Derby Baby - coming soon to a cinema near you

This looks great - a trailer for a documentary on roller derby leagues in America, Germany, the UK and Ireland. Looks like 'Whip it' has got a challenger! The blurb on Vimeo says: "Emmy-winning filmmakers Robin Bond and Dave Wruck take you along on their quest to learn why women's flat track roller derby is the most controversial and fastest growing sport in the world."  Watch out for the skeleton face-paint.

Enjoy and have a great weekend :)

Wordless Wednesday

Whip It - for real pic from flickr xxcrystal85xx

Wordless Wednesday is a group of bloggers who give words a rest once a week.

Is cheerleading a sport?

Question of the day - what is a sport? This is something which exercises (sorry!) me coming from an Olympic perspective; what sports should be included and what ones not? And it seems from a collection of articles in my inbox this morning that cheerleaders have the same problem. 

Really if you leave cheerleaders on the sidelines (again apologies) then perhaps gymnastics or synchronised swimming would also be voted out? Yes, cheerleaders train incredibly hard but are they there as an extra to the main event or are they athletes in their own right? Maybe any American readers out there can enlighten us on how this is seen on the ground over there as we don't have a huge cheerleader tradition in European sports. I saw some photos of all-male troupes, is this growing or just a gimmick?

You can read up on the cheerleader debate here on the SMH from Australia, the Daily Mail from the UK and on Jezebel.

What other sports do you think suffer from an image problem?

Katie Taylor in Lucozade advert

Katie Taylor with Tinie Tempah + Travis Barker

You know you're making it when the sponsors come calling.
You can listen to an interview here on Action81 with Taylor, back in Dublin making her plans for Olympic domination.

Who is your favourite female detective?

Have you seen this Danish thriller-series, Forbrydelsen/The Killing? We are just on series one here, thanks to BBC 4 and it is by far my favourite police series. Nominated for an Emmy as Best International Drama, it is simply great.

Mainly because the character of Sarah Lund, the lead detective is actually a real person. She wears practical but funky police-clothing, doesn't run around crime-scenes in high heels and glossy hair and has normal relationships with her colleagues and friends. Sigh of relief all round. 

Each episode is one day in the investigation of a murder which gets more political as each day passes. And yes, you forget about the sub-titles after a few minutes. This is a dubbed-to-English trailer.

 

The final two episodes are on tonight. I've been guessing the final suspect but a Danish friend says I'm wrong all the way. 

Who're your picks for top women detectives?

Thankless Female Film Roles

The Town

I posted a while back on MovieNewsFirst about sports movies with great female characters - took a while to find enough good ones for a list but we got there.

A reader ( Thanks Laura!) just sent me a link to this slideshow on NYMag -  14 Most Thankless Female Roles

It must have been hard to narrow it down to fourteen, just looking at it I can think of more to add already. I wonder what goes through producers' minds as they set up the films - I mean we pay the same ticket-prices, it might be fun every now and then to see actresses with their clothes on, brains intact and driving the plot?

Pic shows Blake Lively playing one of two female characters in The Town - she's a drug-addict, doesn't take care of his kids, brings the male lead down and all-round disaster. The only other woman in the film falls in love with her kidnapper. I really wanted to like this film but ...

Let's make some Christmas cheer - movies with strong women characters anyone?