Balladeer’s Blog’s look back at the Best of 2018 continues with the Best of October.
#WALKAWAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON – Former Democrats disgusted with the Party’s growing intolerance and fascism walked on Washington DC.
Openly gay Brandon Straka organized an entire #WALKAWAY movement that went viral, culminating in October’s #WALKAWAY March on Washington. CLICK HERE
THE BLACK ABBOT (1897): GOTHIC HORROR – Halloween Month was, as usual, filled with Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of many neglected horror stories and films.
The Black Abbot was also known as The Black Priest and The Messenger. The author was Robert W Chambers, famous for The King in Yellow. CLICK HERE
BALLADEER’S BLOG OVERCAME TECHNO-FASCISTS WHO TRIED TAKING IT DOWN – Yes, I was one of the year’s many targets of privileged white one percenters and techno-fascists who abuse their wealth to try to censor all dissenting opinions.
I was back in action by the 2nd day and marked the occasion with this blog post. CLICK HERE
JOHN SILENCE: OCCULT DOCTOR (1908) – Balladeer’s Blog took a Halloween Season look at this oft-forgotten fictional hero.
Doctor John Silence investigated various supernatural goings-on in Europe.
Written by Algernon Blackwood. CLICK HERE
FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: OCTOBER 11th – Yes, it was time once again for Balladeer’s Blog’s continuing look at intolerant left-wing Archie Bunkers who pretend to be “educators.” (LMAO)
For this date’s roundup of some of the narrow-minded fascists who have utterly distorted the educational system just CLICK HERE
HELLRAISER: THE FOUR BEST FILMS – Just in time for the Halloween Season, Balladeer’s Blog examined some of the Hellraiser movies.
I reviewed my choice of the Top Four out of the 10 films in the Hellraiser series.
To read those reviews CLICK HERE
TRUMP CARDS: OCTOBER 22nd – It was the latest edition of Trump Cards!
This go-round featured yet another gay Judge the Donald nominated for a Federal seat, George Soros’ notorious connections with the ACTUAL Nazis (Yes, he’s THAT old!) and female journalist of color Asra Nomani’s Ida Tarbell-style indictment of Soros. CLICK HERE
THE ENSOULED VIOLIN (1880): GOTHIC HORROR – A Halloween Season review of this work of Gothic horror written by Madame Blavatsky herself.
Music and supernaturalism mingle in this macabre tale which features a guest appearance by the real-life violinist Paganini. CLICK HERE
THE CREEPY LINE (2018) – This excellent documentary look at the abuses of techno-fascists at Google, Facebook, Twitter and all over Silicon Valley is an excellent work of investigative journalism.
Come along for this film’s look at the perverse way in which technology and social media are exploited and monopolized by a clique of white, privileged and obscenely wealthy 21st Century Robber Barons. CLICK HERE
THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND (1908) – Halloween day itself saw my review of this horror tale written by William Hope Hodgson.
This horrific story was praised by none other than H.P. Lovecraft himself and readers can definitely tell how it influenced him. CLICK HERE
NEW DEMOCRAT SLOGANS – Balladeer’s Blog presented more mock slogans for the Democrats.
Regular readers often describe these fake slogans as funnier than some of the Mock Headlines blog posts that I run. CLICK HERE
#BLEXIT: BLACK EXIT FROM THE DEMOCRAT PARTY PLUS #BLACKLIVESMAGA – The #WALKAWAY movement also spawned allied movements like #BLEXIT and #BLACKLIVESMAGA.
For this blog post CLICK HERE
MOTHER JONES: MORE FAVORITE TRUMP LINKS – Mother Jones went ahead and provided another list of favorite links regarding President Donald Trump.
This was the second list.
For those links all you have to do is CLICK HERE
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve always had a soft spot for the Resident Evil movies. I’m not implying that they’re good by any means, but as guilty pleasures I consider them pretty watchable in a Spaghetti Western sense. You don’t expect logic or well-maintained continuity in the original Django or Sartana series any more than you do from the Stranger or Hallelujah flicks or any of the other lower-level pulp series of Italo-Westerns. 
Seventies chop-socky films are another example. You might watch them but you sure as hell can’t defend them from criticism. 
JOE MAGARAC: NEGLECTED AMERICAN FOLKTALE – What Paul Bunyan was to lumberjacks, what John Henry was to railroad men and what Pecos Bill was to cowboys, Joe Magarac was to workers in Steel Mills. 
THREE LABOR DAY MOVIES – In honor of Labor Day Weekend I reviewed three films that are very appropriate for that holiday. 
APOLLO MISSIONS TWELVE THROUGH SEVENTEEN – Since the lion’s share of the attention always goes to the Apollo 11 moon landing I decided nothing could be more Balladeer’s Blog-ish than to cover the subsequent moon missions instead. 
THREE BOOKS FROM THE GREAT DON SURBER – The one and only Don Surber churned out three of the most riveting and refreshingly offbeat political chronicles of recent years. 
RECENT MOVIES: SOME REVIEWS – Instead of the old Golden Turkeys or obscure foreign films that I usually review I gave in to reader requests and posted my takes on assorted recent big-name releases. 
BABES FOR TRUMP INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT – Beauty and brains and a daring, iconoclastic nature! 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Burbank Films of Australia produced this mediocre at best animated version of the Dickens classic. Previously I reviewed the 1969 Australian cartoon version and if you were to go strictly by this 1982 rendition of A Christmas Carol you would think that Australian animation technology had not progressed one bit since 1969.
BLACKADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL – My Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! Long-time readers know what a big fan I am of Rowan Atkinson’s work – especially his Blackadder programs. Hell, I’m even an enormous fan of his more serious work in Full Throttle. And I never tire of telling anyone who will listen that I think he’d make a perfect Dikaiopolis in Aristophanes’ comedy The Acharnians. 
BOONE MAY: NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER – The three-day Frontierado Holiday Weekend kicked off with this look at the underrated gunslinger Daniel Boone May, better known as just Boone May. 
SJW’s: LOSERS OR JUST FOOLS – SJW’s are the modern-day equivalent of those primly disapproving religious nuts who spent their lives trying to impose their own uptight notions of right and wrong on other people. Except SJW’s are even more annoying. 
LOST MOONA LISA FOOTAGE SURFACED – Balladeer’s Blog’s love of the old Movie Host Shows of the past has been well-established. Moona Lisa (Lisa Clark) has been featured here since 2011. 
#WALKAWAY MOVEMENT CONTINUES – This item examined the continuing #WALKAWAY Movement, the exodus of so many of us former Democrats from the party because of Democrats’ increasing fascism, intolerance and snobbery toward the working class. To read this item CLICK 
NEIL BREEN’S LATEST FILM: TWISTED PAIR (2018) – The Breenius behind movies like Double Down, I Am Here …. (sic) Now, Fateful Findings and Pass Thru struck again with this sci-fi/ social commentary oddity title Twisted Pair. 
DYSTOPIA NATION: THE NEW COLONIALISM – This controversial blog post was another in my Dystopia Nation series. 
SHARK GOD OF FIJI: NDAKUWANG-GA – Balladeer’s Blog’s look at the Gods of Fiji was incredibly popular. 
JOHN BRENNAN: CIA FILTH … PLUS MORE – John Brennan, The Man From S.C.U.M. himself, headlined this look at the ongoing offenses of America’s forever-slimy CIA and NSA. 
THE PRISONER: LIVING IN HARMONY – Balladeer’s Blog’s episode by episode look at this 1967 Patrick McGoohan sci-fi/ existential drama raised a lot of interest. 
ROBERT MUELLER: GANGSTER BOSS – Accused rapist and accused suborner of perjury Robert Mueller, the modern-day Martin Dies and Joe McCarthy, was the topic of this blog post. 
FLASHMAN ITEM: SO HOW WOULD I HAVE HANDLED HIS CIVIL WAR ADVENTURES? – The love for George MacDonald Fraser’s antihero Harry Paget Flashman kept pouring in all summer long. 
ANTIFA IS REALLY KLAN-TIFA – A look at the cowardly masked fascists of Antifa, who are really KLAN-tifa, no matter what they pretend their name is short for. 
DEMOCRATS LOVE CORPORATE FASCISM – The new motto of the Democrats seems to be “Vote all you want – we’ll use our corporate fascist allies to force you to comply with our every bizarre notion.” 
A CAROL CHRISTMAS (2003) – Here’s another entry in Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon. This version is one of the many that tries mining laughs out of setting the Dickens classic in the modern age. These adaptations have varying degrees of success and on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this effort a 6.5. 
MAVERICK (1994): MOVIE REVIEW – Frontierado was fast approaching when I posted this review of the 1994 film version of the James Garner television series Maverick. 
#WALKAWAY MOVEMENT: DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM THE DEMOCRAT PARTY – Gay man Brandon Straka became a dissident hero as he launched the #WALKAWAY movement. Straka provided organization to the ’til now random exodus from the increasingly fascistic and intolerant Democrat Party. (I myself went Independent years ago.) 
TUILAKEMBA: FIJIAN DEMIGOD – Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the saga of Fiji’s heroic demigod Tuilakemba was a hit. I covered not just the original myths but the way Tuilakemba’s tale evolved over the centuries. 
ASK BALLADEER: WHY DID I LEAVE SICILY OUT OF MY EXAMINATION OF THE ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY THE BIRDS? – Many readers were curious why I left out the usual academic speculation about the invasion of Sicily in my look at Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds. 
FLASHMAN: THE LOST ADVENTURES – I took advantage of the heavy interest in the reviews of my Top Five Harry Flashman Novels to go into total fanboy mode. 
THE CLONES (1973): MOVIE REVIEW – Balladeer’s Blog reviewed this neglected science fiction suspense movie. 
CLIVE BARKER’S THE SCARLET GOSPELS (2015) – What Ridley Scott did to his Alien saga with Covenant, Clive Barker did to his Hellraiser series with his novel The Scarlet Gospels. 
THREE NEGLECTED GUNSLINGERS – Cash Hollister, Zip Wyatt and Black Ike don’t get as much love as names like Wild Bill Hickok, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but they had eventful lives nonetheless. 
A DIVA’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with a look at this Vanessa Williams venture. Due to the nature of this adaptation of the Dickens classic it is often categorized as one of the “African-American versions.” Among other such Carols I have reviewed are Christmas is Comin’ Uptown with Gregory Hines and John Grin’s Christmas starring Robert Guillaume. 
GODS OF FIJI – Balladeer’s Blog’s examinations of neglected pantheons of deities from around the world are always a hit. 
MOTHER JONES: RECOMMENDED TRUMP LINKS – Balladeer’s Blog once again posted a roundup of links to the most thought-provoking articles about President Donald Trump. 
HAMMETT (1982) – I reviewed this 1982 Wim Wenders film that was produced by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. Frederic Forrest (Chef from Apocalypse Now) plays real-life mystery writer Dashiell Hammett as he gets caught up in a real-life mystery. 
PHELIM MCALEER ON THE AMERICAN LEFT’S TOTALITARIANISM – Like me and so many others, Phelim McAleer used to consider himself part of the political left but was driven away by the left’s growing fondness of censorship, blacklisting, totalitarianism and their support of ONLY reactionary Muslims, not Muslims who seek reform in their faith to bring it into the 21st Century. 
HELLRAISER: ORIGINS TRAILER – My love of Clive Barker’s horror novel The Hellbound Heart and the subsequent Hellraiser film series is well known. 
SNOPES CONFIRMS BARACK OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION TURNED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILDREN AT THE BORDER OVER TO HUMAN TRAFFICKERS – Just one of the many, MANY scandals of Obama’s presidency ignored by the Democrats in the media. 
SILAS TALBOT: REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO – Balladeer’s Blog took a look at the Revolutionary War career of Silas Talbot. 
TRUMP-HATERS: ARE THEY INSANE OR ONLY PRETENDING TO BE? – A look at the slobbering, psychopathic behavior of those bizarre people who devote their every waking moment to drooling hatred of de facto Third Party President Donald Trump. 
THE INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH THAT NEVER WAS – This item examined a much-discussed speech during the deliberations over the Declaration of Independence. 
