Monthly Archives: October 2012

October 23, 2012 · 10:17 pm

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS: OCTOBER 23RD

NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – 1. GEORGETOWN (KY) TIGERS (helmet at left)    ###    2. MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS    ###    3. MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS    ###    4. SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS (defending champions)    ###    5. CC FIGHTING SAINTS    ###    6. MORNINGSIDE MUSTANGS

NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) – 1. NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE RED RAIDERS (helmet at left)    ###    2. GREENVILLE COLLEGE PANTHERS (2011 Victory Bowl runners up)    ###    3. MCMURRY UNIVERSITY WARHAWKS    ###    4. KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS    ###    5. CHOWAN UNIVERSITY HAWKS    ###    6. Continue reading →

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October 23, 2012 · 12:04 am

FOUR GRUESOME BUT NEGLECTED HORROR FILMS

Night of the Scarecrow

Night of the Scarecrow

With Halloween almost here the seasonal posts here at Balladeer’s Blog are increasing in frequency. This time around I’ll examine four neglected horror films that are thoroughly macabre and are certainly graphically gruesome enough for today’s audiences but for some reason don’t have the followings they deserve. 

4. NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1995) – A big reason for this film getting lost in the shuffle is no doubt the fact that it is frequently confused with Dark Night of the Scarecrow, a telefilm with Charles Durning. This flick is in a whole different category. A warlock in 1600’s America is killed by the holy roller townspeople, with his soul being trapped in a scarecrow and his bones buried in a coffin beneath that scarecrow.

In the 1990’s an accident revives the warlock’s soul and unbinds the scarecrow, which sets out for revenge on the descendants of his killers. The scarecrow spent Continue reading →

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October 21, 2012 · 2:04 pm

NOTEWORTHY COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM OCTOBER 20TH, 2012

A DYNASTY IN FREEFALL? – The (10) OSHKOSH TITANS (helmet at left) defeated the (5) WHITEWATER WARHAWKS in a 28-13 rout in their own house yesterday. Not only are the Warhawks the defending champions of NCAA Division 3 football, but they have been one of the two most dominant gridiron dynasties of the past decade. Whitewater has played in the past 7 D3 national championship games in a row against the other D3 football dynasty, Mount Union, and have won 4 of those 7. Oshkosh’s victory over the Warhawks was the 2nd loss for UWW this year, handing them more losses in one year than they had over the previous four seasons COMBINED! Earlier this season the Warhawks lost to unranked Buffalo State in one of their lowest-scoring games of the 21st Century. Congratulations to the Titans, of course, for this historic accomplishment!

HOW ‘BOUT THEM PIONEERS? – The NAIA’s WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY PIONEERS are in their first year of intercollegiate football since the 1940’s but have already logged their program’s SECOND victory of this inaugural season. Yesterday the Pioneers marked their new era’s very first Homecoming with a 58-37 smackdown of the SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD LIONS. Earlier this year WBU notched their revived program’s initial win by taking down the HOWARD PAYNE UNIVERSITY YELLOW JACKETS in a 27-23 nailbiter. To put this 2nd win this season in persepective, Point University and Bluefield are also in their debut seasons but haven’t notched their 1st win yet. Ave Maria University is in year number TWO of their football program but have yet to win a single game.  

TOP 25 UPSETS – NAIA – The 9th ranked ST FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS were on the road against the number 5 WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN and seized another W for Coach Kevin Donley, already the winningest coach in NAIA football history. The final score was 28-19.   ###   … And the unranked DAKOTA WESLEYAN TIGERS toppled the 20th ranked DOANE TIGERS in a 28-24 Instant Classic.   ###   The scheduled game between the number 22 TABOR COLLEGE BLUE JAYS and the MCPHERSON BULLDOGS was canceled to mourn the loss of Tabor football player Brandon Brown.

TOP 25 UPSETS – NCAA DIVISION 2 – The 13th ranked MISSOURI WESTERN GRIFFONS were visiting D2’s defending champions, the number 8 (previously number 1) PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS who were fresh off their first loss of the year to Northwest Missouri. The Griffons knocked PSU down even further with a 63-14 annihilation.   ###   The (23) HILLSDALE CHARGERS plucked the feathers off the visiting 14th ranked team, the SAGINAW VALLEY STATE CARDINALS by a score of 34-17.   ###   The unranked HARDING BISONS (they go by Bisons, not Bison) played road warriors and brought down the number 15 OUACHITA BAPTIST TIGERS  34-14.   ###   The NORTHEASTERN STATE RIVERHAWKS edged the (21) CENTRAL MISSOURI MULES in a 24-23 homestand.   ###   The Continue reading →

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October 20, 2012 · 10:20 pm

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME WIFE CARRYING?

Fun Fact: Wife Carriers get more endorsement deals than NHL and WNBA players do.

Lance Armstrong has recently joined the heap of other disgraced athletes from around the world. Olympians, soccer players, football, basketball and baseball players all seem tainted by drugs, cheating, domestic violence and a wide range of other scandals. The world turns its lonely eyes to the sole remaining PURE sport … the beautiful game itself – Wife Carrying.

Wife Carrying is a bastion of honesty in a sports world that has been averting its eyes in shame for too long. As an organization Wife Carrying is more professionally run than the Continue reading →

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October 20, 2012 · 2:06 pm

COOL COLLEGE FOOTBALL HELMET: STEVENS POINT

STEVENS POINT POINTERS

Location: Stevens Point, WI

Division: NCAA Division 3

Comment: A lifelong dog lover like me just cannot resist this helmet! The Pointers finally got rid of Continue reading →

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October 19, 2012 · 12:10 am

THE BEST SILENT HORROR FILM SHORTS 1896 – 1909

masc graveyard smallerI’ve never made any secret out of the fact that I’m a hopeless silent movie geek. As we get closer to Halloween Balladeer’s Blog will examine the greatest silent horror films of all but for this little teaser I’ll take a look at the best silent horror shorts from 1896 to 1909.

THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (1896) – Unless an earlier example turns up this is the very first horror movie with a semblance of a story. This 3 minute film from THE Georges Melies features the Devil setting up housekeeping in a creepy mansion and conjuring up his infernal lackeys like witches, goblins and a living skeleton man to keep him company. Much as the early film world owes to Melies we all know if you’ve seen one of his flicks you’ve seen them all so this will be the last work by him that I cover for this list. His camera trickery and broad characters get old REALLY fast.

FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES (1898) – George A Smith, a British stage magician, presents this very brief depiction of Faust selling his soul to the devil named Mephistopheles.

THE MISER’S DOOM (1899) – Like an 1899 Twilight Zone episode this Walter Booth short features a clutching, grasping miser getting his comeuppance in the form of a fatal encounter with a woman’s ghost. 

THE FREAK BARBER (1905) – In a sort of “Extreme Sweeney Todd” story a mad barber decapitates his customers until the tables are turned and he himself gets his head chopped off in the finale. 3 minutes of weirdness.

THE THIRTEEN CLUB (1905) – A group of Continue reading →

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October 17, 2012 · 10:07 pm

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS: OCTOBER 17TH

NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – 1. GEORGETOWN (KY) TIGERS    ###    2. MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS    ###    3. WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN (helmet at left)    ###    4. MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS    ###    5. SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS (defending champions)    ###    T6. CC FIGHTING SAINTS    ###    T6. MORNINGSIDE MUSTANGS

NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) – 1. KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS (helmet at left)    ###    2. NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE RED RAIDERS    ###    3. GREENVILLE COLLEGE PANTHERS (2011 Victory Bowl runners-up)    ###    4. SHORTER UNIVERSITY HAWKS    ###    5. CHOWAN Continue reading →

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October 16, 2012 · 12:04 am

HALLOWEEN READING: THE KING IN YELLOW (1895)

THE KING IN YELLOW

If you’re like me you’re sick to death of the flood of vampire and zombie stories in recent decades. It’s gotten unbelievably monotonous. When it comes to Goths in particular you just want to shake them and scream “There’s more to Gothic horror than just vampires!”

In that spirit and in keeping with my blog’s overall theme here’s a look at an 1895 work of Gothic horror that is among my favorite Halloween reading material, The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers. This unjustly neglected book was praised by H.P. Lovecraft himself and has been called America’s most influential volume of horror between Poe and the moderns.

The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories in which a published but unperformed play, also titled The King in Yellow, brings madness and death to anyone who reads it. Daring to peruse the pages of this damnable drama also makes the reader susceptible to attacks from the sinister minions of the eponymous King, who rules over his own private Hell like Freddy Krueger rules over the Dream Dimension. Here, then, are the Continue reading →

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October 14, 2012 · 2:06 pm

NOTEWORTHY COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM OCTOBER 13TH, 2012

NUMBER ONE TAKES A FALL – NCAA Division 2’s top-ranked defending champs, the PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS, faced conference rivals and perennial D2 football powers the (7) NORTHWEST MISSOURI BEARCATS (helmet at left) in the REAL Fall Classic yesterday. These two gridiron juggernauts always treat us to a hard-fought matchup at neutral Arrowhead Stadium and yesterday was no exception. The Bearcats emerged with a 31-21 victory, setting up a new number 1 in the next rankings.

THE BACONE WARRIORS RULE THE WORLD – For the 3rd college football season in a row Balladeer’s Blog has been chronicling the NAIA tradition of upsetting at least one NCAA Division 2 team per week. For newbies to these divisions that is like when a 1AA team upsets a 1A team.

For this week’s installment the NAIA’s BACONE WARRIORS (helmet at left) dismantled D2’s PANHANDLE STATE UNIVERSITY AGGIES by a score of 40-7.

NUMBER THREE TAKES A FALL – The 3rd ranked team in NCAA Division 2 also got toppled yesterday. In a Show Me State showdown the unranked MISSOURI SOUTHERN LIONS took it on the road and eked out a 31-30 victory over the MISSOURI WESTERN GRIFFONS in an undeniable Instant Classic. The number 2 CSU- PUEBLO THUNDER WOLVES are the presumptive new number 1 with their 35-21 road win over the COLORADO MINES OREDIGGERS.

TOP 25 UPSETS – NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – The CONCORDIA (NE) BULLDOGS improved to 4-3 by rising up and defeating the visiting number 11 team, the NORTHWESTERN (IA) RED RAIDERS in a 17-16 game for the ages.   ###   The FAULKNER EAGLES unleashed their sound and fury on the 16th ranked CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS in a 42-14 thrashing.   ###   … And the unranked SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE MOUNDBUILDERS knocked the number 25 FRIENDS FALCONS out of the rankings in a 32-21 homestand.  

TOP 25 UPSETS – NCAA Division 2 – In addition to the number 1 and number 3 teams in D2 taking a tumble there were two more upsets in the rankings. The number 14 GRAND VALLEY STATE LAKERS got crushed on the road by the NORTHERN MICHIGAN WILDCATS  38-10.   ###   The UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA BRONCHOS (their spelling) played road warriors by bringing down the 23rd ranked CENTRAL MISSOURI MULES in a 10-6 defensive epic.   ###   The number 6 NEW HAVEN CHARGERS had a close call at Continue reading →

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October 12, 2012 · 12:10 am

THE TOP 11 NEGLECTED BAD MOVIE CLASSICS FOR HALLOWEEN

The less than frightening title menaces from Attack of the Beast Creatures (1983)

Laughing at bad movies is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Regular readers of Balladeer’s  Blog are very familiar with my Bad Movie page where I focus on various film flops that I feel deserve larger audiences because of how dementedly enjoyable they are. Since it’s the Halloween Season this list will present eleven of the most neglected bad horror movie classics, many of which deserve Plan 9- sized cult followings. These are short takes. For my full-length reviews of these and other cinematic turkeys see my Bad Movie page. https://glitternight.com/bad-movies/

MORE HALLOWEEN MOVIE TREATS: MEXICAN MONSTERS https://glitternight.com/2011/10/31/a-halloween-mexi-monster-bestiary/

BLAXPLOITATION HORROR: https://glitternight.com/2011/10/26/a-very-blaxploitation-halloween/

11. THE LIFT (1983) – A killer elevator is the unique menace in this joyously absurd horror film from the Netherlands. A heroic elevator repairman tries to stop the bloody reign of terror of a sentient elevator which the movie’s ads described as “the perfect killing machine”. (?)

10. ATTACK OF THE BEAST CREATURES (1983) – The surviving passengers and crew of a sunken luxury liner find themselves on an uncharted island full of ponds and streams that dissolve human flesh. The island is home to the Continue reading →

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