Will Faces Armageddon

Good afternoon, Stroock's Books. It's Tuesday and it's quiet here. The spirits are talking to us [What do they say?-Ed]. Nothing very interesting. 

[Why haven't you commented on Black Sabbath's Fairwell concert?-Ed] because we haven't seen but a few clips. Check this out though. Check it!

We woke up with a touch of gout but some aspirin took care of it [Maybe it wasn't gout?-Ed]. It felt like gout. 

Project! We have a fridge wedged tightly into the space between the counter and pantry and must needs determine a way to get it out for some cleaning. We've a handy friend helping out. We probably need to get the fridge off the floor a few millimeters, no? It's tight, but in 20 years we've gotten two fridges in there and two fridges out. 

Okay, yep. The bottom was sticky and once we unstuck it, the fridge slid right out with some effort. Motor and fan cleaned. Everything looks great back there. 

Blackhawk Down: if one googles it, one finds countless allegations of racism against Blackhawk Down. It's not our fault that a mostly white military fought rebels/insurgents in an African country. Even back in 2001 people were a bit touchy on the subject. We'll make one criticism. There aren't a lot of Somali characters, which is fine. Blackhawk Down isn't really about them. But the Somali's come off like a horde of characterless zombies. Exit question, when watching Blackhawk Down, who do you suppose Congresswoman Ilhan Omar roots for?

On characterization, contrast Blackhawk Down with Zulu. Zulu opens in a Zulu Kraal, with the Reverend Witt extoling the virtues of the Zulu nation. 'They are a great people,' he says. Through little vignettes and head shots, Zulu manages to characterize the Zulus.

What Will's Watching: Armageddon was on last night. You'll not see a more late-90s film in tone and aesthetic than Armageddon. Which is interesting in its own right. All those green/gray color schemes. Armageddon takes the old trope of writing a lion chasing the character up a tree, onto a branch, and then the branch starts cracking - and turns it up to 11. Armageddon is so over the top it becomes spectacle. Bruce Willis Bruce Willises. But were we not entertained? We were. And a bit emotional too. Fuck it, we're going 4/4. Armageddon is what it is to the fullest extent it can be what it is. Besides Armageddon is better than Steven Spielberg's overly thoughtful and cerebral Deep Impact, which never quite achieves the greatness it seeks. 

DOGE report: the first few chapters of World War 1990: Thatcher's War are really coming together. They're much tighter and make much more sense, with lots of A leading to B leading to C and so forth. You want A to lead to B.

We've been cleaning up the Battle of Los Banos Airbase in World War 1990: Castro's Folly. Sometimes one doesn't know what one needs till one has read what one has. Then one writes.