening today, about an hour south of where I live.  It's two great movies, neither of which I have seen on the big screen before.  I'm assuming it will be the dubbed version, causing some consternation to the "sub-elitist" crowd, but then, two of the actors didn't speak Japanese, so I guess it's OK for them to be dubbed, right?  I'll give that a moment to sink in, just cause I'm feeling like a jerk at the moment.

The Unholy Rollers (1972)

had never heard of this movie until the other day.  so far it's a pretty typical 70s exploitation movie, but at least it's got some good movie and a decent cast.  the banked track isn't very banked, but I think that's how it was in the early 70s.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

watching these movies again with the text commentary on this time is so much fun. you learn so much more about the movies.  and it's not nearly as obtrusive as most audio commentaries.  I haven't seen this one in quite some time, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time.  I'd say the first four movies are easily the best in the series now.

what is on a derby ref's mind

love the haircut, too!

from the awesome blog "You Picked a Fine Time To Leave me Loose Wheel", this is one of Electra Qtion's best drawings.  the blog is really great as well.

and as a derby ref, I can say it's all true, though some parts are more true than others.  I am not a jam ref, so I rarely get to look awesome doing that.  sure made me laugh, though.

derby tattoo

in roller derby. long time readers (well, ones that have been with me two years or so) remember this post where I talked about my first roller derby bout. in it you can see I mention "L.A. Ink" and the clip that I saw about roller derby.
for the life of me, I thought it was an LA Derby Doll that came in for the tattoo, but it's not, it's a Rose City Roller, Domesticated Violence, from way up in Oregon. so perhaps I just figured she was from much closer to LA.
so here's the clip. that's who you can blame now, Kat von D.

Renegade Roller Derby

last night I went down to National City with several compadres from SDRD to watch a "Renegade Roller Derby" bout.

it certainly was something.  as the program says, there are no penalties.  there are rules of some kind,  but what's the point?  anyway,  there are three 15 minute periods, no timeout (except for injuries) and no refs.  the jams last one minute and can't be called off.  the jammer makes it through the pack and then she scores three points for every time she laps the other teams skaters.

the girls can do anything they want, cut the track, use elbows or even takedowns.  this results in some "fighting" here and there.  then there are three or four guys in the middle who come over to separate them.

it was all rather disappointing.  the girls were not great skaters, and their "fights" looked completely contrived.  if they are going to go this route, they should put some more thought into and go all out, make it a fun show, "sports entertainment" if you will. 

the girls shouldn't smile at each other after a take down.  the coaches should all help work the audience and keep it girls focused on the show.   don't half ass it, use your whole ass!

it wasn't worth the $10 I spent on it, but I have spent more for less.  and the company was quite excellent!

I. Love. Roller Derby.

today marks the first anniversary of my being associated with San Diego Roller Derby.  I can't imagine my life without it now.

I have talked about it before, so all I am really going to say is how much the people here mean to me, and how much they have changed my life for the better.  I love them all greatly!

roller derby saved my soul!

my 2010

I liked 2010 for the most part.  sure, there were some downs, but overall it was pretty good.  since I'm not clever enough to think of cool titles and such, I'm just going to run down the year by the cool stuff that happened in each month.

• January- well, this was an important month, as I began my reffing career with San Diego Roller Derby! see what happens when you watch L.A. Ink? I also got my tiger tattoo this month.
• February- got the tiger tattoo filled in, second Starlettes bout, after party at Victor's leads to my first experience with texting when not exactly sober.
• March- hmm... I am sure something happened here, but nothing comes to mind at this point.
• April- Amazon Birthday Lunch.  I also moved into a much nicer place.
• May- I go to the dinosaur exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Natural History (thanks Becca!).

•  June- the Rockettes first bout ends in a victory and a broken leg for it's captain, Juno Escarme. she's back on skates now.
• July- the Del Mar Fair for the third year in a row, minus some of the comedy entertainment from the third party.  still, tater tots are the food of the gods. oh yeah, I think I spent some time at the media circus downtown.  hey, Ragone, where's my DVD I won?
• August- I part ways with my former employers (losers all the way) and get my snake tattoo.  I also visit CO for the first time since last year.
• September- I begin my career with Massage Heights, a much better company. Airie and I visit Julian and much fun was had.
• October- was dress up month at derby practice.  that's all I'm gonna say about that.
• November- I ref my first match for the Starlettes and it was way fun.  drove up to Newport Beach for Thanksgiving at the Chart House with Airie's family.
• December- Airie and I have Xmas dinner at my godparents. they sing "The Mighty Hercules Theme Song" and quiz me about the Spider-man theme song.

 so yes, it's been a pretty great year.  thanks to all of my friends and family near and far who have helped make it so good.

I look forward to the new year as well with all that it holds.

roller derby action!

here's a video of bout I posted about here.  you can see the girls in action as well as various other helpers.


SDRD Starlettes VS Prison City Derby Dames from Cynthia Ortega on Vimeo.

it's such a great thing to be part of.  the video runs about 74 minutes, and fortunately they left out the demonstration of men's derby that was held during half time.

Derby (1971)

I really wanted to like this movie.  I love roller derby and to see what it was like in the early 70s sounded great.

this follows wanna be derby star Mike Snell around as he decides what to do with this life.  trouble is, he's kind of unlikable and doesn't do much of anything.

it's better as a slice of life in midland America 1970.  he pays rent of $85 a month and has no phone in his house.  that's just amazing to think about.  so there's interesting parts here and there, but there's just not enough derby, or talking to the stars of the derby. 

we see the legendary Ann Calvello but they don't interview her.  I really did want to like it.  but can't really.

Starlettes vs Derby Dames

this past Saturday (on 11-13-10) was the final bout of the San Diego Starlettes 2010 season.  I can hardly believe it's been 10 months since this post when I started.

and it only took 10 months to get me into a ref shirt and position!  I had the best time at this game, and am very thankful for all the support I got from the other refs and even the players.

Skatetown, USA (1979)

I've never heard of this movie at all. 



I have to take issue with "the best music" claim...

naturally, Hollywood was in on a trend just as it was dying, since disco was dead about a year later.  still, lots of good skating going on here.

yes, that is Patrick Swayze in one of his first movie roles.

it's not out on DVD as far as I can tell, but I bet there's a copy or two floating around out there.

Rollergirls (2006)

apparently airing for one season of 13 episodes on A&E, this is a decent show about banked track roller derby in Texas. 

it showcases four different teams from TXRD, which is based in Austin, TX.  we won't hold that against them.  naturally, being a "reality" tv show, they have to include drama from private lives of the various teams, which I have always found suspicious when cameras are rolling.  but perhaps that's just me being cynical.

the best parts are the bouts, of course.  the Holy Rollers are so far undefeated, and the rest of the league doesn't really care for them.  it'll be interesting to see how the season plays out.

now, I ref for a flat track league, which is a bit different than the way these girls skate.  I am not sure if the fighting and rolling around on the track is encouraged in here, but that's cause for ejection in my derby world. it doesn't look very professional, either.

the girls are all good to great skaters, but there are a certain amount of theatrics going on, a bit of a throwback to the 70s version of roller derby.

here's a shot of the way the announcers show the viewers how the game is played.  it's pretty well done, though they can't get beyond the "hot knife through butter" metaphor for the jammers. maybe in later episodes...

I think this is sort of a sequel to the movie "Hell On Wheels" which is about the start of roller derby in Texas back in 2001.  same teams and everything, just some different players.

this series is available on DVD from Amazon.com here.

a Derby Crisis!

this is too good a picture not to enjoy here, and possibly explain it a bit:

as some of you know, I have been doing some officiating for the local San Diego Roller Derby since January (which is amazing to me, in and of itself).  I've made a lot of new, good friends there and have been having a great time.  and losing weight, which is a bonus!

one of my new friends is Allison Ross, who goes by the name "Wonder Whoop'em" when she is in her derby gear.  this has led to some small discussion about Wonder Woman, here and there.  in fact, I called her youngest daughter "Wonder Tot" earlier today.  I am sure Allison just thought it was cute, without knowing there actually used to be a "Wonder Tot" in the past.

anyway, this past weekend there was an away bout in Huntington Beach (up in the "OC", if you will).  lo and behold, there was a skater up there going by the nom de guerre of "Wonder Roller".  naturally, this was a bit of fun for my comic book guy mind.  so of course I had to have a picture taken with both women.

now, I have no idea which one is from Earth 1 or Earth 2, since Southern California is kind of it's own little world in and of itself.

still, one more reason I love derby!

derby mania round 2

hmm, perhaps trying to type this with a buzz isn't quite the best idea.  so with that in mind, this will be short.

and the pictures are still in the camera.

what a blast tonight was, and we won, by a lot of points.  the girls skated really well, and I am feeling like part of the team now.  I have been getting to know the girls more (when they have two names it's not always easy to remember who's who) and they are all just great.

the after party was a lot of fun, and I swear the glass was filled 9/10s full of vodka with the tiniest splash of cranberry ever.

picture tomorrow or Monday, maybe.

derby mania

it's amazing what can happen when one watches a cheap "reality" tv show, such as "LA Ink".  in the first season in walked a girl who did roller derby to get a tattoo.  I thought to myself, I wonder if San Diego has roller derby.

guess what?  it does!  I found out about it from their blog here, and then their facebook page as well.

so I decided I would go to the game that was played yesterday (01-23-10) about three weeks ago.  then, they posted a notice on FB about needing referees.  that was an intriguing idea...

so I contacted the team captain, Lady Diesel, and she told me when to come down and discuss what I could do to help out.  I went down on Sunday the 17th, and Thursday the 21st where I became the Jam Timer.  and learned a LOT about roller derby in those few days!

it's kind of amazing to go from never seen a live match before to a rather important part of the game- I started the "jams" and stopped them if they got to the 2 minute mark.  that's a lot of pressure, for a novice whistle blower like myself, I must say.

here's the edifice that houses the rink.  I bet it has not changed since it was built, or at least the 70s.  the color scheme is exactly the same as every rink I've ever been in.  my friend Sharon called it without even having SEEN the inside!

when I got there the skaters were leaving.  this is one of the few rinks left in San Diego and I was surprised to see how many kids and parents were there.  pleasantly surprised, as I thought it might have been just hanging on to surviving.  seemed pretty healthy to me last night, though!  we all pitched in to get the place match ready and that happened pretty quickly.  then I had a ref's meeting with the head ref "McFly" but going by "Hooker Spit" tonight (sorry mom).  he was very helpful with the sixteen thousand questions I had.

here are the San Diego Starlettes warming up and scoping out the competition, the OC Rollergirls.

the bout started at 5:30, which is when I began blowing my whistle.  did anyone else know that there's quite an art to doing that?  I was a string player, never had to learn to blow into something before.

there are 2 thirty minute halves and a 15 minute halftime.  these women are TOUGH.  and great skaters as well.  a very pleasant thing was a lack of ego out on the floor- even between the teams, no tempers flew out of control (that I saw, anyway).

the OC Rollergirls took the match last night, by the way.  just in case anyone is interested, the complete phone number is 858-560-9278.