Monthly Archives: December 2016

ANOTHER INSIDER WRITES ABOUT THE CLOSED MINDS OF U.S. COLLEGE “TEACHERS”

aaaa-quoteFor a nice change of pace here is another article by yet ANOTHER figure from America’s close-minded “academic” (LMFAO) world pointing out how pompous Left-Wing Archie Bunkers have distorted the world of higher education.

Frederick deBoer, a PhD, wrote about the kind of political intolerance I’ve covered plenty in the past. (Like at my examination of the Ancient Greek Comedy The Birds – FOUND HERE  )

This brave freethinker’s article about “liberal” bigotry has the wonderful title Condescending, Certain and Incoherent. As always with this topic, the more Left-Wing Archie Bunkers you happen to know in the “educational” field the funnier you’ll find it -CLICK HERE

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THE CHRISTMAS CAROL (1949)

1949 A Christmas CarolTHE CHRISTMAS CAROL (1949) – This relic from the VERY early years of television was a syndicated production. It was also one of THREE productions of the Carol to hit the airwaves in 1949.

This version’s biggest claim to fame is the on-screen presence of a bearded (despite the picture to the right) Vincent Price as the story’s narrator. For my fellow bad movie geeks the one and only Robert Clarke portrays Nephew Fred to Taylor Holmes’ Scrooge.

Price is the very best element of the production, which is so haphazard that it repeatedly presents Scrooge’s first name spelled “Ebeneezer” instead of “Ebenezer” like it should be.

All things considered, this is a reasonable (but bland) presentation given its brief 25 1/2 minute running time and technical limitations. With no special effects the tableau of Marley’s Ghost walking through a solid door is accomplished by Continue reading

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Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Forgotten Television

JOHN GLENN R.I.P. – FORGOTTEN SPACE MISSIONS

john-glennThe world mourns the passing of Mercury Astronaut and later Senator John Glenn, “the Clean Marine” himself! (No relation to the Spotless Spartan or the Hygienic Hoplite).

Though Glenn was NOT a part of the Apollo Missions to the Moon I figured I would post this look at the forgotten Moon visits that came after Apollo 11 since the Mercury Missions were the prelude.

 

Apollo 12 patchAPOLLO 12 – Overall Commander: Charles “Pete” Conrad (not to be confused with Peter “Chuck” Conrad)

Command Module Yankee Clipper Pilot: Richard F Gordon, Jr

Lunar Module Intrepid Pilot: Alan L Bean 

Less than four full months after Apollo 11’s successful mission the Apollo 12 crew provided a SECOND fulfillment of President John F Kennedy’s goal of landing men on the moon and returning them safely to the Earth.  Continue reading

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THE CHRISTMAS KID (1967)

Christmas Kid

Jeffrey Hunter as The Christmas Kid

I always think of this bizarrely-themed Spaghetti Western as The Gospel According to Sam Colt or Paul’s Letter to Smith & Wesson. Our title gunslinger is played by Jeffrey “Captain Pike on Star Trek” Hunter. As Jesus in the movie King of Kings, Hunter’s youthful appearance brought on ridicule from wags who called the film I Was a Teenage Jesus.  

Once again Jeffrey plays a character who is born in a manger at Christmas and gets visited by three wise (well … no) men. The Christmas Kid‘s half-assed Jesus parallels continue from there in sporadic fashion. The little babe – called Christmas Joe at first – grows up to be a philosophical boy who practices pacifism. 

Christmas Kid 2When our hero’s home hamlet of Jaspen, Arizona becomes a Boom Town after copper is discovered, the place turns into a proverbial web of sin and vale of tears. Michael Culligan (Louis Hayward), the greedy town boss, builds an empire for himself out of crime and greed as the copper rush continues.     

This being a western, the day comes when Christmas Joe must strap on a gun and pin on a badge for a three-year mission – I mean term in office – to fight the forces of evil in Arizona Territory. Now called the Christmas Kid our hero spreads the Good News of Gunplay as he blows away various bad men who leave him with no other choice.  Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, Spaghetti Westerns

BARACK OBAMA’S DELUSIONS

Urkel

United States President Barack Obama

The weak, inept and crooked little man named Barack Obama has been hard at work struggling to rewrite the history of his eight disastrous years in office by outrightly lying. People like Paul Krugman, who specializes in Barack Obama fan fiction, will no doubt repeat all of Obama’s tall tales as if they’re the truth. 

Anyway, in the spirit of Barack Obama’s deranged claims here are a few other items that worst of all presidents will probably try to take credit for.  

** Playing Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters.

** Discovering penicillin.

** Letting the dogs out. (Say what you will, it takes balls to try a Baha-Men reference in the year 2016)

** Having his presidency foretold by Nostradamus when he wrote “And a self-infatuated fool/ With ears as large as dinner plates/ Will undo decades of racial progress/ As he stubbornly clings like dogshit to the bottom of history’s shoes.”

** Composing a song called Hail to the THIEF to be played whenever Hillary Clinton entered the room. 

map

Hillary – Blue, Trump – Red

** Reducing his own political party – the Democrats – to isolated bands of pompous snobs and professional hatemongers scattered around the country. (Okay, that one’s the truth.) 

** Coining the expression “Ya workin’ hard or hardly workin’?”

** Writing Gone With The Wind, The Godfather and Space Raptor Butt Invasion. Continue reading

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Filed under humor, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

THE ENERGY CAROL (1975)

Energy CarolWATCH IT BEFORE IT GETS TAKEN DOWN AGAIN!

During past Christmas Carol-A-Thons I’ve reviewed The Energy Carol, a Canadian educational short which adapts the theme of A Christmas Carol to energy conservation.

It was taken down from Youtube years ago but I just noticed it was posted again.

TO WATCH IT, CLICK Continue reading

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IF OBAMA HANDLED PEARL HARBOR …

Obama making a face

Obama at his most presidential

Balladeer’s Blog is still the only site on the web that criticizes both Liberals and Conservatives equally. When innocent people get killed by Muslim terrorists Barack Obama’s response is to lecture the nation whose diverse people elected him twice about what disgusting bigots he and his fellow pompous asses consider Americans to be. This weak and pathetic little man even says “ISIL” instead of “ISIS” just to grovel for Muslim fanatics who prefer the acronym “ISIL”.  

Obama’s creation of the Islamic State through his premature withdrawal from Iraq and his general “masochism as foreign policy” approach inspired this look at how this worst of all presidents might have handled the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. 

Obama fail

The confused, uncomprehending face of utter incompetence.

For starters Barack “Eddie Haskell” Obama would have claimed the attack was “Fake News” and would have been too busy with golfing, fundraisers and tentative spin doctoring to even address the nation until sometime around January 24th, 1942. And that’s being optimistic. 

” My fellow Americans, I speak to you today as a special guest on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. I am addressing you this evening about the recent incident in which America’s usual imperial and dictatorial behavior provoked the innocent nation of Japan, home of Shinto, the Religion of Peace, to act in their own defense by conducting a few military exercises in the Hawaiian Islands. Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

MISS VICTORY: HOLYOKE SUPERHERO

Balladeer’s Blog continues to shamelessly pander to our superhero-crazed culture with this look at another neglected Holyoke hero.
miss-victoryMISS VICTORY

Secret Identity: Joan Wayne, stenographer

Origin: Believe it or not the Golden Age Miss Victory was never given an origin story explaining how she gained her super-powers. She supposedly trained in the circus when she was younger but that would not explain her paranormal abilities. 

All that is known is that in Washington, DC, Foreign Trade Committee stenographer Joan Wayne grew tired of the corruption among politicians and government contractors so she donned a colorful costume and a mask to fight crime – and later, German and Japanese supervillains – as Miss Victory. This costumed figure worked for the FBI.  Continue reading

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982): THEA MUSGRAVE’S OPERA

thea-musgrave

Get it right this time or I’ll squeeze your balls like THIS!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Balladeer’s Blog’s 2016 edition of my annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this EXPANDED look at the great Thea Musgrave’s opera version from Granada Television video in 1982.

Musgrave was British and in my opinion she was one of the few masters of opera from the late 20th Century. The world premier of this most accessible of Thea’s works was on December 16th, 1981 at the Norfolk Center Theater. That Norfolk, VA production was by the Virginia Opera Association.

Later the opera debuted at the Royal Opera House in the U.K. and at the State Opera House in Australia.   Continue reading

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“VIRGIN” BIRTHS IN WORLD MYTHOLOGY

anakin-skywalkerOkay, I hate to go on record defending George “Jar Jar” Lucas of all people but there is one criticism directed at him that I think is unfair. People often accuse Lucas of jamming in a Jesus parallel with the way Shmee Skywalker gave birth to Anakin without any actual father being involved in the process.  

The Christian myth about Jesus’ supposed Virgin Birth is far from the only example of fatherless births in global belief systems. George Lucas was simply keeping Anakin’s story in line with demigod and hero tales from countless other cultures. The concept is not limited to Christian beliefs.

In the tradition of Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of various dead-and-resurrected gods from around the world here is a look at just a few of the mythological entities with births that either downplay the father’s role or omit it entirely.  

huitzilopochtliHUITZILOPOCHTLI

Pantheon: Aztec  

Birth: Coatlicue, the mother of this national god of the Aztecs was impregnated by a small bundle of dust or feathers that got caught in her vagina.

Her husband Mixcoatl and their other children didn’t buy that story for a minute and suspected Coatlicue of infidelity. Huitzilopochtli sprang fully-grown from his mother’s womb to protect her.  

FOR MORE AZTEC GODS CLICK HERE Continue reading

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