MOVIE REVIEW: CHINATOWN CONNECTION (1990)

Chinatown ConnectionCHINATOWN CONNECTION (1990) – Forget it, Jake, it’s NOT Chinatown. Nor is it The French Connection. Nor The Chinese Connection. Hell, it’s not even Love Connection. What it IS is a late 80s buddy cop film released in 1990, complete with the “one white guy and one non-white guy” aspect. (48 Hours, Running Scared, Lethal Weapon, etc) 

Forget it, Fall Guy fans, it’s NOT Lee Majors. It’s not even Lee Majors JUNIOR, technically, since he goes by Lee Majors II. Nor is it Bruce Lee backing him up but instead Bruce Ly, who is considered lame even by devoted Brucesploitation fans like me.

Lee the Second (it feels like the word “King” or “Pope” should be in front of that) stars as Detective Houston (Forget it, Lee Horsley fans, it’s NOT Matt Houston – OKAY, I’ll stop!). Warren Houston is your regulation Cop Who Plays By His Own Set of Rules and he has anger management issues to boot. Continue reading

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POLO: SEMIFINAL ACTION AT THE U.S. OPEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport. Polo was already centuries old when Alexander the Great’s men played it! FOR MY PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE  

Las Monjitas PoloFIRST SEMIFINAL: LAS MONJITAS VS TONKAWA FARMS. This Match pitted Las Monjitas – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Black Habits – against Tonkawa Farms – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Cavalry.

International Polo Club overheadThe two teams went blow for blow and Goal for Goal in the First Chukker, which ended in a 2-2 tie. In the Second Chukker the Black Habits outscored the Cavalry 3 Goals to 2, grabbing a 5-4 edge.

The Third Chukker was just as tight, but more defense-heavy. Tonkawa Farms knocked in a pair of Goals to the 1 mustered by their opponents. Going into Halftime the score stood at 6-6. Continue reading

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POLITICAL CARTOON ROUNDUP: APRIL 28th

Some of the latest, like de facto Third-Party President Donald Trump taking on his tiny, petty yet monumentally corrupt opponents. 

And a reminder that Democrats know felons – including rapists, murderers, the Boston Marathon bomber, etc – will loyally vote for their fellow Democrats:   Continue reading

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POLO: U.S. OPEN QUARTERFINAL RESULTS

Balladeer’s Blog continues its coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport. Polo was already centuries old when Alexander the Great’s men played it! FOR MY PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE  

Pilot PoloFIRST QUARTERFINAL: PILOT VS DAILY RACING FORM – Undefeated Pilot – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Troubleshooters – rode into action against the Defending Champions of the U.S. Open, Daily Racing Form – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Stat-Hounds.

Pilot has already won the first two titles in the 2019 Gauntlet of Polo and is going for history.

International Polo ClubThe Stat-Hounds had it all over the Troubleshooters in the First Chukker, scoring 2 Goals while shutting out their opponents. In the Second Chukker neither defense could keep the ball out from between the Uprights. The teams exchanged 3 Goals apiece for a new tally of 5-3 in favor of DRF.

Chukker Three saw Pilot thwack in 3 more Goals while limiting the Stat-Hounds to just 1 Goal of their own. The result was a 6-6 Halftime deadlock. Continue reading

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FOOL KILLER: PART TWELVE – FINAL MELUNGEON VARIATIONS

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE

Melungeon Fool KillerPART TWELVE 

These final Melungeon variations for now came midway between the original Melungeon Fool Killer legends and the WPA’s 1940 recording of the Shep Goins version in which the real Fool Killer never even puts in an appearance.

East Tennessee MountainsNow we’re in the 1880s and 1890s. The Fool Killer lore of the Melungeon people was absorbing traces of Mormon influence from the wider culture. The Melungeons were NOT Mormons but their Fool Killer tales took on pseudo-religious elements from Mormon lore, like the notion that the Melungeons may be even older than the previously held legends about pre-Columbian Portuguese explorers or ancient Phoenicians.

These versions incorporate a belief that the Melungeons were really a lost Biblical race whose ancestors came to the New World thousands of years earlier. The Fool Killer’s main weapons in these tales are guns and no longer his club/ walking stick/ cudgel and set of Bowie Knives.      Continue reading

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POLO: U.S. OPEN ROUND THREE CONCLUDES

Balladeer’s Blog continues its coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport. Polo was already centuries old when Alexander the Great’s men played it! FOR MY PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE  

Las Monjitas PoloROUND THREE, DAY TWO: FIRST MATCH – LAS MONJITAS VS PARK PLACE. Las Monjitas – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Black Habits – rode against Park Place – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Cossacks.

Polo Silhouette LogoThe First Chukker saw the Black Habits dominate the Cossacks on both sides of the ball, swatting in 4 Goals while limiting their opponents to 1. In the Second Chukker the defenses clamped down, forcing the teams to settle for just 1 Goal each for a 5-2 Las Monjitas lead.

The Ball flew between the Uprights like shrapnel once again in the Third Chukker with Park Place outscoring the opposition 3-2. Heading into Halftime the Black Habits held a 7-5 advantage. Continue reading

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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: MANY MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS STILL TRY TO DENY THAT IT HAPPENED

Remembering the April 24th Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Muslim Turks during World War One took on extra poignance this year following the Muslim violence against Christians in Sri Lanka recently.

Here is my seasonal post about the Armenian Genocide and the way that Deniers still refuse to come to grips with it: 

Another of the courageous Muhammad drawings for the upcoming May 3rd Contest.

Another of the courageous Muhammad drawings for the upcoming May 3rd Contest.

Here in the Western World we spring from the womb reaching for a microphone so we can vent about everything we find disgusting in our own nation’s past. I’ve always seen that as a virtue. We spend an enormous amount of effort forever examining and re-examining our past and masochistically thrashing ourselves for that past.

The Muslim World is the exact opposite. Their nations and culture seem largely incapable of introspection or honest debate. The Muslim World is AT LEAST as guilty as the West when it comes to Colonialism – in fact Islam had spread through blood and conquest throughout Africa and Asia and various Pacific Island nations AND was involved in the African Slave Trade centuries before the much-maligned Western World ever got a foothold there. Not only that but the Muslim World remains active in the Slave Trade to this very day.

Muhammad juggling the heads of the victims of Islamic beheadings.

Muhammad juggling the heads of the victims of Islamic beheadings.

The inhumane and barbaric attitude that Islam has toward women is every bit as bad as slavery, too, and it’s an attitude the Muslim World maintains long after those allegedly “Patriarchal” Western Democracies have moved on to more enlightened times. Islam’s harsh treatment of ethnic and religious minorities within its own borders far exceeds the abuses of the Western World, too.

Refusing to let their history books reflect any of these facts has been a big weapon for Islam.

American Democrats mindlessly and unquestioningly believe EVERYTHING in the incredibly biased histories that the Muslim nations have written about themselves. Democrats even buy into the ridiculous claim that everywhere Islam spread the indigenous inhabitants “happily and peacefully” converted to Islam. That’s as absurd as the old, OLD Christian claim that THEIR religion was spread happily and peacefully.

Yet another Muhammad drawing  entered in the May 3rd contest.

Yet another Muhammad drawing entered in the May 3rd contest.

The main difference is that in the Western World rational analysis of history, even when unflattering, eventually became a positive feature. In the Muslim World clinging to old prejudices and shutting off the mind to ANY alternate versions of the past is still adhered to.

Today Muslims are still trying to remain oblivious to the past. Too many are trying to deny their genocidal treatment of the Armenians during World War One. It doesn’t matter how well-documented that genocide was, the Muslim World denies it just like they continue to deny the Holocaust happened during World War Two.

Since the hilariously pretentious asses of Western Liberalism have backed themselves into a corner where they have to go on with their “Islam – right or wrong” attitude, unfortunately this genocide may get expunged from history books. At least from history books used in classrooms around the world when any Muslim students claim they are “offended” by the inclusion of the Armenian Genocide.    Continue reading

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ADAM WARLOCK: THE MAGUS – CHAPTER LINKS

Tom Fleming WarlockAdam Warlock, one of the Marvel Comics superheroes who are not that well known to the public at large right now, will probably be a household word soon like just about every other Marvel character who gets thrown at the big and small screens.

At this point if Marvel tried launching film versions of It, The Living Colossus or Fin Fang Foom they’d probably take over Kaiju leadership from Japan & Godzilla. Recently Balladeer’s Blog did an examination of The Magus, the seven-part 1975-76 Adam Warlock story. If you missed it here are chapter links:

Magus 1PART ONE – ENTER: THE MAGUS – Includes my quick recap of Adam Warlock’s fictional history from 1967 to 1975, including his encounters with the Fantastic Four, Thor and the Incredible Hulk.

Then it’s on to Adam’s first clash with the galaxy-spanning Universal Church of Truth and the mad god it worships – the Magus. CLICK HERE 

Magus Part TwoPART TWO: DEATH SHIP – Adam Warlock gains a new ally in Pip the Troll when he is taken captive by the Church’s starship The Great Divide.

While participating in a prisoner uprising to seize the vessel he also learns more about the atrocities perpetrated on over a thousand worlds by the Magus and his Universal Church of Truth. CLICK HERE   

GamoraPART THREE: THE TRIAL OF ADAM WARLOCK – *** FIRST EVER APPEARANCE OF GAMORA *** Overcoming even more Black Knights of the Church and another battle with the Soul Gem, Warlock at last confronts the Matriarch, the worldly leader of the Universal Church of Truth.

She puts Adam on trial for heresy as part of her plan to seize control of the Church from the Magus. CLICK HERE

Magus fourPART FOUR: ONE THOUSAND CLOWNS – Pip the Troll and Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, try to free Adam Warlock from the Pit of the Sacred Palace.

Meanwhile our hero resists the Matriarch’s surreal attempts to indoctrinate him into the Universal Church of Truth. CLICK HERE   

Magus 5PART FIVE: THE INFINITY EFFECT – Face to face with the real form of the Magus, Adam Warlock learns the horrific fate that lies ahead for him as he will transform into the Church’s god while being tortured over a period of 5,000 years.

Gamora’s mysterious secret is revealed. CLICK HERE

Magus 6PART SIX: THE REDEMPTION PRINCIPLE – While evading the Black Knights of the Church Adam, Gamora and Pip encounter the dying Matriarch.

Thanos reveals Gamora’s mind-bending, paradoxical origin and the In-Betweener draws ever closer in order to steal away Warlock and transform him into the Magus. CLICK HERE

Magus 7PART SEVEN: HOW STRANGE MY DESTINY – The story’s final mind-boggling developments unfold as Adam Warlock struggles to fight his fate.

Plus Thanos’ real motives for helping our hero are revealed in the final battles with the Magus, his Black Knights and the cosmic being called the In-Betweener. CLICK HERE  

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BILLY IDOL: HOT IN THE CITY

Balladeer’s Blog’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead returns with a look at Billy Idol’s song Hot In The City

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FOOL KILLER: PART ELEVEN – MORE MELUNGEON VARIATIONS

Fool Killer RedBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE

Fess Parker as the Melungeon Fool KillerPART ELEVEN: MORE MELUNGEON VARIATIONS

In the previous installment I took a look at the Melungeon origin myth for the Fool Killer and the way it bore some resemblance to a figure from Portuguese folk tales that the so-called “Hill Portughee” brought with them. That tale also dealt with the creation of the club/ walking stick/ cudgel that the Fool Killer carried with him in many of his incarnations.

I finished off with the legends of the Fool Killer slaying “fools” who entered the East Tennessee Hills intent on mining or stealing Melungeon gold.

MELUNGEON VARIATION TWO: We’ll pick up this time with more of the oral traditions which supposedly started in the late 1830s or 1840s but weren’t set down in writing until the 1880s and later so there’s no way of verifying when they really began.

Skull walking stickThe area covered was still Eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. The Fool Killer roamed those regions, wielding his iron club/ walking stick/ cudgel topped with a skull crafted from Melungeon gold.

By now his mission had evolved to killing foolish Federal agents sent into the hills to try to shut down what Washington, DC saw as the “counterfeit” minting of gold coins by the Melungeons. The Fool Killer finished off any Feds that he caught confiscating those coins from merchants or arresting said merchants. Continue reading

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