Monthly Archives: November 2013

THE GOLEM: IN TONIGHT’S EPISODE IT’S SCIENCE VS THE SUPERNATURAL

Artist's rendering

Artist’s rendering

The fourth episode of the hot new cable television series 21st Century Golem premieres tonight. To nobody’s surprise the series is once again embroiled in a controversy over a throwaway element that manages to overshadow the actual storyline.

If you’ve been following this excellent but ultra-violent program you know that it features a clay monster called the Golem who is protecting modern-day Israelis – especially children – from the Hamas terrorists who revel in nonstop killing. Barack Obama has a recurring role as the comic-relief villain who distorts reality as much as he has to in order to side with the Hamas butchers and blame all the violence on the Golem. Little Barry is therefore a combination of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man stories and General “Thunderbolt” Ross from Hulk stories.

In the pre-credits teaser the Golem rescues a few dozen hostages from the Muslim terrorists who have captured them. With the hostages freed and the terrorists all reduced to bloody bits by the rampaging monster Barack Obama is horrified and once again condemns Israel for the whole situation.

After the way he’s been humiliated in front of the entire world over and over again because of his ineptitude and dishonesty Obama is determined to assert himself in the Middle East. Under Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL: BALLADEER’S BLOG’S LATEST RANKINGS

Cumberlands_KYNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – 1. UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS   ###   2. GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS   ###   3. MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS (2012 runners-up)   ###   4. CARROLL COLLEGE FIGHTING SAINTS   ###   5. UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS   ###   6. MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS   ###   7. BAKER UNIVERSITY WILDCATS   ###   8. BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS   ###  

Ottawa (KS) Braves9. OTTAWA UNIVERSITY BRAVES   ###   10. FAULKNER UNIVERSITY EAGLES   ###   11. TABOR COLLEGE BLUE JAYS   ###   12. ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS   ###   13. LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS   ###   14. STERLING COLLEGE WARRIORS   ###   15. NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS   ###   16. Continue reading

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BRIANNA WRIGHT: BALLADEER’S BLOG INTERVIEWS A TALENTED YOUNG WRITER

Brianna Wright: Poet, swimmer and dramatic performer on Youtube

Brianna Wright: Poet, swimmer and dramatic performer on Youtube

Brianna Wright is a very talented and lovely young lady from the U.K. She is an inventive writer and gifted poet who has a wonderful way of giving dramatic readings of her own work on her Youtube channel. This teen of many gifts is also an excellent swimmer and is home-schooled by her parents. Brianna’s family’s dog George the Whippet was a big hit here at Balladeer’s Blog a few years back so I was thrilled to get this interview with his intriguing owner. Read on for Brianna’s blog and Youtube information. 

BALLADEER’S BLOG: Who are your favorite poets?  

BRIANNA WRIGHT: Walt Whitman, Lewis Carroll but I also read a lot of contemporary poetry.

BB: Are you still interested in operas?

BW: Yes, I am still interested in operas although I am no longer aiming to Continue reading

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HAPPY VETERANS DAY 2013!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day!

Well, it’s been nearly 100 years since November 11th, 1918 saw the end of World War One, or the Great War as it was called before anyone knew a second global conflict would occur. As we all know the date eventually became designated as the day for honoring the people who make it possible for the rest of us to lead our lives in relative safety. The following is what I posted in 2010 on Veteran’s Day and I don’t think I can say it any better.  

Irrational political partisans like the Barack Obamas and Rush Limbaughs of the country often forget that the only reason any of them have the luxury of sitting back and making pompous, self-righteous pronouncements is because of the men and women who go out and actually DO something. 

And those men and women do it even though they know that Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM NOVEMBER 9TH

Wesley WolverinesWESLEY COLLEGE RULES THE WORLD – The NCAA Division Three team the WESLEY COLLEGE WOLVERINES borrowed a page from NAIA college football and brought down a team from a higher division. The Wolverines (who I say should change their name to the Crushers … think about it, Star Trek fans) took down the Division ONE Charlotte 49ers 35-28 in their own house! Congratulations Wesley for having the guts that Mt Union lacks!

Texas A&M Commerce LionsTAMC RULES THE WORLD, TOO – NCAA Division Two team the TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE LIONS took it on the road against Division ONE’s Houston Baptist Huskies. The Lions completely dominated their opponents, shoving them all over the field at times. The final score in this upset that TAMC fans will cherish was Lions 55  Huskies 21.    

Northwestern College Red RaidersNUMBER ONE TAKES A FALL – The NAIA’s number 19 NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS welcomed the number one team in the nation, the MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS and proved more than equal to the challenge! The Red Raiders handed the Mustangs their first loss of the season by a score of 38-28. Northwestern improves to 7-2, the Mustangs fall to 8-1. 

Missouri Valley CollegeOTHER TOP 25 UPSETS – NAIA – At number 10 the MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS toppled the 4th-ranked BENEDICTINE RAVENS sending them home reeling from a 42-14 smackdown   ###   The number 20 ST FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS upset the visiting 11th-ranked ST AMBROSE UNIVERSITY FIGHTING BEES in a Continue reading

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GHOSTS OF HANLEY HOUSE (1968) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT: OCTOBER 26TH, 1985

The Ghosts of Hanley House

The Ghosts of Hanley House

In the middle 1980′s/ Way down on Level 31 …

Before MST3K there was The Texas 27 Film Vault! Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this neglected cult show from the 1980′s. My interview with Randy Clower, my research through VERY old newspapers and emailed memories from my fellow Film Vault Corps fans are helping to reconstruct elements of the show’s history.

EPISODE ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Saturday October 26th, 1985 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.

Flash Gordon Conquers the UniverseSERIAL: Before showing and mocking the movie Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, our Film Vault Technicians First Class showed and mocked a chapter of the 1940 serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.

FILM VAULT LORE: Randy and Richard’s presentation of Ghosts of Hanley House has occupied a very odd niche in pop-culture trivia for quite a long time. To those of us who remember The Texas 27 Film Vault this episode is famous as “the one where Psychotronic‘s Michael Weldon seems to have confused T27FV with MST3K.”

In Weldon’s 1996 book The Psychotronic Video Guide he refers to Ghosts of Hanley House as having been riffed on by the folks at Mystery Science Theater 3000. Actually MST3K NEVER showed Ghosts of Hanley House but The Texas 27 Film Vault DID. Weldon was a fan of Movie Host shows like Ghoulardi, Zacherley, Elvira and others, so it’s possible he had also sampled episodes of Randy and Richard’s show in the 80’s but the subsequent years blurred his memory to the point where he confused T27FV with MST3K in this instance.

It’s a very easy mistake to make given the similarities between the shows.

THE MOVIE: Continue reading

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NAMES OBAMA A WAR CRIMINAL; HUFFINGTON POST DECLARES HIS WAR ON PRESS FREEDOM “A DICTATOR’S DREAM”

A piece of political sewage who bubbled and gurgled up from the cesspool of Chicago politics.

A piece of political sewage who bubbled and gurgled up from the cesspool of Chicago politics.

It’s no secret that the Obama administration may well be the most corrupt and abusive in history. And I’m the furthest thing from a Conservative you can find. I could fill this site every day with stories about the ongoing developments in the countless investigations into this weak, inept and crooked little man but we’d all get bored with the repetitious coverage of this criminal’s venality, pomposity and general douchebaggery. (To borrow a phrase from Ted White)

Not only did one of Little Barry’s usual lapdogs, the Huffington Post, declare his war on free speech to be “a dictator’s dream” but Amnesty International quite rightly declared this Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Presidential Rap Sheets

THE GOLEM BATTLES THE REANIMATED CORPSE OF YASSER ARAFAT

Golem depicted by Philippe Semeria

Golem depicted by Philippe Semeria

Tonight’s third episode of the new cable television series 21st Century Golem finds the clay monster from Jewish folklore battling a zombified Yasser Arafat, the most famous Palestinian terrorist of them all.

The reason given for Arafat’s reanimation? Hamas’ storage of chemical weapons underneath Arafat’s burial place. The episode depicts the chemicals leaking into Yasser’s corpse and causing his body to rise from the grave to do what the madman loves best – kill innocent Israeli civilians. If only the makers of 21st Century Golem had waited they would have gotten some scripting help from this week’s revelation that Arafat’s corpse supposedly showed signs of poison. If they had known that would happen they could have thrown in a reference to the alleged poison mingling with the other chemicals to give us this zombie terrorist.

At any rate the Arafat zombie thrills the Hamas butchers, who feel they now have a supernatural ally of their own to use against the Golem who has been thwarting their murderous plans. After a Continue reading

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COLLEGE FOOTBALL!

Northeastern_Oklahoma_AMIt was on November 6th, 1869, that Rutgers and Princeton played the very first college football game “on the banks of the Raritan” as the Rutgers fight song says. One of the things I love about college football is how far back its history goes.

It feels odd to think that Ulysses S Grant was in the White House when Continue reading

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WORLD WAR ONE: WAYS IT WAS DIFFERENT FROM WORLD WAR TWO

American Dough Boys

American Dough Boys

Many people tend to confuse World Wars One and Two. With Veteran’s Day coming up Balladeer’s Blog presents a look at some of the ways in which World War One stands out from the later conflict.

WW I – Lasted from 1914 to 1918  *** WW II – Lasted from 1939 to 1945 

WW I – America entered the war in April, 1917 *** WW II – America entered the war in December, 1941

WW I – Italy and Japan fought on the side of the Allied Powers *** WW II – Italy and Japan fought on the side of the Axis Powers

WW I – Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm, led the Central Powers *** WW II- Germany, under Adolf Hitler, led the Axis Powers

WW I – Sinking of the Lusitania *** WW II – Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

WW I – The Allied disaster at Gallipoli *** WW II – The Allied disaster Operation: Continue reading

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