For readers who are enjoying Balladeer’s Blog’s recent coverage of Women’s Intercollegiate Flag Football there are no scores to report today because the regular season ended last week. The playoffs begin on May 7th, so on the 8th I will have results to report on.
The WNBA is still in its preseason right now. The regular season begins on May 14th.
Filed under college sports, WNBA
This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Brazil’s home-made characters.
CAPITAO SETE (Captain Seven)
Secret Identity: Carlos (last name unknown)
Debut Year: Early 1950s
Origin: Teenage science nerd Carlos was abducted by aliens and taken to their homeworld, the 7th planet from their sun. The extraterrestrials granted the young man superpowers, a costume and a ray-gun which Carlos used to battle the forces of evil.
Powers: Capitao Sete possessed massive strength, the power of flight and near invulnerability. He also wielded a powerful ray-gun and his intelligence had been increased past genius levels.
Comment: This character is possibly Brazil’s very first superhero. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
GUESSES AT FUTURITY – This was a series of nine full-page illustrations by THE Frederick Thomas Jane, the man behind the Jane’s manuals. He devoted as much attention to detail here as he would go on to do in illustrations of military hardware in later years.
The series ran in Pall Mall Magazine from October of 1894 to June of 1895 and presented a speculative look at life in the year 2000 A.D.
I. HOME LIFE IN ANNO DOMINI 2000 (October 1894) – Jane depicted Brits of the “future” living in homes with very high ceilings. The interior decoration is decidedly eclectic while the wardrobe of these Brits is a kind of retro revival of Medieval clothing.
The people watch a large picture screen on which images appear. Those images depict people garbed like Jane’s contemporaries in 1890s England. Phonograph horns provide the sound for this Entertainment Center of the Year 2000. A wheel of sorts in the wall seems to bring up menus of options, possibly for controlling the sound and the images (channels?) on the screen. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
From the execrable Joe Biden’s corporate fascist kleptocracy comes another current events roundup by Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog.
BIDEN ALLIES GOING AFTER TRUMP NOW DICTATING WHAT HIS OWN CAMPAIGN SITE CAN SAY. The political persecution continues in New York City. An expression stronger than “Banana Republic” is needed for this blatant persecution of the opposition leader.
JOE BIDEN AGAIN VIOLATES THE SUPREME COURT DECISION STATING HE DOES NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DECREE THAT DEMOCRAT STUDENTS DON’T HAVE TO REPAY THEIR STUDENT LOANS – WIPES OUT ANOTHER SIX BILLION DOLLARS IN OUTSTANDING LOANS. So, taxpayers who already paid off their own student loans still have to pay off the student loans of Democrat students.
TULSI GABBARD AGAIN SPEAKS FOR SO MANY OF US FORMER DEMOCRATS – “IT’S TIME TO LEAVE THE DEMOCRAT PARTY BEHIND“. The people who still call themselves Democrats now are intolerant and hatemongering fascists.
DEMOCRATS LAUNCH EFFORT TO ELIMINATE THE MANDATORY REPORTING OF SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE. Hey, Democrats have to try covering up their frequently-reported molestation and sexual assault of children somehow. Democrats, can you please leave children alone?
BIDEN REGIME DOJ OFFICIAL ADMITS TO LYING UNDER OATH. More HERE. If she was a member of the opposition party this would carry serious consequences, but the Biden Regime displays its illegitimacy every day.
LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT PERMITS 100,000 CITIZENS TO SECEDE FROM DEMOCRAT-RUN BATON ROUGE AND FORM THEIR OWN NEW CITY. If more areas do this it could be the best way for voters to liberate themselves from crime-ridden Democrat hellholes and establish sane governments in their new cities. Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
This is the sixth part of Balladeer’s Blog’s look at the swashbuckling legends that surround Francois Villon (1431-1463?), remembered as one of France’s greatest poets and a notorious outlaw.
FRANCOIS VILLON PART SIX – We pick up at the point in 1457 when the fugitive outlaw Villon found a warm and unexpected welcome in the court of Rene, Duke of Anjou. This figure was also known as “Good King Rene” because technically the crown of the Kingdom of Sicily was part of his royal inheritance.
Rene was renowned for his interest in science and literature and, despite Francois Villon’s criminal notoriety, the Duke was far more interested in the poetry Villon had churned out over the years. Some of that poetry had scandalized France, but intrigued Rene to the point where his court became a sanctuary of sorts for our man.
The Duke’s castle stood on a promontory above the confluence of the Sarth, Loir (with no e) and Mayenne Rivers, near where they poured into the Loire (with an e). The path along the land outside the castle walls was known as the Promenade of the End of the World. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology, Neglected History
FOR MY LOOK AT SEVERAL OTHER VOODOO DEITIES CLICK HERE
ZACA – The Voodoo god of agriculture and the harvest, making him the patron deity of farmers and fieldworkers. Zaca is the friendliest and most approachable of the gods and may be addressed as “Cousin Zaca” if spotted in the fields.
He dresses in denims and a straw hat just like the rural Haitians do. In addition, Zaca smokes a pipe, drinks from bottles of rum and wields a machete. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
Recently, a Balladeer’s Blog reader asked if I would compile a list of my “Best of” stories of the 1930s and 1940s pulp hero G-8 and his Battle Aces. That idea makes perfect sense considering I reviewed all 110 book-length stories of this World War One flying ace who should be as big culturally as Doc Savage, Zorro, and so many other pulp icons.
Writer Robert J Hogan created the heroic American World War One pilot G-8 in 1933 when that conflict was still being called simply The World War or The Great War. G-8 and his wingmen/ Battle Aces Nippy Weston and Bull Martin battled all the supernatural and super-scientific menaces thrown at the Allied Powers by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria- Hungary and the Ottoman Muslim Turks.
Giant robots, invisible planes, Panther-Men and even aliens were all in a day’s work for G-8 and his Battle Aces. Here are my Top G-8 stories, in descending order. NOTE: Pulp Magazines were not comic books, they were text stories with just a few illustrations here and there, so they were at a much higher level of storytelling.
THE BAT STAFFEL (October 1933) – The very first G-8 pulp novel is at the top of my list. Not only does it nicely capture the tone and nature of the series, but it introduces the villainous mad scientist Doktor Krueger. That Teutonic terror would become the archenemy of G-8, Bull Martin and Nippy Weston as the series of novels rolled along.
In Krueger’s initial clash with our heroic flying aces the great Herr Doktor’s dark genius has produced gigantic bats which are obedient enough for the Central Powers’ forces to pilot into battle. In addition to outfitting the bats with conventional weaponry, Doktor Krueger has designed the creatures to breathe incredibly poisonous gas. Continue reading
Filed under Pulp Heroes
From Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog comes another current events roundup.
DEMOCRAT PARTY
ARIZONA DEMOCRAT THE LATEST (D) TO BE CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR CHILD MOLESTATION. Democrats, can you please leave children alone?
LATEST CORPORATE MEDIA HOAX – PRETENDING TRUMP INTIMIDATED A WITNESS – GETS EXPOSED AS A LIE IN RECORD TIME. Over and over again these lies get shot down, but the slobbering psychopaths who hate Trump fall for them every single time. They are the most ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable people I’ve ever encountered. If Trump was accused of leading an invasion from Mars, those imbeciles would believe it.
MORE FEDERAL MISCONDUCT DISCOVERED IN TRUMP DOCUMENTS CASE. More HERE. The Biden Regime and its allies have made America a Banana Republic.
DEMOCRAT PROSECUTORS PERSECUTORS CONTINUE THEIR BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE BY INSISTING TRUMP REMAIN IN NEW YORK CITY, SO TRUMP HOLDS RALLIES AND ATTENDS EVENTS. Populist leader Trump cheered on as he battles America’s cesspool of a political establishment. Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
Len Kabasinski, the indie filmmaker behind such productions as Curse of the Wolf, Pact of Vengeance, Ninja: Prophecy of Death and many more, was kind enough to drop by Balladeer’s Blog and add his thoughts about the late Leo Fong.
Fong worked with Kabasinski on a few films and Len’s fond remarks about his late fellow action star reinforce what a gem Leo Fong was and what a gracious man Len Kabasinski is. Click HERE.
Filed under opinion
Reaction to last Sunday’s post about Women’s Flag Football was strong enough to keep it going for now.
NJCAA
INSTANT CLASSIC – In this game the BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE (Wisconsin) BOBCATS did battle with the FORT SCOTT COLLEGE GREYHOUNDS.
The crowd in attendance got a real treat with a game that was much tighter than many others in this emerging intercollegiate sport. The two teams went score for score for a time until the Bobcats came out on top by a final score of Bryant & Stratton College 18 Greyhounds 12.
LIKE I WAS SAYING ABOVE … – At the other end of the spectrum came this very lopsided affair between the defending champions – the FLORIDA GATEWAY COLLEGE TIMBERWOLVES – and the PASCO-HERNANDEZ STATE BOBCATS.
Pasco-Hernandez State was more like the Timberwolves’ prey than their opponents in this gridiron matchup. Florida Gateway College dominated the Bobcats on both sides of the ball on their way to a FIFTY-ONE to NOTHING blowout win. Continue reading
Filed under college sports
