Monthly Archives: December 2011

CHRISTMAS CAROL- A-THON 2011: MR SCROOGE (1964)

Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. 

Mr Scrooge was originally broadcast on December 21st, 1964 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It runs just an hour and stars Cyril Ritchard as Ebenezer Scrooge and the very appropriately named Eric Christmas as Marley’s Ghost. As with the  Continue reading

29 Comments

Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL

2011’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS

SXU Cougars QB Jimmy Coy, Offensive Player of the Game

 Sad to say, the college football playoffs and bowls for the divisions covered by Balladeer’s  Blog are all over now, except for some All-Star Games. The SXU Cougars won the NAIA football championship in the latest game of Saturday night, giving the Cougars and their head coach Mike Feminis their first national title. It’s not at all true that when Feminis hoisted the trophy over his head that he cried out “This one’s for Dianne!” (As in Zajdell, a Cougar of a different kind)

Anyway, to wrap up this year’s gridiron action here’s a final nod of recognition to the 2011 champions and the teams they played in their title matchups.

NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics ) – Champions – SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS  Runners up – CC Fighting Saints

NCAA Division 2 – Champions – PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS   Runners up – Wayne State Warriors 

NCAA Division 3 – Champions – WHITEWATER WARHAWKS (Threepeat)   Runners up – Mt Union Purple Raiders

NJCAA – Champions – EAST Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under college football

KIM JONG IL IS STILL DEAD: A REPOST OF MY REVIEW OF HIS MONSTER MOVIE PULGASARI

North Korea’s demented dictator Kim Jong Il is dead. What better way to mark the passing of an animal who starved his own people, constantly threatened nuclear activity against other nations, had his secret police abduct countless people in the middle of the night and ran a barbaric prison system than by re- posting my review of that nutjob’s lone venture into the area of filmmaking. While Kim Jong Il and his buddy Hawkeye Pierce (rimshot) share cocktails in whatever hellish afterlife is shared by real- world wackos and fictional fools, let’s look once again at my 2010 review of Pulgasari, the only kaiju movie produced by a man who combined the insanity of Idi Amin with the paranoia of Josef Stalin.

PULGASARI (1985) – Category: Bad enough and with a classically weird premise but not fun-bad enough for my highest rating     North Korea’s thoroughly deranged dictator Kim Jong Il was responsible for this film and even gives himself a producer’s credit. It’s the least he could do for himself after having his underlings literally kidnap some South Korean  filmmakers  and  force them to  take part in this bizarre film venture. If you doubt me just use a search engine to find out about the making of this movie. He even made those unfortunate people rot in one of his prisons for four years before he finally got around to setting them to the task he had kidnapped them for in the first place.

It was all part of Krazy Kim’s desire to initiate North Korea’s entry into the Continue reading

11 Comments

Filed under Bad and weird movies

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: SCROOGE’S ROCK & ROLL CHRISTMAS (1983)

 Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. 

Scrooge’s Rock & Roll Christmas grows on me more and more each time I watch it. It’s value as a version of A Christmas Carol is virtually nil, but it features some wonderful renditions of a variety of Yuletide songs along with some striking wintry scenery. Most sources list this Continue reading

48 Comments

Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL

SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS DETHRONE THE CC FIGHTING SAINTS FOR THE NAIA TITLE; GORILLAS TAKE D2 CROWN

 The ST XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS dethroned the defending NAIA college football champions the CC FIGHTING SAINTS in a 24- 20 game for the ages. I throw the term “Instant Classic” around with giddy abandon here at Balladeer’s Blog, but there’s no denying the fact that this game lived up to that label. Both teams played focused, virtually mistake- free football that the attendees in Rome, GA will be telling their grandchildren about. The Cougars lost to the Fighting Saints in the semi- finals last season but Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under college football

THE REAL CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL: 2011

 THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE ROME FOR THE HOLIDAYS – That’s Rome, GA, where the NAIA college football championship game is once again being played. I’ve taken to describing NAIA  football as “a league full of Tim Tebows” to help appeal to people who are sick and tired of the cheaters, felons and alleged child- abusers of NCAA Division 1 football. Besides, anyone fed up with the NCAA’s endless power plays and the way it goes after the minnows while letting the sharks roam free should embrace this alternative brand of collegiate athletics.

Today’s championship game finds the Saint Xavier University Cougars making their first- ever appearance in the title matchup. Their opponents, the CC Fighting Saints, are the current ruling dynasty in NAIA football, having won 6 of the last 9 championships, and Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under college football

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: CANADIAN TELEVISION’S “SCROOGE” (1978)

Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. 

“Blame Canada” for today’s version of A Christmas Carol. In 1978 Theatre Three in Edmonton, Alberta filmed their stage adaptation of the Carol and broadcast it in the USA as well as their own country. It’s been popping up on PBS and various cable outlets ever since. “Minimalist” would be the watchword for this version, from the nearly bare stage to the slimmed- down cast.

Marley’s Ghost not only  Continue reading

24 Comments

Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL

COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND KICKS OFF TONIGHT

 The final 3 championship games of the year for the divisions of college football covered by Balladeer’s Blog will be played tonight and tomorrow. NCAA Division 3 gets things started tonight in Salem, VA, where the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl will see the 7th straight clash between the Whitewater Warhawks (helmet at left) and the Mount Union Purple Raiders.

Yes, remarkably, both teams have survived the D3 playoff field of 32 teams for 7 YEARS IN A ROW, emerging when the dust settles to square off for the national championship. The teams have won 3 titles each in the preceding 6 years, so this is the rubber game of the match (so far). Adding to all that drama is the fact that Continue reading

21 Comments

Filed under college football

LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES ARE THE SAME KIND OF PEOPLE

Political zealots are going out of their way to prove that they are every bit as destructive and, ultimately, as self-serving as religious zealots. Here in the United States the lunatic fringe of each party has become the mainstream of those parties. No matter how much gibberish gets spouted about how candidates want to try to appear “centrist” the reality is that every election cycle since at least the late 1960’s American voters have been getting subjected to the same tiresome dance. Democrats accuse Republicans of being wealth- hording racists and Republicans accuse Democrats of being unpatriotic pagans. I’m an Independent Voter and I’ll periodically post about the similarities between the slimy demagogues of the political left and the political right in the months to come.   

To start us off let’s look at Reason Number 1 Why Liberals and Conservatives are the same kind of people:

Liberals think they are Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES

COOL-NAMED TEAM OF THE DAY: UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT MACHIAS CLIPPERS

 Location: Machias, ME (Well, duh!) 

Division: United States Collegiate Athletic Association 

Conference Affiliation: YSCC 

Site: http://ummclippers.com/landing/index

Comment: For months I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make the UMM Clippers one of my Cool- Named Teams of the Day. The excitement over the NBA’s Chris Paul being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers seemed too good to pass up. Will UMM’s basketball teams make Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under Cool names and cool logos