THE THAMES VALLEY CATASTROPHE (1884): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

London in ruinsTHE THAMES VALLEY CATASTROPHE (1884) – Written by Grant Allen. The story is presented in the form of a memoir about the destruction of London as seen from “the futuristic” 20th Century.  

“Back” in 1884 a Londoner familiar with lava eruptions and flows that happened in the American West in the past tries – in what would become a trope of later disaster movies – to warn the authorities that danger lurks. Needless to say his warnings go unheeded and lava erupts in the Thames Valley. Continue reading

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NEGLECTED ITEMS FROM 2017

What a year 2017 was! With so much going on there were stories I felt didn’t get the attention they deserve. 

Stolen Lives QuiltLAURA WILKERSON TO DEMOCRAT NANCY PELOSI: WHICH OF YOUR CHILDREN IS EXPENDABLE TO AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT? – Laura Wilkerson spoke truth to power at a CNN Townhall by mentioning the death of her son at the hands of an illegal immigrant and asked Pelosi the question that should be asked of ALL virtue-signaling Democrats. 

Needless to say Democrats – who have become barely human political robots – tried their usual tactics of threats and character assassination against this brave woman.

Western feminism and IslamFRANCE’S BRIGADE OF MOTHERS CONTINUES EXPOSING NO-GO AREAS IN THE FRENCH SUBURBS – The Brigade of Mothers continue doing the work that most Western “feminists” are afraid of doing: exposing the way that Muslim males impose 7th Century restrictions on women in the No-Go Areas that Western “journalists” like to pretend don’t exist.

The Brigade’s courageous reporting captures on film the REAL conditions that suffering Muslim women live under in free nations just because Left-Wing Archie Bunkers are too cowardly to speak the truth. But they pretend The Handmaid’s Tale will come true any day now. (Well, I guess it HAS, but since it’s being perpetrated by Muslims instead of Christians they’re too gutless to criticize it.)

Donald Trump rock starA CONSEQUENTIAL PRESIDENT IN A TIME OF PYGMIES was a terrific piece which examined hundreds of ways that our de facto Third Party President Donald Trump has undone some of the damage done to the working class and the poor by the weak, inept and crooked little man named Barack Obama.

I don’t agree with every single item but it’s a great read and – no matter where you stand – I’m comfortable that the piece will remind you of how shallow the American media is.

Obama  work here is doneMEANWHILE, DAN FROM SQUIRREL HILL maintained his list of roughly 1,400 instances of Obama’s lies and outright scandals.

As above I don’t agree with every single item that Dan From Squirrel Hill lists but it’s a handy reference guide regarding Obama’s ineptitude and corruption, and can easily be verified elsewhere on line.

democrat-vote-fraudDEMOCRATS LOVE VOTE FRAUD – As always, my emphasis on Democrat wrongdoing is NOT an endorsement of the Republican Party, it’s just that there’s no lack of negative coverage of the Republicans. The Democrat media tries to sweep their party’s misdeeds under the rug.

democrat-vote-fraud-2Democrat Andrew J Spiele in Virginia pleaded GUILTY to the still-frequent Democrat crime of submitting the names of dead people as Democrat voters to the Registrar’s Office. Spiele is just a small player, however. Bigger criminals like Hillary Clinton still walk the streets.

 

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FEVER LAKE (1997): THIS TURKEY IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS

Fever Lake 1FEVER LAKE (1997) – I like to think of this hilariously lame horror film as Twin Peaks 90210. I sometimes toy with I Was A Teenage Shining but that mock title only applies to isolated parts of Fever Lake. Overall, I think the creative team was trying for an imitation Twin Peaks vibe, especially given the time period in which it was made.

This little honey was released theatrically in Europe during 1996 but direct-to-video here in the U.S. during 1997. The credits even refer to much of the movie being shot in the town of Twin Lakes so for all I know that name might have provided spontaneous inspiration for the director or in the way of rewrites.

Fever Lake 2I’ll elaborate on that point in a bit, but for right now I’ll point out the enjoyable kitsch-casting that elevates this turkey slightly above other such dismal efforts. Corey Haim, one-half of the Haim-Feldman Colony Creature, stars as college student Albert. Saved By The Bell‘s Mario Lopez co-stars as college student Steve.

Yes, this is one of those flicks in which NONE of the top dozen or so stars play a character with a last name, except for good old Bo Hopkins the sheriff, who gets no FIRST name. Yet very, very minor characters get full names like “Bud Martin” and “Harry Kemp.” All my fellow lovers of Bad Movies have been there before.

Fever Lake serves up the usual assortment of horny students – all of whom seem fresh from Beverly Hills 90210 – staying at a creepy lakeside house provided by Corey Haim. The filmmakers actually seem to think we viewers won’t immediately realize that he’s the little boy who witnessed the murders in that house during the pre-credits flashback scene.   Continue reading

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TRANSGRESS WITH ME: JANUARY 13th

Mascot with demo and repub headsBalladeer’s Blog presents another edition of Transgress With Me.

*** REPUBLICAN TRASH LIKE PAUL RYAN STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND THE FACT THAT PEOPLE WHO CROSSED PARTY LINES TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP HAVE NOT BECOME REPUBLICANS. WHEN TRUMP – OUR FIRST DE FACTO THIRD PARTY PRESIDENT – IS GONE, NO POLITICIAN WITH AN “R” AFTER THEIR NAME WILL BE WORTH VOTING FOR, BARRING BIG CHANGES TO THEIR PARTY.

*** DEMOCRATS STILL POMPOUSLY THINK THAT POINTING OUT THE WESTERN WORLD’S FLAWS MAKES THEM EXEMPT FROM THE GUILT THEY TRY TO INFLICT ON THE REST OF US. 

*** THE AMERICAN LEFT IS STILL FIGHTING A VERSION OF AMERICA WHICH HASN’T EXISTED FOR DECADES.

*** THE DEMOCRAT MEDIA’S SLOGAN APPARENTLY IS “WHAT WE SAY IS HAPPENING IN THIS COUNTRY IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN REAL LIFE.”

Following the path of MOST resistance is the preferable path. I don’t advocate insincere contrarianism, I mean that there’s not much point in publicly proclaiming safe viewpoints.

For instance, I was an early proponent of gay marriage. In fact I openly supported it YEARS before the weak, inept, crooked and hate-filled Barack Obama decided it was safe enough to change from opposing gay marriage – the punk even voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (LMAO) as a Senator – to supporting it.  

 

Free speech 6I still support gay marriage because I think marriage is anything that a society decides that marriage is, but I no longer bother spouting off that I support it because it’s no longer daring to do so. Considering the fact that people actually get in trouble for OPPOSING gay marriage now means we’ve reached the point where it’s mere virtue signaling to drone on and on about supporting it.

Going around saying “LOOK AT ME! I SUPPORT THE SAFE POSITION!” is not being transgressive. Plus the political left now invokes absurd notions about “morality” to justify supporting gay marriage the same way the political right used to invoke absurd notions about “morality” to justify OPPOSING it.   

For more examples:

*** I support Donald Trump, our de facto Third Party President. At the present time this is a transgressive position to hold because the conformist forces opposing President Trump are fascistic, close-minded hatemongers who try to inflict all manner of harm on anyone who supports him.   

*** I  have always despised George W Bush but that is NOT a transgressive position to hold. I could loudly proclaim my contempt for George W Bush all day long and there would be no risk involved.  

mascot-a-faceJUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS COUNTER-INTUITIVE IT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN IT IS “DEEP” OR “INTELLECTUAL.”

PEOPLE WHO TALK ABOUT BEING “WOKE” ARE BEING JUST AS SELF-CONGRATULATORY AS PEOPLE WHO TALK ABOUT BEING “SAVED.”

THE ABILITY TO GET ANOTHER PERSON’S  OPINION CENSORED  DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT. 

+++ The concept of White Privilege is a mere social construct.  

+++ Filing a complaint about everyone who says something you disagree with is NOT “activism.”

+++ Critical race theory is nothing more than bigotry with a self-created halo.

+++ People who think they’re fit to tell you what words you are allowed to use are trying to force their own narrow-minded notions of “morality” on you. 

+++ The party of the Democrats has become nothing more than an organization dedicated to circumventing democracy in order to force everyone to obey their dictates. 

+++ There is no such thing as “Hate Speech.”

+++ The Democrats are irrational for teaching children age 6 or younger that they can decide for themselves if they want to be the opposite sex. They wouldn’t let children that age decide they are capable of driving, so clearly there ARE physical and developmental absolutes.  

+++ Colleges and universities have no business holding their kangaroo courts/ Star Chamber proceedings when a student is accused of a crime. That’s what courts of law are for and the accused is entitled to council.

+++ Women, African Americans and gay people do NOT have to obey the Democrats in order to be “authentic.”

+++ All lives matter. And it is not (yaaawwn) “racist” to say so. 

+++ Preserving civil liberties from reactionary Muslim oppression will be the great Civil Rights struggle of the 21st Century.

+++ Curriculum transformation is required to stop the educational system’s misuse by fanatically partisan Democrats.

+++ The real difference today is no longer Liberals vs Conservatives, which labels have become meaningless. In 2017 the difference is between Populists vs Feudalists.

+++ Increasingly, the question that potential tourists ask themselves is “Should we go abroad and risk getting killed by Muslim fascists or stay close to home and risk getting killed by Muslim fascists?”

+++ Democrats are fine with anti-Semitism as long as it masquerades as disapproval of Israel.

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CRATES: ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY

Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at the surviving fragments of an ancient Greek comedian, in this case Crates.

CratesCRATES – Crates’ career spanned from approximately the 450s B.C. to the 430s B.C. We have fragments from nine or ten comedies from an unknown total output. From other sources we know that comedies as stage productions began sometime around 500 B.C. or earlier so Crates came fairly early to the artform.

Crates was credited with being the first Athenian comic poet (the comedies were written in verse and included songs) to introduce drunken characters, still a comic staple over 2,400 years later. Aristotle himself credited Crates as being the first to abandon the “glorified comic monologues” approach of the oldest comedies and introducing fleshed-out plots and storylines.

Be that as it may, there is still a great deal of academic arguing over whether or not Crates’ work simply reflected the influence of Epicharmus, who may well have been the TRUE innovator.

Crates was supposedly an actor before he began writing comedies (But I’m sure he really wanted to direct. – rimshot – ) and his brother was Epilycus, one of the Epic Poets. Eusebius’ Chronicles stated that Crates was a well-known comedian by 451 B.C. and Demetrius Lacon in his work On Poetry indicates that Crates may have acted in some of Aeschylus’ tragedies before switching genres. 

KNOWN WORKS 

NeighborsNEIGHBORS – We do not have even a hypothetical year for this work, unfortunately. Since titles sometimes referred to the all-important Chorus of a Greek comedy there is speculation that the chorus members were “Neighbors” of some sort (Duh!) but nothing is known about the plot.

 Athenaeus argued that Crates’ use of a drunken character in this comedy PRE-DATED Epicharmus’ use of stage drunks, so apparently even back in ancient times this was being debated.   

The closest thing to an intact joke from the fragments of Neighbors is a lecherous reference to the delectable young males and females on hand serving whatever feast was being celebrated in the comedy. For today you could insert a Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey type of joke, I guess.

The next closest thing to an intact joke is a possibly wry reference to ” playing at pessoi” which could refer both to pebbles used in a board game and pebbles used to wipe one’s bottom after defecation. Since the ancient Greek comedies are LOADED with scat jokes it’s possible that a very grotesque mix-up occurred.

Other fragments from this comedy are virtually useless: “I do not possess a lampstand.” (I want a T-Shirt that says that, dammit!) … “You must be quiet and not make a sound.” … “And had an aroma like sweetest myrrh.” … “If you’re smart, boy” … “A pig through roses” … “You led astray” … and “Scooping out a trough.”  Continue reading

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MUSLIM FASCIST ATROCITY ROUNDUP: JANUARY 12th

Since 2018 has been declared Muslim Violence Awareness Year here’s another look at JUST A FEW recent attacks by the kind of Muslim fascists empowered by Democrats in the U.S. and by Labour in the U.K. and by “educators” (LMAO) everywhere. More daily battles in the war that Muslim fascists wage against non-Muslims everywhere: 

December 30th: Bakin Muna, Nigeria – Boko Haram, the local affiliate of the Global Muslim Fascist Murder Machine, attacked and killed TWENTY-FIVE innocent people.

January 1st: Rivers State, Nigeria – Muslim fascists opened fire on churchgoers, killing SEVENTEEN innocent people and injuring 9 more for being Christians instead of Muslims. They also raped an undetermined number of women. COEXISTENCE!

NEW YEAR’S MUSLIM EVE – The modern-day Nazis rang in the New Year with a LONG series of attacks on innocent people around the world, underscoring the global nature of this conflict. Here are some of the December 31st attacks:

And it's Muslims*** Bia, Cameroon – A female Muslim Fascist suicide bomber detonated in a café, killing 1 innocent person and injuring over THIRTY more.  

*** Pulwama, India – Members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the local affiliate of the Global Muslim Fascist Murder Machine, killed 5 innocent people and injured 3 more.

*** Sultan Kudarat, Philippines – Islamofascists killed 2 innocent people and injured SIXTEEN more.

*** Maguindanao, Philippines – Bangsamoro Islamists, the local affiliate of the Global Muslim Fascist Murder Machine, bombed 1 innocent person to death and injured 7 more.    Continue reading

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VAN HALEN: DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring segment Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead strikes again! This time it’s Van Halen with their hit Dance The Night Away.

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CANDACE OWENS: A MARTIN LUTHER KING WOMAN OF COURAGE

Mascot with demo and repub headsMartin Luther King Day is approaching. Some of the most courageous champions of Doctor King’s dream of a society in which people are judged by their character rather than their skin color are PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO DARE TO DEFY THE  DEMOCRATS. Here is a look at one of those heroic women:

Candace Owens has been infuriating DemoKKKrats who love to treat black people like they aren’t “authentic” if they support President Trump, who is doing more for the working class of all colors than Democrats and Republicans have done in decades. Here are two of her great youtube videos, one on Trump Derangement Syndrome and the other on escaping the Democrat Plantation.

 

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MAN-MONSTER: ATLAS COMICS HERO

Balladeer’s Blog’s recent look at the short-lived comic book company Atlas-Seaboard was a big hit. As a follow-up here’s a look at an Atlas figure I did not cover in the main article, which can be found HERE

Tales of Evil 3MAN-MONSTER

Secret Identity: Paul Sanders, Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist

Origin: Hedonistic Paul Sanders lives the life of a playboy from his endorsement deals and his resented oil baron father’s vast fortune. After a flirty/ bickering battle of the sexes-style interview with two female reporters from Women’s Lib Magazine Paul boards a motorboat for one of his father’s offshore oil wells.

To show off for the still-watching ladies Paul leaps overboard to swim the rest of the way to the oil drilling platform. As fate would have it, the oil drilling had just churned up some rare, mutated bacteria from the ocean floor. Sanders winds up covered by the bacteria, which causes changes to his body.  

Man Monster 1Paul barely escapes the bacteria and makes it back to shore, where he transforms into a red-scaled amphibious monster. After a brief rampage he becomes human again and the female reporters take him home.

From then on in times of danger the transformation comes over Paul again and he finds himself battling various forces of evil.

First Appearance: Tales of Evil #3 (July, 1975). His final appearance came in September of that same year.

Powers:    Continue reading

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

LSU Shreveport Pilots NEWNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – 1. LSU-SHREVEPORT PILOTS (Riverboat Pilots)    ###    2. GEORGETOWN (KY) COLLEGE TIGERS    ###    3. WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN    ###    4. LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS    ###    5. MID-AMERICA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY EVANGELS    ###   

Hope International University Royals6. HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ROYALS    ###    7. OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY STARS    ###    8. LSU-ALEXANDRIA GENERALS    ###    9. DALTON STATE ROADRUNNERS    ###    10. UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND ARTS OF OKLAHOMA DROVERS    ###    Continue reading

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