BR’ER RABBIT’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992)

brer-rabbits-christmas-carolBR’ER RABBIT’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Seventh Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, Br’er Bear, Br’er Gator and many other characters created by Joel Chandler Harris are featured in this animated version of the Dickens tale.

Br’er Rabbit’s Christmas Carol is my favorite out of all the versions which present A Christmas Carol as the framework of a Mission Impossible/ Leverage “con job” to make a greedy character change their ways. To nobody’s surprise, Br’er Fox is the Scrooge stand-in who requires a wakeup call.

brer-rabbits-christmas-carol-2All the characters live in a town in the American South, where a charity stage production of A Christmas Carol is being performed, with the proceeds going to benefit the terribly ill Timmy Mouse. No, not “Br’er Timmy” or anything like that, just Timmy Mouse as our Tiny Tim stand-in.

Br’er Fox has no time for silly fiction and is completely unfamiliar with the Dickens Christmas classic. That fact gives Br’er Rabbit the idea to work with his friends to instill some holiday spirit into Br’er Fox, who refuses to help Timmy Mouse and charges the other animals exorbitant prices for the firewood he sells. If they can’t afford to pay, they go cold.   Continue reading →

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AMERICAN MEDIA: SOME ADMIT THEIR TRUMP MISTAKES, OTHERS DOUBLE-DOWN

trump-and-taiwan

Media bias rages unabated

Some elements of America’s hilariously biased Corporate Media have shown some integrity by pondering the way their prejudices and snobbery blinded them to the Donald “Agent Orange” Trump victory. Others apparently think they didn’t go far ENOUGH in their snobbery, hatemongering and lying to cover up Hillary “Bugsy” Clinton’s countless crimes and conflicts of interest.

And you have to laugh at the biased media’s new obsession which has them insisting that “Fake News” is ANYTHING that puts the Democrats in a bad light. 

*** THE WASHINGTON POST ran this story about the study by Harvard (no friends of anyone outside the Democrats) regarding the 10-1 media bias AGAINST Trump. CLICK HERE 

*** TIME/ WARNER CEO admitted the Democrats are a bigger threat to the First Amendment and Press Freedom than Trump ever was. CLICK HERE 

*** THE JACKSON PRESS ran this item on the media’s obsession with praising Left-Wing Dictators and expressing contempt for the working poor. CLICK HERE 

*** AND A REMINDER about how the American Media ignored black support for Trump – CLICK HERE Continue reading →

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RESULTS FROM DECEMBER 10th

*** CCCAA ***

Fullerton College HornetsCHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The FULLERTON COLLEGE HORNETS and the AMERICAN RIVER COLLEGE BEAVERS played each other for the CCCAA title. The Beavers managed a 3-0 lead to end the 1st Quarter but by Halftime the Hornets held a 14-13 edge. After the break it seemed Fullerton College was putting it out of reach as they compiled a 29-13 lead but American River College came back to within 29-21 to end the 3rd Quarter. In the 4th a missed 2-point conversion by the Beavers gave the Hornets a 29-27 win and the 2016 title.

*** NCAA DIVISION TWO ***

Northwest Missouri BearcatsSEMIFINAL ONE – This game pitted the NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS – the Defending Champions of D2 football – against the visiting FERRIS STATE BULLDOGS. The Bearcats led 21-13 at the break following which the two teams exchanged Touchdowns in the 3rd Quarter. Northwest Missouri State scored another TD in the 4th, making the score 35-20 and ending the scoring with just 4:45 left to play. The Bearcats return to the title game. Continue reading →

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MOANA FANS ARE LOVING THE TALE OF PELE AND HI’IAKA

moana-movie-posterThe hit movie Moana seems to have caused a lot of people to refer each other to my various Polynesian myth articles. A few of them even claim that it feels like my articles (written and posted years ago) may have inspired the creative team behind Moana.

At any rate the extra attention for my highly detailed look at the Hawaiian epic myth about the fire and volcano goddess Pele and her sister Hi’iaka is great.

For readers’ convenience here are links to each of the chapters:  

Pele and Hi'iakaPART ONE: When Pele offends the love goddess Laka that deity takes revenge by causing Pele to fall in love with the mortal Prince Lohiau of Kauai. CLICK HERE 

PART TWO: While Pele remains on Mount Kilauea, the Axis Mundi in Hawaiian mythology, she sends her younger sister the goddess Hi’iaka to the island of Kauai to bring back Prince Lohiau to become Pele’s husband. CLICK HERE 

PART THREE: Hi’iaka and her traveling companions – the fern goddess Pa’u’o’pala’e plus the mortal woman Wahine – encounter men love-struck at the sight of them. Later, Hi’iaka proves her godhood to the Hawaiians with a display of power. CLICK HERE 

PART FOUR: In Pana Ewa Rainforest, Hi’iaka and her companions do battle with an entire legion of mo’o monsters. CLICK HERE 

PART FIVE: Hi’iaka must save her traveling companions from the gigantic shark-monster named Maka’ukui. CLICK HERE    Continue reading →

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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SCROOGE (1983)

Gospel According to Scrooge 2This entry for Balladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2016 is a true oddity. It’s not so much a “love it or hate it” version of the Dickens classic so much as it’s a “like it or ridicule it” version, due entirely to the forced religious slant.

The Gospel According to Scrooge is a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol – one which continues to be performed to this very day at various Christian venues around the country. This very first performance was televised in December of 1983 on the Trinity (as in Holy Trinity) Broadcasting Network.

Gospel According to Scrooge 3I have a hard time forcing myself to be as rough on Christianity as I used to be, given the atrocities committed by Muslim fanatics on a daily basis and the way in which the world grovels for those same Muslims, all the while that same world pretends to be “daring” and “iconoclastic” by relentlessly bashing Christians and Jews. Uh. Yeah. Gutless hypocrites.

At any rate since I’m a non-believer in all the world’s religions I laugh my ass off whenever I watch The Gospel According to Scrooge, but committed Christians will probably like this Carol for all the same reasons that someone like me laughs at it.   Continue reading →

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ANOTHER INSIDER WRITES ABOUT THE CLOSED MINDS OF U.S. COLLEGE “TEACHERS”

aaaa-quoteFor a nice change of pace here is another article by yet ANOTHER figure from America’s close-minded “academic” (LMFAO) world pointing out how pompous Left-Wing Archie Bunkers have distorted the world of higher education.

Frederick deBoer, a PhD, wrote about the kind of political intolerance I’ve covered plenty in the past. (Like at my examination of the Ancient Greek Comedy The Birds – FOUND HERE  )

This brave freethinker’s article about “liberal” bigotry has the wonderful title Condescending, Certain and Incoherent. As always with this topic, the more Left-Wing Archie Bunkers you happen to know in the “educational” field the funnier you’ll find it -CLICK HERE

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THE CHRISTMAS CAROL (1949)

1949 A Christmas CarolTHE CHRISTMAS CAROL (1949) – This relic from the VERY early years of television was a syndicated production. It was also one of THREE productions of the Carol to hit the airwaves in 1949.

This version’s biggest claim to fame is the on-screen presence of a bearded (despite the picture to the right) Vincent Price as the story’s narrator. For my fellow bad movie geeks the one and only Robert Clarke portrays Nephew Fred to Taylor Holmes’ Scrooge.

Price is the very best element of the production, which is so haphazard that it repeatedly presents Scrooge’s first name spelled “Ebeneezer” instead of “Ebenezer” like it should be.

All things considered, this is a reasonable (but bland) presentation given its brief 25 1/2 minute running time and technical limitations. With no special effects the tableau of Marley’s Ghost walking through a solid door is accomplished by Continue reading →

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JOHN GLENN R.I.P. – FORGOTTEN SPACE MISSIONS

john-glennThe world mourns the passing of Mercury Astronaut and later Senator John Glenn, “the Clean Marine” himself! (No relation to the Spotless Spartan or the Hygienic Hoplite).

Though Glenn was NOT a part of the Apollo Missions to the Moon I figured I would post this look at the forgotten Moon visits that came after Apollo 11 since the Mercury Missions were the prelude.

 

Apollo 12 patchAPOLLO 12 – Overall Commander: Charles “Pete” Conrad (not to be confused with Peter “Chuck” Conrad)

Command Module Yankee Clipper Pilot: Richard F Gordon, Jr

Lunar Module Intrepid Pilot: Alan L Bean 

Less than four full months after Apollo 11’s successful mission the Apollo 12 crew provided a SECOND fulfillment of President John F Kennedy’s goal of landing men on the moon and returning them safely to the Earth.  Continue reading →

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THE CHRISTMAS KID (1967)

Christmas Kid

Jeffrey Hunter as The Christmas Kid

I always think of this bizarrely-themed Spaghetti Western as The Gospel According to Sam Colt or Paul’s Letter to Smith & Wesson. Our title gunslinger is played by Jeffrey “Captain Pike on Star Trek” Hunter. As Jesus in the movie King of Kings, Hunter’s youthful appearance brought on ridicule from wags who called the film I Was a Teenage Jesus.  

Once again Jeffrey plays a character who is born in a manger at Christmas and gets visited by three wise (well … no) men. The Christmas Kid‘s half-assed Jesus parallels continue from there in sporadic fashion. The little babe – called Christmas Joe at first – grows up to be a philosophical boy who practices pacifism. 

Christmas Kid 2When our hero’s home hamlet of Jaspen, Arizona becomes a Boom Town after copper is discovered, the place turns into a proverbial web of sin and vale of tears. Michael Culligan (Louis Hayward), the greedy town boss, builds an empire for himself out of crime and greed as the copper rush continues.     

This being a western, the day comes when Christmas Joe must strap on a gun and pin on a badge for a three-year mission – I mean term in office – to fight the forces of evil in Arizona Territory. Now called the Christmas Kid our hero spreads the Good News of Gunplay as he blows away various bad men who leave him with no other choice.  Continue reading →

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BARACK OBAMA’S DELUSIONS

Urkel

United States President Barack Obama

The weak, inept and crooked little man named Barack Obama has been hard at work struggling to rewrite the history of his eight disastrous years in office by outrightly lying. People like Paul Krugman, who specializes in Barack Obama fan fiction, will no doubt repeat all of Obama’s tall tales as if they’re the truth. 

Anyway, in the spirit of Barack Obama’s deranged claims here are a few other items that worst of all presidents will probably try to take credit for.  

** Playing Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters.

** Discovering penicillin.

** Letting the dogs out. (Say what you will, it takes balls to try a Baha-Men reference in the year 2016)

** Having his presidency foretold by Nostradamus when he wrote “And a self-infatuated fool/ With ears as large as dinner plates/ Will undo decades of racial progress/ As he stubbornly clings like dogshit to the bottom of history’s shoes.”

** Composing a song called Hail to the THIEF to be played whenever Hillary Clinton entered the room. 

map

Hillary – Blue, Trump – Red

** Reducing his own political party – the Democrats – to isolated bands of pompous snobs and professional hatemongers scattered around the country. (Okay, that one’s the truth.) 

** Coining the expression “Ya workin’ hard or hardly workin’?”

** Writing Gone With The Wind, The Godfather and Space Raptor Butt Invasion. Continue reading →

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