Time to hit it or quit it.

Life is keeping me busy. Between work, school and derby I barely have time to nap anymore(hah). School and derby are causing interesting conflicts between each other.. I'm doing my BFA project on derby, but one of my intermedia classes is during a practice... I want to skate my ass off at the one practice I do attend.. but I want to capture everything in film... I've enlisted someone to help me film, but if I don't start actively molding the direction of this project, it's going to fall apart.
I have a meeting with my advisor this week which has got me frazzled, and realizing that I don't have much so far. It seems my helper, Mr. Blood, if anything is going to keep me sane and focused. I need to create a plan, get interviews and start setting up the structure of how this video is going to play out. I have large hopes and goals for this project, but I need to think in small, short term goals if I'm going to get anything done.

Relating more to the derby world, our bout is less than three weeks away! We just set up a FUNdraiser with Coldstone Creamery, derby chicks selling ice cream and obtaining some of the profits. Quinn had me whip up a quick flyer for it..

 

So, I'm finally figuring some things out on photoshop.. hah. I think we'll being having our famous Jello Shot Night FUNdraiser as well. It was a HUGE success last time, and tons of fun. Our uniform tops are ordered, half time entertainment scheduled (hapkido performance!),  all seems to be well on it's way to the bout! The nerve-racking thing is that we play away two weeks later, and then another home bout April 3rd! I guess this is what a real season is like..  Last year we only had like four major bouts.

Well, I've got a lot to do the next few weeks! I'm excited and scared..

-L4D

Shut Up and Skate.

March 13th is our first home bout of the season, which leaves less than four weeks to get ready for it. Practice is merely one aspect of preparation for a home bout, the production of the whole event falls on us. This is no club at school where there is extra staff that puts these events on, we are the staff and the talent. From promoting to setting up hundreds of chairs, everything gets done by us.

Behind the scenes, skaters are split up into various committees to make this process easier. I belong to the PR committee, which is responsible for spreading the word of derby via flyers, the media, and putting together the programs for the bout. I try to fanagle any scrap of artistic skills or access to equipment that I currently have to benefit this area. Having such a diverse team, we can all bring something to the table through all our various connections and backgrounds. I recently finished the picture for our "Four Leaf Clobber" bout poster:

 

I realized two things in the making of this picture; I have little knowledge of photoshop, and it's fun to beat people up digitally. It's practical skills like this, which could be applied to more everyday life, that makes me almost want to reconsider my choice of focusing on intermedia instead of something like graphic design. Although, cutting bits of footage from my flip reconfirms that intermedia is more challenging and open to more possibilities of working creatively.

Intermedia also keeps me from derby though, I have a class Wednesday nights that cuts into most of practice, which means I only scratch my skating itch once a week now. Yesterday I scratched it right through my tights and walked away with some rink rash.

As for my ongoing BFA project, I'm not as far as I would like to be. I've been gathering a lot of footage at random during practice, giving my flip to people who aren't skating to get various points of view. I need to just sit down and lay out a plan and set some goals so I don't get too far behind. Tynamite, who has been helping me out quite a bit at practice with filming, also gave me the idea of getting some footage of the daily lives of derby girls. It's a shock to most people that a majority of our team does not consist of college students. Tomorrow I plan on spending the afternoon at work with Fonda Cuffs, a very fine police officer. 

-Left 4 Deadwards

The 2010 Season Begins.

    Almost exactly a year ago I joined the Old Capitol City Roller Girls team in Iowa City, and 2009 with them was quite a year. Since then we have tripled size, went through a change of ownership, gained experience, and worked out most of the kinks of putting on a home bout. Last year was full of trial and error and I am feeling good about this new season and looking forward to really pushing myself as a skater. I would like to use my experience with derby as subject matter for my BFA project for my final year in college as well. This blog will hopefully bring the two together cohesively and may go through a few changes as I figure out exactly the route this project will take.

    To kick off the season we participated in the Four Rollers of the Apocalypse, a mixer hosted by the lovely Quad City Rollers. There were over 70 skaters participating from our team, QCR, Chicago Outfit, Muddy River Nightmares, Rockford Rage, Stateline Roller Derby Divas, and the Mad Rollin' Dolls. Everyone was split into four teams: Dames of Death (green), Women of War (red), Femmes of Famine (black) and the Queens of Conquest (white). The night was made up of three bouts, two half our bouts which decided the final two teams for a full length bout. 
    Round one, the Queens went up against the Femmes and won 70-35. I was a Dame of Death and we lost against the Women of War by ONE point (48-47). We had a slow start but Sweet Mary Pain skated her spunky little heart out to try and win it at the last minute, so it was a good fight. I wasn't feeling quite up to par, so when I about gave up mentally on jamming, I scored us four points. I was having a hard time getting past Gaygan, so I decided I needed to work hard on my endurance and agility to find holes and get through the pack quickly this season. As this pictures proves, I did get around her eventually..

    This put the Queens of Conquest against the Women of War for a pretty brutal final bout. It was fun to see our own girls mixed up and pitted against each other. Bat'R Up was rutheless against GLADi8HER, who took quite a beating in that last hour. The final score was the Queens on top with 105-84 (I think.. I need to double check).

   It was an awesome night, and we got to meet a bunch of awesome teams, and scour their merch tables, (Team Unicorn was a popular buy from our team, the name of Madison's travel team). Not to mention my sister, Sarah, and video inspiration John Pemble made the trek from Des Moines to see me play for the first time. This should become an annual thing so if you missed it this time around, be prepared to attend next year's apocalypse.

-Left4Deadwards