January 2, 2017 · 11:55 pm

CHRISTOPHER COFFIN: THEATER OF THRILLS RECONSTRUCTION BY O LYTLE HOOVER

christopher coffin

… … “Christopher Coffin”

Special thanks to O Lytle Hoover for contacting me and letting me know about this labor of love at his Youtube channel!

Christopher Coffin (Reed Farrell) hosted Theater of Thrills in Michigan in the 1960s. O Lytle Hoover DIRECTED that late-night Movie Host show and drew on his personal experience to “reconstruct” a Theater of Thrills episode at his Youtube Channel.

FOR MY ORIGINAL ARTICLE ON CHRISTOPHER COFFIN CLICK HERE 

FOR O LYTLE HOOVER’S VIDEO, SEE BELOW: Continue reading →

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January 2, 2017 · 4:50 pm

HILARIOUSLY INACCURATE PREDICTIONS FROM PSYCHICS

earth-explodingWith a new year underway – 2017 C.E. – Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some past predictions by “psychics” (LMAO) that turned out to be wildly off the mark.

FREDERICK DAVIES – In 1978 he predicted:

— Jimmy Carter would get reelected.

— In the early 1980s sea research would result in a cure for various types of cancer.

— A manned landing on Mars would be made by 1985.

— By 1988 a third of all homes would be using solar energy for cooking and heating.

firebird-2015-ad— Private automobiles would be banned … by 1990.

— Also by 1990 life would be discovered on Jupiter and communication with another planet – possibly from beyond our solar system – would be achieved.

— Between 1999-2001 the origin of the UFO sightings around the world would be determined. Continue reading →

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January 1, 2017 · 7:28 pm

… ANOTHER LIBERAL FED UP WITH THE AMERICAN LEFT

kim-mckinney-cohen-and-husband

*** *** *** *** *** … … At Politico: Kim McKinney Cohen and husband Robert Carl Cohen

Here’s another American Liberal – Kim McKinney Cohen – explaining how the Left’s forever-increasing corruption  drove her away like it did me. I like to run these items as a break from me noting the reasons why I grew to dislike both American Liberals and American Conservatives.

The link to the whole piece is below, but I’ll start with some excerpts:

Cohen called her vote for Donald Trump a “primal scream” aimed at the Democrats, who – as I often point out – have been pocketed by one percenters and bloated rich pigs as surely as the Republicans were long ago.  

She further stated “I wanted it (the Democrats’ Party) burned down … so that we could build a new, hopefully more equitable one that meets the needs of all, not only the super-rich.”

Mascot with demo and repub heads

The symbol of the nonexistent Balladeer Political Party

“The Democratic Party, to which she had been unswervingly loyal for four decades, had sabotaged her chosen candidate, Bernie Sanders, and then lectured her about the need to vote for a woman whose hawkishness and arrogance rubbed her the wrong way. When Hillary Clinton said dismissively supporters of Donald Trump were ‘a basket of deplorables,’ Cohen had heard enough.”

“Well, then,” she sighed, “I guess I’m a deplorable.” Continue reading →

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January 1, 2017 · 4:37 pm

CRUSADERS DEFEAT COUGARS IN BALLADEER’S BOWL VII

helmetmaryhardinbaylorBalladeer’s Bowl always pits the NAIA football champs against the NCAA D3 football champs. The results are in, and for the VERY FIRST TIME the Champions of NCAA D3 – this year the UNIVERSITY OF MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS – defeated the Champions of the NAIA – this year the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS. 

The voting ended today and the Crusaders won, 203 votes to 161. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE UMHB CRUSADERS, THE WINNERS OF BALLADEER’S BOWL SEVEN! This may be the first step toward making it a real rivalry, like when Namath’s Jets beat the Colts.

Here are the results of the six previous Balladeer’s Bowl matchups: Continue reading →

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January 1, 2017 · 2:28 pm

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New YearHAPPY NEW YEAR! As a light-hearted start here’s a look at events that happened on New Year’s Day in the past.

1935 – The very first Orange Bowl pitted Bucknell University against the University of Miami. Bucknell won 26-0. Meanwhile the first Sugar Bowl saw Tulane defeat Temple 20-14.

1915 – With World War One raging a German U-Boat struck in the English Channel, sinking the ship the Formidable and killing 547 people.

1902 – In the first Rose Bowl game Michigan defeats Stanford 49-0.

1946 – Japanese soldiers at Corregidor learned from news reports that World War Two had ended months ago and finally came out of hiding to surrender.

1801 – The asteroid (now a dwarf planet) Ceres is discovered by the Italian Giuseppe Piazzi.  Continue reading →

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December 31, 2016 · 8:23 pm

PRIMER (2004): CREPE SYUZHET

primerPRIMER (2004) – Yes, I’m just childish enough to pat myself on the back for that play on words in the title of this blog post. With that out of the way I know I’m late to the game when it comes to Primer but my own skepticism about it made me keep it on the back burner in terms of priority movies to watch.

Since New Year’s Eve into the New Year is the closest any of us ever get to time travel I figured today was the perfect time to finally review this controversial film. Primer was made for just $7,000 (really) by Shane Carruth, who starred, wrote, directed, edited, arranged the music and pretty much did everything but wash the cars of his collaborators.

The film’s 2:1 film ratio has become legendary and decisively proved the benefits of having your cast repeatedly rehearse scenes before letting the cameras roll. Film stock ain’t cheap and anything an independent producer can do to save on it is pure gold.

primer-2Shane Carruth stars as Aaron and David Sullivan portrays Abe. The pair are engineers who – on the side – run a tech business out of Aaron’s garage. As a side effect of a project they are working on the two discover a means of time travel.

Don’t roll your eyes and assume that Primer is just another use of this well-worn concept. I made that mistake and put off watching this excellent and thought-provoking movie for far too long.

You can ignore reviews which claim the opening half of this 77 minute film is boring. Literally even the most casual exchanges of dialogue have bearing on the overall story. It’s not really a spoiler at this late date to point out that the very beginning of the film is NOT the “first run” of the events in the storyline, as a viewer discovers later. Continue reading →

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December 31, 2016 · 12:30 pm

BAD MOVIES 4 NEW YEAR’S EVE

Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’m very fond of cinematic turkeys that have seasonal tie-ins. In that spirit here’s a look at bad movies with a New Year’s Eve theme. As usual, full-length reviews of these films can be found on my Bad Movie page.

AKA Time Warp

AKA Time Warp

BLOODY NEW YEAR (1987) – Also released under the title Time Warp but it’s grisly enough for the more explicit title. A handful of British boaters who are fleeing a family of soccer hooligans (no, really) wind up on an island with a deserted hotel that’s been decorated for a New Year’s Eve party since the 1950s.

This Norman J Warren film stars nobody and borrows heavily from Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead in terms of its imitation “Deadites” and its POV tracking shots. It also features a killer who emerges from a movie being watched, a monster who climbs out of a tablecloth, homicidal kitchen utensils, indoor snowfall, laughing shrubbery and living walls. All the chaos is being caused by hapless souls who have been trapped in limbo for decades and will do anything to get out or to drag others into their hellish undead existence with them.

Bloody New Year is a neglected bad movie classic that has all the Continue reading →

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December 30, 2016 · 11:50 pm

MUSLIM ATROCITY ROUNDUP: DECEMBER 30th

obama-not-jump-to-conclusionsHere are just a FEW of the latest blood-soaked actions committed by fanatics from the homophobic, xenophobic and misogynistic religion which continues to retard the rest of the world’s social progress.

December 9th: Madagali, Nigeria – Muslim fascists used two children as human bombs to kill FIFTY-SEVEN innocent people and injure ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-SEVEN more.  

December 18th: Aden, Yemen – Islamists bombed and killed FIFTY-TWO innocent people and injured over SIXTY more. Remember, Obama is so delusional he STILL calls Yemen a “success” of his administration.

December 10th: Aden, Yemen – MORE Obama-style success as an Islamofascist suicide bombing killed FORTY-EIGHT innocent people and injured THIRTY-ONE more. 

obamas-legacy-map

… … … … … … … … … … … OBAMASTAN

December 11th: Mogadishu, Somalia – Muslim fascists used a suicide bombing to kill TWENTY-NINE innocent people and injure FORTY-EIGHT more.

December 11th: Cairo, Egypt – Islamists bombed a Christian church, killing TWENTY-SEVEN innocent people and injuring FORTY-NINE more. Coexistence! 

December 14th: Gadani, Nigeria – Members of Fulani, the local franchise of the Global Muslim Fascist Murder Machine, attacked and killed 15 innocent people and injured over 40 more.

December 19th: Berlin, Germany – A Muslim “asylum seeker” used a stolen truck in an attack which killed 13 innocent people and injured 48 more. Continue reading →

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December 30, 2016 · 5:18 pm

THE GREEN HUNTSMAN: CHRISTMAS HORROR FOLKLORE

green-flamesTHE GREEN HUNTSMAN – The Green Huntsman is an interesting example of the many figures who started out as folklore before being committed to the printed page in horror stories.

Long before the short stories featuring the Green Huntsman began to appear around the 1830s the figure was already being conflated with the Wicked Huntsman of Basque folk tales. Joseph Holt Ingraham’s 1841 story titled simply The Green Huntsman is arguably the best known of the short stories.

The figure eventually known as the Green Huntsman has its origins centuries ago. Originally a mortal man, this huntsman was a Castilian nobleman who had a perfect body but a very ugly face. As the tale was inevitably embellished it got to the point where the man freakishly had just one large green eye above the nose of his otherwise handsome face. 

green-flames-2The nobleman was obsessed with tracking down and marrying a mythical woman called the Christmas Bride who could only be found on Christmas Eve. This woman was incredibly beautiful but blind. The Green Huntsman wanted her as his bride not only because she would not be able to see how hideous he was, but, more importantly, she was destined to give birth to a son who would become the New Charlemagne, who would unite all Europe under one ruler. 

Clad in his all-green hunting outfit the Green Huntsman would ride forth every Christmas Eve accompanied by his hunting dogs. One year the whip he used to urge his horse onward contained a hair from the head of the Virgin Mary herself. (Remember, there was a lucrative business long ago in selling fake relics like pieces of wood from the “true” cross, plus the bones or other items from various saints.)

That hair from Christian mythology’s Blessed Mother supposedly would act as a divining rod, and the bristles on the whip would point the way to the Christmas Bride. The Green Huntsman had paid an enormous amount of money to the Pope himself to obtain the hair. Continue reading →

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December 30, 2016 · 3:11 pm

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

LSU-Alexandria GeneralsNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Division One

1. LSU-ALEXANDRIA GENERALS    ###    2. BIOLA UNIVERSITY EAGLES    ###    3. WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN    ###    4. WILLIAM CAREY UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS    ###    5. OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY STARS    ###    

Westmont College Warriors6. WESTMONT COLLEGE WARRIORS   ###    7. HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ROYALS   ###    8. TALLADEGA COLLEGE TORNADOES   ###    9. ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM   ###    10. XAVIER UNIVERSITY (LA) GOLD RUSH    ###     Continue reading →

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