Category Archives: opinion

Balladeer’s Blog wraps up its end of year retrospective with this look at October’s best. In 2022 I’m going to limit the retrospective to just January through September. 

LARAINE NEWMAN’S CANNED FILM FESTIVAL (1986) – After Elvira’s Movie Macabre, concurrent with The Texas 27 Film Vault and a few years before MST3K came this short-lived Movie Host show that presented bad and campy movies from the 1930s to 1960s. Click HERE. 

HORROR FILM: THE NEST OF THE CUCKOO BIRDS (1965) – I review this neglected horror film about a nude female slasher in a mask, human taxidermy and a sinister, isolated Florida hotel which lets you check in but not check out. Click HERE.

FAUST: THE PRE-SPAWN VERSION OF SPAWN – A look at the 1987-2012 horror hero whose comic book adventures featured over the top violence and pornographic sexuality so extreme that the book was banned in various countries around the world. Click HERE.  

MUSICAL MUTINY (1970) – My review of this bizarre film. Iron Butterfly themselves appear and do performances of several songs including In A Gadda Da Vida. Featuring a ghostly pirate, a mad scientist in his 20s and the defunct amusement park called Pirates World. Click HERE. 

DUNE AS AN OPERA CYCLE – Frank Herbert’s first few Dune novels presented as a cycle of operas.

Click HERE.

EVERYBODY BELIEVES THEY ARE ON “THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY” – Claiming to be on the right side of history is as meaningless as claiming you have God on your side. Click HERE.

GRAVEYARD SHIFT – A review of the first three volumes of the Malin/ Poulton team of monster superheroes. Meet Professor Blood, the Monster, the Bride, Ghost in the Machine, Monster Girl and Sea Urchin. For villains you have the likes of Lady Shoggoth, Killer 99 and the Crimson Guard. Click HERE.

TWO OVERLOOKED HORROR TALES FROM JULIAN HAWTHORNE (1888 and 1893) – Nathaniel Hawthorne’s son and two of his forgotten horror stories. In this case the short stories deal with Egyptian mummies on the loose and a female vampire. Click HERE. Continue reading →

Balladeer’s Blog continues its end of year retrospective with the Best of July:

THREE BIZARRELY WATCHABLE MOVIES – My review of the neglected movies Darker Than Amber (1970), Bloodbath (1975) and Circle of Power (1981). Very odd but very watchable. Click HERE.

ANALOG HORROR: I AM SOPHIE IS OVER – The creators of the unfiction piece I Am Sophie brought it to an end. Click HERE.

“DO YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER OWNED A LEGO SET?” – Even as political witch hunts go, this is pathetic. Click HERE.

RYAN DRAKE NOVELS BY WILL JORDAN – Balladeer’s Blog’s look at the series of Ryan Drake spy novels written by the one and only Will Jordan. Click HERE.

DALLAS STOUDENMIRE: NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER – A Frontierado look at this old west figure. Click HERE.

DEMOCRATS STORM THE CAPITOL AND SET OFF EXPLOSIVES – Click HERE.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: THE ORIGINAL TEAM – I examine the Guardians’ stories from 1969-1977. Click HERE. 

And STAR-LORD: HIS 1970s ADVENTURES – Click HERE.

FRONTIERADO PARTY ESSENTIALS – The official list. Click HERE.

JOE BIDEN: DISASTER UPON DISASTER – Click HERE.

FOOL KILLER: JULY 1912 – The Fool Killer targets abuses by the monied class and follies by America’s political establishment. Click HERE.

THE APACHE KID – Another neglected but fascinating figure from the old west. Click HERE.

AND EVEN MORE NEGLECTED BATTLES FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR – Some lesser known battles from 1778. Click HERE. Continue reading →

Balladeer’s Blog’s end of year retrospective continues with the Best of June:

PRIME CUT (1972) – My review of this neglected gangster movie about a Chicago enforcer sent to nip in the bud an incipient rebellion from a defiant Kansas crime boss who is technically subordinate to Chicago. Click HERE.

JUNETEENTH: THE DAY DEMOCRATS LOST THEIR SLAVES – The Democrats and their long love of their “peculiar institution” of slavery. Click HERE. More HERE.

TEN TELEVISION FLOPS – Balladeer’s Blog’s look at ten bizarre, failed attempts at launching a television series. Click HERE.

FIRST SIXTEEN FIGHTING YANK STORIES FROM THE 1940s – The early tales of the patriotic Nedor superhero. Click HERE.

ESTABLISHMENT FEAR OF POPULISM – America’s notoriously corrupt political establishment has always feared and attacked great populist leaders like William Jennings Bryan, Eugene Debs and Donald Trump. The white-collar criminals who run our political system condemn populism with ever-changing slurs. Click HERE.

LIGHT SPEED ESPER (1967-1968) – An overlooked science fiction television series from Japan about a heroic boy who fights off invading aliens with the high-tech suit he wears. Click HERE.

THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION IN THE SECOND MADAGASCAR CONFLICT – A look at the Legion’s 1894-1895 participation in the French invasion of Madagascar. Click HERE.

I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED (1998) – My review of the Billy Zane movie based on the legendary unproduced script written by THE Ed Wood. Click HERE.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS SAYS THE WORLD NEEDS MORE TRUMPS AND FEWER BIDENS – Click HERE.

SHANG-CHI: HIS FIRST TWELVE ADVENTURES – An examination of Shang-Chi’s first 12 stories in the 1970s. Click HERE.

MORE NEGLECTED AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR – A look at several overlooked battles from late 1775 and most of 1776. Click HERE.

THE YEAR 2440 (1771): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – In this old forbidden book which was owned by both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, we readers get a glimpse of life on Earth in the title year. Click HERE.

THE PEOPLE VS JOE BIDEN – The corrupt yet senile Joe Biden is even worse than the repulsive George W Bush. Articles covering Biden’s many crimes against the rest of us are right HERE, HERE, and HERE.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: PRIVATEER ACTION IN SEPTEMBER OF 1778 – The title says it all about one of the busiest months for American Privateers during the war. Click HERE. Continue reading →