Time for another segment of Balladeer’s Blog’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead! Paul McCartney, best known as the husband of the late Linda McCartney, performs here with Linda’s band Wings (I’m kidding.) It’s the sproingy, springy version of the song Rock Show without the slow Venus & Mars prelude:
Filed under opinion
Balladeer’s Blog spent part of this past summer on a light-hearted, escapist bit of fun by examining the very first Mantis storylines at Marvel Comics. Mantis was brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe this year in the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie but I reviewed her ORIGINAL appearance and the 1973-1975 Celestial Madonna epic she starred in.
I. MANTIS: THE CELESTIAL MADONNA SAGA – The “senses-shattering” beginning of the series which I covered in some of the same style as my reviews of Epic Myths. CLICK HERE
II. MANTIS 2: NIGHT OF THE SWORDSMAN – Mantis and her romantic partner the Swordsman show up at Avengers Mansion and wind up helping the superteam against one of their old foes. CLICK HERE
III. MANTIS 3: BELOW US THE BATTLE – Mantis, the Swordsman and the other Avengers fly to England in search of their missing member the Black Knight. While there they come into conflict with sinister forces. CLICK HERE
IV. MANTIS 4: THE AVENGERS VS THE DEFENDERS – As the search for the Black Knight continues, Loki and Dormammu trick the Avengers and the Defenders into all-out war with each other over a relic called the Evil Eye of Avalon. CLICK HERE
V. MANTIS 5: THE AVENGERS-DEFENDERS WAR CONTINUES – Mantis and one of her fellow Avengers battle the Defenders’ leader Doctor Strange for a fragment of the Evil Eye. Meanwhile, the newest Defender Hawkeye fights Iron Man in Mexico for another fragment. CLICK HERE Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
It is time for another musical shoutout from Balladeer’s Blog. This time around it’s the Queen song Need Your Lovin’.
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NUMBER FOUR GETS SHOT DOWN – The storied CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO RAMS traveled to face the number 4 team in the rankings – the AMERICAN RIVER COLLEGE BEAVERS. A 20-6 1st Quarter lead for the Rams became 30-12 at Halftime and 30-26 in the 3rd Quarter. From there CCSF added 10 more points while shutting out the Beavers for a 40-26 wrapup.
WHEN RANKED TEAMS CLASH – The 3rd ranked RIVERSIDE COLLEGE TIGERS found themselves on the road against the number 10 BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE RENEGADES. The Tigers put up 7 points in each of the 4 Quarters and led the Renegades 7-0 in the 1st Quarter, 14-6 at the Half and 21-13 in the 3rd. Bakersfield College nearly came back for a win but fell short as Riverside College won it 28-26.
RUSTLING UP A BLOWOUT – The GOLDEN WEST COLLEGE RUSTLERS welcomed the CHAFFEY COLLEGE PANTHERS. The Rustlers kept the Panthers off the scoreboard until the 4th Quarter while producing 7, 13 and 7 more points in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Quarters respectively. The final tally in this lopsided game was Golden West College 27 Chaffey College 6. Continue reading
Filed under college football
FOR BALLADEER’S BLOG’S SEVENTH PLACE LUDLUM NOVEL CLICK HERE
6. THE ROAD TO GANDOLFO (1975)
TIME PERIOD: 1970s, Post-Watergate
I have a feeling many Ludlum fans will be ticked off that I ranked this novel – for which Robert used the pseudonym Michael Shepherd – above the seventh novel on my countdown.
HERO: Sam Devereaux, a handsome and brilliant lawyer who works for the United States Army and has risen to the rank of Major. Sam has grown to hate Army life and can’t wait to get out.
In his final days before leaving the service he becomes drawn into the schemes of General “Mac” Hawkins, who establishes grounds for continuing to extort cooperation from Sam even after his return to civilian life.
VILLAIN: General MacKenzie Hawkins, living legend and a cross between George Patton and Peter Falk’s manipulative CIA agent in the original version of The In-Laws.
During World War Two, the 19 year old Hawkins was a decorated hero of the Battle of the Bulge and an instant folk hero. After the war Mac went to West Point, where he became an all-star Running Back for the football team.
During the Korean War, Hawkins moved up in the ranks and – shrewdly reading the emerging geo-political landscape – pursued his further career in the Far East. A General by the height of American involvement in the Vietnam War, MacKenzie eventually gravitated to covert operations, specifically Black Ops.
Exiled to a diplomatic post over his tendency to make waves the General’s hard-drinking Bad Boy behavior caused an international incident between the U.S. and China.
When Major Sam Devereaux’s combination of legal brilliance and street-savvy saves Hawkins from hard time at Leavenworth or in China the General coldly and calculatingly makes the clearly talented Sam an unwilling accomplice in his plot TO KIDNAP THE POPE FOR FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN RANSOM. Continue reading
Filed under opinion, Pulp Heroes
DOWN GOES NUMBER THREE – The 14th ranked BLINN COLLEGE BUCCANEERS welcomed the number 3 team in the nation – the TRINITY VALLEY COLLEGE CARDINALS – on Saturday. The Buccaneers and Cardinals were tied 14-14 in the 1st Quarter but Blinn College grabbed a 24-17 lead by Halftime. A 24-24 tie to end the 3rd Quarter ultimately became a 31-27 triumph for the Buccaneers, who are still unbeaten for 2017.
AND NUMBER FOUR COMES TUMBLING AFTER – The BUTLER (KS) GRIZZLIES battled the 4th ranked IOWA WESTERN COLLEGE REIVERS. A 14-0 1st Quarter lead for the Grizzlies was cut to a mere 14-13 edge by the break. Butler College made it a 21-13 game in the 3rd Quarter, with the Reivers scoring a Touchdown in the 4th but missing the 2-point conversion attempt. The Grizzlies won it 21-19.
HUTCH EDGES THE DEFENDING CHAMPS – The storied HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS took it on the road against the Defending National Champions – the number 11 GARDEN CITY COLLEGE BRONCBUSTERS. The opening Quarter ended in a 7-7 tie with the Blue Dragons on top 14-7 at Halftime. Hutchinson College led the Broncbusters 28-21 to start the 4th Quarter and from there held on for a 31-28 road upset. Continue reading
Filed under college football
*** HEADLINES ***
MECHANICS MAKE IT TWO IN A ROW – In the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) the WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES MECHANICS followed up last week’s tight victory with a blowout win this week. Yesterday the Mechanics battled the GATTACA COLLEGE NEW JERSEYANS and parlayed a 39-0 Halftime lead into a 45-20 triumph.
SIXTY-ONE – The NAIA’s (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) LYON COLLEGE SCOTS were on the road against the TRINITY BIBLE COLLEGE LIONS from the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association). The Scots achieved defensive perfection while piling on the points for a SIXTY-ONE to NOTHING massacre of the Lions.
TRIPLE OVERTIME – The game between the OTTAWA UNIVERSITY BRAVES and their hosts the FRIENDS UNIVERSITY FALCONS was the Marathon Game of the Day on Saturday. Regulation ended in a 21-21 tie, sending the game into Overtime. Things were still deadlocked after 1 OT session and again after the 2nd OT. It took Triple Overtime before the Braves at last emerged with a 34-28 victory. Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the espionage novels of the late Robert Ludlum. I know it’s odd for me to write about a figure as popular as Ludlum but I’m addressing ONLY his novels in terms of my rankings. Even the novels he wrote under other names.
People who know this fun author strictly from the Jason Bourne movies may not be familiar with these works because they are very different in tone and approach from the Matt Damon flicks.
7. THE GEMINI CONTENDERS (1976)
TIME PERIOD: World War Two era through the early 1970s.
I’m sure many Ludlumites will be furious that I have this novel in last place. They’ll likely be even angrier when they see which novel I ranked above it in 6th place.
HERO: WORLD WAR TWO PORTION – Vittorio Fontini-Cristi, the good-timing playboy scion of the moneyed and blue blooded Fontini-Cristi family in Italy. Vittorio’s father opposed Benito Mussolini so the dictator liquidated the family and confiscated their estate.
Vittorio was the sole survivor of the family. Sobered up into a more serious worldview over the massacre of his loved ones, Vittorio became a deep cover intelligence agent sabotaging Mussolini’s war effort. His twin sons are the major characters of the 1970s portion.
VILLAIN: WORLD WAR TWO PORTION – Cardinal Donatti, a religious zealot determined to find and destroy certain ancient documents that were entrusted to the Fontini-Cristi Dynasty.
Those documents, if made public, would supposedly shock the Christian, Jewish and Muslim worlds into potential chaos. If they fall into the wrong hands they could supposedly be used to blackmail the Vatican and other Christian power centers. Continue reading
Filed under opinion, Pulp Heroes
Time for another musical shoutout from Balladeer’s Blog. This one goes out to the Greg Kihn Band and The Breakup Song aka They Don’t Write Like That Anymore.
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Here at Balladeer’s Blog my love of enjoyably bad movies has been well established. You can count me as one of the many “Human Breens” as fans of filmmaker Neil Breen are called.
Neil Breen (PBUH) started out as an architect and realtor with minor show-biz dabblings as a dancer in Madonna’s Vogue video and as a cop in Scream. Years later Breen surfaced once again in the entertainment world, this time as an independent filmmaker.
As with the best of the bad auteurs Neil churns out productions that are uniquely his own. There is no mistaking a Neil Breen film with a film made by anyone else. Picture The Room’s Tommy Wiseau trying to make a David Lynch movie. But with a LOT more needless violence against laptop computers.
Read on for a look at the first four examples of Breen Cinema.
DOUBLE DOWN (2005) – Neil Breen starred, wrote and directed this movie – and quite obviously he or an associate even wrote the IMDb description of the plot. That description calls Double Down “an edgy action thriller,” which would certainly come as a surprise to anyone who has actually SEEN the film.
Double Down set the pattern for all things Breen, which is to say it redefines Vanity Projects AND Mary Sue-ing. He casts himself as (insert some sort of human or superhuman paragon here) who (engages in some sort of activity) while looking down on everyone else with a judgmental air of disapproval and ennui. And needless to say, he’s the BEST at looking down on everyone else with a judgmental air of disapproval and ennui. (Sure, but can he climb anything?). Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
