Monthly Archives: September 2018

WEEK THREE OF THE 2018 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON BEGINS TONIGHT

Games featuring ranked teams tonight:

NCAA DIVISION TWO

IUP Crimson HawksThe number 4 team in the nation – the INDIANA UNIVERSITY- PENNSYLVANIA CRIMSON HAWKS – welcome the MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITY MARAUDERS in a battle of cool-named teams.

Kickoff will be 6:30pm Eastern Time.

Missouri WesternIn the number 5 spot in the D2 rankings are the FORT HAYS STATE TIGERS, who will take on the homestanding MISSOURI WESTERN STATE GRIFFONS (helmet at left).

Look for the kickoff at 8:00pm Eastern Time. 

Northwest Missouri BearcatsDivision Two’s 6th ranked  team – the dynastic NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS – take it on the road against the WASHBURN UNIVERSITY ICHABODS.

This game will kick off at 7:00pm Eastern Time.  Continue reading

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HIGH SCHOOL CAESAR (1960) FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL TIME

For back-to-school time here’s my review of the 1960 Juvenile Delinquent classic High School Caesar. 

high-school-caesarHIGH SCHOOL CAESAR (1960) Category: Bad, youth-oriented 1960 movie that is incredibly campy   This movie may have a 1960 release date but it is the most classically campy example of the Juvenile Delinquent movies of the 1950’s.

That genre spawned many “so bad they’re good” films like High School Hellcats, Untamed Youth and many others featuring fast cars, silly slang and misunderstood or just plain malevolent teenagers. High School Caesar renders itself even more laughable than other Juvenile Delinquent films with its wonderfully absurd premise.

Yes, this movie takes its cue from the Edward G Robinson gangster movie Little Caesar and depicts the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency as if it’s a High School ROTC version of organized crime.

The title character is a kind of leather-jacketed Don Corleone overseeing a high school operation involving hallway protection rackets, rigged student elections and a black market of stolen exam answers. Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, humor

JOHN MCCAIN’S FAVORITE TRUMP LINKS

McCain WarJohn “Let’s Fight Wars All Over The World” McCain (left) 

BLACK TRUMP SUPPORTER PRAISES THE PRESIDENT AND SAYS HE CAN’T KEEP UP WITH ALL THE JOBS HE’S CREATING – Click HERE

EXCELLENT COLUMN POINTING OUT HOW CORRUPT THE MUELLER WITCH-HUNT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP IS – Click HERE

A LOOK AT HOW PRESIDENT TRUMP IS CONNECTING WITH TEENS THROUGH A SHARED CONTEMPT FOR THE AMERICAN MEDIA – Click HERE

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Filed under humor, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

OATS STUDIOS: RAKKA

Mascot new lookI’m still encountering people who don’t know about Oats Studios so here’s a look at Volume 1 – Rakka. The storyline is very derivative but the special effects are great.

Sigourney Weaver is along for the ride as the rebel leader. If you’re a wimp when it comes to gore effects don’t watch it. 

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THE PRISONER: THE GENERAL

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the 1967 science fiction/ existential drama The Prisoner. For Part One, in which I examined the themes and concepts at play in the series click  HERE 

The GeneralEpisode Title: THE GENERAL … In the ongoing debate about the exact numbering of the 17 episodes of The Prisoner I place this as the 9th episode.

This time around viewers learn the truth about the mysterious “General” that the Villagekeepers referred to back in The Schizoid Man.

As another sign of how The Prisoner is even more relevant here in the 21st Century this episode deals with totalitarian distortion of the educational system, “official” history and access to information via computers/ the internet. Today we see techno-fascists like Mark Zuckerberg plus his fellow Democrats at Google, Wikipedia, Twitter and other social media allying themselves with just one political party.

Number SixCentralizing and monopolizing the dissemination of information for ugly partisan purposes and in order to police the free exchange of ideas has become nightmarishly easy for those so inclined. Freedom of expression is becoming limited to those who mindlessly agree with the Democrat Party’s dogma. All other opinions are increasingly banned as “hatred” or “violations of community standards.”      

The Story:   Continue reading

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Filed under Forgotten Television, Prisoner (tv series)

3 LABOR DAY MOVIES

The Labor Day Holiday is taking on greater significance the more that the white collar criminals called Democrats and Republicans sell out the working class. Bought and paid for office-holders from BOTH political parties are content to screw over the working class.

MatewanMATEWAN (1987) – This John Sayles film examines the 1920 Matewan Massacre in the West Virginia coal fields. The workers were attempting to form a union and the owners – the kind of people that the one percenters’ beloved New York Times has proclaimed to be “the conscience of the country” used hired thugs to harass – and even kill – the laborers.

On top of that the owners planned to bring in replacement workers who would work for less money and would not expect “luxuries” like worker safety measures and the like.

It’s like today as DemCorp and RepubCorp embrace Corporate Fascism by helping bloated rich pigs usher unlimited numbers of illegal immigrants into countries around the world in order to bring in people who will work for lower wages and without “luxuries” like sick leave and such.    

PaydayToday’s rich pigs have added a new wrinkle: pretending to be showing “compassion” and lecturing the working class and the poor about the glories of a borderless society. Ultimately this will even overload Social Programs to the point where they all collapse from lack of funding.

AN IMPORTANT REASON FOR HAVING BORDERS IS PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THE LONG-HELD PRINCIPLE THAT A COUNTRY CAN HAVE SOCIAL PROGRAMS OR OPEN BORDERS BUT NOT BOTH. Borders also help in disease control and crime control, but the one percenters and bloated rich pigs never have to worry about either. Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM SEPTEMBER 1st

HEADLINES

Concordia_MIYET ANOTHER NAIA TEAM DEFEATS AN NCAA D2 TEAM – The NAIA’s CONCORDIA (MI) CARDINALS took it on the road to face the NCAA Division Two team the MALONE UNIVERSITY PIONEERS. The higher division Pioneers were at home, too, but none of that mattered as the Cardinals showed Malone how football is played in the NAIA. Concordia won the game 42-27. 

Morehouse Maroon Tigers helmetDIVISION TWO OVER DIVISION ONE – NCAA Division Two’s MOREHOUSE COLLEGE MAROON TIGERS likewise played at a higher division team yesterday. In this case the Maroon Tigers traveled to face NCAA Division One’s UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF GOLDEN LIONS. By Halftime Morehouse had the Golden Lions on Upset Alert with a 28-20 lead and followed through with a 34-30 victory.

Hutchinson Blue DragonsNUMBER FIVE GOES DOWN – In the NJCAA the HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS were on the road against the number 5 team in the nation – the INDEPENDENCE COLLEGE PIRATES. A 14-7 Blue Dragons lead in the opening Quarter turned into a 37-7 advantage at the break and ultimately a 37-27 win for Hutchinson College. 

NNAS_VAUSCAA OVER NCAA – The NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (formerly the Shipbuilders) from the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) visited the NCAA Division Three GREENSBORO COLLEGE PRIDE. The Builders converted a 7-0 1st Quarter lead into a 26-6 Halftime advantage. From there NNAS coasted to a 34-13 triumph.  Continue reading

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JOE MAGARAC: NEGLECTED AMERICAN FOLKTALE

Joe MagaracLabor Day weekend seemed like the appropriate time to post my long-delayed look at neglected working class folk hero Joe Magarac. This figure was the Steel Mill equivalent of Paul Bunyan and John Henry.

Though mostly associated with Polish-American steel workers in Pittsburgh, PA the general figure of a literal “man of steel” helping and protecting his coworkers can be found from the East Coast through the American Midwest. Sometimes the figure is Croation or some other ethnicity instead of Polish. 

Written versions of Joe Magarac and/or similar steel worker tall tales seem to have started around 1930 or 1931. Oral legends about such figures – but not specifically Joe Magarac – have been dated as early as the 1890s.

Vintage advertisements from tattered old newspapers indicate that such Man of Steel imagery may have been used for the steel industry prior to World War One. This “Which came first, the chicken or the egg” dilemma for Joe Magarac and other Steel Men puts one in mind of the quandary surrounding Billiken lore.        

Joe Magarac statueAs a lame play on words since this is Labor Day season I’ll present Joe Magarac’s origin and then depict his tales as “Labors” like in The Labors of Hercules.

BIRTH – Joe Magarac supposedly sprang into existence from a mound of iron ore and – depending on the version – that mound was either in Pittsburgh or the Old Country. Magarac emerged from the melting mound fully grown and spoke broken English like so many of the other Polish steel workers. He was called into being by the urgent need to catch up on production since the current shift had fallen dangerously behind.

Joe was 7 or 8 feet tall, his flesh was like solid steel, his torso was as wide as a smoke-stack and his arms were as thick as railroad ties. His surname Magarac meant “mule” in the workhorse sense, referring to his stamina. Joe’s appetite was such that he carried his lunch in a washtub instead of a standard lunch box.

Magarac’s favorite leisure time activity was polka-dancing and halushkis were his favorite food.

THE LABORS OF JOE MAGARAC:   Continue reading

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Filed under Mythology, Superheroes

ASK BALLADEER: LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY BOOKS

masc graveyard newQUESTION: What is the difference between Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea?

ANSWER: I think Anne of Avonlea is the one where she fights the Russian boxer.

Got a question for Balladeer? Just let me know.

 

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Filed under humor