The end of the year always brings with it retrospectives on the preceding months. We’ll start off with this sampling of January’s Best.
HARRY FLASHMAN NOVELS – My reviews of George MacDonald Fraser’s series of Flashman novels have been very popular items. January saw three items:
FLASHMAN (1969) – CLICK HERE
FLASHMAN AND THE REDSKINS (1982) – CLICK HERE
FLASHMAN ON THE GOLD COAST – CLICK HERE
ROBERT GINTY MOVIE MARATHON – Six of the most psychotronic movies from the one and only Robert Ginty.
White Fire, The Exterminator, Warrior of the Lost World, Goldraiders, Exterminator 2 and Scarab. CLICK HERE
PUCK MAGAZINE: ROBBER BARONS THEN AND NOW – CLICK HERE
PUCK MAGAZINE: THEODORE ROOSEVELT – CLICK HERE
FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: JANUARY 21st – Yet another look at the Theater of the Absurd known as the United States “Educational” System. CLICK HERE
DENNIS QUAID FILM FESTIVAL – Five films of the biggest DQ this side of Dairy Queen. CLICK HERE
SHARYL ATTKISSON ON FALSE STORIES IN THE “NEWS” – CLICK HERE
GENTLEMAN JEKYLL AND DRIVER HYDE (1950) – One of Canada’s most bizarrely entertaining film shorts. CLICK HERE
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY QUIZ – CLICK HERE
THE PARSIFAL MOSAIC (1982) – My review of the Robert Ludlum novel. CLICK HERE
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR – From one of my replies to reader questions. CLICK HERE Continue reading
BARBIE IN A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2008) – Mattel provides us with a plastic version of the Carol in a plastic cartoon about its plastic creation Barbie. Just as Mr Magoo was an actor portraying Scrooge in Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Barbie is the story-teller relating the tale to her younger sister Kelly. 
AMAZING ADVENTURES
Though Charlemagne was a real historical figure, a body of folkore has risen around him and his Paladins (knights). Part of that folklore was that the Pope crowned Charlemagne as the new Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, even though the crowning really took place the following February. Since the story of Charlemagne’s crowning as Emperor was told as a Christmas story for centuries I always use Christmas time to examine him and his Paladins. 
HOW ROLAND AND OGIER BECAME PALADINS – The Emperor could not expect his nephew to immediately step into service as a Paladin, since he had a great deal to learn. Charlemagne placed him as a Page in the household of Duke Namo of Bavaria, where Roland began his career alongside many other young nobles. 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The number 1 team in the nation – the MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COLLEGE BULLDOGS – took on the 2nd ranked LACKAWANNA COLLEGE FALCONS for the NJCAA crown. A 7-0 Bulldogs lead in the 1st Quarter became a 13-10 advantage for the Falcons by Halftime. Neither team scored in the 3rd Quarter but Mississippi Gulf Coast exploded in the 4th to win the game 24-13. * THE BULLDOGS ARE NJCAA CHAMPIONS * 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS, the defending National Champions, hosted the GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS (should be the Zebras). The Mustangs were up 7-3 in the opening Quarter but trailed the Vikings 13-7 at the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended in a 21-13 Morningside College lead and from there Grand View U mustered just a Field Goal as the Mustangs notched a 21-16 victory. 
THE MERCURY THEATER PRESENTS A CHRISTMAS CAROL – In 1938, the same year as the Mercury Theater’s legendary War of the Worlds radio broadcast, came this presentation of the Dickens classic. 
The “greater” variation, to the proud, sea-faring Athenians, who “ruled the waves” long before Britons came along, involved throwing their wine-lees at plates floating in a pool, with the winner being the one who sank each plate. This small-scale equivalent of naval warfare was, according to Athenaeus, the more prestigious version and was characteristic of a more “high-end” party. 