Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring feature Forgotten Television returns with this look at four television presentations of works by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov.
UNCLE VANYA (February 10th, 1967) – On this date American public television aired the 1963 theatrically released film version of Anton Chekhov’s classic play. In late 1800s Russia, an elderly scholar and his young wife Yelena arrive at the home cared for by his first wife’s brother Vanya. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
The latest roundup of news, memes and political cartoons from Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog.
TEN NEW NAMES EXPOSED IN THE ONGOING BIDEN SCANDAL INVESTIGATIONS. Not since Warren G. Harding and the Ohio Gang has the White House been filled with so many blatant criminals.
EVEN AXIOS IS FORCED TO ADMIT THE TRUTH ABOUT CORRUPT YET SENILE JOE BIDEN’S LOUD, SADISTIC, PROFANITY LACED TIRADES AGAINST SUBORDINATES. Remember under Joe’s predecessor when far less aggressive behavior than this was hyped as the Weekly Apocalypse?
LATEST TWITTER FILES RELEASE REVEALS ANOTHER INSTANCE OF THE FBI (FUGGEDA BOUT INTEGRITY) HAVING TWITTER TAKE DOWN MATERIAL DAMAGING TO DEMOCRATS FOR NO SUPPORTABLE REASON. One of the reasons I used to be a Democrat is because they used to be very openly critical of the abuses of the FBI, CIA, etc. In recent years Democrats became okay with such abuses as long as they benefit “The Party.”
ANOTHER COURAGEOUS DEMOCRAT REPRESENTATIVE – GEORGIA’S MESHA MAINOR – LEAVES THAT PARTY, POINTING OUT THE DEMOCRATS’ CONTINUALLY “USING AND ABUSING THE BLACK COMMUNITY.” She also stated “I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own.” The Democrats’ media outlets have already begun crucifying her. More HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and especially HERE.
A PIECE COVERING THE OVERT POLITICIZING OF THE FBI AND OTHER AGENCIES.
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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
TEMPLE LEA HOUSTON (August 12th, 1860-August 15th, 1905) – This future gunslinging lawyer and last child of Sam Houston with his wife Margaret Lea-Houston was born in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, TX. His storied father, the first president of the short-lived Republic of Texas was then serving as governor for the state of Texas.
Temple’s father died in 1863 and his mother passed away in 1867, from which point the boy was raised by his older sister and her family in Georgetown, TX. In 1873 he ran away to serve in a cattle drive from Texas to what is now North Dakota, then worked on a riverboat to earn his way back down south to New Orleans.
It was during this time that Temple met an old friend of his father, who arranged a job for the young man as a Senate Page in Washington, DC. Working in that capacity for 3 years, Temple developed an ambition to study law and enter politics himself someday. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO, Neglected History
THE LAND OF THE CHANGING SUN (1894) – By William N. Harben, a former American literary giant who has since been forgotten.
A pair of balloonists – Johnston, an American, and Thorndyke from England – develop a leak in their hot air balloon while flying over the Arctic region.
Spotting a small island, our heroes land on it and build a fire in the slight hope that the smoke may attract any ships in the area. Instead, they are rescued by a futuristic, part-rubber submarine which surfaces by the Arctic island.
BALLADEER’S BLOG
Rather than being rescued, Johnston and Thorndyke are treated as prisoners and given a chemical drink to make them immune to the bends as the sub dives down to the ocean floor. Eventually the vessel surfaces inside an enormous – as in NATION-sized – cavern.
Our main characters are told that they are in the subterranean kingdom called Alpha. Two hundred years earlier, English explorers discovered an abundance of precious metals there. The pioneers gave the vast cavern its name and decided to keep it a secret from the outside world, recruiting Alpha’s inhabitants from people they considered the best that humanity has to offer. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of the latest. (And regarding the above item I will say again that the 2020 election was as tainted and corrupt as the 1876 and year 2000 elections.)
FURTHER QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT THE BIDENS BEING COMPROMISED BY ALL THEIR CHINA MONEY.
EVEN MORE ALLEGATIONS REGARDING THE BIDEN REGIME PRESSURING A WITNESS AGAINST THEM IN THE BIDEN CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS. More HERE.
AUDIT OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE SPENDING REVEALS HOW MONEY IS BLOWN ON OUTRAGEOUS PERKS FOR THE CLUELESS, OUTDATED AND UTTERLY USELESS PEOPLE WHO RUN THAT POLITICAL PARTY. Have I mentioned lately that we need alternate political parties? Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
THOMASINE & BUSHROD (1974) – The Frontierado Holiday is Friday, August 4th this year, so here is another seasonal post – a review of the black western Thomasine & Bushrod. This tale of a pair of outlaw lovers is a nice change of pace since it is set in the fading Wild West of 1911-1915. Automobiles are beginning to show up here and there, making Thomasine & Bushrod a fascinating fusion of “Robin Hood Outlaw” tales bridging both the old west and the later Pretty Boy Floyd era.
The film opens up in 1911 Texas by treating us viewers to a few scenes of the female bounty hunter Thomasine – played by THE Vonetta McGee – by turns using her tracking skills, marksmanship and feminine allure in order to bring in a few of her targets for the rewards on their heads.
While collecting the money from her most recent success, Thomasine sees a fresh Wanted poster for her old boyfriend J.P. Bushrod, a gunslinging bank robber and rustler portrayed by Max Julien from the previous year’s blaxploitation hit The Mack.
Bushrod has been lying low as a horse trainer for ranchers and we are introduced to him stopping an act of animal cruelty by one of the other ranch hands, then slugging him. Knowing the ripples from this violent incident will result in his cover being blown and the law coming down on him again, J.P. returns to life on the run. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
FOR PART ONE (2016) OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE FROM INDEPENDENT VOTER SITE BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE
A LOOK AT HOW DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN ERODING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. “The totalitarian asses of the 1960s can’t bear the fact that younger people might have opinions that offend THEM as much as their opinions offended their parents’ generation.”
A LOOK AT TRUMP-HATERS, FASCISTS AND BUFFOONS. Their attacks on the de facto Third-Party president.
BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION FOUNDER AND OTHER BLACK BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS PRAISE PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR HIS ECONOMIC MEASURES MAXIMIZING OPPORTUNITIES FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN JOBS. A reminder that Trump achieved the lowest black unemployment figures ever, but people trapped in the outdated political paradigms of the past failed to recognize the fresh air that the NON-career politician brought to America’s political cesspool.
MOCK HEADLINES: The definitive “Oh no, he didn’t!” edition that infuriated both Republicans and Democrats.
HEROIC LLOYD MARCUS CALLING OUT “MURKY” MUELLER AND HIS FELLOW CORRUPT FUNCTIONARIES – The Martin Luther King Person of Courage spoke his mind in April 2018.
MICHAEL MOORE: FAKE FRIEND TO THE WORKING CLASS. Moore and other financially comfortable Democrats are as callous toward the actual plight of the poor and the working class as the most bloated rich pig Republicans ever were.
FDR AND TRUMP HAD THE SAME KIND OF ENEMIES – Both major parties attack Trump for “filling the minds of the working class rabble with thoughts above their station in life.”
QUOTES TO PONDER: APRIL 4th – Social media robber barons plus callous and complacent fools. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, opinion
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog we’ll take a look at the early stories of the Legion of Superheroes’ archenemies the Fatal Five. For my recent review of 1970s Legion tales click HERE.
ADVENTURE COMICS VOL 1 #352 (January 1967)
Title: The Fatal Five
Legion Roster: Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Princess Projectra, Sun Boy and Ferro Lad
Villains: The Fatal Five (Emerald Empress, Tharok, Validus, the Persuader and Mano)
Synopsis: In the 30th Century, a space entity called the Sun Eater devours a star, causing the destruction of all life on the planet that orbited it. The Science Police had charted the Sun Eater’s path and warn Earth that its sun is next on the menu for the being.
The only Legion of Superhero members that are not already away on missions are Cosmic Boy, Ferro Lad, Sun Boy, Princess Projectra and Superboy. With a mere two days before the Sun Eater arrives to feed on Earth’s sun, the Legionnaires convince the United Planets to let them recruit the Fatal Five, the collective nickname for the most dangerous criminals in the universe.
The Fatal Five are Tharok, a cyborg whose cybernetic brain makes him more intelligent than Brainiac 5; Validus, a huge purple monstrosity whose insanity drives it to perpetual violence; the Emerald Empress, evil ruler of an entire planet whose populace recently won a war to overthrow her; the Persuader, a killer and plunderer whose armor and Atomic Axe make him unstoppable; and Mano, a mutant whose hand wields energies so powerful that the hand destroyed his entire home planet. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
Frontierado is celebrated the first Friday of every August, so this year it will be marked on August 4th. This holiday celebrates the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality. Here’s a seasonal post regarding my look at an opera version of the original Django spaghetti western from 1966, which strips the story down to its essentials, with no gold subplot.
DJANGO: AN OPERA – Here at Balladeer’s Blog I love sharing my enthusiasms. My blog posts where I provide contemporary slants to Ancient Greek Comedies to make them more accessible have been big hits over the years, so I’m trying it with operas. A little while back I wrote about how Philip Wylie’s science fiction novel Gladiator could be done as an opera. This time I’m addressing the 1966 original version of the Spaghetti Western titled Django.
IF YOU HATE OPERAS AND YOU’D RATHER JUST READ MY MOVIE REVIEW OF THE 1966 DJANGO, CLICK HERE
DJANGO
LANGUAGE: Spanish. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that most of my fellow English-speakers find English-language operas to be silly. The prosaic nature of the forced rhymes in a language we are well-versed in does seem to rob opera of its mystique and its grandeur.
I fall into that trap myself. I’ve noticed I can never lose myself in a Gilbert & Sullivan work like I can with La Forza del Destino or Tales of Hoffmann or any other opera sung in a less familiar language. At any rate, I’ve chosen Spanish for this opera because so much of the story takes place in Mexico during the war to dethrone Emperor Maximilian.
SINGERS: A Tenor, 2 Baritones, a Soprano, 3 Basses and a Mezzo-Soprano
For Django, I’m making it a two-act opera as opposed to the three-act format I used for Gladiator.
ACT ONE: MARCH 1867. A STRETCH OF BARREN DESERT ALONG THE US/ MEXICO BORDER.
Scene One: The opera would open with a stage version of one of the most iconic visuals from the 1966 film. Our title character, DJANGO, clad in his long blue jacket with his well-worn Union Army uniform underneath it, slowly, wearily drags a coffin behind him as he walks along singing his mournful song. He pulls the coffin via a rope slung across one shoulder.
The coffin symbolizes the burden of grief that Django has carried with him ever since his wife was killed during the U.S. Civil War by Confederate MAJOR JACKSON. Django has pursued his ideological and personal enemy across the west and now to this battle-scarred border town.
The vile Major Jackson and his former Confederate soldiers have turned into outright Klansmen. Jackson and his men are among the former Confederate military men who took up Emperor Maximilian’s offer of land and citizenship in Mexico (where slavery was still legal). In exchange they had to fight to help Maximilian retain his throne. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO, opinion, Spaghetti Westerns
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Filed under Uncategorized
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