Last Day

Picking the womenfolk up at the airport tomorrow.

Just a great run at the gym yesterday. We kept the treadmill on 3.7 and cruised. Why not? The real goal of those hour long runs is time, not speed, not even distance. We are of course, sore. Weird though yesterday, as it seems it was the women's 50+ hour or something. [Don't even say it-Ed]. We won't. Ouch! [Knobhead-ed].

Our latest bit of Russian Collusion: 'A snapshot of America today. It was alleged last weekend that at a baseball game between the hometown Colorado Rockies and the visiting Miami Marlins, a fan shouted racial slurs at an African American player. Rockies management quickly tweeted their ‘disgust’. Upon reviewing the footage though, it’s clear that the Rockies fan was shouting ‘Dinger!’, the name of the Rockies mascot, dinger being a colloquialism for a home run. The accused wanted to get a picture of Dinger with his grandchildren. The grandfatherly fan remains anonymous as the mere accusation of racism is enough to ruin his life...' Click to continue colluding.

Afghanistan is collapsing. We are intrigued by these three infantry battalions arriving in Kabul to secure the embassy and airport. A big battle like that could make a hell of a short story. One of our World War 1990 ideas is Tet in Kabul, from the Soviet Pov. Anyway, The NY Post quotes an expert saying that the Taliban will be on the outskirts of Kabul within 30 days. Fools. They'll have the city way before that. This blog isn't calling for us to stay, but since they're out in the open, why not bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb the Taliban on the way out? Jesus, it's all gonna be over by September 11th, isn't it?

By now you've all seen the latest Hunter Biden expose. For the record, the Russians have never stolen one of our laptops. We used to be thankful that we didn't end up like Hunter, but now we wonder if we have what it takes*. An 18 day bender. JFC. When Joe says Hunter is the smartest man he knows, we believe him. What are they gonna do when he drops dead from a crack overdose? No, Viagra fueled sex binge.  [Prediction?-Ed]. Prediction. 

So Air Force ends with a titanic and entirely fictitious aerial assault on a Japanese fleet. The crew of the Mary Ann spot the fleet when flying to Australia and send out the word. There follows a well executed scene in which the Army Air Corps, Marine aviation and Navy get orders to scramble everything they have.** After that viewers are treated to a spectacle as dozens of American aircraft descend on the Japanese fleet. Everything that could be accomplished with models has been accomplished here and the result is a visual spectacle of destruction. It's almost as if Howard Hawks let a bunch of ten year old boys write and shoot the scene. We can see the writer's room now, 'Let's just blow the fuck out of everything.' It's glorious. 

Below, your Friday flag:

Timely

*Reference.

**Readers, in which novel did I recreate this?  

In Which Will Uses Cuomo as an Excuse to Post Girly Pics

So Killer Andy C. is going. Two weeks. We'll believe it when we see it. As the New York Post has pointed out, the three most famous New York politicians* are Elliot Spitzer, Anthony Wiener and Killer Andy C., who is resigning because he's 62 but acted like a shy adolescent around grown women. At least Spitzer was cavorting with prostitutes.**Clay Travis argues that Cuomo may be trying to come back in 2022. Both Elliot Spitzer and Anthony Wiener tried to make a comeback after resigning in disgrace.  As Killer Andy C. gave his speech, he sounded like a Rabbi, WTF? Or at least the Rabbi in Seinfeld.  Lot's of word salad. Jesus, what a cringe fest. Oh, my former homeland. You asked for these people, you voted for these people, and you deserve these people. 

A comment we left on a MINT Press post on US arms being used in Yemen, "Try to see the bright side. We send only our best ordnance to the Middle East. You think we'd drop stuff like that on Afghanistan? In many ways it's a compliment." When someone asked, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" we replied. "Well look at Japan. They must have thought, 'The Americans dropped the A-Bomb on us. That's the Dom Perignon of bombs.' Actually, I would argue that Hamas's use of cheap, home made rockets against Israel rather then super high tech modern munitions is a form of anti-Semitism." Mrs. Stroock and the girls get back on Saturday.

On Monday we called Air Force an adventure, and it is. First the B-17 flies right into the Pearl Harbor raid. The crew makes an emergency landing on Maui, damage a wheel, and get shot at by local Japanese saboteurs. After finally coming in to Hickam Field it's off to Wake. A long, boring flight is made interesting because the American outpost is  hard to find and only the navigator's skill gets them there. After that it's off to the Philippines. Here the crew fights an aerial battle, pilot Quincannon is killed and washout Winacki has to land the Mary Ann on her belly. There's an air raid on Clark field. Then the crew races to get Mary Ann flight ready as Japanese forces close in. The crew shoot there way out. From there it's on to Australia. But wait, there's a gigantic Japanese invasion force.

*This former New Yorker will believe Hillary! was a New Yorker when she can describe the best way to get to Yankee Stadium from Westchester. It's down the Bronx River Parkway to the Botanical Gardens and left onto the Grand Concourse. Proceed East, eventually you'll see the stadium on your right. 'Fact is, I've always been a Yankee fan,' the girl from Illinois once boasted. Yeah, sure. Who's your favorite Yankee? Personally, by decade: Ron Guidry, Dave Winfield (a righty like us), Andy Pettitte, NA. Two Louisiana guys. Brings it back to our grandmother, huh.

**Ashle Dupres, via the New York Post. The following is provided for informational purposes:

Editorial Statement: Our job here at William Stroock dot BlogSpot dotcom is to provide news and unique insight to our core of dedicated readers. The information is out there, and if it's relevant, it's our job to present it. Ow! Ouch! Quit it! [Knobhead-Ed]

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.

Monday Metal et al

The New York Post reports: 'Brittany Commisso, 32, told “CBS This Morning” and the Albany Times Union that she filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo, 63, last week because “it was the right thing to do.”' No, it wasn't. The right thing to do would have been telling the governor to knock it off at the very beginning. Instead like the ten other women with whom Killer Andy C. played grab-ass Birttany just smiled, pretended it didn't happen and went on with things like a secretary being chased around the desk by an amorous exec in Madmen.  We got our ass grabbed once by a male student who thought he was fucking around. We told him what would happen if he ever did it again.* Anyway, is Brittany a strong, independent woman? Did she persist? Nope. She's cashing in. A memoir is sure to come, followed by an Oprah appearance and probably a Lifetime movie of the week. She's not even brave. Pass the smelling salts, Brittany is a shrinking violet.

What Will's Watching, Air Force (1943). We first saw this film when we were nine. We watched it again a few weeks ago for the first time in a decade. Air Force is Howard Hawke's perfectly paced, technical masterpiece about a B-17 christened the Mary Ann, and her crew in the opening days of World War Two in the Pacific. 'Men fighting mad! Hellbent for victory!' the trailer says. Air Force is more than a war movie. It's an adventure as the crew flies the Mary Ann from California to Hawaii, to Wake, to the Philippines and finally Australia.  And it's fun. The Mary Ann and her crew get into and out of one scrap after another. It's Air Force week here at William Stroock dot Blogspot. For now, enjoy the trailer:

We'll be slogging some more through The Great Nuclear War of 1975 this week. It comes down to how bad you want to get it done. In a little over a year we've written 140,000 words on the subject. We're bored at this point. This is typical, BTW. Things are looking great in World War 1990: The Weser. We hit 50,000 words yesterday and know how the concluding chapter unfolds. 

Monday Metal, Kiss, Lick it up. We've never been a big Kiss guy. In fact the Kiss of our youth is the post Ace and Peter Kiss of the 1980's. We must have known about them during the 70's makeup years. We remember Star Wars of course, Rocky, Evel Knievel, etc etc.  1980's Kiss is really out of fashion, but for our money here is a perfect song and video:

You've got a simple beat with a very simple guitar riff: D D A, D D A. There's no solo either, just a pair of very simple interludes. Keep an eye out for a couple of guitar tricks after the chorus. The lick it up refrain, dubbed over a zillion times sounds great, we like how they use it during the second verse. Often the best rock is the simplest and Lick it Up shows that here. Whoaaaaaaaaaaa...whew!

Same with this video. You've got the band in a very 80's post apocalypse setting. It was a standard 80's trope. There's a dozen models, none of them scantily clad by the way, and they're all acting like felines prepping prey for the kill. Again, simple and just perfect. 

*Yes, yes, different power dynamics