Tag Archives: glitternight.com

OCTOBER TWENTIETH NEWS ROUNDUP

Here’s a Monday current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

MINNESOTA IS THE LATEST STATE EXPOSED FOR ALLOWING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO VOTE. Democrat Governor Tim Walz first okayed driver’s licenses for illegals, then let driver’s licenses be enough to vote. As we’ve all seen, Democrats rely on illegals voting which is why they are so upset about enforcing immigration laws.

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK IN DALLAS SAYS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S POLICIES ARE LEADING TO HIGHER WAGES FOR WORKERS AND MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES. I believe I’ve mentioned before that Donald Trump is the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime.

DEMOCRAT ILLINOIS GOVERNOR J.B. PRITZKER CLAIMS HE WON ONE POINT FOUR MILLION DOLLARS PLAYING BLACKJACK IN LAS VEGAS. That’s how he’s explaining this windfall. Uh. Yeah. And I’m sure Jabba Pritzker would believe that from President Trump, right?

DEMOCRAT “SANCTUARY STATE” ILLINOIS SPENT MORE TAX MONEY ON FREE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THAN IT SPENT ON THE ELDERLY, FOSTER CHILDREN, ROADS AND THE ARTS COMBINED. It’s still “Illegal immigrants uber alles” with Democrats.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN ILLINOIS CAUGHT EMPLOYED BY CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT AS A COP

KAROLINE LEAVITT OUTMANEUVERS DEMOCRAT HAKIM JEFFRIES AND HIS CALLS FOR VIOLENCE.

DHS ARRESTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO OFFERED TO PAY $10,000 FOR ANYONE KILLING AN ICE AGENT.

VIDEO: WHITE DEMOCRAT SHOUTS RACIST SLURS AT BLACK FEMALE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR WINSOME SEARS AT JMU FOOTBALL GAME. Repulsive hypocrites.  Continue reading

18 Comments

Filed under Anti-Donald Trump hysteria, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS: OCTOBER NINETEENTH

HEADLINES

NAIA BEATS NCAA DIVISION TWO – Once again an NAIA team – in this case the KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS – has defeated a team from the higher Division Two of the NCAA – in this case the CENTRAL STATE MARAUDERS. The Knights parlayed their 7-0 1st Quarter lead into a 28-14 advantage at Halftime. From there, they consummated the Upset 35-27.

NUMBER FOUR TAKES A FALL – Staying in the NAIA for the moment, this game pitted the NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS against the visiting number 4 team in the nation – the MORNINGSIDE UNIVERSITY MUSTANGS. A 7-7 1st Quarter tie was unchanged at the Half. After the break, the Red Raiders toppled Morningside 14-13.

AND ANOTHER NUMBER FOUR FALLS – Down in NCAA Division Three, the 13th ranked UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT PLATTEVILLE PIONEERS welcomed the number 4 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT LACROSSE EAGLES. A 21-14 Pioneers edge to end the 1st Half became a 28-14 lead in the 3rd Quarter. In the 4th, UW-Platteville put away the Eagles 38-21. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under college football

HORROR HOST: MAD MARVIN (1957-1959)

Halloween Month continues with this look at a Movie Host from the 1950s – Mad Marvin. For several more Movie Hosts from the 1950s to the 1980s click HERE. You’ll find Moona Lisa, Svengoolie and Son of Svengoolie, Stella from Saturday Night Dead and, of course, The Texas 27 Film Vault.

Chicago’s own Mad Marvin (Terry Bennett) was part of the First Wave of B-Movie Hosts and Hostesses of the 1950s. From 1957 to 1959 Terry (joined by his wife Joy soon after the show launched) entertained the Windy City late on Saturday nights with that metropolis’ version of Shock Theater.

Described as a “Mad Beatnik” and a “Mad Hipster”, Bennett’s Mad Marvin character had a macabre sense of humor that has made him a legend with Movie Host fans. In fact, television station management in Chicago and from around the country soon realized that, as with the likes of Vampira and Zacherley the Cool Ghoul, audiences were tuning in just as much (if not more) to watch the antics of Mad Marvin as they were to watch the movies. Continue reading

10 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season, Movie Hosts

HALLOWEEN HEROES AND ANTI-HEROES FROM MARVEL

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at Halloween-themed characters from Marvel during the 1970s.  

GHOST RIDER – Daredevil biker Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil: Johnny’s soul in exchange for Satan curing the cancer in the body of Blaze’s mentor “Crash” Simpson. We all know how deals with the devil go, and not only does Crash die anyway, but Johnny Blaze is cursed to periodically transform into the flame-headed monster called Ghost Rider.

This horror figure outlasted all of the other 1970s Marvel horror characters, lasting until June of 1983 in his initial run. Along the way he and Roxanne faced Satan himself, a long line of demons, a Native American witch-woman, the eyeball-helmeted biker called the Orb and even other Marvel figures like Son of Satan, Hulk, Black Widow and Dr. Druid.

FIRST APPEARANCE: Marvel Spotlight Vol 1 #5 (Aug 1972) Continue reading

22 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season, Superheroes

THE WORLD’S A STAGE (2014) WITH ALEC BALDWIN

With Alec Baldwin back in the news after driving into a tree, here’s an appropriate item.

Would ALEC BALDWIN find the plot of this movie a little too close to reality?

The World’s a Stage (2014 – Glitternight Productions) – This independent film, though set here in the 21st Century, is reminiscent of ancient Greek political satires like the ones penned by Aristophanes, Eupolis and Cratinus as well as the parathespian comedies of Strattis.

A traveling troupe of actors visit an unnamed town and are a huge hit in a play dramatizing the heroics of a group of honest politicians. The citizens are bowled over by their performances and elect the men and women of the theatre troupe to actually govern their town.

Naturally the shallow and vain thespians are in way over their heads when it comes to dealing with real-world responsibilities and problems. Their egotistical need for applause and approval also makes them unfit for office, especially when it comes to complex political problems. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Fantastic Movie Reviews

UNIQUE HALLOWEEN NOVEL: ISABELLA OF EGYPT (1812)

Isabella of Egypt Alraune and the GolemHalloween Month rolls along. Here’s a tale set in Europe despite the title and involving a Mandragore, a She-Golem, a Barenhauter and Gypsy mysticism. 

Isabella of Egypt is a very obscure 1812 Gothic Horror novella by Ludwig Achim Von Arnim. Under the more evocative title Alraune and the Golem it was to be filmed as a silent movie in 1919 but unfortunately it was never completed or is one of the countless silent films that have not survived to the present day (sources vary). 

The story is set in the 16th Century and features the real-life Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, but in his teen years, right before he assumed the throne first of Spain and later of the H.R. Empire.

The novella is not a horror classic per se but is very eerie and features an odd variety of horrific supernatural figures in Monster Rally fashion.  Continue reading

20 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season

GANJA & HESS (1973) UNUSUAL VAMPIRE FILM

GANJA & HESS (1973) – Duane Jones, immortalized as “the black guy who got screwed over at the end of Night of the Living Dead“, also starred in this offbeat, artsy vampire film which was also released as Blood Couple and many other titles.

Back in 2011, when I reviewed Nine Blaxploitation Horror Movies from the 1970s I mentioned leaving out Ganja & Hess because it was a serious film, not a quickie exploitation flick like Blacula, Blackenstein, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde and many others. I said I’d review it in the future. Well, 14 years later, here we go!

Duane Jones portrayed Dr. Hess Green, an anthropologist who has discovered the ancient ruins of Myrthia, an African settlement populated by vampires. Green’s assistant George Meda, played by Bill Gunn (this film’s writer and director), becomes possessed by the evil spirit of Myrthia’s ancient queen (Mabel King of What’s Happening!!). Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season

ANCIENT GREEK COMEDIES: CRATES

Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at the surviving fragments of an ancient Greek comedian, in this case Crates.

CratesCRATES – Crates’ career spanned from approximately the 450s B.C. to the 430s B.C. We have fragments from nine or ten comedies from an unknown total output. From other sources we know that comedies as stage productions began sometime around 500 B.C. or earlier so Crates came fairly early to the artform.

Crates was credited with being the first Athenian comic poet (the comedies were written in verse and included songs) to introduce drunken characters, still a comic staple over 2,400 years later. Aristotle himself credited Crates as being the first to abandon the “glorified comic monologues” approach of the oldest comedies and introducing fleshed-out plots and storylines.

Be that as it may, there is still a great deal of academic arguing over whether or not Crates’ work simply reflected the influence of Epicharmus, who may well have been the TRUE innovator.

Crates was supposedly an actor before he began writing comedies (But I’m sure he really wanted to direct. – rimshot -) and his brother was Epilycus, one of the Epic Poets. Eusebius’ Chronicles stated that Crates was a well-known comedian by 451 B.C. and Demetrius Lacon in his work On Poetry indicates that Crates may have acted in some of Aeschylus’ tragedies before switching genres. 

KNOWN WORKS 

NeighborsNEIGHBORS – We do not have even a hypothetical year for this work, unfortunately. Since titles sometimes referred to the all-important Chorus of a Greek comedy there is speculation that the chorus members were “Neighbors” of some sort (Duh!) but nothing is known about the plot.

 Athenaeus argued that Crates’ use of a drunken character in this comedy PRE-DATED Epicharmus’ use of stage drunks, so apparently even back in ancient times this was being debated.    Continue reading

12 Comments

Filed under Ancient Greek Comedy

THE SCARECROW (1972) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION HALLOWEEN TALE

THE SCARECROW (1972) – Gene Wilder, Blythe Danner, Nina Foch, Pete Duel and Will Geer starred in this Hollywood Television Theatre production that first aired January 10th, 1972. Long time readers of Balladeer’s Blog may recall my remarks on previous Halloweens about how underused I feel scarecrows still are in Halloween movies. 

The Scarecrow, from the 1908 play by Percy MacKaye, was based on Feathertop aka Lord Feathertop, the 1852 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tale deals with a witch who brings a scarecrow to life to do her bidding. In the past I’ve reviewed silent film versions of Feathertop and pointed to it as an overlooked scarecrow tale.   

Percy MacKaye stretched the story out and altered some of the themes, so The Scarecrow is an adaptation of Feathertop, not a faithful dramatization of it. Gene Wilder portrays the scarecrow.

Nina Foch plays the witch Goody Rickby (Mother Rigby in the short story). She despises Will Geer’s character, the supposedly “respectable” Justice Gilead Merton (Hawthorne’s Judge Gookin).

Twenty years earlier, Goody Rickby had a fling with Justice Merton and even bore his son, who died as an infant. (In Feathertop the affair and child outside of marriage are hinted at rather than stated outright.) Continue reading

16 Comments

Filed under Forgotten Television, Halloween Season

EERIE TALES (1919) SILENT HORROR FILM

HALLOWEEN MONTH CONTINUES. 

EERIE TALES (1919) – Conrad “Major Strasser from Casablanca” Veidt is, in my opinion, the most neglected figure from silent horror films. In this German work Veidt co-stars with Reinhold Schunzel and Anita Berber. The three portray various characters throughout the film.

In recurring bits, the trio play Death (Veidt), the Devil (Schunzel) and the Strumpet (Berber), figures who step out of the paintings in an antique book shop and provide the wraparound segment to the anthology of horror tales that follows. Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season