Balladeer’s Blog’s coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport continues. Here are the men’s and women’s college Polo champions for this year.
MEN
National Champions – TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Runners-Up – University of Virginia Cavaliers
Score – The Aggies defeated the Cavaliers 21-18.
2018 Champions – Texas A&M Aggies Continue reading
Filed under college sports, Polo
Balladeer’s Blog often covers the intellectual journey from Democrat Fascism to tolerance and support for Free Speech. The masked fascists of the hate group Antifa – really KLAN-tifa like I always say – are the worst kind of political cowards.
Gabe Nadales is the latest figure to follow his conscience to the enlightened path of rejecting Democrat violence and intolerance. Nadales now supports Free Speech and talks at colleges and universities about the need to oppose hatemongers like Antifa. CLICK HERE
And yes, Klan-tifa bacteria, you’ve made it clear in the past you know where I live. Those of us who don’t hide behind masks like you do understand these things.
Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore.
FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE
PART TWENTY-FIVE: The 1918 one-shot publication called The Fool Killer was written by Dr Klarenc Wade Mak, poet, author and socialist political candidate for mayoral office in Kansas City, MO around 1918. Mak had also written Ekkoes (sic) from the Hart (sic) and Mental Dinamite (sic).
Mak’s 1918 work is sometimes confused with James Larkin Pearson’s 1910-1917 and 1919-1929 publication called The Fool-Killer. Both Mak and Pearson wrote poetry, both published works using the Fool Killer name and both were open about their sympathy with socialist politics of the time period.
Per the surviving correspondence of Eugene V Debs, Dr Mak once invited Debs to speak in Kansas City, MO at an event where Mak and other socialist candidates would be appearing.
Despite the “socialist” label, Klarenc Mak’s Fool Killer had that quality I have appreciated about nearly all the Fool Killer items I’ve come across: Attitudes which would outrage BOTH the political left AND right here in the 21st Century. Even the socialist label as Mak’s writings define it refers to workers, NOT “people who want something for nothing” as he calls them. (He also calls them parasites.) So even that brand of “socialism” would offend both right-wingers and left-wingers of today. For different reasons, of course.
Mak’s Fool Killer expressed disapproval of capitalism AND disapproval of abortion, so again we see that both the Left and the Right of today would be hard pressed to force a quick and easy label on this Fool Killer. Pretty refreshing!
Before returning to Pearson’s monthly publication I wanted to post some examples of Mak’s incarnation of the Fool Killer expressing sentiments tweaking both ends of the political spectrum by today’s standards:
“When a man has lived long enough to have tried all the bad things in this world he generally wants to hang on a little longer just to see if the Republicans and Democrats won’t invent some NEW evils.”
“The highest part of an education is finding out how much of it isn’t so.” (In the distant past this would have applied to right-wing domination of the educational system, but for decades now it has applied to left-wing domination of the educational system.)
“Wrong ideas are not an education, they are mental weeds, the base materials that prejudice is made out of.”
“If your religion can’t stand being criticized it is in the same class with the gold ring that’s afraid of acids. Such a ring is not gold at all – only a base pretender; and the same with the religion that can’t stand the acid test of criticism – it’s just as spurious and should be rejected.” (Left-wing zealots try to censor all criticism of Islam, right-wing zealots try to censor all criticism of Christianity and Judaism. At present, however, the left-wing book-burners have the help of the Silicon Valley Robber Barons/ Techno Fascists to help them in their censorship jihad.)
“The misdeeds of Democrats are about as plentiful as the drops of water in all the oceans, while the crimes of Republicans are as numerous as the seconds in Eternity.” Continue reading
Filed under Mythology, Neglected History
Here is one last round of congratulations for the ladies who won the 2019 national championship in softball in the nine divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
National Champions – SOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY RAIDERS
Runners-Up – Oklahoma City University Stars
2018 Champions – University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma Drovers
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
National Champions – ERSKINE COLLEGE FLYING FLEET
Runners-Up – Biola (CA) University Eagles
2018 Champions – Central Baptist College Mustangs
USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association)
National Champions – SAINT MARY OF THE WOODS COLLEGE POMEROYS
Runners-Up – Cleary University Prowling Cougars
2018 Champions – Cleary University Prowling Cougars Continue reading
Filed under College Softball
Even though there are signs here and there that audiences are getting fatigued with the oversaturation of superhero adaptations for the big and small screens, there still doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.
What better time for an OPERA version of Philip Wylie’s science fiction novel Gladiator, from 1930? Wylie’s work is often credited with inspiring the creation of Superman and every other superhero that followed.
Long before the overrated and overpraised Alan Moore wrote The Watchmen, this very first look at a superhero presented the figure struggling with the moral issues regarding the use of his superior abilities.
The central character uses his powers in World War One but afterward must cope with the limits of “super-powers” when it comes to dealing with political corruption and other problems that can’t be solved with violence. Or in which flexing his super-muscles would be counter-productive, maybe even ushering in a dictatorship.
In other words, the same type of stories which today are praised as “innovative” for “deconstructing the superhero mythos” WERE ALREADY EXPLORED IN THIS NOVEL EIGHTY-NINE YEARS AGO!
As a break from movie and television superhero tales I think an Opera format would be an intriguing and unexpected way of adapting Gladiator. Let’s face it – if it was done for television or movies today it would be criticized as “derivative” (irony of ironies) and “talky.”
Marvel Comics’ 1976 adaptation
That talkyness would slide nicely into a staged opera since, as I often point out in my examinations of 1970s Marvel stories, operas – like many comic books – are filled with lengthy expository monologues, but in song form. (There are countless “senses-shattering” origin stories and villain rants that are sung in operas.)
Think of this piece as a way of using the familiar superhero formula to encourage more people to “give opera a chance.” I love sharing my enthusiasms and I was very happy with the reception of those blog posts where I wrote about Ancient Greek Comedies to make them seem relevant. I want to try doing the same with operas.
Many people may disagree, but operas and superheroics are made for each other. Look at all the operas adapted from tales of ancient gods or other mythical supernatural figures. When you get right down to it, every larger-than life hero or heroine in any given story can be interpreted from a superhero angle. Continue reading
Filed under Fantastic Movie Reviews, Superheroes
One last round of congratulations to the 2019 college baseball champions from the nine divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
National Champions – TENNESSEE WESLEYAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS
Runners-Up – Saint Thomas University Bobcats
2018 Champions – Southeastern University Fire
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
National Champions – CONCORDIA (MI) UNIVERSITY CARDINALS
Runners-Up – Warner University Royals
2018 Champions – Campbellsville University Tigers Continue reading
Filed under College Baseball
Harrison Floyd (like me, a Trump supporter) is another Martin Luther King Person of Courage defying Democrats and the way they think they can order black people how to think and what political opinions to hold. I don’t agree with everything Floyd says but I don’t agree with everything said by people who happen to be white, either. So what? Deal with it, Democrat fascists.
Anyway, here’s a shoutout to Harrison Floyd, an urban intellectual who has a wonderful talent for making privileged white Democrat fools froth at the mouth with hatred just by having a mind of his own.
#BLACKLIVESMAGA #BLEXIT #WALKAWAY
For more about Harrison Floyd: Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
NCAA DIVISION TWO
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The 2 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA SPARTANS – were trying for their 8th National Championship, this time against the top seeded COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY MAVERICKS.
The first 5 Innings of this game were a Pitcher’s Duel with neither team scoring. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
In the realm of pop culture it continues to be Marvel Comics’ world! Over the past few years Balladeer’s Blog has been reviewing some old, old, OLD Marvel stories from decades ago. From the research I’ve done, I feel the late 1960s through mid-1970s were Marvel’s creative height, with only the Uncanny X-Men title retaining consistent art and story-telling quality beyond that time period.
I’ve covered The Celestial Madonna Saga (1973-1975), which also contained The Avengers/ Defenders War and the original Thanos War within its own storyline. I’ve examined the 13-part Black Panther story titled Panther’s Rage (1973-1975), the original Kree-Skrull War (1970-1971) and, most recently, the 7-part Adam Warlock tale The Magus (1975-1976).
Readers requested more Marvel, so, since these are fun and light time-passers, here comes Killraven, the Warrior of the Worlds.
WAR OF THE WORLDS/ WARRIOR OF THE WORLDS/ KILLRAVEN: In the early 1970s Marvel was experimenting with hybrid titles combining the old and the new by fusing licensed properties with unique Marvel twists.
The most famous and longest-lasting example was Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu. In 1973 Marvel licensed the use of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu plus other characters from the Fu Manchu tales. Rather than just churn out a Fu Manchu comic book series “the House of Ideas” instead combined it with the Kung Fu craze of the time and created Shang Chi, the son of Fu Manchu.
Shang Chi, as a surrogate Bruce Lee, and Sir Denis Nayland-Smith, as a surrogate Braithwaite from Enter: The Dragon, were the core of the new series. Shang Chi started out as an operative of his evil father Fu Manchu, but realized the error of his ways and threw in with Sir Denis and his team to battle his father’s malevolent schemes.
In 1976 Marvel licensed the rights to do a comic book tie-in series with 2001: A Space Odyssey and ultimately incorporated their most popular character from that series – Mister Machine aka Machine Man – into the mainstream Marvel Universe.
The same year as Shang Chi – 1973 (so BEFORE Star Wars) – Marvel had worked similar “synergy” by taking their license to do a comic book series based on H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and combining it with sci-fi post-apocalypse action. The main character was Jonathan Raven, aka Killraven, a charismatic rebel leading an uprising against Earth’s 21st Century Martian conquerors.
Killraven’s use of a sword AND futuristic firearms in action set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop also brought a little John Carter of Mars appeal into the series. By 1976 the promising saga was canceled due to poor sales but gained a cult following in the decades since then.
Killraven’s influence could be seen in the original 1980s mini-series V, especially the element of humans being used as food by our alien overlords and the sentimental “heroic freedom fighters versus evil tyrants” appeal. Killraven writer Don McGregor incorporated similarly themed stories and characters into Sabre, his other post-apocalypse comic book series.
Even Star Wars reflected some aspects of Killraven’s tales: the Rebel Alliance against the bad guys, the armored badass (The High Overlord in Killraven’s case) and, of course, the way Killraven wielded enigmatic, more than human abilities called simply “the Power” in K.R.’s series. (PLEASE NOTE: Killraven’s use of The Power came years before Star Wars and The Force.) The young sword-wielding hero was slowly mastering the Power as the series went along, but cancellation cut short his development of his paranormal gifts.
And yes, I know that both Killraven and Star Wars drew on the same vast inheritance of sci-fi tropes but the close proximity of K.R. (1973-1976) to Luke Skywalker (1977 onward) makes the comparisons inevitable.
About fifteen years back, Tom Cruise was set to star as Killraven but eventually all K.R. elements were dropped from the project and Cruise starred in simply another remake of War of the Worlds instead. You have to wonder if the Marvel name would have motivated the filmmakers to keep the Killraven angle if the movie had been done AFTER Marvel became the dominant source for cinematic blockbusters that it is now.
At any rate, let’s dive into the very first appearance of Killraven in 1973: Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead strikes again here at Balladeer’s Blog with Matchbox Twenty and their hit Our Song:
Filed under opinion
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