NAIA – 1. GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS ### 2. COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES ### 3. LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS (should be Hugheses) ### 4. UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS ### 5. SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE MOUNDBUILDERS ###
6. MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS ### 7. ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY LAKERS ### 8. LOURDES UNIVERSITY GRAY WOLVES ### 9. OREGON TECH HUSTLIN’ OWLS ### 10. OKLAHOMA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY EAGLES ### Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936) – Previously, Balladeer’s Blog covered the neglected Sam Spade short stories that Dashiell Hammett wrote HERE. This time around I will look at the story treatment that Hammett provided the studio with regarding After the Thin Man. I feel this treatment is better than the actual shooting script and wish he had released it first as a longish short story.
It’s shorter and less prone to the silly diversions that stretched the film version to such an unnecessary length. As you would expect, there are other differences besides the running time.
HAMMETT’S TREATMENT: The story starts out the same way as the subsequent movie. It is New Year’s Eve as Nick and Nora Charles’ train arrives back in San Francisco a few days after their highly publicized investigation of the Wynant Murder aka “The Thin Man” case. We get familiar bantering and eccentric behavior between the tipsy married couple. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
MAD JACK aka SIEGFRIED SASSOON (April 15th) – A 1970 British telefilm about the young poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was awarded the Military Cross during World War One, but while on leave in 1917 criticized what he saw as the corporate and other vested interests behind the entire conflict.
Michael Jayston starred as Sassoon backed up by Michael Pennington, David Wood, Clive Swift, Charles Lewsen and Anna Barry. Directed by Jack Gold. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
NAIA
DOWN GOES NUMBER SEVEN – The MADONNA UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS welcomed the number 7 team in the nation – the LOURDES UNIVERSITY GRAY WOLVES. The Crusaders dominated on both sides of the ball in the opening Half and held a 40-26 lead at the midpoint of the game. After the break the Gray Wolves weren’t able to overcome that deficit as Madonna U. won out 72-65. Brendan Young led the Crusaders with his Double Double of 26 points and 10 rebounds. His teammate Isaac Anderson had his own Double Double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
ONE AND TWO ROLL – The country’s number one team – the GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS – welcomed the GOSHEN COLLEGE MAPLE LEAFS and routed them 97-61. Cade Gibbs led with 16 points and fellow Lancer Ian Scott logged a Double Double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. ### And the 2nd ranked LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS (should be Hugheses) mauled the visiting MIDAMERICA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY EVANGELS 91-55. Anthony Roy’s 21 points led the Lions to victory. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post looks at the 1940s & 1950s Australian-made superheroes. Back in 2015 I examined Australian-made superheroes of the 1970s and 1980s HERE.
CAPTAIN ATOM
Secret Identity: Larry Lockhart
Debut Year: 1948
Origin: A nuclear accident fused scientist Dr. Bikini Rador with his brother, who was a federal agent using the cover identity Larry Lockhart. This accident granted incredible superpowers and spawned the superhero called Captain Atom.
Powers: Saying the word “Exenor” would let Larry turn into his superhero form. He had Superman level strength, could fly at amazing speeds, was largely invulnerable and could shoot atomic energy blasts from his hands. Captain Atom’s ears could “hear” radio transmissions.
Comment: This Captain Atom ran from 1948 to 1954 in the Golden Age. America’s totally different Captain Atom did not debut until 1960.
ATOM-GIRL
Secret Identity: Lynn Sanders
Debut Year: 1949
Origin: Lynn became Atom-Girl when gifted the futuristic technology of her brother-in-law John Grant.
She fought crime and other menaces, including aliens.
Powers: John Grant’s discovered “ray” gave Lynn a degree of super-strength and made her invulnerable to bullets, other weaponry and deadly gasses.
Atom-Girl wore an “atojet” flying pack on her back, an antigravity harness, a belt that could turn her invisible, plus goggles which could provide x-ray vision. She also wielded two atomic pistols and piloted an aircraft called Miss Hotshot which could change from a jet to a helicopter to a submarine.
This superheroine’s HQ was Voltara, a secret lab in central Australia. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
QUENTIN DURWARD (1971) – This French-German television series ran for 13 half-hour episodes in Germany but just 7 52-minute episodes during its initial French run.
The story is based on Sir Walter Scott’s swashbuckling novel from 1823 and the action is set during the late 1460s in Scotland and France.
Amadeus August stars as Quentin Durward, a fighting young Scotsman who is the sole surviving male from his Scottish clan after a brutal clan war wiped out the rest of his family. At present he is being sheltered in a monastery where the monks have told him the only way to stop the enemy clansmen from killing him to blot out his entire bloodline is to become a monk under a vow of celibacy.
The dashing and daring Quentin is reluctant, but the decision is taken out of his hands when the enemy clan raids the monastery in search of him. Quentin manages to escape and after shaking off all pursuit reaches the English Channel.
Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – This is Part Two of Balladeer’s Blog’s look at Simon Tyssot de Patot’s work of ancient science fiction about his creation James Massey. We will pick up where we left off last time – our main character Dr. Massey and his travel mate La Foret had just been taken in by the first living human beings they encountered on the lost island.
A few days later, while our heroes were still in the very early stages of learning the language spoken in the city, James and his friend got caught up in a ritual they barely understood. Early one morning, every family in the city made their way across the major bridge with each head of household carrying their largest rooster.
For a sophomoric laugh I’ll mention that one of the lines in the book is literally “Our opposite neighbor expos’d his cock against ours; and the others did the same thing, it being a general cock-match between the people on both sides of the canal.”
I’ll spare all of us any details of the actual cockfights. When the fighting was over, the family whose cock lost the fight welcomed the winner’s family over to their home. The winner’s family brought along all of the food they had prepared for this eventful day, and the two families feasted and drank together the rest of the day.
The following day the holiday celebrations continued, this time with the eldest son from each family on both sides of the canal taking part in Grease Pole competitions for the prize poultry at the top of said poles. Rather than a ham or turkey, the prize in this case was one of the oversized eagles indigenous to the uncharted island.
NOTE: In Part One of my review it was established that birds, like all the other animals on the island, were much larger than they were in the outside world. For instance, a beaver the size of a bear and a 25 foot long serpent were encountered. Goats were as large as horses and were used as mounts and beasts of burden. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
Gina Carano has proven how impressive she can be in action roles, and that got me thinking about various roles I’d like to see her in.
BELIT, THE QUEEN OF THE BLACK COAST – For people who aren’t fans of Robert E. Howard I’ll mention that the female pirate captain was the great love in the life of Conan the Barbarian. Queen of the Black Coast (1934) is one of the greatest Conan stories ever, but it’s a challenge casting a woman who could plausibly bring Belit (pronounced bay-LEET) to life. Enter Gina Carano, who would seem perfectly natural swinging her sword, kicking butt and barking out orders to her crew. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
Z-Bear, her husband and their children are a family in Hawaii who deejay the terrific YT channel Villa Vybes Vinyl. Z-Bear and her hubby are professionals and periodically let their kids take center stage for some of the DJ chores. It adds considerably to the charm of this eclectic channel.
No matter how good digital is, many people still thrill to the sound of a needle pressing down on an actual vinyl record and the slight whispering and popping before the music begins to play. Z-Bear and company don’t waste the time of listeners/ viewers with DJ patter, they just let their audience see them going through all the vinyl DJ activities!
The VVV folks lovingly select, clean and otherwise care for the musical artifacts they proceed to play. They have an incredible setup with multiple turntables and other equipment that many will envy. Multiple camera angles are provided, plus Z-Bear and her family change up those angles over time.
Continue reading
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NJCAA
CLOSE CALL FOR NUMBER ONE – The number 1 team in the nation – the SOUTH PLAINS COLLEGE TEXANS – visited the 11th ranked ODESSA COLLEGE WRANGLERS.
At Halftime the Wranglers were on top 32-27, but the Texans came out of the locker room primed for a comeback. Odessa rallied but fell just short as SPC held on by their fingertips for a 67-66 win. Jabori McGhee’s 21 points led the Texans.
CENTURY CLUB – The (25) WALTERS STATE SENATORS won by a final score of 109-81 at the DYERSBURG STATE EAGLES ### Meanwhile, the WAUBONSEE COLLEGE CHIEFS routed the visiting WILBUR WRIGHT COLLEGE RAMS 111-76 ### And the CASPER COLLEGE THUNDERBIRDS downed their guests the EASTERN WYOMING COLLEGE LANCERS by a final score of 101-90. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
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