Drive Time Pondering

I was driving home tonight, and I saw, yet another Barack Obama bumper sticker on a minivan that was ahead of me. This one said "Women for Obama" and the O was the stupid logo Obama used during the 2008 campaign. These Obama Bumper sticker sitings always get me thinking...
Anyway, here's the synopsis of the stream of thought I had, with some background info thrown in for completeness.

Living in a liberal area of the People's Republic of Iowa I see this often. I know the people around here aren't the most logical sort as demonstrated by their voting record, but by now I would have expected to see some of these bumper stickers scratched off, or blacked out, or something. I gotta think those normally right thinking people, who were swayed by Obama's fancy speeches and empty rhetoric are now realizing that they voted for a man wholly unqualified for the job he is doing.

Seriously, unemployment is still too high, the economy is recovering very slowly, we've had a disaster of a health care bill rammed down our throats and President Obama has botched just about every foreign policy decision he has made. Some of these people have to be having second thoughts. Maybe they're just too proud to admit it at this point. I guess we'll find out in 2012.

All this went through my head as I was driving home. It took about 6 seconds to have all those thoughts. The rest of my drive home was spent listening to quality radio and trying to stay warm.

Movie Review: "The Karate Kid"

I'm reviewing the new version of "The Karate Kid" starring Jaden Smith (Wil Smith's kid) and Jackie Chan. But, when reviewing the new version, one can't help but compare to the original, 1980's classic, "The Karate Kid" starring a very young Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and Elisabeth Shue. Frankly, the new version doesn't stack up to the original. Now, maybe that's because I'm a child of the 80's, or maybe it's because I absolutely loved the original when I was a kid, or maybe it's because this new version just wasn't that good. I put it at 2-2.5 stars at best.

There are many reasons why.

1. Jaden Smith - While he has many of his father's facial expressions down, he's just not that great in this movie. He's no Ralph Macchio (a.k.a Daniel-san).
2. Jackie Chan - Normally, I love Jackie Chan. The guy is hilarious, but he just doesn't stack up when compared to Mr. Miyagi. And come on...no "Wax On, Wax Off?" Unbelievable!!! This new film parallels the original in so many ways, yet drops one of the best lines. I mean, some of the lines are 99.9% the same...it just makes no sense.
3. A romance between 12 year olds? Ok, it was fine when it was Daniel and Ali (Elisabeth Shue) because they were at least playing high schoolers. These kids are supposed to be 12...boys barely notice girls at age 12.
4. The new version is set in Beijing and they are doing Kung Fu. It's the "Karate" kid, not the "Kung Fu Kid". And, the use of subtitles for the Chinese was inconsistent at best.
5. The villains in this one weren't as good as the Cobra Kai. There's something endearing about cheesy, 1980's high school stereotype villains and their Sensei that you just can't capture with 12 year old Chinese kids and a middle aged dude with weird hair.
6. The music wasn't as good. Who will ever forget, "You're the Best Around" by Joe Esposito.
7. Daniel's mom was slightly annoying in the original. Dre's (Jaden Smith) mom is slightly more annoying.
8. If you remember the very end of the original movie, with Mr. Miyagi and Sensei Kreese of the Cobra Kai...well let's just say that you may be disappointed that they deviated from the original.

My recommendation is skip this version of "The Karate Kid" and instead watch the original. You'll be much happier, and it'll bring back positive memories of a simpler time, when the big debate was VHS or Beta.

It's About Time!!!

Shannon Sharpe is a Pro Football Hall of Fame member...finally!!! Sharpe was the all time leader amongst Tight Ends in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns when he retired from the Denver Broncos in 2003. He was an integral part of 2 Super Bowl wins for the Broncos and another for the Baltimore Ravens during his "dark years" when he left the Broncos. Still, as a fan, I forgive his "dark years", and remember him as the great Broncos player he was.

I am excited about this! I have a Shannon Sharpe jersey hanging in my closet, right next to my John Elway and Terrell Davis jerseys. Sharpe was a talker during his playing days. The most famous talking Sharpe ever did was during a game against the Patriots. The Broncos were blowing the Patriots out, and Sharpe picked up a phone on the sidelines, near a camera, and said something along the lines of "Call the President, Call the Marines, Call the National Guard because we are killin' the Patriots!" He was the type of player that you loved to have on your team and hated him when he was not on your team.

I don't know why it took 3 years for the Hall of Fame voters to put Shannon Sharpe into the Hall of Fame. Nobody really understands how they decide on the football hall of fame. Thirty guys go into a room and come out several hours later with a list of the new Hall members. But, at least they finally got this one right.

Now, all we need to do is get Terrell Davis, Rod Smith, Steve Atwater, Dennis Smith, and Karl Mecklenberg into the Hall of Fame, and all will be right with the world.

Book Review x 2

The multi-movie review went so well, I thought I'd try a multi- book review. Though, these books are both great and could get their own review.

"The Pawn" by Steven James is the first book in the Patrick Bowers series. Patrick Bowers is an FBI agent who specializes in environmental profiling. Basically, his theory is that criminals have patterns and go through the same things as normal people do, so by looking at the patterns of the crimes, one can identify where and who the most likely criminals are. I'm not doing it justice...trust me it's cool.

In "The Pawn", Bowers is called to North Carolina to track a serial killer who leaves a Pawn with each body. The killer, called "The Illusionist" is murdering young women throughout the Asheville, North Carolina area. Once Patrick Bowers is on the case, The Illusionist steps it up a notch, and Bowers fears that he has finally met his match. Complicating things is that 2 of the murders seem out of place, and Bowers is still struggling with the death of his wife and his new role as father to her 17 year old daughter.

I really enjoyed this book. Apparently it's by a Christian publishing house, and there are occasions in the book where Bowers is really seen to struggle with why God lets things happen the way they do, but it's not the focus of the book. The mystery kept me guessing until the end, and, well, I was wrong. If you like a good mystery, give "The Pawn" by Steven James a try.

"Ranger's Apprentice, Halt's Peril" is the 9th book in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. This time, Will, Horace and Halt are still on the trail of cult leader Tennyson. Unfortunately Halt gets poisoned by one of Tennyson's assassins. Can Will save his mentor and still stop the bad guy? You'll have to read to find out.

"Ranger's Apprentice" continues to be one of the most fun series I've read. It's not as good as "Percy Jackson" or "Harry Potter" but it's a good, fast paced read with really strong characters and nice stories.

I read on Wikipedia (so it must be true) that there are 12 books planned for this series. I'm thrilled about this. I knew there was at least one more book planned, and I was content with that, knowing that I could read these again with my kids. However, the potential for 3 new books makes me very happy.

The Blizzard of 2011

I still have 2 book reviews to write, but today I feel like I need to comment on the Blizzard of 2011 (insert dramatic music here). It was a cold February day in Iowa. At 1 pm on February 1st, it began to snow...and it continued on into the night. The wind howled at 30+ mph. Sometime during the night, the snow stopped, but the wind continued. At 4:45 am, my place of employment auto-called me to let me know not to come to work. At 4:50 am, my place of employment auto-called my cell phone to let me know not to come to work. At 4:55 am, my place of employment auto-called the home phone (again) to let me know not to come to work. Apparently they really didn't want me there.

Fast forward a few hours, and my wife (bless her) and I were outside shoveling. Yes, we were shoveling because we like the challenge...and because we don't have anywhere to put a snow blower...and because we're too cheap to buy a snow blower. We had a 4 foot drift across our driveway to clear...with a shovel. We managed to get the driveway clear and thankfully our neighbor with a snow blower did our sidewalk. It was about noon at this time.

Around 1 pm, the plow driver (God Bless those men) came by and closed in our driveway. My wife and I went out again and spent another 30 minutes clearing the snow that the plow pushed into our driveway. We have 5 foot high piles of snow at the end of our driveway, and at least 3-4 foot high piles all along our driveway. All totalled, between my wife and I, we spent 3 hours shovelling. I'm going to be very sore tomorrow.

The Blizzard of 2011 (insert dramatic music) dumped ~13 inches on our little corner of Iowa. I know it dumped greater amounts elsewhere, and is still dropping huge amounts of snow as it moves east. My story is being replayed all across our country (stupid global warming).

But, in the midst of this, I actually find that I'm grateful to God for a great many things.

I'm grateful that...

...my wife is so wonderful and so willing to shovel. In fact, most of the time she does all the shovelling. She likes the challenge.
...my kids were so good while we were out shovelling.
...my place of employment saw fit to give us the day off (sort of, still gotta make up the time)
...we have a warm house and that the power stayed on
...we have neighbors willing to snow blow our sidewalk
...my friend Nuke and his wife got home from the hospital before the worst of the storm hit
...the plows cleared our street, even though they pushed an insane amount of snow into my driveway
...I didn't have to shave (I hate shaving but I look silly with a full beard)

Here's hoping that the rest of you who experienced The Blizzard of 2011 (insert dramatic music) can find as much of a silver lining as I did.

Movie Reviews x 4

Ok, here goes with a multiple movie review. Since none of these were the best movie ever, I think this is appropriate. Don't get me wrong, they didn't stink...just not the best ever.

"Knight and Day": This movie reminded me that Tom Cruise was once an enjoyable actor. I still don't understand why people think Cameron Diaz is so great, and I probably never will. For the first 75 minutes, I was going to rate "Knight and Day" 4 stars. Then the last 30 minutes happened, and really knocked this down to a 3 star movie. The banter between Tom Cruise and, well, everybody was terrific, and the action was good, but it all sorta stopped at about the 75 minute mark.


"The Other Guys": There are some genuinely funny moments in "The Other Guys." Wil Ferrell and Marky Mark (Wahlberg) star in this buddy cop movie about the other guys in the police precinct...the non-action stars. I have never been a huge Wil Ferrell fan, but he was actually really good in this. I also thought bringing in Michael Keaton as the Captain of the precinct was a nice touch. The only problem I had with this movie was Marky Mark...I just couldn't get the SNL skit "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" out of my head. Overall, this is a 3.5ish star movie.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World": This is a really different movie. Michael Cera stars as Scott Pilgrim. A side note...Michael Cera is the same character in every movie...that's not going to last when he gets older. Anyway, Scott starts dating a new girl, but that comes with dangerous consequences...Scott now has to face her 7 evil ex's in video game style mortal combat. When he defeats and evil ex, they turn into coins and he gets points. "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" was definitely worth watching...approaching 4 stars. There is definitely some adult humor in this PG-13 flick, so be careful.

"Salt": Of the 3 movies I watched on the airplane back from Germany, "Salt" was my favorite, easily reaching 4 stars. There is no female actor out there that can play an action star as well as Angelina Jolie, with the possible exception of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a.k.a. Sara Michelle Gellar). In "Salt", Jolie plays CIA operative Evelyn Salt. Salt is accused of being a Russian spy. That kicks off a series of chases, gun fights, fist fights and plot twists to clear her name and save her husband. Pay attention to this one...I had to work very hard to keep up. "Salt" is just a good, smart action-thriller.

Back in the USA

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a week. Well, I was in Northern Germany, near Hannover, all week. The hotel I stayed at was very expensive, in terms of Internet, so I limited my online time to work, since I was there for work.

My company is great in that it flies us business class when we go internationally. Business class passengers get their own TV screens, so I watched 3 movies on the way back yesterday. I also read 2 books during the trip. Reviews on those are forthcoming. In fact...I'll probably be working through the 4 movie reviews that I have in the queue and 2 book review for the next several posts...may even have to do a multi-movie review.

To me, the best part of business trips is the food, and I do love good German food. On this trip, I had 2 fantastic meals, 3-4 mediocre meals and 1 sort of not so good meal.

The first really good meal was a Schnitzel, which in this case was pork, lightly breaded. They topped the huge portion of meat with tomatoes, onions, cheese and Hollandaise sauce and served it with a side of fried potatoes. In Germany, fried potatoes seem to be a standard side. Most often they are fried with onions and often bacon. I had this meal on my first night there, and it was awesome after 20 hours of travel.

The other really good meal was on my last night in Germany. The meetings had gone really well, so we finished early on Thursday and decided to take the train into Hannover. After walking around for a couple of hours, we ate at a very nice restaurant near the main train station in Hannover. I had a plate of Sausages with Sauerkraut and Fried Potatoes. Americans just haven't figured out how to make sausage like the Germans do. This dish was amazing. I had a bowl of potato soup with leeks for the opening course, and that was terrific as well. Very nice to leave with a full belly.

I mentioned that we went into Hannover to tour. One of my coworkers from Germany accompanied me and my other US colleague to Hannover. My German coworker had attended college in Hannover, so we got the nickle tour. Hannover was one of the cities that was almost completely destroyed in World War II, but it has been painstakingly rebuilt to look like it did pre-World War II.

A few buildings stood after World War II, and one was the main Government building in Hannover. A very beautiful building. We were able to go inside and see it. On the main floor, there were miniatures of what the city looked like in 1689, 1939, 1945 and now. The contrast between 1939 and 1945 was unbelievable.

A few buildings have never been rebuilt in Hannover, and we got to go into the remains of a church that was destroyed during one of the bombings. The steeple still stood as well as parts of the walls. There was also a cross still standing. I'm not sure if the cross had been put up since the war or if it remained. This was sort of a surreal moment for me on this trip.

Overall, a good work trip, with good food and luckily a chance to do some sight seeing. Even though it was a good trip, I'm always glad to get back home, and last night, I was definitely glad to be back home.