COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM OCTOBER 27th

HEADLINES

Stevens Point helmetNUMBER TEN FALLS – In D3 the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT STEVENS POINT POINTERS welcomed the number 10 team in the nation – the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT OSHKOSH TITANS. A 14-14 Halftime tie became a 17-14 edge for the Pointers to end the 3rd Quarter. From there UW-Stevens Point pulled off a 27-21 Upset.

NNAS_VAUSCAA GAME OF THE WEEK – The NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) traveled to face the COPPIN STATE EAGLES (C) in the Game of the Week in the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association). The Builders parlayed a 13-0 lead at the break into an authoritative 33-0 smackdown. 

College of Idaho Coyotes NEW HELMETTHEIR OWN PRIVATE IDAHO – Up in the NAIA the COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES played host to the country’s number 18 EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY MOUNTAINEERS. The Coyotes held a 27-14 Halftime advantage, then got more and more separation from the Mountaineers. The final tally was College of Idaho 48  Eastern Oregon University 24. Continue reading

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HAUNTEDWEEN THEME SONG (1991)

HauntedWeenAs always, October flies by too quickly. There are just a few days left in Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween. Here’s a shoutout to the title song from the infamously bad 1991 horror film HauntedWeen.

That movie is about a young kid driven insane by accidentally causing an impalement death. Long years later that now grown-up figure runs his family’s yearly spook-house for Halloween season. The catch is that after a few deaths that he demonstrates as fakes for the attendees he then begins really killing several helpless captives. The live audience cheers wildly, thinking it’s all just more fake blood and gore.

That inspired premise is squandered in a classically bad film that DOES boast a catchy theme song. And here it is:

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1899 MUMMY STORY: PHAROS THE EGYPTIAN

Balladeer’s Blog celebrates Halloween all month long. For today here’s a look at an 1899 mummy tale.

Pharos the EgyptianPHAROS THE EGYPTIAN (1899) – Written by Guy Boothby, who was better known for his Doctor Nikola stories about an evil genius in the mold of Dr Mabuse and Fu Manchu.

Cyril Forrester, a successful British artist, is approached by an enigmatic and sinister-seeming old Egyptian named Pharos. This figure tells Cyril that a mummy he (Cyril) inherited from his Egyptologist father is the dead body of Pharos’ ancestor from over 3,000 years ago. 

Pharos 2That ancestor was Ptahmes, whom we’re told served as a magician for the Pharaoh Ramses during the mythical Exodus. Pharos is angry over the desecration of his ancestor’s remains so Forrester obligingly returns the mummy to the old man.

And so begins a danger-filled supernatural adventure to return the mummy of Ptahmes to his tomb. Cyril is suckered along into following Pharos because he is attracted to – or as we’re supposed to pretend in fiction, he is “in love with” Valerie, a beautiful Hungarian violinist who is in thrall to the old Egyptian. Continue reading

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DAY TWO OF THE #WALKAWAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON

#walkaway march on washingtonAfter yesterday’s arrival and meet’n’greet today is the “March” part of the #WALKAWAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON. All of the members of #WALKAWAY decided to do just that from the ever-increasing insanity of the Democrats. I became an Independent voter long ago.

For the #WALKAWAY YouTube channel click HERE

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SEAN NA SAGART: HORROR CLASSIC IN WAITING

masc graveyard newBalladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween hurtles toward its finale next Wednesday night. This time around I’ll examine the tale of Sean na Sagart aka John of the Priests, who should have been the lead character in several horror films by this point.

Sean was born John Mullowney around 1690 AD in Derrew, Ireland. By his teens he was living beyond his means, often drinking and carousing. He financed his hard-partying lifestyle through multiple crimes, with various accounts claiming he was a masked Highwayman or a burglar or even a rustler and horse-thief.

It IS certain he was arrested for stealing horses and was sentenced to death by hanging in Castlebar, Ireland. Recognizing what an amoral creature was before them, the authorities offered Sean a very dirty job in exchange for escaping death on the gallows – becoming a Priest Hunter/ Killer.

The Penal Act of 1709 had decreed that Catholic Priests plus higher and lower clergymen must take the Oath of Abjuration and recognize Great Britain’s Protestant Queen Anne as the supreme religious authority in England AND Ireland. Refusing to do so merited summary execution.

Sean na Sagart's treeThus began the career and dark legend of Sean na Sagart. Sean spent roughly the next 17 years hunting, capturing and killing renegade Catholic Priests, Bishops, and Cardinals.

Since Catholic schools were forbidden, outlaw Hedge School Teachers were also fair game. Sean’s bounty varied according to the rank of his clergy member victims. If he ever backed out of this career as a Priest Hunter it was back to the gallows for him.  

WHY A HORROR STORY? For multiple reasons in a variety of storytelling approaches. First, if played strictly true-to-life it would make for a very ironic twist on the horror subgenre of Witchfinder General flicks, which always featured crazed, sadistic clergymen hunting and torturing confessions out of “witches.” And Continue reading

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TODAY THE #WALKAWAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON STARTS

#walkaway march on washingtonBalladeer’s Blog was like my own personal #WALKAWAY effort beginning in 2010. I became an Independent voter but many of the millions driven away by the Democrat Party’s increasing derangement have joined the Republicans.

The courageous Brandon Straka has made #WALKAWAY (from the Democrats) a national phenomenon. 

Brandon Straka“We are walking away from the lies, the hate, the violence, and vandalism. We are walking away from the vitriol, the name-calling, the censorship, the Fake News. We are walking away from the phony and crooked investigations, the divisiveness, the race-baiting. We are walking away from the attacks on our America. It is time to fight back with the greatest weapon at our disposal—the truth.

We walked away alone, but now we march together.” —Brandon Straka “#WalkAway March on Washington—October 26-28

“There are many people leaving the Democrat Party because they are sickened by the non-stop bullying, violence, censorship, and crudity displayed by so many on the Left. They are hip to the fact that the left-wing so-called anti-fascists, are in truth the very fascists that they claim to detest.”  (Balladeer: Or as I say, Antifa is really KLAN-tifa.)

***   The #WalkAway movement is holding a big rally, a march, during the weekend of October 26-28  ***

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THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970): MOVIE REVIEW

masc graveyard newHalloween is celebrated all month long here at Balladeer’s Blog. Here’s my review of this Jean Rollin film. For even more reviews of horror films with a nudity theme click HERE  

And for my look at three more Jean Rollin movies click HERE and HERE

Nude Vampire

The Nude Vampire

5. THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970) – France’s Jean Rollin is one of those love-them-or-hate-them directors. The snooty French often bashed his films for their devotion to style over all else. Don’t believe reviews which claim that his movies have no comprehensible storylines.

Personally I find him more straightforward than Lynch or Jodorowsky. At any rate the central figure of this arthouse Euro-horror is indeed a beautiful female vampire in skimpy outfits and less. Continue reading

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HALLOWEEN TALES OF IRVIN S COBB

Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween skedaddles along! Here’s a look at my favorite horror tales of the neglected American writer Irvin S Cobb.

GallowsmithTHE GALLOWSMITH (1918) – A traveling hangman really loves his work and has executed countless figures with no care regarding their guilt or innocence. If the court condemned them, he does his job.

An evil gunslinger called the Lone-Hand Kid has been condemned to death for a killing he didn’t actually commit. He berates the Gallowsmith so thoroughly while being hanged that our title character screws up, killing the Kid slowly and painfully instead of with one clean, neck-breaking drop.

As he dies the Kid curses the hangman, bringing on a ghastly finale.   Continue reading

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THE GRIM GHOST (1975)

Halloween Month at Balladeer’s Blog continues with this look at the Grim Ghost, a Pre-Spawn horror figure from the VERY short-lived Atlas/ Seaboard Comics. FOR MANY MORE ATLAS/SEABOARD HEROES CLICK HERE 

Grim Ghost 1THE GRIM GHOST

Secret Identity: Matthew Dunsinane, Highwayman

Origin: In 1740s America, Matthew Dunsinane was the masked Highway Robber known only as the Grim Ghost. He successfully preyed upon the Carriage Trade for years. In 1743 the Grim Ghost robbed Lord and Lady Braddock in their coach.

Lady Sarah Braddock, beautiful but evil, pretended to be interested in a tumble with the daring outlaw who had committed the robbery. Our red-blooded hero fell into her trap, was unmasked, tried and hanged.

In Hell, Satan informed the Grim Ghost that in the 20th Century he was facing a rebellious demon called Brimstone, who wanted to overthrow him and rule Hell in his place. That diabolical figure was endowing various evil-doers with powers to survive their ordained deaths, depriving Satan of their souls, thus weakening him in power and prestige.

Grim Ghost 2Satan offered to release the Grim Ghost from Hell periodically to subdue those renegade evil-doers and send them to Hell for damnation.

God would not interfere with Dunsinane’s mission since Brimstone was defying Fate. Satan endowed the Grim Ghost with powers of his own to battle Brimstone’s legions on Earth.

First Appearance: The Grim Ghost #1 (January, 1975). His final appearance came in July of that same year.

Powers: The Grim Ghost was given a flying, coal-black horse by Satan as well as ghostly powers of intangibility plus a brace of supernatural pistols. Those pistols fired shots that could burn and blast their way through solid objects plus dispatch Brimstone’s minions to their rightful place in Hell.

Comment: Continue reading

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THE CREEPY LINE (2018)

Halloween Month continues with the most frightening documentary since the morbidly obese Michael Moore’s film titled Why Can’t I Find A Training Bra That Fits Me? 

Creepy LineTHE CREEPY LINE (2018) (AVAILABLE ON I-TUNES) – This is a terrific and highly-detailed look at the abuses involved in selective censorship on Social Media and other internet sites. The techno-fascists at Facebook, Google, Twitter and similar 21st Century Robber Baron domains are finally getting the kind of scrutiny that those privileged (and partisan) one percenters deserve.

The willingness of those corporate fascists to cooperate with totalitarian regimes and totalitarian political parties has become a danger to freedom of expression all around the world. Letting privileged white billionaires dictate acceptable language and ideas on the internet is like a real-life version of countless works of dystopian fiction.

Mark Zuckerberg dead inside

“I’M DEAD INSIDE.”

This situation also brings to mind Robert Ludlum’s espionage novel The Prometheus Deception in which Zuckerbergian techno-fascists are more than happy to help oppressive governments impose a global dictatorship. Such thoughts remain in the back of your mind the entire time you watch this riveting documentary.

Silicon Valley’s fondness for suppressing speech and undermining free elections makes this long-overdue expose very VERY relevant as social media sites are now often refusing even PAID ADVERTISEMENTS of candidates disliked by the one percenters in charge.

Data Harvesting and the way those same Robber Baron fiefdoms in Silicon Valley violate the privacy of users and then sell their most intimate information is explored as well. Overall The Creepy Line is as explosive and relevant as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was back in its day. Think of this documentary as a similar work updated for the internet age. 

The Jungle caused such an uproar that it led to the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act. Hopefully The Creepy Line will lead to similar policing of the flagrant abuses of Silicon Valley’s “Masters of the Universe.” 

FOR MORE ABOUT THE CREEPY LINE CLICK HERE  

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