Brooklyn, NY—-ASA College Offensive Coordinator Chris Boden has been promoted as the school’s second ever Head Football Coach. He replaces Dennis Orlando who led the Avengers to the last three Northeast Football Conference championship games, two conference championships, two Bowl Games, the Carrier Dome Bowl Championship in 2013, and the Northeast Football Conference’s conference game winning-streak record (14 in a row). Boden has been the program’s Offensive Coordinator since its inception in 2009. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Balladeer’s Blog
CHRIS BODEN NAMED NEW HEAD COACH FOR AVENGERS FOOTBALL
Filed under college football
SAMURAI FILMS: FULL CIRCLE KILLING (1964)
Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the Son of the Black Mass series of Samurai films. This is the sixth film overall but just the third starring legendary Raizo Ichikawa. The films were based on Renzaburo Shibata’s novels about Nemuri Kyoshiro, a red-haired fallen Samurai whose odd hair coloring was the result of his mixed birth. A Portuguese Christian missionary dabbling in Satanism raped Nemuri’s mother during a Black Mass, hence his red hair, outcast status and supernatural abilities.
FULL CIRCLE KILLING (1964) – Beginning with the next film the Nemuri Kyoshiro series really hits the dark, offbeat and transgressive stride that it is most remembered for. Think of Full Circle Killing as a stylistic stepping stone, since it has a cynical Samurai Noir feel to it plus heavier blood & gore as well as further clues about the supernatural nature of our hero’s Full Moon Death Strike. We also get our first hint in the movies that Nemuri can sense the whispers of the dead whenever he passes by cemeteries, a concept more fully developed in the novels (which I will review separately). Continue reading
Filed under Samurai Films
COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS
* NAIA *
OVERTIME EPIC IN RED – The INDIANA UNIVERSITY EAST RED WOLVES welcomed the UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE RED STORM yesterday in what turned out to be one of the best games of the day. The Red Wolves trailed the Red Storm 46-35 at the end of a very explosive 1st Half but outscored their guests 44-33 in the 2nd to end Regulation in a 79-79 tie. In Overtime IU-East seized control and won by a final score of 95-85. Huston Clark led the Red Wolves with 21 points.
CENTURY CLUB – As always the Century Club is for teams reaching 100 points or more during Regulation: the CORNERSTONE UNIVERSITY GOLDEN EAGLES not only put up 101 points but were equally excellent on the Defensive side of the ball, holding the MARYGROVE COLLEGE MUSTANGS to a mere 58 points. Cornerstone University’s Kyle Steigenga led the Golden Eagles with his 26 points in this 101-58 rout. Continue reading
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THE SON OF THE BLACK MASS FILMS: SWORD OF ADVENTURE (1964)
Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the Son of the Black Mass films from Japan. In the previous installment I reviewed the first of the films to star Raizo Ichikawa, the man who made the character his own even though there were three films made with the figure before Ichikawa and two after his death in 1969.
The title character was Kyoshiro Nemuri – a red-haired Samurai, the offspring of a Japanese woman and the insane Portugese Christian Missionary who raped her. That madman was dabbling in Satanism and so Nemuri was conceived during a Black Mass, hence the title of the novels and the subsequent film series.
Raizo Ichikawa as the Son of the Black Mass
At least it USED to be the title of the film series. The most recent video release of these neglected gems discarded the original title and even the secondary moniker of The Full Moon Killer series and went instead with the silly Sleepy Eyes of Death. I’ll point out again how misleading that title is for such a badass character.
SWORD OF ADVENTURE (1964) is the second of Ichikawa’s twelve films as Kyoshiro Nemuri. We’re still a couple installments away from this series reaching the heights of bizarreness and anarchy that it is known for, so this tale has more in common with conventional Samurai flicks.
In late 1780’s Edo (later to be called Tokyo) Nemuri is whiling away an afternoon along a public thoroughfare whose dining and shopping establishments afford a magnificent view of Mount Fuji. An enterprising little boy trying to raise himself after his father was killed and his establishment taken over pulls one of the few strings yet unfrozen in Nemuri’s ever-colder heart. Continue reading
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COLLEGE HOCKEY RESULTS: THE LATEST
NUMBER ONE TAKES A FALL – The 5th ranked UW- STEVENS POINT POINTERS were on the road against the number 1 team in the nation – the previously unbeaten SAINT NORBERT COLLEGE GREEN KNIGHTS. The 1st Period ended in a 1-1 tie, but the Pointers had moved out to a 4-2 lead to end the 2nd. The Green Knights mounted a furious rally in the 3rd Period but fell short as UW-Stevens Point won the game 6-5.
UWSP’s Joe Kalisz had 2 Goals and 1 Assist, while Goaltender Brandon Jaeger got the win with 34 blocked shots. The Pointers are now 10-2, the Green Knights are 10-1-1.
OTHER TOP FIFTEEN UPSETS – The only other upset among the ranked teams this week came in the game between the unranked BUFFALO STATE BENGALS and the number 12 NEUMANN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS. The Bengals scored in all 3 Periods, leading 3-1 after the 1st, 4-2 after the 2nd and 5-2 to close things out. Five separate Buffalo State skaters picked up Goals while between the pipes Ian Sylves got the win with 37 saves. The Bengals improve to 4-6 while the Knights fall to 6-3. Continue reading
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SAMURAI FILMS: THE SON OF THE BLACK MASS SERIES
Raizo Ichikawa as the red-haired Samurai Kyoshiro Nemuri, the Son of the Black Mass.
Balladeer’s Blog begins its examination of various Samurai films from Japan. In keeping with my blog’s overall theme I won’t be covering the uber-popular Samurai flicks like Yojimbo, The Seven Magnificent Samurai or the Musashi Miyamoto Trilogy. Regular readers who are familiar with my contempt for organized religion will not be at all surprised that I’ll be starting out with the Son of the Black Mass series of films starring Raizo Ichikawa, often called “the James Dean of Japan.”
In addition to the twelve Ichikawa movies I will also cover the two entries in the series made after Raizo’s untimely death from cancer. After that, to be a fully comprehensive look, I will also examine the original novels as well as the three Son of the Black Mass movies made in the 1950’s, even though they did not have the cinematic impact of the films starring Raizo Ichikawa.
The odd title of the movie series comes from the fact that the title character, former Samurai turned Ronin Kyoshiro Nemuri, is the child of a Japanese woman and the crazed Portugese Christian missionary who raped her. The insane missionary was dabbling in Satanism and Nemuri was conceived during a Black Mass ritual, hence the series title. The deadly swordsman inherited his hated father’s red hair and when a heavy rain washed out the black dye Nemuri was disguising it with, his exposure as a half-breed led to his shunning and his fallen status. Continue reading
Filed under Samurai Films
2014 COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONS
Here’s one last round of congratulations to the ladies who won the National Championships in volleyball for 2014 in the ELEVEN divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
National Champions – PARK UNIVERSITY PIRATES
Runners-Up – University of Texas at Brownsville Ocelots
2013 Champions – University of Texas at Brownsville Ocelots
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NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) DIVISION ONE
National Champions – TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE TROLLS
Runners-Up – Colorado Christian University Cougars
2013 Champions – Point Loma Nazarene University Sea Lions Continue reading
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BAD MOVIES FOR THIS NEW YEAR’S EVE
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’m very fond of cinematic turkeys that have seasonal tie-ins. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas bombs have gotten ample attention from me, so permit me to follow those items up with this 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
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 1950’s. 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
Filed under Bad and weird movies
SEXY TEDDI BARRETT: BACK IN THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF EDWARD WOZNIAK’S MORDILLO BLUSH
Teddi Barrett as Edward Wozniak’s Neo-Pulp heroine Dr Mordillo Blush, Parasexologist.
Balladeer’s Blog
Teddi Barrett, the Sexiest Woman in the World, is definitely a lady we can all look up to. Continue reading
Filed under Neo-Pulp, Sex Symbols
EBENEZER (1998): CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2014 CONCLUDES
It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since last Christmas Day! Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2014 comes to a close with the 1998 telefilm Ebenezer, the only non-porno version of the Dickens classic to feature a whorehouse! Well, as long as you don’t count whatever underhanded business Scrooge and Marley are running in the Alastair Sim version anyway. (I’m kidding!)
Previously Balladeer’s Blog has reviewed The Trail to Christmas, a version of A Christmas Carol adapted to the American West of the 1800’s. Ebenezer adapted the Dickens novel to the wild west of Canada in the 1800’s, which adds an extra layer of novelty to this production. Casting Jack Palance as Ebenezer Scrooge was the real strength of this adaptation!
Palance’s Scrooge is a miserly and crooked saloon owner while Bob Cratchit (Albert Schultz) is his much-abused bartender. Rick Schroder (yes, Rick Schroder) portrays gun-slinging Sam Benson, a character unique to this version and Tiny Tim is played by Joshua Silberg. Continue reading
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