Equalized Rapping

I cannot believe its October although the rapidly changing trees give lie to that disbelief.  I hope they can hang on for another week for our annual Columbus Day leaf peeping expedition through Western Massachusetts and Vermont.  After one of the driest Septembers on record, October got off to a very wet start and of course I had to be out there, through my own procrastination.  

I was out on the back deck this morning in the pouring rain, grilling steaks for my lunch.  Buddy was smart enough to stay inside even with the dead animal flesh available.  He remained beside my wife nodding sagely while she offered a running commentary which centered around reminding of her recommendation I do this last night when it was September dry.

One of the things I disliked most about life in the infantry was being wet.  Since I spent the first three years of my infantry life in Panama you can understand my aversion.  While we would jollily say, “If it isn’t raining, it’s not training!” – no one ever really believed that; it was more of a coping mechanism for being wet, dirty, tired, and just generally miserable.  Although I hated living in the jungle with the soaking tropical rains (especially the Atlantic side) of Panama, this paled in comparison to the much colder rain of the other environments that followed.  The back woods of Tennessee particularly sucked.  Granted it didn’t rain much in the Middle East but there were all these Arabs around sizing up my neck (but I digress).   This was one of the aspects of civilian life that I fully embraced – I didn’t have to stand out in the rain for hours on end.  I could actually take the sane route of staying indoors.  Except, of course, for days, like today, when I ignore the wise advice of the spousal unit.

She and I went to see The Equalizer last night for date night.  I was interested to see how they would transform Denzel Washington into a smartly dressed English ex-spy a la the 1980s TV show.  Since it is Washington he more than made this part his own.  He plays an insomniac ex-spy leading a mundane life working at a Boston area Home Depot like store.  In one of his late night sojourns at a local diner he befriends a young Russian hooker who eventually requires his assistance.

The first part of the movie is almost too slow but by the end you realize it was needed to set up the second half action.  Washington is perfect for this part as a lethal killing machine who starts mowing down the evil doers with a deadpan expression which eloquently states – “how could you be this stupid?”  Washington captures the humanity behind the violence which makes his character very compelling.  The climatic confrontation may cause you some nervous discomfort the next time you visit a Home Depot, so prepare yourself; great flick.

I also finished my latest flash reading experience with a Vince Flynn book, Extreme Measures.  For the first time I was disappointed with a Flynn book featuring his super-agent killing machine Mitch Rapp (hmmm – hadn’t thought of this before but Washington would be a great Rapp).  My disappointment wasn’t with Flynn’s writing or the action which were up to his usual, lofty standards.  My issue is the book ends in the middle of the story without the usual bloody Rapp coup de-grace of the bad guys.

Flynn is no fan of Washington politics and thoroughly skewers the progressive need for political correctness that hampers Rapp’s war on terror.  He’s prevented from intercepting vital intelligence which leads to a devastating attack and then the book ends. Luckily the trusty Kindle came to my rescue and I was reading the next book in the series less than thirty seconds later, but still, dirty pool.