ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE CITY OF SPIDERS (1926)

THE CITY OF SPIDERS (1926) – Short story by H. Warner Munn. This quasi-Creature Feature type tale featured biologist Jabez Pentreat.

Jabez leads a scientific expedition into the jungles of Brazil. Nightly attacks by increasingly large and seemingly intelligent spiders plague the group, ultimately leading to the expedition members being surrounded by spiders the size of dogs.

Nightmarishly, the spiders are smart enough to herd the humans and various jungle animals toward a city ruled by arachnids which range from human-sized to elephant-sized. Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Ancient Science Fiction

NJCAA2 TITLE GAME AND NJCAA1 ELITE EIGHT SET

NJCAA DIVISION TWO

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Fighting it out for the crown were the PARKLAND COLLEGE COBRAS and the ELLSWORTH COLLEGE PANTHERS. The Cobras had mustered a 35-28 advantage going into the locker room. After the break, Parkland College eked out a bit more separation from the favored Panthers as they won the game 76-68. Jaiden Martin’s THIRTY-FOUR points led the Cobras.

NJCAA DIVISION ONE

ELITE EIGHT: FIRST BERTH – The GULF COAST STATE COMMODORES played the INDIAN HILLS COLLEGE WARRIORS in this game. The Commodores put Indian Hills College on Upset Alert at Halftime with their 41-35 lead. From there, the Warriors rallied but fell just short as Gulf Coast State prevailed 72-70. The Commodores were led by Devontes Cobbs with 17 points. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under College Basketball

APRIL FIFTEENTH NEWS ROUNDUP

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog is here with a mid-week current events roundup. Unhinged Democrats pretend Iran is “a quagmire” but are fine with the Biden-caused war in Ukraine still going since 2022.  

APPEALS COURT AGAIN SMACKS DOWN CORRUPT ANTI-TRUMP “JUDGE” BOASBERG FOR HIS ABSURD OVERREACHING. More HERE. And HERE. Boasberg embodies “judges” who use their position as a political weapon.

PRESIDENT TRUMP MARKS HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE WITH HIS UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO FIGHT HATRED. A crucial message in this time of rampant Democrat antisemitism and violence against Jews.

TAX DAY 2026 SERVES AS A REMINDER OF HOW MUCH MONEY TRUMP’S TAX CUTS HAVE SAVED WORKING CLASS FAMILIES. Democrats didn’t want the working class to get those tax cuts.

JOE BIDEN, STILL UNFIT AND ILLEGIT, THINKS ALL BLACK PEOPLE LOOK ALIKE AND SAYS TO BLACK PRESIDENT OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY “BARACK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” More HERE.

DEMOCRAT HATEMONGERS ARE STILL MAKING DEATH THREATS AGAINST WIDOW ERIKA KIRK. Democrats want to kill her like they did her late husband.

BIDEN REGIME EXPOSED FOR RELEASING SHERIDAN GORMAN’S CHARGED KILLER INTO THE U.S. DESPITE KNOWING HE HAD NO VALID CASE FOR ASYLUM. “Illegal immigrants uber alles” is still the Democrat motto.

TWICE-RELEASED BIDEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH THE KIDNAPPING AND RAPE OF A WOMAN ON EASTER SUNDAY.

AND YET ANOTHER PREVIOUSLY DEPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WANTED FOR MURDER IS LOCATED. “If it saves even one life” isn’t it worth it to enforce immigration laws?

REPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH FOUR MURDERS AND ARSON IN DEMOCRAT “SANCTUARY” NEW YORK AFTER HE SETS FIRE TO AN APARTMENT BUILDING. The dead victims got no “sanctuary” from elected Democrats. Only perpetrators do.

THE TRUMP-HATERS’ BELOVED IRANIAN REGIME SET TO HANG THE FIRST OF ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED WOMEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR PUBLIC PROTESTS. Yet privileged white Democrat women love to cosplay in Handmaid’s Tale outfits and pretend they have it worse than these women. Continue reading

12 Comments

Filed under Anti-Donald Trump hysteria, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

MAZEPPA (1970-1973) BAD MOVIE HOST

MAZEPPA – No relation to Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazeppa, this blog post refers to comedian, artist and actor Gailard Sartain, who got his start playing the wizard Mazeppa (center left) while hosting Tulsa, Oklahoma’s late Saturday night Bad Movie show called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting.

Triple features and anarchic comedy sketches were the name of the game as Mazeppa and his figurative sorcerer’s apprentices Jim Millaway and THE Gary Busey presented So-Bad-They’re-Good movies, old Universal classics, and musicals from Busby Berkeley to 1950s rock and roll flicks. (Though Tulsa viewers rebelled against the Busby Berkeley musicals according to a 1971 interview with Gailard.)

In between films came old educational shorts, black & white sci-fi shows, weird cartoons, you name it. It was like a countrified forerunner of Night Flight from later decades.

Long time readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that when I reviewed the bad 1973 horror film Hex in 2011 I mentioned how that flick’s co-star Gary Busey had moved on to movies after his stint as the wizard Mazeppa’s sidekick. I also resolved to review Mazeppa’s show. Good thing nobody held their breath.

And let’s quickly address the nice coincidence of Mazeppa and Busey’s character Teddy Jack Eddy hosting campy rock and roll movies like Don’t Knock the Rock, Untamed Youth or Shake, Rattle and Rock only for Busey to go on to play Buddy Holly and Sartain to play the Big Bopper in The Buddy Holly Story.      Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under humor, Movie Hosts

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: BORDER PATROL (1959)

BORDER PATROL (1959) – Based on actual case files of the United States Border Patrol, this half-hour series ran for 39 episodes and starred Richard Webb of Captain Midnight fame. Webb played Don Jagger, Deputy Chief of the Border Patrol, yet oddly he took part in individual cases. Why not just make him an agent or officer? I guess the creative team felt Deputy Chief sounded cooler.

Don Jagger’s law enforcement activities provided a degree of novelty compared to traditional cop or spy shows of the time period. Episodes ranged from Dragnet style procedural tales to Darren McGavin’s more colorful Mike Hammer investigations. 

STANDOUT EPISODES:

AN EVERGLADES STORY – Don Jagger goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of illegal immigrants who are part of a network of gun smugglers and kidnappers. Ben Johnson and William Smith guest star.

PASSPORT TO THE DEEP SIX – U.S. gangsters exploit and abuse people entering America illegally. Don Jagger takes them down. 

A BUNDLE OF DOPE – Our main character busts up a drug smuggling ring operating along the U.S.-Mexico border. Susan Whitney guest stars. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Forgotten Television

THE ORPHIC ARGONAUTICA: PART FOUR

Balladeer’s Blog continues examining this Orphic variation of the Quest for the Golden Fleece. PART ONE HERE. PART TWO HERE. PART THREE HERE.

As the Argo pulled into Colchis, King Aeetes and his family – including his daughter Medea – observed their arrival. The Royal Family was on hand because of a dream that the goddess Hera had sent to Aeetes regarding foreign forces that would take Medea across the seas. 

Orpheus and Jason approached King Aeetes and explained that they had come in search of the Golden Fleece and needed to acquire it so that Jason could claim his rightful throne. The wily Aeetes insisted that the fleece would be given up only to a man who could survive a series of challenges imposed on him by the king.

Jason volunteered to face the challenges himself. The love goddess Aphrodite filled Princess Medea with affection for Jason and she resolved to use her dark magic to help him survive those challenges. Continue reading

10 Comments

Filed under Mythology

NEWS ROUNDUP: APRIL THIRTEENTH

Here’s another current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

CBS/ YOUGOV POLL: SEVENTY-SIX PERCENT AGREE WITH STOPPING IRAN’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABILITY. When Iran’s regime was slaughtering protesters, Trump-haters bashed him for not acting. Trump acted, so now Trump-haters side with Iran’s regime.

ZELENSKY REVEALS UKRAINIAN FORCES SHOT DOWN IRANIAN DRONES IN MIDDLE EAST.

MAIN SUSPECT IN ONE OF MINNESOTA’S DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR TIM WALZ FRAUD DEBACLES FLEES

CORPORATE MEDIA SPREAD HOAX THAT TRUMP THREATENED THE POPE. And mindless, unquestioning Trump-haters believed it.

DEMOCRAT PARTY

THOMAS PHAM LEGRO OF DEMOCRAT MEDIA OUTLET WASHINGTON POST FAME PLEADS GUILTY IN CHILD PORN CASE. Democrats, can you please leave children alone?

CNN’s SMERCONISH REJECTS DEMOCRATS’ TIRED RHETORIC ABOUT IMPEACHING OR USING THE TWENTY-FIFTH AMENDMENT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP.

DEMOCRAT ERIC SWALWELL GOING DOWN IN DISGRACE. More HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE.

SWALWELL DONOR LEAVES THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IN DISGUST. He even says “F*ck you, Democrat Party.” More HERE. Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under Anti-Donald Trump hysteria, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

NJCAA3 TITLE GAME AND NJCAA2 SEMIFINALS

NJCAA DIVISION THREE

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The NORTHERN ESSEX COLLEGE KNIGHTS did battle with the RICHLAND COLLEGE THUNDERDUCKS for the NJCAA3 crown. At Halftime the underdog Thunderducks clung to a 30-28 edge. The Knights came out of the locker room ready for a comeback and ultimately won the game 68-62. Alejandro Delgado led Northern Essex with 16 points.

NJCAA DIVISION TWO

FIRST SEMIFINAL – This game pitted the PARKLAND COLLEGE COBRAS against the DANVILLE AREA COLLEGE JAGUARS. The Cobras put Danville Area College on Upset alert at the Half with their authoritative 39-25 lead. From there, Parkland College carried through by toppling the Jaguars 77-66.  Twenty-two points from Jaiden Martin led the Cobras. Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under College Basketball

AFRICAN EPIC MYTH: BAKARIDJAN KONE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its blog posts about neglected mythological epics from around the world. This particular epic comes from the Bambara people of the Kingdom of Segu in what is now Mali.

MaliTHE BAKARIDJAN KONE EPIC – Djeli, the poet-historians of the Bambara people for over 300 years, would often recite, chant and sing this epic myth while playing their stringed instruments called ngoni.

A. The future father of Bakaridjan Kone is a noble-born farmer in Disoro Nko. He grows tired of his agrarian lifestyle and his wives. (“Segu City’s where he’d rather stay/ He gets allergic smelling hay” Had to be said.) Hearing that Da Monzon, the great ruler of the Kingdom of Segu, knows how to create gold, the disenchanted farmer goes to Segu City and becomes part of the court of Da Monzon, only to learn the gold story is not true.

A ngoni instrument

A ngoni

B. Kumba, one of the errant farmer’s wives, gives birth to a boy. His deadbeat dad refuses to be present for the naming ceremony but hints around to Da Monzon that maybe he should provide him with a gift to celebrate the birth. Da Monzon is disgusted with the man for abandoning his wives and not being present for said naming ceremony.

              Instead, the king sends cowries to the wives so they can perform a proper ceremony, at which he wants the baby to be named Bakaridjan Kone. As the provider of the boy’s name, Da Monzon has made himself the child’s adopted father.

C. Years go by, and, royal politics being what they are no matter the culture or time period, Da Monzon begins to worry that he may get killed and/or overthrown before any of his sons are old enough to take over as king. His morike (oracle or diviner) tells him that no full-grown man poses a threat, but there is a boy-child who would one day be able to seize the throne. The morike advises Da Monzon to find a boy who is tough enough to not cry out when his foot is pierced by the king’s spear. THAT is the boy who might overthrow the king. Continue reading

20 Comments

Filed under Mythology

ANTI-TRUMP HYSTERIA: HATERS ARE MAD THAT ARTEMIS II SPLASHED DOWN SAFELY AND THEY LOVE IRAN AFTER BEING OUTRAGED OVER THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS BEING SLAUGHTERED A SHORT TIME AGO

Nothing further needs to be said on this. These are very clear examples of how deranged anti-Trump zealots are.

16 Comments

Filed under Anti-Donald Trump hysteria, opinion