Red Dawn - Review

I was looking forward to a campy, remake of the 1984 cult classic.

I didn't get it.

This remake of Red Dawn lacks imagination. plot, creativity, and the feel good ending that the original movie had.  Mind you, the original wasn't that good, but at least it left you feeling good!

This version is just bad. It has no socially redeeming value and is not even worth the time to watch it when it comes out on Netflix.

The acting is bad. The character development is practically nonexistent. The rest of the movie is trite and superficial. From a technical perspective, the bad guys are using US equipment for their military forces. The plot is poor and unbelievable--another secret weapon, not further specified, has crippled the US military and left the entire country defenseless and open to assault by North Korea. The landing is done by aircraft--how were they refueled in getting from North Korea to the US and without flying over Japan? The geography just doesn't work nor does the apparent logistics to support an army large enough to capture most of the US.

Come on, the US is not South Korea--whom the North Koreans hate more than us.

And that is just the beginning of the movie. The inevitable inclusion of the Russians and the bumbling North Korean officer who is in charge of the occupation are just more bad movie ploys. Given that the movie had a $65 million budget, I wonder why they couldn't have done better?

Another reviewer wrote:

Red Dawn really doesn't offer too much more in the movie department. The fact that a technologically strong country like North Korea doesn't have better armor for their troops is complete fiction and makes the threat of the enemy a little less intimidating. Throw in the fact that the kids can shoot better than the troops, and well you get a classic American cowboy film that further pumps up someone's ego. Aside from American pride, this movie also has a vague ending just like its 80's precursor that sets the stage for both ending and opens up for another movie. Whether or not this sways your vote I can't tell, but I'm just warning you that there is no definite closure to this film. 

I concur with all of the above.

RECOMMENDATION: Must miss!

-- Bob Doan, writing from Tampa, FL

Out the Hotel Window - Tampa, November 2012

Autumn's grip on the Northeast is slipping and I am in Tampa enjoying 70 degree days that Baltimore may not see again until March or April.

Looking West from Westshore Drive, Tampa

Out my hotel window in the distance is Tampa Bay just before sunset on November 27th.

The still warm sun is hidden behind the clouds as it slips towards the horizon.

Yay for warmth and sun. I left behind gray, rainy, cold skies in Baltimore.

While the water seems inviting, it is a distance away and I have not had the opportunity to put my toes into its salty warmth.

The weather is definitely different here, I ate dinner outside at a local restaurant last evening! And it was enjoyable.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Tampa, FL

Everything that's Wrong with the NFL

I can sum up everything that is wrong with the NFL in two words: Video Replay!

On Sunday, during the Ravens-Chargers game I was subjected to some of the worst officiating that I have ever witnessed.

Aside from the pass interference and leading-with-the helmet calls that weren't, the highlight of the game was the three-ring circus surrounding the Ray Rice pass reception for 30 yards on a 4th and 29 late during the 4th quarter.

Even with the assistance of video replay, the officials were hard pressed to make the right call. After determining that they spotted the end of the play wrong, they were then confronted with the problem that the first down chains had been moved and it was difficult to determine their correct placement in order to do a check for the first down. After a 15 minute, or more, delay in the game,  the end result of all of the video review and play changing was that the ball was repositioned about 12 inches and the Ravens still had a first down and the game continued. It was more likely that a truly correct reassessment of the ball position and first down markers would have resulted in a change of possession and the game being essentially over with the Chargers winning, 13-10.

Instead the Ravens scored the tying field goal and won the game in overtime, 16-13.

Please do not bring video replay to baseball. We don't need the delay and continued bad calls.

I continue to be amazed that even with video replay and the stoppage in play, officials still get the calls wrong. The TV announcers and even the coaches, apparently upon the orders of the league, cannot comment on the erroneous calls--but too many of them are too obvious to ignore. This is hurting the quality of the product being put on the field week-to-week.

Football, the king of American sports, has lost its competitive spirit. Video replay is not better than when officials were allowed to make the calls without the benefit of video replay. I think it is more fair and the games move faster.

BTW, when is CBS going to figure out that Sixty Minutes is not going to start on time when they are televising a 4pm game? The games have grown longer, it seems, from 3 to almost 4 hours.

And they are painful to watch, even when the my favorite team wins.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - November 26, 2012

1. The holiday sprint has begun. Check out the parking lot at your favorite mall if you want to have a frustrating experience. 29 days to go until the big day!

2. I went to a movie at a mall on Saturday evening--big mistake both for parking and the choice of movie. Review to follow.

3. Eleven boxes of holiday decorations and one weekend equals one tired puppy.

4. I enjoyed a bottle of the first northern hemisphere wine of 2012 Saturday night--Beaujolais Nouveau from France. It was young but had a very nice color.

5. I wrote down a couple of ideas during Sunday's church message about giving:

    a. Relationship is the basis of gifting, without a relationship between the giver and receiver gifts are just things.

    b. When I am giving a gift, it is not me doing the giving, but God giving through me.

    c. God's generosity to me causes me to be.

6. At 5:30 pm, when it is dark outside and day has passed into night I remember the summertime and how our outside activities are just beginning around the pool with a glass of wine.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Christmafication--A House Transformed

Yesterday was the day to finish, mostly, decorating the house by completing the changeover from Thanksgiving to the Christmas/Holiday season.

Christmas Jeeps

It makes for a busy day and includes such strange traditions as putting wreaths on the boy's Jeeps. This year, we found a way to put Christmas lights on the wreath on the yellow Jeep. That should be interesting. Patrick and Corey posed with their Jeeps for this picture shortly after we finished the project. It was pretty cold but we were happy in a devious kind of way. I have heard that the orange Jeep is coming over today to be Christmafied, too.

We use a seasonal word to describe this day of decorating. We call it Christmafication, which is a derivation of the word Christmafied. Take a moment to Google Christmafication--it is used a lot even though it has not beed accepted as a formal word, yet.

Garage Staging for Christmafication

Christmafication Day begins in the garage by collecting the boxes of decorations from the attic.

These boxes, containing their treasures, provide the tools necessary to transform the house into a Christmas ready paradise. I lost count at how many boxes of decorations we store from year to year. But they make a nice pile in the middle of the garage staging area.

Warm Glow of Christmas Lights

By the end of the day, these boxes will be empty and the house will be Christmafied. I realize later that two boxes were missing from this image--those of the two Christmas trees. Only one tree actually was set up during the day.

The 2012 Edition of the Doan House

Christmafication is a process. Although everything is mostly complete by the end of the day--there are a few activities that need to be completed on subsequent days. The second tree and associated decorations for the basement Family Room comprise most of them.


But the main living room looks--fabulous!

And so does the outside, for that matter.

Welcome to the Holiday Season--let's rock!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Snow Village 2012

It is ready to help celebrate the Christmas season. Here is the 2012 Doan Family Snow Village--just completed!

On to decorating the rest of the house.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Conquering the World, or not

The Thanksgiving tradition continued. Another year and another failed attempt to conquer the world!  The Black Friday family Axis and Allies game ended with another defeat for the Axis--just like history. That's good--but Patrick and I were playing the Axis, so I lost again.

It goes with the territory, I guess. Just like last year  I just couldn't get the global war plan going with my Japanese ally. Maybe the German push into the Caucasus Region was a bit too far and stretched my logistics lines too much. Or the crushing naval strategy executed in the Pacific by the British and U.S. navies.

Crushed! My strategy was completely crushed by the Allies. Again! Ugh!

Face it--I don't make a good world conqueror, despotic dictator, or Napoleonic-style emperor. My Waterloo always seems to happen somewhere on the Steppes of Russia. I have that in common with a lot of would be world conquerors.

Maybe next year (or after Christmas) I will do better.  I need a do over.

On a positive note, the Thanksgiving left-overs were awesome. Cold turkey, cold stuffing, cold fruit salad (oh yeah, the salad is served cold anyway). Sometimes I think Thanksgiving dinner tastes better the day after.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Season of the Turkey

It is over. Maybe today is just beginning for many people, but one of my favorite seasons of the year has just ended.

The season of the turkey is one of the shortest season's on the calendar beginning on November 1st and ending on Thanksgiving. It marks the time between rational thought and the insane sprint through the holiday season.

I have a small collection of turkeys which decorate our house during this all-to-short season. I enjoy replacing the garish Halloween decorations with their bright and happy faces and I am always a bit sad when I have to pack them away for another year.

Turkeys are inherently happy and are a great prelude to the day of thanks when we remember everything that we are blessed with--and I mean more than just good wine and mediocre football.

As Chris left the house this morning to sojourn into the Black Friday chaos, she reminded me that the season of the turkey is past and now is the time for snowmen, Santa's, and holiday cheer. I prefer the holiday spirits, but I guess that is becoming a bit more socially unacceptable these days.

For the next over 30 days, I will be listening to "Haul out the Holly" and other tunes on the radio many of them overdone so to the point of excruciating. But the memory of the unassuming turkey will get me through.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Happy Thanksgiving - 2012

Today is one of my favorite holidays. A truly American tradition of giving thanks to God for prosperity even during the hard times and for the hope of better times to come.

Turkey on the Mantle

"What are you thankful for this year?" It is a question that millions of Americans will ask around their Thanksgiving table today.

It is good to take a moment to think about our blessings.

I am saddened that some unscrupulous retailers (K-mart, Walmart, Macy's, and Target to name a few) have decided that the pursuit of the dollar is more important that pausing to give thanks. I'd propose a boycott, but they never amount to much in a practical sense.

So what is Thanksgiving?

I was remarking that it is turkey and dessert!  But, I know that it is so much more than that. 

I give thanks for everything and everyone in my life--my family, my friends, my coworkers, my job, and every blessing that God has blessed me with. 

As the hymn goes:

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing; 

 he chastens and hastens his will to make known. 

 The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing. 

 Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own. 

Let us gather and sing praise.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Phone Booths

Coming back from upstate NY on Sunday I saw something that I just don't see too often anymore.

It was there on a corner--right where it was supposed to be and it was a telephone booth.

This one was in the town of Marathon, NY. Chris and I noted that we hadn't seen a real, full phone booth in a long time.

A 2007 article from the Washington Post writes about the demise of the once ubiquitous phone booth.

I wonder where Superman is changing these days?

And how many high school seniors can really fit into a telephone booth?

It seemed lonely, standing there.

A throw back to an earlier time before cell phones and instantaneous communications around the world.

I'll bet there wasn't a phone book inside. Remember the phone books inside of phone booths? They always had ripped pages and were fat because of the moisture.

Phone booths always smelled bad, too.

I remember looking for dimes (yup, dimes) to make a call. And having people ask me if I had a dime. What do we use dimes for these days anyway? I remember collect calls! Especially from phone booths.

Maybe I don't miss them. Just the nostalgia of having them around.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD