Year-end is the time for retrospectives of the months just past. Here is a look at Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of January for 2018.
THE TOP FIVE FLASHMAN NOVELS – Little did I know how wild the reaction would be to my reviews of what I consider to be the top five novels featuring George MacDonald Fraser’s infamous antihero Harry Paget Flashman.
Roguish and amoral Harry’s bed and battle historical adventures were new to a lot of readers. Reaction was so enthusiastic I wound up throwing in a bonus Sixth novel PLUS my speculations regarding assorted Lost Flashman Papers. To start click HERE
CRATES: ANCIENT GREEK COMEDIES – Balladeer’s Blog took another look at the fragmentary remains of the works of yet another ancient Greek comedian.
Crates had nowhere near the impact of the big names like Aristophanes, Eupolis and Cratinus but his comic plays are still interesting in their own way. To read this item click HERE
ORION: THE ELVIS PRESLEY HOAX/ PUT-ON – Many readers felt this weird topic featured me at my myth-dissecting best.
For Elvis Presley’s birthday I examined obscure and bizarre folklore, demented conspiracy theories and the way the whole Orion/ Dead Elvis tableau presented fiction imitating real-life imitating fiction in a mad loop. Click HERE
REHASHING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S INCREDIBLE 2017 – De facto Third Party President Donald Trump showed the working class and the poor that at long last an American office-holder actually cared about them for the first time in decades.
Trump-o-crats, Re-Trump-licans and the entire Trumpen-proletariat had their economic suffering eased by the Donald, who has proven to be equal parts Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F Kennedy! I was expecting to hate Trump but he proved me wrong every step of the way, from the campaign onward. Click HERE
*** TWELVE MORE COOL FOOTBALL HELMETS FROM NEGLECTED TEAMS – This one is a visual treat, so click HERE
TRANSGRESS WITH ME, JANUARY 13th – One of the earliest installments of what has become one of Balladeer’s Blog’s most controversial and hotly-debated recurring items.
Let your mind explore the forbidden in this fun but challenging bit by clicking HERE
ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT – Balladeer’s Blog reviews Robert Bourne Identity Ludlum’s 1977 espionage novel that seems even more timely and possible here in 2018.
See an FBI run amok, Deep State oligarchs (See how old the term Deep State is?) and the consequences of lack of oversight of America’s sleazy, forever-corrupt intelligence agencies. For my review click HERE
*** MOCK HEADLINES JANUARY 17th – One of the most popular and funniest items of the month. CLICK HERE
*** FACEBOOK IS FAKEBOOK: NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS – What more need be said? Click HERE
*** MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ – CLICK HERE
EBBIE (1995) Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon rolls along with this 1995 telefilm starring soap opera queen Susan Lucci. The eternally-sexy Lucci plays Elizabeth “Ebbie” Scrooge, our regulation “grasping and covetous” business magnate who runs the Dobson’s department store empire. This version of A Christmas Carol is kind of cute and it tries hard. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS were hosting the defending National Champions – the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS COUGARS. Just as much as the Mustangs were fighting USF they were also fighting their history of playoff chokes in recent years. 
SECOND SEMIFINAL – In this game the BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS traveled to take on the KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY COYOTES. Not only did this clash end in an Upset but it was an odd tale of two halves. By the break the Coyotes had come back from being down 13-0 in the opening Quarter to trailing the Ravens by a much tighter score of 20-14. 
HODADEION PART 9 – BATTLE WITH A WHIRLWIND – At what is now called Niagara Falls, the demigod Hodadeion stood facing an enormous Dagwanoenyent. Those beings were the ancient whirlwinds so often fought by Iroquois deities. 
VICTORY BOWL – Last night’s 2018 edition of the post-season Bowl Game in the NCCAA pitted the OLIVET NAZARENE UNIVERSITY TIGERS against the OTTAWA (AZ) UNIVERSITY SPIRIT. The Spirit made it to the Victory Bowl in just their first-ever year of intercollegiate football! 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Last night the Defending National Champions – the EAST MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LIONS – took on the 2016 Champions – the GARDEN CITY COLLEGE BRONCBUSTERS – for the 2018 title. Defense was the name of the game, with the Lions on top just 3-0 in the 1st Quarter and 10-0 at Halftime. 
ALL-STAR COMICS #4 (March 1941) 
If anyone in the world is still wondering why Fake News is what everybody except Democrats call America’s media then this is another flagrant example. Just like the Democrats’ media outlets tried blaming de facto Third Party President Donald Trump for the family separation policy that OBAMA AND GEORGE W BUSH had followed at our southern border they are playing the same game with the tear gas incident. 
I will say again – President Trump gets gifted with more and more loyalty and support every time the Democrats in the media flagrantly lie and lie and lie like this. 
