Drinking to days gone by

We awake sore after back to backs. Treadmill Sunday, weights Monday. A strange, strange treadmill session, but we won through. Weights felt good. We notice the lock is getting lower and lower on the weigh stacks. We're actually kinda getting into it.

Facebook memories showed us a picture from our vacation two years ago in Ireland with our childhood bestfriend and his family. [Everything they said about us and the Famine is a lie-Ed]. You English should be ashamed of yourselves, tart.  It was a great trip. This depresses us. Here we are at one of those ancient Celtic mound thingies. 

Better Times

Yeah, when we say we were the smallest of out friends growing up, this is what we're talking about. 

What Will's Watching, Air Force (1943): Howard Hawks gives us a bunch of Hollywood stock characters, These fly boys come from all over, California, New York, Texas, Minnesota. No one character stars in the film. John Garfield playing the cynical and jaded flight school washout Joe Winacki comes closest. The Mary Ann is piloted by Lt. Michael Quincannon and doesn't he just have a winning smile, ladies? In fact, dare we say this film is acted by a cast full of good looking 1940's era men. [He's right, gals.-Ed] 

Bill Williams is the young co-pilot, dating the sister of the enthusiastic bombardier, Tommy. The ship is navigated by Monk Hauser Jr., another flight school washout, he's trying to live up to the legacy of his WWI ace dad. Robbie White is the ship's grizzled master sergeant. Weinberg is a fast talking New Yorker who will tell everyone how great his town is (it never changes, does it?).  In Hawaii they pick up Tex Rader, a hot shot pursuit pilot filled with attitude. He's Maverick in 1941. Hawks did miss an opportunity though. Why not have an airman named Garcia from Los Angeles?

Each man carries his own part of the story, kind of like each man has a job to do aboard a B-17. But the most important character of all is the Mary Ann. Throughout the film we see the inner workers of a B-17, flight, navigation, bombing. We see what it's like to be aboard the ship, the effect is actually cozy. The Mary Ann is the crew's home. With all of the crew's tech talk, Air Force actually feels like a 1940's version of an episode of Star Trek TNG.