Balladeer's Blog

January 3, 2018 · 10:23 pm

MORE COOL FOOTBALL HELMETS

Balladeer’s Blog’s readers wanted more cool football helmets so here we go:

Ridgway Elkers

RIDGWAY ELKERS

Comment: There is just something majestic about Elks. There is also something majestic about these helmets.

JENKINTOWN DRAKES

Comment: A drake is a male duck, of course. And the one on this helmet looks infinitely cooler than the infamous Howard the Duck.

CONRAD WEISER SCOUTS

Comment: I find the shade of gray for the shell and the shade of blue for the lettering to be a perfect match on these lids for the Scouts.

. Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under Cool Helmets

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, cool football helmets, cool helmets, football, glitternight.com, Sport, sports

January 3, 2018 · 4:47 am

CALLIPIDES (c 400 B.C.) – ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY

Annoy your friends with your pretentiousness: refer to shows like I Love Lucy and Make Room for Daddy as “Parathespian Comedies.”

Balladeer’s Blog presents another examination of an ancient Greek comedy. Callippides was written by the comedian Strattis and falls into that comic poet’s specialized area: Parathespian Comedies.

Another fun element of our shared humanity with the ancient Athenians who flocked to attend these plays is the fact that even 2,400 years ago audiences were fascinated and entertained by the trappings of “showbiz”. “Parathespian Comedies” were just one of the many sub-genres of ancient Greek comedy but Strattis is the writer most associated with them … by me and the .000001 percent of the population who are into such things.

Yes, a few thousand years before I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Seinfeld and other such sitcoms the spectators at the Theatre of Dionysus were laughing at comedies depicting what it was like to be one of the performing, writing and singing stars of the Athenian stage. The Parathespian Comedies sometimes featured fictional stars as the characters but would also depict real-life figures of the stage in stories that were either wholly fictional or based on backstage gossip of the time.

Callippides was based on the real-life actor and megastar of ancient Greek tragedies. In this particular case Strattis presented a very unflattering comedic poke at Callippides, making jokes that depicted him as a William Shatner-esque ham instead of the accomplished thespian he was often hailed as. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Ancient Greek Comedy

Tagged as Ancient Greek Comedy, Attic Old Comedy, Balladeer's Blog, book reviews, Callipides, glitternight.com, humor, parathespian comedy, Strattis

January 2, 2018 · 9:08 pm

A CARTOON ABOUT TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME

Hysterical fascists were convinced that President Trump would destroy the world a hundred times over last year. Here’s a fun political cartoon about it.

Trump derangement syndrome cartoon

6 Comments

Filed under humor, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

Tagged as Left wing Archie Bunkers, news, political cartoons, politics, President Donald Trump, Trump Derangement Syndrome, WE NEED THIRD PARTIES

January 2, 2018 · 4:55 am

55 HILARIOUS FAILED PREDICTIONS FROM PSYCHICS

With 2018 underway Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some past predictions by “psychics” (LMAO) that turned out to be wildly off the mark.

FREDERICK DAVIES – In 1978 he predicted:

— Jimmy Carter would get reelected.

— In the early 1980s sea research would result in a cure for various types of cancer.

— A manned landing on Mars would be made by 1985.

— By 1988 a third of all homes would be using solar energy for cooking and heating.

— Private automobiles would be banned … by 1990.

— Also by 1990 life would be discovered on Jupiter and communication with another planet – possibly from beyond our solar system – would be achieved.

— Between 1999-2001 the origin of the UFO sightings around the world would be determined. Continue reading →

30 Comments

Filed under humor

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, blogging, failed predictions, glitternight.com, humor, lists, New Year Predictions, predictions, psychics

January 1, 2018 · 6:29 am

PRIMER (2004) – CREPE SYUZHET

PRIMER (2004) – HAPPY NEW YEAR and yes, I’m just childish enough to pat myself on the back for that play on words in the title of this blog post. With that out of the way I know I’m late to the game when it comes to Primer but my own skepticism about it made me keep it on the back burner in terms of priority movies to watch.

Since New Year’s Eve into the New Year is the closest any of us ever get to time travel I figured today was the perfect time to review this controversial film. Primer was made for just $7,000 (really) by Shane Carruth, who starred, wrote, directed, edited, arranged the music and pretty much did everything but wash the cars of his collaborators.

The film’s 2:1 film ratio has become legendary and decisively proved the benefits of having your cast repeatedly rehearse scenes before letting the cameras roll. Film stock ain’t cheap and anything an independent producer can do to save on it is pure gold.

Shane Carruth stars as Aaron and David Sullivan portrays Abe. The pair are engineers who – on the side – run a tech business out of Aaron’s garage. As a side effect of a project they are working on the two discover a means of time travel.

Don’t roll your eyes and assume that Primer is just another use of this well-worn concept. I made that mistake and put off watching this excellent and thought-provoking movie for far too long.

You can ignore reviews which claim the opening half of this 77 minute film is boring. Literally even the most casual exchanges of dialogue have bearing on the overall story. It’s not really a spoiler at this late date to point out that the very beginning of the film is NOT the “first run” of the events in the storyline, as a viewer discovers later. Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under opinion

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, blogging, glitternight.com, movie reviews, Primer, Science fiction, Shane Carruth, time travel

December 31, 2017 · 11:53 pm

NOVEMBER 2017’s BEST

Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of 2017 continues …

NUMBER ONE – Two gods of Bellona and Rennell Islands – NGUATUPU’A AND TEPOUTU’UINGANGI – As part of my look at gods and goddesses from various Polynesian island groups.

CLICK HERE

NUMBER TWO – THE NEW HUMANS (1909): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – CLICK HERE

NUMBER THREE – A look at how CHE GUEVARA AND GUY FAWKES came to symbolize the opposite of what they were in real life. CLICK HERE

NUMBER FOUR – A political tell-all about a small part of the sleaze in American politics – DONNA BRAZILE’S BOOK ON HILLARY AND DNC CORRUPTION. CLICK HERE

NUMBER FIVE – A look at yet another American Liberal like me driven away from the Left by their cowardly hypocrisy, pompous snobbery and hilarious pretentiousness. KERI SMITH – Just CLICK HERE

WOMEN’S COLLEGE SOCCER CHAMPIONS FOR 2017

One last round of congratulations to the 2017 college soccer champions in the NINE divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.

NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)

National Champions – SPRING ARBOR UNIVERSITY COUGARS

Runners-Up – Benedictine College Ravens

2016 Champions – University of Northwestern Ohio Racers

NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) Division One

National Champions – BIOLA UNIVERSITY EAGLES

Runners-Up – Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats

2016 Champions – Colorado Christian University Cougars

NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) Division Two

National Champions – BOB JONES UNIVERSITY BRUINS (Threepeat)

Runners-Up – Providence University College Pilots

2016 Champions – Bob Jones University Bruins Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under college sports

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, college soccer, glitternight.com, music, soccer, Sport, sports

December 31, 2017 · 5:08 pm

MUSLIM FASCIST ATROCITY ROUNDUP: DECEMBER 31st

I devote a lot of space to those courageous Muslims who take on the fanatics in their own faith PLUS have to face down the condescending white Westerners who think that ONLY Muslims who hate the Western World are “authentic.”

For the flip side of that here’s another look at JUST A FEW recent attacks by 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:

November 24th: Rawda, Egypt – Muslim fascists attacked a Sufi place of worship, killing THREE HUNDRED ELEVEN innocent people and injuring ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT more. Coexistence!

November 21st: Mubi, Nigeria – A jihadist suicide bomber killed FIFTY-EIGHT innocent people and injured TWENTY-NINE more.

December 2nd: Maiduguri, Nigeria – Muslim fascist suicide bombers killed 15 innocent people and injured FIFTY-THREE more.

December 7th: Semuliki, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Islamists of the ADF, the local affiliate of the Global Muslim Fascist Murder Machine, attacked and killed 14 innocent people while injuring FIFTY-THREE more.

December 21st: Melbourne, Australia – A Muslim fascist who entered Australia as a “refugee” showed his gratitude by blaming his host country for not treating Muslims “fairly” and using a vehicle to injure EIGHTEEN innocent people and kill 1 more.

December 27th: St Petersburg, Russia – Muslim fascists set off a bomb at a supermarket, injuring THIRTEEN innocent people. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History

Tagged as Islam, Liberals love violent Muslims, Muslim atrocities, Muslim fascists, Muslim violence, Muslims, news, politics, religious violence

December 31, 2017 · 5:46 am

THE LUNARIAN PROFESSOR (1909): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

THE LUNARIAN PROFESSOR AND HIS REMARKABLE REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE EARTH, THE MOON AND MARS TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE CRUISE OF THE SALLY ANN (1909) – Written by James B Alexander back in the glory days of titles so long they might not fit in a 140 character limit.

The story is set in 1892, when James Alexander pretends that, while on a fishing trip he encountered a humanoid with a head like a globe, six limbs, large eyes and six wings. The being claims to be a “Lunarian,” a man from our moon.

He is a professor and informs Alexander that he and his fellow Lunarians travel from planet to planet by manipulating gravity. They live in vast underground caverns on the moon, caverns with a breathable atmosphere. Their mastery of gravity is the key to their advanced technology.

The professor’s people have been observing Earth for an untold amount of time. James Alexander even learns that in the distant past humans had to fight intelligently evolving reptiles for planetary supremacy. The cavemen won.

The Lunarians grow vegetation in hydroponic trays and dispose of their dead through a disintegration process that breaks the bodies down into their base elements, thus nothing gets wasted. Though their own culture is socialistic the Lunarians have no shyness about earning profits by selling their advanced technology to other inhabited planets.

The Lunarians have even developed methods of predicting the future. Alexander asks about Earth’s future and the professor from the moon is happy to lay it all out for the Earthling. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Filed under Ancient Science Fiction

Tagged as Ancient Science fiction, Balladeer's Blog, book reviews, glitternight.com, proto-science fiction, Steampunk, The Lunarian Professor

December 30, 2017 · 11:56 pm