scpr.org - Do Good Bus drives passengers toward altruistic adventurism

Saturday afternoon, thirty-five people looking to volunteer their time will climb on board a bus and take their seats. They don’t know where the bus is going or what they’ll be doing when they get there, but they know it will be good.

And co-founder of the Do Good Bus, Rebecca Pontius, is not giving up the secret destination.

“People are going to get their hands dirty,” Pontius said. “I can tell you that.”

The Do Good Bus is a Los Angeles nonprofit that transports volunteers for a fee to participate in events or outreach to support local charities. Along the way, the riders are rewarded with food, wine and a chance to help organizations they might not know about ordinarily. But the causes remain a mystery until the bus doors open.

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losanjealous.com - DF ODs & Previews Glorious Weekend of SoCal Banked Track Roller Derby (May 7-8, 2011)

DF is known for many things. Winning “Most Pungent” seven years running. That famous picture of me flipping off a unicorn while a Tyrannosaurus Rex elbows me in the crotch. Finishing my Nobel Prize acceptance speech despite barfing three times. But DF is emphatically NOT known for his calm, judicious sense of self-control. Au the contraire, he has been known to engage in … shall we say … untoward episodes of uncontrolled indulgence. To wit:

August, 1968: an innocent, straight-laced adolescent DF agrees to take a single puff of a marijuana cigarette proffered by a hirsute amigo. Next thing I recall is waking up three years and several hundred acid trips later, face-down in the middle of Golden Gate Park, long hippie hair corralled by a beaded headband, bearing Jerry Garcia’s love child.

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losanjealous.com - DF waxes literary & previews LADD bout (Sirens v. Fight Crew, 4/16/2011)

April, as the man sez, is the cruelest month, because it looks nice out but it’s really ball-shrivelingly cold, and there are all kinds of snails and whatnot underfoot, which is kind of gross. You know who said that? Shakespeare, emm-effers! DF knows that because he is smart, and also because he is well-read. And do you know what Shakespeare’s favorite sport was? Why, it was roller derby, of course! Don’t believe? Watch, I’ll prove it.

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. –Macbeth. Well, here the Bard was clearly trying to do a little preview of his own, referring to this weekend’s bout ‘twixt the Sirens and Fight Crew as something wicked awesome that is coming this very Saturday. As for the thumb-prick part, this clearly suggests Shakespeare was into some weird sexual shit, but hey—let’s not judge the guy, and we all know that writers are kinda freaky on that front.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair. –Macbeth. Ah yes, here Bill S. was clearly taking a shot at the refs, suggesting that their judgments are inconsistent. Apparently Shakespeare is a Tough Cookies fan, and is still smarting over their upset loss against the Varsity Brawlers a couple weekends ago. But that’s no reason to be a whiner, Shakie—the Brawlers won that one fair and square!

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LAslice.com - Roll Models: An Inside Look at the Los Angeles Derby Dolls

It’s Saturday night in Historic Filipinotown. Over 1400 fans have gathered in a converted warehouse to watch skaters battle it out in banked track roller derby. Unlike the popular roller derby spectacles of the 70s and 80s, the current derby revival focuses more on athletics than theatrics.  There is nothing scripted, rehearsed, or fake about the full-contact sport as it’s played today, and most of the skaters have injury lists to prove it.

The sold-out crowds are drawn to the fast-paced bouts where the scores often climb into triple digits.  Spectators can also enjoy half-time musical performances by local bands, or stroll through Vendor Village – a collection of booths offering derby merchandise, alternative attire, and a range of eclectic food options. The charismatic personalities and irreverent spirit of fun make this the quintessential sporting event for people who usually shy away from sports.

The LA Derby Dolls league was founded in 2003 and has grown to five teams, including the all-star LA Ri-ettes, and over 150 skaters, refs, staff, and volunteers.  For the uninitiated, the game of roller derby consists of several 60-second jams where two teams each have four blockers and one jammer on the track at a time. To score, the jammer must break through the pack of blockers, skate ahead of them on the track, and then skate past the pack again, earning points for each opponent passed.

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Losanjealous.com - April Foolishness: an LADD Preview (Cookies v. Brawlers, 4/2/2011)

APRIL MOTHER-SHITTING FOOOOOOOL’S, FOOLS! HA! Did I surprise you? No? Well, I surprised myself with all the yelling, so much so, apparently, that I lost all bladder control. Although, to be fair, continence has never been DF’s strong suit. But you know what is DF’s strong suit? I mean, besides soiling myself. Yes, you guessed it—playing awesome jokes on people to celebrate April Fool’s Day! Why, here are some of my fave-rave examples.

When I was just a wee lad, I surprised my enfeebled, elderly next-door neighbor Old Jim by jumping out of a shrubbery on April Fool’s morn and yelling “Boo” as he got his morning paper. Then Old Jim gave as good as he got, falling over and pretending to die of a heart attack. He was so committed to the joke that he even held a fake funeral and burial for himself the next week, with all his family there weeping and crying! Now that I think of it, I never really saw Old Jim after that. Oh, he was a card...

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