HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy this holiday and the hope for peaceful coexistence represented by the possibly mythic meal that it commemorates. The kind of self-righteous killjoys who bash Thanksgiving are the type of sanctimonious idiots that are fun to laugh at since they have no identity outside of their ephemeral political concerns.
Whether you consider the tale of the first Thanksgiving to be literal or aspirational, enjoy yourselves! Be thankful that you’re not one of those heartless people who try to pollute every happy gathering with divisiveness and turn it into a showcase for the simple-minded, ankle-biting political remarks that those people laughably think are Really Deep. Continue reading
SUPERSONIC SAUCER (1956) – In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday Balladeer’s Blog presents a look at another harmless, all-ages sci-fi turkey, this one from England. Supersonic Saucer was produced by our old friends in Great Britain’s Children’s Film Foundation, the same group behind 
Top-billed actress Marcia Manolescue, an English actress of Asian descent, plays Sumac, one of the students whose family could not pay travel fare home and back. Another such student is Greta (Gillian Harrison) and rounding things out is Adolphus (Andrew Mette-Harrison), the tubby youngest character. 
We viewers know the kids are in the right, and the spaceship/ flying saucer is really a Venusian youngster. That alien entity used its race’s ability to morph from Muppet-like form to amoeboid form to flying saucer form fit for interplanetary travel. 
The goofy looking Venusian resembles a thick, tall worm in a white hijab in its “normal” form but is hilariously rendered as a cartoon flying saucer with eyes for its airborne and spacefaring form. The “special” effect is as laughable as the cartoon spaceships in American movies like Invaders from Mars.
THANKSGIVING IS ALMOST HERE! ONE OF THE GREATEST HOLIDAYS OF THE YEAR! In the midst of the travails that inevitably complicate our lives it’s a great time for taking stock of the positives that we can find. 
METROPOLIS – Volumes have been written about Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent movie sci-fi masterpiece. I love the film myself but rather than write the 9,899,974th glowing review of the 1927 original I will instead take a look at the 1984 re-issue, produced by Giorgio Moroder, who also did soundtracks for movies like Scarface, Midnight Express, and later Top Gun.
Rather than have the usual classical or similar music play as accompaniment to a silent movie, composer Giorgio Moroder wrote a rock and pop music score to attract a generation of filmgoers who might otherwise have never sat through a silent movie in their lives. Freddie Mercury, Pat Benatar, Adam Ant and Billy Squier were among those performing Moroder’s score.
Not only 1984 audiences but all subsequent generations of viewers which were drawn to silent movies in general thanks to airings of Metropolis (1984) may never have brought the new blood and passion to the early cinematic artform if not for Moroder. 
ROUND ONE: GAME ONE – The DICKINSON STATE BLUE HAWKS took it on the road against the MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS. This tightest game of the day was knotted up at 21-21 come Halftime. In the 3rd Quarter the Blue Hawks went up 28-21 and in the 4th each team added another Touchdown as Dickinson State beat the Orediggers 35-28. 
ROUND ONE: GAME TWO – This game pitted the DORDT UNIVERSITY DEFENDERS against the visiting OTTAWA UNIVERSITY BRAVES. Though the 1st Quarter ended in a 7-7 tie, the Defenders shut out the Braves the rest of the way. All the while, Dordt University added 14 points before the break and 14 more in the 2nd Half for a 35-7 beatdown. 
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #70 (February 1978) 
Those villains are helmeted criminals known by numbers instead of names and led by the mysterious Number 1. Strike Force has over a score of members, and they wield high-tech weaponry and equipment. 
LASKARINA BOUBOULINA (1771-1825) – Often hailed as history’s first female admiral, Laskarina developed a passion for sailing in her youth and was permitted to pursue that passion thanks to her stepfather’s open-mindedness regarding women’s behavior and education. 
Our heroine poured her inheritance into the cause of Greek Independence and personally took command of her small fleet of four ships (some sources say eight ships) which had been constructed and outfitted in defiance of Ottoman regulations on Greek battleships. She even designed her own flag.
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