SLPAD - 41 -

[Michael Bailey]

Didn’t say I didn’t like him. But it takes an effort.



On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 1:52 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Mike,
>
> Levine comes to share your dislike, right?
>
> Mark
>
> On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 1:44 PM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I think Levine is passable. maybe it's been mentioned already, but he is
>> Beetle Bailey, no?. his nemesis the NCO, Camp Swampy (I looked that up)
>>
>> rich
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 4:16 AM Michael Bailey <
>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I’m ready to like Levine, but he’s not eminently likeable.
>> >
>> > If you’re gonna smoke, flicking ashes in your helmet liner is
>> > understandable, putting butts out in it is borderline, and dumping them
>> on
>> > the floor is boorish. In my humble opinion.
>> >
>> > The only thing worse is putting them out on a melon rind - that’s
>> > schrecklich!
>> >
>> > Or wait, the only thing worse than that is putting them in a half full
>> soda
>> > can & leaving it out.
>> >
>> >
>> > But anyway, he does have some humor -
>> >
>> > “He squeezed the orderly’s head* as he went out. ‘What’s shaking?’
>> Capucci
>> > said. Levine squinted into the bright heavy air outside.
>> >                ‘Oh, the Pentagon, again,’ he said. ‘Just won’t let me
>> > alone.’”
>> >
>> > (Probably affectionately? Or at least a little less than
>> fight-pickingly?)
>> >
>> > Delusional self-exaltation is funny, when done consciously. Also, since
>> > Pentagon is a major source of orders, it’s marginally a true statement.
>> >
>> > Wearing the helmet liner - probably not regulation turnout - he trudges
>> to
>> > the orderly room.
>> >
>> > - in a meta sense, a place incompatible with the disorderly character
>> > traits he’s been exhibiting -
>> >
>> >
>> > Braced unnecessarily for more persiflage with Dugan, who’s busy typing,
>> he
>> > leans on the first sergeant’s desk railing & casually greets him with,
>> “Hi,
>> > Sarge.”
>> >
>> > (One thinks of the reverse-punctilio of Hawkeye Pierce in M.A.S.H., but
>> > Levine’s about as much like Hawkeye as Dugan is like Radar O’Reilly)
>> >
>> > The idea of his isolation is encapsulated in his walk thru the company
>> area
>> > - he’s not in the group lining up for early chow, he’s not one of the
>> > office workers, and he’s not in the (tiny spoiler) meeting.
>> >
>> > The whole group mentality mindset seems to be lost on him, or he’s
>> > deliberately rebelling against it.
>> > --
>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>> >
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>