Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders, and happy Saturday. 

Last night we attended services at our new, larger and much closer synagogue. Dang, they do the prayers to a different melody. We were lost for much of the service and will have to relearn the prayers. Mrs. Stroock, who grew up with this stuff, was right at home. The dinner, service and oneg were perfectly pleasant, and we've already made new acquittances. Shalom.

Heh we learned that the synagogue was getting a new cantor, who happened to be the cantor from one of our previous synagogues. Which is nice. We liked her very much. Shalom again. 

A peace deal with Iran is close, they say once more. Given the details we've seen, the deal is acceptable. Two questions for the doomers. What are more air strikes supposed to accomplish? How, exactly would we topple the regime?  Eschew doomerism. Learn to take the W. 

Anyway we suspect this ceasefire will resemble the current not-ceasefire. 

The things.

We read through World War 1990 Thatcher's War and are pleased. The narrative is set through the Battle of Ardee. 

We have the rough draft of the BAOR story. It's messy and all over the place, but the draft is there. We'll give the story a read and then let it sit. Mostly, the story is General Harry Tuzo in his BAOR field HQ working the radio and trying to find out what the hell is happening. 

We began another nuke novel short story. An Egyptian Major patrols the west bank of the Suez Canal, going from situation to situation. He ponders where he has been, and where things are going. 

That's all for us. We're off to the much-anticipated dance recital. 

Round and Round

Good Friday morn, Stroock's Books kibbutzim and shabbat shalom. We are starting at our new synagogue tonight. We'll provide details on the why of that as needed (it's nothing bad).

We had our last dance taxi service of the year last night. We can take down the little dance-taxi schedule on the fridge. We're almost a little emotional. Recital tomorrow. 

The US and Iran have struck a deal, Trump says. He says that a lot. Iran denies a deal has been reached. What are the terms? We know some of them (maybe) but not all. Some terms seem ok. Some seem not so okay. This is the very latest*, and seems acceptable to this blog. We suspect negotiations are riding a familiar merry-go-round. Our best guess is this is another not-a-ceasefire. But that is only a guess. Nobody knows nuthin'. We await events.

We do know the stock market will rise, oil prices will fall. 

DOGE report. 

Same, on all fronts, really.

We like our British invasion of Irelan chapter. It's farce ending in tragedy. 

The Suez chapter in the 5th nuke novel is coming along just fine. 

*'One issue remains unresolved: the Lebanon clause. The Americans are prepared for a ceasefire in accordance with the latest terms, meaning one that leaves Israel with the ability to respond to an emerging threat, while Iran is demanding a full ceasefire. However, according to the diplomatic sources' assessment, this gap will not be an obstacle, and the issue will be discussed in the next stage of negotiations.' Note that Israel just finished destroying the Hezbollah fortress at Dabin and is preparing to attack Nabatieh. 

Title Held Upon Request

Groggy, more coffee!

Much better.

Good morning (afternoon now) reader(s) of Stroock's Books, and happy Thursday. 

We slept in half an hour, and it's thrown off our entire morning schedule. What the actual F?

The weather is weird, with a kind of hazy humidity and cloud cover settling over New Jersey as if it's early August. 

Mowed the lawn. Could probably have waited another day. 

We understand the New York Knicks had some sort of miracle win against the Spurs last night to take the finals lead 3-1. Congrats. Knicks fans have been acting like obnoxious jerks. They'll be insufferable when (if) the Knicks win the series. Expect victory riots. We do see some Knicks gear here in northern New Jersey. 

The war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon continues. 

DOGE report,

We read the opening air raid chapter of World War 1990: Thatcher's War and think it needs another scene or two. We are generally pleased with what's there. The invasion chapter awaits. 

We are writing a story about an Egyptian army officer on the banks of the Suez the fourth day after the nuclear war begins. So far we are also generally pleased. 

We uncovered a continuity error in The Great Nuclear War of 1975 series. In the first novel the presidential briefing specifically states that Paris was not destroyed. But the 2nd and 3rd novels say Paris was destroyed. Oh well.

Cue the Clash (IYKYK)

Happy midweek, Stroock's Books reader(s). 

A little rain early this morning, with a little more rain coming later this morning. Which means we won't be able to mow the lawn. Aw, damn it! 

When cleaning the kitchen last night, we dropped a big bottle of olive oil on our little toe. Ouch!

The US and Iran are close to a deal, they say. They've been saying that for...well...a while. As for negotiations, who the hell knows? Trump is all over the place. Just this morning he was saying Iran is 'taking too long' and 'will have to pay a price.' The New York Post is really talking up potential strikes this morning. We suspect the talk is a negotiating ploy.* We'll say this. If you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.** We shrug and dismiss media reports out of hand. Nobody knows nuthin'.

You know, we were scanning half a dozen Israeli news websites this morning, as we do every morning, and we realized something. Yes, we see a few news stories about strikes on Iran or Haredi protests or some such. But we guess that half the articles presented are analyses, not news, or something like, 'Israel under pressure - retired general says'. What is this? Because it ain't news. It's people's opinions. 

For all you doomers out there, a long report on the massive, generational damage Israel is doing to Hezbollah.

Karmelo Anthony convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison. No riots, so far. Can the Summer of Melo be far off? We don't know. But there are plenty of riots in Belfast. It's nice to see the Irish returning to form. 

DOGE report.

We read through another third of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Though the narrative strikes us as a tad muddled, we're quite pleased overall. We may or may not do a chapter where the RUC is cracking down on the Prods. We need to do the Dublin attack chapter. That's the last thing. 

A friend on FB sparked a 5th nuke novel story which we began writing right away. Which is nice. 

*This blog remains skeptical that a renewed aerial campaign can topple the regime or force concessions. 

** Reference.

Two (novels in progress) for Tuesday

Good Tuesday morn, Stroock's Books fans. 

We understand the New York Knicks lost last night. 

We should mow the lawn. We probably won't.

On FB we sent out a call for submissions for our super-fun 80s songs playlist. We've had a list for a week, but felt it needed rounding out. We received a couple of good ideas. No Metal, just fun 80s rock songs. 

We've been working out to a The Answer playlist for a couple of weeks. We like it, but the playlist still isn't as good as they're Everyday Demons album. 

Trump says a major deal with Iran is weeks, days away. Yeah sure. This blog is not convinced that renewing military action is worthwhile. Meanwhile, Israel continues destroying Hezbollah infrastructure both south and north of the Litani. The USN is escorting ships through Hormuz. Eschew doomerism.

DOGE report.

Monday was an excellent day. We've finished, more or less, the rough draft of the BAOR nuke story. Much remains to be done, much smoothing and articulating. But there's the story. 

We've still no idea what the DEW Line story would be about. 

We read through the first 30 pages or 1/3rd of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. The narrative is a bit muddled, but overall we came away pleased. Lots of Irish stuff, obvs. Lots of American political intrigue. Oh, and some cloak and dagger in NYC. We've a chapter bouncing between the two. Half the point of the chapter is to show what's happening in the US after the war, little details, etc etc. 

Monday Show

Good morning, Stroock's Books fans, and happy Monday.

The morning air is cool with temps reaching into the high 70s today. 

We are genuinely surprised that Netanyahu ignored Trump and attacked Iran. It would seem negotiations have failed and Trump has lost control of events. The Israelis struck three airbases, air defenses and one petrochemical factory. Iran's launched 24 missiles in four barrages. Iran's response strikes us as weak and flaccid. 

What Will's Watching: A Marriage Story. We restarted this and watched the 2nd act. Much better with a lot of legal maneuvering, and Charlie's horrified realization that Nicole doesn't want to part amicably. Alan Alda plays Charlie's old, experienced, and slipping divorce attorney. We're enjoying Alda very much.

What Will's Also Watching: The Tony Awards. The girls love dance theatre and one of their instructors was in the show. We liked the opener well enough. Pink was fine as the show host. And we did like the great John Lithgow's gracious acceptance speech. The rest of the Tonys devolved into self-celebration and self-reverence. We've never liked Broadway and its pretentions. It's magical, don't you know? What is all this gay crap [In the theatre? Stunning-Ed]? Oh well, we're not the audience anyway.  We'll say this for the Tonys; it was a well scripted and tight show. Were we not entertained?

The Tonys had a couple of PSAs is support of theatre and drama programs. Which is fine. We were a theatre kid, lo those many years ago now, 35 of them. In high school we played a sailor in Anything Goes, and Captain Bracket in South Pacific our senior year:

We did enjoy the Hendrick Hudson Drama Club. In college we played Cradeau in No Exit* and Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer. The spring of 1995 marked the end of our drama career. But from time to time we had the actor's nightmare for years. 

DOGE report.

We got the BAOR story to the actual British counterattack. So far so good. 

Today we'll go back over Thatcher' War and see just what's left to do. 

We will not work on the Battle of Ardee this week.

*Hated the experience. No Exit is a bunch of French existentialist (we still don't know what that is) bullshit and the director controlled our every word and movement on stage. Asshole. The crew hated him too. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 6/7 (!) 26

A faire Sunday morn, Christian Friends. Church starts promptly at 9 AM. BBQ at 1:00.

Happy Jerusalem Day, Yom Yerushalayam. 

6/7! IYKYM.

So last night the fami de Stroock went to the Flemington Greek Orthodox Church's Greek festival. We ate Greek food and drank Greek beer, a Mythos. The Mythos reminded us of Rolling Rock, so much so that we suspected Mythos had a deal with Rolling Rock where the former simply put's their label on the latter's product. Nope, we read the label, and the Mythos we drank was a product of Greece. 

Anyway, the festival had lots of Greek people and Greek music. We couldn't help but think of the Guns of Navarone, and then the Guns of Navarone playset we had as a kid. Man, that thing was awesome. 

What Will's Watching: Marriage Story. Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver are a trendy, NYC theatre company couple getting a divorce. At times Marriage Story felt like a paeon to the entertainment industry with lawyers, casting calls, theatre notes, etc etc.  We didn't find any of the characters likable. Lots of talking about feelings and feelings about talking about feelings to the point of tedium. We had to stop about halfway through. 1/4.

As far as Will's good idea for the week of 6/7 26 goes. Don't got one.