Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at another college which uses an almost unique nickname for its sports teams.
STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA (MANATEE-SARASOTA) Continue reading
Tag Archives: glitternight.com
COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA (MANATEE-SARASOTA)
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: BEYOND THE ETHER (1898)
BEYOND THE ETHER (1898) – Written by W. Cairns Johnston. This little honey is so jam-packed with enjoyable weirdness that it’s sort of like “If Ed Wood wrote Steampunk.”
Two friends from Harvard reunite on a camping and mountain-climbing trip. In Maine they discover a mysterious new gas which erupts from the ground. The pair study the gas and decide to use its lighter than air properties to visit other planets in our solar system.
In a cosmic-level coincidence our heroes later stumble upon a previously unknown plant here on Earth. The plant can be used to induce suspended animation for space travel and to heal grievous injuries. The incredibly lucky explorers leave the Earth on board their balloon propelled by their new gas.
At 30,000 feet they use their newly discovered plant to put themselves into suspended animation for their trip to Mars. More than three years later they wake up as they enter the atmosphere of the Red Planet. Clumsily, our space pioneers fall out of their balloon’s basket and land in the nest of a gigantic Martian eagle. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE CHAMPIONS (1968-1969)
THE CHAMPIONS (1968-1969) – This British series from ITC featured three secret agents whose plane crash-landed near Shangri-La, the secret civilization in the Himalayas. They were granted enhanced physical strength and superior senses as well as ESP. They used their new abilities in their role as secret agents for an international organization called Nemesis.
Stuart Damon, later to star on General Hospital for 30 years, played pilot Craig Stirling, with Alexandra Bastedo as physician and scientist Sharron Macready and William Gaunt as code-breaker Richard Barrett. Naturally, their enhanced abilities now made them much more useful to the Geneva-based Nemesis.
Anthony Nicholls co-starred as our trio’s boss W.L. Tremayne, who did not know how his prize agents gained their paranormal abilities.
The Champions ran for 30 hour-long installments.
THE EPISODES:
THE BEGINNING – Pilot Craig Stirling is flying himself and his colleagues Dr. Sharron Macready and William Gaunt out of Communist China after completing their latest mission. The Chinese Air Force damages their plane to such a degree that they crash-land in the Himalayas and learn Shangri-La really exists. The three are granted paranormal abilities and return to the world at large. Burt Kwouk guest stars.
THE INVISIBLE MAN – Peter Wyngarde, better known as Jason King from Department S and his own eponymous series, plays the villainous Dr. Hallam. He has invented ear-buds which let him control the minds of people in whose ears he places them. He and his thralls try robbing a fortune in gold from British banks. Maggie Wright guest stars and David “Darth Vader’s body” Prowse also appears. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES JOYCE (2026)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMES JOYCE! His works got me hooked in my teens when I really related to his character Stephen Dedalus as he rejected his religion and indulged what I call his “young and pretentious side” in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). I wore out my copy of Joyce’s novel Ulysses (1922) and continue to mark Bloom’s Day to this very day.
Over the years Finnegans Wake (1939) replaced Ulysses as my favorite Joyce novel and I’m fonder than many people are of his play Exiles (1918). Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
IRON FIST: DHASHA KHAN AND THE N’GARAI
This weekend’s belated superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at this Iron Fist adventure serialized in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. It was penned by Chris Claremont and though it features his X-Men foes the Demons of the N’Garai and a woman called the Firebird whose schtick resembles his later retcons to the Phoenix Force, the story ultimately sucks and is an incoherent mess.
It has the same charm to its awfulness as a bad movie does, so it’s enjoyable on that level.
DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU Vol 1 #19 (Dec 1975)
Title: Shall I Love the Bird of Fire?
Villain: Dhasha Khan
Synopsis: Danny Rand (Iron Fist) is out at night in New York City. He sits contemplating the fact that this was his 20th birthday but he concealed that information from Colleen Wing and her father Lee. He reflects on his life up to this point and how he still doesn’t feel at home outside of K’un-Lun.
Suddenly he hears a woman screaming. He investigates and sees that a long line of attackers are preparing to gang-rape a beautiful young woman they’ve already stripped naked. Our hero takes on the would-be gang-bangers and knocks out all of them.
He then tries to comfort the woman but she panics at the sight of the dragon on his chest and mistakenly believes him to be an agent of a figure called Dhasha Khan, ruler of Feng-Tu, the afterlife for people who die in K’un-Lun – the mystic city where Iron Fist was trained – and its vicinity.
Iron Fist calms her down and gets her to the home of Colleen and Professor Wing, where the woman – called Jade the Firebird – starts to tell her story. (After Colleen and her father stop their recurring argument about him wanting her to stop the dangerous work she does alongside Misty Knight.) She only gets as far as stating that she was sent to find the wielder of the Iron Fist because he is needed.
Before she can continue, two Messengers Who Seize Souls (Kou-Hun-Shih-Cheh) enter the Wings’ home. They are called Ma-Mien the White Ox and Niu T’ou the Black, and they say Dhasha Khan has sent them to take Jade back to Feng-Tu where her soul will be fed to the Soul Slayer.
Iron Fist attacks the pair, joined by Colleen, who is swiftly defeated. Our hero continues fighting the Messengers and when he uses the power of the Iron Fist to finish them off, that somehow causes him and Jade to be transported from Earth to Feng-Tu. They are in the throne room of Dhasha Khan (right), who affirms that he is the ruler of this afterlife and states that he plans to strip Jade of her soul and have it damned forever.
Iron Fist declares his intention to defend her and serve as her champion against the Soul Slayer. Dhasha Khan uses his mystical powers to blind Iron Fist, then sics his throne room guardsmen on him. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
SCHALCKEN THE PAINTER (1979)
SCHALCKEN THE PAINTER (1979) – The British Film Institute has released a terrific video edition of this 69-minute Gothic Horror telefilm which originally aired on December 23rd, 1979 as part of the Omnibus program.
Leslie Megahey directed this adaptation of the Sheridan Le Fanu story. Schalcken the Painter is a genuine masterpiece of visual storytelling. Nearly every scene is lit and filmed like a 1600s painting by artists like Godfried Schalcken, Rembrandt, Vermeer and others.
I always compare the cinematography in this production to one of my favorite Stanley Kubrick films – Barry Lyndon. If you enjoyed the candlelit atmosphere of that movie then Schalcken the Painter will blow you away.
This film redefines slow burn horror, so it’s certainly not for all tastes. Art House Horror would describe it nicely. The emphasis is on mood and feelings of dread rather than graphic horror.
Jeremy Clyde of Chad & Jeremy fame stars as the Dutch artist Schalcken with Maurice Denham as his already famous teacher Garrett Dou and Cheryl Kennedy as Rose, Dou’s niece and Schalcken’s desire.
Rose reciprocates Godfried’s affections, but they dare not discuss anything with her uncle until Schalcken establishes himself and has enough money to support her. One night, a sinister, wealthy Dutchman named Vanderhausen of Rotterdam arrives to claim Rose for himself. Continue reading
Filed under Halloween Season
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
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
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
Filed under opinion
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
Filed under Forgotten Television
AS BLACK HISTORY MONTH APPROACHES, JACK BREWER WEIGHS IN ON MINNESOTA
Lifelong role model Jack Brewer, former NFL star turned successful businessman, courageously blasted the state’s Democrats for fomenting an insurrection and insisted that the reason they are mad is because ICE is “deporting their voters.”
Brewer was more steadfast than so many others, who forget that we had an election in 2024 and the candidate who called for enforcing immigration laws won. And conveniently, as soon as the Democrat fraud rings were exposed in Minnesota, suddenly Democrat hate mobs began provoking violence to distract from those scandals.
Over the years, America’s gutless elected Republicans have made it clear that all Democrats have to do is force a few shootings and they can undo the results of entire elections. As always, they don’t care about the countless victims of illegal immigrant rapists and murderers. They surrender because Democrat media outlets still vastly outnumber theirs, so Democrats can be much “louder.”
Democrats are basically saying that ONLY laws they approve of will be enforced, no matter how the voters feel and no matter who wins elections.
Back to Jack Brewer, he also stated “We’re deporting their voters. That’s part of what’s happening and it’s blowing up their whole plan. … Minneapolis is protecting these thugs. It’s unbelievable.”
“There is something wrong in Minneapolis. We need a city-wide behavioral health assessment. People have completely lost reality,” he said. “I hope President Trump sends in the National Guard. We need curfews. We need real consequences for attacking law enforcement. These men and women should be able to do their jobs and go home to their families safely.” Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion
Balladeer's Blog 