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                                     Battle of Dresden, by Thomas Char...

  Before I get to my review of Tim Powers' Declare, I must report on the weekend doings.Comedienne got baptized on Saturday and asked me to do the honors while her other grandpa performed the confirmation. I got to reacquaint myself...

'E lifted up my 'ead,An' he plugged me where I bled,An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water-green:It was crawlin' and it stunk,But of all the drinks I've drunk,I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.   It was "Din! Din! Din!--From "Gunga Di...

  The unboxing continues at Xanadu. It's nothing like the Battle of the Pyramids pictured above, except for the chaotic nature of the job. I unloaded three boxes in the garage and another three in the basement. I'm finding books and...

 Fun Fact:Acre and Jaffa in 1125 were the most important ports for the Crusaders. Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, visited Acre in May and awarded a charter to Domenico Michiel, Doge of Venice, to establish a Venetian colony at Tyre. Baldwin w...

 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) directed by Nathan Juran, stars Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad, Kathryn Grant as Princess Parisa, and Torin Thatcher as Sokurah the Sorcerer. Don't forget Richard Eyer as the Genie. After watching the Golden Voyage...

The stars are with the voyagerWherever he may sail;The moon is constant to her time;The sun will never fail;But follow, follow round the world,The green earth and the sea,So love is with the lover's heart,Wherever he may be.Wherever he may be, the st...

 It's a fun fact with a book review: December 24, 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France and victor of the Battle of Marengo, had decided not to go to the theater to hear Haydn's The Creation oratorio. He changed...

 If you're familiar with the films of the 70s, you know I'm talking about Sinbad. I watched these two films during my workout sessions over the last couple weeks.   The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), directed by G...

Prepare, prepare the iron helm of war,Bring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb;Th' Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands,And casts them out upon the darken'd earth!Prepare, prepare!--William Blake, "A War Song to Englishmen"Iron Helm sound...

   The Master of Ballantrae (1953) is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's book of the same name. It's directed by William Keighley and stars Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, and Anthony Steel. If you're not familiar with...

 Showing without telling:When I was in grade school, we sometimes had show and tell. Somebody would have something cool to show, a new toy or a fossil or a new puppy, and they would show us the cool new thing and talk about it. Some of us ne...

Though you should build a bark of dead men's bones,And rear a phantom gibbet for a mast,Stitch shrouds together for a sail, with groansTo fill it out, blood-stained and aghast;Although your rudder be a dragon's tailLong sever'd, yet still hard with a...

Souls of Poets dead and gone,   What Elysium have ye known,  Happy field or mossy cavern,  Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?--From "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern" - KeatsElysium, paradise, heaven, shangri-la - Well, I'm ins...