DECEMBER 11th, 2019 – On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, cave art was discovered that has been recognized as the world’s oldest example of pictorial storytelling, dating to approximately 43,900 years ago.
The precise location of the discovery was in the limestone cave Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4. The art depicts therianthropes, abstract figures with qualities of human beings and animals combined, hunting wild pigs and dwarf buffaloes. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
A DIVA’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Sixteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon continues with a look at this Vanessa Williams venture. Due to the nature of this adaptation of the Dickens classic it is often categorized as one of the “African-American versions.” Among other such Carols I have reviewed are Christmas is Comin’ Uptown with Gregory Hines and John Grin’s Christmas starring Robert Guillaume.
The forever-underrated Vanessa Williams is brilliant in this very good film that mixes comedy, music and drama together far better than many stage versions manage to do. Williams stars as Ebony Scrooge, a pop singer who puts on a kind and pleasant public face but who is a … well, a diva behind the scenes.
Ebony is even more nasty than usual as she pushes her entourage beyond all their limits to get ready for an alleged “charity” show for the homeless on Christmas. Ebony’s demeanor makes it clear that she is really doing it all just for public image reasons and to feed her own ego (Bono – cough – Bono) as she wallows in the plaudits sent her way. Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Balladeer’s Blog
Yes, it’s the song from that notoriously bad movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Decades ago The Christmas Martian supplanted that flick in my Bad Movie Lover heart but Hooray for Santa Claus is still a butt-kicking song.
Starting us off is the Psychotronic movie version of the song by the poor man’s Skitch Henderson – Milton De Lugg – and The Little Eskimos.
And here’s the version by Al “Green Hornet Theme” Hirt: Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL, opinion
Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective continues with this look at March’s best.
SEAN FLYNN: ERROL’S SON IN MOVIES – The son of swashbuckler Errol Flynn and Lili Damita starred in several overlooked films, among them The Son of Captain Blood, The Sign of Zorro, and Temple of the White Elephant (think Indiana Jones adventures).
He was also the star of a few Spaghetti Westerns and a few Swinging 60s spy movies, too. Click HERE.
FAILED PREDICTIONS FROM PSYCHICS AND SCIENTISTS: SUPERCUT – Dozens of wildly inaccurate predictions from psychics and scientists over the decades. Click HERE.
CUBA’S SILENT FILMS FROM 1897 to 1907 – Click HERE.
FORGOTTEN TELEVISION – The Blue Palace (1974-1976): A German sci-fi series that was like a cross between Doomwatch and The X-Files. Click HERE. Beacon Hill (1975): A drama about wealthy Irish Americans and very poor Irish Americans in Boston right after World War One. Click HERE. Amy Prentiss (1974-1975): Long before she was Archer’s mother, Jessica Walter played Chief of Detectives Amy Prentiss in San Francisco. Click HERE.
MARIE WALCAMP: THE DAREDEVIL OF SILENT MOVIES – Forgotten by everybody except us Silent Film geeks, Marie did most of her own stunts and from 1913 to 1920 starred in adventure serials like The Lion’s Claws, Liberty: A Daughter of the USA, and the Fu Manchu-inspired The Dragon’s Net. She also did jungle adventures like The Jungle Queen, A Daughter of the Jungle, and Cast Adrift in the South Seas. Plus westerns like The Red Ace and her 9 flicks as female gunslinger Tempest Cody. Click HERE.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Omegon (1915), about a high-tech war between America on one side and China, Mexico and Japan on the other. Click HERE. A Prophetic Romance (1896), about a Martian ambassador to Earth of “the future” (1990s). Click HERE. A Trip to the North Pole (1903) – Mormon explorers discover the Lost Tribes of Israel running a futuristic civilization at the North Pole. Dinosaurs and high-tech weaponry are there, too. Click HERE.
I WAS A TEENAGE TIME LORD – Young me and Bad Movies like Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, From Hell It Came, The Creeping Terror, Robot Monster, Teenagers from Outer Space and more HERE.
BLACK RAIN (1977) – A neglected horror/ sci-fi hybrid film starring Richard Chamberlin as a lawyer in Australia who gets caught up in supernatural events leading to the end of the world. Click HERE. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
APPOINTMENT WITH ADVENTURE (1955-1956) – This forgotten program from the 1950s presented LIVE performances that were filmed and could be aired as reruns in the future. Appointment with Danger ran for 53 half-hour episodes and featured writers like Rod Serling as well as actors like Paul Newman and Gena Rowlands. If you don’t like black & white, some episodes have been colorized.
STANDOUT EPISODES:
FIVE IN JUDGMENT – Paul Newman and Jack Lord star in this drama about two brothers who take shelter from a storm in a small-town diner filled with other patrons waiting out the dust storm. News reports make the locals suspect that Paul and his brother are a pair of fugitives who just murdered a 16-year-old girl. Patricia Breslin and James Gregory also starred.
RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS – Polly Bergen and Dane Clark starred in this thriller about the sister of a smuggler who wants her to seduce a diplomat into transporting stolen jewels into the United States in his diplomatic pouch. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
Balladeer’s Blog’s Sixteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon continues with this eeriest of all the versions to date!
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2012) – This adaptation of A Christmas Carol was a noble effort to try something different that was not just a gimmick. Ignore the negative IMDb reviews which accuse this adaptation of using “Elizabethan language.” They’re off by a few hundred years, since in reality the dialogue follows that in the Dickens novel of 1843.
This 2012 version of A Christmas Carol boasts absolutely beautiful cinematography. Its emphasis is on the eerie nature of the story and has the look of a horror film much of the time. It has assorted flaws which I’ll cover as we go along but I almost hate having to cover the negative aspects of such a brave experiment.
I will take a hundred creative attempts like this, which may fall short but are trying something new, over one more soulless item which updates the story to the modern age but has no emotion to it. Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Another current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.
INVESTIGATING CAMPAIGN DONATIONS THAT MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS RECEIVED FROM THE SOMALI MEDICAID FRAUD RING. More HERE.
MULTI-MILLIONAIRE DEMOCRAT CONGRESSWOMAN ILHAN OMAR LINKED TO THE MINNESOTA FRAUD RING AND MORE.
SBA UNCOVERS NEW FRAUD, THIS TIME IN PPP, FROM THE MINNESOTA SOMALI RING.
OBAMA’S PAUL CAMPO AT THE DEA INDICTED OVER MONEY LAUNDERING SCANDAL FOR DRUG CARTEL. More HERE. The expression “cesspool of corruption” comes to mind.
PRESIDENT TRUMP HONORED WITH VERY FIRST FIFA PEACE PRIZE.
GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER COMMENDS PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR “LEADING THE WORLD INTO A MORE PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS FUTURE.” He also stated that “President Donald Trump’s leadership has ushered in what he described as ‘a different model of governance…”
NORTH SLOPE INUPIAT PRAISE TRUMP’S REVERSAL OF BIDEN POLICY. As always, Democrats ignored what the native Americans wanted, but Trump has honored their desires.
DEMOCRAT HATE MOB ATTACKS JOURNALIST IN NEW ORLEANS.
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION RESCUES OVER SIXTY-TWO THOUSAND CHILDREN ABANDONED BY THE BIDEN REGIME. More HERE.
NEW YORK TIMES ADMITS UNFIT JOE BIDEN IGNORED WARNINGS ABOUT THE DISASTER HIS BORDER POLICY WAS UNLEASHING. Continue reading
NAIA
FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS traveled to face the FRIENDS UNIVERSITY FALCONS. A 10-0 1st Quarter lead for the Ravens became a 17-7 score going into Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Benedictine College up 24-15 before they went on to eliminate the Falcons in the 4th 24-18.
SECOND QUARTERFINAL – The COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES were on the road against the undefeated MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS in this game. At the Half, the Coyotes were clinging to a mere 14-13 edge over Montana Tech. An enormous 3rd Quarter for the College of Idaho put them on top 34-13, then a 4th Quarter rally for the Orediggers fell far short in a 41-26 loss. Continue reading
Filed under college football
Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective looks at February’s most popular posts.
GENE HACKMAN: R.I.P. – HIS BEST 1970s ROLES – With the passing of actor Gene Hackman I examined some of his best roles in 1970s movies HERE.
COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM: ARKANSAS STATE AT NEWPORT – It’s HERE.
LUCKY SEVEN: SYRACUSE’S PIRATE TELEVISION STATION IN 1978 – For three wild days a renegade broadcasting crew dared to air commercial-free and eccentric programming. Click HERE.
KRIS STRAUB’S NEW EPISODES OF HIS ONLINE SERIES LOCAL 58 TV – I looked at them HERE.
THE TELEVISION GHOST: REALLY, REALLY FORGOTTEN TELEVISION (1931-1933) – Much earlier than most people realize, television broadcasts were already hitting the airwaves, including this horror anthology series.
I threw in 1930s newspaper listings of some of the other primitive tv offerings of the time. Click HERE.
BALLADEER’S BLOG RANKS THE PRESIDENTS – I composed this list the way that anyone trying to be objective should – by omitting the most recent presidents. Click HERE.
COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: BLACKHAWK TECHNICAL COLLEGE – It’s HERE.
MOTOR PIRATES (1906) – My review of an early silent sci-fi film short featuring a high-tech, armed and armored vehicle and its criminal designers. Click HERE.
PROFILES IN COURAGE (1964-1965) – This Forgotten Television series was inspired by John F. Kennedy’s book and presented dramas about heroic men and women from U.S. history. Click HERE.
COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: JOHN MELVIN UNIVERSITY – Click HERE.
TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT – I marked the cult show about bad movies’ 40th anniversary year. Mars Needs Women and Demon from Devil’s Lake HERE, Queen of Blood HERE.
ASTREA: STRONGWOMAN OF ITALIAN SILENT FILMS – Before Gina Carano, Sigourney Weaver or Milla Jovovich came this butt-kicking action starlet from Italy HERE. She did films from 1919-1922 then vanished.
BESS THE DETECTRESS: SILENT FILM ADVENTURESS (1914) – This series of shorts starred Bess Meredyth, starlet, writer, director and the wife of Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) and mother of sci-fi writer John Meredyth Lucas (Star Trek). She’s HERE.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Elektropolis (1928) a German novel about a high-tech city built in the Australian desert HERE, Adventures of Esplandian (1510) when California was an island and the home of odd creatures and a matriarchal civilization HERE, and El Hombre Artificial (1910) an Argentine story about obscene human experimentation HERE. Continue reading
Filed under opinion
This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the Golden Age stories of DC’s Hourman.
ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #48 (Mar 1940)
Title: Presenting the Hourman
Villains: Jewel thieves Randall and Kennedy
Synopsis: At Bannerman Laboratories, chemist Rex Tyler secretly concocts a new drug he calls Miraclo. That drug grants him the strength and speed of 10 men for one hour. Rex adopts the costumed identity Hourman and advertises in the paper that people can seek him out if they need help.
In this debut story, Hourman recovers a woman’s stolen jewels and brings down the two-man theft ring. The city in which he operates is named Appleton.
NOTE: Over the years, changes would make it so that Miraclo granted Rex Tyler the strength of 50 men. Due to parental concerns about promoting drug use since Rex popped Miraclo pills, for a time it was changed to a Miraclo RAY that would increase Hourman’s strength. Other times it was retconned so that Hourman’s costume was enchanted and it was the source of his powers.
Ultimately, it always came back to Miraclo being a designer drug that Rex Tyler had concocted. In modern DC stories it is even said that the formula powering Batman’s foe Bane is an offshoot of Miraclo. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
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