Tag Archives: Balladeer’s Blog

April 6, 2015 · 11:42 pm

POLO: THE U.S. OPEN’s LATEST RESULTS

The 111th U.S. Open continues at the International Polo Club in Palm Beach.

Las Monjitas polo shirtLAS MONJITAS VS ORCHARD HILL – As always, for those Balladeer’s Blog readers who prefer regular nicknames for sports teams I’ll recap: Think of Las Monjitas as “the Little Nuns” (the literal meaning of Las Monjitas) and Orchard Hill as “the Clubmen”.  

The 1st Chukker ended in a 3-1 Orchard Hill lead courtesy of scores by Polito Pieres and Facundo Pieres plus a goal awarded because of a Penalty One called against Las Monjitas. The lone goal for the Little Nuns this Chukker came from Facundo Sola on a 30 yard penalty shot.  

In the 2nd Chukker Facundo Sola and Facundo Pieres scored 2 goals apiece for a 5-3 advantage for the Clubmen. Gallego Ferrario scored his first goal of the game to put Orchard Hill up 6-3 by the end of the sextant.  

Chukker number 3 saw the Little Nuns pull closer to the Clubmen as Eduardo Astrada followed up another Sola goal with one of his own to put his team within one of Orchard Hill at 6-5. Polito Pieres slammed in another goal to make it a 7-5 Clubmen lead going into Halftime. Continue reading →

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April 5, 2015 · 11:33 pm

POLO: SECOND ROUND PLAY AT THE U.S. OPEN CONTINUES

The 111th U.S. Open continues at the International Polo Club in Palm Beach.

FlexJet polo shirtFLEXJET VS ALEGRIA – For the benefit of Balladeer’s Blog readers who have told me they prefer non-corporate names for the teams Flexjet is unofficially known here as the Aviators and Alegria – the defending U.S. Open champions – are known as the Cantinas.

In the 1st Chukker of the game Alegria got off to a quick start as Hilario Ulloa and Sterling Giannico slammed in goals from the field for a 2-0 advantage. Flexjet got on the board when Miguel Novillo Astrada scored on a 30 yard penalty shot but Julian Mannix of the Cantinas nailed a goal to give his team a 3-1 lead at the end of the 1st.   Continue reading →

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April 4, 2015 · 5:25 pm

MALDOROR 2:4 – THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Midnight strikes in Paris. An eerie double-decker horse-drawn omnibus bursts forth from the ground and begins making its way through the nearly empty, night-darkened streets.

A few late night wayfarers regard the unusual omnibus with a shudder as it goes by. The vehicle carries the full passenger load of twenty-four but all of the travelers on the upper deck appear to be lifeless corpses leaned against each other.

The top-hatted driver looks like another corpse, and the whip he uses to urge on his horses seems more alive than he is. That whip appears to be what animates the arm of the otherwise lifeless driver, not the other way around. Even the passengers on the inner deck remain mute and still and are likewise as pale as ghosts.   Continue reading →

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April 2, 2015 · 8:30 pm

POLO: THE U.S. OPEN CONTINUES

Yesterday the 111th U.S. Open in polo continued at the International Polo Club in Palm Beach. All of Saturday and Sunday’s games were decided by just one goal and that competitive intensity continued with yesterday’s play.

International Polo Club overheadROUND TWO – LAS MONJITAS vs VALIENTE – My readers indicate that it makes it easier for them to follow if they can think of teams in terms of nicknames so in addition to their official names I will also throw in Balladeer’s Blog’s unofficial nicknames for each team. Anything to accomodate my faithful readers!

Las Monjitas restaurant chain can be referred to as “the Little Nuns” since that’s what Las Monjitas means. Valiente’s unofficial nickname here is “the Valiants.”  

valiente shirtThe 1st Chukker ended with Valiente on top by a score of 3-2 with 2 goals by Alejo Taranca and 1 from Guillermo Terrera. For Las Monjitas Facundo Sola scored both goals on penalty shots from 40 yards out and 60 yards out. Continue reading →

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April 2, 2015 · 2:31 am

MALDOROR 2:3 – AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE

Maldoror 2 3The enigmatic supernatural being Maldoror opens this stanza by reflecting that he hopes the day never dawns when he and Lohengrin unknowingly jostle each other side by side and elbow to elbow in a crowded city, then each continue on their separate paths, as oblivious to their near encounter as strangers who pass in a crowd. 

Yes, as that opening would indicate our vile protagonist now ties himself into esoteric Grail lore as he provides us once again with hints at his real nature. As always these hints contradict the previous hints he has given us about himself. 

First, however, Maldoror addresses God-as- Demiurge in an accusatory manner again, pointing out that as quickly as Maldoror used a hammer to bash in the brains of his most recent victim – a woman this time – the Creator could share with humanity the secret wisdom that he forever withholds from his creations. He further implies that God no longer converses with humanity as he did in the long distant past because now mankind has grown sophisticated enough that they would shout defiance at him and “fling all their shame back in God’s face.”  Continue reading →

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April 1, 2015 · 12:49 am

CLOUDS WITHOUT WATER (1909) – A LITERARY HOAX FROM ALEISTER CROWLEY

Clouds Without WaterWhat better way to mark April Fool’s Day than by commemorating one of the wittiest and most daring of practical jokes, one perpetrated by Aleister Crowley in those brilliant years before drugs and/or self-delusion fogged his mind. Decades before the pathetic “Peekaboo Crowley” of much renown Aleister was still churning out some very enjoyable poetry – some of it brilliant. The Sword of Song and Konx Om Pax are my favorite volumes of verse by “the Laird of Boleskine” … AFTER Clouds Without Water, that is.  

Clouds Without Water was not Crowley’s only literary practical joke, of course, but the humor of it resonates to this very day, thanks mainly to the never-changing air of pious self-righteousness that afflicts most of the world’s clergy-members. And not just pious self-righteousness but a habit of condemning in the strongest language works of art which their self-limited minds clearly don’t understand.

aleister crowley

*** *** *** *** *** Crowley’s autobiography explained this photo in the poignant chapter titled “I Go Completely Nuts and Start Believing Anything and Everything”

THE JOKE: Clouds Without Water was published under one of Crowley’s pseudonyms – Reverend Charles Verey. It was circulated to various ministries and teaching colleges allegedly as a condemnation of “the type of atheism and socialism” that the young and the bohemian were embracing. Crowley – writing as Reverend Verey – wrote a foreward and a closing prayer for the volume of poetry as well as (when you know the full story) HILARIOUS footnotes expressing the kind of simplistic moral outrage that only the most narrow-minded of holy-rollers can spout. 

Under another assumed identity Crowley ALSO wrote the sonnets being condemned by his Reverend Verey alter ego. On the surface the poems were written by a college professor scandalously celebrating an extramarital affair with one of his female students, a young woman named Lola. The sonnets reflect the supposed couple’s flouting of social and sexual conventions until the affair ends in tragedy for all concerned. Crowley’s fictional persona Reverend Verey was denouncing the poems and the lifestyle reflected in those poems in the strongest possible terms. Continue reading →

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March 31, 2015 · 4:00 am

AIWEL LONGAR: THE EPIC MYTH

Aiwel Longar

Aiwel Longar

Once again Balladeer’s Blog examines a neglected epic myth from around the world. Previously I have dealt with epics from the Navajo, Vietnamese, Iroquois, Aztec, Hawaiian, Chinese and other belief systems.

The mythic tale of Aiwel Longar comes from the Dinka pantheon. Nhialic is the supreme deity to the Dinka and the first man and woman he created were Garang and Abuk. The Dinka people live in the Upper Nile in Sudan, as they have for centuries.

AIWEL LONGAR

I often cover the way in which cultures which come into contact borrow mythic material from each other to embellish their own respective belief systems. The story of Aiwel Longar clearly influenced (and vice versa) Egyptian, Jewish, Christian and Muslim myths. It also bears striking similarities to the Gnostic Hymn of the Pearl.

PART ONE – Born as simply Aiwel, this figure was a gift from the god of the Nile River to Aiwel’s widowed and childless mother. The infant already had a full set of teeth when his mother picked him up out of the Nile River, where the river god had set him adrift.

Like many mythic figures Aiwel could Continue reading →

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March 29, 2015 · 9:21 pm

DEAD AND RESURRECTED DEITIES OF THE DISTANT PAST

Persephone and pomegranateSpring keeps trying to arrive but this bitter winter refuses to give up just yet. Our nationwide longing to be liberated from the tyrannical grip of winter made this a good time to examine some of the ancient myths about winter and the coming of spring. The celebration of those myths at this time of year plus the fact that many of those myths centered around dead and resurrected deities necessitated Christianity’s attempt to superimpose its OWN dead and resurrected deity over top of those older stories. Hence the celebration of Easter in springtime. (And it’s not just Christianity that behaved that way – other religions also would superimpose their own celebrations over top of those held in honor of the previously dominant gods in their region. I’ll cover the behavior of those other belief systems – especially Islam and the Incan faith – another time.)

Not all seasonal myths conformed to the following pattern. I’m limiting this list to the ones that did.

PERSEPHONE

Pantheon: Greek (The Romans called her Proserpine)

The Tale: Persephone was the beautiful daughter of the goddess Demeter (Ceres to the Romans). Persephone caught the eye of Hades, the god who ruled over the realm of the dead. Overcome with lust Hades (Pluto to the Romans) emerged from his subterranean domain and stole Persephone away to his realm to become his Queen.

The Savior: Demeter went searching for her daughter throughout the world, often assuming the form of a mortal woman. Her search wore on and on with no results, causing Demeter to fall more and more deeply into despair. Because she was the goddess of nature that despair manifested itself in colder weather, in the leaves falling off the trees, other vegetation dying and some animals hibernating or migrating to flee the cold.  Continue reading →

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March 28, 2015 · 3:28 pm

MALDOROR 2:2 – THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW

Maldoror 2.2We now move on to the 2nd Canto of The Songs of Maldoror. For the benefit of newcomers I’ll point out that prose translations of this work are plentiful for those who don’t like poetry. I’m continuing my practice of assigning unofficial titles to each part simply to make cross-referencing easier since otherwise we have just the numbers to go by.

The first part of the 2nd Canto (or Maldoror 2:1) is simply an address to the reader from the author Isidore Ducasse, the self-designated Count de Lautreamont. I’ll pick up with the second part of the 2nd Canto, or Maldoror 2:2.  

The supernatural being Maldoror opens this part by recounting how God tried to prevent him from continuing with his bizarre, blasphemous writings. At first the deity attempted to paralyze our vile protagonist’s hands whenever he would try to put pen to paper. Maldoror overcame those efforts so God tries a more direct approach and unleashes a thunderstorm on our main character’s home.  Continue reading →

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March 25, 2015 · 12:22 am

MALDOROR 13: THE GREAT TOAD-ANGEL

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE GREAT TOAD-ANGEL 

Maldoror 13This stanza opens up with the supernatural being Maldoror contemplating the worms he pulls from the swollen belly of a dead dog. Slicing the worms into small bits he philosophizes on how human beings should learn a lesson about their own mortality from the state of such dead, worm-riddled bodies. 

Night is falling. In the distance he spies a horse-sized toad with white wings flying down from the sky and landing on the road he is traveling. As the two draw nearer to each other Maldoror senses something familiar about the creature and reflects that its face is “as beautiful as suicide”. He resents the being over how beautiful it looks even in its massive ugliness and the halo over the toad’s head tells him it has come from Heaven and his archrival God. 

Maldoror being Maldoror he tells the Toad-Angel how much he loathes it and berates it for the manifest unfairness and injustice of the world that God has created. He taunts the being that it is only what Maldoror perceives as the deity’s “might makes right” attitude that lets him inflict so much punishment on hapless humanity while feeling no regret.

bufo alvariusAt length the Toad-Angel reminds Maldoror that the two have met before. Once he was an ordinary bufo alvarius (a species of toad whose skin secretions are hallucinogenic and usually fatal) that Maldoror used to lick for psychotropic inspiration. Just as our vile protagonist received mind-altering visions from oral contact with the toad the eldritch chemicals in Maldoror’s mouth eventually elevated the common toad into the higher being it is now.   Continue reading →

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