Monthly Archives: December 2011

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: THREE OPERA VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. Here’s an encore post from last Christmas season for my blogging buddy Didi Wright and her whippet George, the co-authors of the blog My Little Dog. Didi’s daughter Brianna hopes to be an opera singer someday so hopefully Brianna will enjoy this post, too.:

This time I’ll look at three opera versions of the classic Dickens tale. I’ll start off with the most lauded one- the 1982 Granada TV broadcast of the Royal Opera House’s staging of the opera by THE Thea Musgrave. Musgrave has also done the libretto and music for the celebrated operas Mary, Queen Of Scots … Harriet, The Woman Called Moses … Simon Bolivar  and Continue reading

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COOL FOOTBALL HELMET: SOUTHERN NAZARENE UNIVERSITY CRIMSON STORM

 Location: Bethany, OK

Site: http://sports.snu.edu/ 

Comment: The SNU Crimson Storm have got one of the coolest names around and they sport incredibly cool helmets, too. Plus, the Crimson Storm is the favorite NAIA college football team of my special friend Rachel Laird, so this Continue reading

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CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: SKINFLINT (1979)

Flint (Hoyt Axton) and his lost love (Barbara Mandrell)

Flint (Hoyt Axton) and his lost love (Barbara Mandrell)

Time for another post in my annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years.  

SKINFLINT (1979) – Skinflint is known to me and my fellow Carol-Geeks as “the country- western version”. This made-for- tv musical is so chock- full of stars that the Country Music Hall of Fame actually offers screenings of this film every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m serious. My late mother was, unfortunately for me when I was a teenager, a country music fan so, strange as it may seem, I actually know who the singers in this flick are. This version of the Carol is set in fictional Flint City, Tennessee, a town dominated by the financial pull of banker Cyrus Flint, played by Hoyt Axton.

Naturally Cyrus Flint is the Scrooge stand- in and Axton is supported by plenty of other Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RESULTS FROM DECEMBER 10TH

CCCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

 BORING HELMETS, EXCITING GAME – The defending CCCAA champs, the MT SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE MOUNTIES, fell to the CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO RAMS in a thrilling finish followed by an unfortunate brawl. The final score of 52-42 doesn’t do justice to how exciting the game was. At first it looked like the Rams might win in a blowout as they seized a 28-7 lead with half-time approaching, but a pick-6 by the Mounties made it 28-14 instead. In the 2nd half the shootout was on, and with 6:40 left in the game CCSF led “Mount SAC” by a score of 38-35. The Rams added another TD with 3:53 left but the ever- tough Mounties responded with 7 points of their own at the 2:47 mark. With just 41 seconds left in the game the 45-42 CCSF lead became 52- 42 and an unfortunate fight resulted. Both teams, after all, have a lot of players who may well transfer to Division 1 schools next year (rimshot). The Mounties failed to score in the time remaining and 52-42 was the final.  

NCAA DIVISION 3

SEVEN IN A ROW – Yes, for the 7th straight year, it will be the WHITEWATER WARHAWKS, the defending champs, taking on the MT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS in the NCAA Division 3 Championship Game, better known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. The teams have split 3 titles each during that run so this will be the rubber game of the match, at least until the 2012 Stagg Bowl probably finds these same 2 juggernauts clashing yet again. Whether you’re excited about this rivalry or yawning about it, let’s review yesterday’s semi-finals.

 The WESLEY WOLVERINES deserve huge props for the fight they gave the Purple Raiders in their own house. The Wolverines actually led 14-13 at halftime, which by itself must have been very disconcerting for the Mt Union fans who are used to seeing their team dominate from kickoff to the Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF GAMES FOR DECEMBER 10TH

 The only down-side to Christmas drawing nearer is the fact that it means we’re down to fewer and fewer college football playoff games and Bowl games in the divisions covered by Balladeer’s  Blog. The NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) championship game, to be played between the defending champion CC Fighting Saints and the St Xavier University Cougars, won’t be until next Saturday, the 17th. Today we have 1 division’s championship game plus semifinal matchups in 2 others for a total of just 5 games for the day.

Last Saturday saw the crowning of the NJCAA Football Champions as the Arizona Western College Matadors fell to the East Mississippi Lions in the El Toro Bowl. A few Saturdays back the National Christian College Athletic Association’s football season came to an end with their signature event, the Victory Bowl, which saw the Campbellsville Tigers defeat the Greenville College Panthers.

Anyway, let’s all relish the few remaining games as the 2011 college football season approaches its end.

CCCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The Mount San Antonio College Mounties, the Continue reading

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CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: CHRISTMAS IS COMIN’ UPTOWN (1979)

Time for another post in my annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years.  

The 1979 Broadway musical Christmas Is Comin’ Uptown is one of the versions of A Christmas Carol that often get pigeon-holed as “African American versions” but, along with John Grin’s Christmas and Ms Scrooge this tuneful adaptation transcends race and celebrates the universality of the Carol’s message. The musical continues to tour the USA to this very day and a television broadcast of a few scenes and songs from the work aired when I was a teenager and was already obsessed with variations of the story.

Gregory Hines played Scrooge in the original Broadway cast. The Scrooge in this adaptation was an Continue reading

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DROVERS MEN AND WOMEN BOTH END SEASON RANKED

 The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma is not only a fine institution, but their sports teams have the incredibly cool nickname the Drovers. Balladeer’s Blog’s readers voted them the Coolest Named NAIA Sports Teams in 2010, and the Drovers often kick butt in soccer, basketball and baseball.

For the 2011 season the men’s soccer team finished ranked 8th in the nation and the women’s team finished Continue reading

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COOL FOOTBALL HELMET: PIERCE COLLEGE BRAHMA BULLS

 Location: Woodland Hills, CA

Site: http://www.piercecollege.edu/

Comment: I defy you to name one young football player who wouldn’t want to Continue reading

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MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF STUPIDITY: ISLAM AND “HONOR” KILLINGS

Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my view of all religion as mythology. Most religions are civilized enough that their practitioners can deal with that type of viewpoint. Islam, of course, is the exception, and perpetuates superstitious savagery like killing people for drawing pictures of Continue reading

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BAD MOVIE PAGE – ELVES (1989)

 ELVES (1989) – Category: Enjoyably bad movie but not fun- bad enough for my highest rating          Last Christmas season I reviewed the underappreciated Yuletide turkeys The Christmas Martian and Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. (see my Bad Movie page for those reviews) This year I’ll address the horror film Elves, which will have you laughing like crazy but unlike a film like Santa’s Slay, it’s not MEANT as a comedy.

Where to begin with this film? We’ve got Dan Haggerty as a washed up ex- store detective and drug addict working as a department store Santa Claus, we’ve got Julie Austin as rebellious teenager Kirsten and our special-effects elf (seen in photo) as our title menace. Yep, right off the bat something to love about this Continue reading

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