Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues:
THE WOLF IN THE GARDEN (1931) – Written by Alfred Hoyt Bill. This neglected novel is ideal for people who go in for horror tales set long ago. In this case the 1790s.
New Dordrecht, a town in New York’s Hudson Valley, becomes the home of the fallen Count de Saint Loup, a French aristocrat fleeing the guillotine during the French Revolution. Anyone who remembers that “loup” is French for wolf will immediately know that this figure will be our title werewolf. (Though his deadly hound DeRetz is a red herring at first.)
The Count transferred much of his wealth before fleeing his homeland so he is initially welcomed as a prominent new citizen in New Dordrecht. Unfortunately Count de Saint Loup soon displays the overbearing, snobbish airs that drove the French underclasses to overthrow the aristocrats in the first place.
People who get on the wrong side of the former “aristo” start to turn up dead after getting attacked by a monstrous wolf-like creature. Continue reading
NCAA Division Two: 1. VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS ### 2. MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS ### 3. TARLETON STATE TEXANS ### 4. NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS ### 5. OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY TIGERS ### 
6. GRAND VALLEY STATE LAKERS ### 7. FERRIS STATE BULLDOGS ### 8. UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS GREYHOUNDS ### 9. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS ### 10. UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL MISSOURI MULES ### 
BRIGHTBURN (2019) – This mid-level budget movie has been criminally underrated in my opinion. Its horror twist on the usual superhero story (especially Superman) is well-handled and should have been just the thing audiences flocked to for a change of pace from the flood of superhero movies in recent years. 
As always part of the fun comes from the way the Fool Killer – in this case James Larkin Pearson’s version in his monthly publication – took aim at politicians from both parties and at other “fools” of the day. March of 1921’s targets: 
DIVISION TWO OVER DIVISION ONE – The KENTUCKY STATE THOROBREDS from NCAA Division 2 traveled to face Division 1’s JACKSON STATE TIGERS. The Thorobreds trailed the Tigers 10-6 in the 1st Quarter before doubling up on them 20-10 come Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Kentucky State up 33-10 but the Thorobreds had to hold on tight in the 4th for a 33-25 Upset triumph. 
DIVISION TWO OVER DIVISION ONE, THE STUNNING SEQUEL THEY SAID COULDN’T BE MADE – In another D2 over D1 Upset D2’s UNIVERSITY OF CHARLESTON (WV) GOLDEN EAGLES visited D1’s VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS. A 7-7 1st Quarter tie turned into a 13-10 Crusaders lead at the Half. The Golden Eagles shut out Valparaiso from there and won the game 19-13. 
NINETY-EIGHT – Meanwhile, in the NJCAA, the ASA COLLEGE (NY) AVENGERS took it on the road against the NEW JERSEY WARRIORS. The Avengers proceeded to fold, spindle and mutilate the Warriors, outclassing them on both sides of the ball. In the end ASA College won it NINETY-EIGHT to NINE! 
I have been getting a lot of readers asking me to review some of the more recent releases from major studios. Balladeer’s Blog regulars know that I tend to focus on incredibly obscure items or hilariously bad movies from decades ago. 
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – Thankfully someone FINALLY addressed the elephant in the room of the Star Wars universe: the origin of Han Solo’s last name. 
THE AUTOMATIC MAID-OF-ALL-WORK. A POSSIBLE TALE OF THE NEAR FUTURE (1893) – Written by female author M.L. Campbell. Obviously I shortened the title for my blog post headline. Balladeer’s Blog’s look at “ancient” science fiction continues with this 1893 robot story. 
POLEIS – In this post I’m looking at Poleis (Cities), written by Eupolis, one of the Big Three of Ancient Greek Comedy along with Aristophanes and Cratinus. This satirical comedy is dated from approximately 422 B.C. to 419 B.C. Like so many other such comedies it has survived only in fragmentary form. 
NO SURVIVORS PLEASE (1964) – This obscure black & white wonder from West Germany is one of the most memorably weird movies of its time. It’s not easy to describe what makes it so appealing. The fundamental story – aliens plan to wipe out all life on Earth – has been done too many times to count. Not even their method is all that unique – the ET’s project their consciousness into the bodies of freshly-dead human beings – which has been done in other movies. 
No Survivors Please
Cyberfrog and Heather Swain are back in action! In the tradition of other great duos like Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Howard the Duck and Beverly Switzler, Rocky and Bullwinkle or Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger, everyone’s favorite frog/ full-grown woman pair have returned in their first new adventure since the 1990s. 
Van Sciver, after legendary runs at Marvel and DC, is the leader of the comic book “outlaws” pursuing their own projects free from the corporate influence of the Big Two publishers. 
