Tag Archives: blogging

April 14, 2018 · 5:30 pm

POLO: FATHER VS SON AT THE 2018 U.S. OPEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport. FOR MY PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE  2018 U.S. Open action continues with two more games in Bracket Play:

Audi polo shirtAUDI VERSUS THE U.S. POLO ASSOCIATION – Marc Ganzi led Audi – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: the Bavarians – against his son Grant, who was playing for the United States Polo Association – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Association (Thank you to Jim Rome.)

FIRST CHUKKER: Audi and the USPA matched each other shot for shot and Goal for Goal to start things off. This opening Chukker ended with the score knotted up at 2-2.

SECOND CHUKKER: The Bavarians shone in this second sextant, dominating the Association on both sides of the ball. Audi thwacked in a pair of Goals for themselves while completely shutting out USPA. The Bavarians now held a 4-2 lead.

THIRD CHUKKER: Audi exploded on the Association this time around, absolutely OWNING them. The Bavarians got 4 more Goals between the Uprights compared to the lone Goal mustered by the struggling and baffled Association. Headed into Halftime Audi was on top by a score of 8-3. Yes … EIGHT to THREE! Continue reading →

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April 14, 2018 · 11:19 am

FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3D (1982): ON THE TEXAS TWENTY-SEVEN FILM VAULT

Friday the 13th Part 3DBefore MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault! In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class hosted this neglected cult show. 

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday February 14th, 1987 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. 

SERIAL: None. The movie, Film Vault Corps comedy sketches and commercials filled up the entire two and a half hours this time.

FILM VAULT LORE: This episode marked the second time The Texas 27 Film Vault came with a warning about violent content. It was also at least the second time they riffed on a movie that was originally in 3-D. Randy and Richard did various jokes about wearing 3-D glasses and 3-D effects coming out of the screen at them as they watched the movie.

Randy and Richard firing their machine guns at giant rats, cellumites and other subterranean creatures.

Randy and Richard firing their machine guns on the T27FV 3D poster.

When you throw in the previous year’s “Mock 3D” interview with Ben Johnson and the 1987 release of The Texas 27 Film Vault‘s official 3-D poster you could say Randy, Richard, Ken “Tex” Miller, Joe Riley and Laurie Savino had a definite fondness for taking shots at the whole 3-D concept.  

 FOR A LOOK AT THE 3-D TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT POSTER (courtesy of Randy Clower) –https://glitternight.com/2013/03/18/movie-hosts-the-texas-27-film-vault-poster/  

THE MOVIE:

Friday the 13th Part 3-D was the most notoriously lame sequel in the Friday the 13th film series during the 1980s. Not only was it part of the laughable 1980s attempt to revive the 3-D craze of the 1950s but it’s also infamous for its DISCO VERSION of the iconic Friday the 13th theme. However it’s essential viewing for horror fans because it was the first time Jason Voorhees put on the hockey mask that is so closely associated with the character.    Continue reading →

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April 13, 2018 · 2:00 am

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH: 1907 NOVEL

friday-the-thirteenth-novelFRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH (1907) – Written by Thomas William Lawson, a writer and stock manipulator who made a fortune from shady stock deals … in between advocating for cleaning up Wall Street to shut down those fleece jobs. The reforms Lawson campaigned for were taken up decades later when Franklin Roosevelt appointed future Supreme Court Justice William O Douglas to head the Securities Exchange Commission.

Coincidentally enough the overall feel of Friday the Thirteenth put me in mind of FDR’s cousin, Theodore Roosevelt. The novel did that with its New York setting, with the way the story takes place late in T.R.’s presidency and most especially with the way it dealt with ethics in the marketplace.  

lawson-cartoon-betterJim Randolph, one of the novel’s main characters, is in the T.R. mold: he may be a bloated rich pig but at least he’s a bloated rich pig with a sense of noblesse oblige. Jim shares Teddy Roosevelt’s disdain for the Trusts and for con men who use the stock market to rip off their clients.

It’s not as if Jim Randolph is as fiery as Teddy Forstmann was in his opposition to Leveraged Buy Outs during the 1980s, but like Forstmann he has a sense of what makes for a healthy economy and frowns upon the fly-by-night operators who thrive on irresponsible “frenzied finance” as Randolph calls it.   Continue reading →

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April 11, 2018 · 9:22 pm

POLO: U.S. OPEN – GAMES ONE AND TWO

Balladeer’s Blog’s coverage of the world’s OLDEST team sport continues with this look at the first two clashes in this year’s 115th U.S. Open.

FlexJet polo shirtGAME ONE: FLEXJET VS COLORADO – Part of the fun of Polo is the way that men and women often play on the same team. In this instance, Melissa Ganzi led Flexjet – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Aviators – against Colorado – Official Balladeer’s Blog Nickname: The Red Sleeves.

FIRST CHUKKER – This opening Chukker was VERY defense-oriented, with only one Goal being scored. That lone Goal was knocked between the Uprights by Flexjet, as the Aviators grabbed a 1-0 lead. 

SECOND CHUKKER – Defense was still the watchword in this Chukker, but as a sign that both offenses were beginning to find their rhythm, each team swatted in a Goal this time around. The Flexjet lead over Colorado now stood at 2-1.

THIRD CHUKKER – The Red Sleeves made some major noise now, outscoring the Aviators 3 Goals to 1 in what was still a low-scoring affair overall. Colorado’s stunning play this Chukker gave them a 4-3 edge going into Halftime.  Continue reading →

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April 11, 2018 · 12:02 am

THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES: THE IMPRESSION THAT I GET

It’s Balladeer’s Blog’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead, featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones with their song The Impression That I Get. 

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April 10, 2018 · 9:30 pm

7 BENEFITS OF TEAM SPORTS

Female skate boarderAt Skateboard-guide.com they know that teamwork always plays a significant and crucial role in every field and sports is no exception. There are both indoor team sports and outdoor team sports. 

People love to have their friends surrounding them when they are participating in a sport. There are seven main benefits of team sports:   Continue reading →

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April 9, 2018 · 2:00 pm

POLO: THE BASICS

Polo Teams In ActionPOLO IS THE OLDEST TEAM SPORT IN THE WORLD. When Alexander the Great’s men played Polo it was already centuries old. 

We are at the time of year when BALLADEER’S BLOG covers Polo’s U.S. Open.

For Polo newcomers here is a brief look at how the sport works:

A QUICK POLO PRIMER:  

Polo 2Instead of “Innings” or “Quarters” or “Periods” a Polo Match is made up of “Chukkers”.

There are six Chukkers to a Match. After three Chukkers comes Halftime.

Each Chukker lasts 7 minutes plus up to a maximum of 30 additional seconds to complete a play in progress when the Chukker ends.

There are four riders on each Polo team, wearing numbers 1-4 depending on the position they play.

Polo 3The field in a Polo Match is 300 yards long by 160 yards wide.

The object of the game is for the Polo players to score goals by moving the ball around the field by hitting it with their long mallets while remaining mounted at all times.

A goal is scored by hitting the ball so that it passes between the two 10 feet tall uprights in the opposing team’s End Line (End Zone).

As with field goals and extra points in football the uprights theoretically extend far above their actual height. The ball may pass high above the uprights but still counts as a goal as long as the official in the End Line judges it to have passed within the uprights.

Prince Charles playing poloFor some penalties a free shot is awarded to the opposing team. Depending on the severity the shots can be taken from the 60, 40, 0r 30 yard lines. The player rides up to the ball to strike it but their horse cannot pass whichever yard line applies to that particular penalty shot.

A mounted Referee tosses the ball onto the T at the center of the Polo turf to begin play, similar to “dropping the puck” in Hockey. After each goal is scored both teams return to the center of the field for another “Toss In” or “Throw In”. Continue reading →

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April 8, 2018 · 2:04 pm

MONSTER BASH 2018 COMING TO MARS, PA

monster bash 2018

There will be three Monster Bash Events this year. June, August and October.  The June and October shows will be the large scale gatherings at the Double Tree in Mars, PA (North Pittsburgh Double Tree location). August will be a movie marathon at the grand Palace Theatre in Canton, Ohio with vendors.  

Here are some of the basics on the forthcoming June show:

MONSTER BASH – Double Tree Pittsburgh North, Mars, PA (Cranberry Township)/June 22-24, 2018 Continue reading →

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April 7, 2018 · 11:52 am

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958) ON THE TEXAS TWENTY-SEVEN FILM VAULT

It! The Terror From Beyond Space

It! The Terror From Beyond Space

IN THE MIDDLE 1980s/ WAY DOWN ON LEVEL 31 …

Before MST3K there was The Texas 27 Film Vault! Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this neglected cult show from the 1980s. Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, our machine-gun toting members of the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) do their usual bit of showing and mocking an old serial then showing and mocking a bad movie.

Thanks to my interview with Randy Clower, the show’s co-creator and co-star and thanks to my research through VERY old newspapers plus emailed memories from other T27FV fans I’m taking a look at another episode of the show where an exact broadcast date can be determined.

ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Saturday July 12th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.

Atom Man vs SupermanSERIAL: Before the night’s movie Randy and Richard would often present old serials. In this episode of the show our “Film Vault Technicians First Class” showed an episode of the 1950 Columbia serial Atom Man vs Superman to be mocked. Kirk Alyn starred as Superman with Lyle Talbot as his archenemy Lex Luthor. Lex has his own secret identity in this serial – each episode he dons a lead mask and oversees the villainy as “Atom Man”.

This was one of the liveliest and most campily watchable serials of the 50s. Especially laughable are the bits when Superman “flies” – an effect achieved by switching from live footage of Kirk Alyn to INSERTED CARTOON FOOTAGE of Superman flying. Think of the ‘Toons in Roger Rabbit interacting with the live backgrounds and you have the idea.   

FILM VAULT LORE: This episode of The Texas 27 Film Vault was the first to come with a Viewer Discretion warning. Gore effects fans (And what T27FV fan WASN’T a gore effects fan?) were in Nirvana this night as Film Vault Corps member Joe “The Hypnotic Eye” Riley was given full reign for some of his most graphic effects work during the comedy sketches or Host Segments if you prefer. 

Howling!

Howling!

Direct from the Film Vault Corps Academy in Leadville, Colorado, the Academy’s Little Theater Group was touring Film Vaults across the country. Tonight they were performing on Level 31 of the Film Vault underneath Dallas, where the show was set. The Little Theater Group was reenacting scenes from famous alien monster movies and since It! The Terror From Beyond Space was a partial inspiration for the original Alien, the chest-burster scene was reenacted in darkly comic glory! (As if the chow in the Film Vault Commissary wasn’t unappetizing enough already!)

THE MOVIE: It! The Terror From Beyond Space is one of the consummate low-budget schlockers of the 1950s. It embodies the “so bad it’s good” aesthetic that so many Movie Host shows have always reveled in. In the far-off year 1973 (LMAO) a very fake-looking space-ship on an even more fake-looking matte-painting of a Martian landscape has come to rescue the sole survivor of the previous mission to the Red Planet. (So far it sounds almost like Queen of Blood, shown on T27FV in May of 1986 and reviewed previously) Continue reading →

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April 6, 2018 · 11:04 am

ADAM ANT: RAZOR KEEN

Adam Ant (Stuart Leslie Goddard) was the very first figure featured in Balladeer’s Blog’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead segment last year. For the first time in months here he is again with Razor Keen. 

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