Monthly Archives: April 2018

April 18, 2018 · 9:03 pm

COLLEGE BASEBALL RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

georgia gwinnettNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) 1. GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE GRIZZLIES    ###    2. FAULKNER UNIVERSITY EAGLES (Should be the Furies)    ###    3. SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE    ###     4. OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY STARS    ###    5. SAINT THOMAS UNIVERSITY (FL) BOBCATS    ###   

USAO Drover new6. UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND ARTS OF OKLAHOMA DROVERS    ###    7. LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS    ###     8. LYON COLLEGE SCOTS    ###     9. UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS    ###     10. UNIVERSITY OF MOBILE RAMS (Should be the Iron Rams)    ###     Continue reading →

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April 18, 2018 · 4:55 am

SABO: GUERILLA ART AT ITS FINEST

sabo on zuckerberg and schumerStreet Artist Sabo has earned genuine folk hero status with his guerilla art projects that he sets up in public, often under the cover of darkness, in various cities. Daylight unveils his masterpieces of dissent. Sabo takes on the subjects that too many faux iconoclasts are afraid to handle, most recently the corporate fascist Mark “Skippy” Zuckerberg.

The guerilla artist simultaneously broached the way that Zuckerberg’s ties to just one political party are a clear conflict of interest (Chuck Schumer’s daughter works there as just one example of dozens) and should call for regulation of Facebook as a public utility. The baby-faced Techno-Tyrant Zuck has a well-deserved name for politically motivated,  one-way enforcement of Facebook/ Fakebook’s supposed “Community Standards.”

Sabo on HillarySince ANY Facebook user can block anybody or anything they want, such heavy-handed interference with the free exchange of ideas is as unnecessary as it is ugly. (Personally I left Facebook years ago since it’s like being trapped in the suburban barbecue from hell.)

Scandals about Facebook’s violation of users’ privacy have provided even more reason to be suspicious of the organization. Go to Gab.ai or Steemit.com or any of the other sites out there. They aren’t yet the obnoxious corporate cesspool that Facebook has long been. Continue reading →

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April 17, 2018 · 9:55 pm

POLO: 2018 U.S. OPEN SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS SET

Balladeer’s Blog continues its coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport. FOR MY PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE  The 115th U.S. Open rolled along with the final two teams for the Semifinals being determined.

FlexJet polo shirtGAME ONE: FLEXJET VERSUS AUDI – Two Ganzis, one of the First Families of Polo, were in action in this opening Match while a third played in the second one. Melissa Ganzi led the quartet from Flexjet – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Aviators – against Marc Ganzi and his foursome from Audi – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Bavarians.

FIRST CHUKKER – Things got off to a slow start on the offensive side. Both teams’ defenses were on top of their game and limited their opponents to just 1 Goal. The First Chukker ended in a 1-1 tie.

SECOND CHUKKER – The Bavarians managed to outdo the Aviators this time around. Audi swatted in 3 Goals compared to the 2 scored by Flexjet. The score now stood at 4-3 with the Bavarians on top.

THIRD CHUKKER – Audi dominated this Chukker on both sides of the ball, shutting out the Aviators while thwacking 2 more Goals between the Uprights. Going into Halftime the Bavarians led Flexjet by a tally of 6-3.

FOURTH CHUKKER – To start the 2nd Half the Aviators acted like they had just been playing possum the first three Chukkers. Flexjet notched FIVE Goals while limiting Audi to just 1! The Aviators had gone on top 8-7. Continue reading →

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April 16, 2018 · 11:04 pm

NEGLECTED DETECTIVES WHO SOLVED REAL-LIFE MYSTERIES

Ellis ParkerTHE SLEUTH: Ellis Parker, Chief of Detectives in Burlington County, NJ. Parker’s professional reputation was such that detectives from other jurisdictions often sought help from him.

TAGLINE: “The county detective with an international reputation.”

THE CRIME: On October 5th of 1920 bank employee David Paul, known to his friends and loved ones as a quiet, prim and devoted family man, disappeared with a courier pouch containing more than $70,000 in cash and $30,000 in negotiable securities. Eleven days later Mr Paul’s corpse was found in a shallow grave.

THE SCENE: David Paul’s clothing was soaking wet but his grave and the surrounding soil were bone dry. Authorities determined that Paul had only been dead for about 2-3 days despite the 11 day absence. The cause of death was a bullet through the head.

SOLVING THE CRIME: Ellis Parker learned that the seemingly quiet David Paul was known for participating in wild orgies at a cottage far outside of town. None of the other participants in the cottage’s wild sex parties admitted to seeing David during the days after the theft but before his dead body was found. Continue reading →

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April 16, 2018 · 8:24 am

REMEMBERING THE MOON MAN

The Moon Man

The Moon Man

THE MOON MAN – Created by Frederick C Davis, the Moon Man is, to me, the epitome of the campy but fascinating heroes the old 1930s pulp publications used to treat readers to, issue after issue. Operating in fictional Great City, the Moon Man not only waged war on the ruthless representatives of the criminal element, he also plundered their ill-gotten wealth from them and distributed it to the Great Depression-ravaged poor of the 1930s.

This not only made the hero a combination of the best elements of the Shadow and Robin Hood, but it also gave him a healthy dose of “Green Hornet appeal”, too, because, like the Hornet, the Moon Man was hunted by both the crooks AND the cops, doubling the danger for the  daring and resourceful figure every time he donned his costume and stalked the night-darkened streets.

That costume, by the way, is beloved by some fans for its hammy, campy, “pulpish” quality, but is just barely tolerated by others for the same reason. The Moon Man was armed with an automatic and dressed all in black, usually including a black cloak, and hid his face behind a round glass globe that covered his entire head.

The globe was made of one-way Argus glass, the glass Speakeasies used to use for their windows during Prohibition, so the customers inside could see anyone approaching the illegal boozery but cops approaching it would see only their reflection in the glass. Similarly the Moon Man could see out of the globe but people looking at him would see just the mirrored surface of the globe. The globe-headed aspect of the Moon Man’s outfit often annoys people who take pulps a little too seriously, but to me it adds to the old-fashioned fun. Continue reading →

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April 15, 2018 · 8:00 pm

THE BLACK CROWES: HARD TO HANDLE

Another installment of Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead finds Balladeer’s Blog giving a shoutout to the Black Crowes and their song Hard to Handle. 

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April 15, 2018 · 12:00 pm

MUSLIM BOSTON MARATHON MASSACRE: FIVE YEARS LATER

boston marathon massacre

ISLAM

BREAKING NEWS: Muslim fanatics are STILL the ones behind the Boston Marathon Massacre, despite the way the media tried to blame it on Tea Party members.

Yes it was five years ago that the world got another reminder about the blood-soaked, homophobic and misogynistic savagery called Islam when the Tsarnaev brothers set off explosives at the Boston Marathon and seemed proud of it.

As if the attack itself wasn’t repulsive enough the American media made it even worse by once again showing their ugly biases.

Remember how they spent a few days implying that since the attack happened on Tax Day it must have been Tea Party members (the favorite bogeymen of the American left) who set off the explosives?

When the culprits turned out to be Muslims those same outlets looked even more foolish than they usually do. Yes, whiny Liberals, I know Fox News Channel and talk radio show conservative bias but all the other news outlets show liberal bias that is at least as blatant. Grow up and deal with it already.

As I pointed out five years ago after the attacks were revealed to be Islamic in nature and not tax-related:

Boston marathon massacre 2

I’d like to offer my condolences to America’s Liberals, who were salivating with the desperate hope that the massacre at the Boston Marathon could be blamed on the Conservatives they hate with such irrational fervor. Democratic Party stations like NPR, CNN and others which are the Liberal versions of Fox News Channel and talk radio were lovingly dwelling on the April 15th date (Tax Day), practically orgasming at the thought that Tea Party activists might have chosen that day to become as violent as Liberals pretend they are. 

Let’s face it, American Liberals HAD to hope it was Conservatives behind the killings that we now know – and which anyone with common sense could have told – were really yet ANOTHER Muslim terrorist attack. They had to hope that because American Conservatives are the ONLY people in the entire world that the hypocritical cowards of American Liberalism will unconditionally criticize. American Liberals are far too spineless to even discuss the homophobia, xenophobia and misogyny of Islam, all while demonizing American Christians for having comparatively mild versions of those qualities.

ISLAM

We now know the religious and ideological affiliation of the gutless butchers of Boston, and one of them even had “Worldview: Islam” on their on-line profile. In the coming days and weeks as you observe America’s heart-broken Liberals endlessly wagging their fingers and lecturing everyone to remember that we shouldn’t judge entire groups based on the extremists in their ranks you can just laugh and think of how those same nauseating hypocrites gleefully and spitefully demonize and dehumanize everyone who disagrees with their politics, broadly painting them all as racists, gun-wielding rednecks and worse. Continue reading →

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April 15, 2018 · 3:00 am

TAXIARCHOI (C 427-415 B.C.): ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY

TaxiarchoiBalladeer’s Blog presents another examination of an ancient Greek political satire.

TAXIARCHOI (Tax Collectors) – By Eupolis. Tax Day is the most appropriate day to examine this comedy because its premise serves as a pointed reminder of the inherent ugliness in all taxation – that the power to impose and collect taxes is, ultimately, backed up by the use of force. (If you doubt me go without paying your personal property taxes. Then we’ll discuss how much you truly “own” your home or your car.)  

In Taxiarchoi the god Dionysus is depicted joining the title military unit. Those Taxiarchoi units would periodically collect the “taxes” or – in its most honest form – “tribute” from the various regions, not only of Athens proper but of the Athenian subject states. Military units were necessary for such tasks for the reasons you would expect – attempted resistance on the part of those being taxed and/or attempted robbery by bands of thieves after the taxes had been collected.    

Sometimes a particular community might try to poor-mouth their circumstances and provide the taxiarchs with less money than had been assessed against them. In such cases the officer in charge was empowered to either seize portable property to make up the difference or to ransack the town and its vicinity to determine if the citizens were simply hiding their wealth.

For Athens proper, a representative of each of the traditional Ten Regions of Athens would lead the taxiarchs collecting taxes in their region and would select the squadron leaders. I’ll discuss the breakdown of the Ten Regions and the way they factored into political representation, the law and the census in ancient Athens in the future when I examine comedies that deal with issues relevant to those regions.  

THE PLAY 

Though it would be appropriate, given the daring nature of the ancient Greek satires, if Taxiarchoi was a hard-hitting commentary on the taxation process, unfortunately it was not. It was a comedy about the god Dionysus joining a unit of taxiarchs who were about to go on a tax collecting expedition. As usual in the comedies Dionysus was depicted as a fey, bumbling figure and in this particular case the laughs come largely from how the wine god’s soft, lazy nature was incredibly ill-suited for military life. Continue reading →

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April 14, 2018 · 5:30 pm

POLO: FATHER VS SON AT THE 2018 U.S. OPEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport. FOR MY PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE  2018 U.S. Open action continues with two more games in Bracket Play:

Audi polo shirtAUDI VERSUS THE U.S. POLO ASSOCIATION – Marc Ganzi led Audi – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: the Bavarians – against his son Grant, who was playing for the United States Polo Association – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Association (Thank you to Jim Rome.)

FIRST CHUKKER: Audi and the USPA matched each other shot for shot and Goal for Goal to start things off. This opening Chukker ended with the score knotted up at 2-2.

SECOND CHUKKER: The Bavarians shone in this second sextant, dominating the Association on both sides of the ball. Audi thwacked in a pair of Goals for themselves while completely shutting out USPA. The Bavarians now held a 4-2 lead.

THIRD CHUKKER: Audi exploded on the Association this time around, absolutely OWNING them. The Bavarians got 4 more Goals between the Uprights compared to the lone Goal mustered by the struggling and baffled Association. Headed into Halftime Audi was on top by a score of 8-3. Yes … EIGHT to THREE! Continue reading →

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April 14, 2018 · 11:19 am

FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3D (1982): ON THE TEXAS TWENTY-SEVEN FILM VAULT

Friday the 13th Part 3DBefore MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault! In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class hosted this neglected cult show. 

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday February 14th, 1987 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. 

SERIAL: None. The movie, Film Vault Corps comedy sketches and commercials filled up the entire two and a half hours this time.

FILM VAULT LORE: This episode marked the second time The Texas 27 Film Vault came with a warning about violent content. It was also at least the second time they riffed on a movie that was originally in 3-D. Randy and Richard did various jokes about wearing 3-D glasses and 3-D effects coming out of the screen at them as they watched the movie.

Randy and Richard firing their machine guns at giant rats, cellumites and other subterranean creatures.

Randy and Richard firing their machine guns on the T27FV 3D poster.

When you throw in the previous year’s “Mock 3D” interview with Ben Johnson and the 1987 release of The Texas 27 Film Vault‘s official 3-D poster you could say Randy, Richard, Ken “Tex” Miller, Joe Riley and Laurie Savino had a definite fondness for taking shots at the whole 3-D concept.  

 FOR A LOOK AT THE 3-D TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT POSTER (courtesy of Randy Clower) –https://glitternight.com/2013/03/18/movie-hosts-the-texas-27-film-vault-poster/  

THE MOVIE:

Friday the 13th Part 3-D was the most notoriously lame sequel in the Friday the 13th film series during the 1980s. Not only was it part of the laughable 1980s attempt to revive the 3-D craze of the 1950s but it’s also infamous for its DISCO VERSION of the iconic Friday the 13th theme. However it’s essential viewing for horror fans because it was the first time Jason Voorhees put on the hockey mask that is so closely associated with the character.    Continue reading →

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