Christopher Nolan: The Most Over-Contemplated Director in History
The first person to email me the name of the site being parodied in this post wins a special prize!
* TWELVE THINGS THAT TEN-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN DON’T KNOW ABOUT CLASSIC MOVIES *
* THE FOUR MOST EXCITING CRICKET PLAYERS IN HISTORY AND WHY THEY’RE REALLY THE FOUR MOST BORING CRICKET PLAYERS IN HISTORY *
* TEN REASONS WHY WE Continue reading
Filed under humor
Frontierado is Friday, August 4th!
The various range wars of the Old West were not truly “wars,” of course but were more like modern-day gangster conflicts with very rare examples of outright good guys or outright bad guys. Frontierado is about the myth of the American West, not the reality, though, so think in terms of Renaissance Festivals.
THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR – Billy the Kid’s involvement in this range war has made this the most internationally famous of them all, so I chose it for this premier look at gangs fighting on both sides of the conflict. For fans of the original Young Guns movie I’ll lead off with the Regulators.
THE REGULATORS
Side: Tunstall-McSween Faction
Billy the Kid
Comment: Like many of the units fighting in the Lincoln County War the Regulators were “deputized” by law enforcement personnel in the pocket of their faction’s leaders. This provided an arguable veneer of legality to the group’s actions. Dick Brewer led the Regulators until he was killed by Buckshot Roberts, then Frank McNabb led them and, after his death Josiah Scurlock took over.
Prominent Members: Billy the Kid, Tommy O’Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, Jim “Frenchy” French, Dirty Steve Stephens, Tiger Sam Smith and the Coe Brothers.
SEVEN RIVERS WARRIORS
Side: Dolan-Murphy Faction Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
FOR PART 1 OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF MARVEL’S SUPERHEROINE MANTIS CLICK HERE
AVENGERS Volume 1, Number 131 (January 1975) A Quiet Half-Hour in Saigon
It’s back to Vietnam as we continue examining The Celestial Madonna Saga.
A QUIET HALF-HOUR IN SAIGON
Synopsis: We rejoin our heroes the day after their battle with the Titanic Three (plus Slasher) in the capital city of Vietnam where they were investigating Mantis’ past. Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Vision and Mantis still do not understand her coming role as the Celestial Madonna.
Nor do they understand exactly WHAT this Celestial Madonna will do, let alone who her mate will be or why their offspring will somehow control all time and space. The Scarlet Witch, meanwhile, is still back in New York at Avengers Mansion, being tutored by the sorceress Agatha Harkness.
There has been no response yet to the repeating radio summons to the Kree superhero Captain Marvel, who Iron Man hopes will be able to shed light on Mantis’ ties to the ancient sect of the Priests of Pama.
No one still alive in the criminal empire of Mantis’ late uncle has been able to provide useful information, either. The Madonna Star continues to shine above Avengers Mansion, drawing throngs from around the world and inspiring rumors that the star presages the end of the world.
Presently, as another night approaches Mantis gets to work off some frustration by thwarting an attempted mugging.
Even with all that going on, Hawkeye, who often wallows in even more self-pity than Peter Parker does, ponders his insecurities. He feels in a rut compared to all the mad action and changes swirling around most of his teammates.
CUT TO: The time-stream itself, where Kang the Conqueror remains locked in battle with his future self, Rama Tut II. Through time-travel technology that is superior even to Kang’s own the pair are plucked from Kang’s drifting time-sphere in which they were fighting. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I am still relishing the way that the bought and paid for Democrats and Republicans continue trying to act like everything is fine as the fundamentally corrupt nature of our government’s “Swamp” is laid bare.
Even people who hate our de facto Third Party President Donald Trump can get into the dark comedy being played out now that an outsider is in the White House. No matter how much Anti-Trump passion you feel, you can still comment on the current craziness like so:
POSE ONE: “I cannot abide that uncouth lout Trump but the actions of his enemies in both parties has laid bare what a cesspool of corruption the Democrats and Republicans have created.”
POSE TWO: “As much as I can’t stand Donald Trump he’s looking almost honest compared to the Democrats and Republicans in Congress.”
POSE THREE (Recommended for Europeans in particular): “The Americans should be embarrassed that Donald Trump of all people is emerging as the most honest figure in their make-believe representative democracy.”
There you go! All the snarkiness you love but without the embarrassment of siding with the career criminals called Democrats and Republicans!
In any event, here is a terrific list of questions now needing answered about the whole Imran Awan/ Democratic National Committee/ Debbie Wasserman Schultz affair: (link below)
1. Who coordinated the hiring of the Awan brothers by dozens of Democratic Congressman?
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
Jeffrey Hunter as The Christmas Kid
Frontierado is coming up on Friday August 4th!
In the past Balladeer’s Blog has examined some of the big names among the fictional gunslingers of Spaghetti Westerns. I’ve covered the original Django, Sartana, the Holy Ghost, Dynamite Joe, Harmonica and even Tony Anthony’s character the Stranger. Here are a few of the lesser lights from Eurowesterns.
THE CHRISTMAS KID
Film: The Christmas Kid (1966)
The Story: Jeffrey Hunter portrayed this memorable gunslinger, who got his nickname from the date of his birth, December 25th. His nickname was always bitter-sweet, however, since his mother died giving birth to him on Christmas.
The Kid is a pacifist in fictional Jaspen, AZ during a copper rush. Our hero reluctantly takes up a gun and at first seems like he might be corrupted by the faction led by the crooked town boss (Louis Hayward) but eventually his girlfriend Marie dies as the violence escalates. The Christmas Kid redoubles his efforts against Hayward. Good but not a great film.
The Kid deserved more than one screen appearance but the forced Jesus parallels make this movie as UN-intentionally funny as the Holy Ghost Spaghetti Westerns (“Looks like this is your Last Supper.”). Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
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