“Please, sir, may I have some more?”
It’s that time of year again! Just a note in the spirit of the holiday season to mention my favorite Thanksgiving Eve movie.
Every Wednesday before Thanksgiving I make a point out of watching the musical Oliver!
I know the musical sentimentalizes several characters that Dickens portrayed in a sinister way in the book (especially Fagan and The Artful Dodger) but the finished product has always seemed very holidayish to me. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
FOR PART ONE OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF THIS OLD, OLD MARVEL COMICS STORYLINE CLICK HERE The revisions I would make are scattered throughout the synopsis below.
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #45 (May 1976)
Title: Future-Shock
NOTE: Killraven meets the time-traveling Spider-Man in this story. Team-up titles, like Marvel Two-In-One and Marvel Team-Up or DC’s The Brave and the Bold were often considered non-canonical by comic book fans.
The purpose of such team-up books was largely promotional. A superstar of the respective publishing company – Spider-Man for Marvel Team-Up, the Thing for Marvel Two-In-One and Batman for The Brave and the Bold – would star in an often half-assed story. The high-profile character’s fame would, it was hoped, put more eyes on the less popular figure they were being teamed up with and increase that less popular figure’s sales.
Another purpose was to retain copyrights on characters in Marvel or DC’s vast, increasingly overpopulated shared universes. A long unused figure not popular enough to carry their own comic book could be used in a one-shot team-up story, thus satisfying copyright law without the expense of trying to use the superhero in another failed title of their own.
Given Killraven’s forever-struggling sales there’s little doubt this team-up story was done hoping Spider-Man’s fame would boost those sales.
Synopsis: August, 43 years in the future. The story is set in the war-torn No Man’s Land on the outskirts of New York City. This of course makes no sense since Killraven and his Freemen were at this point in America’s Deep South. (KR even refers to recent events so you can’t say this tale is set during the 3 years when Killraven and his rebel group were headquartered on Staten Island.)
Again, this reflects the “who cares about continuity” nature of many such team-up titles.
REVISION: That’s why I would have this story set in Troy, Alabama, with the Freemen still lost and wandering through the biologically mutated jungle which now covers much of the American southeast.
Back to the unrevised story: Spider-Man is using Reed Richards’ copy of Dr Doom’s time machine to leave 1600s Salem, where he and assorted guest-stars had just had an adventure.
Saddened that he could not save the victims of the Salem Witch Trials (well, duh), Spidey morosely tries to return to his own time, only to overshoot his mark and wind up in the New York of Killraven’s future. In that future, Earth is being ruled by its alien conquerors, Martians in the original story but Zetans in my revisions. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
THE DOMINION IN 1983 (1883) – Written by “Ralph Centennius,” the presumed pseudonym of an unknown author.
Oh, Canada! Our neighbors to the north hopped on the speculative science fiction bandwagon with this short story. The premise is that the author is looking back at the 100 years of Canadian “history” from 1883 to 1983.
In futuristic 1983 the population of Canada is 93 million, there are 15 provinces and the country is a model for the world in terms of peace, learning, arts and sciences. We readers are told that there was a period around 1885 when many Canadians supported the idea of Canada becoming part of the United States, but this movement faded after losing at the ballot box.
Canadian technology leads the world, with rocketships that can fly at a mile per second and electric automobiles for ground transport. Electricity is the predominant energy source, and Electropolis, the first all-electric city, was recently completed. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
Here at Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog I’ve made no secret of the fact that I feel neither Bill Clinton nor Donald Trump deserved impeachment. The Democrats’ Kafkaesque distortion of all previous impeachment procedures is alienating Independent Voters, as is their ridiculous reliance on nothing but HEARSAY against de facto Third Party President Donald Trump.
Even though the Democrats’ many media outlets shrilly insist President Trump is doomed (just like they told us during their absurd Russian Collusion fantasy and the Mueller Investigation) the latest Emerson Poll as well as polling information exclusive to the Democrats at Politico and at Vanity Fair show that the all-important Independent Voters (like yours truly) see through the Democrats’ fascist abuses and plan to vote for Trump again anyway.
The Vanity Fair article was even headlined “‘It Is Hard to Read This as Anything but a Warning’: New Polling Suggests Democrats’ Impeachment Push Could Alienate Key Voters.”
The article (link below) read in part “Data exclusive to Vanity Fair shows impeachment could be a losing issue for Democrats hoping to recruit Independents in 2020. ‘Lots of people who don’t like Trump who are still prepared to vote for him,’ says one political science expert” and “Independents are also one of the keys, if not the key, to the 2020 elections.”
Two factors cited by the article: “The first is that, in their view, impeachment distracts from issues they care about. The second factor is the view among Independents that impeachment reflects the agenda of the political establishment and the media.” Also, per Ken Stern, that it’s “a continuation of the partisan bickering and media excess that began even before his inauguration.”
And let’s remember four crucial FACTS:
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will remember my review of three neglected swashbuckler novels by Alexandre Dumas. (For those three – Georges, Captain Pamphile and La Dame de Monsoreau click HERE )
Regular readers will also recall my look at the way Dumas’ The Corsican Brothers is NOT really a swashbuckler story in the spirit of The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo or The Man in the Iron Mask, but because it’s a Dumas tale it often gets adapted AS IF it’s an action-oriented sword and pistol saga.
And that brings us to Dumas’ novel The Black Tulip set in the Netherlands’ city of Haarlem in the 1670s.
When I was a little boy thrilled with the Musketeers, Monte Cristo and Iron Mask I excitedly grabbed The Black Tulip to read, assuming it, too would feature derring-do and swordplay. Much to my disappointment the novel instead dealt with attempts to cultivate a black tulip, the mob-slaying of Netherlands politicians Johann and Cornelius de Witt, romance and the redemption of personal honor.
Using the approach of the adaptors of The Corsican Brothers, let’s MAKE The Black Tulip a rousing swashbuckler just because it’s by Dumas.
THE BLACK TULIP (1850) – I would make it so that “the Black Tulip” was a masked and costumed identity adopted by the novel’s hero Dr Cornelius Van Baerle in order to pursue his crusade to redeem his family honor, tainted from the scandal following the grisly slaying of the de Witts (Insert your own Joyce de Witt joke here). Continue reading
Filed under Pulp Heroes
NAIA PLAYOFFS
PATRIOTS ON THE ROAD – The UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS traveled to face the KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS for their 1st Round game. A 7-0 1st Quarter lead for the Patriots became a 14-7 Seahawks advantage by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended in a 21-21 tie before UC went on to win the game 28-24.
COUGARS WITH THE UPSET – The SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS visited the NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS. The Red Raiders led 3-0 in the opening Quarter but the Cougars went on top 10-6 at the Half. Northwestern College pulled to within 16-13 in the 3rd Quarter before SXU went on to win it 25-20 in the 4th.
ONE-POINT WONDER – In this 1st Round clash the GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS welcomed the CONCORDIA (MI) CARDINALS. A 3-3 tie in the 1st Quarter was followed by the Vikings going out in front 17-10 by the break. That turned into a 31-24 advantage in the 3rd Quarter before Grand View held on tight for a 31-30 victory. Continue reading
Filed under college football
MASERATI: A HUNDRED YEARS AGAINST ALL ODDS (2019) – This fascinating documentary directed by Philip Selkirk is so riveting it flies along like one of the automobiles in the Maserati line.
If Ford vs Ferrari left you hungry for more drama from automobile and racing history – or even if it didn’t – Maserati: A Hundred Years Against All Odds is not to be missed. This documentary is a fuel-injected, high-testosterone version of a Ken Burns project only much tighter and more absorbing.
Maserati was founded December 1st, 1914 in Bologna, Italy, making it actually 105 years against all odds, but the title’s use of “A Hundred Years” has more of a poetic feel to it. With film footage dating from the Silent Era up through the present day the movie fills the viewer with a grand sense of history. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
We need Third Parties! Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard once again spoke for so many of us former Democrats during the recent presidential debate when she pointed out why the Democrats have driven so many of us to #WALKAWAY from that increasingly repulsive political party.
Fresh off her trouncing of the execrable Hillary “Bugsy” Clinton, Gabbard pointed out the failings of the entire Democrat Party. Gabbard said during Wednesday night’s primary debate: “Our Democratic Party, unfortunately, is not the party that is of, by and for the people.”
“It is a party that has been and continues to be influenced by the foreign policy establishment in Washington represented by Hillary Clinton and others’ foreign policy, by the military industrial complex and other greedy corporate interests.” Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
The lineup for the NJCAA college football championship game and bowls has been set.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The number 1 team in the nation – the 
MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BULLDOGS – will take on the number 2 LACKAWANNA COLLEGE FALCONS.
Date: December 5th Kickoff Time: 6PM Eastern Time
SALT CITY BOWL – The country’s number 3 team – the 
HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS – will do battle with the 18th ranked MONROE COLLEGE MUSTANGS.
Date: December 7th Kickoff Time: 2PM Eastern Time
RED GRANGE BOWL – This Bowl Game will pit the storied 
COLLEGE OF DUPAGE CHAPARRALS against the ITASCA COLLEGE VIKINGS.
Date: December 7th Kickoff Time: 2PM Eastern Time Continue reading
Filed under college football
“Welcome to the party, pal” as Bruce Willis said in Die Hard. The dangers posed by the modern-day Robber Barons called Techno-Fascists and Techno-Tyrants have been clear to the rest of us for years now. Amnesty International, better late than never, hopped on board recently – click HERE
Breaking up the monopolies of these privacy-violating outfits or suing them for being publishers and not platforms are two options that keep getting discussed … and with good reason.
BY THE WAY, ROBERT LUDLUM’S NOVEL THE PROMETHEUS DECEPTION DEALT WITH TECHNO-FASCISTS LIKE FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE WORKING WITH CAREER POLITICIANS TO OPPRESS PEOPLE.
THE TECHNO-TYRANTS OF SILICON VALLEY – The modern-day versions of the disgusting old Robber Barons might well be the corporate fascists aka techno-fascists in assorted tech industries, not just regarding Silicon Valley but also privacy-violating rich pigs at Facebook and elsewhere.
In fact, you could make the case that people like Mark “Skippy” Zuckerberg and his fellow corporate fascists at Google and elsewhere are even worse since I don’t recall bloated rich pigs like E.H. Harriman or Cornelius Vanderbilt trying to police other people’s every thought, word and deed. The invasive and ever-expanding tentacular reach of techno-fascists or in this fictional case Techno-Tyrants would make these villains a very credible threat to political freedom and freedom of expression.
In recent years outfits like Twitter, Facebook and others even made public noises about banning customers based on their conduct UNRELATED TO THOSE UTILITIES! Can you imagine the old, old Ma Bell monopoly cutting off people’s phone service because their operators caught those users discussing voting for political candidates disapproved of by Ma Bell’s upper echelons or expressing opinions frowned upon by Ma Bell?
Even worse, places like Google and others have made it firing offenses to be caught holding opinions at odds with the one percenters and bloated rich pigs who run those tech-related outfits.
For the Techno-Tyrants of this blog post it’s a quick jump to depicting such abusive totalitarians working in tandem with an oppressive government. They could leave citizens unable to access the internet or their various accounts or medical records until they recant any statements or opinions frowned upon by the Techno-Tyrants of Silicon Valley. Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion
Balladeer's Blog 