Here’s another college whose teams have a catchier name than the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.
LAMAR COLLEGE Continue reading
Tag Archives: glitternight.com
INVADERS FROM MARS (1953) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT
Balladeer’s Blog continues its celebration of this 1985-1987 program’s FORTIETH anniversary year.
In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class (EO6) hosted this neglected cult show.
ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday June 7th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
SERIAL: Before the movie this week, our members of the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) showed another episode of the 1950 Columbia serial Atom Man vs Superman. Kirk Alyn starred as Superman with Lyle Talbot as his archenemy Lex Luthor aka Atom Man.
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.
A behind the scenes photo of Laurie Savino, who held the rank of Mystery Clip Technician in the Film Vault Corps.
FILM VAULT LORE: This week Laurie Savino, who held the rank of Mystery Clip Technician in the Film Vault Corps once again presented Channel 27’s Movie Ticket Giveaway.
Correctly identifying the Mystery Clip this time around would win a few lucky viewers tickets to the upcoming release of the 1986 remake of Invaders from Mars, starring Karen Black.
HOST SEGMENTS/ COMEDY MOMENTS – According to fan Dr. Solaranite, one of the comedy bits Randy and Richard injected into the film this time involved Jimmy Hunt, who played David Maclean, the child hero of the movie.
Whenever Hunt would say something harmless like “Gee Whiz” the Film Vault Guys would bleep part of it to make it sound like the kid had said “Jesus” and was getting censored. And so it went throughout the movie. Little Jimmy – but, hilariously, NONE of the adults, would occasionally get bleeped misleadingly as if cursing like a sailor.
That is one foul-mouthed little boy!
A word beginning with “sh” would be bleeped like Jimmy was saying “shit”, a word beginning with “f” would be bleeped like Jimmy was saying “fuck”, multi-syllable “m” words would be bleeped like he was saying “motherfucking”. It was like a more profane throwback to the old “Cleveland-style” of movie hosting, dating back to the legendary Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) in the 1960s.
THE MOVIE: Invaders from Mars is a very fun-bad movie complete with cheap and unconvincing 1950s special effects, stiff and unbelievable characters and a groan-inducing finale. Some elderly critics praise this movie nostalgically and try to present it as a metaphor for 1950s anti-communist paranoia, like the more-deserving Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Movie Hosts
ONE HUNDREDTH ISSUE STORIES FROM MARVEL
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at the stories that Marvel Comics offered up for the 100th issue milestone for its various titles.
AVENGERS Vol 1 #100 (Jun 1972)
Title: Whatever Gods There Be
Avengers Roster: Thor, Wasp, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, the Swordsman, Black Widow, Hercules, Black Panther, the Vision, Black Knight and Captain Marvel (Rick Jones)
Villains: Ares and the Enchantress
Synopsis: This issue picks up where the previous one left off. Ares, the Greco-Roman God of War, has allied himself with the Avengers’ longtime foe the Enchantress. Ares has imprisoned the other gods and taken over Mount Olympus.
He and the Enchantress are about to unleash armies of monsters from Greek myths to conquer the Earth first and then Asgard. Thanks to the former Avenger Hercules our heroes were brought into all this over the previous two issues.
The Avengers summon every single hero who had ever served as an Avenger to a meeting at the Black Knight’s Garrett Castle home (at right) to plot strategy against Ares and the Enchantress. From the mystic brazier in Garrett Castle, Sir Percy, the ghost of the current day Black Knight’s ancestor (featured in Marvel’s 1950s comic books) addresses all of the Avengers, Force Ghost style. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2025
Balladeer’s Blog wishes a happy birthday to the USA! What happened in early July of 1776 certainly needs no rehashing so in keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing more out of the way subjects this post will examine various events that took place on other July 4ths throughout American history.
JULY 4TH, 1778 – George Rogers Clark led his rebel forces in taking the British stronghold of Kaskaskia, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Clark and his Rangers were on a mission for then-Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.
JULY 4TH, 1783 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is finalizing its written decision holding that slavery has been illegal in the state since adoption of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in 1780.
JULY 4TH, 1788 – The Constitution of the United States is starting to come into full effect this calendar year, instituting the government we are still officially ruled by. First elections are scheduled for later in the year.
JULY 4TH, 1789 – Congress passes a tariff that taxes goods imported in American ships at a rate 10% lower than on goods imported in ships under foreign flags.
JULY 4TH, 1794 – The “Whiskey Rebellion” is underway in western Pennsylvania. Farmers protesting a federal tax on grain alcohol act against it by refusing to pay it and by tarring and feathering the revenue agents sent to collect the tax money. They also take to burning down the homes of revenue officials. The rebellion ends in November. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War
1776: FOURTH OF JULY MUSICAL
For the first time in years, here’s Balladeer’s Blog’s look at the terrific musical 1776.
It may be my fondness for mythology that makes me love to watch particular movies around particular holidays. I say that because many of the well- known myths were recited on ancient holidays when their subject matter was relevant to those festivities. The stories helped accentuate the meaning of the special events and that’s the reason I love holiday-themed movies.
At Christmas I watch countless variations of A Christmas Carol, for New Year’s Eve it’s Bloodhounds of Broadway, around Labor Day I watch Matewan and Eight Men Out, at Halloween, naturally, horror films. Thanksgiving Eve I do Oliver! and for Frontierado (which is just a month away now) I do Silverado and other westerns.
Since the actual 4th of July is loaded with activity I always show 1776 on the night before. It’s a great way to get in the mood for Independence Day. It’s a musical but with brilliant dialogue portions and the story involves the political maneuvering surrounding the Original Thirteen Colonies at last announcing their independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the shots fired at Lexington and Concord started the war.
The story is excellently conveyed and is moving, comical, invigorating and poignant all at once. As long as you know which parts of the tale are depicted accurately and which are complete b.s. it’s a terrific way to spend each 3rd of July evening. Continue reading
Filed under Revolutionary War
THE PENOBSCOT CAMPAIGN: AMERICA’S REVOLUTIONARY WAR TRAGEDY
THE PENOBSCOT CAMPAIGN – Most sources refer to this military campaign as the Penobscot Expedition, but I feel the word campaign is far more accurate. At any rate, if it had been a success this combined land and sea effort against the British in 1779 would be hailed to this very day. Unfortunately, its failure has relegated it to the Memory Hole for most people.
This campaign was an attempt to drive the British out of the portion of Maine that they had seized and renamed New Ireland. Because Maine is central to this affair, I will first clarify a few things that some Americans as well as non-Americans can get thrown off by.
*** In general, we are all familiar with the original 13 Colonies that broke away from England during the American Revolution. Because Maine is not named among those 13 colonies, some people are confused when it is mentioned as the location for various battles of the Revolutionary War.
Maine was a district of Massachusetts at the time. Similarly, Kentucky was not one of the 13 Colonies, but it was a department of Virginia, which is why Daniel Morgan’s Kentucky Rifles were part of America’s army during the war. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War
DIONYSALEXANDROS (430s B.C.) ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY
This blog post looks at Dionysalexandros by Cratinus. For my post providing background info on ancient Greek comedies click here: https://glitternight.com/2011/09/22/at-long-last-my-ancient-greek-comedy-posts-begin/
Cratinus was one of the Big 3 in Attic Old Comedy along with Aristophanes and Eupolis, both of whom were much younger than he was. From the fragmentary evidence available on Dionysalexandros, it appears to be a possibly unique hybrid of Attic Old Comedy and traditional Satyr Plays.
THE PLAY
In Dionysalexandros Cratinus pushed the envelope by blurring the line between comedy and Satyr Plays, which were the traditional mythical burlesques that the ancient Greek tragedians wrote as a comical piece after each of their tragic trilogies.
Satyr plays always featured Dionysus’ followers the satyrs, the drunken Silenus and often Dionysus himself. As in the comedies Dionysus would be depicted in Satyr Plays as a bumbler and a coward, because though the tragedies and comedies were part of the festivals devoted to that god he was able to laugh at himself.
At any rate the tragedians would write the satyrs and their divine leader into traditional myths for comic effect. Think of Simpsons episodes where the characters were written into classical stories or movies. Satyr Plays were, according to some scholars, the origin of the word satire, but others dispute this. (Scholars arguing over something? Big surprise!) Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Greek Comedy
THE INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH THAT NEVER WAS: A LEGEND
For the most part the silly conspiracy theories about the establishment of the United States are good only for laughs. One of my favorites, however, features a speech from a mysterious figure usually associated with Freemasons, Rosicrucians and/or the Bavarian Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt.
I don’t believe for one minute that such an enigmatic man showed up and tipped the balance toward ratifying the Declaration of Independence with a fiery, impassioned speech. However, I DO believe that the wording of that fictional tirade is pretty moving and nicely captures the feel of Independence Day.
Here is the relevant part. I’m omitting the ridiculous section where this mystery man supposedly made Nostradamus-style predictions about America’s future.
“They (the British) may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land. They may turn every rock into a scaffold, every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave and yet the words of that parchment can never die!”
“They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds and yet from every drop that dyes the axe a new champion of freedom will spring into birth. The British king may blot out the stars of God from the sky but he cannot blot out His words written on that parchment there. The works of God may perish … His words, never!”
“The words of this Declaration will live in the world long after our bones are dust. To the mechanic in his workshop they will speak hope. To the slave in the mines, freedom. But to the coward kings these words will speak in tones of warning they cannot choose but hear.” Continue reading
Filed under Revolutionary War
TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE: COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM
If you’re as bored as I am with the overabundance of college sports teams called Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats here’s another lesser used team name.
TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE Continue reading
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
REVOLUTIONARY WAR NEGLECTED BATTLES: APRIL 1777
As the 4th of July approaches, here are some more often overlooked clashes during the Revolutionary War.
APRIL 2nd – Off the coast of Delaware the British frigates HMS Perseus and HMS Roebuck spotted the South Carolina Navy’s schooner the USS Defense, captained by Thomas Pickering. Outnumbered, the Defense fled and the British vessels pursued her from roughly 6:00am to 1:00pm.
At that time the Roebuck and the Perseus caught up with the American ship and both of them opened fire. Ultimately, the Defense surrendered and was towed into New York Harbor by the English.
APRIL 13th – Near Bound Brook in the New Jersey No-Man’s Land, Redcoat General Charles Cornwallis and his 2,000 men caught American General Benjamin Lincoln and his 500 men by surprise. Militia units failed to warn him of the British approach. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War
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