Swede Hurt rambles: History is in making this weekend...

Swede Hurt rambles: History is in making this weekend...

My Whip It! Flickr links to the world of Derby as seen through the lens of Midnight Matinee

Ever since the advent of Whip It! a little Derby movie that made its first splash at the Toronto International Film Festival last year we've taken the plunge into the world of action amidst all the ladies with all their skates and equipment and can we say sexy uniforms and Derby names?

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Oh hi ! We are back here again to let you know there is a new Flickr Pro account that holds many of our most recent shots as well as some previous Derby material.

So the new Flickr site is at
Midnight Matinee24 on Flickr

The most complete list of our Flickr sites is actually now over here:
Midnight Matinee Photography

The other page is also where we are doing most of our writing now but we'll put something interesting here now and then.

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A partial list of all the Midnight Matinee Flickr photo sites with all our Derby photos is listed here [and will be continually updated].

The latest batch from A Fistful of Brawlers Tri-City Thunder vs. Montreal Sexpos is up on Flickr at
fistful of brawlers
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These are the Derby shots from Midnight Matinee sites up at Flickr.


www.flickr.com/photos/midnight_matinee
TORD 2010 Cubs vs Cougars - TORD Championships 2009 - Gore Gore Rollergirls vs. Smoke City Betties - Whip It at TIFF2009 - Death Track Dolls 2009 - Year of the Doll

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee
Smoke City Betties against Gore Gore Rolergirls November 21, 2009


www.flickr.com/people/midnightmatinee2010
Toronto Roller Derby - CN Power vs. Rideau Valley Vixens

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee24
Quad City Chaos

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee25
Quad City Chaos [CN Power vs. Hammer City, CN Power vs. New Skids on the Block, Hammer City vs. Terminal City Rollergirls]

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee26
Quad City Chaos [CN Power vs. Terminal City Rollergirls]

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee27
Quad City Chaos [CN Power vs. New Skids on the Block]

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee28
Edmonton E-Ville Dead vs. GTAR Derby Debutantes

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee29
Fresh and the Furious

GTAR Chrome Mollys vs. Shockwave

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee30
Fresh and the Furious - Rage vs. Quad Racers - June 12, 2010

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee31
Clam Slam 2010 - July 2, 2010

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee32
GTAR Derby Debutantes vs. FCRG Thames Fatales - Thames Fightin' Words - June 26, 2010

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee33
Clam Slam 2010 - July 2, 2010

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee34
Shark Attack


www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee35 Cruisin' for a Bruisin' - Part C - Tri-City Thunder vs. Lake Effects Furies



www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee36
Cruisin' for a Bruisin' - Part B - Tri-City Thunder vs. Lake Effect Furies


www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee37
GTAR only page


www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee38
GTAR only page

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee39
Right To Roll Riot - WEWRA Rollergettes vs. Forest City Stepmoms

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee40
Cruisin' for a Brusin' - Part A - Cruisin' for a Bruisin' - Tri-City Thunder vs. Lake Effect Furies

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee41
FAN CHOICE at The Hangar - 32 pins - who gets picked last?

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee50
Chrome Mollys [away] vs. Rollergettes [home]

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee53
Hammer City last game - Death Row Dames vs. Hamilton Harlots - Batch A

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee54
Dames vs. Harlots - Batch B


www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee55
Dames vs. Harlots - Batch C

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee56
Fistful of Brawlers-Montreal Sexpos vs. Tri-City Thunder [at home]

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee57
A Fistful of Brawlers-Montreal Sexpos vs. Tri-City Thunder [at home]

www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee58
Montreal Sexpos vs. Tri-City Thunder [at home]

Thoughts on a Sunday afternoon - A Knight's Tale and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

While watching the wildcard playoffs going down the drain on a lazy Sunday afternoon - the Packers down ten at the half and the Pats getting whipped on hometurf - (update: so maybe the Pack are making a comeback)

A Knight's Tale revisited on blu-ray is a very pleasant surprise. The transfer looks immaculate and what's even more surprising is the sound. There are two audio soundtracks - PCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital surround tracks - the LPCM soundtrack truly kicks it loud. The visuals are bold and bright too. A young and dashing Heath Ledger as the knave reaching for the stars to becoming a true knight and champion -A Knight's Tale has all the ingredients of a great story - the underdog overcoming his upbringing and surroundings, finding love along the way - the fierece adversary of noble background, the ascension of the hero, the climactic build-up towards the final joust - it's a true romance.

A Knight's Tale will really rock you.

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After the wild and mesmerizing experience that is Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus one could only say that the Monty Python director still has it - and it is saddening to think that this film dedicated to the friends of Heath Ledger would be the ultimate film of his life.

It took the trio of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to add the dashing, the debonair and the dastardly ingredients that encompassed Heath Ledger's role as Tony - a character raised from the dead with a nebulous past with a knack for the persuasion and the parting of someone's money.

A reimagining of a tale a la the Daniel Webster and the Devil pact - Christopher Plummer as the Doctor and Tom Waits as the Devil excel in their roles. Just go along for the puzzling ride as the tale unwinds around you. The young Lily Cole is the scrumptious "daughter" Valentina who falls for the newly arisen and confused Tony.

Avatar - /* Outstanding! */

James Cameron is back in full force with this full-blown IMAX 3D experience.

Blue blue my world is blue blue is my world now I'm without you

Cameron spins a tale comparable to Dancing with Wolves with heroic elements of Braveheart.

Brothers - and all I want is you

The inverse of Susanne Bier's original Brothers - Jim Sheridan's version allows the camera to breathe and have a dose of fun before settling into the nitty gritty of war and the relationships between all the protagonists.

Tobey Maguire is the handsome dashing brother Tommy Cahill whilst Natalie Portman is Grace, his high school sweetheart now his wife. Out of the picture in the beginning of the tale is the just out of prison Jake Gyllenhaal as Tony Cahill.

Watch The Vetala

If you have a spare half hour of your life go on over to www.thevetala.com and watch one of the best tv series on the web. It's even better than most tv shows. The entire first season in 7 five minute [give or take] episodes. Very easy to get into the story.

/* it's the coldest day of the fall */ - your shot of the day

It's the coldest day of autumn at minus 10 C outside at the moment with a minus 19 windchill - in short - it's too cold!

So a little photomerge via CS3 - but the afterwork is the kicker.

/* we still haven't found what we're looking for */ - your shot of the day

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It's that time of year and we start you off with another daily shot of the day in T.O. - this fair city -

Today is somewhere experimenting with the world of Camera RAW although not shooting in RAW.

It's the second day of this white stuff in the city.

More to come for sure Drop us a line. Love to hear from you.

/* it's here ! */ - Your Shot of the Day

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Don't you just love this time of year? It's the first day of the white stuff and already this city is in chaos.

The TTC take an hour to go north and an hour to go south in a journey that should take 15 minutes. It's not the white stuff but pouring and getting splooshed by large uncaring trucks is not anyone's idea of a good time. [How could the truck care? It's a truck - but the driver should}.

So here is your first shot of the first day of the white stuff.

yes, more movie reviews and reflections to come.

More to come for sure.

Sin City Effect

The Sin City effect in Final Cut Express

Are you ready for this

I love this game


This clip is from the last game of the regular season October 17 between Death Track Dolls and Chicks Ahoy!

The action is for real and the hit do hurt. It's damn exciting and a great night out



Unfortunately these two teams are not in the championships.

Championship game Saturday Nov. 21, 2009 at the Hangar!

Gore Gore Rollergirls v. Smoke City Betties


Go out and support the girls and a great movement.

See you there!

Take the better way

Life happens on the better way.

Life in a day at TIFF 09

Yonge Dundas Square back when the weather was almost summer and the nights were cool.

/* Rule #32 - Enjoy the small things */ - from A to Z in Zombieland

/* Jennifer's evil */ - Jennifer's Body

The difference between Jennifer's Body at TIFF 09 and a Friday afternoon at the Empress Walk?

11 people - 8 schoolgirls.

Comfort factor? Yes.

Reviewing Jennifer's Body is almost pointless - everything seen in trailer or spoilers. Suffice to say that the literal pull of the film hinges on Megan Fox and the soul of Mean Girls Amanda Seyfried. The transformation of Megan Fox from the soundstage of Michael Bay to hot girl in this almost indie piece is not a stretch.

TIFF 09 - Day 10 - Party on !

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The makers of Copycat Criminals hosted the free to the public celebration of the end of TIFF at Yonge Dundas Square on a cold chilly night in Toronto. A blending of music videos and small clips from the top films of all time were splashed on the screen to the background music of loud rap and dance with booming bass.

At the end of it all the TIFF host organizer whose presence has been seen at the square through all the free screenings every day said "See you next--" and stopped there.

Indeed, see you next.

TIFF Day 10 - /* why me */ - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

The Cadillac People's Choice award winner for TIFF 09 - why are we not surprised? This movie will not be everyone's cup of tea - it definitely wasn't ours - but the lure of the free ticket and the reputation of last year's winner drew people in - the crowd stretched in front of the Elgin on Yonge Street around the corner down Church Street and up Victoria Street waiting for the magic hour of seven when the tickets were given out.

With all the pull that only Oprah can bring - this film Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is surprisingly a very tough watch but laced with moments of humour that bring Precious out of the darkness.

It's a survivor's tale - with no spoilers here - a harrowing childhood and a lazy, abusive mother on welfare and a father nowhere in sight - Precious's life in the toughest part of New York is contrasted by her MTVshaped escapist fantasies. The director Lee Daniels employs little indie canera tricks to mask this motion picture. Heavyweight names behind the characters surrounding Precious's life - including Mariah Carey as a social worker and Lenny Kravitz as a male nurse - subsume their star identities into the characters of their roles, almost becoming unrecognizable. Despite being suspended from school for her second pregnancy Precious's principal recommended her to an alternative school "Each One Teach One". The teacher - almost too good to be true - driven by her love of teaching - encourages her students to write in their journals - drawing Precious out of her shell and pushing her rudimentary reading skills along and to write her story.

This is the type of movie where if the Academy saw only one film would swallow hook line and sinker. It has every element of an Academy Award winner - a winning tale - a heroine who fights the odds - surrounding characters who keeps things interesting and amusing despite their situations - last year the Cadillac People's Choice Award winner was a little movie made in India by Danny Boyle called Slumdog Millionaire - a similar fate may not be out of the cards for Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.

/* Don't think twice */ - Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound

Piers Handling the head honcho of TIFF hailed Joan Baez as the voice of a generation before introducing her onstage for the free concert at Yonge Dundas Square. The concert and the Mary Wharton documentary mounted beforehand (to be shown later on PBS' American Experience series) were well attended, a packed crowd straining for a look at the star. Baez's career has spanned fifty years and shows her vulnerability, and plenty of footage of Bob Dylan who had appeared earlier in the Square that day baezin the Don't Look Back documentary.

Baez was caught in the conundrum of trying to be available to everyone, not holding anything back while at the same time trying to come to terms with herself in identity. An avowed pacifist, going back to the days of Dr Martin Luther King and the marches - a pacifist, she fought the war in her own way, trying to bring young men out of the lines before they went into the recruiting stations and getting arrested for her efforts, and after spending time in jail going right back to the front of the protest and doing it all over again, her times in jail only made her a "stronger pacifist"singing the folksongs and hits she created "The Night They Tore Old Dixie Down", bringing Bob Dylan and his songs into the movement in her own way, but holding onto Dylan too tight, unable to shape him, their breakup captures on film during Don't Look Back although it may not have been readily apparent at the time, continuing to fight the Victham War, and seeing her husband taken off to jail for resisting the draft and giving birth to her son during that time, coming back into Dylan's fold with the fun of The Rolling Thunder Revue, and finally coming to a place of peace at last.

Despite the chill of the night, the crowd hung on - getting to hear the voice on God Is God, and a few other tunes including "Don't Think Twice It's All Right" riffing on Bob Dylan's voice for a few lines. which perfectly captured the spirit of the night.

TIFF Day 9 - /* the times they are a changin' */ - Don't Look Back - An American in London

D A Pennebaker's documentary on Bob Dylan's tour of London and area in the year of 1965 when he was the rising "folk singer" - a pigeonholing he reruted to the press - his acoustic career was ascending into the media spotlght on a scale of the madness of Beatlemania.


Shot in black and the camera captures it all on the grainy footage following Dylan everywhere from backstage of concert venues to his travelling limo or the hotel rooms to the front of stage itself. Playing solo on stage in front of a church hall or the Royal Albert Hall - it was a time for all mod cons. Marianne Faithful watching on as Dylan played at the piano, Joan Baez on the sofa with Dylan typing away on an old manual, the ever hovering Alan Grossman, his manager, trying to land a deal with the BBC - Alan Price, Donovan - and the ever presence young girls following Dylan, eyeing his hotel room from ground level - or chasing his car after concerts. The madness of a carrer and not that we knew it the beginning of the end of his relationship with Joan Baez who he did not bring on stage with him even though she was invited to accompany him. Plenty of cigarettes and alcohol in a room and the incident with a glass being thrown at a limo driver that seems to be escalating and fueling Dylan's anger.

Of course the beginning of the film is hallmarked by its homestyle flip card video of Subterranean Homesick Blues with Allen Ginsberg in the background lookingly bemusedly on at the shooting.

Don't Look Back belies its title - it is worth the look back

TIFF Day 8 - /* it's a musical journey */ - U2: Rattle and Hum

Man, do these cameras ever fly. For 1988 what makes Philip Joanou's rockumentary of U2's Rattle and Hum tour is the way these cameras move and move fast to really capture the action. As opposed to D A Pennebaker's cameras were really crammed into the pit with their lenses trained on a spot on the performer and focusing in and out - and even in Monterey there was some crude form of steadicam with a 16mm camera attached at the end of a long harness - the cameras of Rattle and Hum really move and maintain a rocksteady focus during concert but can swirl during a performance of Desire. Desire showed U2's integraton of the roots of American rock and roll into its sound - Rattle and Hum captures another period of the band's history, distinct from Live at Red Rocks. U2 were becoming even bigger anthemic rock stars and showmen - stopping traffic in San Francisco for a rock concert - protesting the internecine rivalries in his native Ireland that culminated in the explosion in Inniskillin that claimed eleven lives - the whole film is a helter skelter of experiences from the top end of Harlem for I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For to the heart of Memphis to record in Sun Studios with the real producers and musicians of the time and a visit to Graceland itself where Larry Mullen Jr. evocatively rides aboard Elvis's bike. The segment with BB King is classic meets today blues.

Finally landing into the colour spectrum U2 Rattle and Hum again shows the obvious connection between band and audience - the Tempe Sun Devil Stadium bursting into life for the anthemic Where The Streets Have No Name - and songs such as Unforgettable Fire's Pride (in the Name of Love) and Joshua Tree's With Or Without You are hallmarks of an era that U2 don't try to follow up anymore constantly on their current 360 tour shedding a lot of the past to their current infatuation with studio experiments. U2 RATTLE AND HUM is a nice way of remembering U2 when they were at the absolute top.