Roller Derby

It’s looking more like Spring here now. The clocks went forward last night, and I’ve been seeing little clumps of primroses by the side of the road for a few days. Today I saw bluebonnets for the first time, and the temperature went up to about 94ºF (about 36ºC). Like everywhere else, winter seems to have been unnecessarily long.

"Coin lady"

Yesterday morning I went to my “coin lady” in Garland to catch up on State Quarters – Nevada (the “Silver State”, which joined the Union in 1864) is the only one that’s been issued this year. They’re supposed to be released at about 10-week intervals, and, since we’re about two thirds of the way through, you’d think they’d have it down to a fine art. But, like almost everything government does, it’s behind schedule. The coin is pretty, though (unlike, say, Vermont’s, that looks like someone peeing behind a tree).

The Financial Times is delivered to my hotel room daily (I don’t think they’ve figured out yet that I don’t have any money), and in it I read a review of “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”, which stars, and is directed by, Tommy Lee Jones. Tommy Lee Jones is patchy in his choice of roles, but this movie won Best Actor and Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s one of those movies with no loud bangs, no special effects, and no gratuitous sex or violence. So, of course, it came and went here before anyone noticed it (though it’s obviously only just been released in England). I tracked it down to the last place in the area it’s still playing – the Angelika Film Center on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas. It’s one of those civilized movie theaters that serves wine and respectable snacks in the attached restaurant (I went to the matinee at 11:15, which is a little early to partake, even for me). It’s great to see the Western movie genre being revived and redefined – most notably, recently, by Brokeback Mountain, and now this. I don’t want to spoil it by revealing any of the (wonderful) storyline, but I would recommend it without reservation. It left me tearful (in a good way) until all the credits had rolled by.

Outside the "skatium" ...

... and inside

This evening, of course, I went to see the Panther City Princess at the roller derby in Arlington. My camera, unfortunately, is not up to taking good shots in large, poorly-lit interiors – or, more likely, it’s just me – so I don’t have any good action pictures. But, in any event, it was interesting. The raffle prizes  included cow-skulls, garden gnomes, and free piercings. I was probably not the oldest person there, but I may well have been the only one without a tattoo or a body-piercing. The marriage of Heavy Metal to Roller Derby works well. The sport is definitely a contact sport – the girls all wear crash-helmets and elbow- and knee-pads, and use gum shields, and are mostly well-padded in other important areas. The outfits are skimpy, but in a seductive, and not nasty, way. Gothic images abound, and “mock” violence – in the names of the teams (Suicide Shifters, Slaughterers) and players (Leather Locklear, Krazy SK88, Ultra Violence, Willow Bliterate) and the between-race skits – is played up. But it’s all intended to be good fun – if a fight breaks out between girls on the track, it is resolved by the “Penalty Mistress”, for example, by having them skate backwards to see who’s the fastest, or donning huge fake boxing gloves to “slug it out”. If I had to choose between an American and a Brit to put on a good show, I’d choose the American every time.

By the way, I have the program that contains the complete rules (such as they are), if anyone is interested. They’re also advertising for participants, but you have to be fit, feisty, and female.

I’d go again, but next time I think I’d have a tattoo first, and take more beer.

Your toes leave small dimples in the sand

That the water takes away

And carries to some foreign shore

Another time, another land.

Your words express my thoughts unspoken

Words that hide inside by day

That lurk behind half-opened doors

And when formed are always broken.