Balladeer’s Blog
THANK YOU once again to all of you readers for making Balladeer’s Blog so enjoyable to write. As I always say, the unusual and controversial items I sometimes churn out here mean that readers have to be open-minded and very secure in their own beliefs not to just take offense and leave.
Here are some of my most popular blog posts from the past 12 months.
BAD MOVIES: There was Kong Island (1968), Invasion from Inner Earth (1974), Raiders of Atlantis (1983), Murdercycle (1999), 365 Days (2020), Films with William Shatner’s Wife, Jungle Jim Movies, An American Hippie in Israel (1972), Kommissar X Movies, Andromeda Nebula (1967), The Keep (1983), Hitler – Dead or Alive (1942), My Top H.G. Lewis Movies,
A MERCILESS EXAMINATION OF THE 2022 MIDTERM ELECTION RESULTS: One of my most read items of the past 12 months HERE.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: I reviewed The Artificial Mother (1894), A.D. 2000 (1890), The Sickle of Fire (1896), The Warstock (1898), Bellona’s Husband (1887), Mars Revealed (1880), The Emperor of the Air (1910), The Captivity of the Professor (1901), End of an Epoch (1901).
MORE FOOL KILLER LORE FROM OVER A CENTURY AGO: April 1913, May 1913, July 1913
COMEDIES: MODERN PARODY HALL OF FAME: The full breakdown HERE.
POLITICAL CARTOONS, MEMES AND NEWS ROUNDUPS: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
PONY EXPRESS RIDERS: Pony Bob, The Man Called Boston, Irish Tommy
THE PEOPLE VS JOE BIDEN: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN: Queen of the Black Coast and Amra, and Curse of the Conjurer
NEGLECTED GUNSLINGERS: Dutch Henry, and Buckskin Frank
MEXICO’S MST3K: I reviewed it HERE. There’s also Dark Jungle Theater HERE.
CASIMIR PULASKI: REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO: I took a look at his career HERE. Continue reading
MARCH 1st – British troops led by Major John Maitland landed and took Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River in Georgia. The Redcoats clashed with American Militiamen and drove them off. Both sides were left with wounded men following the exchange of gunfire, but no fatalities are known. 
Four British warships, along with multiple smaller vessels, launched a joint land and sea effort to seize American rice ships in the area in order to feed the British forces. Over 300 British infantrymen took part in commandeering the rice boats by surprise overnight. 
THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH (1916) – Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that I’m a geek for Silent Movies. Last week’s look at 
The short’s comedic approach to cocaine, opium and more demonstrates the “anything goes” attitude before film codes were implemented to ban certain content from the big screen. In the pre-internet years, The Mystery of the Leaping Fish was a film that people refused to believe existed until you had them sit down and watch it with you.
THE DON’T MISS EDITION, as 
DISCOVERIES IN THE MOON (1835) – The full title of this work is Discoveries in the Moon Lately Made at the Cape of Good Hope by Sir John Herschel. Originally published as a series of “real” scientific articles in the newspaper the New York Sun, this hoax was the written-word equivalent of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast of a century later. The series of fraudulent articles caused a sensation and increased the newspaper’s circulation exponentially before the Sun revealed it was all a work of fiction.
THE FEATHER AND FATHER GANG (1976-1977) – Happy Father’s Day, gentlemen! Back on Mother’s Day I reviewed 
In the tradition of Perry Mason and Matlock, Feather’s clients were always victims of frame jobs or bad circumstances, so her incorrigible father Harry inevitably resorted to extra-legal methods of clearing them. Papa Danton recruited some of his old conmen pals to help him in his efforts and dubbed the joint venture “the Feather and Father Gang.” 
AVENGERS Vol 1 #84 (January 1971) 
While searching for the Well at the Center of Time, the only safe place to hide the Ebony Blade, the Black Knight is captured by Arkon and his new consort – 
