Tag Archives: blogging

THE PRISONER: THE SCHIZOID MAN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the 1967 science fiction/ existential drama The Prisoner. For Part One, in which I examined the themes and concepts at play in the series click HERE 

Schizoid ManEpisode Title: THE SCHIZOID MAN … In the ongoing debate about the exact numbering of the 17 episodes of The Prisoner I place this as the 5th episode. 

This episode’s Number Two – the rotating series of executives in charge of the Village – is portrayed by Anton Rodgers, whom regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will remember from his role in the musical Scrooge (1970).

The Schizoid Man is especially beloved by all of us who value our individuality above nearly everything else. In this episode the nefarious Villagekeepers play their most effective mind game against Patrick McGoohan’s character The Prisoner. They seek to break him by robbing him of the very foundation of all his strengths: his identity and uniqueness. Or if you prefer, his sense of self.   Continue reading →

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Filed under Forgotten Television, Prisoner (tv series)

NEVER ACCEPT CORPORATE CENSORSHIP

THIS SENTIMENT IS ESPECIALLY APT NOW THAT CORPORATE FASCISTS WHO CONTROL SOCIAL MEDIA GOT IN TOUCH WITH THEIR INNER BOOK-BURNER. YEAH, LET’S TRUST A BUNCH OF WHITE, BLOATED RICH PIGS TO DECIDE WHAT CONSTITUTES ACCEPTABLE LANGUAGE FOR THE REST OF US. 

offend everyone

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

THE FLAG: NEGLECTED ACE PERIODICALS SUPERHERO

Flag 2Superheroes continue to practically own pop culture right now. Balladeer’s Blog’s readers wanted more, so I recently posted a look at the Superhero Pantheon of Ace Periodicals. Here is another of their characters that I just added. FOR THE ORIGINAL ITEM FEATURING NEARLY TWENTY MORE FORGOTTEN HEROES AND HEROINES CLICK HERE 

FlagTHE FLAG

Secret Identity: Jim Courtney, flag-maker 

Origin: An unnamed baby was left on the doorstep of crippled World War One veteran John Courtney in 1920. Courtney, a flag-maker, was intrigued by the American Flag birthmark on the infant’s chest. He named the boy Jim and raised him as his son, teaching him his flag-making trade.

On Jim’s 21st birthday he was visited by the ghosts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who told him he was a super-powered being and that his powers were ready to be used now that he was an adult. Jim donned a costume and fought the forces of evil as the Flag.

First Appearance: Our Flag Comics #2 (October 1941). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1942.

Powers: Continue reading →

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL: D3 PRESEASON RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

Last week I posted Balladeer’s Blog’s Preseason rankings for the NAIA. Now here’s my early look at NCAA Division 3 for the 2018 season.

Mount Union Purple Raiders1. UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS (Defending Champions)    ###     2. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT OSHKOSH TITANS    ###     3. UNIVERSITY OF MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS    ###     4. UNIVERSITY OF SAINT THOMAS (MN) TOMMIES    ###     5. LINFIELD COLLEGE WILDCATS    ###    

Frostburg State Bobcats6. FROSTBURG STATE BOBCATS    ###     7. WARTBURG COLLEGE KNIGHTS    ###     8. WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE PRESIDENTS    ###     9. SAINT JOHN’S UNIVERSITY JOHNNIES    ###     10. DELAWARE VALLEY UNIVERSITY AGGIES    ###     Continue reading →

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SJW’S: LOSERS OR JUST FOOLS?

mascot new look donkey and elephant headsBy way of this general announcement I will once again remind the ridiculous poseurs who refer to themselves as SJW’s that, if they expect me to allow their comments to show – comments in which they absurdly refer to themselves with that hilariously pretentious and grandiose SJW label – then they have to address me as a “Heroic Defender of Freedom.”

Doing so might just convey to you what silly “only child” jackasses you look like to other people when you use that lame SJW title.

First – Calling YOURSELF an SJW is as meaningless as the way some of you compound this narcissistic idiocy by labeling yourselves a “Public Intellectual” on your social media home pages. Face it, if you’re reduced to designating YOURSELF as an intellectual – public or otherwise – you’re probably not one.

Second – The term “Social Justice” is as ridiculous as the Right-Wing terms “Family Values” and “Patriotic American.” Reasonable adults will not necessarily ever agree on the meaning of such silly generalities. Everyone knows when SJW’s and their ilk refer to Social Justice they REALLY mean only their own definition of it – a definition polluted by their political prejudices and self-centered drama queen tendencies. Continue reading →

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

HEART: NOTHIN’ AT ALL

Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring feature Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead returns! This time the shoutout goes to Heart with their song Nothin’ At All. 

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BOONE MAY: NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER

Boone MayBOONE MAY – We ring down the curtain on another Frontierado holiday with this look at neglected gunslinger Daniel Boone May, better known as just Boone May.

Daniel Boone May was born in Missouri in 1852 and raised on the family farm in Kansas following a move around 1860. In the early 1870s Boone headed west with his brothers Jim and Bill. By some accounts Boone drifted into bounty hunting as a way of making a living while his brothers were into more sedate and settled livelihoods.

With the Black Hills Gold Rush raging in 1876 the three May Brothers headed to Deadwood, SD to seek their fortunes. Bill tried his hand at prospecting while Boone and Jim invested some of Boone’s bounty money in a series of horse-team changing stations between the gold fields and the railroad in Cheyenne, WY.  

Boone earned a solid reputation for being able to use his guns to keep the changing stations safe from bandits AND from bands of Sioux warriors. Before long he had made enough money to buy a home and land near the Platte River outside Deadwood.   Continue reading →

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Filed under FRONTIERADO

BOOT HILL – A MINOR VALHALLA

JUST SIXTEEN DAYS UNTIL FRONTIERADO! IT’S THE FIRST FRIDAY OF AUGUST, MEANING IT’S FRONTIERADO! NOW CELEBRATED ON SIX CONTINENTS!

The joyous day is here at last so let’s enjoy our meals of buffalo meat, Tumbleweed Pizzas, Southwest Fried Rice, corn on the cob, Cactus Salad, mashed potatoes and Western Spaghetti ! Later we can wash down some Deuces Wilds (Red or Black) and Cactus Jacks while playing Frontierado Poker or watching Silverado.

Boot HillBOOT HILL: The name has survived in much western lore as THE name for graveyards filled with gunslingers, outlaws and other stock figures of the Wild West. Today it serves as a blog post in which I focus on the causes of death for many of the men and women who have shown up in my Frontierado items over the years.

Jack Harris Vaudeville TheatreTEXAS BEN THOMPSON – Shot to death by multiple gunmen at Jack Harris’ Vaudeville Theater in San Antonio, TX on March 11th, 1884. It was a revenge killing that also claimed Thompson’s friend and fellow gunslinger John “King” Fisher.

DOC HOLLIDAY – Died of natural causes on November 8th, 1887 in Glenwood Springs, CO.

SAM SIXKILLER – Shot to death while unarmed on Christmas Eve of 1886 in Muskogee, OK (still called Indian Territory at the time).

“QUEEN” KITTY LEROY – Shot to death by her own husband in Deadwood, SD’s Lone Star Saloon on December 6th, 1877. Her husband then took his own life. Continue reading →

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SUPERHERO PANTHEON OF ACE PERIODICALS

Readers cannot get enough items on superheroes! Whenever I go too long without a blog post on this topic the reminders to do another one start rolling in. Here is a look at the neglected Golden Age superhero pantheon from Ace Periodicals.

Captain Victory bigCAPTAIN VICTORY

Secret Identity: Jack Wilson, Diplomatic Attache

Origin: Jack Wilson was serving as a Diplomatic Attache at the American Embassy in the fictional Central American nation of Centralvo. While there he gained superpowers but Ace Periodicals’ writers never got around to explaining how during this character’s brief run.

First Appearance: Our Flag Comics #1 (August 1941). His final Golden Age appearance came that same year.

Captain Victory smallPowers: Captain Victory (No relation to the Jack Kirby character of that name) could fly and had massive super strength. The upper limits of his flying abilities and his strength were never established before the character disappeared. 

Comment: Since America had not yet entered World War Two, Captain Victory’s adventures had to walk a fine line. The hero thwarted an Axis Powers attempt to trick Centralvo into entering the war on their side, stopped a Nazi sub from secretly sabotaging the Panama Canal and – in a prescient bit – defeated a Japanese sneak attack on the American Navy. 

Lightning GirlLIGHTNING GIRL

Secret Identity: Isabel Blake

Origin: When Isabel’s Naval Officer father John was brainwashed by Lash Lightning’s supervillain foe the Teacher and forced to help the Japanese forces against the U.S. When Lash Lightning was in one of the Teacher’s death traps he transferred some of his power to Isabel so she could help him.

Her father was freed from his brainwashing and died a hero. Isabel vowed to continue fighting the Axis nations to avenge her father and became Lightning Girl, Lash Lightning’s partner.

First Appearance: Lightning Comics Volume 3 #1 (June 1942). Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1946.

Powers: Lightning Girl could fly at lightning speed, shoot lightning bolts from her hands, generate lightning-heat and track Lash Lightning through their shared electrical impulses.

This superheroine could recharge herself with any electrical outlet. Continue reading →

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GUNPLAY MAXWELL – NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER

MASCOT COWBOY 2The Frontierado holiday is Friday, August 3rd!

GUNPLAY MAXWELL – This neglected gunslinger was born in Boston, MA as James Otis Bliss circa 1860. When he was 15 years old he got into a fight with a friend at a Boston tavern and shot him to death. Fleeing authorities the young man headed west and began a life of using various false names, including Charles L Maxwell or “Gunplay” Maxwell as he is best remembered.  

Life on the run was bringing out both the dark violence AND the shrewd manipulative streak that would characterize the young man for the rest of his life. By late 1876 he was in Texas staying alive through assorted robberies, con games and increasingly frequent gunplay. Texas eventually became too hot for Gunplay Maxwell and by the late 1870s or early 1880s he moved north to Montana.     Continue reading →

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