Wednesday Aftermath

Good morning, Stroock's Books people, and happy Thursday. 

Arrrr, just a bad day yesterday, mostly self-inflicted. It happens. But we don't feel good about it. We don't feel good about it at all. How about turning off the fire hose of news, eh? Also, a post-surgery thing? This was a Thursday downer mini-post. 

Jews-n-News: Israel is still heading for a hung Knesset. Ch14's poll is the outlier showing the Netanyahu bloc with 66 seats. But...most polls show Eisenkot's party gaining on Bibi's party. One supposes President Herzog would have to give Eisenkot the first crack at forming a government. Exit question: what if Ch14 is right?

Political note, national: the 'While Trump builds his ballroom....' ads write themselves. 

This blog endorses, without hesitation, independence referendums for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. 

What Will's Watching: The Thomas Crown affair, 1999. So they left off the 'e'. Piers Brosnan plays Thomas Crown and Rene Russo plays his antagonist, insurance investigator Catherine Banning. Dennis Leary is the cop on the case. This time the film opens with a guns-free art heist. We like it better than the bank heist in the original TTCA. The 1999 version has more or less the same plot, beats and turns as the 1968 version. Crown and Banning meet, pursue, fall in love. There are some excellent plot twists to distinguish this from the 1968 version. 

While Dennis Leary is not as interesting as the police detective as Paul Blake was, he's not bad either. Leary's detective Mike McCann  hits on Banning, and misses. But he's a sympathetic character with a troubled past (cop problems). He ultimately a good cop with a redemption arc.

This time TTCA takes place in New York City. This is the late 90s New York, turned around, cleaned up, and whimsical. The score, interesting and mature modern jazz, lends itself to a city on the make. This is another film one watches for time and place, for style. The late 90's were quite the time, the nation had not a care in the world. And that comes through here. 

Is the Brosnan version better than the McQueen version? Is it worse? We don't know. We can say Brosnan is his own version of the self assured business tycoon. Oh, and Faye Dunaway returns, this time as Crown's shrink, a very 90s affectation. Were we not entertained? We were. 3/4.

DOGE Report.

We advanced the plot. We can see the end of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. It's there. 

We tidied up the sub story. The tidying up will continue until the story is tidied up. 

Despite everything we had a pretty good day. 

Our editors at REDACTED Magazine refuse to respond to our emails. 

Will Gets Crowned

The procedure went just fine yesterday. We'll have results in a few weeks.

We really need to figure out how to stop getting so worked up about things [Meh, it was their screw up-Ed].

What Will's Watching...As ordered we took it easy yesterday. So we watched The Thomas Crowne Affair (1968) and (1999). We'll review the original today. TTCA is a love story about two good looking people wrapped around a bank heist. The 1968 version is a time capsule, 1968 - as experienced by grownups. There's no hippies here. No rock. The score is modern jazz. People dress up to go out. Men wear fedoras. Smoking is still cool.

Steve McQueen plays Crowne as a successful, self-assured, and stylish businessman. When Crowne takes his stolen two million bucks to Switzerland, the bank president is at first reluctant. 'It's all there,' Crowne assures him. When the president balks Crowne says, 'But you will do it.' And finally, 'Enjoy my money.'

Crowne flies gliders, plays polo and drive's dune buggies for fun. He places thousand dollar bets on golf shots out of boredom. 

Faye Dunaway is Vicki Anderson, a brilliant insurance investigator. Anderson is beautiful, stylish, curious, playful and every bit Crowne's match. She's been sent by the insurance company to bust Crowne and tells him so. How does Dunaway do that with her eyes? My word. 

After they meet at an art auction (of course) Crowne and Anderson go about Massachusetts being cool fabulous together.  

There's lots of great supporting performances here. Jack Weston (readers will recognize him) is great as the driver and the fink. 'I'm in' he says when Crowne offers him the job in the movie's first scene in a darkened hotel room. Paul Blake is detective Eddie Malone, at once resentful and intrigued by Vicki Anderson. Anderson likes Malone and even respects him and spends several scenes on his arm. Why in another world the two might even be a couple. To Malone's credit he never hits on Anderson. 

TTCA is a 'look at me!' film with lots of out of focus and split screen shots which some viewers may find annoying. We enjoyed them as a part of time and place. 

All these elements come together in a movie that shows us late-stage middle-brow cool. 4/4

Political note, general: we looked at RCP polls and we see a sea of blue. Here in NJ07, Rebecca Bennett has a five point lead on Tom Kean, which is unchanged from June.  We've seen this movie before, in 2018 when Dem challenger Tom Malinowski beat GOP incumbent Leonard Lance. The ingredients are mixed. Exit question, has the cake baked?  

Yes, we're feeling doomy. 

DOGE report.

We read over a few scenes. Nothing more. 

9/11 Week...Interrupted*

'Please stop yelling at me,' the schedular said.

'What the hell for?' we replied. 

Devotees will recall the battery of tests we've had this summer, colonoscopy, endoscopy, MRI, etc etc...We're supposed to get another test today. 

Honestly, yesterday did not start off well. The doctor's office called and asked a series of weird and increasingly annoying questions, many of which we felt were irrelevant.  'I don't know,' we often answered. They pressed. They pressed. 'Yes, I would say I could nap in the afternoon', we replied to one dumbass question. 

The call took ten minutes and left us in a foul mood. We were already cranky for, after all, we were getting ready for something we don't really want to do. 

An hour later, maybe, the scheduler called and said we had to reschedule. Would October 8th work? The anesthesiologist was worried about putting us under given all the blood pressure meds we take.

We explained that we have already been under anesthesia once this summer. 

Didn't matter, the anesthesiologist would need our last echocardiogram and visit notes from the cardiologist. 

This appointment had been scheduled for a couple of months now. Needless to say we let the schedular know our feelings on the matter, hence, 'Please stop yelling at me.' 

So we called the cardiologist, explained the situation, and they faxed over a note saying all was well. 

But that wasn't enough. 

The anesthesiologist needed the charts and visit notes. As it is the cardiologist's office is five minutes away so we drove over there, got the notes, and had them faxed over to the hospital. 

We waited.

It gets better. About an hour later billing called and wanted the copay before our appointment. We explained what had been happening the last few ours and told them, directly, that they would get no money from us until we had a time for our procedure. Billing hung up. 

At this point we were asking our Fellow North American to sign us up for MAID. 

An hour later scheduling called back. A different scheduler was on the line. We were not optimistic. But, we have an appointment for 9:30 this morning. Which we are leaving for now. 

Wish us luck. 

*By bureaucratic incompetence and mendacity. Fuckwits.   

Bright Blue on a Monday

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

Tonight, Dance Taxi begins in earnest. 

NFL notes.

What a football day in casa de Stroock! Mrs. Stroock's Eagles took care of business in a hard-fought game against the Redskins and...

How 'bout them Giants! The Giants haven't looks that good in years. They beat Dallas in prime time, two of the team's bugaboos. Their second biggest win since Tom Coughlin left. Ole Miss' Jackson Dart looked poised. The Giants rushed for 165 yards and dominated the second half. We haven't felt this good about the Giants in...a long time. We're actually getting...emotional.  There's a lot of work to do. But for now, enjoy the moment Giants. Enjoy the moment. God bless John Harbaugh.*

So far, we like Steeler ex-coach Mike Tomlin in his NFL analyst roll.  

9/11 Week....the next few days were weird. On Wednesday 9/12 the skies were just as clear and sunny as the day before. At 8:46 we were in a field hitting baseballs just as we were Tuesday morning. 

Most people were glued to the TV.  The internet was not yet a great way to get breaking news.  9/11 was the beginning of that news crawl across the bottom of your screen. Pundits at this point were still talking about tens of thousands of casualties. 

American airspace was closed for next 48 hours or so. The FAA reopened the airspace despite fears other hijackers might be waiting to strike. The first night ABC News thought the FAA new about a potential high jacking in progress or intel that a high jacking was in the offing. Nothing came of it, obviously. The airlines took it on the chin financially, congress bailed them out that fall. 

Powerline reports on the Fed's investigation of Somalia's finest, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Hey remember all those investigations, impeachments, state and federal prosecutions of Trump? Yeah, good times. The GOP has finally learned to fight back and play dirty. 

Political note, local: Rebbecca Bennett (Gabby Giffords' PAC, really) is still hammering Tom Kean on the gun issue. They're using imagery from Kean's own ads too. Clever. For a guy who checked himself into the nuthouse and disappeared for a couple of months, Kean's doing well. 

DOGE report.

The epilogue chapter will begin with Murphy in his cell reading newspaper headlines describing what's happened. 

*As we joked last February, 'Mr. Harbaugh, a John Mara is on the phone he says he sent you a signed check and you should just fill in whatever amount you think is fair.  

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 9/13/26

Good morning, Stroock's Book's reader(s), such as you are, and happy Sunday. 

We got in another Judaism yesterday. Fun fact: when Rosh Hoshana falls on shabbat, one does not blow the shofar. Why? Dunno. Our new synagogue had police, and cards on all chairs showing evacuation routs in case of an 'emergency', meaning Stabby shows up. We like the rabbi very much. Good sermon with which we agreed. The violence committed by Israelis in Judea and Samaria is unacceptable. The sooner Smotrich and Ben Gvir are out of government, the better. 

After services, we got bagels. You don't get more Jewy than that. 

It's 9/11 week here at Stroock's Books, so lets get to it. But first, we need to talk about the 90s, which ended that morning. 

During the 90s, not much happened. The greatest show of the 90s was Seinfeld, the post-modern show about nothing. See also Friends, about six young people in Manhattan who don't have to worry about war, depression, lock downs, etc etc. Which was apropos. 

Rock fragmented and began to die. Country music crossed over. By the mid 90s, 1970s retro fashion was all the rage and Disco suddenly didn't suck. Daytime talks shows became trash where people aired their family arguments on TV. The gays were out and about. Movies were shot in this weird gray/green/yellow color template.

The Cold War was over. The USSR was gone. No more nuclear angst. It was the end of history, they said. The stock market rose and rose and everyone knew who Alan Greenspan was, the Maestro, in Bob Woodward's parlance. In 1998 the country tore itself apart over the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. The 2000 election was between two Southern Baby Boomers who agreed the Feds should start a prescription drug program and argued over whose was better. 

Actually there'd been a lot of talk about Y2K and all the world's computer's melting when the clock turned from 1999 to 2000. True to the decade, nothing happened. 

People forget now, but there'd been a lot of worry about  end-of-the-world millennium doomsday terrorism throughout 1999. See the FBI's Project Megiddo.  When 2000 came and went without an attack, we figured terrorism was a thing of the past. Bin Laden had been trying to get our attention all decade, Khobar Towers, USS Cole, but the US just wasn't interested. 

America was fat, dumb, and happy. Our point is there wasn't a lot going on. 

Here's a clip from the Regis and Kelly Ripa show broadcast on 9/11. It's so appropriate to the age and moment. Regis and Kelly were a popular morning show. This was a light, airy and fun show mostly for moms who've gotten the kids off to school. Kelly Ripa was your standard pretty enough in a normal way host that women could relate too. Regis was actually a huge deal at the time. He hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which was a huge success when it started in 1999. After years of trash and smut on TV, Millionaire was a family friendly breath of fresh air, and Regis came across as a warm and outgoing host who wanted contestants to win. 

Remember, when the first plane hit most people figured it was an accident. Not until the second plane hit, did we know.  That's certainly the case here with Regis and Kelly.  In fact, when they saw live footage of the second building aflame, Regis speculated that the plane fuselage exploded in the first building and 'jumped' over to the second. Then one of the producers comes on screen. 'I guess it's being reported that a second plane hit the other tower.' The TV audience gasped, and the 90s ended. 

That's enough of that, for now. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 9/13/26.

It's time to write World War 1990: Thatcher's War's epilogue chapter. Anyone got any characters from Ireland they need to know about?

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders and Shonna Tova.

We got in a Judaism last night at our new synagogue and will get in another this morning for the new year. 

This being 5787 our synagogue needed armed police officers for security. We made sure to thank them. Thank you, they replied, as we're pretty sure they're making overtime on the gig. 

We managed not to lose a lot of the day watching 9/11 footage. This year the internet had a lot of videos of people jumping from the towers. Maybe it's just the algorithm. We dunno. We'd seen most of the videos before. Some we'd seen in the days after 9/11. Some we'd forgotten about. 

Those of you who know us know we mostly post nice things on FB and vent on Substack. Yesterday we vented on Substack, a bit. 

Let's get to it.

The things.

We've been posting a book every day on Substack, with no noticeable result. 

We worked all week on World War 1990: Thatcher's War, editing what we had and writing the final chapter. All that remains is the epilogue. World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 75,000 words. 

We worked a great deal on the Soviet Sub story. Something just doesn't feel right about armed townspeople climbing the conning tower onto the deck. We may change the sub to a 'fishing trawler'. We'll see. We still need one last story. No idea. Ideas welcome. 

The 5th nuke novel is 52,000 words. 

We opened World War 1990: The Managua Campaign for the first time since 27 May. Whoa. 

These novels are all coming together slowly and will continue to do so, until they come together all at once - in 2027.

That Day Again

It's always good to wake up the morning of 9/11 and see there's been no terrorist attack - yet. Give stabby time. 

Shonna Tova, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy 5786. The Israelis rang in the new year with a bang. 

We're not doing this today. We're not gonna do it. We will probably make next week 9/11 week. 

In the meantime, let's wrap up 80s Week...for now. The 80s were a light decade, a fun decade. The 80s were also big. Big hair. Big clothes. Big bright colors. Big sounds too, like heavy metal and synth pop. The 80s were also a confident decade. An American decade. The 80s were a decade of Ronald Reagan telling us how great are, building up the military, and using it to pressure the Soviets. 'We win. They lose,' Reagan said of his plans for the Cold War. During the 1980s, America believed in itself again. 

What Will's Watching, The Pendragon Cycle. Okay, we finished episode-1. TPC is about Arthurian legend, steeped in the mists of late Roman Britain as the empire retreats and the barbarians advance. If there was an Arthur, and there probably wasn't, 5th century Britain is when he lived. TPC feels like an early medieval epic. The land is green and foggy. The musical score sounds like a cross between Braveheart and Dune - lutes, lyres and the like. The characters feel Anglo-Celtish. What we're saying is TPC is immersive. 

We like the characters but we're running into the Game of Thrones problem in which we can't keep the name's straight, 'Sir who, now?'  Also, the plot is moving slowly. 

Be that as it may, episode 1 was pretty good, 3/4.

Midterm convention notes: JD Vance is going to be president some day. Maybe 2028. We also liked RFK Jr's speech. It was tragic really, as he lambasted the Dems for turning their backs on the parties' roots; the party of FDR, JFK, Harry Truman, even Bill Clinton. Those guys liked America. 'We can do even better' the late Rush Limbaugh used to say of JFK's message. He was right. 

Political note, local: Gabby Gifford's PAC is slamming Tom Kean for votes against gun control laws and saying he's weak on crime.

DOGE report.

The Soviet sub story in the 5th nuke novel is advancing.

We have begun the Irish Ranger Wing's assault on Heath House. No it's not a smaller Irish version of the SAS's raid on Moscow. 

Alright, we gotta get out of here or we're going to lose the morning watching 9/11 clips. 

Watching the 80s

Good morning, Stroock's Books professionals. 

We are sore, tired and grumpy after back-to-back days at the gym. We should probably be taking days off before workouts now, no? We are 53 after all. 

We were not mentally, emotionally, or spiritually prepared for the NFL last night. Nevertheless we watched some of the Seahawks/Patriots game. Who won? 

Political note, national: We caught a good chunk of the GOP midterm convention. Trump does ramble, doesn't he? After more than a decade since he rode the golden escalator, there's no getting the man to focus on the speech and the message. We were waiting for Hannity's interview with JD Vance, but Trump just wouldn't wrap things up. Trump did look tanned, rested and ready, though. We also enjoyed Scott Bessent's speech. We'll see if Trump can drag the GOP over the finish line one last time.

What Will's Watching: We started The Daily Wire's Pendragon Cycle yesterday. Here's director Jeremy Boreing's pitch. We're halfway through episode-1. It's a bit all over the place, but so far, so good. We are entertained. We'll say more tomorrow. 

Watching the 80s....ah 80s television. We miss it. Rather, we miss the feeling that there was something important airing at prime time and we'd enjoy it. In the New York metro area, viewers could choose from the three networks plus three local stations and PBS, which didn't really count. 

We'd watch Bugs Bunny after school, GI Joe, Transformers, Heathcliff (it was on) and Voltron - Lion Force. Later inte in the afternoon, the locals reran 70s era dramas like Little House and SWAT. 

Our father being an NBC News man, we were an NBC family. By the mid-80s, NBC positively dominated prime time TV. The Cosby Show was number-1. Mr. Cosby (as the cast called him in interviews) was his own cultural force. Mr. Cosby was America's dad. There followed Family Ties, billed as a show about 60s parents with 80s kids. These were still very much nuclear families, but in both shows mom had a white collar career. Cheers came on at 9. It was just a rejiggering of 70s stalwart Taxi, except at a bar. And at 9:30 came the zany and whacky Night Court. Night Court showed us post-70s New York. The city had already bottomed out in 1976 and remained there. This was a world of petty crime, public nuisances, prostitutes and transexuals. There was a lot of 80s angst in Night Court. This being the 80s, Night Court usually turned serious and ended with a moral to the story. 

NBC aired the gritty crime drama, Hill Street Blues from 1981 through 1987. Most other police dramas were about car chases and shoot-em ups. The procedural and moralistic Law and Order was a major break-through when it began in 1990, and a revelation. In 1987 NBC replaced Hill Street with the glitzy Los Angeles legal drama, LA Law. 

Other networks aired nighttime soap operas at 10 PM. Their actresses were sex symbols and fashion plates. Today no one under 40 knows who they are. Younger reader(s) have probably heard of Dallas. But Falcon Crest? Knots Landing? We don't think so. 

Back then cable meant HBO, Cinemax and the Movie Channel, ESPN, CNN - WGN Chicago and TBS Atlanta - for some reason. In the 80s we watched a lot of Cubs and Braves games. Our house got cable in 1982 and the first thing we watched was...MTV. 

We vividly remember the first videos we saw; Stray Cats, Spandau Ballet...For several years MTV was downright bad. It was like a radio show being simulcast, a VJs talking about and presenting videos. Eventually the record companies figured out music videos were a 4 minute advertisement for the album and spent money accordingly. Eventually MTV started the Top-20 Video Countdown and then 1800-Dial MTV. Wikipedia tells us that and we vividly recall Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home, and Def Leppard's Poor Some Sugar on Me, each held the top slot for months.

These were far more important to us than whatever was on the radio. Later MTV began Remote Control (do click over), an irreverent game show about....television. Stand up comedy was huge in the 80s (a golden age) so MTV launched The MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour.

The dramas were melodramatic. The comedies were at once light-hearted and serious. Women had big hair. Men had mustaches. Father had many mishaps. Mother ran the house. After two hours of sitcoms, dramas ran at 10. 

DOGE report.

We began the Heath House operation (needs a code name).

We also worked on the Soviet sub story. 

Vote the 80s

Good morning, Stroock's Books readers, and happy midweek. Rosh Hashanah looms, the Jewish new year. As we wrote the previous sentence we realized that Rosh Hashanah falls on....9/11. 

Do we have to do the 9/11 thing? We do? We sigh in resignation. But we'll remember our way...

We've always recalled 9/9 and 9/10, weirdly so we think. On Sunday, September 9th, Mrs. Stroock's Eagles played the Rams, and we were slightly annoyed at all her cheering and clapping. The Redskins got creamed and we went into a white-hot rage the next day because we weren't able to listen to Sports Talk 980's (Washington)* recounting of the loss. That night our own Giants opened their season in Denver. The next morning, after hitting baseballs in the field next door, we tuned the radio to 66 WFAN to hear the local sports guys talk about the game. The time was about ten after ten, and there was some news...

As for the Big Day, we recall going all sour grapes in 2021 after the Biden Regency's disastrous Afghanistan withdraw. Five years later we still have not taste for Toby Keith or Martina McBride. Ah, we said nothing on the 11th. Here we are on the 12th. And we did a piece for the Kremlin which we'll republish in a day or two. 

Vote the 80s....We now recall our perception of the 80s through nightly viewing of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokow (for which our father worked). Younger reader(s), the three network newscasts were a very big deal. So were their anchoes, our own Tom Brokow, CBS's Dan Rather, and ABC's Peter Jennings. CNN is around but it's just not that big a deal, and won't be until the Gulf War. 

It goes without saying that Ronald Reagan was the president. He probably defined the 80s more than any other public figure. The great issues of the day was tax cuts. Reagan got two massive tax cut/reform bills passed, one in 1981, another in 1986. Then as now illegal immigration was in the news. Congress passed amnesty in exchange for closing the border. Go ahead and laugh. AIDS grew in importance year on year. Crime was also a big issue, part of the nation's 70s hangover, though there was little the Feds could do. 

Of course there was the Cold War, the Soviets and nuclear arms reductions. Everyone wanted a arms reduction treaty. Reagan eventually delivered one in 1988. The nightly news would periodically air reports on the effect of a nuclear war.

What else? Apartheid in South Africa. Solidarity in Poland. Speaking of, his eminence Pope John Paul was a regular newsmaker. Homelessness was a big issue. So were failing farms. The Ethiopian famine was broadcast live into people's living rooms. 

Honestly, Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror video captures the spirt of the news at the time. But because it's the 80s, Man in the Mirror ends optimistically.

People can, and still do bash the 80s, but in 1988 Vice President Bush won 53.4 percent of the popular vote (one more point than Barry Soetoro in 2008) and 426 electoral votes. People took a look at the Reagan administration and said, 'We'll take more of that.'  

Political note, local: Tom Kean is running on 'protecting Medicare and Medicaid' and is bashing Rebecca Bennett for 'working with health insurers'. Whoa. 

DOGE report.

We made some tweaks to the Thatcher's War MS. We have a vision for the Heath House raid.

We worked on the Soviet sub nuke novel short story. 

*Back then one could listen to a radio broadcast on a dialup modem. But for some reason 980 wouldn't load on our desktop. 

Look Back the 80s

First day of school! Heh, the state mandated smartphone ban is in effect. 

Wow, what a summer. One trip to Indiana for Mrs. Stroock and the girls, a trip to LBI, and two trips to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. And the girls had a pretty full social calendar here at home. We did a lot of taxiing. 

This will probably be the last summer with all that travel. Next year await summer internships, jobs, etc etc. 

Well, we had forgotten about this, our latest article in Military Heritage Magazine: 'Nathanael Greene...General Nathanael Greene became a master of Southern Strategy during the American Revolution.' Seriously, we were paging through the latest issue of MH, which had arrived in the mail last week, and saw the article, 'What the what?' we asked. That article was originally a graduate term paper we wrote in 2004. Now there it is, in print. We urge reader(s) to click on over. Click it!

80's week...During the 80s, technology advanced in a lot of small incremental ways that added up to a big improvement in everyday life. Cable television arrived, as did VCRs. Video game systems were ubiquitous and became better as the decade progressed. The graphics and game play jump from Atari to Nintendo was enormous. Cars were built lighter, more fuel efficient, and safer. 

Overall, life progressed. 

But people in the 80s looked back too. A lot. Boomer nostalgia, by our recollection, began in 1983, with the 20th anniversary of JFK's assassination, and has never really stopped. Some of the biggest coming of age movies Gen-X remembers were about Boomer childhood. See for example Stand by Me, for the boys, Dirty Dancing for the girls. 

And the reruns...we watched a cornucopia of 70s TV in the 80s. Whare to start? Sitcoms like MASH, All in the Family, Good Times, What's Happening. We watched dramas like SWAT, Black Sheep Squadron, Eight is Enough, CHiPs. The elite soldiers in Megaforce wear tan uniforms. 

As the meme says, youngsters today may think of the 80's and see day-glo, pink and gray, and glitz, but we recall earthtones, wood paneling and shag carpet, especially during the decade's early years. Just watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). The kids still have one foot in the 70s, fashion wise. Those button-down shirts are in earth tones, and the hair is still floppy. Here's Def Leppard's Photograph (1983). The colors are subdued. The hair isn't big. Def Leppard's hair isn't big till Hysteria (1987). Here's Poor Some Sugar on Me (1988). Now there's some late stage 80's colors - and big hair. 

DOGE report.

We awoke knowing what we want to write today. Always a good thing. We're writing a plot point that helps establish the massive riots breaking out in Belfast and wraps up a plot arc. Huh, we've no idea what supposed to happen to Finn Fahey and his news crew. We wrote a scene where they come to a roadblock...but never finished it. 

Wither the 80s?

A rare miss for this blog yesterday. We had lots to do before leaving the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction, and is now normal, the drive home left us exhausted. 

And a late post today.

Happy Labor Day, Stroock's Books reader(s), you union lay-abouts, time servers and goldbricks. 

The womenfolk are going shopping. We'll be mowing the lawn. 

So it seems the Alliance for Deutschland has won a major victory in Saxony. After getting 44.6 percent of the vote, the AfD isn't far right. The AfD is the center. Don't get too excited. The establishment will never let them form a government. 

It's 80s week all week here at Stroock's Books in response to Ryan Reynolds horribly ignorant and Canadian take on the decade. We bet he pours syrup on his moose rips, eh? 

First let's define the decade's parameters. This blog believes the 80s begin on election night 1980. The 80's end in the summer of 1991. The end date is staked to music. Most people will say, ah, of course, Nirvana's Nevermind. But we're thinking of one-hit-wonder Jesus Jones' Right Here, Right Now. Listen to the lyrics, RHRN is the perfect capstone to the decade.  

We've asked online if those of us who remember the 80s are looking back at the decade through rose colored glasses. Everyone who responded said, 'No. Of course not. What kind of ridiculous question is that?' or some such. Still, we recall a lot of angst. 

Here's Billy Joel's 80's stanza from We Didn't Start the Fire (1989):  'Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide, Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz, hypodermics on the shore [Yay, New Jersey!], China's under martial law, rock-and-roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore,' Which is spot-on. The man does not present a happy-go-lucky decade.

Everyone our age starts with the same worry, nuclear war, stoked by movies like War Games and The Day After. Nuclear war was a very common childhood fear, referenced in at least one Simpson's episode. A kid could reasonably look up at the night sky and wonder, are they going to push the button? But a kid could also worry about environmental gloom and doom; global warming, rainforest and ozone layer depletion, overpopulation. The Ethiopian Famine was the biggest international news story of 1984. AIDS was the covid of the time. 

The 80s saw plenty of moral panics, Heavy Metal being the most prominent and hilarious issue. Then as now plenty of people and organizations (see for example the Moral Majority) called for censorship. Televangelists (Jimmy Swaggert, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker) were all the rage. 

The over make-upped Tammy Faye is an extreme example of the 80's innate tackiness with big hair, shoulder pads and too much makeup for women. Girls used a lot of hair spray. A lot. We dated a few of them in the 80s. Don't touch the hair.  Men wore three-piece suits with white collars and slicked back their hair (Gorgon Gekko style). By 1985 the colors turned bright. We complained about 70s fashion in the 80s, but weren't we just as bad in our Hawaiian shirts and jams? Let's not talk about two-toned jeans.  By 1988 dayglo was everywhere -pinks and yellows and greens - uck.  Every high school was marred by black heavy metal T-shirts; Iron Maiden, Ozzie, Dio, Slayer, etc etc. 

And everything had to be cool. In The Wedding Singer, Adam Sandler captured the 80's zeitgeist with his rapping granny bit. Grannys rapped. Kids rapped. Dogs rapped. 

DOGE report. The Battle of Dublin-Howth aftermath chapter seems to have come together. The things are where and what they need to be, if a bit abrupt. It's September, World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 73,000 words, and this thing needs to be completed.

This week we'll write the raid on Heath House. We'll need some sort of concluding chapter after that. 

Saturday Updates

Aye, a faire Saturday morn to all Stroock's Books people. The sky is clear and sunny. The fog is lifted off the lake. We are tired after a day of hiking and boating. Fireworks tonight.

As we write this we're indulging in an late AM beer and Arturo Fuente while the womenfolk hit the outlets. Why not?

Mrs. Stroock and the girls spotted a huge porcupine last night. 

The actor Ryan Renolds (a Canadian FFS) said some very dumb, ill-informed things about the 80's. The great Mark Judge rises to the defense of the decade. Next week will be 80's week here at Stroock's Books. We recall a lot of angst. Exit question: are we looking at the 80's through rose colored glasses? Discuss in comments. 

Saw this on Substack, 'Most self-published authors sell fewer than 100 copies of their book, mainly because they started marketing it after they published it.' This sounds smart, at first. Clever even. That's the problem. What difference does it make if one markets a big before it's on the market or after? A Line Through the Desert sold a hundred copies - the first year. And we spent thousands marketing it. We could (and have) go on and on. 

The Things.

We slogged, my how we slogged, through World War 1990 Thatcher's War. The Howth chapter is better. Much better. Is it finished? Don't make us laugh. What's that principle where one gets 50% closer to a goal and then 50% closer and 50% closer yet again? We dunno. But there we are. [It's frustrating but you are making progress-Ed]. We are Ed. We are. 

Woman Are Crazy Week: Last Xanax

Good morning from the pastoral splendor of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. As we write this the lake is shrouded in fog. Temps should reach into the mid 80s today. The sky is clear. There will be boating. 

FB tells us that ten years ago we were here with friends, two neighborhood families. All the kids were BFFs. Ah....we named that motorboat after our grandmother's hometown, Waterproof. The naming didn't appease her spirit. She haunted Waterproof...from beyond the grave. Reminder: do not mess with southern women. Ever. Even though we're a blue belly, the blood of the South pulses through our veins. We should have known better. She seems okay with the pontoon boat, though. 

Driving outside of town, we saw a bear just lounging on the side of the road like he owned the place. We slowed down and rubbernecked. The girls snapped some pics. 

Political note, local: One cannot go on YouTube without seeing an ad for Congressman Tom Kean. And he talks about...healthcare. Kean has the advantage of incumbency, massive name recognition*, and more cash. His campaign strikes us as motivated and aggressive. We saw a poll that has Kean and challenger Rebecca Bennett tied at 45.** If they really are tied after Kean checked himself into the nuthouse and disappeared for a couple of months.... NJ07 should be a bellwether. This blog awaits events. 

One juror is holding out in the Lindsay Clancy case, they say. One lone man, we imagine. But who knows? It takes a strong man to resistance the persistent demands of a class of women unused to be told, 'No, you can't do that'. We shouldn't speculate [Yet you are -Ed]. We are, Ed. We are. 

World War 1990: Korea: This is one book. One. Ya hear me? [Oh please, Korea could easily be a trilogy Ed]. That's what we're afraid of.

DOGE report.

Before we hit the road yesterday, we continued our slog through the Battle of Howth. We are slogging well. 

We also read through our DEW Line story. The half we've written looked good. Plenty of setup, atmosphere, and character. But what happens?! We've no idea. A problem. 

*This website is using a picture of his dad, former governor Tom Kean.

**Okay, looks like they're normalizing a poll from last spring. That being said, Kean and the RNC and third-party groups are spending a lot of money in NJ07. They wouldn't being doing that unless they thought they could win. 

Women are Crazy Week: Fourth Xanax

A cloudy and wet morning here in New Jersey.  We awake tired and sore.

Today we decamp to the Berkshires for Labor Day. Saturday night there will be fireworks on the lake. We're all packed but there's some cleaning that must needs be done before we leave.

A date looms. We are in no way physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually prepared. Yes, we're speaking of 9 September, the first game of the 2026 NFL season. 

Speaking of not being prepared, Middle and Youngest Daughter return to school next week. They're fine. We're not. Dunno. 

Women are Crazy Week, 4th Xanax. We see Gloria Steinem has died. We'll say nothing about the woman or her legacy, and keep our quips to ourselves, because we ain't the left. Then we remembered the crazy succubi rallying for Lindsey and the hung jury of nine women and three men. Does one of the poor men on the jury get a 'just one of those days' pass were he to strangle his children? This blog suggests that we reach back, to the purer time of our forefathers and have them all burned at the stake, metaphorically. Also, reference. Reminder: feminism is ALWAYS bad for women. 

Israel Hayom, runs a story on security procedures and spending at American synagogues. Yep. Our own synagogue has armed security during the High Holy Days. Larger congregations have permanent armed security. The next great terrorist pogrom will be against the Diaspora. Stabby is persistent.

World War 1990: Korea: the end point of this war will be a massive US/Allied aerial and sea bombardment of China. At least three carrier battlegroups will be off the Chinese coast. 

Campaign notes, national: on the one hand Rasmussen (the gold standard) has the Dems up 5. On the other, Harvard/Harris has the GOP up 2. Bottom line, the race is anyone's. 

DOGE report. 

We worked on the Howth battle and some aftermath scenes all day yesterday. We'll work on it more today. 

It may be time for Ireland to enter the rest period. 

We've two short stories to finish in the 5th nuke novel, and one more, probably, to write. We shall ponder this on the trip up to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. 

Women are Crazy Week: Third Xanax

Happy midweek, people of Stroock's Books. 

Brisket last night. No gout this morning. One must keep one's fingers crossed. 

We got some rain last night and it's drizzling this morning. 

Florit Shoihet asks if Jews are 'frogs in a boiling pot.' She's writing specifically about British Jews, but the answer across the West is yes. Yes, even here in America - though admittedly less so. Shoihet talks about the normalization of antisemitism. She writes on Substack, where we saw so much Juden hass that after a while we became numb to it. 

Related, At Alma, an assessment of Hezbollah's current capabilities. Nut-graph, as the J-school losers would say, 'Hezbollah’s force model on the eve of October 7, 2023, no longer exists. The broad invasion plan to capture the Galilee has been neutralized; the defense plan, with an emphasis on the area south of the Litani and the contact line, has collapsed; and the massive fire plan no longer exists in its previous form.' A lot more assessing follows. The Israelis killed about 10,000 Hezbollah terrorists and made great slaughter of its military and political leadership. See Operation Grim Beeper. Hezbollah is now a dispersed guerilla force preparing for a long-term campaign against the Israeli security zone in Lebanon. In other words, here we go again. Still, the above is no mean feat. 

Women are Crazy Week, Third Xanax: the Lindsey Clancy jury remains deadlocked. That woman has her supporters. What can one say? There'd be no excuses, no supporters, no protests, if Patrick Clancy had strangled the children to death. None. And almost all men would want him strung up in front of the courthouse after conviction. 

Campaign notes, national: The NY Post ran a story saying Dems lead in 8 senate races. True. But many of those races are in red states. and we'd be stunned if those poll numbers held. It's happened before. See for example Tennessee in 2018, where Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackurn were tied through the summer. Blackburn raced ahead in the autumn though and won handily. 

World War 1990: Korea...it's easy to imagine that after the Norks invade South Korea, the US would bring tremendous military force to bear. Not in this universe. Actually, it took a while for the US to get its act together in the Korean War too. Instead, the US will approach the invasion reluctantly. In the five years since WWIII, congress has slashed defense spending. A lot of experienced military personnel of all ranks are in civilian life now. There will be a significant anti-war caucus at home, left and right *cough-Pat Buchanan-cough*.

DOGE report.

We are almost done fixing the battle of Howth. Almost. 

Women are Crazy Week: Second Xanax

Happy September everyone. Temps remain in the 80s this week. But one can feel the autumn in the cool night. We await, we await. 

Another good day at the gym. We see the results in the mirror. But we remain sore and tired. It's time for a real gym break. Is it also time for a new regimen? Maybe going back to four machines (rope pully, rower, elliptical and....). Two back to backs a week? Maybe. 

9/11's 25th anniversary is approaching and we've no idea what to think or if we should think anything at all. We did a piece of for the Kremlin on the 20th anniversary. Maybe we'll just reprint that. What were people doing on December 7, 1966? We don't know. 

Vice President Vance met with the Republican Jewish Coalition yesterday.  This blog prefers Ron Desantis for 2028, which has almost no chance of happening. The nominee will almost certainly be Vance.  We are meh about what we've heard from the meeting so far. We'll wait for more reporting. *

Women are Crazy Week, legal edition, which is what triggered Woman are Crazy Week: three men sit on the Lindsay Clancy jury, and they're having to explain to the gals that you don't get to strangle your children to death just because your hormonal and having a bad day. We stole that from someone, We don't remember who. 

Seriously, a FB friend of ours was working his way through the case, and we commented that Clancy should be locked up in a hospital for the criminally insane for the rest of her life. We see this as an act of mercy, as it's obvious to us that Clancy is nuts. A mutual female friend said that Clancy's husband was not innocent. 'Up your dosage and try taking it with a glass of white wine,' we didn't say. 

World War 1990: Korea...So after World War Three China has ambitions. They're looking north actually, as officially the Chinese government thinks Siberia belongs to them. Look it up. And the Soviet Union is weak and probably wracked by civil war. But tidying things up to the east seems like a good idea. To that end China props up and strengthens Kim in North Korea. Kim goes rogue and attacks South Korea. 

DOGE report.

The fixing of the Battle of Howth...continues. Baah. The writing seems flat. We are entering the 'this sucks' phase. All perfectly normal.

*In our view firing Buckley Carson from the staff would be a good move. 

Women are Crazy Week: First Xanax

Yarp, a sore morning to all Stroock's Books reader(s) except the Canadians. Enjoy swimming in Lake America, hosers. 

We are sore after moving Oldest Daughter into her dorm, which involved dad carrying things and putting stuff together while the womenfolk decorated. [Don't forget berating the parking lot public safety guy for not letting you park in the dorm lot. I believe the word you used was 'retarded'-Ed] It was, Ed. It was. [And you said, 'Na, I'm going to park here-Ed]. And I did, Ed. I did. [Knobhead-Ed].

The older we get, the less tolerant we are of over-officious, power-tripping popinjay. [Like that time last summer when the X-ray nurse asked you to wear a mask?-Ed] Exactly. [Or the kid at the chipotle counter?-Ed]

[What you don't realize is you're just turning into a grumpy old guy who will one day yell at the girl at the Denny's counter because you go there at a quarter after six, thus missing the early bird special-Ed]. Ouch. [Ouch indeed-Ed].

 Also, we hit the gym yesterday afternoon. 

Polar Cub last night because...why not?

Sigh, the last day of August. And with August ending, the High Holy Days loom. Holy Moses, 12 September and...21 September. 

Woman are crazy week, What Will's Watching edition: Dead to Me. Christina Applegate plays Jen Harding, a window grieving over the loss of her husband in an as yet unsolved hit and run. Linda Cardellini is Judy, her BFF with a dark secret. Jen and Judy are Gen-X archetypes, affluent, snarky, sometimes bitchy, privileged. Both are emotionally unstable in their own way. Jen is prone to rage. Judy is prone to despair. We watch them drink wine and cry as they slowly learn Jen's life wasn't all she thought it was, and neither was her husband. Neither are unlikable. We are entertained. 3/4.

So in World War 1990: Korea, the Norks, emboldened by Saddam's victory in the Middle East, invade South Korea. The Norks have great success initially, but are eventually stopped by the US and the ROK. China intervenes leading to a pan-Pacific War. We'll get into China's motivations tomorrow. 

What began as a local conflict becomes a regional war dragging in the Japanese, the Australians, Singapore etc etc. Colin Powell is brought out of retirement to become CinC Western Pacific Theatre.

The year is, 1996 maybe, with the war heavily impacting the election. 

America has fought and won WWIII, but is wondering what is was all about. The world has seen war and genocide in Jugosalvia. Saddam has smashed the Kurds, taken the Iranian oilfields and is master of the ME. There might be a Soviet civil war.

Reminder, we've no idea whether Gore or Quayle wins in 1992. 

DOGE report.

Slowly, ever slowly, we are fixing the Dublin Airport battle scene. Patience. We don't know why or how we got so bad at writing battle narrative. What's so hard about, 'The platoon dropped down to the tarmac and returned fire. At the same time an Irish 40mm gun pumped rounds into the Chinook, killing pilot and copilot.' Dunno. 

Will's Last Good Idea for August, 2026

A faire Sunday morn to Christian reader(s) of the blog except the C of E types. The Presbyterians, too. Oh, and the Methodists. In fact, pretty much all the mainline Protestant denominations. They're a weak, feeble lot. And they don't much like Jews. [You know, you have a long line of Presbyterian preachers on your mum's side. And all that Kentucky heritage is Methodist-Ed] And? 

We told the parking lot guy, a portly young man in a bad uniform and yellow highway jacket, with as much politeness* as we could muster, that the parking lot policy was retarded. 

'The policy is retarded,' we said.

'Well they don't want people parking in the dorm parking lot and unloading their car,' the parking kid said. 

'It's move in day,' we replied. 'Where am I supposed to park. Na, I'm going to park here.'

Anyway, Oldest Daughter is moved into her dorm. 

Will's final good idea for August: A second Korean war, probably alternate history. But it rhymes with the first Korean War. US/South Korea defeats the Norks. China intervenes. But this time there are no restrictions on US actions. We pound Manchuria and hammer the Chinese coast. 

[You know, this could be...-Ed] Don't say it....[a post WWIII World War 1990 novel, World War 1990: Korea. Make it after the election of 1992 with the new president having to deal with the crisis-Ed] Fuck![I can tell by your cursing you like the idea-Ed]  Fuck! [See- and you already have a vague plan for an apocalyptic 2000 war between Israel and Iraq-Ed].

Stroock's Books will toy with this idea all week. 

*The late Mark Stroock II once said in a Young & Rubicam meeting, 'Tell them, indirectly, to go fuck themselves'.

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders. The air is cool. The sky is clear. This looks to be a fine day. 

We saw some fine pitching and defense last night during the Somerset Patriots 3-1 win over the Akron Ducks. 

We are preparing to decamp to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction for Labor Day. 

This Venezuelan oil agreement seems like a big deal. What would Tommy from Landman say? We need to watch season two. 

The Things. 

We got off to a good start on our Soviet sub story in the 5th nuke novel but haven't done any work on it in a few days. That's two half-finished stories. The 5th nuke novel is 49,000 words. Ten thousand more words and probably one more story and we have a novel. We're shooting for 60,000-65,000 words. 

We worked all week on World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Yesterday we got hung up on the Dublin airport attacks scene. This needs a lot of work. There follows the battle of Howth. The readthrough of the second half of Thatcher's War is 70 percent complete. We are generally meh. 

Thinking and Pointing

Shabbat Shalom, Stroock's Book's kibbutzim. 

We are tired and sore after an unnecessary gym session. Today we rest...Because we're taking in a Somerset Patriots game this evening. First pitch is at 6 PM.

We got plenty of rain yesterday and this morning. 

We've been starting the morning at the Donut for several weeks now. This morning the kid behind the counter handed us our coffee before we ordered it. Reminder, like metric numbers or common core math, Starbucks is the mark of the beast. 

Our friend from a European country that has an NFL team named after its ancestors reports, 'The king is dead. Long live the king'.

At The American Thinker, an interesting article on why a subset of American women, the AWFULs one supposes, is so unhappy. A miserable, SSRI binging, wine gulping, suburban woman is safer than the Queen of Sheba, more comfortable than Queen Victoria. They are a societal problem, a problem not quickly solved, a problem not fixed within our lifetime. Reminder: feminism is ALWAYS bad for women. 

Related...We remain in awe of the WNBA's incompetence. With all the trans and gender shenanigans these last few years, how did the league not have a plan, policy, and legal argument in place for when some rightwing culture jammer declared for the WNBA draft? We point in the most Sophie Cummingham way possible. Go with God, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, you civil rights pioneers.   

Campaign note, national: This article at JNS more or less makes the Jewish case against JD Vance. We don't care if Vance is campaigning with Tucker Carlson's money man (such is politics) or if Buckly Carlson is on Vance's staff. Tucker Carlson decamped to the Maine woods and went mad, as is well known. Are Vance's words and alleged criticisms of Israel a problem? Our answer to that question is...we don't know. We'd like Vance to give a speech on the Middle East, or something. Vance would be a formidable candidate. But this blog renews its endorsement of Ron Desantis. 

We dunno, what does the readership make of Vance and the 'Jewish issue'?

DOGE report.

Progress, progress. We're making progress. That's all we can say.