friday elfgirl blogging

elfgirl 

friday random ten

Lauren has the instructions.

Baby Let's Play God - The Big Boys
#1 Must Have - Sleater-Kinney
Blackboard - Mission of Burma
Hotwax - Beck
Kangaroo - Sixteen Deluxe
Bonanza - The Motards
Highway 29 - Bruce Springsteen
Hands Like Rain - James McMurtry
One PM Again - Yo La Tengo
Reverberation - 13th Floor Elevators

AZRD vs. TRD

VICE Squad vs. AZRD Surly Gurlies

7pm Saturday, May 21
Doors open at 6:30pm
Bladeworld
Tickets: $8 advance / $10 day of game
All ages. Kids under 12 free with adult

TRD VICE Squad Bout Roster
Whiskey Mick C-4 (Captain)
Penny Tencherry CB13 (Co-Captain)
Kamanda 242
Barbicide 187
Hard Anya I4I
Dirty Teri .44
Carrie Guns 9mm
Polly Graf 7
Aja Consent 16
Robin Banks 20gs (Injured)

AZRD Surly Gurlies Bout Roster
DeeDeeCapitator 00 (Captain)
TNTia 01 (Co-Captain)
Bootleg Bonnie 777
Gracie B. Goode 19
Suzy Homewrecker XXX
French Lyck 11
Cap’n HookGrrr 67
Patti Smite 16
Roxy Contin CII

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, VICE Squad, Surly Gurlies

Halliburton Protest

via Houston Indy Media

Halliburton Houston Police arrest 16, trample a dozen with horses.
Some photos of the protest here, here, here and here.
Quicktime video here.

"Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!"

Homestar Runner Live! 

Matt and Mike Chapman, creators and proprietors of Homestar Runner will be live in person at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown to present a selection of their finest work and answer questions.

Friday, June 10
7 pm & 9:30 pm

Saturday, June 11
7 pm & 9:30 pm

Advance tickets go on sale online 3:30 pm, Friday, May 20th.

tag: Homestar Runner

Orgasm Shennanigans

Violet Blue calls "shennanigans" on Dr. Elizabeth A. Lloyd.

Jam Packed Roller Deby Weekend

The weekend of May 20-22 will see flat track roller derby action in New York City, Seattle, Kansas City, Tucson, Raleigh, Madison, Minniapolis and Dallas.

Friday, May 20th.

The Gotham Girls Roller Derby will skate a benefit for Meals on Wheels when the Long Island Lunch Ladies take on the Mott Haven Meatheads .

Skate Key in the Bronx.
Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door.
Doors open at 7:30 pm, bout at 8:30 pm.
Check out the Gotham Girls Roller Derby website for more info.

Saturday, May 21st

Arizona Roller Derby's Surly Gurlies travel to Tucson to take on the VICE Squad.
Go to the Tucson Roller Derby website for more info.

The Rat City Rollergirls will skate their fouth bout of the season.
The Derby Liberation Front takes on the undefeated Throttle Rockets in the first match. The Sockit Wenches face off against Grave Danger in the second match.
See the Rat City Rollergirls website for more info.

The Kansas City Roller Warriors skate their third bout of the season. It's a grudge match between the Bionics and the Dogfightin' Dames.
Please see the Kansas City Roller Warriors website for more info.

Sunday, May 22nd

The second bout of the Carolina Rollergirls season features the Trauma Queens and the Debutaunte Brawlers.
Check out the Carolina rollergirls website for more info.

The Minnesota Rollergirls hold their Championship Game Sunday, May 22.
The Atomic Bombshells battle the Silver Bullets then its the Dagger Dolls vs. the Garda Belts.
For more info, visit the Minnesota Rollergirls website.

The Mad Rollin' Dolls will also hold a Championship Bout on Sunday.
It's the Reservoir Dolls against the Quad Squad then the Unholy Rollers take on the Psycho Kitties.
Please go to the Mad Rollin' Dolls website for more info.

The Dallas Derby Devils will hold their first public exhibition bout at Holiday Skatium in Haltom City, Texas.
For more information, visit the Dallas Derby Devils website.

tags: roller derby, rollergirls

"I'm shocked, ...

shocked to find that gambling corruption is going on in here!"

US 'backed illegal Iraqi oil deals'

The United States administration turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil, according to a new Senate investigation.

A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them.

[snip]

"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales.

[snip]

Investigators found correspondence showing that Odin Marine Inc, the US company chartering the seven huge tankers which picked up the oil at Khor al-Amaya, repeatedly sought and received approval from US military and civilian officials that the ships would not be confiscated by US Navy vessels in the Maritime Interdiction Force (MIF) enforcing the embargo.

Odin was reassured by a state department official that the US "was aware of the shipments and has determined not to take action".

[snip]

An executive at Odin Maritime confirmed the senate account of the oil shipments as "correct" but declined to comment further.

It was not clear last night whether the Democratic report would be accepted by Republicans on the Senate investigations committee.

The Pentagon declined to comment. The US representative's office at the UN referred inquiries to the state department, which fail to return calls.

Hmmm...

Is there a correlation between the Downing Street Memo finally gaining a bit of press in the United States and the overblown Newsweek "story"?

Just asking.

UPDATE: Congressman John Conyers wants some answers:

Dear Mr. McClellan:

I write to express my profound disappointment and outrage about comments you made about a matter involving Newsweek magazine, which smacks of political exploitation of the deaths of innocent and a shameless attempt to intimidate reporters from critically investigating your Administration's actions. Your comments are contradicted by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and stand in stark contrast with your actions involving the "Downing Street Memo." I urge you and your counterpart at the Pentagon to immediately retract the comments made yesterday, and - at long last - provide a full accounting of the Administration's actions in the lead up to the Iraq war.

Support Fluffers and Moppers

"Zombies Make Movies", "Writers Make Movies" and "Fluffers Make Movies" are three very funny spoofs of the MPAA's obnoxious
Who Makes Movies? anti-piracy campaign.

(via Boing Boing)

Sunday, May 15 - Unofficial Roller Derby Results

Texas Rollergirls

The Hustlers beat the Hell Marys 43-17 in the hard hitting first match.

The Honky Tonk Heartbreakers remained undefeated by skating past the Hotrod Honeys 62-41.

Next Texas Rollergirls bout is Sunday, June 5th.

Lonestar Rollergirls

The Rhinestone Cowgirls took down the Hellcats by a score of 50-46.

Next Lonestar Rollergirls bout is Sunday, May 29th.

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Texas Rollergirls, Lonestar Rollergirls

Gotham Girls in NYT

Gotham Girls Roller Derby in New York Times Fashion & Style section.

LESLIE SISSON was gaining on the pack. Ms. Sisson, a tiny brunette, bent low, rounding the curve at a 45-degree angle until she gathered enough speed to burst clean through the clot of legs, wheels and bulky padding that stood between her and the first skater.

She whizzed by, a blur of orange with clenched fists and bared black mouth guard, earning one point for each of the five members of the opposite team she lapped during a two-minute period, or jam in roller derby lingo. Trying to block Ms. Sisson, several of her opponents hooked skates and tumbled, arms outstretched, across the rink and nearly into the laps of fans seated at trackside.

"She's the real deal," said Luke Littell, a freelance television producer from Greenwich Village who came out to the Mott Haven section of the Bronx last month to watch the first bout in the inaugural season of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, New York City's first all-female roller derby league. Only a few months old, the Gotham Girls join more than two dozen women's leagues across the nation; all have started in the last four years. Driven by boredom, a bad breakup or the chance to try on a new persona, women in New York are joining those from Texas to California in creating a retro-hip renaissance for a sport that was born in the Depression and was last in vogue in the 1950's through the early 70's.

"Before I got into the roller derby I was this shy, nerdy girl who hid behind my glasses," said Ms. Sisson, 29, who is a computer technician at Tek Serve when she is not skating as the trash-talking Rolletta Lynn. "Now I can be a sexy, tough woman, and I have a closet full of miniskirts."

(I love the solo music project that 'Letta has started: Aero Wave.)

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Gotham Girls Roller Derby, Rolletta Lynn