Balladeer’s Blog’s Eighth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues!
SCROOGE (1935) – This is the notoriously cheapjack and rushed version of A Christmas Carol.
It is almost unwatchable if you’re not a lover of bad movies like I am. And we are talking lame, lame LAME! Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL, WNBA
Balladeer’s Blog’s 2017 Christmas Carol-A-Thon resumes with this look at one of the WEIRDEST and most pointless renditions of Ebenezer Scrooge outside of Dickens Slash Fiction.
SCROOGE LOOSE (1957) – Scrooge Loose is an 8 minute long Gumby stop-motion animation treat from 1957.
Gumby and his equine pal Pokey spot Ebenezer Scrooge escaping from the book A Christmas Carol and set off in pursuit. The pair are posing as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson just to make even less sense. What, no Jack the Ripper? Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Bad and weird movies
Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2017 continues! Yes, it’s the Christmas Carol adaptation NOBODY asked for … not even KEN!
BARBIE IN A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2008) – Mattel provides us with a plastic version of the Carol in a plastic cartoon about its plastic creation Barbie. Just as Mr Magoo was an actor portraying Scrooge in Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Barbie is the story-teller relating the tale to her younger sister Kelly.
As in A Diva’s Christmas Carol the Scrooge stand-in here is a female singing star – Eden Starling. Eden’s mean-spirited Aunt Marie has spent a lifetime molding the young songstress into an equally unpleasant figure complete with Aunt Marie’s credo: “In a selfish world, the selfish succeed.” Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of 2017 resumes with this look at May.
NUMBER ONE – Hillary Clinton and her deluded supporters kept manufacturing excuses about her humiliating LOSS to President Donald Trump. (Red counties on map- TRUMP, blue ones – Hillary) The funniest ones involve the way Hillary and her supporters had no clue about how the Electoral College works. No, Hillary-drones, winning California and New York by large margins does NOT make you president – those numbers are meaningless statistics.
This article examining how PRESIDENT TRUMP EVEN DEFEATED HILLARY CLINTON AT IRRELEVANT STATS looked at how Trump crushed Hillary in terms of counties won, states won and geographical area won, but those, too, would have been as meaningless as Hillary’s popular vote in California and New York (LMAO) if he had not won the Electoral College. CLICK HERE
NUMBER TWO – Balladeer’s Blog’s reviews of bad movies – the more obscure the better – always attract a lot of attention.
In May I reviewed THE COMIC (1985) a bizarre sci-fi/ horror/ post-apocalypse/ art film which boggles the mind with its weirdness. How much of that weirdness was deliberate and how much was caused by ineptitude on the part of the filmmakers? Well, you can decide for yourself. CLICK HERE
NUMBER THREE – My examinations of Ancient Greek Comedies often strike a chord with readers, especially the ones with lots of sex or political jokes in them.
BAPTAE (415-413 B.C.) had a lot going on, including the memorable anecdote about Eupolis – the comedy’s author – running afoul of Alcibiades aboard ship. CLICK HERE
NUMBER FOUR – Balladeer’s Blog often hypes the need for Third Parties in the U.S. to start whittling down the power of those two rival gangs of white collar criminals called Democrats (DemCorp) and Republicans (RepubCorp).
Donald Trump is a de facto Third Party President. That’s because – unlike garbage like Barack Obama and George W Bush – President Trump is NOT a career politician. American career politicians are among the lowest life-forms on the planet. For confirmation of how well the Donald rocks the crooked boat of American politics see PRESIDENT TRUMP: INFURIATING ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE by CLICKING HERE
NUMBER FIVE – Ancient Science Fiction reviews have become a staple here at Balladeer’s Blog.
In May the most popular review of an ancient or vintage science fiction story was STAR: PSI CASSIOPEIA (1854) a “Tolkien in Space” style look at multiple planets in a Trinary Star System. CLICK HERE
Filed under Uncategorized
Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of 2017 continues with the best from April.
NUMBER ONE – We have a tie at Number One – First, President Donald Trump, America’s first de facto Third Party President, has been doing more for the working class of ALL colors than the Democrats or Republicans have in decades. CLICK HERE
Second, an item about Left-Wing Archie Bunkers who refuse to join the 21st Century. CLICK HERE
NUMBER TWO – Up next on this countdown is my review of the Japanese horror film PSYCHO GOTHIC LOLITA (2010).
Blood, guts, silly jokes and almost non-stop action are – as always for J-Horror – present in this very entertaining film.
CLICK HERE
NUMBER THREE – Balladeer’s Blog often deals with the way Left-Wing Archie Bunkers from the 1960s generation distorted the educational system into centers for irrational thought.
Those Faculty Lounge Fascists abuse their positions by browbeating students to agree with their political prejudices. CAL-BERKELEY is their Nuremberg – CLICK HERE
NUMBER FOUR – Another movie review is in fourth place.
This time around it’s my review of the bizarre, horrific movie BEGOTTEN (1990). This is definitely a very unusual film that is definitely not for the squeamish.
For that review just CLICK HERE
NUMBER FIVE – Every day that Hillary Clinton is NOT President is great! My Hillary Clinton interview dealt with her defeat at the hands of President Donald Trump, the New Franklin Roosevelt.
For a Hillary Clinton interview the way it SHOULD go read HILLARY EXPLAINS IT ALL by clicking HERE
Filed under Uncategorized
I’m very, very ill today so here’s just a look at the Best of March here at Balladeer’s Blog.
NUMBER ONE – With the passing of eccentric actor Bill Paxton I wanted to do an appropriately weird movie of his to give him an authentic Balladeer’s Blog sendoff.
The movie I decided on was Paxton’s often forgotten flick TAKING TIGER MOUNTAIN (1983).
The link to that film review is right HERE
NUMBER TWO – SJW’s are among the saddest and most pathetic people alive.
Though they are nothing more than petty informants whose only power comes from the higher authorities they run sniveling to, they laughably consider themselves to be “activists.”
To read SJW’s: LOSERS OR JUST FOOLS? click HERE
NUMBER THREE – In March I reviewed the 1888 novel A MEXICAN MYSTERY.
That work of Ancient Science Fiction was ahead of its time and dealt with a train engine so well-designed it achieved sentience and began attacking, killing and even feeding on human beings to fuel itself.
Long before Skynet, there was “the Engine.” Click HERE
NUMBER FOUR – Just as Balladeer’s Blog features Liberals moving on from that outdated label I also feature Conservatives moving on from THAT outdated label.
Here’s a self-described Conservative fed up with the likes of Karl “Miss Piggy” Rove, Kevin Williamson, George Will, Bill Kristol and the repulsive Bush family. Click HERE
NUMBER FIVE – Superheroes are everywhere these days.
Among Balladeer’s Blog’s most popular posts in recent years have been the ones dealing with neglected superheroes and superheroines.
For a look at the neglected CENTAUR COMICS SUPERHERO PANTHEON click HERE
Filed under opinion, Uncategorized
Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2017 continues!
This is a filmed presentation of the stage play by San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and originally aired December 21st, 1981 on the Arts Channel.
The adaptation was by Dennis Powers and Laird Williamson and starred William Patterson as Ebenezer Scrooge. The only real mistake this Carol makes is that it’s one of those versions that reads WAY too much into Scrooge’s relationship with his father, even making up beatings that are never mentioned in the Dickens original. Other than that this production features some very nice touches.
During the Christmas Past segment Young Scrooge (Thomas Harrison) and Belle (Janice Hutchens) are ice-skating under starlit skies while having their breakup scene, which livens up this often tedious bit of business. When the Ghost of Christmas Present (Lawrence Hecht) shows Scrooge the Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Here’s Balladeer’s Blog’s best from February.
NUMBER ONE – Since President’s Day weekend is in February it’s no surprise that the top post that month was my look at PRESIDENTS FROM EISENHOWER TO TRUMP.
I offered quick, light-hearted and critical shots at each one of those presidents. As regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know, I despise both the Democrats (DemCorp) and the Republicans (RepubCorp) so be ready. CLICK HERE
NUMBER TWO – One of my Ancient Science Fiction items came in second for the month of February, IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN (1904).
This blog post looked at the series of short stories about Gilland the Zoologist. “If Indiana Jones Was A Zoologist” is a glib description of this collection of tales. The heroic Gilland encounters humanoid amphibians, woolly mammoths, dinosaurs which hatch from preserved eggs and go on a rampage, plus more. CLICK HERE
NUMBER THREE – My review of TRUMBO energized people on all sides of the issues as I examined the cosmic-level hypocrisy of the film.
The political left feels that Blacklisting people and ruining careers is okay when THEY do it, but reprehensible when anyone else does it. CLICK HERE
NUMBER FOUR – From the 1886 story THE MAN IN THE BLACK CLOAK I examined the title figure – a neglected forerunner of Pulp heroes like Judex and the Shadow.
For this forgotten serial from Boys of New York magazine CLICK HERE
NUMBER FIVE – Coming in in fifth place for February was this item about a female research fellow and her courageous examination of viewpoint harassment and discrimination on American college campuses by Faculty Lounge Fascists.
To read that blog post CLICK HERE
Filed under opinion, Uncategorized
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are very familiar with my Bad Movie page. Laughing at bad and weird movies is one of the great joys of life so I often post holiday-themed looks at cinematic turkeys around Halloween and Thanksgiving.
The Yuletide season has its fair share of turkeys as well, so enjoy this examination of more Christmas season bombs than even Henry Kissinger ever dreamed of. I will exclude overexposed movies like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and the Mexican film Santa Claus. Visit my Bad Movie page if you want full-length reviews of the following 14 flicks.
THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN (1971) – This Canadian flick is dubbed into English from its orginal French so viewers get treated to the Old School bad movie fun of the actor’s lip movements rarely matching the words being said. An annoyingly whimsical and whacky Martian gets stuck in Canada at Christmas time. A young brother and sister help the alien visitor repair his Ed Wood- level spaceship and save him from suspicious Canadian authorities. Yes, it all seems … reminiscent … of the much-later movie E.T. but I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that E.T. is so similar. (?)
The Martian overdoes the zaniness factor to such a degree that even Charles Nelson Reilly would have told him to tone it down a little. He also wallows in a Canadian candy treat that looks a lot like Reese’s Pieces. Just sayin’.
SANTA AND THE ICE CREAM BUNNY (1972) – Ever want to see Santa Claus sweating so much that his red pants cling to his butt tightly enough for his crack and each buttock to stand out wide and proud? THIS is the movie for you! (And please stay away from children.) Santa’s sleigh crash-lands in Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
It seemed like a good time for a quick take on each individual episode of the cable
series 21st Century Golem. For two seasons that edgy, irreverent show presented Jewish folklore’s clay monster the Golem defending Israeli children and the elderly from blood-crazed Hamas butchers with time out to battle the Muslim Brotherhood and Boko Haram for good measure.
The pro-Hamas Barack Obama was the blustering comic-relief villain of the series and the actor portraying him has since been subjected to an IRS audit. Here’s a look at the highest-rated cable series in history!
EPISODE ONE – “21st Century Golem” – In the premier episode a Rabbi in Israel brings the clay monster called the Golem to life to fulfill its usual mission of protecting Jews from the hatemongers who always want them dead.
The Golem heroically fights off dozens of murderous Hamas child-killers, but Pallywood – the Hamas propoganda arm – tries to make it seem like the Golem is to blame for all the violence. Barack Obama is the only world leader fooled by this and he calls on the U.N. to denounce Israel, which it does with giddy abandon. FOR THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2013/10/25/twenty-first-century-golem-new-cable-tv-series/
EPISODE TWO – “Tears Fall From the Sky” – A group of delusional college students from America show up to show their solidarity with Hamas despite Hamas’ misogyny and homophobia. In a possible reference to the real-life Rachel Corrie incident the episode featured the college students summoning up the ghost of a naive young woman who died showing her devotion to terrorism. Continue reading
Filed under Fantastic Movie Reviews
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