Monday Bruno

Good Monday Morning from the beach, Stroock's Books reader(s). The sky is pink and gray. The air is cool. The rest of the Stroock family is asleep as of this writing. All is quiet. 

We had a fine day yesterday, beach, pool, takeout, bayside sunset, night out on the porch. Everything was as it should be. 

Kamala's ahead in the polls they say. This blog has spent many an autumn analyzing polls and we're sick of it.  But let's say this once again. Polls have always, always, underestimated Trump. Also we can show reader(s) how both Romney and McCain were leading in the September of their races. Dukakis was ahead in August. Polls and leads change. 

One campaign note. Mrs. Stroock watches an awful lot of Phillies baseball. Every game we see a couple of Kamala ads promoting her bio. Hello, Trump campaign people, hello?

Yesterday we got in some great reading about the Troubles and also UK's Special Branch. Clever bastards. Our understanding of the IRA grows, as does our loathing. [Oh, you got anything to say about those Protestant fanatics who triggered the Derry riots and the Battle of the Bogside. How about the B-Specials?-Ed] 'Protestant fanatics', now there's a term one does not often hear in America.

Last night we read through about half of War Night's Lexington story. So far, so good. 

Monday (not) Metal. One must needs be a certain age to remember a time when Bruce Willis was kinda, sorta a rock star. Watch this 1986 HBO mockumentary Return of Bruno, about Willis' fictitious alter-ego. Bruno is a musical savant, a brilliant but erratic genius who never realized his potential. The music is...okay. We're not an R&B man, and in our estimation, Willis is overdoing it. This was standard for him. Here's a Seagram's ad where Willis overdoes it, oh my, 'my, my, my, my!'

Interestingly, and with hindsight, rock and roll didn't feel that old in 1986. Rock wasn't young anymore for certain, but it wasn't quite middle aged either. Watch the doc as all the rock and roll bio tropes are there, though. Remarkable. Return of Bruno is almost as good as Spinal Tap. This deserves a deep dive, one we're not willing to do at the beach. Maybe next week.