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BALLADEER’S BLOG’S NAIA COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS: JANUARY 8th

vanguard u lionsDOWN GOES NUMBER ONE – In this game the VANGUARD UNIVERSITY LIONS welcomed the number 1 team in the nation – the ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM. Though the Firestorm were on top 43-39 come Halftime, after the break the Lions roared from behind to win the game 84-76. Garrett White led VU with his Double-Double of 24 points and 10 rebounds.

johnson u royalsCENTURY CLUB – Teams who scored 100 points or more in Regulation: the JOHNSON UNIVERSITY (TN) ROYALS won 111-82 against the ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS   ###   The TEXAS A&M AT TEXARKANA EAGLES (should be the Texarks) downed the OUR LADY OF THE LAKE UNIVERSITY SAINTS 110-95   ###   And the MAYVILLE STATE COMETS won 101-82 at the VITERBO UNIVERSITY V-HAWKS.

brewton parker college barons initial logoBREWING A BLOWOUT – The BREWTON-PARKER COLLEGE BARONS played host to the VOORHEES UNIVERSITY TIGERS. The Barons had utterly humiliated the Tigers by the Half with a 38-11 lead, and from there they coasted to a 76-42 triumph. Lance Smith logged a Double-Double of 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead Brewton-Parker College. Continue reading

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WHEN HERCULES JOINED THE AVENGERS

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero blog post will deal with the first time Marvel’s version of Hercules joined the Avengers in the 1960s. The demigod had subsequent periods as a member of the team, but this first time carried on from the lengthy Hercules/ Thor/ Pluto storyline that Balladeer’s Blog reviewed HERE.

ave 38AVENGERS Vol 1 #38 (March 1967)

Title: In Our Midst … An Immortal

Avengers Roster: The Wasp, Goliath, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Black Widow 

Villains: The Enchantress and Ares

Synopsis: The Black Widow is secretly recruited by Nick Fury to go under deep cover by leaving the Avengers and pretending to once again become a communist agent. She is not to tell anyone that she is only faking her return to communism, not even Hawkeye, who is heartbroken and outraged when she departs Avengers Mansion. 

Meanwhile, partway down Mount Olympus, Hercules is engaged in a battle with the god of war Ares. Herc challenged Ares to this fight out of anger over Ares’ taunting refusal to help Hercules against Pluto in the storyline mentioned above. Continue reading

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CHARLEMAGNE: BRADAMANTE IN THE WIZARD’S TOMB

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

bradamante another picBRADAMANTE IN THE WIZARD’S TOMB – We left off last time around with Mandricardo searching for the Paladin Roland so he could try to kill him and steal from him the sword Durindana, thus completing the armor of Hector. The female Paladin in white armor, Bradamante, was searching for Ruggiero the Moor, from whom she had gotten separated a few installments back. Ruggiero was likewise searching for her.

The clever dwarf Brunello, a figure who might have inspired GOT‘s Tyrion Lannister just as Bradamante might have inspired Brienne, was meanwhile roaming the same region of Europe. Brunello had been sent from northern Africa by the enchanter Atlantes to lure Atlantes’ departed protege Ruggiero into captivity to prevent him from being lured away from Islam by his love for Bradamante. 

Brunello encountered Ruggiero and convinced him to follow him to save a beautiful maiden who had supposedly been abducted by an enchanter astride a winged horse. Ruggiero, in true chivalric style, agreed to accompany the dwarf to save the maiden. At length Brunello secretly summoned the winged enchanter to capture and make off with Ruggiero.

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Atlantes the Enchanter had resolved to keep Ruggiero in the castle forever, so additional men and women were abducted and taken to the castle to provide Ruggiero with companionship and keep him too occupied to want to leave. The captured Moor and his fellow prisoners lost themselves in drinking and feasting. Meanwhile, the battles of the Saracen invasion of Charlemagne’s empire raged on.   

Back with Bradamante, she encountered an armored warrior called Pinabel. His true love was among the women abducted by the enchanter on the flying horse and he recruited Bradamante into helping him try to get her back from the enchanter’s castle. Continue reading

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ALPHA ALPHA (1972) – FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

alpha alphaALPHA ALPHA (1972) – This time around in Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category comes this German sci-fi series which ran for 13 episodes from May 17th to August 2nd of 1972. Every episode of Alpha Alpha was written and directed by Wolfgang F. Henschel and ran for 25 minutes, meaning it would nicely fit a half hour time slot with commercials.   

alpha astronautThis television series was a German variation of other country’s programs like Quatermass, The X-Files and so many others both before and since. 

Karl Michael Vogler, who played Rommel in the film Patton, starred as Alpha, the top operative in a never named and top-secret organization dedicated to investigating unusual phenomena, extraterrestrial entities and the like. There were even conspiratorial hints at an existing one world government behind the scenes.

lilith ungererLilith Ungerer costarred as the operative codenamed Beta, Arthur Brauss played Gamma, Horst Sachtleben was Dr. Simak and Gisela Hoetter provided the female voice of the outfit’s computer. Along with Karl Michael Vogler, these five were the only actors to appear in all 13 episodes. Heinz Engelmann showed up twice as the Chief. Continue reading

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CHARLEMAGNE: MANDRICARDO AND THE ARMOR OF HECTOR

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

mandricardoMANDRICARDO AND THE ARMOR OF HECTOR – Last time around in the Tales of Charlemagne and His Paladins we left off with Ruggiero searching the Forest of Arden for Bradamante, the female Paladin in white armor, with whom he had fallen in love. They had become separated while fighting some of the Saracen soldiers invading Charlemagne’s realm at the time.

Elsewhere, Mandricardo, son of Agrican, King of the Tartars, and a man whose destiny was linked with Ruggiero’s, was on a quest of his own. Mandricardo sought to kill the Paladin Roland as revenge for Roland having killed his father in our previous installments.

Mandricardo had spent his life in drinking, gambling and mercenary work, never attending to his father’s kingdom. Upon hearing of King Agrican’s death at the hands of Roland, the wayward young man was sobered into seriousness. He armored up, grabbed a sword and shield, then set out for revenge on his father’s killer.

In his travels, he came across a splendid tent pitched beside a fountain. Upon entering the tent, Mandricardo met a beautiful (of course) young woman, who told him that when he set out on his revenge quest, it meant that he was ready to fight for his heritage – the fabled armor of Hector of Troy.
Continue reading

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NEW YEAR’S DAY (1989) DAVID DUCHOVNY AND MAGGIE WHEELER

new y dayNEW YEAR’S DAY (1989) – HAPPY NEW YEAR! Balladeer’s Blog welcomes in 2023 with this review of Henry Jaglom’s comedy-drama New Year’s Day, released on December 13th, 1989, and best known for the appearance of an all-nude David Duchovny. Jaglom wrote and directed this movie, as he had so many before it. Henry also plays a major role in New Year’s Day as Drew, a middle-aged writer/ director who recently got a divorce and has moved back to New York City from Los Angeles to start anew.

He had sublet his apartment while in L.A. and arrives in the wee hours of a very snowy New Year’s Day to discover that the subletters are still there, because their signed agreement gave them occupancy through January 1st. Drew thought that meant they would be gone by the 1st of the year, and after some initial arguing, the older man agrees to let the ladies stay that one last day. Continue reading

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NEW YEAR’S EVE REQUEST: ARENA KILL

mascot sword and gun pic

BALLADEER’S BLOG

A reader requested that I review the Marvel Comics sci-fi dystopia/ alien invasion series Killraven, the Warrior of the Worlds. I already did from 2019-2020, but in honor of New Year’s Eve here is a look back at one part of that review, which was posted on New Year’s Eve of 2019 into 2020, the exact date that the story itself was set on. 

FOR PART ONE OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF THIS OLD, OLD MARVEL COMICS STORYLINE CLICK HERE  The revisions I would make are scattered throughout the synopsis below.

Killraven Arena KillAMAZING ADVENTURES Vol 2 #37 (July 1976)

Title: Arena Kill  

Synopsis: NEW YEAR’S EVE, 2019 into 2020, which is why I held off the extra day or two to post this review, since I wanted it to actually appear on the REAL December 31st, 2019.

Northern Florida, in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge along the Suwanee River. Killraven and his Freemen continue their guerilla uprising against Earth’s alien conquerors. They have encountered another of the pitifully few bands of humans who also defy the aliens.  

We jump right into the middle of some action, as Killraven is pitting his sword against the two battle axes wielded by Brother Axe, the leader of this rebel colony. Brother Axe’s dozens of followers and Killraven’s own Freemen stand in a large circle around the combatants, watching the battle.

Killraven 2The cause of the conflict soon becomes clear – Brother Axe is skeptical that Killraven really is THE Killraven, the world-famous scourge of Earth’s alien conquerors. He suspects KR and his band may be fakers trying to bamboozle him or – even worse – undercover human quislings trying to pinpoint the location of Brother Axe’s rebel band so they can betray the band to their alien masters.     Continue reading

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MLJ COMICS SUPERHERO PANTHEON

For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post, Balladeer’s Blog will feature MLJ, the company that later became Archie Comics.

FoxTHE FOX

Secret Identity: Paul Patton, newspaper reporter and news photographer.

Origin: When his co-worker Ruth Ransom got kidnapped, Paul Patton felt he could fight crime AND enhance his journalism career by first donning a costume and thwarting criminals as the Fox and then getting a “scoop” on those adventures, complete with photos. And this was decades before Peter Parker made a living with news photos of his exploits as Spider-Man.

First Appearance: Blue Ribbon Comics #4 (June 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1942. 

Powers: The Fox was at the peak of human condition. He had acrobatic skills greater than Olympic athletes and was a master of all forms of unarmed combat. His stealth skills were the equal of any burglar or ninja. The white eye-lenses on his mask permitted him to see in the dark.   Continue reading

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BEST OF SEPTEMBER 2022

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective concludes with this look at September’s best. October and November were too recent to need examining.

bl sadMODERN PARODY HALL OF FAME – My look at NINETEEN of the greatest comedies which parodied entire genres or specific movies. Needless to say, expected films like Blazing Saddles, Airplane, plus Monty Python and the Holy Grail got inducted into this Hall of Fame, but many unexpected and/or obscure examples made the list, too. Click HERE.

POLITICAL CARTOON AND MEME ROUNDUP: SEPTEMBER 16th – You can take a look at them HERE.

THE EMPEROR OF THE AIR (1910) – “Ancient” science fiction. Disgruntled scientists band together to create a futuristic flying fortress with which they wage war on the world at large. Their headquarters is a high-tech compound in Spain. Read it HERE.

chase logoCHASE (1973-1974) – From Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category came this review of Chase, a one-season series about a special police unit that used experts on motorcycles, helicopters, speedboats and other such vehicles. HERE

TRANSGRESS WITH ME: SEPTEMBER 8th – The latest installment of this recurring segment that is only for the daring and the iconoclastic. It’s HERE.

red sonya for realROBERT E. HOWARD’S REAL RED SONYA (1934) – My review of the only story that THE Robert E. Howard ever wrote about his often-misrepresented woman warrior Red Sonya (not Sonja). He depicted her in action during the 1520s, not during the same time period as Conan the Barbarian. Read it HERE.

SASHA STONE DISCUSSES HER CONTEMPT FOR JOE BIDEN AND HIS REGIME – It can be found HERE.

samson in islamSAMSON MYTHS AS DEPICTED IN ANCIENT ISLAMIC LITERATURE – I examine the differences and similarities to more widely known Samson tales HERE.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP – More political scandals than even Tammany Hall could have spawned. HERE.

FOOL KILLER: MAY 1913 – This edition of James Larkin Pearson’s version of the folk figure targets the Democrat and Republican Parties, a faulty tuberculosis vaccine, the newly-formed government in China, and calls out the Pope for being political rather than sticking to religion. You can read it HERE. Continue reading

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ALL COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS FOR 2022

As 2022 nears its end here’s one last round of congratulations to the college football champions from all the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.

northwestern ia redNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)

National Champions – NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS

Runners-Up – Keiser University Seahawks

2021 Champions – Morningside College Mustangs 

Ottawa (AZ) SpiritNCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)

My National Champions – OTTAWA UNIVERSITY (AZ) SPIRIT

Runners-Up – Olivet Nazarene University Tigers

2019 Champions – Concordia University (MI) Cardinals (No champs in 2021 or 2020) Continue reading

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