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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: A JOURNEY IN THE TWENTY-NINTH CENTURY (1824)

A JOURNEY IN THE TWENTY-NINTH CENTURY (1824) – Written by Faddei Bulgarin, who had served in the Polish Legion of Napoleon’s Grand Army in his youth before going on to work for the Czars of Russia. In this fascinating tale an unnamed narrator gets swept overboard in the Gulf of Finland in 1824. The cold water and another element somehow put him in suspended animation and when he comes to he is all the way over in Siberia, where his body was recovered in the waters of Cape Shelagski centuries after he was lost at sea.

The year in which the narrator finds himself is 2824 A.D. and Siberia is by then a warm and comfortable place due to environmental engineering and climatic changes. Homes are all like virtual palaces and the citizens drive around in large wheeled chairs which are powered by steam and travel along rail lines like trains do. The walkways for pedestrians are all covered in order to protect them from precipitation.

Scattered police officers in feathered hats walk the streets, all of them wielding futuristic staffs which combine the firepower of 12 pistols and a large musket. The staffs are made of lightweight materials which make them easy to carry and aim.  Continue reading

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THE EAGLE (1925) RUDOLPH VALENTINO’S IMITATION OF DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS FILMS

For more reviews of Rudolph Valentino films click HERE.

THE EAGLE (1925) – Valentino dabbled in Douglas Fairbanks territory as the masked hero of this tale set in Russia under Catherine the Great. Our man plays Vladimir Dubrovsky, a lieutenant in Czarina Catherine’s Imperial Guard.

Vladimir’s masculine heroics catch the eye of Catherine the Great (Louise Dresser), and she plans to make him her latest male conquest. She promises Dubrovsky a meteoric rise in the military … IF he climbs into bed with her.

The young officer declines the offer and rides off to avoid Catherine’s wrath. She puts a price on Vladimir’s head. The fugitive covertly visits his family estate, where he learns the land has been stolen from them by the evil nobleman Kyrilla Troekouroff. 

Dubrovsky is furious and wants revenge. He becomes the Black Eagle, the masked leader of a band of outlaws who go on to prey on Troekouroff’s interests everywhere in the region. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: GREAT GHOST TALES (1961)

GREAT GHOST TALES (1961) – This half-hour series featured dramatizations of horror stories from Algernon Blackwood, Saki, Edgar Allan Poe and others. It was also the very last regularly scheduled fiction program to be broadcast live in the U.S.

Great Ghost Tales only ran for 12 episodes as a Summer Replacement for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show and was never renewed. Reviews were mixed, but a lot of recognizable faces on their way to stardom showed up in the series, which was hosted by Frank Gallop.

THE EPISODES:

WILLIAM WILSON – Robert Duvall stars as the title character in this adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story. Wilson is increasingly disturbed by a lookalike man who follows him everywhere and even goes by the same name. Star Trek‘s Joanne Linville also stars. Continue reading

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KENYAN MYTHOLOGY: CREATION MYTH OF THE KIKUYU

Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my love of mythology. I’ve covered many gods, goddesses and epics from around the world. This blog post will examine the Kikuyu (also spelled Gikuyu) Creation Myth of the Kikuyu people of what is now Kenya.

kenyaA. Ngai, the creator god, divider of the universe, divider of the land from the sea and owner of the dazzling light, descended to the Earth shortly after making it. Mists covered the entire world because of how freshly made it was.

B. After inspecting the world, Ngai established his Earthly home atop Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya), where the deity may be prayed to but he can never be perceived by human eyes.

C. Ngai developed a swelling in his knee. He cut it open (or in some versions it burst open on its own) and out came three sons, named Kikuyu/ Gikuyu, Masai and Kamba. Those sons were to marry and produce the three tribes/ nations which would be named for the husbands.

           As this portion of the tale continued, Ngai offered his three sons the choice of a spear, a bow or a digging stick. Kikuyu chose the digging stick and established agriculture; Masai selected the spear and learned to tend herds on the plains; and Kamba took the bow and established the practice of hunting for game. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: FUNGUS ISLE (1923)

FUNGUS ISLE (1923) – Written by Philip M Fisher. Fungus Isle has the same proto-Creature Feature feel to it that The True Inheritors (qv) had. In the case of the previously reviewed story, it was a forerunner of various giant spider flicks.

In the case of Fungus Isle it seems like the inspiration for the 1963 Japanese film Attack of the Mushroom People, aka Matango, the Fungus of Terror.  

A handful of friends find themselves shipwrecked on an uncharted island near New Guinea. The island is crawling with various types of fungus and our protagonists eventually encounter some fungi that are nearly humanoid and can walk.

The spores shot out by the fungi cling to human flesh, eventually accumulating to the point where they completely cover the body. Saltwater serves as an effective remedy to clean off the spores but there is no food on the island except mushrooms. Continue reading

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG: JAN TWENTY-FOURTH

NCAA DIVISION THREE

DOWN GOES NUMBER ONE – In this game the WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY CARDINALS welcomed the top ranked team in the nation – the TRINITY (CT) BANTAMS. The Cardinals put Trinity on Upset Alert with their 38-31 lead at the Half. After the break the Bantams rallied but fell short as Wesleyan U. triumphed 64-62 led by 22 points from Sam Pohlman. 

KNOCKING OFF NUMBER FOUR – The OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY POLAR BEARS played host to the nation’s number 4 team – the UNIVERSITY OF MT. UNION PURPLE RAIDERS. This was a defensive epic, with the Polar Bears up 26-19 come Halftime before winning the game 64-50 from there. Aiden Harris led Ohio Northern University with 18 points.

CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring at least 100 points in Regulation: The CAIRN UNIVERSITY HIGHLANDERS won 104-83 at the PSU-ABINGTON LIONS   ###   Meanwhile, the GREENVILLE UNIVERSITY PANTHERS defeated their guests the BLACKBURN UNIVERSITY BEAVERS 124-110   ###   And the TRINITY (TX) TIGERS downed the SEWANEE UNIVERSITY TIGERS 103-84.  Continue reading

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MARVEL PREMIERE (1972-1981)

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at Marvel Premiere. Like Marvel Spotlight and Marvel Preview, this series served to introduce new characters and see if they proved popular enough for their own separate series.

MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #1 (Apr 1972)

Title: A Man-God Reborn

Villains: Man-Beast and his Animal Men

Synopsis: The long-time Marvel character the High Evolutionary, a sometime hero and sometime villain, used the almost God-level powers he possessed in his hyper-evolved state to create Counter-Earth. Traveling in time, the High Evolutionary created that twin of planet Earth 5,000 years in the past and guided its history into a near-perfect rerun of Earth’s own.

The main difference was that the High Evolutionary intervened to prevent super-powered beings from ever coming into existence on Counter-Earth. This allowed him to observe how the “real” Earth might have developed without super-powered interference.

The High Evolutionary studied his creation from an orbiting headquarters, kept company by the remaining New-Men of Wundagore Mountain, animals he had evolved into intelligent humanoid form. Those New-Men had clashed with Hulk and Thor up to this point in Marvel Comics prior to his creation of Counter-Earth.

His orbiting lair one day snagged the space-faring cocoon of the super-powered Him, a golden-skinned superbeing created by the Fantastic Four’s old foes the Enclave (aka the Hive). As Him had previously done when he clashed with the F.F. and then Thor, he emerged from his cocoon.

The High Evolutionary renamed Him Adam Warlock and explained that his evil wolf-like New Man called the Man-Beast had rebelled against him. The Man-Beast had recruited his own evil version of the High Evolutionary’s Knights of Wundagore – all of them New Men like himself. Continue reading

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DOG STARS: RIN TIN TIN AND KEYSTONE TEDDY

During the age of silent films, two of the biggest canine stars were the original Rin Tin Tin and Keystone Teddy. 

rin tin tin at typewriterRIN TIN TIN (1918-1932) – Here at Balladeer’s Blog, I’m even fonder of dogs than I am of silent movies, so this post will combine the two topics. Sadly, most silent films have become so little remembered that few people even realize that there actually WAS a real Rin Tin Tin, adopted by American soldiers during World War One.

Amid battles in September of 1918, Corporal Lee Duncan of the 135th Aero Squadron was doing recon work on a bombed-out area near Flirey, France. One of the buildings had been a breeding kennel for German Shepherds trained for Kaiser Wilhelm’s troops. The only animals still alive were a starving mother with five nursing puppies who were so young their eyes had not even opened yet.   

Duncan adopted the six German Shepherds and took them back to his unit. His superiors permitted the mother to be given to an officer, one each of the puppies to three enlisted men and the final two – a boy and a girl – were adopted by Lee Duncan himself and named Rin Tin Tin and Nanette. Continue reading

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COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: DAYTONA BEACH CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at another university whose sports teams go by a much more memorable name than the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.

DAYTONA BEACH CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY Continue reading

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THE DAY PENNSYLVANIA’S TREASURER KILLED HIMSELF ON LIVE TELEVISION

JANUARY 22nd, 1987 – It was on this date that one of the most horrible incidents ever captured during a live news report occurred. Pennsylvania’s 70th Treasurer, R. Budd Dwyer (R) was due to be sentenced on January 23rd after having been found guilty of assorted charges in 1986 following a bribery scandal.

On the 22nd, Dwyer held a press conference at which he protested the guilty verdict, produced a .357 Magnum handgun from a large envelope he was holding and shot himself to death. The tragic event was broadcast live and since many schools were out on a snow day on that date countless school children happened to be watching. WARNING: ADULTS ONLY MATERIAL BELOW. Continue reading

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