Tag Archives: glitternight.com

SIR GRAPEFELLOW AND BARON VON REDBERRY

Time for another look back at a clash of cereal mascots. Previously, Balladeer’s Blog covered the Monster Cereals like Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo-Berry, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy as well as the rivalry between Quisp and Quake.

General Mills tried replicating their Monster Cereal success with a pair of cartoon World War One flying aces as mascots for two new cereals. Sir Grapefellow was a stiff upper lip British fighter pilot whose cereal featured oats and grape-flavored marshmallows called Starbits. Baron Von Redberry, clearly based on Germany’s Red Baron, represented a cereal with oats and berry-flavored marshmallows/ Starbits.

The rivalry between the two flying aces and their cereals began in 1972, a year after General Mills had kicked off their Monster Cereal line with Count Chocula and Frankenberry as the dueling mascots. (If you’re wondering, Quisp and Quake were Quaker Oats products.) Continue reading

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Filed under Neglected History

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS: JAN 10th

The USCAA no longer has football, so I had no coverage of them from Aug-Dec.

USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) DIVISION ONE

CLOSE CALL FOR NUMBER ONE – The nation’s number one team – the NORTH AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STALLIONS – clashed with the visiting TEXAS A&M AT TEXARKANA EAGLES (should be Texarks). The 1st Half ended with the Stallions on top 37-29 but Texarkana was ready for a comeback. Their rally fell short as NAU held on to win 74-71. Jayden Jackson led the Stallions with 23 points, while teammate Joseph Cormier got a Double Double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.

CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 or more points in Regulation: The (6) NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) obliterated the CENTRAL INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE CARDINALS 121-65   ###   The BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE BEARS won 110-108 at the BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE (Albany) BOBCATS   ###   And the (10) PAUL QUINN COLLEGE TIGERS mauled the WILEY UNIVERSITY WILDCATS 107-53. Continue reading

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MARVEL ISSUES: JULY 1967

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Marvel’s publications from July 1967.

SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #50 (Jul 1967)

Title: Spider-Man No More

Villain: Kingpin (FIRST APPEARANCE)

Synopsis: Spider-Man stops the robbery of an armored car and bystanders’ wary reaction to him makes him angry about how thoroughly J. Jonah Jameson’s media lies about him have tainted his image in some people’s minds.

That, combined with Aunt May’s latest turn for the worse health-wise (yawn), makes Peter Parker feel even worse, especially since he hasn’t spent as much time checking on his aunt ever since he moved into Harry Osborn’s plush apartment with him.

The next day at Empire State University Peter fails a biochemistry test, prompting Professor Miles Warren (yes) to express disappointment since Peter is such a brilliant student. Privately, Peter blames every bad thing in his life on being Spider-Man and he decides to never again don the costume.

Over the next few weeks, the crime rate in New York City skyrockets with no Spider-Man getting in the way of villainy and only Daredevil fighting street-level wrongdoing. Our hero’s absence is noted in criminal circles, inspiring the Kingpin to at last operate openly.

He clashes with Spider-Man’s old foe the Big Man in a war over control of New York’s rackets. This makes Peter Parker realize that it’s more important to be doing the right thing even if the media attacks you for it, so he swings back into the fray as Spider-Man. Continue reading

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ELVIS AND ANDREW JACKSON: TWO PEAS IN A HISTORICAL POD ON THIS DATE

Elvis’ January 8th birthday being the same date as the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 have tied the two figures together in a very offbeat way. Here are some samplings of the offspring from these two strange bedfellows.

I WANT EL SANTO AND I WANT HIM NOW!

ORION: THE ELVIS PRESLEY HOAX/ PUT-ON/ TEASE – My examination of life imitating art imitating life down the bizarre rabbit hole of the 1978-1980 singer Orion and the resulting milking of the whole “Is he really Elvis Presley still alive, after all?” nonsense. Click HERE.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL VS THE REDCOATS (2015) – The fake musical starring an Elvis impersonator as General Andrew Jackson and a female impersonator as Ann-Margret playing pirate Jean Lafitte. General Elvis defends New Orleans from a British Invasion spearheaded by an army of pastiches of English rock stars of the 1960s. Click HERE. Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, humor

THE GHOST GOES GEAR (1966) BAD MOVIE REVIEW

THE GHOST GOES GEAR (1966) – Okay, how could anyone resist a film that features a song titled Show Me Your English Teeth? This movie was the Spencer Davis Group’s addition to all the imitation Help! flicks from the 1960s as so many British bands tried to replicate the Beatles’ big screen success but fell below even some of the worst Monkees episodes in quality. 

And speaking of the Monkees, the show starring that pre-packaged “rock band” came out in September of 1966, the same month as The Ghost Goes Gear. Must have been something in the drinking water on both sides of the Atlantic that month. 

For those readers not familiar with them, the Spencer Davis Group was made up of THE Steve Winwood, his brother Muff Winwood (but not his sister Dick Winwood), Pete York and of course Spencer Davis.

Let’s face it, NO multi-band movie could possibly be as bad as Musical Mutiny, the Iron Butterfly (and others) Golden Turkey that I fell in love with back in 2021 and wrote a scene-by-scene review of. Musical Mutiny featured the ghost of a pirate plus a teenage mad scientist, but The Ghost Goes Gear had just a ghost. And just barely at that. Continue reading

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APOCRYPHAL GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR

A look at one of the many Apocryphal Gospels. 

THE GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR – The narrative of this gospel centers around dialogues between Jesus and his apostles in the last few days before his arrest and crucifixion.

Some of the material is similar to the Gospels of John and Matthew, but some is Gnostic, with references to discarding the useless garment of the body so the soul can return to the empyrean realm (or Pleroma, if you insist). 

The most striking departure in this gospel comes in the Garden of Gethsemane segment, when Jesus, as God the Son, traditionally prays to God the Father to spare him the ordeals that lay ahead. In The Gospel of the Savior Jesus transports himself and his apostles to the throne-room of God the Father where he makes his appeal in person. Continue reading

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Filed under Mythology

CHARLEMAGNE: ASTOLPHO RESTORES ROLAND’S SANITY

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

ASTOLPHO RESTORES ROLAND’S SANITY – Picking up where we left off, the Paladin Astolpho and St. John returned from the moon in the latter’s flying chariot and entered the saint’s palace on a mountaintop. (Yes, I just typed those words.)

Astolpho carried with him the bottle filled with Roland’s sanity from the moon’s Valley of Lost Things. St. John, who was ready to return to Heaven now, parted company with Astolpho by giving him a salve which would heal the blindness of the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) King Senapus.

Mounting his winged hippogriff (part horse, part eagle), our hero flew down from the mountaintop and returned to the court of King Senapus. When he used the salve to cure the king’s blindness, Senapus felt doubly indebted to the Paladin.

Not only had Astolpho driven off or killed all of the Furies preying on Abyssinia, but now that he had restored King Senapus’ vision, he granted the Frankish warrior a boon. Continue reading

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PETROCELLI (1974-1976) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

PETROCELLI (1974-1976) – Joel Hodgson once observed “You’ve got to light a fire PRET-ee early in the morning to burn Barry Newman.” However, that observation and the 1979 disaster movie that inspired it – City on Fire – have nothing to do with Petrocelli. It’s just the first thing that comes to mind every time Barry Newman’s name comes up. (Well, that and “Chickee chickee boom boom” from that same flick.) 

Setting aside my inherent weirdness, Newman starred as the title defense attorney in the clever series Petrocelli as well as the show’s pilot movie Night Games (1974) AND the 1970 theatrical release film The Lawyer, which started it all.

The cleverness I’m referring to was the hook that this program boasted. As surely as Columbo was known for the viewers seeing who the murderer was from the beginning of each episode, and Ellery Queen would feature Jim Hutton breaking the Fourth Wall to ask the audience if they, too, knew who the guilty party was, Petrocelli had its own gimmick.

Viewers would get a Rashomon style account of the episode’s crime from the perspective of both the Defense and the Prosecution. Then, Petrocelli’s investigation would enable him to reconcile the conflicting accounts.

At any rate, after the 1970 theatrical film and the 1974 pilot telefilm, the Petrocelli series was picked up and ran for 2 seasons and 44 episodes.

THE MOVIE: Continue reading

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NCAA DIVISION THREE COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WAS FINALLY PLAYED

The Stagg Bowl is finally behind us. It was played yesterday.

NCAA DIVISION THREE

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT RIVER FALLS FALCONS took on the defending champions – the NORTH CENTRAL COLLEGE CARDINALS. The Cardinals led 7-3 in the 1st Quarter and 14-10 at Halftime. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS: JAN 4th

NAIA

DOWN GOES NUMBER NINE – The MADONNA UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS welcomed the 9th ranked team in the nation – the INDIANA TECH WARRIORS (should be Hoplites). The Crusaders put Indiana Tech on Upset Alert by Halftime with their 52-42 advantage. From there, Madonna University kept their opponents at arm’s length for a 98-91 win. Ahmoni Weston led the Crusaders with THIRTY-TWO points. 

CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 or more points in Regulation: The (1) GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS beat the MT. VERNON NAZARENE UNIVERSITY COUGARS 103-93   ###   Meanwhile, the LINCOLN (CA) OAKLANDERS defeated the CAL MARITIME KEELHAULERS 102-96   ###   And the (18) LIFE UNIVERSITY RUNNING EAGLES won 105-84 at the POINT UNIVERSITY SKYHAWKS. Continue reading

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