ICE CUBE’S WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025) THE UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY HIT OF THE YEAR

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025) – A new chapter has been added to the history of H.G. Wells adaptations. Ice Cube stars in Amazon’s feature-length product placement for itself. In a moment of Cosmic Comedy, Amazon straight-facedly attached the tagline “It’s worse than you think” to this flick.

Yes, obviously that was meant in the sense that the crisis involving invading aliens is worse than you think, but my God you’d have to be an idiot or have the proverbial balls the size of church bells to approve that tagline for your own company’s movie production.

Master thespian Ice Cube stars as a government surveillance operative who abuses his position to violate people’s civil rights all day long while also obsessively spying on his own family members on taxpayer time. AND HE’S OUR SUPPOSED HERO!

Ice Cube Makes Faces should have been this thing’s title, since he does nothing but sit in a chair exercising his facial muscles while spending face time with us and absurdly playing his Big Brother Will Protect You role to the hilt. And lest you fear that this adaptation will be less than faithful to the source material, the filmmakers even included the part where one of H.G. Wells’ characters says “Get your skinny ass over there!”

I now want to see an entire Cinematic Universe of Ice Cube starring in movies made from H.G. Wells stories. I’m sure the Invisible Man’s reaction to his condition would be something like “DAAAMN!” Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: GULLIVAR JONES ON MARS (1905) CONCLUSION

GULLIVAR JONES ON MARS aka Lt. Gullivar Jones – His Vacation and various other titles and spellings, was published in 1905 and is one VERY odd piece of work. The author was Edwin L. Arnold, whose ineptitude made this novel very unfulfilling as he defeated his storyline at every turn. Before I get into this third and final part of my review of Gullivar Jones on Mars the links to the first two parts are below:

PART ONE – I examined the low-profile feud between fans of Edwin L. Arnold, who maintain that many elements of this novel “influenced” (to say the least) Edgar Rice Burroughs’ later stories about John Carter of Mars, and Burroughs fans. The parallels are many, and I laid them out while also pulling in Arnold’s novel Phra the Phoenician. Click HERE

PART TWO – I reviewed the first half of Gullivar Jones on Mars, complete with what revisions I would make to correct the way Edwin L. Arnold never failed to sabotage his own work, letting intriguing concepts die on the vine or letting rising tension peter out into lame anticlimax. It’s almost comical how he did that. Click HERE.

GULLIVAR JONES ON MARS: PART THREE OF THREE

MORNING ON THE ISLE OF BEASTS – We pick up the morning after our hero, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Gullivar Jones, survived the night on the Isle of Beasts – my name for the place, since Edwin couldn’t be bothered to provide names for places or characters much of the time. Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS ROUNDUP: AUGUST SEVENTH

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog serves up another current events roundup.

HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON, COMEY, GARLAND AND MUELLER ORDERED TO TESTIFY IN EPSTEIN PROBE. Maxwell punctures Democrat attempts to drag Trump into this HERE.

DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN CALLED OUT FOR LIVING IT UP ON TAXPAYER MONEY WHILE THEIR STATE STRUGGLES. Democrats are the “Let them eat cake” party. 

ICE DETAINS FUGITIVE CUBAN REGIME TORTURER WHO WAS ALLOWED IN UNDER BIDEN.

ICE PURSUES CUSTODY OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED FOR CHILD RAPE, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND OTHER CHARGES TO PREVENT DEMOCRAT “SANCTUARY” STATE MASSACHUSETTS FROM RELEASING THEM. C’mon, Democrats! You KNOW you want to make this guy your new Cause Celebre!

MARLOW DISCUSSES SIX CASES OF THE 2023-2024 LAWFARE AGAINST TRUMP TIED TO JOE BIDEN AND HIS REGIME. Banana Republic tactics, like we stated at the time. 

ILLEGAL CHINESE IMMIGRANT AND ACCOMPLICES CAUGHT SMUGGLING U.S. MICROCHIPS TO CHINA. More HERE. Joe Biden was owned by China but Trump isn’t.

CLAPPER AND OTHER FORMER OBAMA OFFICIALS FACING GRAND JURY PROBE OVER THE RUSSIA HOAX AGAINST TRUMP.

TEXAS LAW REQUIRING VOTER I.D. FOR MAIL-IN VOTING WINS AGAINST THE BIDEN REGIME’S LAWSUIT. Efforts continue to prevent another tainted and corrupt election like 2020.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN DEMOCRAT “SANCTUARY STATE” OF NEW JERSEY ARRESTED FOR KILLING A WOMAN AND HER ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER.

DEMOCRAT SENATOR ADAM SCHIFF’S MORTGAGE FRAUD SCANDAL CONTINUES

ANTI-TRUMP DISTRICT JUDGE INVESTIGATED OVER USING AI TO WRITE ONE OF THEIR LEGAL DECISIONS. Massive errors and references to nonexistent case law as well as parties not involved in the case at hand. Continue reading

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MONTCALM COLLEGE: COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM

Grown bored with college sports teams called Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats? Here’s another institution whose teams go by a more creative name. 

MONTCALM COLLEGE Continue reading

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REMEMBERING DR. GAD SAAD’S WISE WORDS ABOUT ANTI-TRUMP LUNACY

Truly delusional people continue to prove how little they understand about how our own political system works, given their hysterical, unhinged rantings about President Donald Trump. It’s an appropriate time to remember SANE Trump critic Dr. Gad Saad’s 2017 words about unhinged Democrat panic over things the Donald couldn’t possibly do under our system. 

NOTE: And let’s face it, the 2025 anti-Trump freakouts are even more idiotic than the ones in 2017 because we’ve already had years of privileged white Democrats suffering from their own paranoid fantasies rather than anything actually done by President Trump. No, Democrats, being fearmongered by the way your own Party’s media outlets incessantly push shrill apocalyptic narratives does not count as “oppression.”

Dr. Saad, who experienced REAL personal and political peril in his life, made this observation about the histrionics of pampered American Democrat “academics” – “As somebody who escaped Lebanon and actually hid under desks to avoid death squads, I don’t take well to these idiots from Wellesley College who say, ‘I’m scared to go and buy my hamburgers now that Trump won,’ because it trivializes what true trauma is.

Saad is an authority on Behavioral Science and Evolutionary Psychology as well as the author of a column in Psychology TodayBelow is a link to the entire interview but first some more excerpts from Dr. Saad: 

Everyone who is suffering from collective Munchausen and mass hysteria are obviously of a particular political bent — the ultra-Left (who typically belong to the Democratic party).”  …  “This leads to people thinking absurd lines of thought like — and I’m being satirical here — : “How will I go to the store and feel safe buying tomatoes once Trump is in office?” or “What will happen to my children? Will Trump cause us to cannibalize our children?” “Will sex still be permitted?

When you’re getting into that kind of delusional discourse it seems extraordinary that this is viewed as reasonable discourse. These are professors, these are colleagues of mine who feel perfectly comfortable departing from reality in this way.”   …    “Hate Trump as much as you want. Hate specific policies by him but don’t engage in this grotesque discourse.”   

The problem arises when you have a discourse fully detached from reality. It’s beyond satirical and grotesque in how much stupidity is exhibited. A typical comment on my social feed might state something to the following effect, “I’m a woman of color,” she’s attending some school in Maine and she’s saying, “I’m afraid. Can I still go to class?

It’s more than just mass hysteria — which is a known psychological mechanism.”    …  “So the faux-fear we’re seeing now with all of these, for lack of a better term, schmucks is a form of collective Munchausen. It’s: “Oh my god, we’re going to be gang-raped, the third-reich is coming for us.” Continue reading

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LONI ANDERSON R.I.P. – PARTNERS IN CRIME (1984)

PARTNERS IN CRIME (1984) – To note the passing of Loni Anderson here’s a Forgotten Television look at the detective series in which she co-starred with Lynda Carter. Both ladies had been married at one time to a private detective named Raymond Dashiell Caulfield.

When Caulfield was murdered the ladies learned he had left them his mansion and his detective agency. This being a television series they joined forces to find Raymond’s killer, then decided to stay in business together running their late husband’s detective agency.

Loni played Sydney Kovack, a streetwise woman who grew up in San Francisco pulling minor hustles here and there with her con-man father. Ultimately, she went straight and became a professional cellist and bass player. 

Lynda portrayed Carole Stanwyck, who was born into wealth and practiced professional photography as her passion. The stage was set for odd couple personality clashes and minor bickering as the ladies learned to work together despite their differing temperaments. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG: PRESEASON TOP TWENTY FOR NAIA COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The college football divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog kick off their 2025 season August 23rd. First up in my preseason rankings is the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).

*** 1. MORNINGSIDE UNIVERSITY MUSTANGS    ###    2. GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS (Defending National Champions)    ###    3. KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS    4. UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA-WESTERN BULLDOGS    ###   

5. BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS    ###    6. NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS    ###    7. INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS    ###    8. MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS    ###    Continue reading

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AUGUST FOURTH ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

Time for another current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

MARLOW’S LATEST BOOK, THIS ONE ABOUT THE WAY DEMOCRATS GROTESQUELY DISTORTED THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN THEIR BANANA REPUBLIC WAR ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, IS OUT TOMORROW

JACK SMITH IS THE LATEST CORRUPT, PARTISAN HACK BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ABUSES AS THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR INVESTIGATES HIM

CLAMPING DOWN ON THE PRIVILEGED WHITE ANTI-ICE FASCISTS WHO ATTACK AGENTS.

DEMOCRAT PARTY

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS TEACHER ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF DISTRIBUTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. Democrats, can you please leave children alone?

DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN JASON CROW COURAGEOUSLY CALLS OUT THE PARTY FOR LOSING NINETY PERCENT OF AMERICA’S COUNTIES IN NOVEMBER’S ELECTION AND FOR THE WAY DEMOCRAT MISMANAGEMENT OF CITIES MEANS WORKING PEOPLE CAN’T AFFORD TO LIVE IN THEM. Among his remarks: “Working people can’t afford to live in cities where Democrats govern. We have, in too many instances, not done enough to keep communities safe. There’s a lot we have to do differently, there’s no doubt about it.” 

DNI TULSI GABBARD STILL FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT AGAINST CIA PROPAGANDA OPERATIVES STILL DOING WORKS THAT WERE EXPOSED AS FAR BACK AS THE 1970s. The voters stopped paying attention after the 1970s scandals and CIA worms resumed their ugly activities. Were all those exposes for nothing?

POPULIST PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP PRESSURING BIG PHARMA TO DROP PRESCRIPTION COSTS TO LOWEST GLOBAL RATE. Trump remains the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime. Continue reading

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JEFF CHANDLER’S SWASHBUCKLER FILMS

Actor Jeff Chandler starred in a variety of roles, and happily he appeared in a few swashbuckler movies. 

YANKEE BUCCANEER (1952) – An enjoyable movie but one which throws history out the window in the mind-boggling way that only Hollywood could manage! The real-life American naval heroes David Porter (Jeff Chandler) and David Farragut (Scott Brady) are presented fighting Caribbean pirates during the early 1820s.

The men and their crew are ordered to pose as pirates in order to infiltrate and bring down the real pirates menacing trade in the Caribbean. While undertaking that flashy, daring mission they get caught up in a plot involving Portugal and its colony Brazil against American interests.

Our heroes become romantic rivals for Countess Margarita La Raguna (Suzan Ball, Lucille’s cousin) as the movie ignores the fascinating REAL relationships between the Porter and Farragut families. Still, Yankee Buccaneer is fun, and naturally the good guys win. David Janssen, Michael Ansara and Tonto himself, Jay Silverheels, co-star. 86 minutes.

NOTE: While Commander Porter and Lieutenant Farragut really did take on pirates during that time period they never served on the same ship like this movie pretends. Farragut was on one of the smaller “mosquito” ships in Porter’s fleet.  Continue reading

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THE PARTY CRASHERS (1958) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

In the middle 1980s/ Way down on Level 31 –

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY year of this neglected cult show that debuted February 9th of 1985. 

EPISODE ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Per fan MilesTellerRox, Saturday September 13th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.

Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma. 

SERIAL: Again, per MilesTellerRox, before presenting and mocking The Party Crashers our machine-gun wielding Film Vault Technicians First Class Randy and Richard presented and mocked an episode of Mysterious Doctor Satan, a Republic serial from 1940.

The serial featured a mad scientist called Dr Satan trying to take over the world with a VERY goofy- looking robot while a pulp-style hero called Copperhead tried to thwart his plans.  

FILM VAULT LORE: This episode featured Randy (right) and Richard’s (left) interview with Denver Pyle, who appears in the film being presented, The Party Crashers. They taped the interview with him at Ben Johnson’s ranch. 

THE PARTY CRASHERS (1958) – Connie Stevens, Bobby Driscoll, Mark Damon, Frances Farmer and the aforementioned Denver Pyle star in this unintentionally hilarious movie about a group of Juvenile Delinquents whose M.O. is to crash parties at upper-class homes, help themselves to food, drink and women and then vandalize the place. Continue reading

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