WONDERWORLDS (1911) ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

WONDERWORLDS (Wunderwelten) (1911) – Written by Friedrich W. Mader. This novel was published in its native German in 1911 but not translated into English until 1932 under the title Distant Worlds. Some sources mistakenly list 1932 as its original year of publication. 

Wonderworlds is basically what we today call Steampunk. Lord Charles Flitmore has had a spaceship constructed in the form of a large globe which works via antigravity.

Flitmore puts together an expedition to explore the solar system. Members of the expedition include his wife Lady Mietje Flitmore, biologist Professor Heinrich Schultze, Hans Friedung, Schultze’s protege, Johann Rieger, Flitmore’s manservant, and Captain Hugo von Munchhausen, a fat, boastful liar who is a comic relief figure in the mold of the fictional Baron Munchhausen.   

Flitmore’s spaceship, called the Sannah, takes off on its expedition, with two monkeys named Dick and Bobs along for the ride. The Sannah first visits the moon, where our explorers discover that the Dark Side is unexpectedly vibrant with life. There are lush forests and ample sources of water. Continue reading

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THE TOP THREE DEITIES FROM INUIT MYTHOLOGY

Inuit mythology is almost criminally neglected. I’ve enjoyed covering it here at Balladeer’s Blog since 2011. Here’s a review of their top three deities. For nine more on top of that click HERE.

3. SILA – The god of the weather and of the animating life-force, frequently manifested as the winds, which were looked on as the “breathing of the world.” For this reason he was also the deity governing the breathing of humanity and  animals as well, since breath flows like wind in and out of us all. The life force was said to come from Sila and flow back into  Sila after death, and then, through the lesser deities, was eventually sent back into the world via reincarnation. Because singing, humming and tale-spinning are also done with the breath Sila was also seen as the god of songs, tales, music and other creative inspiration. Continue reading

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THE BANQUETERS (C 427 BC) ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY

For background info on ancient Greek comedies and my previous reviews of them, click here (also features a list of my source books): https://glitternight.com/ancient-greek-comedies/

What Meet the Beatles was to the British Invasion, The Banqueters was to Attic Old Comedy. (Yes, I love silly comparisons) This play was the first comedy written by Aristophanes, the leading light of ancient Greek comedy, and was performed at the Lenaea festival of 427 BC when Aristophanes was nineteen years old. The Banqueters won second prize, making it a very auspicious debut for the man often considered the greatest political satirist of the ancient world.

THE PLAY

The Banqueters is a comedy that once again lets us feel our shared humanity with the ancient Athenians, in this case over the perennial conflicts caused by Generation Gaps and the tension between pointlessly clinging to the past and pointlessly embracing new ideas just because they’re new, even though they may be just as flawed as the older ideas they replace. This is one of the many comedies of Aristophanes that survive in fragmentary form, not in their entirety. 

SYNOPSIS

An Athenian landowner with staid, old-fashioned views is hosting a lavish banquet in honor of Heracles. The attendees are the landowners’ Phratry- brothers (think of a cross between college fraternity brothers and social lodge brothers) and they are the title banqueters who make up the chorus of the play, offering wry commentary on the action of the comedy, often with jokes that break the fourth wall and address the audience directly.

The landowner is using the event to Continue reading

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MAY FOURTEENTH ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

Another current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog

REPUBLICAN GEORGE W. BUSH DONOR AND OIL TYCOON IN UTAH CHARGED WITH SMUGGLING OVER THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN MEXICAN CARTEL OIL INTO TEXAS. Unreal.

UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP, ANNUAL INFLATION RATE HITS NEARLY FIVE-YEAR LOW, GROCERY PRICES HAVE BIGGEST DROP IN FIVE YEARS. Even CNN couldn’t avoid reporting it HERE

OGLES CALLS ON CONGRESS TO GET TO WORK CODIFYING TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS INTO LAW.

SENATOR KATIE BRITT CALLS OUT THE DEMOCRATS FOR BEING ON THE SIDE OF CHILD MOLESTERS AND GANG BANGERS.

ROUNDUP OF GROOMER TEACHERS. Democrats, can you please leave children alone?

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN KENTUCKY FOR KIDNAPPING AND RAPING SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD. More HERE.

SIX ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING A WOMAN TO DEATH IN HER CAR. And we all know Democrats won’t be showing up at her funeral like they show up at facilities to stand by violent illegal immigrants all the time.

DNI TULSI GABBARD HEROICALLY STRIKES ANOTHER BLOW AGAINST CIA CORRUPTION. But be careful, Tulsi. Remember what happened to JFK when he wanted to scatter the loathsome CIA to the winds. And see her defend privacy as essential to individual liberty HERE.

THE LATEST ON WISCONSIN’S DEMOCRAT JUDGE WHO HELPED A VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRY TO FLEE ICE.

CORRUPT AOC THREATENS A “PROBLEM” IF MORE DEMOCRATS GET ARRESTED. But gee, the Democrats were saying “No one is above the law” when they arrested Trump. What repulsive hypocrites.

Continue reading

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CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) STORIES TWENTY-SIX TO THIRTY

For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click HERE. For my look at the first five stories in the weekly text series click HERE.

THE GHOST RAILWAY BRIDGE ON THE SHAHO – Our masked hero and his crew on their Luftschiff are in the sky above the River Shaho. They observe the Russian and Japanese armies preparing for another monumental battle. NOTE: The Kapitan Mors tales are like the Sherlock Holmes stories in that they often jump around in time. This one is set during the Russo-Japanese War, so much earlier than most of the Mors stories.

To avoid the mass casualties of the previous battle at Shaho, Kapitan Mors and his men do a psy-op against his hated Russians. They stage seemingly supernatural events surrounding a “ghost railway” and push the Russian commander to the brink. Continue reading

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CORNING COLLEGE: COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM

Balladeer’s Blog looks at another college sports team that goes by a nickname far more memorable than the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.

CORNING COLLEGE Continue reading

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THE GREAT ADVENTURE (1963-1964) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

THE GREAT ADVENTURE (1963-1964) – This hour-long series presented dramatizations of well-known and obscure events from United States history.

Twenty-six black & white episodes were made and can be viewed online.

STANDOUT EPISODES:

THE HUNLEY – In February of 1864 the Confederacy launched the experimental submarine Hunley, named after its inventor Horace Lawson Hunley. Two previous crews had drowned on test runs but on its final voyage the eight-man sub used a torpedo to sink the Union Navy’s warship the USS Housatonic. The Hunley was also destroyed by the blast and the crew killed.

Jackie Cooper starred, along with James “Dan-O” MacArthur, Wayne Rogers, George “Goober” Lindsay and Jim Nabors.      Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS ROUNDUP: MAY TWELFTH

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog does another current events roundup.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES THAT AMERICAN HOSTAGE EDAN ALEXANDER, TAKEN BY HAMAS IN OCTOBER OF 2023, HAS BEEN RELEASED AND IS ON HIS WAY HOME. He was the last American hostage in Hamas hands.

PRESIDENT TRUMP CONTINUES FIGHTING PRICE-JACKING BY BIG PHARMA. More HERE. Another reminder that Trump is the best president for the working class and the poor of our lifetime. Legislation would have been better, but Congress is too deeply in Big Pharma’s pocket.

ABC’s TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME SUFFERING MARTHA RADDATZ BIZARRELY STATED THIS ABOUT TRUMP AND THE NEW POPE

DEMOCRAT ELECTED OFFICIALS FACING ARREST OVER ASSAULTING FEDERAL OFFICERS AT RIOT IN SUPPORT OF VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT. More HERE. And HERE. And HERE.

TRUMP GETS NEW TRADE DEAL WITH CHINA. Biden’s deals only ever benefited China and the Biden Crime Family but Trump’s benefits the nation.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REVEALS THAT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF “JOBS” ANNOUNCED BY BIDEN WERE FAKE. The Biden Regime was like one big RICO operation.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA “TEACHER OF THE YEAR” SENTENCED FOR CHILD SEX CRIMES. One victim was only eleven years old. Democrats, can you please leave children alone?  

DEMOCRATS CALLED OUT FOR GOING FROM “MEN CAN HAVE BABIES” TO “WE LIKE THE TERRORISTS.”  Continue reading

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SUPERNATURAL (1933) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

Before MST3K we had The Texas 27 Film Vault. Before Joel and Mike we had Randy and Richard. Before Pearl we had Laurie Savino. Before Devil Dogs, Observers and Deep 13 we had giant rats, Cellumites and Level 31.

Balladeer’s Blog continues its look at the FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY year of this neglected cult show which debuted on Saturday February 9th, 1985.

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE FOR THIS EPISODE: Supposedly Saturday April 19th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma.

Randy (right) and Richard way down on Level 31 hosting The Texas 27 Film Vault

EXTRAS: This episode featured footage of our Film Vault Technicians First Class (EO6) Randy and Richard’s promotional appearance at Six Flags Mall in nearby Arlington, TX.

FILM VAULT LORE: One particular Host Segment featured one of the show’s behind-the- scenes people portraying Commando Cody complete with helmet and rocket pack. He was portraying the character because the Commando Cody serial Radar Men from the Moon was the current serial being shown before the movie each week on The Texas 27 Film Vault.

Since Randy Clower still outranked his co-host Richard Malmos (until a few episodes later) in the fictional Film Vault Corps (“The few, the proud, the sarcastic”) their relationship often featured the type of abusive “Host and Second Banana” dynamic like that between Dr. Morgus and his lab assistant Chopsley or Zacherle and his wife My Dear or Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank. 

At any rate this Host Segment featured “Commando Cody” befriending Randy and setting out with him for a night of partying on the town while the two leave Richard behind to do all the grub work in their barracks.

THE MOVIE:  Supernatural  starred Carole Lombard and Randolph Scott in a campy and hilariously bad story of possession. When serial murderess Ruth Rogen is executed her spirit winds up inhabiting the body of Lombard’s character Roma Courtney, a wealthy socialite.

Now in charge of Roma’s body Rogen’s evil spirit seeks revenge on the criminal accomplice who betrayed her and also seeks to live high on the hog with her possessed victim’s money. Continue reading

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY WITH MINNIE’S BOYS (1970) THE NEGLECTED MARX BROTHERS STAGE SHOW

MINNIE’S BOYS (1970) – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! This year Balladeer’s Blog looks at the musical comedy Minnie’s Boys, about Minnie Marx, the mother – and show-biz manager – of the five Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo). Actors portraying her sons co-starred and conjured up the kind of hilarious chaos you’d expect.

If you removed all the songs, the show would still hold up as a show business biopic done in the style of a 1930s Marx Brothers movie. Some snobbish critics seemed bothered by the lack of a straightforward approach, but I think they were being silly.

Let’s face it, trying to do a straight drama about the most anarchic comedians since Edward Lear and Eugene Ionesco would have been foolish, even if their mother is the lead character, not them. The storyline in Minnie’s Boys takes Minnie and her sons from their teenage years in vaudeville to their achievement of stardom.

The broad strokes of the story are reasonably close to reality but obviously to keep the boys in character enormous liberties are taken along the way. Groucho Marx’s son Arthur was a co-writer and his father served as a consultant. Sadly, when it came down to a choice between Totie Fields and Shelley Winters, Groucho rejected Fields and pushed for the big-name star Winters.    Continue reading

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