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 narrator of the story is supposedly translating alien documents which he discovered in an artificial meteor that crashed in the Himalayas. The documents were from a planet called (incongruously enough) “Star.”
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.
Star and its satellites are inhabited except, of course, for Urrias. The translated documents cover a roughly 1,000 year period of events regarding these worlds. The ancient Starian humanoids formed a united world-wide culture which started as an Empire before becoming a socialist planet economically and politically. The documents also claim that their culture boasted beautiful architecture, incredible feats of engineering and awe-inspiring works of art.
At one point a plague swept the globe, reducing the proud Starian civilization to chaos. A Nihilist Cult formed as the plague kept whittling away at the population over the course of years. In the post-apocalyptic ruins the Nihilists formed a fanatical religion devoted to ending all life on Star. The zealots formed armies which exterminated millions of Starians with the intention of taking their own lives when all non-members of their cult had been wiped out. Continue reading
WAR HUNT (1962) – Unusual little movie that was sort of like a Korean War forerunner of Platoon. Redford is Private Roy Loomis, a new arrival who would be the film’s Charlie Sheen equivalent, right down to his first-person narration. John Saxon would be the Tom Berenger equivalent as Private Raymond Endore, who uses the war as an excuse to give his violent tendencies full reign. 
GEORGES (1843) – Published just one year before The Three Musketeers, this novel is not only a rollicking adventure full of action, romance and double-crosses but it deals with racial issues in such a way that you would have thought it would have been adapted for film four or five decades ago. The title character uses his sword to fight slavery! 
SALTY (1974-1975) – From some of the team behind Flipper came this short-lived series about a trained seal named Salty. The program was based on the 1973 film Salty, which featured Clint Howard in the role now played by Johnny Doran. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER THREE – In NCAA Division Two the UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AT DULUTH BULLDOGS took the field against the visiting number 3 team in the country – the MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS. The Mavericks were up 7-3 at the midpoint but UMD rallied from there to topple Minnesota State 17-14. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER FIVE – In this game D2’s number 16 PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS played their guests, the 5th ranked GRAND VALLEY STATE LAKERS. A scoreless 1st Quarter was followed by a 10-0 Gorillas advantage by the break. The Lakers made it a 10-7 game to end the 3rd Quarter, but Pittsburg State held on in the 4th for a 17-14 win. 
ANOTHER NUMBER FIVE IS TOPPLED – Over in the NAIA, the 11th ranked MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS faced the visiting number 5 team – the UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA-WESTERN BULLDOGS. The Orediggers were in control 27-9 at the Half, then kept UMW at arm’s length to win the game 34-23. 
CRACK COMICS Vol 1 #17 (Oct 1941) 
CLOSE CALL FOR NUMBER THIRTEEN – In NCAA Division Two the 13th ranked COLORADO STATE AT PUEBLO THUNDERWOLVES traveled to face the UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL MISSOURI MULES. A 10-10 1st Quarter tie became a 17-10 Mules lead by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with the Thunderwolves on top 20-17 and the 4th in a 29-24 CSU-Pueblo victory.
STAMPEDE – On the other hand, D2’s number 2 team in the nation – the HARDING UNIVERSITY BISON – had no such difficulties with their guests the SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE BULLDOGS. The Bison seized a 14-0 advantage in the opening Quarter and doubled that to 28-0 at the Half. From there Harding U. buried the Bulldogs by a final count of 55-0. 
WITHIN AN ACE OF THE END OF THE WORLD (1900) – Written by Robert Barr. No doubt about it, Barr was obsessed with the notion of humanity possibly bringing on its own demise through ill-considered scientific tampering. Recently Balladeer’s Blog reviewed another of his stories, The Doom of London, which mined the same creative territory. 
Previously, Balladeer’s Blog reviewed various examples of Bruceploitation Movies, that odd subgenre full of martial arts spectacles exploiting and otherwise trying to cash in on the explosion of popularity in kung-fu films that the real Bruce Lee brought to the west. 
BRUCE, KUNG FU GIRLS (1977) – Also released as Bruce’s Angels, Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu Girls and several other titles, but I have a soft spot for this more inane title selection. I really hope that movies titled Bruce, Gone with the Wind; Bruce, Whose Life is it Anyway? and Bruce, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues also exist. But as we’ve established, I’m kind of weird. 
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