Monthly Archives: December 2016

THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY: AMERICAN LIBERAL MYTHOLOGY

Mascot FOUR original pics

Balladeer’s Blog

I’m an atheist but I love exploring the mythology behind the world’s various belief systems. American Liberalism has regressed into a faith-based belief system that’s every bit as irrational as any other religion, but since American Liberals – or “Liberal Fundamentalists” – are such pompous, hypocritical and close-minded fools it’s A LOT of fun to describe their myths as sarcastically as possible.

THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY – The American Liberal version of an afterlife. American Liberals strive to live their lives in such a way that people every bit as pretentious and snobbish as they are will sit around in the future sipping wine and pompously expressing approval of the worldview and political opinions that today’s Liberal Fundamentalists held while alive.

This notion of an afterlife is every bit as flawed and fantastic as any other religion’s tales about what happens after human beings die. No one alive today knows how the people of the future will feel about any of us or about our worldview.

SnobIf anything history has shown that people – ESPECIALLY the self-congratulatory asses called Liberals – take great delight in loudly and repeatedly condemning people of the past for (GASP) having opinions that differ from their own. It takes no courage and little effort to put on an air of moral superiority toward long-dead human beings.

That being said it’s more likely that American Liberals of the future will look down on even the most self-consciously “progressive” Puritans of today as hopelessly misguided or simply ignorant. Those future Liberal Fundamentalists very well may just sit around sipping wine and reassuring each other that they are morally superior to every Liberal of this era for not having THE EXACT SAME opinions as they do regarding race, gender, etc . Exactly like pompous Liberal Fundamentalists of today do with people of the past. 

The obsessive conformity, status-anxiety and insecurities of American Liberals prevent them from questioning their faith and thereby realizing that their own condemnation of figures from long ago is every bit as much of a shallow, meaningless pose as the attitude that may be shown by Liberal Fundamentalists of the future. FOR MY LOOK AT THE DEITIES OF AMERICAN LIBERAL MYTHOLOGY CLICK HERE   

OR IF YOU PREFER: Continue reading

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READ-ALONG CHRISTMAS CAROL (1995)

Fezziwig's Christmas Party

Fezziwig’s Christmas Party

Balladeer’s Blog’s Seventh Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues!

It’s the time of year when I examine countless adaptations of the Dickens classic from television, movies, radio and elsewhere! As always new versions will be sprinkled in with the old standards.

Here is a look at the 1995 home video Read-Along Christmas Carol This version is just 50 minutes long and is ideal for youngsters learning how to read or for the hearing-impaired to watch.

The video features a series of still drawings AND limited animation from the Dickens classic accompanied by word-balloons of dialogue (like in comic books or comic strips) appearing over the characters’ heads.

This version provides an Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF AND BOWL RESULTS FROM DECEMBER 3rd

*** NJCAA ***

garden-city-broncbusters-helmet-newNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The GARDEN CITY COLLEGE BRONCBUSTERS did battle with the ARIZONA WESTERN COLLEGE MATADORS for the national title. The 2016 El Toro Bowl saw the Broncbusters grab a 7-0 lead in the 1st Quarter, then take a 19-14 edge into the locker room at the Half. Neither team scored in the 3rd Quarter and the Matadors went up 22-19 in the 4th. Garden City scored a TD with 30 seconds left in the game but muffed the 2-point conversion attempt. Arizona Western failed to score and the Broncbusters won their 1st National Championship 25-22!

*** NAIA ***

Baker U Wildcats helmetFIRST SEMIFINAL – The BAKER UNIVERSITY WILDCATS managed a very dramatic 4th Quarter comeback to advance to the NAIA National Championship Game. The Wildcats hosted the EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY MOUNTAINEERS and after a 7-7 1st Quarter tie held a 24-17 advantage at Halftime. The Mountaineers took a 27-24 edge in the 3rd Quarter and extended that to 41-24 in the 4th. From there Baker University scored TWENTY-ONE UNANSWERED POINTS to win this Instant Classic by a score of 45-41! Continue reading

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JEWISH GAUCHOS (1975)

j-gauchosJEWISH GAUCHOS (1975) – It’s no secret that I love cinematic oddities. For this go-round I’ll examine the movie Jewish Gauchos based on the 1910 novel by Alberto Gerchunoff. The film deals with the musical adventures of a group of Jewish immigrants from Russia working as gauchos (Argentine cowboys) in Argentina in the very early 1900s.

This film plus a few westerns filmed in Israel but set in the American frontier make up the very, very unusual subgenre called Matzoh Westerns (as I’m sure you’ve guessed, those are the Jewish version of the Italian Spaghetti Westerns).

Outside of the bizarre subgenre of amputee kung fu movies from Hong Kong, Matzoh Westerns are my favorite cul de sac in the weirdass movie neighborhood. Continue reading

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FEMINIST TRIUMPH: KELLYANNE CONWAY IS THE FIRST WOMAN TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

kellyanne-conwayAs 2016 rapidly comes to a close I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the most moving stories of the year: Kellyanne Conway becoming the first woman to successfully run a Presidential campaign in America. Conway’s work resulted in the election of Donald Trump, so congratulations to Ms Conway for shattering the glass ceiling!

I wish it had been for a Third Party candidate but many people are pushing the notion that Donald “Agent Orange” Trump IS a de facto Third Party candidate given the way his campaign had to fight the one percenters and bloated rich pigs among both the Democrats and the Republicans. The working class vote made the difference.

No matter what side of the political spectrum you’re on it is heart-warming to see such a positive story emerge from such a tense year in politics.   Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

HAVE YOURSELF A SANDMAN LITTLE CHRISTMAS

have-yourself-a-sandman-little-christmasIn Pop Culture these days it’s Marvel Comics’ world and the rest of us are just innocent bystanders whose homes and places of business get destroyed.

In that spirit here’s a Christmas Season look at what I’ve learned was a milestone story in the Marvel Universe. It was from the very first issue of Marvel Team-Up (1972) and featured Spider-Man and the Human Torch taking on their mutual foe the Sandman on Christmas Eve.

have-yourself-a-sandman-little-christmas-2Years later an unnamed black woman that the pair saved from a mugging got retconned into being Misty Knight, adding even more significance to the issue.

Synopsis: While photographer Peter Parker was covering the Polar Bear Clan’s Christmas Eve dip (yes, it goes back at least that far) the Sandman showed up on the beach after surviving his apparent death in battle with the Hulk months earlier. (For a long time it was a comic book truism that only Bucky stayed dead but apparently even that eventually fell by the wayside.)   Continue reading

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PATRICK STEWART’S ONE-MAN PERFORMANCE OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1988)

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: PATRICK STEWART’S ONE-MAN STAGE SHOW (1988) I’ll come right out and admit it – I’ve always been a sucker for any version of A Christmas Carol. Trouble is, most adaptations distort the story or are produced by people who don’t seem to “get” the story or treat it like it’s a children’s tale. Anyone who thinks that needs to read the novel.

My love of mythology is partly why I love the story so much. A Christmas Carol is the closest thing to an Epic Myth the Industrial Age has produced. The language Dickens uses is very close to prose poetry but precious few adaptations of the story preserve enough of it.

That brings us to Patrick Stewart’s one-man stage presentation of A Christmas Carol. (NOT the made-for- tv movie he did on TNT) Stewart does all the voices and pretty much all the sound effects and his presentation is magnificent. It’s NOT a book-on-tape, it’s  Patrick Stewart acting out the story by himself, like he did on Broadway in the Continue reading

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YAHOLA AND HAYUYA: MUSCOGEE CREEK GODS

Original Creek TerritoryYAHOLA and HAYUYA – These two gods resided in the air and the clouds. They were the guardians of Muscogee people being given training in mysticism and the medical arts. Yahola and Hayuya were the two most prominent of the four Hiyouyulgee, divinities who tutored the ancient Muscogee about the use of fire and various plants, medicinal and otherwise. Yahola and his brother Hayuya endowed people with strength, creative inspiration and magical abilities.

Both deities presided over the Busk Ground Ceremonies, the most important rituals in the Muscogee holiday calendar. Yahola in particular had special sovereignty over curing illnesses and the delivery of children. He was also the patron deity of the intoxicating Black Drink consumed in mass quantities by the Muscogee Creek, who would cry out his name when feeling the effects of the drink he had given to them as a gift.  Continue reading

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MUSLIM FANATIC ATROCITY ROUNDUP

myth-of-islamic-toleranceHere are just a FEW of the latest blood-soaked actions committed by fanatics from the homophobic, xenophobic and misogynistic religion which continues to retard the rest of the world’s social progress.

November 26th: Mogadishu, Somalia – A Muslim fascist suicide bomber struck at a marketplace, killing TWENTY-FIVE innocent people and injuring FIFTY-THREE more. 

Also November 26th: Galmadug, Somalia – Al- Shabaab, the local franchise in the Global Muslim Fascist Murder Machine, attacked and killed 15 innocent people (8 by beheading them) and injured 14 more.

November 29th: Nagrota, India – Islamofascists attacked and killed 7 innocent people and injured 14 more. REMEMBER:  Continue reading

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EBENEZER (1998)

EbenezerBalladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2016 continues with the 1998 telefilm Ebenezer, the only version of the Dickens classic to feature a whorehouse! Well, as long as you don’t count whatever underhanded business Scrooge and Marley are running in the Alastair Sim version. (I’m kidding!)

Previously Balladeer’s Blog has reviewed The Trail to Christmas, a version of A Christmas Carol adapted to the American West of the 1800s. Ebenezer adapted the Dickens novel to the wild west of Canada in the 1800s, which adds an extra layer of novelty to this production. Casting Jack Palance as Ebenezer Scrooge was the real strength of this adaptation!  

Palance’s Scrooge is a miserly and crooked saloon owner while Bob Cratchit (Albert Schultz) is his much-abused bartender. Rick Schroder (yes, Rick Schroder) portrays gun-slinging Sam Benson, a character unique to this version and Tiny Tim is played by Joshua Silberg. Continue reading

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