Yes, it’s the 16th of June, better known to James Joyce geeks like me as Bloom’s Day. The day is named in honor of Leopold Bloom, the Jewish advertising sales rep and Freemason who is one of the major characters in Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The novel also brings along Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist of his earlier novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
For those unfamiliar with this work, Ulysses is Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness novel in which he metaphorically features the events from the Odyssey in a single day – June 16th, 1904, in Dublin. (The day he met Nora Barnacle, the woman he would eventually marry after living together for decades) Bloom represents Ulysses/Odysseus, Stephen represents Telemachus and Leopold’s wife, Molly Bloom, represents Penelope.
The novel is jam-packed with allusions to all manner of mythology (including sly references to the ancient Semitic myth which was the forerunner of the Odyssey, that’s why the character representing Ulysses is Jewish), Irish history and politics as well as a great deal of mystical and literary philosophy. Anyone into the Rosicrucians and their teachings should love spotting all the hidden meanings. Continue reading
Time for another round of Transgress With Me. 
While the Democrats and Republicans continue proving they’re just two rival gangs of white collar criminals here are two cartoons about the pathetic Rupert Pupkinesque dweeb named Robert De Niro aka Robert the Zero and about President Trump’s triumph with North Korea – for which he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. And for actual accomplishments, unlike Obama, who got a meaningless pat on the head Nobel after being in office less than a year and doing absolutely nothing to deserve it. 
PSI CASSIOPEIA, or STAR: A MARVELOUS HISTORY OF WORLDS IN OUTER SPACE (1854) – Written by Dr Charlemagne Ischer Defontenay, a French M.D. and author. Long before J.R.R. Tolkien churned out obsessive amounts of fine detail about his fictional Middle Earth, Defontenay produced this volume of history, poetry and drama from his fictional planets in the star system Psi Cassiopeia. 
The system where that planet is located is a three-star system. Ruliel is the large, white star at the center, around which orbit the two lesser stars Altether (green) and Erragror (blue). The planet called Star is orbited by large planetoids/ moons named Tassul, Lessur, Rudar and Elier. Throwing all science to the winds the planet is also orbited by a small red star called Urrias. 
Robert De Niro, fresh from his gripping portrayal of a moronic anti-Trump fascist who hates the working class and the poor, stopped by to chat with Balladeer’s Blog. Bobby Milk told me he can’t believe people took him seriously. It was sheer Method Acting. He spent time with callous one-percenters and hate-filled celebrities to get the feel of the anti-Trump scumbags and turned in a very convincing performance. 
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association)
HAMMETT (1982) – Directed by Wim Wenders and produced by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, Hammett is a criminally neglected valentine to Hard-Boiled Detective Stories and Film Noir. The flick is based on the novel by Joe Gores. 
Booze and coughing fits figure prominently in the movie, as you would expect given a protagonist who was an alcoholic with tuberculosis. For the sake of convenience the story that Hammett just finished before blacking out was one featuring his character the Continental Op (as in an operative for the fictional Continental Detective Agency). 
Scream Factory has announced that on September 11th it will be releasing its edition of the 1990 cult movie Brain Dead, with Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton. 
Roughly 12 years ago writer Phelim McAleer moved to the U.S. from Europe and learned that many European assumptions about the country are just plain wrong. That was especially true when it came to the overseas image of America’s political left compared to the ugly reality of what they’ve become in recent decades. 
“One of the first things I learned when I came to America was that American Progressives don’t much believe in progress. In fact they are among the most conservative – even regressive – people I know.” 
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