Author Archives: balladeer

About balladeer

I am passionately interested in college sports, ancient Greek comedies, bad/weird movies, mythology, the American Revolution, Puck Magazine, World War I, U.S. Presidential history, silent movies, the English Civil War, epic, lyric and comic poetry, U.S. Supreme Court history, the Revolutions of 1848, the Philippine War and old pulp heroes like The Moon Man, Pilot G8, Silver John and The Rio Kid.

May 23, 2018 · 9:53 pm

CORPSE EATERS (1974)

CORPSE EATERS (1974) – No, not The Brain Eaters and not The Worm Eaters, both of which are real movies, but Corpse Eaters without any “the” in front. This 57 minute wonder actually manages to overstay its welcome, believe it or not, which is just as well because the similar low-budget film Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things did everything better than this film does.

The people behind Corpse Eaters know JUST what horror fans want to see … water-skiing and plenty of it! This baby takes the concept of padding to the next level with interminable footage of two couples having a great time boating and otherwise whooping it up at lakeside. I’m not old enough to have ever sat through a suburban family’s hellishly boring home-movies but thanks to this film I can experience it as if I was alive back then! Sweeeeet!

The aforementioned lakeside footage comes after the audience is treated to several loooong minutes of a mortician and his assistant talking about what a creepy job they have. Then it’s on to our “stars” if that isn’t too strong a word for them. The frolicing couples note that it’s Friday the 13th and decide to spend the night in a graveyard just for the heck of it. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season

Tagged as Bad Movies, badfilm, Balladeer's Blog, blogging, CORPSE EATERS, glitternight.com, horror films, movie reviews

May 23, 2018 · 12:00 am

MORE MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS FROM THE PHILIPPINE WAR (1899-1902)

Memorial Day is fast approaching! In keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing items that slip through the cultural cracks I’m showcasing a few of the Congressional Medal of Honor winners from the neglected war the U.S. fought in the Philippines from 1899 to 1902.

Arthur M Ferguson

ARTHUR M FERGUSON – Lieutenant Ferguson won the Medal for his actions on September 28th, 1899 near Porac on Luzon. Back in April of the same year Ferguson had won the Distinguished Service Cross for dangerous recon work he did against some Philippine forces at Calumpit. For the Medal of Honor Arthur had charged a body of the enemy, inflicting injuries and possible deaths all while capturing a Philippine Captain and returning with the prisoner to American lines.

WILLIS H DOWNS – Yet another member of Young’s Scouts, one of the most famous units of the Philippine War! Private Downs won the Medal for his actions on May 13th, 1899 at San Miguel de Mayumo on Luzon. Continue reading →

NJCAA-3 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES TEAMS

These eight teams will be competing for the baseball title in NJCAA Division 3:

HERKIMER COLLEGE GENERALS

TYLER COLLEGE APACHES

ROWAN COLLEGE AT GLOUCESTER ROADRUNNERS

SAINT CLOUD TECHNICAL COLLEGE CYCLONES Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under College Baseball

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, blogging, college baseball, College World Series, glitternight.com, NJCAA baseball, Sport, sports

May 22, 2018 · 8:00 am

TWO FOR TUESDAY

This first item would normally go with one of my Faculty Lounge Fascist Roundups but since I just did one so recently I’ll include it here instead and also post the link there.

This item is further verification of the ugly way Democrats discriminate against anyone outside their political party and it plays a large part in the biased and viciously partisan approach used in colleges and universities. The bias and exclusionary hiring is so bad that at Cornell alone ELEVEN ENTIRE DEPARTMENTS have ZERO Republicans. That doesn’t happen by accident. Click HERE

And this second item is another piece from Quillette about the growing intolerance, mindless conformity and fascism of the American Left. Click HERE

2 Comments

Filed under Education or Indoctrination, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

Tagged as Both Democrats and Republicans are Criminals, Both Liberals and Conservatives Suck, Education or Indoctrination, liberal hypocrisy, news, politics

May 21, 2018 · 11:57 pm

NCCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES TEAMS FINALIZED

Here are the ten teams that will be competing in the 2018 NCCAA College World Series.

10 HIWASSEE COLLEGE TIGERS

9 BLUEFIELD COLLEGE RAMBLING RAMS

8 OTTAWA (AZ) UNIVERSITY SPIRIT

7 WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS

6 UNIVERSITY OF SAINT KATHERINE FIREBIRDS Continue reading →

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (1980): BAD MOVIE

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (1980) – Category: A neglected bad movie classic that deserves a Plan 9-sized cult following

Okay, this movie is better known than many of the other joyously bad films I review, but it still hasn’t acquired the reputation or the following it deserves as Midnight Movie or Movie Host material. Vic Morrow IS the heavy and Doug McClure IS another bland and unmemorable hero in this film, one of the many horror flicks that tried to imitate Alien.

Roger Corman executive- produced and his gang alone would turn out a few other movies that were , shall we say – “reminiscent” – of Alien, namely Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror (If you ever wanted to see Joannie from Joannie Loves Cha-Chi explode from within this is the movie for you!) Continue reading →

7 Comments

Filed under Bad and weird movies

Tagged as Bad Movies, badfilm, Balladeer's Blog, blogging, glitternight.com, Humanoids from the Deep, movie reviews, Roger Corman

May 21, 2018 · 12:02 am

POPE FRANCIS: A MAN OF HIS WORD – THE WORST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER

POPE FRANCIS: A MAN OF HIS WORD (2018) – The DC Comics movies just keep getting worse and worse. Some looser named Francis gets superpowers from washing the feet of poor people and little boys (creeper) and gets his own kind of Batcave called Vatican City.

Yeah, right, like with so many starving people in the world any kind of superhero would live in his own city with such opulence when they could give away 90% of their money to help the poor. It wasn’t realistic at all. Continue reading →

12 Comments

Filed under Bad and weird movies, humor, Superheroes

Tagged as Bad Movies, blogging, humor, mock movie reviews, movie reviews, Pope Francis, Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, superheroes

May 20, 2018 · 10:00 pm

NAIA WORLD SERIES TEAMS FINALIZED

Here are the nine teams participating in the 2018 NAIA College World Series.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWESTERN OHIO RACERS

SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE

GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE GRIZZLIES

UNIVERSITY OF ANTELOPE VALLEY PIONEERS Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under College Baseball

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, baseball, blogging, college baseball, College World Series, glitternight.com, NAIA baseball, Sport, sports

May 19, 2018 · 9:18 pm

AVENGERS: THE KREE-SKRULL WAR PART FIVE

FOR PART ONE OF THIS LOOK AT THE KREE-SKRULL WAR (1971-1972) CLICK HERE

THE AVENGERS Volume One, Number 93 (November 1971)

AVENGERS ROSTER: THOR (Donald Blake, MD), IRON MAN (Tony Stark), CAPTAIN AMERICA (Steve Rogers), ANT-MAN (Hank Pym, PhD), THE SCARLET WITCH (Wanda), GOLIATH (Clint Barton), QUICKSILVER (Pietro), THE VISION (Not Applicable), CAPTAIN MARVEL (Mar-Vell, Kree Captain)

NOTE: CAPTAIN MARVEL IS THE HERO THAT NICK FURY SUMMONED TO FIGHT THANOS IN THE POST-CREDITS SCENE TO AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.

THIS BEACH-HEAD EARTH

Synopsis: We open at Avengers Mansion. Iron Man has summoned Thor, Captain America, the Wasp and Yellow Jacket in response to an alarming and confusing letter that Tony Stark (Iron Man) received. That letter was from Jarvis, the Avengers’ butler, resigning his position since – as we saw last time around – Thor, Iron Man and Captain America expelled the Scarlet Witch, Goliath, Quicksilver and the Vision from the team.

Iron Man, Cap and Thor make it clear they have no idea what Jarvis was talking about. Obviously some imposters threw out the four expelled Avengers using their apparent complicity in Captain Marvel’s flight from S.H.I.E.L.D. as the excuse.

Suddenly the Vision bursts into the room. He has clearly been in a fight and is badly wounded. Before he can tell Thor, Iron Man and Captain America what happened he collapses into unconsciousness. The Big Three get the Vision to the Avengers’ infirmary and are alarmed to realize that he no longer has a pulse.

Ant-Man (Hank Pym, PhD) arrives from Alaska, where he says his wife the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) is laid up with an illness after the Avengers’ recent battle with Kree forces there. Since Ant-Man created Ultron who in turn created the Vision, Hank’s expertise is called upon to see if the Vision can be repaired.

Ant-Man shrinks himself down the most that he can and enters the Vision’s body through the android’s nostrils. This begins an adventure through the Vision’s body in which Ant-Man will face the android’s dangerous artificial defenses. Obviously the whole setup is an intentional homage to the sci fi movie Fantastic Voyage. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

Tagged as Avengers, Avengers Infinity War, Balladeer's Blog, blogging, book reviews, glitternight.com, Kree-Skrull War, Marvel Comics, superheroes

May 19, 2018 · 2:48 pm

SOME MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS FROM THE PHILIPPINE WAR (1899-1902)

Memorial Day Weekend is just a week away.

In keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing items that slip through the cultural cracks I’m showcasing a few of the Congressional Medal of Honor winners from the neglected war fought in the Philippines from 1899 to 1902.

HIRAM BEARSS (Correct spelling) – This Captain won the Medal for his actions on November 17th,1901 during a battle at the confluence of the Sohotan and Cadacan Rivers in Samar. Bearss led his men in a surprise attack on the enemy positions in the fortified cliffs. Relying mostly on bamboo ladders the Captain and his troops drove their opposition from their entrenched positions, literally “charging uphill” against enemy fire.

They also had to contend with the countless booby-traps lining the hills, many of which had been in place since the Spanish- American War of 1898. Those deadly traps took the form of pits, poison- tipped spears, trip-sprung vine nets loaded down with literally tons of stones and many others. The opposition in the caves honeymooning the cliffs needed rooting out as well with various forms of death lurking around every twist and turn in the caverns.

Following that Bearss and his men kept up their advance, seizing gunpowder and arms in addition to food and other supplies before driving the enemy forces out of their secondary positions in the cliffs. The U.S. forces had never penetrated so far before. Bearss went on to serve in World War One.

FRANK L ANDERS – Corporal Anders served in the storied unit remembered as Young’s Scouts. He was decorated for actions taken on May 13th, 1899 in Luzon. The Corporal and ten other Americans stormed 300 – yes – THREE HUNDRED – of the enemy and, in a case of truth REALLY being stranger than fiction, they attacked so ferociously they drove their hundreds of foemen into retreat. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Neglected History

Tagged as Balladeer's Blog, blogging, glitternight.com, History, Medal of Honor Winners, Military History, Neglected history, The Philippine War