Tag Archives: glitternight.com

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 · 11:43 pm

WITHIN AN ACE OF THE END OF THE WORLD (1900): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

End of the worldWITHIN AN ACE OF THE END OF THE WORLD (1900) – Written by Robert Barr. No doubt about it, Barr was obsessed with the notion of humanity possibly bringing on its own demise through ill-considered scientific tampering. Recently Balladeer’s Blog reviewed another of his stories, The Doom of London, which mined the same creative territory.

This time around the tale is set in the “present” and the near future of 1903. In 1900 a scientist named Bonsel treats a crowd of VIPs to a lavish banquet, after which he announces that all of the food consumed was created artificially. This was done through his new process of drawing nitrogen from the atmosphere and combining it with other chemicals.

Thus the Great Food Corporation is launched, with many of the banquet’s attendees being its initial investors. The company thrives until 1903, when the Guildhall Banquet degenerates into a chaotic bacchanal and partial riot. Soon this “Guildhall Syndrome” spreads, with the most beastly aspects of human nature on display everywhere it manifests.  

John Rule, a British gentleman put off by the poor taste of it all, probes deeper and determines that the scandalous orgies and accompanying violence have been caused by an atmospheric imbalance. That imbalance was caused by the Great Food Corporation’s siphoning off of too much nitrogen from Earth’s atmosphere. 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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April 4, 2018 · 11:20 pm

AZTEC DEITY TEZCATLIPOCA

FOR BALLADEER’S BLOG’S LIST OF THE TOP ELEVEN AZTEC GODS AND GODDESSES CLICK HERE  

aztec-empire-mapTEZCATLIPOCA – The god of sorcery and human sacrifice as well as the patron deity of thieves and other evildoers. Tezcatlipoca was originally also a war god but his martial attributes were later taken over by Huitzilopochtli. Many myths about Tezcatlipoca involve his conflicts with the wind and culture god Quetzelcoatl, conflicts that even caused the destruction of two of the previous worlds.

The First World was peopled by giants and was ruled over by Tezcatlipoca. After centuries of intermittent warfare between the two deities Quetzalcoatl at last succeeded in overthrowing Tezcatlipoca, who chose to destroy the world rather than cede it to his archrival. He did this by creating countless giant jaguars who devoured all of the giants and other life forms and then devouring each other.

The Second World was populated by monkey-type humanoids and was ruled over by Quetzalcoatl. Eventually, Tezcatlipoca overthrew the Big Q, who likewise preferred to destroy the world rather than see it ruled by the Big T. He destroyed that world with a massive global windstorm of unprecedented proportions. Continue reading →

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April 4, 2018 · 1:16 pm

THE “IT’S ALIVE” TRILOGY ON BLU-RAY, PLUS THE MENU OF EXTRAS

It's Alive trilogyIt’s Alive from 1974 is a psychotronic classic. It Lives Again from 1978 features Frederic Forrest, the “I’m a saucier” guy in his second-worst onscreen relationship – the worst was with Teri Garr in One From the Heart. It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive is fairly lame but at least it has Michael Moriarty.

Yes, the It’s Alive Trilogy is coming out on Blu-ray! You can pre-order this May 15th release at the link below, plus here’s the menu of extras for each of the 3 films:  

IT’S ALIVE

• NEW 2K scan of the original film elements 
• NEW Cohen’s Alive: Looking Back at the It’s Alive Films featuring interviews with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, actors James Dixon, Michael Moriarty and Laurene Landon and more… 
• NEW It’s Alive at the Nuart: The 40th Anniversary Screening with Larry Cohen
• Audio Commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen
• Radio Spots
• TV Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

IT LIVES AGAIN
Continue reading →

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