BEST OF 2020: JANUARY

As always, December is the ideal time for retrospectives of the past 12 months:

2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS – January 1st of this year saw the publication of the movie review I’d been planning since I started Balladeer’s Blog back in 2010! My favorite bad/ weird post-apocalypse movie reviewed on New Year’s Day of the year in which it was set. How close to reality were its predictions for the future? Nowhere NEAR close but that’s part of the fun of course.

This Italian ripoff of Mad Max delivers futuristic Texas Rangers, mutants, evil villains, deadly mercenaries and Italian extras as fake Native Americans who live in absurd post-nuke teepees. It’s ideal if you love legendarily bad movies. HERE.

TWENTY GREAT ITEMS FOR THE POOR AND WORKING CLASS – A score of terrific news items for the poor and the working class to kick off 2020. HERE.

KILLRAVEN, SABRE AND THE SLOW FADE OF AN ENDANGERED SPECIES – My review of the post-apocalyptic adventures of Killraven and Sabre in the year 2020 as told from the 1970s.

I also examined the way writer Don McGregor incorporated unused elements of his canceled Killraven series into his independent Sabre graphic novel. Killraven fought for freedom from Earth’s alien conquerors. Sabre fought for freedom from a human dictatorship which arose in the aftermath of disasters involving poverty, disease, terrorist attacks and nuclear catastrophes. Read it HERE.  

TWENTY MORE FAILED PREDICTIONS FROM PSYCHICS – Remember when the Battle of Armageddon was fought in the year 2000? Or the way a woman was elected U.S. President in 1990? Or the way we eliminated air pollution? You don’t? Well that’s because none of those things happened. To laugh at similar predictions click HERE.

THE LOG OF THE FLYING FISH (1887): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – My review of the 1887 novel about The Flying Fish, a craft capable of flying and serving as a submarine.

The vessel’s inventor and crew have adventures around the world including discovering a prehistoric oasis at the North Pole, hunting unicorns and a variety of other escapades. Click HERE. 

SOLO (1980) BOOK REVIEW – My take on Anthony Higgins’ espionage novel about a concert pianist who is really an international assassin. HERE.

TWENTY COOLEST-NAMED USCAA SPORTS TEAMS – Find them HERE.

TWENTY LOSING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES – A score of losing presidential candidates all the way up to Hillary Clinton. HERE.

GODS OF BELLONA AND RENNELL ISLANDS – Fascinating myths from the Polynesian outliers of Bellona and Rennell. HERE.

REBOOTING STAR WARS – The title speaks for itself. HERE.

SPIDER OF GUYANA – More ancient science fiction in this 1860 short story about a gigantic spider. HERE.

PROFILES IN CORRUPTION – A terrific non-fiction look at American political corruption. HERE.

TWENTY COOLEST-NAMED NCCAA SPORTS TEAMS – Click HERE.

FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP – Click HERE.