Another of Balladeer’s Blog’s Top Twenty Lists for 2020.
“Whoever is not a misanthrope at forty can never have loved mankind.” – Nicolas Chamfort
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” – Albert Camus
“Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.” – Norman Douglas
“To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.” – George Santayana
“Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.” – Honore de Balzac Continue reading
Director Shinya Tsukamoto hails from Japan and is noted for his surreal, nightmarish excursions into the darker side of transformative industrial technology … especially any technology that impacts the human anatomy. 
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) – From the early shots of a man removing one of his own bones and replacing it with a piece of metal viewers knew this was a work of true genius. Tetsuo becomes more and more relevant by the year, especially with the advent of nanotechnology and its potentially invasive effect on the human mind and body. 
ECLIPSE MONTHLY Vol 1 #7 (April 1984)
Once again, years before the overrated and overpraised Alan Moore’s work The Watchmen we see other comic book writers covering material that Moore was praised for as if he was the originator of such meta concepts. Drekston is planning a merchandising empire similar to that of Moore’s superhero Ozymandias. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s Top Twenty Lists For 2020 theme continues with this look at 20 more Hawaiian deities. FOR THE ORIGINAL LIST OF HAWAIIAN GODS AND GODDESSES CLICK 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog often ask me why I make so many references to ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) and feature tie-ins to some of them in my blog posts. It’s because they are a terrific example of modern day myths relayed through technology. 
It’s April Fool’s Day! This time around Balladeer’s Blog will forego its usual Aleister Crowley item and holiday-themed slasher reviews for a breakdown on the assorted depictions of the neglected American folk figure called the Fool Killer. 
ALL THAT GLITTERS (1977) – With the syndicated late-night soap opera satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman becoming a cultural phenomenon in the 1970s, Norman Lear launched this oddball, self-consciously “adult” program which added a touch of parallel world sci-fi stories to the soapiness. 
Want to see women running the business world and men serving as secretaries while getting ogled and sexually harassed? This show’s got it! Want to see a tuxedo-clad groom carrying flowers and walking down the aisle toward his intended bride? This show’s got it! Want to see some fairly kinky quasi-FemDom scenarios as the premise is taken to its logical conclusions? This show’s got it! 
TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR (1887) – Nearly eighty years before the movie Fantastic Voyage, this work of “ancient” science fiction detailed a party of shrunken heroes on an odyssey through a human being’s body. This cleverly-titled tale was written by Alfred Taylor Schofield under the name Luke T Courteney. 
Comment: Why aren’t there more teams called Troopers?
Comment: There’s something about the stark simplicity of these helmets paired up with the unique name the Farmers. 
Comment: Yes, that’s Eisenhower as in General and President Dwight Eisenhower aka “Ike.” 
ECLIPSE MONTHLY Vol 1 #5 and 6 
The Masked Man learns how the Wezzarians and their ally Rileth – really a cyborg Adolf Hitler kept alive through Wezzarian technology – were thwarted by the Incredible Seven in their attempt to conquer the Earth. 
