HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMES JOYCE! His works got me hooked in my teens when I really related to his character Stephen Dedalus as he rejected his religion and indulged what I call his “young and pretentious side” in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I wore out my copy of Joyce’s novel Ulysses and continue to mark Bloom’s Day to this very day.
Over the years Finnegans Wake replaced Ulysses as my favorite Joyce novel and I’m fonder than many people are of his play Exiles. Naturally, I’m also into his “epiphanies” in Dubliners and, poetry geek that I am, even Pomes Penyeach and Chamber Music. So, if you live in Ireland, say hello to Anna Livia Plurabelle for me today! Continue reading
AARON BURR
SCARAB (1983) – Robert Ginty AND Rip Torn … TOGETHER! Somebody pinch me! A Spanish horror film that does NOT star Paul “Jacinto Molina” Naschy! Somebody pinch me! 
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – Women – 1. SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN BEES ### 2. KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS ### 3. UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS ### 4. COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES ### 5. LOYOLA (LA) UNIVERSITY WOLFPACK ### 
For Balladeer’s Blog’s Number One Harry Flashman Novel click 
8. FLASHMAN (1969) 
That’s what our protagonist wanted in the first place, and the Guv-nor buys Harry a post as a Cornet (Second Lieutenant for us Yanks) in a Cavalry Regiment. The unit selected by the ever-calculating Harry has just returned to England after years overseas, so Flashman assumes he won’t be sent to war while enjoying the benefits of a gentlemanly life of riding, sporting and letting his dashing uniform help him attract ladies. 
Sword in hand, pistol at his side and a long line of beautiful ladies on his arm, Harry spends the next three years getting swept up in the feuding in Lord Cardigan’s Cavalry unit, the Rebecca Riots in Wales, Scotland’s labor revolt and ultimately the long string of British military disasters in the First Afghan War. 
It’s no secret that Sharyl Attkisson – the Ida Tarbell of the 21st Century – is one of the few actual journalists left in America. She broke with her unethical colleagues over their refusal to cover the Obama Administration’s many scandals and found herself targeted by Obama’s FBI and NSA thugs. 
The incredibly courageous Attkisson still goes after tough stories on both political parties, and she doesn’t care if the facts reflect poorly on Trump, Obama or George W Bush before them. 
The world fell in love with him as “Artichoke Picker” in Bound For Glory and the rest, as they say, is history! All kidding aside, I think Robert Ginty’s actual life was a hell of a lot more entertaining than any of his movies or television shows. As a musician he performed with Hendrix, Hooker and others. In his acting career he showed up in some high quality productions. 
WHITE FIRE (1985) – CASTING DIRECTOR: Let’s see … the hero of this Turkish-made action flick is an international smuggler who uses a chainsaw to fight rival criminals and is so hot for his own sister that he eventually pays to have a prostitute transformed via plastic surgery into a duplicate of his sister then oinks and boinks with her … (snaps fingers) Get Robert Ginty on the phone, NOW! 
THE EXTERMINATOR (1980) – How can you NOT like a movie in which a standard bad-ass street vigilante uses a FLAME THROWER to kill the criminals he targets? 
USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) Division Two – 1. VILLA MARIA COLLEGE VIKINGS ### 2. BERKELEY (NY) COLLEGE KNIGHTS ### 3. NEW HAMPSHIRE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE LYNX ### 4. CENTRAL PENN COLLEGE SILVER KNIGHTS ### 5. PENN STATE AT WILKES-BARRE NITTANY LIONS ### 
6. COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE BLUE ANGELS ### 7. SOUTHERN MAINE COLLEGE SEA WOLVES ### 8. JOHNSON & WALES COLLEGE AT CHARLOTTE BOBCATS ### 9. ALBANY COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES PANTHERS (Should be the Apothecaries) ### 10. WARREN WILSON COLLEGE OWLS ### 
Wow! Readers really cannot get enough superhero posts! I have a soft spot for superhero stories myself because reading them served as a gateway to two of my adult passions: mythology and opera. Here’s more of the world’s FIRST superhero team – DC’s Justice Society of America. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #17 (June 1943) 
Synopsis: This story presented the return of the Justice Society’s archenemy Brain Wave (Henry King). In typical supervillain fashion Brain Wave survived his seeming death at the end of his previous battle with our heroes. 
QUESTION: How come you no longer make as many mentions or blog posts about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as you used to? 
Long ago I used to condemn the Anarchists for finding both the left and the right too totalitarian to be worth siding with and fighting both sides. In recent years I’ve certainly come to sympathize with their position as we here in America have seen that the political left is every bit as bad as the worst right-wingers ever were. 
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