A sentiment that cannot be repeated often enough.
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BALLADEER’S BLOG’S PRESEASON RANKINGS FOR NCAA DIVISION THREE FOOTBALL
The 2022 College Football season kicks off on August 25th for the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog. Here are my preseason rankings for NCAA Division Three.
NCAA DIVISION THREE – 1. UNIVERSITY OF MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS (Defending National Champions) ### 2. UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS ### 3. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT WHITEWATER WARHAWKS ### 4. NORTH CENTRAL COLLEGE CARDINALS ###
5. UNIVERSITY OF SAINT JOHN’S JOHNNIES ### 6. LINFIELD COLLEGE WILDCATS ### 7. WHEATON (IL) COLLEGE THUNDER ### 8. HARDIN-SIMMONS UNIVERSITY COWBOYS ### Continue reading
Filed under college football
TURLOGH DUBH: ANOTHER NEGLECTED ROBERT E. HOWARD CHARACTER
Recently, Balladeer’s Blog examined Robert E. Howard’s trilogy of tales featuring one of his neglected characters, James Allison. This time around we’ll take a look at another overlooked creation of Howard – the Irish warrior Turlogh Dubh of Clan O’Brien.
THE GREY GOD PASSES – This was technically the first appearance of Turlogh Dubh but the story was not published until long after Robert E. Howard’s suicide in 1936. That publication came in 1962’s Dark Mind, Dark Heart. The other two Turlogh stories were published in 1931.
Turlogh is just one of many characters – both real and fictional – in this historical adventure about the real-life Battle of Clontarf on April 23rd, 1014 – Good Friday. The battle supposedly lasted from sunrise to sunset.
Robert E. Howard’s approach in this tale could be likened to those big-budget, all-star war movies like The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, Midway, etc. Like the other characters, the fictional Turlogh comes in and out of the narrative as we read the lead-up, the battle and a bit of the aftermath. He is, however, the main character of the next two tales in which he appears. Continue reading
Filed under Pulp Heroes
SHE-HULK: HER FIRST TWELVE STORIES FROM THE 1980s
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero blog post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at the first twelve adventures of the She-Hulk.
SAVAGE SHE-HULK Vol 1 #1 (February 1980)
Title: The She-Hulk Lives
Villain: Gangster Nick Trask
Synopsis: Bruce Banner drifts into Los Angeles. Wearying of his life as a fugitive, he seeks out his cousin Jennifer Walters, an attorney. While Bruce is asking Jennifer for whatever legal help or advice she can give him, gangster Nick Trask has some of his goons shoot Jen because one of the clients she is defending is a man that Trask framed for murder.
Jennifer is bleeding out and will die before any ambulance can arrive, so Bruce breaks into a nearby doctor’s office and uses some of the equipment inside to donate some of his own blood to Jen to save her life. An ambulance gets Jennifer and Bruce to a hospital and she stabilizes.
The authorities start to get suspicious of Bruce so he slips away before they realize who he is. Nick Trask has 3 more goons visit Jennifer’s hospital room to finish her off. Their attempt to murder her fuels enough of a metabolic change to trigger her first transformation into She-Hulk. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
BALLADEER’S BLOG’S PRESEASON RANKINGS FOR NCAA DIVISION TWO FOOTBALL
The 2022 College Football season kicks off on August 25th for the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog. Here are my preseason rankings for NCAA Division Two.
*** NCAA DIVISION TWO – 1. NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS ### 2. VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS ### 3. FERRIS STATE BULLDOGS (Defending National Champions) ### 4. GRAND VALLEY STATE LAKERS ###
5. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS ### 6. HARDING UNIVERSITY BISON ### 7. UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA ARGONAUTS ### 8. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT KEARNEY LOPERS ### Continue reading
Filed under college football
GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1963-1964) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1963-1964) – This forgotten television program was yet another attempt to transform a successful movie into a weekly series … in a way. The characters aren’t carryovers from the 1952 movie, but the whole “Circus as a Soap Opera” approach is there. Jack Palance starred as circus manager Johnny Slate, the only true regular since he was in every episode. (By contrast, Stuart Erwin as Otto King had the second most appearances at a mere 9 episodes.)
This was the first color drama produced by Desilu, the famed production company run by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, famous for television shows like Star Trek, The Untouchables, Laugh-In and many more. COLOR was the big draw for The Greatest Show on Earth in that period when most programs were still broadcast in black & white.
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The series was beaten badly in the ratings by Petticoat Junction and The Richard Boone Show, and wound up canceled after just one season of 30 episodes. Lucille Ball supposedly was not impressed with her star and was quoted as saying “Jack Palance will never work here again and you may quote me.”
Palance, who even directed an episode of this program, IS a big part of the show’s problem. There’s a reason he very seldom appeared in Good Guy roles. He had a semi-psychotic, on the verge of violence air about him that made him very effective as a villain. Having him struggle to be charming and caring is unintentionally funny. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
BELLONA’S HUSBAND (1887) ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION
BELLONA’S HUSBAND (1887) – This book was written by West Point graduate (Class of 1867) William James Roe under the pen name Hudor Genone.
The novel’s main character, named Archibald Holt, invests in Professor Ratzinez Garrett’s project which centers on hydrogenium, the professor’s metallic form of hydrogen. This substance may be lighter than air but it is also very, very resilient.
Garrett constructs a disc-shaped spaceship that uses hydrogenium as its anti-gravity agent. Holt and Professor Garrett are joined by Trip, a shady friend of Garrett’s, who travels with them on a flight to the planet Mars.
As they approach the Red Planet, the trio discover that what Earthlings have named Phobos and Deimos are not really moons but are instead enormous abandoned spaceships which once transported large aliens from Jupiter and Saturn. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
BRIDE OF WILLIAM SHATNER: EIGHT FILMS
Audiences thrilled to Son of William Shatner. They were chilled by Revenge of William Shatner. And they were both charmed AND slightly turned-on by Bride of William Shatner.
All of which is Balladeer’s Blog’s roundabout way of introducing this quick look at some of the screen appearances of Marcy Lafferty-Shatner, who was married to the legend from 1973-1996.
PAPER MAN (1971) – Marcy’s appearance in this telefilm was B.S. (Before Shatner). Paper Man starred Dean Stockwell, Stefanie Powers, Tina Chen and Ross Elliott. Marcy played an unnamed secretary.
The plot involved college friends abusing early computer technology to create a non-existent “paper man” just so they could get a credit card in that name and go on a quick spending spree with no accountability.
Things get eerie when the non-existent person they created seems to be tracking them down and killing them one by one. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
BALLADEER’S BLOG’S PRESEASON RANKINGS FOR NJCAA FOOTBALL
The 2022 College Football season kicks off on August 25th for the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog. Here are my preseason rankings for the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association).
*** 1. IOWA WESTERN COLLEGE REIVERS ### 2. NEW MEXICO MILITARY INSTITUTE BRONCOS (should be the Cavalry), the defending National Champions ### 3. HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS ### 4. SNOW COLLEGE BADGERS ###
5. GARDEN CITY COLLEGE BRONCBUSTERS ### 6. NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE RANGERS ### 7. IOWA CENTRAL COLLEGE TRITONS ### 8. JONES COLLEGE BOBCATS ### Continue reading
Filed under college football
ULYSSES BLOODSTONE: NEGLECTED MARVEL HERO
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here’s a look at another Marvel Comics character that never became a hit for some reason.
MARVEL PRESENTS Vol 1 #1 (October 1975)
Title: Dweller from the Depths (despite the title on the cover)
Villains: The Possessor and the Dweller from the Depths
NOTE: This story introduced the character Ulysses Bloodstone, a mysterious monster hunter who has been alive for thousands of years, sustained by the fragment of an alien Blood Gem lodged in his chest. With his custom-made weapons and the paranormal powers granted to him by the Blood Gem, he has hunted down and destroyed countless monsters for millennia.
Synopsis: The Dweller from the Depths rises from San Francisco Bay, summoned by the otherworldly music from a blind flutist who is possessed by an alien entity. The Dweller rampages through San Francisco and suddenly a muscular man with blonde hair and wearing a Big Game Hunter outfit attacks it.
That man’s thoughts tell us he is Ulysses Bloodstone and that the fragment of an alien gem in his chest unerringly leads him around the globe whenever monstrous creatures are about to strike. While television news crews and the police look on, Bloodstone battles the enormous beast.
Our hero’s superhuman strength, reflexes and a degree of invulnerability help keep him alive while he shoots the Dweller over and over again from many angles with the shotgun he carries in a holster on his back. The custom-made gun weighs nearly a hundred pounds and fires shells that strike with the force of cannonfire. Only Bloodstone’s extraordinary strength lets him wield the weapon so casually. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
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