AMY PRENTISS (1974-1975) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

AMY PRENTISS – Long before she was known as Archer’s mother, the talented Jessica Walter had churned out powerful performances of all kinds in movies and television. Jessica’s short-lived run as the sleuth Amy Prentiss is a reminder that a program can be a bit too far ahead of its time to thrive. 

IRONSIDE: AMY PRENTISS (May 23rd, 1974) – For readers too young to remember the term “back-door pilots” it referred to producers using an episode of an existing hit television series as a de facto pilot for a new series. The star and a few cast members of the prospective new series would costar with the hit series’ regulars in a story tailored to show off what the proposed new series would be like. Continue reading

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THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU (1923) SILENT FILM SERIAL

THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU (1923) – One of the earliest, if not THE earliest, big screen adaptations of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels, which launched in 1913. The tales depicted the brilliant Chinese figure Dr. Fu Manchu at most plotting global domination but most often uniting many Far Eastern races against White Colonial nations to drive them out of Asia.  

Yes, these stories have quite a bit wrong with them given their bigoted, unfair caricatures of Chinese people and other Asians. Personally, I would never expose children to them as they require adult minds to sort through ugly wording and concepts.  Continue reading

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MARCH THIRD ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

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

UKRAINIAN MP JOINS THE VOICES AGAINST ZELENSKYY AND CALLS FOR HIS IMPEACHMENT. How many times now has Zelenskyy blown opportunities for peace? And yes, Vlad Putin is a barbaric, unstable war criminal but that does not give Zelenskyy a pass for all of his corruption, his ending of elections and opposition parties, his press gangs using ever-younger Ukrainians as cannon fodder to feed his own ego, etc. More HERE. Trump also extended the sanctions against Putin HERE but anti-Trump loons ignore that.

*** NEW! ZELENSKYY CAUGHT LYING TO THE U.S. Is anyone all that surprised?

REMEMBER: EVEN JOE BIDEN LOST HIS TEMPER WITH THE UNGRATEFUL, WARMONGERING TROLL ZELENSKYY. Plus, HANSON ON ZELENSKYY’S CRAVENNESS AND INGRATITUDE.

AND ANOTHER UKRAINIAN MP BLASTS ZELENSKYY FOR HIS “ABSOLUTE IDIOCY.” More HERE. Plus remember, Trump was ELECTED, unlike Zelenskyy who canceled elections in his country. 

HEGSETH REMINDS HILLARY CLINTON OF HER ABSURD, GROVELING “RESET” BUTTON WITH PUTIN WHEN SHE WAS SECRETARY OF STATE. Plus there’s always Hillary’s uranium scandal when she funneled it to Putin AND her collusion with Russia to slander and libel Trump.

EVEN THIS ANTI-TRUMP REPORTER ADMITS THAT ZELENSKYY WAS AT FAULT IN THE MEETING WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP. It’s obvious if you watch all 50 minutes of the meeting, but of course most anti-Trump propagandists prefer to push their shrill, hysterical narrative. And look, I stated Trump was foolish for the whole “51st State” bit with Canada and for his bizarre Greenland remarks, but it’s not Trump’s fault that Zelenskyy – whom American taxpayers should all list as a “dependent” on their tax returns – proved once again what a corrupt, self-aggrandizing little toad he is.

MIKE WALZ ON ZELENSKYY’S UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND FOR CAMPAIGNING WITH DEMOCRATS LAST ELECTION SEASON.

STARMER’S PATHETIC “AREN’T WE BUTCH” ALLIANCE INCLUDES WORDING THAT “NOBODY GOES WITHOUT THE U.S. BACKING US.” HILARIOUS! They’ll talk tough about “defending Ukraine” but it’s still only talk.

SOME UNIVERSITIES ARE REFUSING TO END THEIR RACIST AND DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES. The Democrats who run those institutions still push their Discrimination, Exclusion and Intolerance (DEI) approach.  Continue reading

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BILLY THE KID VS DRACULA (1966) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

Before MST3K there was The Texas 27 Film Vault. Before Joel and Mike there was Randy and Richard! Before Deep 13 there was Level 31.

Balladeer’s Blog continues its celebration of the program’s FORTIETH anniversary year. Beginning on Saturday February 9th, 1985 “Film Vault Technicians First Class” Randy and Richard presented old serials and bad or campy movies while wielding their machine guns in defense of “America’s schlock-culture heritage.”

MOVIE: Billy the Kid vs Dracula (1966)    

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday May 18th, 1985 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma. 

SERIAL: Before showing and mocking John Carradine’s Billy the Kid vs Dracula our members of the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) showed and mocked an episode of the Mascot Serial The Phantom Empire (1935). 

In that classically campy serial Gene Autry played a singing cowboy who saves the world from an  advanced underground civilization that comes complete with killer robots who wear cowboy hats. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG: MORE COLLEGE BASKETBALL POSTSEASON ACTION

APPALACHIAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

FIRST SEMIFINAL – The 4th seeded JOHNSON UNIVERSITY ROYALS (formerly the Royal Crusaders) took on the 1 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE BEARS. By Halftime the Royals were on top 35-26. After the break the University of Pikeville mounted a small rally but fell short as Johnson U. triumphed 78-73. Isaiah Poore led the victors with 29 points. Continue reading

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MARVEL SUPERTEAMS OF THE 1960s AND 1970s

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Marvel’s superteams of the 1960s and 1970s.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Debuted: January 1969

Comment: Yondu, Vance Astro, Charlie-27 and Martinex originally fought the alien race called the Badoon. Those alien invaders conquered 31st Century Earth and killed all but around 54 million humans to use as slave labor. 

Over the years, the Guardians’ adventures came to involve time travel as superheroes from 20th Century Earth visited them in the future, like Captain America, the Thing, Sharon Carter, the Defenders and Thor. Eventually the G of the G moved to the 20th Century to fight their fugitive 31st Century foe Korvac alongside the Avengers.

Throughout it all, new Guardians members came along, like the woman Tarin, who ultimately became the President of Post-Liberation Earth of the future. Others were Starhawk, whose origin was later retconned to fit Starlord instead, and the woman Nikki, sole survivor of Earth’s Mercury colony in the 31st Century. Click HERE.

THE DEFENDERS

Debuted: December 1971

Comment: Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner and the Hulk banded together to save the world from the menace of the Omegatron, which wielded both science AND sorcery. Back in 1971 Marvel’s only other superteams were the Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men and the Inhumans so Dr. Strange and other heroes periodically joined forces to combat threats to the Earth, the universe or the multiverse.

At first Marvel pushed the notion that the Defenders were a “non-team” that had no headquarters, held no meetings and kept the group’s existence a secret from the world at large. Additional heroes came and went, like the Silver Surfer, Clea, Valkyrie, Namorita, Hawkeye, Nighthawk, Power Man, Son of Satan, Daredevil and many, many more. Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS ROUNDUP: FEB TWENTY-EIGHTH

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

DEMOCRAT PARTY RELEASES FAKED A.I. RECORDING USING THE VOICE OF TRUMP’S SON MAKING INFLAMMATORY REMARKS. Atrocious. Maybe next time they’ll try it with President Trump himself. And anti-Trump loons will believe every word of it given how ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable they’ve proven themselves to be.

MAYWEATHER PRAISES DONALD TRUMP AS THE “BEST PRESIDENT WE EVER HAD.”

CORRUPT FBI EMPLOYEES CONTINUE TO FIGHT ATTORNEY GENERAL BONDI BY REFUSING TO RELEASE MORE EPSTEIN FILES. Kash Patel steps in HERE. More HERE. And HERE.

MORE COVERUPS AT THE FBI (FUGGEDA BOUT INTEGRITY).

DEMOCRATS PERSECUTING TEEN GIRL WHO REFUSED TO PLAY AGAINST A TRANS OPPONENT.

FBI STILL HINDERING INVESTIGATION OF THE PA ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMP. America’s 3-letter agencies continue to be riddled with garbage. 

TWENTY ITEMS ABOUT FBI CORRUPTION.

TRUMP GETS UNPRECEDENTED INVITATION FOR A SECOND STATE VISIT TO THE U.K. After all, his first state visit there was marred by Meghan Markle sowing hostility toward Trump among the Royal Family.

DEMOCRATS GET CALLED OUT FOR LYING THAT MEDICAID WAS BEING CUT. Fear-mongering is all they have right now. Continue reading

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GENE HACKMAN R.I.P. – SOME OF HIS BEST 1970s ROLES

As we bid farewell to the incredibly talented Gene Hackman, Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of my personal favorites from his lead performances in 1970s films, both well-known and obscure.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)

Role: Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle

Comment: I know, this is an obvious choice, but what can I say? Hackman was brilliant as this police detective based on the real-life Eddie Egan. Yes, I know the film heavily distorted the events of this true crime story but Gene was masterful in the role.

Without the benefit of screen idol looks Hackman carried this movie on sheer screen presence as the unorthodox, horny but dogged cop investigating a drug smuggling ring. Many films would try to recapture the grittiness of The French Connection and the charisma of Hackman’s Doyle but few succeeded.    Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: IN THE CLUTCH OF THE WAR-GOD (1911)

IN THE CLUTCH OF THE WAR-GOD (1911) – Written by Milo Milton Hastings and serialized in the July, August and September 1911 issues of Physical Culture magazine. 

The tale is set in the “far future” year 1958. Ethel Calvert, a young American woman, lives in Japan with her father, a grain magnate. The United States and Japan are on the verge of war and the author describes both nations as being “in the clutch of the war-god.”

In the fictional world of this story Japan has become so overpopulated that it has long since given over nearly all its land to housing rather than farming. That has made Japan dependent on other nations – mostly the United States – for food staples. Continue reading

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL: 2025 POSTSEASON IS UNDERWAY

CROSSROADS LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The number 1 seed – the GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS – took on the 8th seeded MT. VERNON NAZARENE UNIVERSITY COUGARS. By Halftime the Lancers were up 45-36, and after the break they left the Cougars further and further behind. In the end, Grace College won the game 83-64 led by Ian Scott with 23 points.

SECOND QUARTERFINAL – Up next the 2nd seeded BETHEL (IN) PILOTS (Riverboat Pilots) played the 7 seeds – the TAYLOR UNIVERSITY TROJANS. The Pilots got more of a fight than expected from Taylor U. and led them by just 39-35 at the Half. From there Bethel University squeezed out some more distance from the Trojans in their 77-69 victory. Trent Edwards tossed in 22 points to lead the Pilots. Continue reading

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