FRANK PHILLIPS COLLEGE PLAINSMEN
Location: Borger, TX
Division: NJCAA
Comment: The Plainsmen are notorious with Balladeer’s Blog and the world at large for both their catchy team name AND their thoroughly butt- kicking logo. Continue reading
COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM: FRANK PHILLIPS COLLEGE
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
BEAUTIFUL CASEY JAMES PRESENTS BALLADEER’S BLOG’S OBSCURE SPAGHETTI WESTERNS
Balladeer’s Blog’s Official Movie Hostess, the legendary Casey James
Casey James is as lethal as she is lovely and among her many roles in life she is kind enough to be Balladeer’s Blog’s Official Movie Hostess. This time around this voluptuous embodiment of men’s and many women’s desires is presenting the first in a series of my reviews of the more obscure Spaghetti Westerns – the ones not well known to viewers who are only familiar with Sergio Leone’s films.
THE PRICE OF POWER (1969) – There were literally more than 550 Spaghetti Westerns made in the 60’s and 70’s since when the Italians do something they do it in a big, big way. Those hundreds of films vary in quality from pretty good to hilariously awful and the creative talents behind them often tried to outdo each other in terms of colorful heroes and oddball plots. My favorites include those movies where the Italians took more liberties with Western history than American filmmakers ever dreamed of.
That brings us to The Price Of Power which was also released under the title Texas. The point of this film is … well, it’s hard to say really. Even after repeated viewings. It’s difficult to determine if the filmmakers were trying to make a statement about the alleged conspiracy behind the assassination of President John F Kennedy or about the civil rights movement, or about capitalism’s impact on the political process in a free society or what. Whatever they were trying to do the end result is like a history lesson taught by Ed Wood himself. Let’s compare the historical record to the plotline of this very odd movie. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Sex Symbols, Spaghetti Westerns
SUPERNATURAL (1933) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT
Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault!
Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this neglected cult show from the mid-1980′s.
EPISODE ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Saturday April 19th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.
EXTRAS: This episode featured footage of our Film Vault Technicians First Class Randy and Richard’s promotional appearance at Six Flags Mall in nearby Arlington, TX. 
HOST SEGMENTS: One particular Host Segment featured one of the show’s behind-the- scenes people portraying Commando Cody complete with helmet and rocket pack. He was portraying the character because the Commando Cody serial Radar Men from the Moon was the current serial being shown before the movie each week on The Texas 27 Film Vault.
Since Randy Clower still outranked his co-host Richard Malmos (at least until a few episodes later) in the fictional Film Vault Corps (“The few, the proud, the sarcastic”) their relationship often featured the type of abusive “Host and Second Banana” dynamic like that between Dr Morgus and his lab assistant Chopsley or Zacherle and his wife My Dear or Dr Forester and TV’s Frank. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Movie Hosts
COLLEGE BASEBALL CHAMPIONS FOR 2014
Here’s one last round of congratulations to this year’s college baseball champions in the nine divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
National Champions – CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS
Runners-Up – LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS
2013 Champions – FAULKNER UNIVERSITY EAGLES
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
National Champions – FRESNO PACIFIC UNIVERSITY SUNBIRDS
Runners-Up – LEE UNIVERSITY FLAMES
2013 Champions – CALIFORNIA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY LANCERS Continue reading
Filed under College Baseball
PULP HERO: PILOT G8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES
Previously Balladeer’s Blog has done a story-by- story examination of the neglected pulp heroes Silver John, the Moon Man and Northwest Smith. Now begins a look at the pulp adventures of the American World War One pilot code-named G8.
THE HERO: G-8 was the codename of an American flying ace of World War One. The character was created by Robert J Hogan in 1933 and over the next 11 years Hogan wrote 110 stories featuring the daring figure. G-8, whose real name was never revealed, was a master of disguise in addition to his piloting and hand-to-hand combat skills. Hogan’s hero (see what I did there) was unswervingly patriotic and fiercely dedicated to the defeat of the Central Powers.
THE STORIES: With his two fellow operatives “The Battle Aces” G-8 conducted aerial commando raids, carried out special forces missions and even undertook espionage missions against the Germans, Austro-Hungarians and the Ottoman Muslim Turks. In true Pulp Story fashion the Central Powers threw a vast array of mad scientists, monstrous creatures and alien super-science against our heroes, who always prevailed in the end. Continue reading
Filed under Pulp Heroes
COOL- NAMED SPORTS TEAM: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT SUMTER
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT SUMTER FIRE ANTS
Location: Benghazi, Libya – no, actually Sumter, SC
Division: NJCAA
Comment: In a college sports world littered with far too many teams called Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats it’s always a pleasure to find teams that have a certain flair and originality. Continue reading
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
OBAMA: IS HE STUPID IN ADDITION TO BEING WEAK, INEPT AND CROOKED?
Welcome back to Balladeer’s Blog, the only site on the web that criticizes American Liberals and American Conservatives equally. Presented for your convenience is this week’s handy guide to the latest disasters and embarrassments of the Obama administration – the most laughable and larcenous in American history.
A. IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD – Mad Magazine, an American institution for decades, unleashed their latest anti- Obama broadside: a mock version of the Saving Private Ryan movie posters ridiculing Little Barry’s absurd and ill- considered deal to release FIVE Al Qaeda heavy- hitters in exchange for AN AMERICAN DESERTER SUSPECTED OF COLLABORATING WITH HIS CAPTORS!? Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Presidential Rap Sheets
HITTITE MYTHS: THE SECOND VERSION OF TARHUN VERSUS ILLUYANKA
As promised here is Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the second of two different versions of the ancient myth about the Hittite storm god Tarhun battling the supreme serpent Illuyanka. Both versions tie in with the Purulli Festival.
VERSION TWO – Illuyanka, a miles- long serpent, emerged from his lair in the depths of the sea (NOT the Netherworld like in the first version) and unleashed havoc and disorder. Tarhun the storm god clashed with Illuyanka in Kiskilussa and, unexpectedly, the serpent was triumphant. Illuyanka plucked out Tarhun’s eyes and his heart and left him to live blind and helpless (yes, even though he had no heart).
The difference in the two versions centers around the way in which Tarhun eventually gets revenge on Illuyanka. In this version the defeated, blind and “heartless” storm god, seemingly living in exile from his heavenly kingdom following his defeat, marries “the daughter of a poor man”. Neither the name of the daughter or the father is mentioned in the surviving fragments of the myth. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
SEXY MODEL M*E*T*A*L PRESENTS TWO OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S BIGGEST HITS
M*E*T*A*L (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) presenting some Balladeer’s Blog classics!
M*E*T*A*L has a well- deserved reputation as one of the most achingly beautiful women in the world. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will remember her candid interview last year as well as her capable performances in stories about my Las Vegas -based superheroine called the Matriarch! This modern-day pagan fertility goddess is with us today for a very important purpose: Continue reading
Filed under Sex Symbols
FINAL TWO COLLEGE BASEBALL CHAMPIONS CROWNED FOR 2014
* NCAA DIVISION TWO *
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Balladeer’s Blog’s college baseball coverage for 2014 came to a close with yesterday’s completion of the World Series in NCAA Division Two and the NJCAA Division Two. The UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA SCREAMING EAGLES did battle with the COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY MAVERICKS for the title. The Screaming Eagles grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the 1st Inning but the Mavericks went ahead 2-1 in the 3rd. That was all the scoring until another Southern Indiana run tied the score at 2-2 in the 8th Inning. Things remained knotted up at that score until the TWELFTH INNING, when USI scored the go- ahead run on – of all things – a bases- loaded walk. Matt Chavarria pitched the 3-2 victory. * CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SCREAMING EAGLES, THE 2014 CHAMPIONS OF D2 BASEBALL! * Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
