Women are Crazy Week: Second Xanax

Happy September everyone. Temps remain in the 80s this week. But one can feel the autumn in the cool night. We await, we await. 

Another good day at the gym. We see the results in the mirror. But we remain sore and tired. It's time for a real gym break. Is it also time for a new regimen? Maybe going back to four machines (rope pully, rower, elliptical and....). Two back to backs a week? Maybe. 

9/11's 25th anniversary is approaching and we've no idea what to think or if we should think anything at all. We did a piece of for the Kremlin on the 20th anniversary. Maybe we'll just reprint that. What were people doing on December 7, 1966? We don't know. 

Vice President Vance met with the Republican Jewish Coalition yesterday.  This blog prefers Ron Desantis for 2028, which has almost no chance of happening. The nominee will almost certainly be Vance.  We are meh about what we've heard from the meeting so far. We'll wait for more reporting. *

Women are Crazy Week, legal edition, which is what triggered Woman are Crazy Week: three men sit on the Lindsay Clancy jury, and they're having to explain to the gals that you don't get to strangle your children to death just because your hormonal and having a bad day. We stole that from someone, We don't remember who. 

Seriously, a FB friend of ours was working his way through the case, and we commented that Clancy should be locked up in a hospital for the criminally insane for the rest of her life. We see this as an act of mercy, as it's obvious to us that Clancy is nuts. A mutual female friend said that Clancy's husband was not innocent. 'Up your dosage and try taking it with a glass of white wine,' we didn't say. 

World War 1990: Korea...So after World War Three China has ambitions. They're looking north actually, as officially the Chinese government thinks Siberia belongs to them. Look it up. And the Soviet Union is weak and probably wracked by civil war. But tidying things up to the east seems like a good idea. To that end China props up and strengthens Kim in North Korea. Kim goes rogue and attacks South Korea. 

DOGE report.

The fixing of the Battle of Howth...continues. Baah. The writing seems flat. We are entering the 'this sucks' phase. All perfectly normal.

*In our view firing Buckley Carson from the staff would be a good move. 

Women are Crazy Week: First Xanax

Yarp, a sore morning to all Stroock's Books reader(s) except the Canadians. Enjoy swimming in Lake America, hosers. 

We are sore after moving Oldest Daughter into her dorm, which involved dad carrying things and putting stuff together while the womenfolk decorated. [Don't forget berating the parking lot public safety guy for not letting you park in the dorm lot. I believe the word you used was 'retarded'-Ed] It was, Ed. It was. [And you said, 'Na, I'm going to park here-Ed]. And I did, Ed. I did. [Knobhead-Ed].

The older we get, the less tolerant we are of over-officious, power-tripping popinjay. [Like that time last summer when the X-ray nurse asked you to wear a mask?-Ed] Exactly. [Or the kid at the chipotle counter?-Ed]

[What you don't realize is you're just turning into a grumpy old guy who will one day yell at the girl at the Denny's counter because you go there at a quarter after six, thus missing the early bird special-Ed]. Ouch. [Ouch indeed-Ed].

 Also, we hit the gym yesterday afternoon. 

Polar Cub last night because...why not?

Sigh, the last day of August. And with August ending, the High Holy Days loom. Holy Moses, 12 September and...21 September. 

Woman are crazy week, What Will's Watching edition: Dead to Me. Christina Applegate plays Jen Harding, a window grieving over the loss of her husband in an as yet unsolved hit and run. Linda Cardellini is Judy, her BFF with a dark secret. Jen and Judy are Gen-X archetypes, affluent, snarky, sometimes bitchy, privileged. Both are emotionally unstable in their own way. Jen is prone to rage. Judy is prone to despair. We watch them drink wine and cry as they slowly learn Jen's life wasn't all she thought it was, and neither was her husband. Neither are unlikable. We are entertained. 3/4.

So in World War 1990: Korea, the Norks, emboldened by Saddam's victory in the Middle East, invade South Korea. The Norks have great success initially, but are eventually stopped by the US and the ROK. China intervenes leading to a pan-Pacific War. We'll get into China's motivations tomorrow. 

What began as a local conflict becomes a regional war dragging in the Japanese, the Australians, Singapore etc etc. Colin Powell is brought out of retirement to become CinC Western Pacific Theatre.

The year is, 1996 maybe, with the war heavily impacting the election. 

America has fought and won WWIII, but is wondering what is was all about. The world has seen war and genocide in Jugosalvia. Saddam has smashed the Kurds, taken the Iranian oilfields and is master of the ME. There might be a Soviet civil war.

Reminder, we've no idea whether Gore or Quayle wins in 1992. 

DOGE report.

Slowly, ever slowly, we are fixing the Dublin Airport battle scene. Patience. We don't know why or how we got so bad at writing battle narrative. What's so hard about, 'The platoon dropped down to the tarmac and returned fire. At the same time an Irish 40mm gun pumped rounds into the Chinook, killing pilot and copilot.' Dunno. 

Will's Last Good Idea for August, 2026

A faire Sunday morn to Christian reader(s) of the blog except the C of E types. The Presbyterians, too. Oh, and the Methodists. In fact, pretty much all the mainline Protestant denominations. They're a weak, feeble lot. And they don't much like Jews. [You know, you have a long line of Presbyterian preachers on your mum's side. And all that Kentucky heritage is Methodist-Ed] And? 

We told the parking lot guy, a portly young man in a bad uniform and yellow highway jacket, with as much politeness* as we could muster, that the parking lot policy was retarded. 

'The policy is retarded,' we said.

'Well they don't want people parking in the dorm parking lot and unloading their car,' the parking kid said. 

'It's move in day,' we replied. 'Where am I supposed to park. Na, I'm going to park here.'

Anyway, Oldest Daughter is moved into her dorm. 

Will's final good idea for August: A second Korean war, probably alternate history. But it rhymes with the first Korean War. US/South Korea defeats the Norks. China intervenes. But this time there are no restrictions on US actions. We pound Manchuria and hammer the Chinese coast. 

[You know, this could be...-Ed] Don't say it....[a post WWIII World War 1990 novel, World War 1990: Korea. Make it after the election of 1992 with the new president having to deal with the crisis-Ed] Fuck![I can tell by your cursing you like the idea-Ed]  Fuck! [See- and you already have a vague plan for an apocalyptic 2000 war between Israel and Iraq-Ed].

Stroock's Books will toy with this idea all week. 

*The late Mark Stroock II once said in a Young & Rubicam meeting, 'Tell them, indirectly, to go fuck themselves'.

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders. The air is cool. The sky is clear. This looks to be a fine day. 

We saw some fine pitching and defense last night during the Somerset Patriots 3-1 win over the Akron Ducks. 

We are preparing to decamp to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction for Labor Day. 

This Venezuelan oil agreement seems like a big deal. What would Tommy from Landman say? We need to watch season two. 

The Things. 

We got off to a good start on our Soviet sub story in the 5th nuke novel but haven't done any work on it in a few days. That's two half-finished stories. The 5th nuke novel is 49,000 words. Ten thousand more words and probably one more story and we have a novel. We're shooting for 60,000-65,000 words. 

We worked all week on World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Yesterday we got hung up on the Dublin airport attacks scene. This needs a lot of work. There follows the battle of Howth. The readthrough of the second half of Thatcher's War is 70 percent complete. We are generally meh. 

Thinking and Pointing

Shabbat Shalom, Stroock's Book's kibbutzim. 

We are tired and sore after an unnecessary gym session. Today we rest...Because we're taking in a Somerset Patriots game this evening. First pitch is at 6 PM.

We got plenty of rain yesterday and this morning. 

We've been starting the morning at the Donut for several weeks now. This morning the kid behind the counter handed us our coffee before we ordered it. Reminder, like metric numbers or common core math, Starbucks is the mark of the beast. 

Our friend from a European country that has an NFL team named after its ancestors reports, 'The king is dead. Long live the king'.

At The American Thinker, an interesting article on why a subset of American women, the AWFULs one supposes, is so unhappy. A miserable, SSRI binging, wine gulping, suburban woman is safer than the Queen of Sheba, more comfortable than Queen Victoria. They are a societal problem, a problem not quickly solved, a problem not fixed within our lifetime. Reminder: feminism is ALWAYS bad for women. 

Related...We remain in awe of the WNBA's incompetence. With all the trans and gender shenanigans these last few years, how did the league not have a plan, policy, and legal argument in place for when some rightwing culture jammer declared for the WNBA draft? We point in the most Sophie Cummingham way possible. Go with God, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, you civil rights pioneers.   

Campaign note, national: This article at JNS more or less makes the Jewish case against JD Vance. We don't care if Vance is campaigning with Tucker Carlson's money man (such is politics) or if Buckly Carlson is on Vance's staff. Tucker Carlson decamped to the Maine woods and went mad, as is well known. Are Vance's words and alleged criticisms of Israel a problem? Our answer to that question is...we don't know. We'd like Vance to give a speech on the Middle East, or something. Vance would be a formidable candidate. But this blog renews its endorsement of Ron Desantis. 

We dunno, what does the readership make of Vance and the 'Jewish issue'?

DOGE report.

Progress, progress. We're making progress. That's all we can say.

If it's Thursday, it's Down

Aye, a faire Thursday afternoon, you Stroock's Books reader(s), you. 

We had some rain early this morning with much more on the way. Here are the latest New Jersey drought numbers. Look at all that green. We're doing great.  

So CIA director John Ratcliffe was in Moscow. Wonder what he was talking to the Ruskis about? 'This comes directly from the president,' clears throat. 'If you attack a NATO country we'll take these half dozen economic actions against you, declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and sink every ship in the Black Sea fleet? Comprende? Da? Good!'

Thursday Downer: this video on living with bipolar disorder seems about right. Or is it? We've never been as up as these people are describing. In some ways we're just naturally morose. Always have been. We do like the second cases' exercise regimen. Damn right exercise fights depression. God bless endorphins. Which is why we're hitting the gym in an hour despite a slightly sore knee. 

These people are on way too many drugs, in our opinion. We're on one, which we hate, despite what it does. We don't get high or low much anymore. We're steady. Even. Another word for our condition is numb. Reminder the highs are never as high as the lows are low, and we'd gladly give up the former even if it means losing the later. 

Campaign note, national: are normies really going to care who Hasan Piker is? In our opinion the GOP is counting way too much on linking Dem/DSA candidates to him. 

DOGE report.

An excellent day with the Battle of Ardee, yesterday. The chapter still needs work, clarification and articulation. But we are pleased. 

We read through a couple of problem scenes this morning. By the time we were through with 'em those scenes were a lot less problematic. 

We've got, like, two chapters left. And we need to write the Irish Ranger Wing raid and the conclusion. 

If it's Midweek, it's the Midweek Meander (with AC/DC asides)

A good midweek morn to Stroock's Books reader(s) everywhere except Canada. Bastards. 

Autumn looms. Right now, the temp is 59 degrees, American. Feels a bit early for such cool temps, even in New Jersey, no? 

We are sore from an afternoon at the gym. But we've two good (enough) nights of sleep. 

We are neglecting our lawn. 

We see no one bought Blooms yesterday. Thanks. We blame Canada.

This blog has no insights to offer on the passing of Dolly Parton. We're just not much of a Country music fan. Seriously, we can name, like three Dolly Parton songs. Three. Parton was one of those 'everywhere' celebrities of our childhood. We recently saw 9 to 5 for the first time in a couple of decades, a movie that was on cable all the time for a while. Parton is one of the reasons why that film is so much fun. Go ahead and give 9 to 5 a rewatch. Otherwise, kaddish. 

FB tells us that 11 years ago today we saw our last AC/DC concert, this one at the Meadowlands. Note, our previous AC/DC concert was at the old Giants Stadium just before they tore it down. AC/DC is on tour again, but we don't feel the need to see a show. They're old and so are we. 

Well how 'bout that! Back in Black just came on the radio here at Dunkin Donuts. Must be a sign. Easily one of the ten best chord progressions in rock. 

Related...2006...or our last good semester subbing. That autumn we were enamored with 1990s ACDC. Reader(s) should do themselves a favor and listed to 2000's Stiff Upper Lip. This is smooth yet gritty blues based album. Stiff Upper Lip was only six years old when we found it, but for us in 2006, 2000 might as well have been another planet. House, baby on the way, job, novel completed, a few magazines articles in print and many more coming. Seriously, click that link. 

We agree with this, 100 percent: 'Arguing against antisemitic lies is futile. Antisemitism must be confronted for what it has become: a political weapon against Jews and the Jewish state.' Go the full Andrew Breitbart. Turn the camera around and accuse the accuser. Of all the causes in all the world, why have you selected the Jews? Reminder, there is only one reason to oppose Israel. Just one. And it's ugly. Oh, and don't forget to bomb Gaza. 

Campaign note: we've spotted half a dozen Rebecca Bennett for Congress signs in our neighborhood. We're not surprised. Bennett's supporters are motivated, and who can blame them? She's a heck of a candidate. We also saw some Corey Booker signs. We didn't even know he was up for reelection. We've no idea who Booker's GOP opponent is. We did spot one Tom Kean sign. His campaign does strike us as aggressive, confident even. Kean has 100 percent name recognition, his father was a popular governor. He's also got a substantial money advantage. But money isn't everything.* 

DOGE report. 

We approach the tasks at hand with a mixture of ennui and resignation [Stop pronouncing ennui 'n-u-i'-Ed]. Get bent. 

Another chapter down in World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Today we read the Battle of Ardee chapter [Oh, fuck no -Ed]. Oh fuck no is right. 

We continue cleaning up the sub story in the 5th nuke novel. 

*Which is why GOP millionaire Doug Forrester was unable to buy himself the governor's mansion or a senate seat in the 2000s.