Charity Alert: Six charities on one site -- just click to contribute!

Wildlife: Even without his antlers, the buck deer is easy to spot -- he's almost 25% bigger than the others.

Weather: Without more snow this winter, we are going to have conflicts over water this summer -- especially along the Missouri River.

Media Watch: Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe -- actually he just frustrates Emperor Ming on Planet Mongo again. It's episodes 7 thru 12 of the Purple Death series on DVD. The film print was kind of dark and jumpy.
Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon)is as much the hero as Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) in this 1940 serial, third and last, which incorporated Alex Raymond's "Forest Kingdom," and "Frigia, the Ice Kingdom" sequences from the newspaper comics. Carol Hughes replaced Jean Rogers as Dale Arden, Shirley Deane replaced Priscilla Lawson as Princess Aura, and Roland Drew (dressed as Errol Flynn) replaced Richard Alexander as Prince Baran. It was made two years after Warner Brother's Robin Hood.Raymond, or his editors at Hearst, tapped into the "Rogue of Sherwood Forest's" popularity for Flash Gordon's interplanetary adventures -- thus we see these "Merrie Men of Mongo" in the Universal serial. (Film imitating Art imitating Film -- uhhh, shouldn't we just stick with imitating and leave it at that?)
The ski scenes are pretty good, but the moviemakers didn't have access to Raymond's see-through duds, and as a result,the Ice Queen of Mongo isn't quite so stunning.
I like Jean Rogers' two versions of Dale Arden more than Carol Hughes' secretary-in-distress of 1940. Both actresses sported toned-down looks after Rogers' sex-bomb portrayal in the first series. In Death Ray From Mars, the second series, Dale even saved Flash Gordon's outnumbered ass by some timely bombing from her sparkling rocket ship. That reversal of roles impressed me when I saw it on TV as an 8 year old in the 50's.
Priscilla Lawson's Princess Aura was a spitfire in 1936, but Shirley Dean's was a milquetoast in 1940.