Monthly Archives: July 2013

PUSH THE ENVELOPE PLEASE: SEX SYMBOL CASEY JAMES AND HORROR FILM DIRECTORS WHO PUSHED THE ENVELOPE

Special thanks once again to Balladeer’s Blog’s Official Movie Hostess, the spectacularly beautiful Casey James. When Casey isn’t busy breaking the hearts of countless men and women around the world she’s a fan of offbeat movies and has excellent taste in blogs. For more info on Casey read on:

Casey James envelope 1

SHINYA TSUKAMOTO – Our first director 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. Noteworthy films include:

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 Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, Movie Hosts, Sex Symbols

COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM: RICHLAND COLLEGE

Richland College Thunder ducksRICHLAND COLLEGE THUNDERDUCKS

Location: Dallas, TX

Division: NJCAA

Comment: Say hello to R. Mobius Thunderduck, aka Moby Duck, the official mascot of the Richland College Thunderducks. Founded in 1972 Richland College has become Continue reading

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Filed under Cool names and cool logos

TOP FOUR FRONTIERADO MOVIES: NUMBER ONE – SILVERADO (1985)

Top Frontierado Movie

Top Frontierado Movie

SILVERADO (1985) – I’ve never made any secret about how Silverado is, to me, THE official movie of the Frontierado holiday. The film has all the high spirits and family appeal of Star Wars plus the well-choreographed action scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark. On top of that Silverado features all the  highly stylized gunplay of the best Spaghetti Westerns but NOT the mud, blood, sweat and brutality of that genre.

This movie is pure escapism and features the kind of preternaturally accurate gunslingers that I jokingly  describe as “Jedi Knights in the Olllld West”. These guys (as well as most of the villains) can literally shoot the needles off a cactus, simultaneously draw and shoot with pin-point accuracy and can just “sense” when some low-down hombre might be pulling a gun on them, even with Continue reading

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Filed under FRONTIERADO

ROLLING STONE CAPTIONING FUN

Rolling Stone magazine, that Continue reading

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Filed under humor, opinion

TOP FOUR FRONTIERADO MOVIES: NUMBER TWO – ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968)

Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale and, for some reason, Ray Stevens. (I'm kidding!)

Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale and, for some reason, Ray Stevens. (I’m kidding!)

Frontierado is Friday, August 2nd!

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is, to me, the definitive Spaghetti Western. This movie incorporates all of the best elements of Italo-westerns and has the additional advantages of actual artistic merit and some location filming in the real American West. One of the most distracting elements of many Spaghetti oaters is the fact that the films were mostly shot in Spain’s Jarama Valley, which is great for a Spanish Civil War buff like myself, but that valley doesn’t really resemble the American west that the stories are set in.

Sergio Leone got to shoot some scenes for this flick in Monument Valley and such authentic scenery definitely helps in a film that exploits visuals to a degree unseen since the age of silent movies. This is undeniably an action film, but Leone and his co-writers on the script ( Bernardo Bertollucci and Dario Argento. I’m serious!) intentionally used the framework of an archetypal western plot about the railroad, land-grabbing and westward expansion, yet made it all seem fresh.    

I often jokingly call this movie Evil Is A Man Named Frank, because, in a masterpiece of reverse-casting Leone put Henry Fonda himself in the role of the conscienceless, sadistic and predatory Frank, the lead villain. Watching the Continue reading

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Filed under FRONTIERADO

LISA LIPPS: HER NEW SITE IS ROLLING!

Le Lei

Le Lei

If you missed my exclusive interview with living legend Lisa Lipps consider this your official notice that her spiritual healing, cleansing and channeling site is in full swing now.

For one-to-one readings and consultations with this talented healer click here: Continue reading

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Filed under Mythology, Sex Symbols

FOUR COOL BUT FORGOTTEN GUNSLINGERS FOR FRONTIERADO

Bear River Tom Smith

Bear River Tom Smith

The Frontierado holiday is coming up on Friday, August 2nd and Balladeer’s Blog continues presenting holiday- themed articles. I know that in reality the gunfighters of the old west were thugs and worse but Frontierado is about the myth of the American west, not the grinding reality. 

As the glorious day approaches and we are all making our holiday preparations enjoy a sampling of this group of colorful characters who don’t get the attention – or movies – they deserve.

1. BEAR RIVER TOM – That’s our top-ranked figure in the photo to your left. One of the few actual gunmen to wear a fancy two-gun holster, Bear River Tom Smith’s myth begins with his birth in 1838 in New York City. He either did or did not serve in the Union Army in 1861 (accounts vary) but was definitely part of the NYC police force by 1862. In 1867 he headed west, working as a laborer laying track for the Union Pacific Railroad  in Nebraska.

By 1868 the crew he was with had reached Wyoming, where the Hell On Wheels town of Bear River sprang up around their work camp. Bear River was to wild, lawless railroad towns what Dodge City, Kansas was to wild, lawless cattletowns. Bear River Tom put his guns, fists and law enforcement experience to Continue reading

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Filed under FRONTIERADO

WNBA STANDINGS

Sparks

Sparks

WESTERN CONFERENCE –    1. MINNESOTA LYNX (11-3) Have won last four games in a row    ###    2. LOS ANGELES SPARKS (9-4) Have also won their last four games in a row    ###    3. PHOENIX MERCURY (8-6)    ###    4. SEATTLE STORM (5-8)    ###    5. SAN ANTONIO SILVER STARS (4-9)    ###    6. TULSA SHOCK (3-13) Have lost last six games in a row Continue reading

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TOP FOUR FRONTIERADO MOVIES: NUMBER THREE – POSSE (1993)

possePOSSE is a terrific western about a gang of African American gunfighters (plus the goofiest Baldwin brother) involved in an action-packed epic journey across the American west. The Frontierado holiday (which will be here Friday August 2nd) is the perfect time of year to hunker down with this film while drinking a Cactus Jack or a Deuces Wild or two. I’ll review the recipes for those mixed drinks in a few days, for now we’ll focus on the third-place movie on our countdown.

Posse stars Mario Van Peebles, who also directed, as Jesse Lee, the brooding, revenge-driven hero of the saga. He and all but one member of his gang, our titular posse, are soldiers fighting in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898. A dangerous assault they carry out turns out to be a Continue reading

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Filed under Blaxploitation, FRONTIERADO

COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM: GOGEBIC COLLEGE

Gogebic Samsons

Gogebic Samsons

GOGEBIC COLLEGE SAMSONS

Location: Ironwood, MI

Division: NJCAA

Comment: How incredibly cool is the name Samsons for sports teams? In addition to this cool name and eye-catching logo Gogebic has a reputation as one of the best-run institutions in the Continue reading

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Filed under Cool names and cool logos