SLPAD - 41 -

[rich]

seeing a fair amount of death would do that to most anyone I would think

On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 2:28 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes. What I meant is he —Levine—seems down on himself at the end.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Apr 4, 2023, at 2:09 PM, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> >>>
> >>
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>