Monthly Archives: December 2024

December 7, 2024 · 10:41 pm

BALLADEER’S BLOG: COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM DEC SEVENTH

NAIA PLAYOFFS

FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS traveled to play the INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS. The Ravens were surprisingly dominant over the favored Wildcats, keeping them off the scoreboard until the 4th Quarter. BC was up 17-0 by Halftime and won the game by a final tally of 20-9.

SECOND QUARTERFINAL – In this game the GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS took the field against the visiting NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS. This unusual affair saw Grand View out in front 7-0 to end the 1st Quarter and 17-0 at the Half. Seventeen to nothing held up as the final score as well. Continue reading →

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December 7, 2024 · 12:01 am

THE CHAMPIONS: MARVEL’S EXTRA 1970s TEAM

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at Marvel’s short-lived 1970s team the Champions.

cham 1CHAMPIONS Vol 1 #1 (October 1975)

Title: The World Still Needs … Champions

Villains: Pluto, Hipollyta and Ares

Synopsis: With so many superheroes in its universe compared to 1961, Marvel Comics debuted this new group. The members:

a) HERCULES, the actual figure from Greco-Roman mythology. Formerly a member of the Avengers.

b) GHOST RIDER, Marvel’s horror figure. The only Champion who had not belonged to a previous team. Also, the only team member with his own solo series at the time. Continue reading →

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December 6, 2024 · 2:57 pm

DEC SIXTH ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

From Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog it’s another current events roundup.

biden wretchedJOHNSON: TRUST IN OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM HAS BEEN ALMOST IRREPARABLY DAMAGED BY THE BIDENS.

I’m not sure “almost” is the word.

CAREER CRIMINAL JOE BIDEN EMBARRASSED HIMSELF IN ANGOLA. More HERE.

trump teamPRESIDENT TRUMP’S LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN.

GREAT PIECE ABOUT HOW SO MANY ELECTED REPUBLICANS “STILL DON’T GET IT.” More HERE.

OPTIMISM AMONG AMERICAN FARMERS SURGES AFTER TRUMP VICTORY.

JOE BIDEN’S CALLOUSNESS TOWARD THE AMERICANS STILL HELD HOSTAGE GETS CALLED OUT. Continue reading →

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December 5, 2024 · 10:30 pm

SPAIN’S 1947 VERSION OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL: LEYENDA DE NAVIDAD

Christmas Carol-a-Thon 2024 continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with this encore post from 2010. 

Leyenda de NavidadLEYENDA DE NAVIDAD – This version of the Dickens classic was produced in Spain in 1947 (and was remade for Spanish television in 1966 ) and the Spanish language title is Leyenda de Navidad (Legend of Christmas, of course). The film was written and directed by Manuel Tamayo (who wrote the screenplay for the 1955 feature Tarde de Toros) This is a wonderful version for several reasons, not the least of which would be its well-done (for the time period) sets of 1843 London.

We’ll take the differences and similarities to other versions in order – 1. Scrooge has several people working for him for some reason, not just Bob Cratchit and NONE of them get Christmas Day off from this Scrooge  …

2.  Marley’s Ghost steps out of a life-sized portrait of the man that adorns the wall above a fireplace, and returns to that portrait after his standard warning about the 3 Ghosts …

3. Transportation through time with Continue reading →

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December 5, 2024 · 3:19 pm

BEST OF FEBRUARY 2024

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end-of-year retrospective continues with this look at February’s Best.

FURIOUS (1984) – The Rhee Brothers star in one of the most joyously bad and disjointed martial arts movies of all time.

My review is HERE.

BALLADEER’S BLOG RANKS THE PRESIDENTS – And I do it the way that ANYONE trying to be objective would do it – by omitting the most recent presidents because there is still too much emotion surrounding the perception of such figures. Click HERE.

AUSTRALIA’S SUPERHEROES OF THE 1940s & 1950s – An examination of Atom-Girl, the Grey Domino, Jet Fury, the Blue Ghost, the Vesuvian and many more HERE.

MY TOP TEN HORROR FILMS OF THE PAST FIFTY YEARS – Click HERE. Some expected titles plus a few surprises.

QUENTIN DURWARD (1971) – A French-German television series about Sir Walter Scott’s lesser-known swashbuckling hero. It was produced in the same spirit as Desert Crusader and The Flashing Blade. My review is HERE.

Continue reading →

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December 4, 2024 · 9:17 pm

REEL WILD CINEMA: EPISODES FOURTEEN TO SIXTEEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its look at the Forgotten Television item Reel Wild Cinema (1996-1997).

This time around it’s Episodes 14-16.

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE FOURTEEN (April 21st, 1997)

Title: Gals & Ghouls

Truncated Films Shown:

it's hot in paradiseIT’S HOT IN PARADISE (1960) – This is a film about hot nightclub ladies and their schmoozing manager getting stuck on an uncharted island after a plane crash. They learn that a now dead mad scientist made the place his lair and his experiments spawned dog-sized spiders whose bite transforms people into half-assed human-spider creatures.

The movie was mostly about footage of beautiful women in an island setting. In 1963, all topless scenes were edited out and it was re-released as a horror schlocker titled Horrors of Spider Island. Even so, the flick was still about 95% cheesecake footage and 5% horror story. Boring-bad, not fun-bad. Continue reading →

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December 4, 2024 · 1:26 pm

NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOON ROUNDUP: DEC 4th

Here is another current events roundup from Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog.

GREAT LIST OF THE LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF CRIMES THAT UNDERBOSS HUNTER BIDEN WAS JUST PARDONED FOR. Plus it’s important to remember that a pardon means that Hunter can no longer invoke the 5th Amendment if called to testify regarding any of the crimes that his father and his associates are being investigated for.

           Joe Biden would have to pardon himself and all his co-conspirators to avoid such a situation. He may do that. I wouldn’t be surprised.

ANOTHER GREAT LIST – THIS ONE OF THE LIES INFLICTED ON THE PUBLIC BY DEMOCRAT NEWS OUTLETS.

Nancy Pelosi, whose policies harm the working class and the poor.

TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (D.O.G.E.) SET TO TARGET “FEATHERBED”, UNNECESSARY JOBS THAT POLITICIANS LIKE NANCY PELOSI GIVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE.

ARTICLE SAYS “THE WORLD IS HEALING” AS TRUMP IS ALREADY HARD AT WORK.

JENNINGS: “BIDEN IS LEAVING OFFICE IN COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISGRACE.” He has a point. Trump knocked him out of the race in the debate, defeated Joe’s hand-picked successor and there are all the Biden scandals.

VILLAGE PEOPLE MEMBER THANKS TRUMP FOR USING HIS SONG YMCA. Continue reading →

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December 3, 2024 · 11:07 pm

THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ (1904) BOOK REVIEW

marvelous land of ozTHE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ (1904) – We’ve all been exposed to countless variations of the adventures of Dorothy Gale and company in Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Therefore I’m starting my reviews of the Oz books with the second in the series – The Marvelous Land of Oz.   

A little boy named Tip lives with the mean-spirited witch Mombi as his adult “guardian.” One day Tip mischievously plans a bit of revenge on Mombi by building a pumpkin-headed figure made of wood, branches and old clothes. He then positions the figure – named Jack Pumpkinhead – to scare the evil witch when she arrives home.

pumpkinhead and tipThe nasty old witch is unfazed and further proves she’s not scared by sprinkling the pumpkin-headed figure with a magical Powder of Life. The powder brings Jack Pumpkinhead to life but he’s very naive and ignorant.

When Mombi threatens to turn Tip into a marble statue as revenge for trying to scare her, the boy steals some of her Powder of Life and runs away with Jack Pumpkinhead as a traveling companion. Tip sprinkles some of the powder on a sawhorse, bringing it to life as a mount for Jack, who is still unsteady on his legs.

Thus begins another adventure throughout the bizarre Land of Oz. Among the other characters encountered by Tip, Jack and the Sawhorse: Continue reading →

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December 3, 2024 · 10:56 am

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: TALES FROM DICKENS (1959)

Balladeer’s Blog’s Fifteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon continues! A few days ago I made an encore post about the Susan Lucci version of the Dickens classic.

This time around it’s a Carol version that I’ve never before reviewed.

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1959 christmas carolFREDERIC MARCH PRESENTS TALES FROM DICKENS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1959) – Basil Rathbone IS Edgar Winter as Ebenezer Scrooge! Or at least that’s what he looks like with his incredibly long white hair in this television show.

This was one of the 14 episodes of the Frederic March television series in which he hosted dramatizations of assorted stories written by Charles Dickens. The air date of this particular episode was December 27th, 1959. Continue reading →

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December 2, 2024 · 6:00 pm

BEST OF JANUARY 2024

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective begins with this look at January’s Best.

DICK TURPIN (1925) – My review of this silent movie which starred American cowboy star Tom Mix trading in his rifle and six-guns for a sword and pistols in an exciting film about England’s real-life outlaw Dick Turpin. It’s HERE.

SAM SPADE – I take a look at Dashiell Hammett’s four overlooked 1932 short stories about his hard-boiled detective from The Maltese Falcon. Read it HERE.

SCARFOLK: LIKE MY MILWAUKEE CROSSED WITH LOCAL 58 TV – Richard Littler’s eerie, dark-humored presentations of the lore behind his fictional English town of Scarfolk has been presented as a website and then as a few books. Experience 1984 and Twin Peaks wrapped into one HERE.

SHIRLEY TEMPLE’S STORYBOOK (1958-1961) – This bit of Forgotten Television featured Temple starring alongside some of the biggest celebrities of the day in child-safe dramatizations of classics from children’s literature. Click HERE.

BRITISH-MADE SUPERHEROES OF THE 1940s – My look at forgotten characters like Streamline, Electro-Girl, Captain Magnet, Acromaid, Tiger-Man and over twenty more HERE.

DESERT CRUSADER (1968-1969) – A French tv series about Thibaud (tee-bow), a French knight who has adventures along the road to the Holy Land in between the 1st and 2nd Crusades. My review is HERE.

THE FLASHING BLADE (1967) – A similar French tv series. Dumas meets Sabatini in this swashbuckling tale of Francois, Chevalier de Recci, from 1628-1631. HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – A novel about the title character finding an island of giant-sized birds, odd plant-life, bear-sized beavers and strange human beings, both “normal” and ape-like. It’s HERE. Continue reading →

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