Balladeer’s Blog’s end of year retrospective continues with the Best of June:
PRIME CUT (1972) – My review of this neglected gangster movie about a Chicago enforcer sent to nip in the bud an incipient rebellion from a defiant Kansas crime boss who is technically subordinate to Chicago. Click HERE.
JUNETEENTH: THE DAY DEMOCRATS LOST THEIR SLAVES – The Democrats and their long love of their “peculiar institution” of slavery. Click HERE. More HERE.
TEN TELEVISION FLOPS – Balladeer’s Blog’s look at ten bizarre, failed attempts at launching a television series. Click HERE.
FIRST SIXTEEN FIGHTING YANK STORIES FROM THE 1940s – The early tales of the patriotic Nedor superhero. Click HERE.
ESTABLISHMENT FEAR OF POPULISM – America’s notoriously corrupt political establishment has always feared and attacked great populist leaders like William Jennings Bryan, Eugene Debs and Donald Trump. The white-collar criminals who run our political system condemn populism with ever-changing slurs. Click HERE.
LIGHT SPEED ESPER (1967-1968) – An overlooked science fiction television series from Japan about a heroic boy who fights off invading aliens with the high-tech suit he wears. Click HERE.
THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION IN THE SECOND MADAGASCAR CONFLICT – A look at the Legion’s 1894-1895 participation in the French invasion of Madagascar. Click HERE.
I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED (1998) – My review of the Billy Zane movie based on the legendary unproduced script written by THE Ed Wood. Click HERE.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS SAYS THE WORLD NEEDS MORE TRUMPS AND FEWER BIDENS – Click HERE.
SHANG-CHI: HIS FIRST TWELVE ADVENTURES – An examination of Shang-Chi’s first 12 stories in the 1970s. Click HERE.
MORE NEGLECTED AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR – A look at several overlooked battles from late 1775 and most of 1776. Click HERE.
THE YEAR 2440 (1771): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – In this old forbidden book which was owned by both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, we readers get a glimpse of life on Earth in the title year. Click HERE.
THE PEOPLE VS JOE BIDEN – The corrupt yet senile Joe Biden is even worse than the repulsive George W Bush. Articles covering Biden’s many crimes against the rest of us are right HERE, HERE, and HERE.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR: PRIVATEER ACTION IN SEPTEMBER OF 1778 – The title says it all about one of the busiest months for American Privateers during the war. Click HERE. Continue reading
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #149 (October 1975) 
At last revealing why he has always been undetectable by Spider-Man’s spider sense, the villain removed his mask to reveal that he is really Professor Miles Warren, Peter Parker’s fatherly mentor and academic advisor for years at Empire State University. (Professor Warren had been a supporting character in Spider-Man stories since 1965.) 
CAROL’S CHRISTMAS (2021) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Twelfth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this independent flick filmed in Las Vegas for $500,000.00. Special thank you to reader Lee Anne, who in the past recommended 
Regular readers know I’m open to all kinds of dark interpretations of A Christmas Carol, but unlike efforts like the year 2000 Brazilian film in which Scrooge is a drug dealer, Carol’s Christmas is not a flawed but artful dive into a holiday story which gets distorted by grim realities. 
BEYOND THE UNIVERSE (1981) – My review of the tenth and final hilariously bad science fiction film from 1980 and 1981 by the Anne Spielberg, Robert Emenegger and Allan Sandler team. Yes, ten films in two years. 
THE REAL DIVIDE IN AMERICA: DEMOCRATS VS THE REST OF US – A piece about how the real divisiveness in America is not black vs white, rich vs poor, gay vs straight, etc. It’s really Democrats vs the rest of us. *** Remember, the people who call others White Supremacists do not speak for all black people, they speak for DEMOCRATS, some of whom happen to be black.
*** People who oppose voter i.d. do not represent all people of color, they represent DEMOCRATS.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Remarkable Experiences In Another World (1899) 
WITH THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION IN SYRIA (1928) – A memoir from a Legionnaire about the war in Syria during the 1920s. Click 
MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1940s – When they were called Timely Comics. 
FUZZ (1972) – This movie is still marketed as if it’s a vehicle for Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch but in reality it’s an ensemble movie. And not a very good one. Fuzz is based on the 22nd book – of nearly 60 – in the 87th Precinct series of police novels by Ed McBain aka Evan Hunter. The books were set in the fictional city of Isola, but this movie is set in Boston.
Obviously, the science and public image of law enforcement has gone through many, many changes over the decades. The movie Fuzz and its source novel reflect the stylish cynicism and gritty realism of police stories from the period. 
EIGHT JAMES WOODS MOVIES – My reviews of James Woods films like Videodrome, Salvador, The Hard Way and others. Click 
QUALITY COMICS SUPERHEROES – A look at the 1940s and 1950s superheroes from Quality Comics. Figures like Phantom Lady, Margo the Magician, Uncle Sam, Black Condor, etc. Click 
AGON: ATOMIC DRAGON (1964) – The often forgotten giant Japanese kaiju monster. Click 
ANTIFA SETS FIRE TO OCCUPIED BUILDING – Hate squads are gonna hate squad. Click 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS took on the COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS in this game. A 10-3 1st Quarter lead for the Blazers turned into a 24-14 advantage by Halftime. Valdosta State made it a 34-14 game to end the 3rd Quarter, then withstood an Orediggers rally in the 4th for a 34-31 victory. 
BR’ER RABBIT’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Twelfth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, Br’er Bear, Br’er Gator and many other characters created by Joel Chandler Harris are featured in this animated version of the Dickens tale. 
All the characters live in a town in the American South, where a charity stage production of A Christmas Carol is being performed, with the proceeds going to benefit the terribly ill Timmy Mouse. No, not “Br’er Timmy” or anything like that, just Timmy Mouse as our Tiny Tim stand-in. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #147 (August 1975) 
Leeds gives Peter copies of the long line of medical tests that the new Gwen has undergone in the past few days. Somehow the cloning process was accelerated, meaning she was created mere months ago, even though she is an adult as much as the real Gwen was when she was killed. 
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