Bored with college sports teams called Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats? Well, here’s another team name that is outside the ordinary.
TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE Continue reading
Tag Archives: Balladeer’s Blog
EVERYONE BELIEVES THEY ARE ON “THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY”
I love exploring the mythology behind the world’s various belief systems.
America’s Democrats have regressed into a faith-based belief system that’s every bit as irrational as any other religion, but since Democrats – or “Democrat Fundamentalists” – are such pompous, hypocritical and close-minded fools it’s A LOT of fun to describe their myths as sarcastically as possible.
THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY – This is the Democrat Party’s version of an afterlife. Narcissistic Democrats strive to live their lives in such a way that people every bit as pretentious and snobbish as they are will sit around in the future sipping wine and pompously expressing approval of the worldview and political opinions that today’s Democrat Fundamentalists held while alive.
This notion of an afterlife is every bit as flawed and fantastic as any other religion’s tales about what happens after human beings die. No one alive today knows how the people of the future will feel about any of us or about our worldview.
If anything history has shown that people – ESPECIALLY the self-congratulatory asses called Democrats – take great delight in loudly and repeatedly condemning people of the past for (GASP) having opinions that differ from their own. It takes no courage and little effort to put on an air of moral superiority toward long-dead human beings.
That being said it’s more likely that American Democrats of the future will look down on even the most self-consciously “progressive” Puritans of today as hopelessly misguided or simply ignorant.
Those future Democrat Fundamentalists very well may just sit around sipping wine and reassuring each other that they are morally superior to every Democrat of this era for not having THE EXACT SAME opinions as they do regarding race, gender, etc. Exactly like pompous Democrat Fundamentalists of today do with people of the past.
Claiming to be on “the right side of history” represents the same flawed thinking process as being convinced that you have God on your side. EVERYBODY tends to feel that way.
The obsessive conformity, status-anxiety and insecurities of Democrats prevent them from questioning their faith and thereby realizing that their own condemnation of figures from long ago is every bit as much of a shallow, meaningless pose as the attitude that may be shown toward them by Democrat Fundamentalists of the future. Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion
GHOSTS OF HANLEY HOUSE (1968) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT
In the middle 1980s/ Way down on Level 31 …
Before MST3K we had The Texas 27 Film Vault! Before Joel and Mike we had Randy and Richard! Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this neglected cult show from roughly February, 1985-August, 1987.
EPISODE ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Saturday October 26th, 1985 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
SERIAL: Before showing and mocking the movie Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, our Film Vault Technicians First Class showed and mocked a chapter of the 1940 serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.
FILM VAULT LORE: Randy and Richard’s presentation of Ghosts of Hanley House has occupied a very odd niche in Movie Host trivia for quite a long time. Among people who remember The Texas 27 Film Vault this episode is famous as “the one where Psychotronic‘s Michael Weldon seems to have confused T27FV with MST3K.”
In Weldon’s 1996 book The Psychotronic Video Guide he refers to Ghosts of Hanley House as having been riffed on by the folks at Mystery Science Theater 3000. Actually MST3K NEVER showed Ghosts of Hanley House but The Texas 27 Film Vault DID.
Randy Clower and Richard Malmos of The Texas 27 Film Vault (both lower right) featured in a Movie Host article with Stella from Saturday Night Dead and Elvira.
Weldon was a fan of Movie Host shows like Ghoulardi, Zacherley, Svengoolie, Elvira and others, so it’s possible he had also sampled episodes of Randy and Richard’s show in the 80s but the subsequent years blurred his memory to the point where he confused T27FV with MST3K in this instance. It’s a very easy mistake to make given the similarities between the shows.
THE MOVIE: The Texas 27 Film Vault often presented low-budget movies that had been filmed right there in the Lone Star State. Larry Buchanan’s ouevre was covered almost in its entirety on the show as were films by Russ Marker and Hal Warren. Ghosts of Hanley House, a low-budget horror flick filmed in Victoria, TX fit right in. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Movie Hosts
BATTLE BRICK ROAD (2020 – ?)
This weekend’s escapist and light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at the independent comic book series Battle Brick Road from Eric Weathers, Farah Nurmaliza and Zeb Hatfield.
BATTLE BRICK ROAD IS NOT TO BE MISSED.
This ongoing series is an exciting work from some of the most daring and visionary creators in sequential art today.
Battle Brick Road presents a post-apocalyptic take on Frank Baum’s Oz stories twisted through the ingenious prism of artist ERIC WEATHERS and writer ZEB HATFIELD with lettering by FARAH NURMALIZA.
Get ready for Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion like you’ve never seen them before – as technologically and biologically enhanced warriors in a dystopian world that not even Mad Max could survive.
Battle-hardened, survival savvy Dorothea Gale – Thea for short – searches for her father through the futuristic technological wasteland called O.Z. (Operation Zephyr).
Filed under Superheroes
THE AUTOMATIC MOTORIST (1911) SILENT FILM SHORT
THE AUTOMATIC MOTORIST (1911) – Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at another silent movie short by England’s Walter R. Booth. It’s a remake of his own 1906 short film The Mad Motorist but taken to the extreme. Running time is 6 1/2 minutes.
Booth more than lives up to his reputation as “the British Melies” with this light-hearted fantasy. A pair of newlyweds – as in the bride is still in her gown and the groom is still in his tux – visit their eccentric inventor friend.
The inventor’s newest creation is a robot which is skilled enough to serve as a chauffeur for the bride, groom and inventor. The robot drives off with its three passengers but the vehicle’s speed gets it pulled over by a traffic cop. When the robot punches the policeman he becomes infuriated. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) STORIES THIRTY-SIX TO FORTY
For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click HERE.
JOURNEY WITH DEATH – Talimbo, one of the Indian members of the Luftschiff’s crew, has died. His widow Siva is devastated and asks to travel on the spaceship Meteor‘s next journey. Kapitan Mors okays the request little dreaming that the widow blames Machinist Mate Schrecken for stopping her from immolating herself in mourning and wants to kill him for revenge.
Mors pilots the Meteor toward the Northern Lights to observe them from space. Siva makes her move, endangering the entire crew and forcing desperate maneuvering of the spaceship to avoid being sucked through a gauntlet of vortices and destruction at the hands of what may be living organisms in space. Continue reading
Filed under Pulp Heroes
MERCHANT SHIPS (424-421 B.C.) ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY
Balladeer’s Blog presents another examination of an ancient Greek political satire. In this case it is one of those works of Aristophanes which have survived only in very fragmentary condition.
MERCHANT SHIPS
Merchant Ships was written and publicly staged in approximately 424 B.C. to 421 B.C. according to the available data. It was another of Aristophanes’ comedies protesting the pointlessness of the Greek city-states warring among themselves instead of uniting against the encroachments of the Persian Empire.
Aristophanes’ most popular surviving comedy about this topic is of course, Lysistrata, in which the women of Athens and Sparta unite to withhold sex from their men until those men agree to end the war. Merchant Ships has more in common with another of Aristophanes’ Peace Plays – The Acharnians, in which a separate peace with Sparta is made by an Athenian man named Dikaiopolis. (I always picture Rowan Atkinson in full Blackadder Goes Fourth mode playing him.)
In the case of Merchant Ships it’s more than just one person establishing a personal peace treaty with Sparta.
In this comedy the captains of two separate merchant ships – one from Athens and one from their foe Sparta – have grown weary of the pointless conflict and make a separate peace with each other. They and their crew members get to spend the play enjoying the food and drink from their cargoes and living out a metaphorical return to the prosperous days before the Peloponnesian War when peace reigned among the various Greek city-states.
Franchises aka Merchant Ships
If enough of Merchant Ships had survived to be staged, in a modern-day adaptation (as opposed to a straight translation) the situation could be depicted by having a Chick Fil-A restaurant right next to a Starbucks coffee shop. The managers and employees of these stereotypically Republican (Chick Fil-A) and stereotypically Democrat (Starbucks) establishments could grow tired of the political feuding, especially since both political parties often call for boycotts of the opposing business.
The managers and employees of the two franchises (in fact Franchises would be an ideal title) would make a truce separate from their home offices. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Greek Comedy
FRONTIER CIRCUS (1961-1962) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION
FRONTIER CIRCUS (1961-1962) – The traveling Thompson & Travis Circus roams the 1880s American West performing for audiences and having adventures.
Chill Wills, the voice of Francis the Talking Mule, starred as Colonel Casey Thompson while John Derek (Bo’s husband) portrayed his circus partner Ben Travis. Richard Jaeckel played associate Tony Gentry.
Frontier Circus ran for 26 one-hour episodes in black & white. It’s a nice change of pace among westerns, much like the series Riverboat was.
THE EPISODES:
DEPTHS OF FEAR (1st episode) – Ben Travis signs a formerly great Lion Tamer (Aldo Ray) who has become a town drunk. Ben coaches the man back to performing status despite the attempts to derail him made by a jealous bully. Guest stars Vito Scotti, James Gregory and Bethel Leslie.
THE SMALLEST TARGET – The land that the circus has leased for a week’s worth of perfomances turns out to be owned by the estranged husband (Brian Keith) of female sharpshooter Bonnie Stevens (Barbara Rush), the circus’ star attraction. Tensions between her and her ex and their son cause trouble. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television, FRONTIERADO
THE MICHIGAN BRIGADE: U.S. CIVIL WAR
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the Union Army’s Michigan Brigade of Volunteers – nicknamed the Wolverines – from the U.S. Civil War. I’m focusing on them because, though not unknown, increasing numbers of people have taken to ignoring their contributions to the Union victory just because of the post-Civil War career of the Brigade’s commander – General George Armstrong Custer.
I’m no Custer fan myself, but the men who served under him in the Civil War don’t deserve to be thrown a figurative cold shoulder because of the ugliness later associated with the man leading them. The soldiers of the 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th Michigan Cavalry plus Artillery Battery M, the units in the Michigan Brigade, were crucial to victory.
The brigade was first being formed in December, 1862 and on June 29th, 1863 newly promoted General Custer assumed command.
BATTLE OF HANOVER – On June 30th the Michigan Brigade took part in this battle set in Hanover, PA. It was part of the leadup to the Battle of Gettysburg. The Union thwarted Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart’s attempt to link up with the main Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee.
HUNTERSTOWN – With the Battle of Gettysburg having started the previous day, the Brigade fought in this July 2nd, 1863 clash along Beaverdam Creek near Hunterstown, PA. They forced Confederate General Wade Hampton’s cavalry to withdraw. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
MEMORIAL DAY POSTS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG
Balladeer’s Blog hopes all of you are having a respectful Memorial Day weekend. I’ll have a brand new Memorial Day blog post tomorrow, but for another seasonal post here are some of my Memorial Day offerings from years past.
I’ve always looked at neglected conflicts or battles. The military members who died in those actions are sometimes overlooked in the big picture.
2012 – THE TOP FOUR FORGOTTEN CONFLICTS IN U.S. HISTORY – A look at the forgotten Revolutionary War battles after Yorktown (1781-1782), the Mexican War (1846-1848), the Nicaraguan Conflict (1926-1928), and the Philippine War (1899-1902).
2013 – FORGOTTEN U.S. NAVAL BATTLES OF WORLD WAR ONE – There were clashes between German U-Boats and the U.S. Navy ships transporting the American Expeditionary Force to Europe, the years-long underwater mining campaign, the German attack on Orleans, MA, the attack on Austria-Hungary’s naval base at Durazzo, Albania and much more.
2013 – THE TOP FOUR FORGOTTEN MILITARY UNITS FROM AMERICAN WARS – Looking at the Oneida Indians First Allies Unit from the Revolutionary War, Doniphan’s Thousand from the Mexican War, the “Yankee Samurai” (Nissei Battalion of 2,000 Japanese-Americans) from World War 2, and the racially integrated 1st Rhode Island Regiment from the Revolutionary War.
2014 – SOME MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS FROM THE PHILIPPINE WAR OF 1899-1902 – Servicemen from various branches of the armed forces were honored for their heroism during this conflict, including some from Young’s Scouts. Medals were issued for actions at the Sohotan River, Samar, Bayong, San Ysidro, Loac and Catubig. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
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