Tag Archives: Balladeer’s Blog

MWINDO: THE FINALE OF THIS AFRICAN EPIC

Balladeer’s Blog concludes its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART NINETEEN

MwindoThe lightning god Nkuba looked down from the sky and prepared to attack the semidivine hero Mwindo in order to avenge his (Nkuba’s) friend, the monster Kirimu. That seven- headed creature had been slain, cooked and served as a meal by Chief Mwindo for killing three of his devoted corps of Pygmies. 

The morning after the village of Tubondo had feasted upon the remains of Kirimu, Mwindo had a premonition of impending danger. He announced to his people that his supernatural senses had revealed to him that the bad-tempered god Nkuba had taken offense at his actions against the monster Kirimu. The lightning god was coming for revenge. Continue reading →

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MISTER MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL: CAROL-A-THON 2015 BEGINS

Mr Magoo Christmas CarolBalladeer’s Blog’s 6th annual Christmas Carol-A- Thon begins with this little item I’m doing as a reader request. I had thought that Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol was way too mainstream and well-known for me to review but I’ve been told it’s fallen off the radar for most people so here we go!

MR MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1962) – The nearly-blind one-joke cartoon figure called Mr Magoo was voiced by Jim Backus. The schtick in the character’s regular cartoon adventures was that his cosmic-level near-sightedness caused him to mistake a bowling alley for a laundromat or some similar mixup and slapstick hijinx would develop from there. Continue reading →

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THANKSGIVING TURKEYS ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

Randy Clower (right) with co-host Richard Malmos as "Film Vault Technicians First Class" on The Texas 27 Film Vault

Randy Clower (right) with co-host Richard Malmos as “Film Vault Technicians First Class” on The Texas 27 Film Vault. They’re way down on Level 31. No, not Deep 13 – Level 31.

Randy Clower and Richard Malmos of The Texas 27 Film Vault (both lower right) featured in a Movie Host article with Stella from Saturday Night Dead and Elvira.

Randy Clower and Richard Malmos of The Texas 27 Film Vault (both lower right) featured in a Movie Host article with Stella from Saturday Night Dead and Elvira.

The Texas 27 Film Vault was a great pre-MST3K bad movie show from the mid-1980s. The hosts Randy Clower and Richard Malmos (also the co-creators of the program) were members of the fictional quasi-military outfit called the Film Vault Corps – “the few, the proud, the sarcastic”. Ken Miller, who played the gung-ho Kilgore-esque Tex on the show was also a co-creator. Tragically Miller commited suicide in 1988.   

The Texas 27 Film Vault aired for 2 and 1/2 hours every Saturday night from 10:30pm to 1:00 am with Randy, Richard, Tex, Joe The Hypnotic Eye Riley and Laurie Savino the Mystery Clip Technician showing and mocking episodes of old Republic and Columbia serials before showing and mocking the night’s bad or campy movie.

Texas and Oklahoma loved this cult show and it’s rare for Sooners and Longhorns to agree on anything! Here’s a look at some of the more memorable episodes from The Texas 27 Film Vault history.  

It! The terror from beyond space 2IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)

Original Broadcast Date: July 12th, 1986

Serial: Atom Man vs Superman (1950) 

Host Segments: Most of the Host Segments in this episode centered around a touring troupe from the Film Vault Corps Academy in Leadville, Co. That troupe – the FVC Academy’s Little Theatre Group – was performing for Randy, Richard, Tex and the others. Joe Riley’s gore effects took center stage as the touring thespians presented comedic reenactments of classic scenes from movies about aliens, including the infamous chest-burster moment from Alien and an unappetizing moment from the 80s remake of The Thing. 

The gore in the Host Segments made this the first Texas 27 Film Vault episode to come with a “Viewer Discretion” warning. Their later presentation of the hilariously bad Friday the 13th Part 3 was another. 

Movie: It! The Terror From Beyond Space was a joyously bad black & white space travel film from the 1950s. A Martian monster has already wiped out all but one member of the first expedition to the Red Planet. Next up on the menu for this ET who sucks all moisture from his victims: the rescue expedition who belatedly arrive to save the crew of the preceding mission to Mars.   

Continue reading →

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THE MOUSE ON THE MAYFLOWER (1968)

From the people who brought you The Titmouse on the Titanic

From the people who brought you The Titmouse on the Titanic

THANKSGIVING IS ALMOST HERE! ONE OF THE GREATEST HOLIDAYS OF THE YEAR!

And part of the fun comes from the kind of emotional cripples who froth at the mouth at the thought of people celebrating this particular holiday! (Stand by for my Columbus Day Extravaganza in 2016!)

THE MOUSE ON THE MAYFLOWER (1968) – Country western star Tennessee Ernie Ford narrates and supplies the voice of the title character – a Puritan mouse named Willum – who stows away on the Mayflower during its trip to America.

The little rodent (and coincidentally enough “little rodent” is also Michelle Obama’s pet name for Barack) also gets to participate in the first Thanksgiving celebration with a Native American mouse. Continue reading →

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OLIVER: A THANKSGIVING EVE TRADITION

"Please, sir, may I have some more?"

“Please, sir, may I have some more?”

It’s that time of year again! Just a note in the spirit of the holiday season to mention my favorite Thanksgiving Eve movie.

Every Wednesday before Thanksgiving I make a point out of watching the musical Oliver!

I know the musical sentimentalizes  several characters that Dickens portrayed in a sinister way in the book (especially Fagan and The Artful Dodger) but the finished product has always seemed very holidayish to me. Continue reading →

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MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA PART EIGHTEEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART EIGHTEEN

Film, 'Jason And the Argonauts', (1963) Todd Armstrong as Jason fighting the seven-headed Hydra.

The semidivine Chief Mwindo set out to find and battle Kirimu, the seven-headed monster terrorizing his domain. Mwindo was guided by Nkurongo, the sole remaining Pygmy from the foursome who had encountered the creature while hunting a wild boar for the Chief.   

Mwindo carried with him his signature weapon – his conga-scepter, a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail. When the Pygmy had led the hero to where Kirimu had slain his comrades the pair saw that the creature was lying in wait in the jungle, ready to strike at anyone who attempted to retrieve the boar slain by the Pygmies. Continue reading →

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS AND BOWL RESULTS

* NCCAA *

southwestern assemblies of god helmetVICTORY BOWL – This Bowl serves as the National Championship Game in the NCCAA. The SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY LIONS took on the UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWESTERN (MN) EAGLES. The Lions seized a 10-0 1st Quarter lead but then the defenses took over. Neither team scored again until the Eagles put up 7 points in the 4th Quarter. SAGU won the game by a final count of 10-7.  

* NAIA *

Morningside MustangsFOUR OVERTIME MARATHON – The top ranked MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS got a wakeup call from the ST XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS to start the playoffs. The Mustangs led 33-31 at Halftime but Regulation ended in a 54-54 tie. After a scoreless 1st OT session both teams scored 7 points in the 2nd OT. Both scored 8 in the 3rd OT but in the 4th Morningside shut out the Cougars then got a TD for a 75-69 win.  Continue reading →

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MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA PART SEVENTEEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART SEVENTEEN

Pygmies

Pygmies

This part of the Mwindo Epic picks up with the semidivine hero having been the chief of the village of Tubondo for an unspecified amount of time. One day he was in the mood for a meal of pork so he sent four of his loyal Pygmies out into the jungle to catch a wild boar for him. They set out with their hunting dogs on leashes.

The four Pygmies traveled far off into the jungle but could not find any wild boars or other large game. They began to suspect some supernatural predator of having whittled down the game population in the area. After a few days of searching fruitlessly for a wild boar the four Pygmies at last spotted and speared a boar. 

While the quartet of hunters were slicing off the meat they were attacked by Kirimu, a huge monster with a tough black hide, seven heads with one large eye each, a horn on each head, teeth like a dog and a swollen belly with room for plenty of victims.  Continue reading →

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THE HUMANOID (1979): THE WORST STAR WARS RIPOFF

Humanoid 2With Star Wars Episode Seven coming out soon I figured I would examine the notoriously bad Italian ripoff of Star Wars. I know many people consider Star Crash to be the worst of the Italo-Ripoffs but I’ve always gotten more laughs out of The Humanoid.  

The many, many ways this movie steals from Star Wars will become clear as we go along. Let’s deal with first things first:

Richard KielRichard Kiel plays the title figure. His real name is Golob but the Darth Vaderish bad guy arranges for Golob to be the guinea pig for a treatment that transforms ordinary people into powerful “Humanoids”. As a Humanoid Golob loses his beard for some reason but – even more comically – the beard suddenly reappears when he is returned to normal late in the movie.

Humanoid 5Golob in his amped-up Humanoid form has super-strength, is invulnerable to harm and can deflect energy blasts that the Rebel Alliance-style good guys shoot at him. The bad guys plan to use a warhead to expose every man, woman and child on Earth to the bio-treatment, thus creating an instant army of billions of super-powered Humanoids like Richard Kiel. (Good luck controlling them since the treatment will reduce them to mindless animals like Golob.)   Continue reading →

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CCCAA BOWL GAMES FOR 2015

Chabot CollegeBULLDOG BOWL (Nov 21st 3pm ET) – The CCCAA incorporates its playoffs into its Bowl structure so I will clarify as we go.

San Mateo BulldogsThis year the Bulldog Bowl will be one of the semifinal games for the Northern Division and will pit the 2nd seeded CHABOT COLLEGE GLADIATORS against the 3 seeds – the COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO BULLDOGS.  Continue reading →

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