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BALLADEER’S BLOG COLLEGE BASKETBALL: NCCAA AND NAIA NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS

NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) DIVISION ONE

FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The 3 seeds – the OHIO CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY TRAILBLAZERS – played the 6th seeded HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY HIGHLANDERS. Come Halftime the Trailblazers were on top 35-32, but after the break the Highlanders forced Overtime with a 68-68 tie. In the extra session OCU triumphed 84-76 led by Caleb Schmelzer’s 24 points.

SECOND QUARTERFINAL – Up next the 2nd seeded NELSON UNIVERSITY (AZ) WARRIORS got almost more than they could handle from the 7 seeds – the COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS BOBCATS. An intense opening Half ended with the Bobcats holding a mere 40-39 edge. From there the Warriors tied things up 80-80 and won in OT 93-92. Zavelon Bineyard and Rob Jenkins led NU-Arizona with 24 points each. Continue reading

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GIANT-MAN AND THE WASP: 1960s STORIES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will look at early adventures of Giant-Man and the Wasp.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #49 (Nov 1963)

Title: The Birth of Giant-Man

NOTE: Previously I covered Hank Pym’s solo adventures as Ant-Man, then the adventures of Ant-Man and the Wasp. This issue marked the 1st adventure with Hank as Giant-Man.

Villain: The Eraser

Synopsis: After last issue’s run-in with the armored villain the Porcupine and then helping form the Avengers over at Avengers #1, Dr. Pym wanted to improve his powers. While still retaining the power to shrink and control ants, he now used his Pym Particles to grow to enormous size as well.

Meanwhile, an interdimensional villain called the Eraser has been abducting Earth’s greatest scientists via his hand-weapons that teleport them to his home dimension. Because the process looks like he’s erasing them bit by bit the media dubs him “the Eraser.” 

When this new villain targets Hank Pym next, Giant-Man and the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) thwart the plans of the Eraser’s people in Dimension Z to replicate Earth’s nuclear weapons, rescue the abducted scientists and defeat the Eraser in combat.  Continue reading

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BLACK RAIN (1977) AUSTRALIAN FILM

BLACK RAIN, also released as THE LAST WAVE (1977) – This was Aussie director Peter Weir’s eerie follow-up to Picnic at Hanging Rock from 1975. If you found the excellent 1975 movie perplexing, Black Rain will redefine that word for you.

It’s pure Peter Weir but if you want outside comparisons think of an X-Files episode crossed with Prince of Darkness and directed by David Lynch. Australia is suddenly struck by bizarre weather phenomena like weapons-grade torrential downpours and huge hailstones that break windows and leave occupants bloodied.

A plague of frogs, oddly dark skies and then a multi-day rain event follow, providing an otherworldly background to the story in the foreground. 

Richard Chamberlain stars as tax lawyer David Burton in that story. He and his wife Annie (Olivia Hamnett) live in a small outback town. As a result of Australia’s Legal Aid policy, David is assigned to defend four Aborigines in a murder case even though he hasn’t done criminal trial work in years.

He’s the nearest Legal Aid lawyer in the area, plus there are indications that the government doesn’t really care if the Aborigines get proper representation. Draftee David dives into his law books to refresh his familiarity with criminal law.    Continue reading

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BEACON HILL (1975) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

BEACON HILL (1975) – An attempt at an American version of Great Britain’s Upstairs, Downstairs, this short-lived series was set in Boston following World War One. As opposed to the British program’s “rich pigs upstairs” and “servants downstairs” dichotomy, Beacon Hill presented the wealthy Irish-American family the Lassiters and their servants, who live in a cheaper neighborhood. 

The one and only Marvin Hamlisch composed the music for this series.

Stephen Elliott starred as Benjamin Lassiter, tycoon and political puppet master. Nancy Marchand portrayed his wife Mary, who married him in a virtual royal wedding to cement power between her wealthy parents and Benjamin.   

George Rose co-starred as Arthur Hacker, head butler and quasi-patriarch of the servants. Beatrice Straight played his wife Emmeline, the head housekeeper. Arthur’s nephew Brian Mallory (Paul Ryan Rudd) was the Lassiter chauffer who was having an affair with one of the Lassiter women, and his niece Maureen Mahaffey (Susan Blanchard) worked as one of the maids. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG: USCAA AND NCCAA2 CHAMPS CROWNED

USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) DIVISION ONE

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The 4th seeded NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) took the court against the 3 seeds – the VILLA MARIA COLLEGE VIKINGS. The Builders embarrassed Villa Maria College on both sides of the ball, leading them 33 to EIGHT (!) at Halftime. From there, the Apprentice School coasted to their 2nd National Championship in a row with a 64-43 victory. Chris Hinmon’s 16 points led the Builders, and teammate Donovon Means had a Double Double of 10 points & 10 rebounds. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: A PROPHETIC ROMANCE; MARS TO EARTH (1896)

A PROPHETIC ROMANCE; MARS TO EARTH (1896) – Written by Boston’s John Mccoy in the form of reports sent from future Earth to Mars.

McCoy narrated this novel as the Lord Commissioner, a humanoid Martian sent from the Red Planet to Earth of the 1990s. Lord Commissioner is the title of official visitors that Mars’ one-planet government sends to all the other populated planets of the solar system when they become sufficiently advanced in science. Our narrator will be filing his reports from Earth to the Chancellor Commander of Mars, his superior. 

The entire novel is presented through those reports. Martians have long been capable of interplanetary travel and the Lord Commissioner journeys by spaceship to Earth with a brief stopover on the moon.

Our narrator observes the ruins of a long-dead civilization on the moon and notes that a lunar atmosphere is forming, which may benefit Earthlings when they become advanced enough to fly to their planet’s satellite.

From there the Lord Chancellor journeys on to Earth, but an Earth unlike the real 1990s ever were. Continue reading

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THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

Balladeer’s Blog continues celebrating the FORTIETH anniversary year of this neglected cult show which debuted Saturday night February 9th, 1985. As I often mention, before MST3K came The Texas 27 Film Vault. Before Joel and Mike came Randy and Richard. Before Devil Dogs, Pearl and Deep 13 came Cellumites, Laurie Savino and Level 31.

This show was broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma on Saturday nights from 10:30PM to 1:00AM.

MOVIE: The Food of the Gods (1976). 

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Sometime in 1985, possibly February or March. Some info points to this being the first episode in which Randy and Richard used their machine guns and “prop-pack” mini-copters to fight giant rats from deep in the Earth. Given how central the giant rats would be going forward IF that can be verified it would make this a pretty pivotal episode of The Texas 27 Film Vault.

SERIAL: IF the February or March of 1985 date is correct – and that’s still up in the air – then the serial episode would definitely have been from The Lost City (1935). That serial dealt with a mad scientist and his futuristic city hidden in the African jungle.

COMEDY SKETCHES: The Film Vault Corps (“The few, the proud, the sarcastic”), led by Randy, Richard and Ken “Tex” Miller POSSIBLY taking on the first of many packs of giant rats. The effects, models and dolls of the human figures would – for humor’s sake – have been INTENTIONALLY as cheesy as the kind Bert I. Gordon used in The Food of the Gods and so many of his other “gigantic monster” films.

THE FOOD OF THE GODS – This was one of the many, MANY “size change” movies of Bert I Gordon, “Mister B.I.G.” himself. (Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People, Earth vs the Spider, Beginning of the End, War of the Colossal Beast, The Cyclops, Village of the Giants, Empire of the Ants, etc.) 

The Food of the Gods was very loosely based on part of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same name. Gordon’s Village of the Giants, about a gang of giant-sized teenagers, was likewise loosely based on an often-forgotten section of that novel. Continue reading

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SAINT PATRICK MEETS CUCHULAINN

St. Patrick’s Day continues with this tale from Ireland’s ancient Book of the Dun Cow (Lebor na hUidre) in which the demigod Cuchulainn helps the saint convert Ireland to Christianity. Interesting blend of Christian and pagan elements. For more from the Book of the Dun Cow click HERE.

cuchulainn chariotTHE PHANTOM CHARIOT OF CUCHULAINN (Siaburchapat Con Culaind) – This tale is dated to around the mid-400s A.D. because of the presence of St. Patrick.

The story goes that St. Patrick pays a visit to the stubborn Loegaire mac Neill, a High King of Ireland, again entreating him to convert to Christianity. Loegaire tells Patrick that he will not believe in the God of Christianity unless that God can raise Cuchulainn from the dead and have him pay a visit to and converse with him (the king). 

God immediately sends an angel to tell King Loegaire and St. Patrick that God will raise Cuchulainn and send him to converse with Loegaire near the ramparts of the fortress at Tam.

cuchulainn ridingThe next day, St. Patrick and King Loegaire are both on hand at the appointed place when Cuchulainn appears, riding in his chariot driven by his usual charioteer Laege. The demigod’s two horses – the Dub Sainglend (black horse of Saingliu) and the Liath Macha (gray horse of Macha) – are pulling the chariot.

Cuchulainn stops to interact with the two living men. To help kill King Loegaire’s skepticism, the demigod performs assorted feats that only a being who was more than human could perform. Continue reading

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DENIS BURKE: IRISH PIRATE FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2025

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY! From People’s Favorite Magazine in 1916 to Argosy in the 1930s, the saga of Irish pirate and mercenary soldier Denis Burke unfolded from the pen of H. Bedford-Jones. The fictional buccaneer deserves to be remembered in the same breath with his fellow fictional Irish pirate Captain Peter Blood.

H. Bedford Jones created plenty of characters during his 40-year career as a pulp writer extraordinaire. His Captain Burke claimed descent from the real-life Iron Dick Burke and his wife Grace O’Malley, pirate queen of Ireland, who was featured in Balladeer’s Blog’s 2023 Saint Patrick’s Day post.

As for Burke, his tales were collected in The Royal Vagabond and again in Buccaneer BloodAmong the short stories that starred this hard-fighting, hard-drinking Irishman: Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG: NAIA, NCCAA AND USCAA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT ACTION

NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) DIVISION TWO

FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The 4 seeds – the CROWN COLLEGE POLARS – faced the 5th seeded GRACE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY TIGERS. GCU was on top of the Polars 39-33 by Halftime, but Crown College came out of the locker room ready for a comeback. In the end the Polars triumphed 74-69 led by 24 points from Tyrus Buckner.

SECOND QUARTERFINAL – The 3rd seeded MANHATTAN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE THUNDER took the court against the 6 seeds – the CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY AT HARRODSBURG PIONEERS. At the Half the score was knotted up 38-38. From there the Thunder squeezed out a little separation from the Pioneers for a 72-69 victory. Xavier Lucas led MCC with 20 points.  Continue reading

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