For this week’s Rhapsody we have Köçekçe, dance rhapsody for orchestra by Ulvi Cemal Erkin. Erkin was part of the Turkish Five a group of composers who were trying to help create a national identity for the new Turkish Republic by fusing Turkish folk music with the classic western orchestral style. If this is a standard sample I have to check more of their stuff out.
At first I had the idea to do Lucador films since I’d been interested in the phenomenon of the status of Mexican wrestlers outside of the wring most notably wrestlers like El Santo… but since I didn’t want to torture myself and hadn’t gotten around to researching if any of these films were bearable, I decided to do roller derby instead.
The first film on my list was Kansas City Bomber starring Raquel Welch.Welch plays roller derby star and single mother K.C. Star who has just been traded from Kansas City to her home town of Portland Oregon where she can be closer to her children.
Things start out well, except for rivalry with the other star player and a male teammate with wandering eyes and hands. She starts to have a relationship with the team owner. Out of jealousy and possessiveness he starts to separate her from her teammates by trading her best friend and ruining the career of another player who is close to her. This gradually leads to the inevitable finally.
Despite the fun of the actual derby this film was kind of dull. While I won’t comment on just how much of real Roller Derby is most of the bouts seemed extremely fake and was alway treated as if it was all the real thing. I found myself wanting scenes where players were laughing about it in the locker room and K.C. hugging the heel who beats her to cover up her trade to Portland.
The next on my list was Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It starring Ellen Page. Page plays Blaze Cavender a high school student from Bodeen Texas and reluctant beauty pageant contestant. By sheer chance she discovers the joys of roller derby and tries out for the league and put on the worst team.
She quickly discovers she has a knack for it and hiding her double life from her parents under the stage name Babe Ruthless. The rest of the film deals with the way her life changes, her relationship with her teammates, (hiding the fact she’s underage) and her parents which becomes increasingly strained as she’s forced to lie to them while stretching her schedule to the breaking point, and a new boyfriend.
For the most part all of this a quiet but enjoyable film and of course the matches are really fun to watch.
This week’s Rhapsody is the Midnight Rhapsody by Bradley Young.
This Sunday once again we will be celebrating the Superb Owl, the best known annual tribute to ornithology and birdwatching. So join us as we pay tribute to this noble nocturnal predator.
Ahem. But seriously, while I really haven’t been following the season I certainly am looking forward to the game… at least for the hype and commercials. I guess I will be rooting for the Broncos partially because they’re the Western team and out of revenge for the Panthers beating the Seahawks… besides Payton’s a nice guy he needs that ring to back up his cred.
Seattle Art Museum has been rotating their collection a bit letting some of the 90 percent the collection that’s been in storage to get some air and I think I have a new favorite piece. 
I was not familiar with Phillipe de Champaigne before but I definitely need to follow him after this. I love how this version of the Visitation (apparently he did several) captures a wonderful tenderness between these two women
I’ve been a fan of the Character Design Reference Tumblr and Pinterest pages for some time, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and enter their monthly design challenge and enter a design for a Roller Derby contestant.
Unfortunately one thing I learned doing this is the importance of reading the rules, most notably the calendar so therefore I didn’t get in. But anyway now I’m signed up so better luck next time.
In the mean time enjoy my entry.
